The Syndicate

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 -___-)

Ricochet wrote:Haruki Murakami - Kafka on the Shore ★★★★★

Great one! I've got IQ84 and Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at home to read at some point.

I have not read Slaughterhouse 5 in a really long time. That needs to be remedied I think.

I started reading Ulysses, but felt like it had been too long since I last read The Odyssey, and then remembered I never finished The Iliad when I picked it up a few years ago. I've spent the weekend diving into Homer so that I can finally introduce myself to Joyce later.

Sloonei wrote:I started reading Ulysses, but felt like it had been too long since I last read The Odyssey, and then remembered I never finished The Iliad when I picked it up a few years ago. I've spent the weekend diving into Homer so that I can finally introduce myself to Joyce later.

I love the Iliad. I like the Odyssey. I didn't like Ulysses. I hope you do, though!

I got through three chapters of Ulysses, but each was more difficult to grasp than the last. I figured I could delay my confusion by getting reacquainted with the allusions.

Sloonei wrote:I got through three chapters of Ulysses, but each was more difficult to grasp than the last. I figured I could delay my confusion by getting reacquainted with the allusions.

It doesn't get easier after the first three chapters.

That's encouraging. I've spent the last 6 months absorbing everything Joseph Campbell ever said, and he mentions Joyce as one of his favorite writers a lot so I'm motivated to get through it. I could have probably picked something more accessible to start, but where's the fun in that? Also Ulysses is all I've got.

Sloonei wrote:That's encouraging. I've spent the last 6 months absorbing everything Joseph Campbell ever said, and he mentions Joyce as one of his favorite writers a lot so I'm motivated to get through it. I could have probably picked something more accessible to start, but where's the fun in that? Also Ulysses is all I've got.

I largely read it because Stephen Fry did a documentary about how much he loves Joyce. I regret to disagree with the good Mr. Fry.

James Joyce was a far better short story author than novelist. Dubliners is tops.

Marmot wrote:

Ricochet wrote:Haruki Murakami - Kafka on the Shore ★★★★★

Great one! I've got IQ84 and Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at home to read at some point.

Halfway through 1Q84, after loving Kafka, and I'm honestly surprised at how well Murakami's idiosyncratic writing style works over the course of a 1000+ page behemoth.

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.

BOOK!

ALso, I'm reading Gormenghast and it is amazing. Prepare for Gormenghast Mafia. It's coming.

thellama73 wrote:

Sloonei wrote:I started reading Ulysses, but felt like it had been too long since I last read The Odyssey, and then remembered I never finished The Iliad when I picked it up a few years ago. I've spent the weekend diving into Homer so that I can finally introduce myself to Joyce later.

I love the Iliad. I like the Odyssey. I didn't like Ulysses. I hope you do, though!

I initially had to read the Iliad over the school holidays as a school assignment. It was the most boring thing I'd ever read, so I put it off until about a week before school started again. I picked it up again and for some reason this time I absolutely fell in love with it. I'd read the rest of his work if I ever had the patience to go look for it it in a book store.

Quin wrote:

thellama73 wrote:

Sloonei wrote:I started reading Ulysses, but felt like it had been too long since I last read The Odyssey, and then remembered I never finished The Iliad when I picked it up a few years ago. I've spent the weekend diving into Homer so that I can finally introduce myself to Joyce later.

I love the Iliad. I like the Odyssey. I didn't like Ulysses. I hope you do, though!

I initially had to read the Iliad over the school holidays as a school assignment. It was the most boring thing I'd ever read, so I put it off until about a week before school started again. I picked it up again and for some reason this time I absolutely fell in love with it. I'd read the rest of his work if I ever had the patience to go look for it it in a book store.

Quin you make me laugh!

I'm knee deep in War and Peace. It feels like a Napoleonic Silmarillion at times with so many characters. I've quite liked it though.

War And Peace was hard for me, Anna Karenina was easier.

I'm not a big Tolstoy fan, which didn't make my Russian and East European Studies degree any easier. War and Peace caused one of classmates to bust out in tears in the middle of a class. She was never seen again.

thellama73 wrote:She was never seen again.

