What are you reading?

[Negamuse]

I haven't in a while but I've still got a whole shelf of his stuff, I always found Pet Sematary scarier than It personally, but It sure had its moments. And the Dalk Half, if you know about his history as "Richard Bachman". And Needful Things, which was gleefully evil.

"It" was written at the point, if tales are accurate, that he was doing so much cocaine that cocaine should have a co-author credit and it kind of shows, it's got that hubristic expansiveness that white-powder projects usually have. Huge swathes of the (long!) book doing nothing really to advance the story just shade in the background and develop this sense of evil. I actually read a passage from It for one of my GCSE English exams back in the day (yes, for some reason we had a "reading things aloud" portion). It's a very creepy book.

I kind of think with It when you strip it down to the central idea it's so nearly there, but it needed a bit more of a clear head to push it through to it's logical conclusion. Cos as it is, he kind of goes to a pretty unforgivable place in pursuit of what basically amounts to a pun, that from all accounts the film was wise to sidestep. But Pennywise is an unforgettable villain, one of his best alongside maybe Leland Gaunt from Needful Things.

[Mexicola]

John, I'm so happy you got through House of Leaves. I'm set on my next tattoo being HOL or Dragula themed, but the only thing HOL I can think of is to get, like, a hallway door and just have 5 1/2 min. written on it or something.

Nah. Get 'This is not for you...' tattooed somewhere about your person ha ha!!

[Sherbet Head]

I was given the Doolittle and OK Computer 33⅓ books as Christmas gifts, so I'm visually consuming those at the moment.

Love this series, particularly the books that include in-depth interviews with the actual artists themselves.

[2020k]

@Negamuse
Didn't know King was a cokehead for a while, but I guess that makes sense. I don't mind long reads, but when King doesn't advance the plot, it drives me crazy. This makes sense. A friend of mine stood in line two years ago for two hours to try to get tickets to see him speak. We were about 40 people or so from snagging them when the venue sold out.

I finished It a week or two ago and I agree with you about the unforgivable place the book goes. I didn't like that. I didn't mind anything else in the novel that was along those lines, but that was a little bit too over the line for me (especially when it went on for 15 pages or so). I understood the intention of it and what it was supposed to represent, and it represented a lot, but there's a lot of different directions he could've gone in to describe the power of friendship and the transition out of early childhood other than....that.

I stayed in the It world and watched the movies. I didn't like the 90's one outside of Tim Curry and the one that was released last year was a bit better. I hope they address the beginning of the book with the gay men because, as a gay man, I think that's integral to fear and I was surprised it was omitted from the 90's movie.

I think Pet Semetary is going to be next for me, then Carrie. They're both short. Then I'm taking a break from King for like 50 years.

Right now, since It was a long read, I'm just reading a book on Tarot cards (since I've been into them lately) and the last Kathy Griffin book. I read Kathy on the bus and have been surprised some rabid Trumper hasn't snatched the book out of my hands and thrown it out the door.

@Mexibb
That's actually not a bad idea.

Also, Jesus, I typed DRAGULA. I've been spending way too much time in a drag queen hole. DraCula.

@Sherbet Head
I've never read any of the 33 1/2 books!! I've been tempted to start with Selected Ambient Works Vol 2. What the hell can all of those pages say? "Richard composes these songs based on lucid dreams using synth sounds none of us even know where to begin to create" for 200 pages?

[Cupz]

"Richard composes these songs based on lucid dreams using synth sounds none of us even know where to begin to create" for 200 pages?

I know this is a joke, but just wanted to say I know multiple people on this board that have little problem recreating any synth patch from SAW 1 or 2. Some people are just -that- much into synths.

[Sherbet Head]

@Sherbet Head
I've never read any of the 33 1/2 books!! I've been tempted to start with Selected Ambient Works Vol 2. What the hell can all of those pages say? "Richard composes these songs based on lucid dreams using synth sounds none of us even know where to begin to create" for 200 pages?

I actually started with SAW II too! That particular book barely focuses on the creation process as Rich wasn’t on hand to give interviews. It mainly covers topics like ambient as a genre, the story of RDJ getting signed, how annoying the blank tracklist was for the label and publishers (lol) and the album's influence/legacy. Worth a read.

[2020k]

"Richard composes these songs based on lucid dreams using synth sounds none of us even know where to begin to create" for 200 pages?

I know this is a joke, but just wanted to say I know multiple people on this board that have little problem recreating any synth patch from SAW 1 or 2. Some people are just -that- much into synths.

I'd love to have a conversation with one of these members on how to make the Rhubarb synths. Or have a Skype session where they do it in real time and I sit there on my end drooling.

