The Books/Reading Thread

[Funerary_Doom]

^ That looks really interesting! Don't think i've ever read any horror philosophy.

Edit: well except Lovecraft.

Currently reading Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney. It's great so far, about 100 pages in.

 

[Vimana]

Just finished The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. Pretty interesting, but nothing I didn't get from tripping and meditating on nonduality.

I also finished Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter. Well, I think I finished it. The book seems to be hinting that the rest of the book is pointless material put there for those that do not understand the subject of the book. I may read some of it, but I have more stuff on my list.

 

[Manic Ferocity]

About 2/3 of the way through A Feast for Crows. Very slow and the new characters don't really stand out much. Whatever, I heard this was the case, and I enjoy Martin's writing enough to continue reading anyway.

On another note, I ordered a bunch of weird fiction compilations including the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Marchen, Robert W. Chambers, and Clark Ashton Smith. Anxious to crack into these once they arrive.

 

[Einherjar86]

Very cool. I've been teaching weird fiction in my classes. I always include at least one week of Poe, and then usually do an Ambrose Bierce story, and then a week of Lovecraft.

I still haven't read Chambers, anxious to get to him eventually.

 

[Zephyrus]

Getting in the habit of reading Lovecraft's short stories before going to (i.e. beyond the wall of) sleep. They're the perfect length for that.

 

[unknown]

I'm currently working on T E D Klein's The Ceremonies right now. Obscure weird fiction author from the 80s. Surprisingly I found The Ceremonies and Dark Gods, a collection of four stories, on ebay

 

[Manic Ferocity]

Getting in the habit of reading Lovecraft's short stories before going to (i.e. beyond the wall of) sleep. They're the perfect length for that.

Not the case with The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (which I'm reading now). It's around 80 pages long.

 

[Dak]

and then usually do an Ambrose Bierce story

Hopefully not Owl Creek.

 

[Einherjar86]

No. I teach "The Damned Thing" or "The Eyes of the Panther."

But I see nothing wrong with "Owl Creek."

 

[unknown]

Not the case with The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (which I'm reading now). It's around 80 pages long.

That's also his most Dunsany-esque piece if I remember correctly

 

[Einherjar86]

Finished Gibson's Neuromancer. Great book, and my edition includes a fabulous afterward that I'll probably ask my students to read when I teach the novel this fall.

Not sure what I'm onto next, but I have a couple books waiting for me. I think I'm going to dive into David Mitchell's Ghostwritten, but I also have a new book by Tom McCarthy and a few from the library...

And a few works of literary theory that I'm interested in:

 

[Blind Guardian]

Finished Gibson's Neuromancer. Great book, and my edition includes a fabulous afterward that I'll probably ask my students to read when I teach the novel this fall.

I always think of that book when I listen to Beherit's H418ov21.C and Electric Doom Synthesis. I don't even remember the plot but I think the atmosphere was more important than anything to Gibson when he wrote it.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Reading this for part of my thesis. The introduction, alone, is fucking fascinating.

 

[Zephyrus]

Elaborate on this thesis, Michael.

 

[Einherjar86]

Yes... elaborate...

I always think of that book when I listen to Beherit's H418ov21.C and Electric Doom Synthesis. I don't even remember the plot but I think the atmosphere was more important than anything to Gibson when he wrote it.

I think so too. Much of what's written on Neuromancer insists that Gibson was targeting the atmosphere and attitude of the 1980s, rather than a material vision of the future. He was trying to expose something of the underlying paranoia and addict culture.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Uh, it on Book 1 of Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" and about Spenser's heroic characters and stuff.

 

[Einherjar86]

Does it have an argument? If you're concerned about boring people, don't be; Mike and I are in fact probably the two people here most likely to find what you have to say interesting.

 

[Zephyrus]

I'm interested, too, for I am assuming he'll be discussing the influences of prior epics upon the construction of these characters.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

I'm sort of adapting it from a research paper I wrote last semester and turning it into a thesis. I can send you guys a copy of that paper sometime if you guys desire. I'll have to edit it and add a few new things before I send them though.

Basically, I interrogate Spenser's conception of heroism found in Book I and discuss how it is both similar to his predecessors and totally his own creation. Specifically, I am focusing on Redcrosse Knight as the hero. I've already drawn parallels between RDC and Homer, and after reading Vergil I DEFINITELY see a big influence there, but there is still something different about Spenser's heroics. I talk a lot about humility and swallowing pride (Orgoglio) in favor of teamwork. Shit like that.

 

[Dak]

But I see nothing wrong with "Owl Creek."

A most predictable piece, and boring. Had such trouble writing any non-negative critique of it for an English class - had to remain non-negative since the teacher was so high on it - the same position I was put in for Canterbury Tales.