skeptik
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- Feb 7, 2003
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The Books/Reading Thread
- Thread starter Matt
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Wolves83
Nordland III
Cronopio
Glorious Imperator
unknown
fuck ftagn
Mine has tape along the spine and is heavily underlined. The best stories, imo, were later put into the collection The Shadow at the Bottom of the World
also, the individual collections which comprise The Nightmare Factory are being re-released
also, the individual collections which comprise The Nightmare Factory are being re-released
Raina
Cineva de undeva.
unknown
fuck ftagn
It's a collection of short stories by Thomas Ligotti who writes what could be called "existential horror". If you're a fan at all of Lovecraft, Poe or any other classic horror writers, then you should check him out. He has a very nihilistic view of the world and writes very beautifully
Einherjar86
Active Member
I'm gonna have to check that guy out.
I'm almost done with China Mieville's Kraken. It's my least favorite so far in comparison with his others (and I'm expecting it to maintain that status unless the ending absolutely rips the ground out from under me). It's a great concept, but not quite as serious as his previous efforts. That's not saying a novel has to be serious to be good, but Mieville's humorous side gets a bit too long-winded; if he wanted to write a somewhat comic book, it should be a bit shorter and not the mammoth undertaking that Kraken is. I think of Melville's quote "To write a mighty book, one must choose a mighty theme;" the Kraken, of course, is a mighty theme, but to add to the irony it would have been great if about 200 pages were cut. There's a lot of mindless running around and dark, grotesque London underworld buffoonery (which, despite its redundancy, is madly entertaining) comprised of "gunfarmers," whose bullets grow in their hosts' bodies to produce more "gun-spawn;" "knuckleheads," who have fists where their heads should be; a crimelord who's made up of nothing more than ink in a tattoo; two terrifying hoodlums for a crimelord who are in the nasty habit of practicing origami on human beings; and much more...
I think unknown, Dodens, some of you guys would enjoy it; you just have to remember that this book is Mieville kicking back and having a blast. It's not as intellectually or verbally engaging as his other novels that I've read.
Once I'm done with Kraken, I may move on to Mieville's Iron Council; not sure yet, I have a few others sitting around waiting for me, including Gibson's Pattern Recognition, Gaiman's American Gods and Roth's American Pastoral (I realize that final one is a bit out of place).
Before I do anything else though, I'm finishing this; 100 pages in and it's the best Dick novel I've ever read:
I'm almost done with China Mieville's Kraken. It's my least favorite so far in comparison with his others (and I'm expecting it to maintain that status unless the ending absolutely rips the ground out from under me). It's a great concept, but not quite as serious as his previous efforts. That's not saying a novel has to be serious to be good, but Mieville's humorous side gets a bit too long-winded; if he wanted to write a somewhat comic book, it should be a bit shorter and not the mammoth undertaking that Kraken is. I think of Melville's quote "To write a mighty book, one must choose a mighty theme;" the Kraken, of course, is a mighty theme, but to add to the irony it would have been great if about 200 pages were cut. There's a lot of mindless running around and dark, grotesque London underworld buffoonery (which, despite its redundancy, is madly entertaining) comprised of "gunfarmers," whose bullets grow in their hosts' bodies to produce more "gun-spawn;" "knuckleheads," who have fists where their heads should be; a crimelord who's made up of nothing more than ink in a tattoo; two terrifying hoodlums for a crimelord who are in the nasty habit of practicing origami on human beings; and much more...
I think unknown, Dodens, some of you guys would enjoy it; you just have to remember that this book is Mieville kicking back and having a blast. It's not as intellectually or verbally engaging as his other novels that I've read.
Once I'm done with Kraken, I may move on to Mieville's Iron Council; not sure yet, I have a few others sitting around waiting for me, including Gibson's Pattern Recognition, Gaiman's American Gods and Roth's American Pastoral (I realize that final one is a bit out of place).
Before I do anything else though, I'm finishing this; 100 pages in and it's the best Dick novel I've ever read:
Cronopio
Glorious Imperator
Very good description, man. I'd say the leitmotif in Ligotti's work might be just that: The march towards annihilation. In that sense, he echoes Lovecraft, who said The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. In terms of literary tone, he's more like Poe, though. I think Ligotti once named Poe and the Polish writer Bruno Schulz two of his influences.
