The Syndicate

Finished:

Patty Smith, Just Kids
John Fante, Dreams from Bunker Hill

Reading Peter Hobbs, In the Orchard, the Swallows

Struggling to even pick up Alex Shteyngart's Absurdistan the past weeks. I only ever failed to finish a few books in my life, but maybe I should reconsider in this case and read some Rimbaud instead.

I avidly read all six books when I was young, but I now hardly remember anything. I liked them up to the Children, but after that, especially the last (official) one, they were pretty dire indeed.

I think both those books are among my favourite of his, although I'm slowly forgetting anything from his books except for Kafka, which I've read twice. I'm anxious to buy his new IQ84 trilogy, because I hear it's pretty caarp.

Neverwhere wrote:

Ricochet wrote:I think both those books are among my favourite of his, although I'm slowly forgetting anything from his books except for Kafka, which I've read twice. I'm anxious to buy his new IQ84 trilogy, because I hear it's pretty caarp.

Yeah I have read Kafka twice, one of my favourites. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle was really good also. I read the full 1Q84 trilogy and it didn't live up to my expectation of him as an author. It was much much too long. The story itself wasn't exactly terrible and I did enjoy many aspects of it. The format brought it down imo -- it focused on the main 2 characters the firt two books and each chapter was written from one of their perspectives and then in the third book a third character perspective was brought it. A lot of times, escpecially in the third book, there was an over lap with characters and you would just the same scenario from the other perspective -- so there was a lot of repetition. Typical Murakami style there was also charachters asking themselves a lot of questions, but the various characters were asking themselves a lot of the SAME questions and the multiple characters samey internal dialogues got a bit tedious.

I'd check it out if you could get it out of a library or something. Some people think it's amazing, but it's a big book (or series of books) so I wouldn't really pay a fortune for it.

Has anyone read his newest book?

I haven't read him in a long while and am not always up to date with his new works (IQ84 was an exception, since all the bookstores were plastered with it). So far I've read:

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - which I remember liking very much
Dance Dance Dance - among my least favourite
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Kafka on the Shore
South of the Border, West of the Sun
What I Talk About Wen I Talk About Running
...and A Wild Sheep Chase...I think?

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

Ricochet wrote:What I Talk About Wen I Talk About Running

Did you enjoy this one? This is the only one I've read side from Kafka, and I enjoyed it. But running is a hobby of mine, so I am curious if it still entertains for the non-runners.

I can also jog once a day for 30 minutes without having a heart attack.

Very funny you should ask, though. I enjoyed him sharing so much about his hobby and the challenges he faced, but I didn't find any other literary qualities in the book, as a biographical excerpt/journal/whatev.

I also got a recommendation from a non-Henry person to read it, but it must be like 3000 pages long and mneh, not in the mood yet.

Ricochet wrote:Struggling to even pick up Alex Shteyngart's Absurdistan the past weeks. I only ever failed to finish a few books in my life, but maybe I should reconsider in this case and read some Rimbaud instead.

Still struggling.

Ricochet wrote:

Ricochet wrote:Struggling to even pick up Alex Shteyngart's Absurdistan the past weeks. I only ever failed to finish a few books in my life, but maybe I should reconsider in this case and read some Rimbaud instead.

Still struggling.

God damn this book.

thellama73 wrote:

Ricochet wrote:

Ricochet wrote:

Ricochet wrote:Struggling to even pick up Alex Shteyngart's Absurdistan the past weeks. I only ever failed to finish a few books in my life, but maybe I should reconsider in this case and read some Rimbaud instead.

Still struggling.

God damn this book.

Come on, Ricochet, sign up for my game. I am always nice to you.

I don't see how it will help me finish reading the book.

I'm reading Capote's Complete Short Stories. Halfway through, they're pretty ech.

Stay determined, R for Rico is across the corner.

I'm attempting again to read Hesse's Steppenwolf, which counts as one of the few books I never managed to finish. Strange enough, I should normally relate to this character's loneliness, emotional crisis and idealism - or should have, back when I was 16 and my mind was a spleen-colored Pollock-like scatter of thoughts and perceptions, but I haven't evolved much since anyway - but the writing is so dense and self-referential and the protagonist kinda makes you want to throw a shoe at, lol. The fragments in which he interacts with other actual characters fare better, but the inner monologues fail so much to keep me interested.

I'm also reading over and over the Host Posts that I have already prepared for the game I'm still hoping to take place eventually. :micro-shifty-emoji:

Is the anthological scene from the movie depicted the same way in the book?



I've finished reading a german book, in German, called Erledigungen vor der Feier (which I hope my B2 language skills have not deceived me in translating this as "Resolutions before the holiday[s?]". I won it as a prize at a presentation contest in my German course. It was enjoyable, a collection of short stories about interactions and relationship quirks, sort of like finding the funny side in otherwise serious issues - although the moral, of course, is that the issues are serious and often have to do with the narrator himself, who is trying to find the funny side in 'em. It was also practical for reading a bit in German, especially a lot of simple past verbs, which, if one is familiar, can shapeshift into strange beasts in this language.

