Aja on 23/4/2009 at 18:16
Quote Posted by demagogue
Faulkner (Sound & the Fury)
Out of curiosity, how many times did you read this? In one sitting I read through the entire chapter where
Quentin kills himself and when it was over, although I was riveted, I had no idea what had actually happened, and had to look it up on wikipedia. A few sparse references to stuffing his jacket with irons didn't really clue me in, unless there was other evidence I missed.
demagogue on 23/4/2009 at 18:28
No, you've got a good point. I've read it a lot of times. It definately comes with a big footnote like where you're going with your comment.
It's the kind of book meant to be re-read and dwelt on, where little turns of phrases can carry a lot of weight you might not (probably won't) notice on first blush (the conceit of the book is it's narrating the actual experience the characters are going through rather than just the action that happens; in the scene you're talking about the guy is in such a frenzy that stuff is getting blurred in his mind), and having the wiki on hand makes it better going. It's just my personality that really gets absorbed into those kinds of books, and I realize that's not everybody's bag. I took the topic as books you always go back to. For me, that's books that you kind of read ritualistically; you already know what happens to the smallest details, and anyway read the commentaries to get some deeper perspectives, but you still read it to absorb yourself in its world, and dig up little nuances you never noticed before. I tend to like books that lend themselves to that.
I should also say I'm the kind of person that reads the script of a movie before I watch it so I know what to look for, and seeing it still interests me, if that gives you an idea of the kind of personality that likes a book like that.
Morte on 23/4/2009 at 18:34
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
I knew Catch 22 was going to show up here a lot. Goddamn it if I didn't try to like that book but it was near impenetrable for me. It just jumped all over the place.
The non-chronological narrative is a bit of a barrier, but once you come to grips with that it's brilliant. I devoured it in a day or two when I read it, and I suspect that helps a lot when dealing with the structure.
My hand's down favourite book has to be James Ellroy's American Tabloid. An alternate history of America told from the view of organized crime, and three people on the middle rungs of power trying to make their way, and ultimately losing quite a lot. It's noir on steroids. Dark, insanely driven, very depraved and should by most rights be considered libel.
It starts off like this:
Quote:
He always shot up by TV light.
Some spics waved guns. The head spic plucked bugs from his beard and fomented. Black & white footage; CBS geeks in jungle fatigues. A newsman said, Cuba, bad juju - Fidel Castro's rebels vs. Fulgencio Batista's standing army.
Howard Hughes found a vein and mainlined codeine. Pete watched on the sly - Hughes left his door ajar.
The dope hit home. Big Howard went slack-faced.
Room service carts clattered outside. Hughes wiped off his spike and flipped channels. The "Howdy Dowdy" show replaced the news - standard Beverly Hills hotel business.
Pete walked out to the patio - pool view, a good bird-dog spot. Crappy weather today: no starlet types in bikinis.
He checked his watch, antsy.
He had a divorce gig at noon - the husband drank lunch alone and dug young cooze. Get
quality flashbulbs: blurry photos looked like spiders fucking. On Hughes' timecard: find out who's hawking subpoenas for the TWA andtitrust divestment case and bribe them into reporting that Big Howard blasted off for Mars.
Crafty Howard put it this way: "I'm not going to fight this divestment, Pete. I'm simply going to stay incommunicado indefinitely and force the price up until I
have to sell. I'm tired of TWA anyway, and I'm not going to sell until I can realize
at least five hundred million dollars.
He said it pouty: Lord Fauntleroy, aging junkie.
Ava Gardner cruised by the pool. Pete waved; Ava flipped the bird. They went back: he got her an abortion in exchange for a weekend with Hughes. Renaissance Man Pete: pimp, dope procurer, licensed PI goon.
and speeds along towards the Death of Hope and other comfortable places. It's fantastic.
