The Books/Reading Thread

[The Ozzman]

Don DeLillo is awesome. Have you read any of his other work, Einherjar?

 

[Einherjar86]

Yes indeed! And he is awesome. I've read White Noise, which is probably my favorite of his. Lately I've been interested in his post-9/11 work, so I've read Falling Man and Point Omega (I actually read the latter in one day, it's a very quick read). DeLillo has been doing a lot of what critics are calling "post-terrorism" work, which is a horrible descriptor, but it is a major theme of his more recent novels.

Which of his books have you read?

 

[The Ozzman]

Only White Noise and Libra (which is a favorite of mine).

I own Underworld and got about 2/3 through the book and stopped because I lost interest. I need to re read it though along with White Noise.

 

[Einherjar86]

Yeah, Underworld is a bit daunting. I haven't braved that one yet, although 20th-century American is my area, so I'll likely tackle it at some point.

 

[The Ozzman]

I need to explore more of his work though. I just have so many books I need to read or re-read right now that it isn't feasible.

 

[wandering_taco]

I really liked White Noise, I'll probably check out more Delillo at some point. Haven't been reading a whole lot the last couple months though. I gotta get back on that. I feel like I have too many time consuming hobbies and I just cycle through them and then do nothing for a while, then start the cycle again. Right now I've mostly been doing nothing.

 

[zerostatic]

Starting a Masters degree in Special Education this fall at UNLV. Here are some of the books I get to read:
How to Be Black
Multiplication is for White People
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
The Short Bus

It should be a great semester.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

At this point, I'd say The Road is probably his most famous in that more people would claim to know it, either because of the movie or because of Oprah. But I know what Mike means, and I agree that Blood Meridian is by far his best work, and probably one of the best American novels ever written (it's my favorite American novel of the 20th century). It isn't aesthetically postmodern, despite being published in 1985; it's more like a great late modern novel that missed the boat, but so accurately and terrifying captures the explosive violence that accompanied westward expansion. And it also contains one of the greatest villains in the history of literature: the Judge is a villain on a Shakespearean level.

I'm definitely intrigued. Is the Judge a modern day Iago?

 

[Einherjar86]

Harold Bloom, who is one of the most influential literary critics of the 20th century, explicitly compares the Judge to Iago. I'm not a fan of Bloom's introduction to the novel, but I am in agreement with some of his comparisons: in addition to Iago, he also claims that Blood Meridian shares a strong affinity with Moby-Dick. But the Judge isn't Ahab, Bloom says; he's the white whale. There are really dozens of profound and subtle literary allusions in that novel.

 

[Blind Guardian]

 

[unknown]

Starting a Masters degree in Special Education this fall at UNLV. Here are some of the books I get to read:
How to Be Black
Multiplication is for White People
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
The Short Bus

It should be a great semester.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed is pretty standard for education people these days. Take it with a grain of salt. It's good but Freire is pretty intense.

definitely agree with the Judge being compared to the White Whale.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Trying to get some lit in before school starts. Reading The Great Gatsby for the first time. Fitzgerald sure has a way with words, especially when he describes settings but sometimes I just get so sick of reading about bourgeois. I don't really give a fuck. But I'm only a 1/4 of the way through it.

 

[wandering_taco]

There is a scene in that book that has some of the most tangible tension I've ever experienced while reading a book. It is a great read.

 

[monoxide_child]

The Great Gatsby sucked

now i'm reading this

and yes
this book does talk about a male who fakes orgasms

 

[Einherjar86]

The Great Gatsby sucked

I don't believe you actually read it.

So I'll ignore you. As usual.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

Thug Notes with Sparky Sweets, PhD. Maybe ya'll bitch asses will learn sumin

 

[Einherjar86]

Reading this for class; not much new from today's standards, but still a really detailed study of cultural reaction to the process of incorporation in America, and it seems like a good text to consider alongside other fictional work:

 

[Einherjar86]

Never read this before. I admit I have some catching up to do:

 

[rms]

Starting Paradise Lost for my British Lit class, pretty interested to see what's up with that poem.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Man, Paradise Lost might be the greatest thing ever written in the English language.