Right now, although I have no idea what has gotten over me, I'm reading Moby Dick. Call me Ishmaay elohel.

Me reading Moby Dick is taking as long as the journey in the book, apparently. Thing is, I'm not disliking it...

Wait, are you seriously doing that?

Seriously, where is that goddamn white whale already?!

I'd like to read that myself one day, not sure if it was translated or if I can even find an original copy.

You have... well groomed nails.

I started Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five.

Four Plays by Matei Vișniec. His A Paris Attic Overlooking Death was the first play I went to as a teenager and despite my gaffe of not acquiring headphones and having to watch then everything in French (which I hardly understood), the spectacle was actually spellbinding - it received a great staging by a leading director.

Can't decide what book, next.

Finishing Saramago's All the Names.

The Flood by J.M.G. le Clezio. Trippy writing, so far.

Yes, I believe his book is the one I'm reading.

Stuck halfway through Italo Svevo's Senility. It seems James Joyce admired, befriended and supported this writer and his novels, but I'm sort of at a loss. It all reads like 100 pages of socially-inadequate-man's-tale-of-batshit-jealousy post-romantic malaise. :\

My dad is reading a lot these days, probably to test his new goggles. He devoured a 150+ book in a day and a half, while it's been a month and I'm still stuck with

Ricochet wrote:Stuck halfway through Italo Svevo's Senility. It seems James Joyce admired, befriended and supported this writer and his novels, but I'm sort of at a loss. It all reads like 100 pages of socially-inadequate-man's-tale-of-batshit-jealousy post-romantic malaise. :\

Anyway, he wanted me to give him a new book to read from my collection.

I gave him Blood Meridian.






I've no idea what I'm doing.

What did you think about ricochet? Did the word make any impression on you?

Mongoose wrote:

A Person wrote:

Mongoose wrote:I just finished Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra, which is a novel told completely within the confines of Chilean SAT questions. It really depressed me (content not format).

What time period did the book cover?

I am interested in reading Latin American literature, particularly magical realism.

