what are you reading now?
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I got this the other day for my birthday:
Just a few pages in so far. Can't think of any other writer whose text is this dense but also playful at the same time. You have to put the effort in but it never feels like a chore. And he has chapters with titles like 'From Post-Modernism to Ghost Modernism' and 'Fuck E**lish *erit*ge'.
Just a few pages in so far. Can't think of any other writer whose text is this dense but also playful at the same time. You have to put the effort in but it never feels like a chore. And he has chapters with titles like 'From Post-Modernism to Ghost Modernism' and 'Fuck E**lish *erit*ge'.
blacktulip
Pregnant with mandrakes
About to read:
life-changingly great book[/QUOTE]
Funny! I thought it was garbage and got rid of it after reading a few pieces. Each to their own, I guess. I know a lot of people are really inspired by him but he gets my wick.
Just started the fourth and final Earthsea novel. Loving them. Before that read The Quiet American (for the first time): it took a minute to grow on me but I ended up savouring it until the final page.
IdleRich
IdleRich
I've always found Bangs hard to read... maybe I should give it another go but I've got a feeling it's something you need to read when you're young and I missed the moment.
Also, I could be wrong but I believe that there are now more than four stories about Earthsea now.
Funny. I read the first three Earthsea books recently cos BestDressedChicken's copy had found its way into my house and I was looking for an excuse to take a break from Ulysses. After those I started on the fourth which is much more feminist and involves a lot more deep thinking... unfortunately it's also extremely boring and it drove me, not back to Ulysses but on to something else. I guess I'll go back and finish it and then finally Ulysses but I'll have to work my way out from within this artificial Arabian Nightsesque situation I've created for myself of stories within stories. Let me know if I'm wrong to find it worthy and boring... maybe it goes somewhere from here.
Also, I could be wrong but I believe that there are now more than four stories about Earthsea now.
blacktulip
Pregnant with mandrakes
Yeah I might be a bit behind the times - maybe she wrote a fifth one? I do have a book of Earthsea short stories waiting too.
Had heard that the fourth one is a departure of sorts - I guess I'll see what that means soon enough, but so far (first few chapters) so good.
Had heard that the fourth one is a departure of sorts - I guess I'll see what that means soon enough, but so far (first few chapters) so good.
blacktulip
Pregnant with mandrakes
BTW I should also mention that this year I got really into Jean Rhys. Would recommend her books to anyone - have read them all except for Wide Sargasso Sea, which is in the pile.
IdleRich
IdleRich
That's the only one I have read...
But back to Earthsea. In the first book, did you find something strange, almost unsatisfactory about the disappearance of Jasper from the narrative? It seems as though there ought to be some reckoning or reconciliation between them but it never occurs and he is only mentioned briefly as the monster at the end momentarily assumes his shape. Is the implication that he has been subsumed into the shadow or is it just that the shadow takes the shape of everything that has been against Ged including Jasper? Perhaps Le Guin simply refuses to go in the direction that the conventions of story telling would seem to suggest but it felt as though that part of the story had been forgotten.
But back to Earthsea. In the first book, did you find something strange, almost unsatisfactory about the disappearance of Jasper from the narrative? It seems as though there ought to be some reckoning or reconciliation between them but it never occurs and he is only mentioned briefly as the monster at the end momentarily assumes his shape. Is the implication that he has been subsumed into the shadow or is it just that the shadow takes the shape of everything that has been against Ged including Jasper? Perhaps Le Guin simply refuses to go in the direction that the conventions of story telling would seem to suggest but it felt as though that part of the story had been forgotten.
luka
Well-known member
uylesses is hard work isnt it. ive ignored it until now but ive been out of work, lot of time on my hands. started off quite enjoying it but it really drags. all these boring things happening to boring people. have to concentrate really hard just to work out someones having a pint or peering down some birds blouse. wouldnt say its a bad book, just that you probably need about 5 years to finish it.
mistersloane
heavy heavy monster sound
If you keep going with Ulysses it gets vertiginous again but yeah has some super dull bits.
blacktulip
Pregnant with mandrakes
Funny you should mention this. I thought Jasper was such an obvious character/theme to return to that I spent the rest of the books waiting for his reappearance. For a while I was even convinced that the "dark lord" type in The Farthest Shore was going to end up being him. Strange, but that's how fairy tales go, I suppose.
No problem at all with the 4th book and I'm about halfway now.
IdleRich
IdleRich
OK, I will keep going, I hate not finishing books to be honest.
At the moment though I'm reading this which I found in my friend's hallway, one of her neighbours was throwing it out.
http://acommonreader.org/the-last-kabbalist-of-lisbon-richard-zimler/
The book compares it to Eco which is generous but it's a fun read. The writing is clunky at times - or it sort of feels as though it needed a read through again, there are a lot of bits when it says things like "Nothing could scare me now after what I'd seen. I walked up the stairs feeing terrified".
blacktulip
Pregnant with mandrakes
The 4th is becoming my favourite! Definitely give it ten out of ten, as with the others.
connect_icut
Well-known member
I like the fourth Earthsea book but then I'm currently reading (and enjoying) Heretics of Dune. For anyone who like Earthsea, I highly recommend Patricia McKillip.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Well I did finish the fourth Earthsea one and it did pick up a bit. Intriguing hints of various parts of the past had me wanting to get to the bottom of things and the baddie was so horribly evil that I couldn't wait for him to get what was coming to him. Although I did feel that you wait a loooong time for anything to happen and then when it does it's over way too quickly.
Overall the four books do make something pretty incredible but I'm not sure that I'm going to make the effort to search out any further books she may have written afterwards if she continues in that vein.
Overall the four books do make something pretty incredible but I'm not sure that I'm going to make the effort to search out any further books she may have written afterwards if she continues in that vein.
blacktulip
Pregnant with mandrakes
Hello again. You are right about the change of pace but I actually loved that. The fourth became my favourite (just edging out the first one) and one of the things I love the most was the insane rhythm of the ending. It left me breathless.
There is a fifth book which I thought was great too: The Other Wind. My friend rated the first four 5/5 on that Goodreads thing, and the fifth 4/5. I can see why he did that, but I love the Earthsea setting and the way she writes in general, so no real complaints here.
I also read most of the stories set there, in book called Tales from Earthsea. There were some 5/5s in there too. Now I have withdrawal symptoms and just wish like hell that she'll write more Earthsea things in future somehow.
There is a fifth book which I thought was great too: The Other Wind. My friend rated the first four 5/5 on that Goodreads thing, and the fifth 4/5. I can see why he did that, but I love the Earthsea setting and the way she writes in general, so no real complaints here.
I also read most of the stories set there, in book called Tales from Earthsea. There were some 5/5s in there too. Now I have withdrawal symptoms and just wish like hell that she'll write more Earthsea things in future somehow.