Started this last night. Got to the end of the first chapter and my eyes got a little wet.

...

Dammit, make me laugh!

BTW, Klosterman has the first quote on the back of the jacket -- absolutely glowing.
(Apparently it's on the front cover in this image, but it's on the back on my copy.)

it's rather good, but the way the author writes makes it feels like a university's term paper. very borring style.

the best part of the book is of course the discussion of recording sessions. very detailed and really interesting. i'd definitely like to check out "a love supreme" book for the same reasons.

You should give it another shot if you ever have the opportunity. I've finally caught up to where I left off last year (I'm a notoriously slow reader), and I still think it's written brilliantly for the most part. It's a bit sentimental, but not in a cheesy way. It definitely makes me want to check out the author's other work (even though I've heard mixed things about Wonder Boys), and even his upcoming book scheduled for a spring release. It sounds pretty interesting, too.

See the movie Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story (which wacky Mitchell has referenced in his post, above). You'll get a few laughs, and it'll give you just enough of the story so you can bullshit your way through the rest of the classwork on it.

Picked the book up on Saturday and finished it yesterday. Loved it! What a devestating read. I almost want to read it again just so I can cry. Unfortuantely, I read most of it on the El and in the lounge at school, only to have to hold back how emotional and upset I was becoming. Felt mopey all last night after finishing.

Ha! That almost makes me like the book.



I'll look into that. I always feel lame for reading the SparkNotes just to keep up with deadlines.

I worked at a bookstore when his first book came out. It is about a guy working at a bookstore. I liked it a lot, but couldn't get into his 2nd book, so I haven't picked any of the other ones up. But that 1st book was really good.

currently:




anybody know any good novels about drugs? The new thread made me appreciate how great they are to read about.

I guess the obvious suggestion would be Hunter's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but there's also William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch, Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test , Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, and pretty much any of Timothy Leary's books.

Ruy Murakami - Transparent Blue

about drug youth in japan

started this book two days ago and have been reading it at work, and it is ruining me. some of the most lovely ideas about love and music in here.
had to stop and read the section when he says he wants to be renee's boyfriend, 'the whole if you have room for me' idea made me smile and want to cry

I don't like Rob Sheffield, but judging by these three reviews, I'm going to have to pick this up. If it's making boys want to cry... nice.



I'm almost halfway through You Suck and it's one of the best books I've read in a long time. I love Moore's writing style and the characters are really well described. I can't wait to read his other books.

World War Z

Read Requiem for a Dream if you haven't already. Great book.




Excellent. I highly recommend Lamb. One of our all-time favorites. Very funny & human.

i just read the blind side by michael lewis and now i'm reading moneyball for the first time.

the blind side was great, especially as a fan of southern college football. there's basically a whole chapter about how smooth of a recruiter nick saban is, and what an obese philistine phil fulmer is. the revolutionizing of the left tackle position has been old news for over a decade, but he still makes it all seem fascinating, and chooses a perfect subject in (left tackle prospect) michael oher to put a face on his conclusions.

are you kidding me that the rob sheffield book is $29.95? that's ridiculous. i'll borrow a copy from someone. i can't fathom giving $30+ of my money to rob sheffield.

Only if you're in Canada. Are you in Canada?

Otherwise it's $22.95. I had my brother buy it from Barnes and Noble (where he works), so I got it for $16 or so. Hot.

I think I've read everything Rob Sheffield's ever written in Rolling Stone and always felt "meh," so I'm skeptical but curious, which should almost be a chat room description about Sheffield.

Probably Klosterman is kissing up, but if grown SOMB men (wait, is that a mutually exclusive expression?) are crying, maybe I need to read it.

no, i'm in chicago. it's listed on the borders website as $29.95. amazon has it for $15.95, so i might just buy it there. i'm an impulse shopper and when i want something, i want it NOW. even if it means braving the cold to walk four blocks to borders.

shit. maybe i'll do it anyway. self-control, jasmine...

i got it at borders and used my personal shopping day and got 10% knocked of the price, payed like 21 for it i think?

Point one. Naked lunch is "a drug book" but it is the most fucked up thing ever. like, WTF is that book? I dont know, its crazy, its interesting but I don't know about it and I read it twice.

point B, requiem for a dream is a good book, agreed Bigups McSmalltalk

Sharp Tip III: I too am an impulse shopper. Against the day, didnt read up on it, just heard about it. went out and bought it that day for 38 dollars. its a book...I suck. I rock as well. I drive an I-Roq

i don't have a car, i ride the bus, thats why i buy books in hardcover.

yeah, actually I'm not allowed to legally drive an auto. I dont have an Iroq, that wheetus song just popped in my head.

Special Topics In Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl

I got this at Christmas and really enjoyed it. I actually got so into it I read for about 9 hours straight about a week ago to finish it off. There are enough review about it all over the internet, so you can go find them if you want to know what it's about, but it was very enjoyable and was a nice transition back into reading for me to have.



