Sypha Nadon on 30/4/2008 at 03:16

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Sorry, SE, read your post in a bit of a rush. I have heard of "African Psycho." I thought it was just released in France though? Has it been released in English yet? I'll have to look into that.

Hier, I find that with long books one should start them only on a day off and read as much as one can the first day... make a big dent right from the get-go as it were.

Frozenman, I do have "Against the Day" also but I'm not sure if I'll get to it this year, perhaps... it is quite long as you noted. We'll see.

Heretic, I tried reading "Atlas Shrugged" last year (after "The Fountainhead") but couldn't get more than 100 pages into it. "Fountainhead" at the very least had characters that were somewhat fleshed out (and an interesting antagonist) but I found "Atlas" to be unreadable. I also don't really like Rand's politics/philosophy at all, though I do admire her artistic integrity, and her journals make for fascinating reading. I may give it another chance one day though.

demagogue, "Maldoror" has been one of my all-time faves for years now... I especially love the scene in which the title character has sexual intercourse with a shark. Funny you mention Murakami, a lot of my friends love his stuff. One of these days...

Oh boy, just got Paul J. McAuley's "Pasquale's Angel" in the mail today. I think I saw that book referenced in an old Thief review once so I'm kind of curious about that one.

Mr.Duck on 1/5/2008 at 11:57

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I've just finished tonite the second novel of a series of kickass Mexican noir/police novels by Paco Ignacio Taibo II from one of his most famous characters, the half Irish, half Spaniard, all Mexican (being born, raised, acting as such) private dick, Belascoarán Shayne. Humphrey Bogart meets leftist thoughts, existencialism in a most decadent 70s Mexico City (black humor to spare!). Can't get enough of Shayne and of Taibo II. Man writes some funny shit (he has other types of novels, but I think this is his only series I have knowledge of).

How can you go wrong with a guy that has in one of his cases one that involves finding Emiliano Zapata because, apparently, he wasn't killed in 1919? :D

Great times.

mol on 3/5/2008 at 07:01

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Holy shi that's some serious reading there, peeps. Makes me embarrassed, really. I used to read a lot, but these days I don't seem to be able to set aside the time to properly enjoy a book, and my reading sessions are reduced to few pages before bedtime. Obviously not the way to read anything that would require your full attention. But the situation is improving...

So, no novels yet, but instead this sort of stuff:

On The Edge: My Story by Richard Hammond. A really good read. How he still is alive is nothing short of a miracle.
May on Motors by James May. Collection of newspaper columns by James May, on subjects relating to, albeit sometimes only just or from a quirky angle, cars or motors. A jolly good read, often laugh-out-loud funny, clever, witty, observant - James May.
James May's 20th Century by James May and Phil Dolling, is a fantastic cross-section of inventions and innovations from the 20th century, how they came to be and how they've shaped our lives.
William Shakespeare, The Complete Works Second Edition, Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor General Editors. Slowly working my way through these classics. Yeah, this is the exception to the rule, some serious literature among lighter entertainment.
The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose.
Kirkolle by (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/vkilpi.htm) Volter Kilpi. Finnish classics.
Molecular Gastronomy by Hérve This. What really happens to the food when you're cooking? How much mayonnaise can be made with just a drop of yolk (or, in fact, the egg white, or even gelatin)? Several litres, in fact. Why is it necessary to let a roast or a steak 'rest' after cooking? To allow the juices to flow back in the meat? It's the exact opposite - to allow them to seep from the inside out. The reason is pure chemistry and physiology. A fantastic book for chefs and everyone passionate about food and cooking. Debunking a lot of myths, explaining tons of stuff.
The Devil in the Kitchen, an autobiography by Marco Pierre White.
Hyperion, and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. (Reread). Still probably the best novels I've ever read, or at least I can't remember any books having had a similar impact on me. A truly stunning reading experience.
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I've been reading this for quite some time - or let's say I read it for a while, and haven't been reading it now for quite some time - and now decided I would finish it. I'm not sure what to make of this - I know the reputation of this book is huge, and it's supposed to be a fantastic read. And in many ways it is. But it's also one massive intellectual masturbation and ego trip by Eco, showing his clearly boundless breadth and depth of knowledge on history, philosophy, culture, arts, and esoterica. At times it seems like he wrote the whole book as a joke, cramming in as many esoteric references, codes and conspiracies as he could get away with, chuckling to himself as he wrote it. There is so much stuff in the book that it would take a person as educated and culturally learned a person as Eco himself to be able to fully appreciate and understand the book. It's a strange piece of work. Not a book I can say I enjoy terribly as a novel, but amazing in the sheer amount of esoteric references woven into the story. Just for that, it's worth reading.

Looking at books in this thread and marking some down as possible summer reading.

Fragony on 3/5/2008 at 21:13

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Should apreciate this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_leaves)

Sypha Nadon on 4/5/2008 at 02:20

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I think one of the only real problems I have with Eco's writing is that he can kind of meander at times. Of course, he did spend about 5-6 pages describing a door in his first novel, so this isn't totally a suprise. I'm about halfway through "Pendulum" now, and it does seem a tad bit overlong... the chapter that is set in Brazil, in particular, seems like a tangent.

I haven't been too overwhelmed by the book, however. Perhaps because I've read a lot about secret socities and the occult over the years, and thus know a bit about what Eco's talking about and can thus get the references. I suppose his ideal reader is one who is clueless about these topics. I wonder how much research he had to put into the book, and how much of it he already knew before starting the project... the book's structure is inspired by the qabalist Tree of Life. "Illuminatus" did pretty much the same thing 13 years before "Pendulum" came out. I don't know if Eco ever read that trilogy though.