ricochet

~~~

My father is testing out his new goggles (either that, or his mid-life crisis hobbies have suddenly led him back to reading fiction) and during this two week holiday, he has read (always demanding that I choose a book for him):

Orhan Pamuk, White Fortress
Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
Paul Auster, Mr. Vertigo
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Meanwhile, I only managed to finish To Kill a Mockingbird (which I understand is the equivalent of an eight grade syllabus reading in the US of A)



Why is my father so superhuman, while I am just a dirty bum hole?

So to elaborate from my last post here, in order to bring myself some comfort during these torturous times of having to constantly provide my dad with books to read, I've decided to slip him a note in the new book offered, containing his reads so far (since Christmas!) and a rating system from one star to five. He coloured the stars accordingly and here are the results:

Orhan Pamuk - White Fortress ✮✮☆☆☆
Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian ★★★☆☆
Paul Auster - Mr. Vertigo ★★★☆☆
Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five ★★★★★
John Fante - Dreams from Bunker Hill ★★☆☆☆ (he crayoned like a third of the third star as well, but I can't tell if that means it's a legit 2 1/2 or if he changed his mind halfway through)
Milan Kundera - Immortality ★★★★☆
Joseph Heller - Catch-22 ★★★★★ (4 1/2, really, but I can't find a half-filled star emoji)
Haruki Murakami - Kafka on the Shore ★★★★★

I'm sad he didn't enjoy McCarthy or that Auster novel that much [he was verbally pleased after finishing all of his 5-star books, so I'm going to interpret the 3-star ones as "meh" or "high reservations"], because I was impressed with both of them during my reads - Vertigo especially has a harrowing scene/twist moment I haven't quite forgotten to this day (and I can't keep in my mind what I've read three books apart).

I'm very surprised he liked Kundera that much, given that Kundera is prone to heavy intertextual gimmicks.

I am shell shocked he liked Murakami that much, because I was sure the shenanigan factor of his books would prove too much.

What's both informative and depressing about these ratings is that he clearly enjoys highly humorous or ironic literature. Which is a problem for me, as his distributor, because I have not read that much. My fix tends to be either serious and profound dramas, either complicated and experimental literature. (Any recommendations on the HaHa solid literature side would be helpful, I guess.)

Case in point, I gave him Beloved next.

P.S.: I've stepped up with my readings since the total slump that was 2016 and am not doing a bad job myself. Four books to dad's eight.

Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird ★★★★☆
Toni Morrison - Beloved ★★★★★
William Burroughs - The Soft Machine (read in original!) ★★★☆☆ (although I'd say it almost ended up with a ★★☆☆☆, if not for some segments that clicked better and his addendum "serious talk time" essay; otherwise this was fairly disappointing and hard to process or indulge in)
Ioan Slavici - Folk Tales ★★★☆☆ (read in jest [or rather in a fit?] when I demanded a recommendation myself for once and just got told to read folk tales or something -___-)

Jeeeeebus, O'Connor's Wise Blood is close to giving me chills. I can't remember reading a protagonist so bitter and standoffish, apart from those governed by "punk" like dissent or moods, a la Holden Caulfield. I'm only a quarter in and this is pretty seething stuff.

Ricochet wrote:Jeeeeebus, O'Connor's Wise Blood is close to giving me chills. I can't remember reading a protagonist so bitter and standoffish, apart from those governed by "punk" like dissent or moods, a la Holden Caulfield. I'm only a quarter in and this is pretty seething stuff.

Finished. I think this book gave me actual chills. Scary writer lady.

New ratings from the "BOOK" asker in my house:

Toni Morrison - Beloved ✮✮✮☆☆ (3 1/2 really)
Yevgeny Zamyatin - We ★★★★★
Mario Vargas Llosa - The Way to Paradise ★★★★☆
Leon Wieseltier - Kaddish ✮✮✮☆☆
Jonathan Franzen - The Corrections ✮✮✮✮✮
John Updike - Run, Rabbit ✮✮✮✮☆
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird ✮✮✮✮✮

That 5 stars for Zamyatin... :o

I read a John Fante, it was good, but I fear one might finish them between two train stations.

So I've just had an absolute suck of a reading summer, not managing to finish Atwood's Handmaiden's Tale until this week, having picked it following the TV series. Sometimes I wouldn't open the book for weeks - and by book I mean the EReader on my tablet. I partly blame it on this detachment towards using an ebook. I feel nothing. But I'll also blame it on a rather ech style of writing from said Ma'am - very introspective indeed, but almost too detailed at times, making me wander on each element of a room or happening, paragraph by paragraph, with only a handful of wisdom or very clever lines inserted. Also, dat addendum.

Picked up some Dick now (physical copy). K Dick. Yeah, you can imagine why.

Same, but I've started wishing to read English novels in, well, English at times - without having to pay twice as much for a paperback copy (if any to be found in my town, that is).

It's funny how I'm principled with this, whilst having no restrictions and rules in acquiring (sometimes "acquiring", as well) tons of music. But I suppose I enjoy one book at a time, over a short to medium stretch of time, whereas my tank is virtually bottomless for taking in new music.

Aaand I seem to be getting back on track, after a quick, refreshing and exciting three- or four-day read of Philip K. Dick's Ubik.

dunya wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:40 am

Ricochet wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2017 12:16 pm Same, but I've started wishing to read English novels in, well, English at times - without having to pay twice as much for a paperback copy (if any to be found in my town, that is).

It's funny how I'm principled with this, whilst having no restrictions and rules in acquiring (sometimes "acquiring", as well) tons of music. But I suppose I enjoy one book at a time, over a short to medium stretch of time, whereas my tank is virtually bottomless for taking in new music.

I have this problem too. I will never read an English book translated into another language. I prefer to read it in its original language. Living in a small town with a tiny bookshop with like 20 English books all modern crimes, is depressing, but I just order all my books online now. Doesn't replace the feeling of browsing a bookstore, but what can we do. Oftentimes there are great deals online too (in Sweden, it's bokus and Aldibris). I don't know where you live, but I'm sure you can find an online bookstore and hit the REA sections!

Interesting and sad that you have so little resources for original English literature. Our situation is perhaps not that bad, in that every bookstore has at least a big shelf with them, but it's still nothing special. Plus I don't have issues with translations. It's a given, especially with other foreign books. Sure, I know the language well enough not to need to read them translated, but I'm not going to search for or buy everything out there.

Hey, [mention]Epignosis[/mention]. Guess what I'm reading now.

Clue #1: On my phone, since it's not in stock or even translated.

Clue #2: Long enough to probably take me until March, considering how I've mishandled Atwood this summer.

Clue #3: What the heck are alewives?

Well it was either that or https://www.amazon.com/Big-New-Yorker-B ... 0679644776.

You've interpreted "not found or translated in Nauru" with obscure, though, which I wouldn't say is the case.

Mongoose wrote: ↑Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:33 pm Today I'm reading Roth's novella The Ghost Writer. Someone read it and discuss with me!

(what's this, a moongoose?)

I've just started reading my first Roth, but it's Portnoy.

Reading Miller was, uhm, "educational" for me back when I was 14-15. Read quite a lot (both Tropics and the Rosy trilogy), but I couldn't tell you now which stood out most. Probably Cancer over Capricorn iirc.