Two bookmark book:

Yeah, this is really interesting stuff.

He does a great job of touching on things in enough depth to get the point across, but not going into such detail that a casual reader might get lost or bored.

It's a much quicker read than I had anticipated.

Infinite Jest was a double bookmarker for me too.

Edit: Read the whole thread, Vivian...

Just finished this. It's a really fascinating read with equal parts botany, ecology, politics, narrative and cookbook. He's a fabulous writer. Run to your bookstore.

Seconded. This is a great book.

I finished the illustrated Cathecism. I dunno, I don't think Catholicism may be right for me. Most of my affinity towards it is probably because both sides of my family have been Catholic for generations. I feel that I should read aobut different religions and denominations before making my mind up.

I picked up the Gnostic Scriptures. A bad move, base material for me to work with when reading about Christian Gnosticism later is pretty boss, but I am finding the thing a bit of a mind fuck, what with giant chunks of everything missing.

are you looking for a religion?

I don't really know. It's not like it will comfort me much, most ideas of the afterlife seem to involve eternity and that in any guise is dull. I believe in God, I don't know if I believe much more than that though. I mean, I don't even know if I agree with any notion of God being infinite, good, active, etc. For all I know God may be benevloent, or a man-made idea, or even deceased.

Somethings missing for me though and it could be that. Well, a lot is missing. Possibly.

do you like philosophy?

School is back, which means books for school.
Things I have enjoyed so far:



I think the joy comes partly from this book and partly from the fact that I'm getting seminar-level credit and an English minor for a syllabus that begins with Taxi Driver and ends with Apocalypse Now.


Also some short stories--"The Postmaster" (good) and "The Conclusion" (unbelievable)--by this guy:

Yeah. I used to be very good at it in school.

i thought that maybe reading about god from a philosophical standpoint will bring something new to you. (i don't know what you've read in this field, so you may ignore my suggestions if you're familiar with all of them).

Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz have interesting thoughts on god. i don't know if reading their original work right away would be a good idea (depends on your grasp and enjoyment of such matters). but for starters finding a book that gives a good summary of their religious thinking may be good. i'm currently reading Scruton's A Short History of Modern Philosophy and he mentions these philosophers and their thoughts on god. i think it may be more beneficial to come to terms with how do you perceive god instead of in what modern way you're supposed to accept god.

there're some good titles on this particular subject here, so you may be interested in checking some of them out too, as it's more modern:
http://www.routledge.com/classics/religion.asp
out of those i'd recommend reading something by Simone Weil and Martin Buber. Bertrand Russell's "why i'm not a chritsian" may be interesting too.

Thanks, I'll be sure to check some of these out when I finish my current book. I am fairly familiar with Descartes, I have had to study his work twice, but not in depth and more about the whole Cartesian doubt thing.

OK everyone, you all know the words...

The Magical Life Of Long Tack Sam

Long Tack Sam was a Chinese acrobat and magician who rose to become one of the premier performers in vaudeville. His story was told originally in a documentary film by Anne Marie Flemming (Long Tack Sam's great-granddaughter) who also wrote this book. For someone like me, it's a fantastic read-- I have always dug on vaudeville history, and facinating biography. The story is told in drawings, photographs, and narrative text, and it's elegantly designed and laid out. I'll be looking back at just the design of this book for awhile.

NTO, you posting porn again? Your graphic is blocked here at work.

couldn't tell if i liked this or hated it. i really hated the main character until he got a girlfriend.

this was boring. does anyone know any cool archeology books with people dying from old Egyptian spells and such after entering pharaohs' tombs?

I got into Cornwell by way of the Saxon series (set in 9th-century England). This one is a fun read as well, even though there's a bit less raping and pillaging and a lot more ruminating on the mechanics of moving and shaping large stones with prehistoric technology. I chuckle to myself ever time I look at the cover, though, because it reminds me of the scene from Spinal Tap.

finishing this book, and it's been really good. author is very clear about what he says and how he structures the book. there's also a great reference type bibliography for all the philosophers that are mentioned throughout the book. highly recommend this to everyone interested in modern philosophy.