[Jonse]

"The Origins of Unhappiness" by D. Smail

[jcnporter]

Last novel I read was The Handmaid's Tale, just before watching the TV series. The book's better.

[jcnporter]

Halfway through Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, the first of his 'Southern Reach' trilogy.
Really enjoyed the film, but the book's better, creepy and weird, more than a touch of 'House of Leaves' vibe to it.

[2020k]

Speaking of, I started reading House of Leaves again (third time) because the author put up a Facebook group and is having a book club from now until June. https://www.facebook.com/groups/HouseOfLeavesBookClub/

I keep hearing how amazing both the Annihilation movie and book are. I love Natalie Portman.

[SamuraiDrifter]

Just finished "House of Leaves" myself, amazing book. I'm sure I'll be going back over it for a long time to come. There are hidden messages/codes in some of the letters in the appendix.

Now its on to The Illuminatus! Trilogy.

[jcnporter]

Speaking of, I started reading House of Leaves again (third time) because the author put up a Facebook group and is having a book club from now until June. https://www.facebook.com/groups/HouseOfLeavesBookClub/

I keep hearing how amazing both the Annihilation movie and book are. I love Natalie Portman.

On the third book of the series now - Annihilation's definitely up there with my favourite sci-fi/dystopian future novels. Is there a favourite sci-fi book thread? Probably should be.

[jcnporter]

This just arrived in the post -



It's a collection of the writings from this website that I discovered recently -

http://ayearinthecountry.co.uk/about/

"A Year In The Country is a set of year long explorations of an otherly pastoralism, the undercurrents and flipside of bucolic dreams.
It is a wandering amongst work that takes inspiration from the hidden and underlying tales of the land, the further reaches of folk music and culture and where such things meet and intertwine with the lost futures, spectral histories and parallel worlds of what has come to be known as hauntology."

All of which I've been a bit obsessed with for a while, so right up my street.

[Jonse]

FUCKING NOTHING.

READING IS BORING AS FUCKING SHIT.

i wish i were joking twoism

i wish i didn't actually believe that


but that's how i really feel.

Yet we do it constantly every day ad nauseam.

You'd think, if we spent as much time reading literature as we do meaningless nonsense online, we'd know tenfold more.

You'd think, if we'd courage to talk more often, we wouldn't need to read as much.

[Josh]

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy.

[fujee]

Thanks for recommendation. I've bought this for the princely sum of two pounds.

I'm currently reading this. Enjoying it a lot so far, though it's making me realise the quality of sleep I get could probably be better.

[747Music]

Since I learned Ernest Hemingway is a not too distant uncle of mine, I want to read his books. I think I may start with Old Man and the Sea, but I'm wondering if you folk have a recommendation.

I'm actually looking for a recommendation in general.

EDIT: I suppose I can look through this thread from page 1. I'm sure there are a ton of books already recommended that will be great.

[SamuraiDrifter]

Since I learned Ernest Hemingway is a not too distant uncle of mine, I want to read his books. I think I may start with Old Man and the Sea, but I'm wondering if you folk have a recommendation.

I'm actually looking for a recommendation in general.

EDIT: I suppose I can look through this thread from page 1. I'm sure there are a ton of books already recommended that will be great.

I love Old Man and the Sea! I think that's a good choice for a starter - a quick read, beautiful prose, and quintessential Hemmingway. I'd also recommend some of his short stories if you haven't read them, such as "Snows of Kilimanjaro," or the stories in the collection "In Our Time."

Currently I'm reading "Time & Time Again" by anarcho-primitivist philosopher John Zerzan, a collection of essays analyzing the effect of measured time on human society and arguing that it's had an overall negative impact, suggesting that hunter-gatherer societies are happier and enjoy more leisure time.

[747Music]

Since I learned Ernest Hemingway is a not too distant uncle of mine, I want to read his books. I think I may start with Old Man and the Sea, but I'm wondering if you folk have a recommendation.

I'm actually looking for a recommendation in general.

EDIT: I suppose I can look through this thread from page 1. I'm sure there are a ton of books already recommended that will be great.

I love Old Man and the Sea! I think that's a good choice for a starter - a quick read, beautiful prose, and quintessential Hemmingway. I'd also recommend some of his short stories if you haven't read them, such as "Snows of Kilimanjaro," or the stories in the collection "In Our Time."

Currently I'm reading "Time & Time Again" by anarcho-primitivist philosopher John Zerzan, a collection of essays analyzing the effect of measured time on human society and arguing that it's had an overall negative impact, suggesting that hunter-gatherer societies are happier and enjoy more leisure time.

Thank you for the recommendations!