Ten Little New Yorkers Richard "Kinky" Friedman. The Kinksta's Reichenbach Falls.

i'll be starting this one today ---

People of Paper -- Salvador Plascencia

loved it... now moving onto 1984.

Giving Sterne's Tristam Shandy a try--knowing what I do know, I probably won't finish it, but I will enjoy the wacky post-modern wit (written looooong before post-modern was post-modern) while I do.

For relaxation, Stephen King's Colorado Kid (a good old fashion crime story) [attachmentid=184]

and Nicholson Baker's Checkpoint (supposedly about a dude's plan to assassinate a certain President we all know and love)[attachmentid=185]

Just finished it and loved the ending. Wasn't mind-blowing, but the debate that results is fun to partake in. This will go down on the list of good books I've read in high school so far (Middlesex being the last entry).

What were some of the bad ones?

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (Michael Dorris)
The Scarlet Letter

For a book that's about people who seem to have predestined fates and immutable futures, this certainly had a non-commital ending. Were you satisfied by the ending, Ben? I guess I'm like Okada myself, I want concrete facts!

I would call the existentialism more than faint. I thought it was interesting that all the principal characters in the book were pushed forward by these horrible inescapable terrors in their lives while Okada as the main character was this totally normal person headed in the oppisite direction and ends up colliding with all of them.

What was with the guy climbing the tree and the other guy burying the heart? I felt like I was missing something crucial there by not catching who exactly they were. Also (trying not to give anything away to people who haven't read the book) is there supposed to be a particular significance to what happens with Nutmeg's husband, or is that intentionally left unexplained?

The historical war element (particularly with the zoo) was actually very similar to Jonathan Safran Foer's last book, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." I wonder if Safran Foer is a Murakami fan. It wouldn't surprise me.

I haven't read the entire thread to see if this has been mentioned before, but right now I'm reading

It's a really funny fake almanac written by John Hodgman who contributes on NPR and has been on the Daily Show a few times over the last couple months as an expert correspondent.

Raj, please, PLEASE, don't mention those three words on this board ever again.

Hear, hear! That, and A Tale of Two Cities were my senior year lit low points.

At the risk of sounding like a pedant, an obscurantist, or just a plain old artsy-fartsy apologist, I'd like to suggest that maybe the vagueness is kind of the point. I think you can make the argument that it's a failure of imagination or artistry on Murakami's part, and I've talked to other readers who have (although they typically just say the ending was a let down and leave it at that), but I suspect that the connection between the dream-like quality of Murkami's fiction, his phenomological, think-through-your-senses philosophy toward life, and the mysterious, often confounding plotting of his stories is no accident.

I think that's how Murakami views the world. Men and women confronted with the often terrible facts of life and struggling to make sense. The best they accomplish is a wild stab at understanding, yet, regardless, we're all capitivated by the fascinating mystery. It's a beautiful frustration. There's lots of yearning. Just as faces are always rising to the surface of the abstract paintings at the museum, we sense symbols everywhere. And even the ugly shit is somehow mesmerizing. I've never read a writer who could make a graphic torture passage so appetizing.

If you look at it that way, I don't know how you could hammer home a traditional loop-de-loop finisher. It wouldn't fit either.If you read more Murkami, you'll see that the blank faced protagonist is standard operating procedure. I don't know if it's an alter ego thing or what, but the real HM is, you may not be surprised to learn, a quiet Japanese dude with a gigantic jazz record collection who loves cooking and is fascinated by post-war American culture, especially the loner protagonists of noir and western films. Without getting too psychobabbly, I think the character probably represents HM himself grappling with the wild world whipping around his own life, which he may perceive as a rather mundane affair.Frankly, I don't remember the details of the story enough to say. Sorry! I really should reread this sometime. Maybe I've got rose tinted memory.I haven't read any JSF, outside of the Times editorial page, but I do know that he is the darling of the New Yorkerish literary scene, and that publication has, through the years, printed a whole lot of Murakami. He's sort of like some weird Carver descendant (RC himself being a NYer contributor, although not a particularly distinguished one) that is easy for Americans to digest but still blessed with WORLD LITERATURE bona fides.