Jason Moyer on 23/4/2009 at 18:49
Threads like this make me sad, because 95% of my library is non-fiction. I guess favorites would be either of the Dirk Gently novels, HG Wells' Empire of the Ants (I'm sure much better collections of his short stores exist now, but this has my favorites), 2001, and EE Cummings 1x1. The books I really like and reread over and over though, tend to be shit like Schoenberg's Theory of Harmony (which is a piss poor music theory book, but a great philosophy one) and basically anything Bill James has written.
fett on 23/4/2009 at 19:14
Quote Posted by Starrfall
Fett read all of the Twilight novels in one night its true.
Edward is so dreamy in a non-homosexual kind of way. Like Scots in his kilt. :p
st.patrick on 23/4/2009 at 19:42
Been thinking about a few more books/writers I like... here goes:
Salman Rushdie: The Moor's Last Sigh - it's damn long (~ 600 pages) but worth every single one of them. Magical Realism in its finest. If you're not really into books that long, go for East , West. Short stories, intriguing, violent, intense like hell.
Richard Adams - Watership Down. Basically, it's a book about rabbits. Rabbits capable of thinking and expressing themselves, though in a distinct way, who need to escape from their doomed colony and establish a new home. If you're into animals, this one is a must (my rabbit is sitting next to me right now :) ).
Ben Bova - Mars. A near future sci-fi tale of an expedition to (surprise) Mars. Very realistic, very lifelike.
june gloom on 23/4/2009 at 20:30
I loved Watership Down. I still have it somewhere.
A look at the books I have piled on my bookshelf reveal a few other winners:
Simon Spurrier's WH40K novel Lord of the Night. In a way I thought this one transcended its subject matter. It turns into a harrowing psychological drama and character study. I would actually say it's the best WH40K novel ever written. Funny thing is, I picked it up on a whim when I had an extra $7 and I am so glad I did. The final few chapters of the book are heartwrenching. I think even a non-40K fan would enjoy this book.
Similar gushing, different source material: Aliens: Berserker. I've read basically all the Aliens novels in my late teens, but Berserker stands out as one of the better ones. Obviously the plot can be expected to be "contact lost, team goes in, kills bugs"- which is to be expected considering it's an adapation of a comic book miniseries like all the other novels- but S. D. Perry may have hit her stride with this book in terms of characterization and mood-setting. Her descriptions of the hive, from the point of view of the guy whose job it is to get captured (he wears a protective suit for this purpouse, including facemask) so that the others can home in on his beacon and find the hive proper, are quite unsettling. We watch this character's psyche slowly detoriate from having done this over and over again, we watch the other characters attempt to deal with their own sins. It's a really great book and I'd highly recommend it.
Lastly, James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia (the one the movie is based on.) Very gripping detective novel that attempts to explore the Black Dahlia murder, the events and people surrounding it, and lastly gives it what the real murder never had- closure.
TBE on 23/4/2009 at 21:09
I see someone tagged Mein Kampf to this thread. Although the subject matter is not the best, and the writing/speaking style of AH is complex, it's a book that should be read in a historical context.
A book that I recently read and found interesting was (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future_of_Freedom) The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria. I tend to read more books now for history sake more than for escaping like I used to. When I was a child, I got the boxed set of the Chronicles of Narnia. I think I read about 2 books in one day. I became lost in the fictional world. I don't think a lot of children now read books like this. A small number do, but for the most part, I haven't met any kids that like reading. Sometimes I think people like Ted Kazinski had a good idea when they wanted to move away from technology. Just, without the bombing part, you know. ;)
Only read this part if you promise not to start any arguments.
Another book that I think a lot of you people on here would enjoy is "From my Cold Dead Fingers - Why America Needs Guns." Now, I'm not trying to start one of those arguments, but it's a book that's a good read because of the facts presented. The writer is not a professional writer by any means, and the book is almost text book material, but it may shed some light on us crazy Americans to you guys overseas.june gloom on 23/4/2009 at 21:22
Promising and following through on that promise are two different things.
Syndy/3 on 23/4/2009 at 21:33
The reactionary tower, the guy who cannot count, is gonna go offline. Ted Kaczynski was a friend of mine.