For those about to burrow into Ligotti: Don't expect instant gratification with his stories, though. They take their time and need to be revisited and reread. It's more like he plants an idea inside your mind, a seed, something that starts to grow. Sure, that's what all good writers should do, but I think I misunderstood him quite a lot the first time I read him. These are stories of horror and dark fantasy alright, but moreso of the existentialist kind, just like unknown wrote.
On a sidenote, I think Ligotti stated in an interview once that "literature is entertainment, or it is nothing." That redeems him even more in my book. It's a pretty humble statement coming from a person with such bleak a worldview to acknowledge and accept the fact that stories and fiction are, most importantly, entertainment, yarns that need to be able to catch us and weave us in in order for us to ... succumb.
I dunno. Just read the guy.
Thank you so much for the description of the novel. I had Kraken pinned down as some sort of fantasy version of Moby Dick, but I love it when authors weave in all kinds of details and stuff that might or might not have to do with the main story, but that adds to the milieu. Some say this might be basic fiction writing, but what the hell. The bullets growing inside people is like Giger by way of Barker and Vandermeer (who has a penchant for water based creatures such as squid). I also recall a story by Australian writer Terry Dowling in which there was a theory about a gun that grew its own bullets. I love shit like that.
Einherjar86
Active Member
It's a very good book; I think Mieville is miles beyond most writers working today. That said, Kraken definitely owes a debt to Moby-Dick (the descriptions of teuthology are especially indebted), but it's nothing like the composition of Melville's classic. There's a lot of fantastic "weird fiction" elements strewn throughout.
I really hope Mieville isn't moving in a more mainstream direction. His fiction is so amazing; his next book is supposedly his first endeavor into true science fiction. Needless to say, my expectations are high.
I really hope Mieville isn't moving in a more mainstream direction. His fiction is so amazing; his next book is supposedly his first endeavor into true science fiction. Needless to say, my expectations are high.
Raina
Cineva de undeva.
Ligotti sounds really interesting, I like classic horror, I'll see what I can find by him. Should I start with his short stories, or with something else to better understand his ideas?
Cronopio
Glorious Imperator
Raina: As he has only written short stories (and essays), start with them. The Nightmare Factory edition that Wolves83 posted has gone out of print, as has the first editions of his single collections. The earlier works, as unknown stated, are being rereleased, but most of them are expensive collector's editions. However, there are som mass market paperbacks. Try to get your hands on The Shadow At The Bottom Of The World or Teatro Grottesco.
Raina
Cineva de undeva.
Ok, thank you. It's not like I could be very picky about it from the very beginning, but I asked anyway. I'm not even sure if I'll find something by this author around here... but I'll find it somehow, at least in digital format.
unknown
fuck ftagn
Wolves83
Nordland III
Einherjar86
Active Member
Jimmy... Dead.
contemplative curmudgeon
Hey Dodens, I just bought the Commemorative Edition of Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H. P. Lovecraft. Any suggestions on where to start or just some personal favorites?
JontRevolting
FALSE ARREST! FALSE ARREST!
I have the Commemorative Edition of Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H. P. Lovecraft also,it's the first time i've read any Lovecraft and i'm really loving it.Can anyone recommend any other books with his work that contain different stories to what included in that book.
skeptik
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Oh hell yes I do. This is essentially an overview of evolution of his writing, notably bypassing his Dunsanian fantastic works (for which I would recommend The Dream-Quest of Unknown-Kadath...but not before you already love Lovecraft, because otherwise it will make you hate him):
Dagon
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
The Statement of Randolph Carter
The Temple
The Other Gods
The Outsider
The Music of Erich Zann
The Festival
The Rats in the Walls
The Call of Cthulhu
Pickman's Model
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
The Shadow over Innsmouth
The Shadow out of Time
I don't know about the version that you have, but if it's not edited with footnotes by Joshi, I would highly recommend in the future picking up some editions with his editing and notes because they're extremely enlightening and really help to enrich not only the context of the story itself but the context of the author in relation to the story. The Penguin editions of The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories, and The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories contain all of his completed prose fiction works that were not collaborative or ghost-written for other people (although one or two are ghost-written, such as Under the Pyramids which he wrote for Harry Houdini).