If your interest is piqued, but you're looking for something a little more conventional, I'd suggest Norwegian Wood, which is essentially a coming-of-age love story...although there's the typical Murakami trope of the disappearing women. Where do those women go? It would be easy to crank out the usual WWII humilation/Hiroshima = sublimated art about powerlessness equation...but I dunno.

got this for my brother for xmas. funny, absurd stuff. like the list of president's who had hooks for hands.

ATOTC is regarded as oen of Dickens' worst novels. It's taught in high schools because its short.

I'm reading something I never would have guessed I'd get into -- a novel, albeit historical fiction: 'The Birth of Venus' by Sarah Dunant. Set in Rennaissance-era Florence and told by the daughter of a wealthy Florentine cloth merchant with a passion for the arts, it's really an engrossing, well-written account. I'm about half-way through and so far have thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling, which is vivid in its recreation of Florence's thriving culture and jarring social transition and yet intimate in the way it unfolds the narrative of this woman's life against that colorful backdrop.

SPOILER WARNING IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK

Yeah that's fair. Maybe I just developed unfair expectations based on the climactic confrontation in which you have this archetypical battle between hero and villain to save the heroine, and then you think he's going to drown (which would have been a more traditional dramatic resolution, i.e., he sacrifices himself to save the girl). Instead you get the epilogue with May (which is great too and probably better for the purposes of the book). Not a complaint, really, just the style ramming up against ingrained expectations.
I know I was really engrossed in it while going through it, though. Couldn't put the damn thing down, and half of it is just "Okada made himself lunch, then fell asleep." I'll have to re-read it in a few years.


The book signings must be fun. "Nobody makes rape as readable as you do, Mr. Murakami!"

I think you really captured it with your lunch joke. Like Carver, who HM translates into Japanese, the narrative somehow pulls the reader along using mostly spare detail and routine action. I like to compare it to a dream, but that sounds a little flakey, and I suspect a close reading could open up some insights and illuminate things a lot more.

I don't know how much signing he does. His bio blurb is usually centered on how dude fled fame in Japan after Norweigian Wood broke big time.

Also, besides NW, another notable book in his career is Underground, a Studs Terkel-like chronicle of the lives of Toyko commuters on the day of the saran gas bombing back in the 90s. It's non-fiction, of course.

First book I've read since I've been old enough to not shit my pants. (So at least a couple years! POW OW OW!!). Read all 320 pages in one sitting I was so engrossed. Recommended for other Cureheads like me or people who like big hair and big dicks.

Girlfriend In A Coma by Douglas Coupland
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006098732...5Fencoding=UTF8

Really good book, about halfway through. Totally the kind of thing I like reading.

Ugh. I hated that thing. So self-concious.

Just finished this today actually. It is one of 6 novels that i am reading in my "Valuing Modern Fiction" class, all of which are 2004 award winners. It is extremely well written, and addresses the subject of black slaveowners in the South, circa 1820. Recommended if you like the works of Toni Morrison and Andrea Levy.

How exactly does one learn to value modern fiction?

well, we are being taught to recognize and appreciate all of the different types of value that a novel can have to society (cultural capital, cognitive & heuristic value, social use, etc). it is a really interesting class, although it is more of a study of the act of reading then it is of the books themselves.

How about negative value?

Do you grapple with the people, some of them prominent canonized authors, who think that novels don't have much of any value to society, other than as an afterdinner mint?

David Foster Wallace's new book of essays supposedly has him going off on how the novel don't mean much no mo'. He pines for the era of the Russian masters when novels were about principle, not prissy esoterica (YOU BRING YOUR BIG WORDS, I'LL MAKE UP MINE). That was the big Ben Marcus/Jon Franzen thing last year too. In fact, I bet Marcus v. Franzen would make fine term paper fodder for you.

Call for Black Pot from Kettle.

we are mostly studying the positive effects of literature, but that is an interesting point to make. i guess i have never thought of the novel as being worthless to society. although, even if a novel is merely an "afterdinner mint," i suppose it would still have some value to society, even if it is only as sheer entertainment. in the case of the Known World, for example, it is our job to determine why it was so well received (it won the '04 Pulitzer Prize). in other words, what types of value can be taken from it, and under what conditions do these values apply? it is interesting stuff.

