The Books/Reading Thread

[Einherjar86]

It's been years since I read it, and for all I know what I read was updated English (probably was). But the story itself is timeless and the characters archetypal, as opposed to TCT.

It wouldn't have been updated, Bunyan was writing in modern English. In class we actually discussed the heavily historical nature of its form and structure, since it's a Puritan narrative. Wolfgang Iser argues that it wouldn't have emerged in that form if Protestant Calvinism hadn't been the religious motivation behind it. Pretty drastic claim, but interesting argument; it's with Calvinism that Protestants begin putting lots of emphasis on signs and their meaning, since they believed their fate was predetermined. Thus, a narrative that actually functions partially as a pedagogical tool for interpreting symbols and events makes sense in a Calvinist context.

 

[monoxide_child]

i read "a widow for one year"

i felt like it was just a little too much stuff going on crammed into one single novel

to me it felt like if you just changed the title and edited out all the parts that aren't about Eddie O'Hare, then you would have a really well written biography of Eddie O'Hare

the way the book is written, there's just too much crap going on and the whole part where a witness to a murder gets together with the cop that arrested the killer, that's just lame, like a plot stolen out of a obviously-quickly-written cheezy-romance-novels, you know, the ones that have the month listed as part of the copywrite date

 

[monoxide_child]

Superman Red Son

 

[Einherjar86]

Had a few good hauls over the past couple weeks; hopefully I'll get to all of this eventually:

Have to write a book review on this for potential publication:

 

[monoxide_child]

 

[monoxide_child]

 

[Einherjar86]

Ice Haven is good; disturbing though.

One-hundred pages into Samuel Richardson's Pamela; this book makes me feel dirty.

 

[unknown]

recently finished Hemingway's Nick Adams Stories. I really liked them. They seemed to be the most honest and touching of Hemingway's works. Maybe because it's somewhat autobiographical (from what I've heard).

currently re-reading Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio for the third time.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Recent reads:

Go Tell it on the Mountain by Baldwin. I loved the first part, but the book really lost momentum with the flashbacks and I wasn't especially moved by the ending. Not Baldwin's best and I'm not sure why it's one of his most praised.

Old Man and the Sea by Hemmingway. Good but overrated. Excessively romantic and not really believable with this old dude punching sharks in the face. I found some of the motifs somewhat tiring as well.

Patriotism by Mishima. Singlehandedly the most intense 57 pages of literature I've read. Sex and ritual suicide fusing to express the essence love and self-transcendence without denying the absolutism of death. Highly recommended.

Starting Invisible Cities by Calvino. Not really clicking right away. Don't know if I'm willing to give it the time right now. Might just read East of Eden instead.

Just breaking in to Nietzsche's Will to Power; mostly through book one. Definitely feels more like a loose collection of notes than a coherent composition (which is what it is). Still, there's always a lot to be gained from reading more Nietzsche.

 

[unknown]

Invisible Cities is a book for writers and the lover of the written word. It's one of those few books where I wanted to underline every goddamn sentence and simultaneously cut my hands off because I knew I'd never be able to write sentences that beautifully

 

[Einherjar86]

I used to try my hand at creative writing a lot; still do sometimes, but I've conceded that criticism (rather than fiction) is my future if I want to even attempt to earn a living. Every time I pick up a McCarthy novel I'm overwhelmed by the realization that I'll likely never be able to write like that.

 

[Cronopio]

Starting Invisible Cities by Calvino. Not really clicking right away. Don't know if I'm willing to give it the time right now. Might just read East of Eden instead.

Stick with it. You will be rewarded.

Invisible Cities is a book for writers and the lover of the written word. It's one of those few books where I wanted to underline every goddamn sentence and simultaneously cut my hands off because I knew I'd never be able to write sentences that beautifully

This.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

I used to try my hand at creative writing a lot; still do sometimes, but I've conceded that criticism (rather than fiction) is my future if I want to even attempt to earn a living. Every time I pick up a McCarthy novel I'm overwhelmed by the realization that I'll likely never be able to write like that.

Stick with it. You will be rewarded.

Yeah I think I just need to change the setting I'm trying to read it in. My work is slow enough that I can read there, but I'm still interrupted a decent amount- so I probably need to stick to more plot-driven books while there.

Maybe I'll try reading it at a quiet cafe or something. I am a casual writer of fiction, so I do love a well crafted sentence or eloquently conveyed setting.

 

[Cronopio]

Yeah I think I just need to change the setting I'm trying to read it in. My work is slow enough that I can read there, but I'm still interrupted a decent amount- so I probably need to stick to more plot-driven books while there.

Maybe I'll try reading it at a quiet cafe or something. I am a casual writer of fiction, so I do love a well crafted sentence or eloquently conveyed setting.

The thing with that book (Invisible Cities) is that you can read a page here, a page there. You don't have to read from cover to cover. Sure, there's a frame-story thing going on, but it's not the most important thing in the book.

 

[monoxide_child]

Ice Haven is good; disturbing though.

you didn't like the other books i'm reading??

One-hundred pages into Samuel Richardson's Pamela; this book makes me feel dirty.

odd book

 

[Einherjar86]

you didn't like the other books i'm reading??

What the hell is wrong with you?

 

[Doomguy]

New haul arrived from Amazon, keen to get reading through these.

Chuck Palahniuk - Rant
Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment (Hardcover)
Mo Yan - Life & Death are Wearing Me Out
A.D. Hope - Selected Poetry and Prose
Charles Bukowski - Post Office (Hardcover)

 

[unknown]

picked up mark z. danielewski's new (old) book The Fifty Year Sword the other day. We'll see how it is

 

[Einherjar86]

^Hoping to get that as a gift this holiday season. I actually saw Danielewski give a reading and Q&A last week at a local bookstore here in Boston. It was awesome; he read two passages from House of Leaves, then answered a bunch of questions before concluding with a reading from The Fifty-Year Sword. The section he read was creepy.

Assignments for this weekend:

The Anti-Pamela is very good so far; clever, entertaining, and far more enjoyable than Richardson's original. I haven't started Shamela yet, but it's really short.

I've read the first two chapters of this; interesting, haven't arrived at a verdict yet.

 

[skeptik]

I've never heard of Anti-Pamela before, but Shamela is amusing.