The Truth (With Jokes) - Al Franken

Here's another thing that I picked up a while ago and only now just got around to reading. It was an interesting read, but the fact that I follow the news pretty well meant that most of the things he brought up weren't surprising to me. The jokes were funny, but I think overall reading it just made me angry at the things that have been going on in this country for the last 7 years. It certainly is an worthwhile read, but if you keep up on things, don't expect to come out with an overwhelming amount of new information.

I felt similarly about the Franken book. Though I enjoy his writing and liked the book, some of the content felt like a retread, either from his previous book or from other media sources. But it's a solid follow-up to Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.

I am sadly broke right now so I have been reading the Mixtape book at Barnes on the weekends

this Saturday I had to put it down and stop reading to stop myself from aligator tears

I will buy this book once I get my tax return whether I've read it or not, I can see myself reading this about 3-4 times easily.

I'm a sap and a grown man.

Crying is good for the soul people

i just finished an hour ago and its a great book, but i wasn't as connected in the end as i was in the beginning, i was depressed near the end but no tears then, but its a damn fine read for anyone whos a lover of music or women

the part that got me near tears was...



spoiler warning possibly






























is the part about being in the passengers seat with his soo to be wife and knowing that he would rather be there with her then ANYWHERE in the world.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy by the Late, Great Robert Anton Wilson (with the Late, & pretty Great himself, Robert Shea). I'd also suggest this to any fan of Dan Brown, since everything he's ever written was stolen from minor plot points in Illuminatus! and other R.A.W. writings.

Every character in this book is addicted to something, primarily drugs (but also alcohol or something else altogether). Lotsa great descriptions of real AA and NA meetings, and scary depictions of drug use, with their full names categorized in the helpful footnotes.

Also try The Royal Family by William T. Vollman.



Yes it is...which begs the question, or maybe a thread of it's own...

What is the last book to make you cry, if ever? (avoid spoilers, people)

Here's my confession...The Dark Tower (Part 7) by Stephen King...when a major character got bumped off. Before that, oddly enough, was Bag of Bones, again by King...yet another major character getting bumped off.

I'm still not sure how I feel about this, even though I'm halfway in. Parts of it are utterly fascinating, but others are so far off the mark when it comes to describing the college experience that I can't help but lose my focus on the story itself. Wolfe is dead on in some of his descriptions, especially the feeling one gets walking into an overcrowded frat party for the first time - but his overly enthusiastic descriptions of slang (see the whole Sarc 1, Sarc 2 thing) are laughable at best. But I keep reading, mainly because as usual he's created some intriguing characters that you actually want to follow.

My roommate bought this for me for my birthday. I haven't read it yet because I can't get myself psyched for it. Maybe if I hear some more reviews my interest will be piqued. Until then, I think it'll probably stay on my shelf. Besides, I don't want to lug it around to all of my classes.

I'm reading The Illustrated Cathecism at the moment.

Bad, bad choice. I should have read The Bible before tackling this. I'm taking forever to read it and what's worse, I'm not taking it in.

Joseph Conrad - Nostromo

one of the best things ever written

What is this?
I know Lynch was just in Chicago for a book signing last week.

Yea, this was the book he was promoting. It is mostly about Transcendental Meditation and all the benefits he's experienced from it (some might think it reads like a TM advert). But he drops cool stories about his work throughout and just general theories he has about creativity, ideas, etc. David Lynch fans will probably really love this. I do anyways.

Hmmm... That's not what I would've expected, but it sounds kind of interesting.
I'm a little leery of the TM aspect, although I 'm interested in the other stuff.
Maybe I'll check it out.

Nah, nothing to be leery about. It can be annoying when he repeats "mediation does this for you..." but it doesn't serve as too much of a burden. A lot of his observations are pretty reasonable anyways - whether influenced by TM or not.

And believe me, I am in no way the type to buy in to motivational What Color is Your Parachute bullshit, but alot of this makes sense to me.

good god. what a boring thing. i'm on page 70 and it's like a fucking desert. there's nothing there.is the whole thing wanking with "oh my god, i'm erasing my narrative structure"?
i think i'm gonna stop reading it.

Quite a good recommendation from someone with nearly infallible taste






A near-perfect chronicle of the psychedelic experience across a broad cross-section of cultures and traditions, The best book yet from a researchers, researcher. Just superbly written.



Books About Art, Books About Drugs, what's not to like?

Lisey's Story, Stephen King...takes a while before things get interesting...sorta the flip side of Bag Of Bones, because instead of a widowed author haunted by the ghost of his wife, we meet a widowed author's wife haunted by the ghost of her husband. Yeah, maybe King is repeating himself.

Against The Day...rollicking fun from Pynchon so far (30 pages in ---the kind of fun I missed in his Vineland and Mason & Dixon.

aaaa
just finished it myself
i think i should make me a sandwitch

Chagall, food of the gods for the soul.

i am devouring michael lewis' entire body of work at the moment (just read moneyball, the blind side, and next: the future just happened). next up is the new, new thing and then maybe liar's poker.