I was trying to be playful. Should have used more smilies.

Sounds like smart stuff. There's actually an academic book out there right now about literary awards. One of the main theses is that complaining about awards only increases their currency.

Here it is:

that sounds like in interesting read indeed...in fact, im sure that could help me with my Mod. Fiction paper that is due next week ! im gonna stop by the bookstore today before work to see if they have it.

It's been reviewed in the New Yorker. If you get desperate you can quote Louis Menand's commentary or second hand citations. Just be honest about it.

http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?051226crbo_books

of course, im a very honest person. plus, there is the fact that we have to submit all term papers to turnitin.com, so there is little room for stealing others ideas lol

I've never heard of that thing. What de hell.

from what i gather it is some kinda totalitarian attempt by the academic community to stop plagiarism. the crazy (and kinda disturbing) thing about it is that this archive retains all works submitted to it, which can later be perused by the government as they see fit. thank god my works tend to steer clear of controversial themes lol.

Just finished this. And OMG, did it suck.

LOVE this book!



Everything's Illuminated had to be one of the most annyoing books I've read ever. And now it's a movie.


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An all time favorite -- and it's contributed to the national vocabulary. I also, at one time, had a vinyl version of Vonnegut singing some of the poems from this book. I probably still do.

I liked it, but it didn't compare to Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs.

I'm reading this:

I'd like to read a good book about Alexander Calder, whose early work enthralled me when I visited the Whitney last week. Plz rec me.

recently read this as well, and while i didn't think it sucked there were certainly some faults with it. most notably -- there's no conclusion. he just finishes the book, and throws in a bullshit last chapter picking apart his own faults in the whole thing.
i really enjoy his writing, and his writing style, but the subject seemed to be lacking this time around. hopefully he gets it right one of these times.

bleeehhhh. cheesy, poorly written and cliché. I read on a suggestion from a friend (who happens to be a football player). He insisted it was the best book he'd ever read, just boring.

The only part I found cool, was when he wrote about Radiohead. And even then, I put down the book to go listen to Radiohead instead of reading further.

This is unquestionably one of the best novels I've ever read (not that I've read a million of 'em, me being mr. non-fiction guy)...



I'd posted previously about it, when I was about 2/3 of the way through. The last third of the book, however, is what's really worth savoring. Fantastic read.

I tried reading Grisham once. He's the Hemingway of suspense novels, a writing style for kindergartners.

'The man walked into the room. He looked around. He saw the dead body..." on and on. Blah.

I can't believe you just compared John Grisham to Ernest fucking Hermingway.

I take it back. Let's say Grisham is Hemingway on a bad day.

Only about a 100 pages into it but so far it's a great warts-and-all demystification of Guthrie's (no pun intended) folk hero legend. Klein did a helluva lot of background work finding anybody and everybody who had any connection to the Guthrie's in the early 1900s. It's a great character study with a nice balance of American history to set the stage.

That would make a damn fine middle name.

John Fucking Mellencamp?

With The DaVinci Code movie coming out I think I'll reread some of the books Dan Brown ripped off to write it:



Holy Blood, Holy Grail - Michael Baigent,Richard Leigh,Henry Lincoln
I own my own copy of this, I got it back in '84-'85 and it's pretty well thumbed.



Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan - Robert Anton Wilson, Robert Shea
States pretty much everything Dan Brown has ever written, plus three times as much info as Mr. Brown will ever release. You'll never think about Rhinocerouses the same again.



All Things are Lights - Robert Shea
Some of the best info on the Knights Templar you'll find in fiction, and still clearer than you'll find in most non-fiction.

What do you find so fascinating about those books? You seem pretty well versed.

I got into Holy Blood, Holy Grail on a friend's recomendation, his Dad had written a College paper on it & thought I'd be interested in it (I was studying the Cathars & other Gnostic sects back then), and I was pointed towards Illuminatus! by the Church of the SubGenius & loved it enough that I read everything I could find from Robert Anton Wilson and started looking at other works by the late Robert Shea.