Started The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith. About 10 pages in, and I'm not getting it yet. Since a friend recommended it, I'll give it a bit more time, but I don't know...

just picked up "the metaphysical club" by louis menand.
so far, so good

read 'the road' by cormac mccarthy last week, GREAT novel. starts on a down note and just gets worse and worse, though. if the last two pages weren't included, it would probably be the darkest novel i've ever read (*spoiler alert*)

i picked up a canticle for leibowitz and started it today, pretty funny so far though i hope those monks eventually leave the desert.

i also got 'no country for old men,' by c. mccarthy, but i'm going to hold off on that for awhile.

Catholicism is not about God, it's about the Pope, Mary, a shitload of proprietary made-up dogma, guilt and feeling superior/entitled. If you're seeking truth, please don't waste your time or energy looking there.

UPDATE: It's getting better...sort of a Withnail & I with rave drugs and autographs instead of booze and gay uncles.

This book was such an important phase in my life.
As a Russian--do you enjoy the lingo?

lingo?

the made up language they use (taken almost entirely from russian)

i haven't read the book yet. got it from the library today.

i heard about "moloko" and something else, but i need to see how it works in the context of the book.

bit bitter?

i was under the impression it was taken from czech/slav. what little czech/slav i actually recall from being there this summer--i actually watched it in hungary right after, and the word for "God" is the same in the book as czech/slav. am i way wrong about this?

This was very good, along the lines of Kracauer's Into the Wild, and you're sure to dig this if you dug that, although this is a bit more sprawling, attempting to weave mystery, journalism, history of logging, First Nation (North Coast Indian) lore, environmentalism and narrative. It's a bit much at times, but a very enjoyable read. Required reading for anyone who loves the West Canadian coast, Cascadia, or the woods and islands of British Columbia.

Pfft, it's a valid enough type of Christianity. As for the feelo9ng superior, from what I know about The Bible, Christians aren't allowed to judge people. That's one reason I think I can never be a Christian, I am very judgemental.

i'm still reading house of leaves. it's taking forever because i haven't had much time to read, but man have i been having some messed up dreams that i can tell are related to this book. they aren't necessarily nightmares, just really weird crazy stuff involving secret passages in houses and getting lost in mazes and things of that nature. oh, and a dream about a stripper named thumper.

Good old Clockwork Orange. I wrote a twenty something page, 40 something source research paper on that one (along with corresponding analysis of Kubrick's movie). I know more about that book than anyone needs to.

your class was so lucky, our book/movie thing was bounded in shakespeare.

man otherwise i would've actually liked writing my paper, no, can't have that.

i mean, i took russian language for a while in college and it is definatley russian. they're all similar, but definately russian.

yes it's russian. (some words may sound like they are in czeck language. you'll find occasional similarities in russian with many other eastern european languages, especially with such "big" words like god.)

i'm 50 pages into the book, and yes, i'd say all the russian words mixed up with english is rather disorienting. even when you know the meaning of the words. i kind of like how he not only using the russian words as they are in russian language, but he takes a russian noun, adds an english "ed" and you get a verb in the past tense. he's playing all sorts of tricks.

it'd be interesting to heard something on it from you, Efrim. something that maybe most people would usually miss while reading it.

Mine was The Crucible. Man, I swear that schools actually set out to get people to hate art.

That has been often reported as an occupational hazard of reading this book.

Join the houseofleaves.com forums where your fellow readers can help you cope.

amazing. i'll check it out, thanks.

What's the word on The Time Traveler's Wife. My sister highly recommended it to me but I'm skeptical.

I thought it was really interesting. I liked it. Even more so because it takes place in Chicago and they mention and describe a lot of places I was familiar with. Even some that are no longer in existence thanks to the stoopid cta. The main characters live in Ravenswood…my hood.

edit: Just realized you live in Texas. oops.

Finally finished House of Leaves yesterday. For what started out as a pretty compelling story, and also mysterious and frightening, I was pretty happy to be done with it. Going to have to agree with whoever on here said that it was pretty much a lot of style with only a small amount of substance. I'm glad I read it, but by Exploration #4, the book really had nowhere to go, and ultimately felt pretty dissatisfying.

Having some fun reading this before hopefully picking up something more serious (Michael Cera set to star in a film adaptation):

i finished "clockwork orange" last night (a great think about being an insomniac is that you can practically finish a book in two nights). i quite liked it. didn't like the begiing of it all that much, and it's actually the very ending of the book that i enjoyed the most and it also gave an interesting perspective on the earlier stages of the plot. good book. didn't expect to like it as i did at all.