I hope you just mean, in your class.

Golden wrote:

thellama73 wrote:She was never seen again.

I hope you just mean, in your class.

Well, I never saw her again in any context. But I can't confirm that no one else did.

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.

Ricochet wrote:

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.

That's the one with Haze and Enoch Emery and the potato peeler, right? I've not read the whole thing- only the short stories that came from the novel.

O'Connor is one of my favorite short story authors.

I just read the 6th Durarara!! novel. I'm about to read the next book in the Dresden Files.

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

The letter S is surely the best letter

@G-Man, I believe that "Set" is the word with the most definitions in the English language.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:01 pm I'm knee deep in War and Peace. It feels like a Napoleonic Silmarillion at times with so many characters. I've quite liked it though.

I'm about 85% through it. It feels like running a marathon.

I just finished The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (the author of Cloud Atlas, which I haven't read but now want to as well as everything else he's written). Fantastic novel, the scope of it was amazing, the characters were so well written, I don't want to spoil too much but it spans several generations and has a supernatural element that's really well done and incorporated into the real world in a deep and meaningful way, and there are lots of cool foreshadowing details to pick up on/go back and understand later. It's one of those novels where everything ties together really satisfyingly. Really enjoyed it through all the different sections. An emotionally and mentally engaging adventure from start to finish. I highly recommend it.

Sounds really interesting. I haven't had the time to read like I used to lately. I need to make some time. I read a little on vacation. I picked The Hobbit back up and started it over because I felt like I needed to refresh what I had already read before I finished. This is the one last Tolkien book I haven't read yet. I'm the weirdo who read this one last...

Still reading the dictionary. Still on the letter S. Here's my update post.

Getting close to the letter T though. After that it should get easier.

G-Man wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:52 pm Still reading the dictionary. Still on the letter S. Here's my update post.

Getting close to the letter T though. After that it should get easier.

... What?
This is a real thing, oh my god. This is legendary LOL

I am out of books, so I randomly picked up American Psycho again. But, it's just not as interesting the second time through. Waiting impatiently for Winds of Winter GRRM is a cruel human being.

I almost grabbed Jurrasic Park the other day from the store, but I read a random page and it seemed to be written kind of childishly. Maybe I picked a bad page, and should just give it a go.

Been trying to find anything written by John Fante, but no where sells anything anymore. I need to check a used book store, methinks.

Taking suggestions! I need SOMETHING to read on the bus & train every day.

I suggest reading anything but the dictionary.

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

I am reading the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I love every minute of it. Soon to start on book 10.

On the side, I'm picking up the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Haven't really gotten started on that yet.

Yessss join me in the Sanderson club! Mistborn is fantastic as is everything else in the "cosmere" (his fantasy series are linked together/in the same universe and the way he develops the magic systems/worlds/over-arching stuff is astounding).

nutella wrote: ↑Tue Aug 29, 2017 9:46 pm Yessss join me in the Sanderson club! Mistborn is fantastic as is everything else in the "cosmere" (his fantasy series are linked together/in the same universe and the way he develops the magic systems/worlds/over-arching stuff is astounding).

Awesome! Tell you what, PM me in like a month and I'll be done with the trilogy. We can gush about it on discord or something. :P And you can tell me what next to read.

After all, this is my first Sanderson novel.

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.

I don't see myself buying an e-reader device. I love the feel of a book in my hand, not some flat, thin tablet. The smell and feel of the paper and the sound of the turning page cannot be replaced for me.

I'm past due for a dictionary update. I'll work on that this weekend.

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.

I'm finally on the last book of the original Mistborn trilogy.

I was sidetracked by my own book and the four most recent Dresden Files books.

Khaled Hosseini - And The Mountain Echoed.

Just starting it. Will give you my opinion when I form one.

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!

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.

Sweden's amazing with the books and all, but I currently work near and live in a redneck northern town, population like 300 and the nearest city has a population of 6200.

speedchuck wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2017 11:25 am I'm finally on the last book of the original Mistborn trilogy.

I was sidetracked by my own book and the four most recent Dresden Files books.

yesss I'm looking forward to your reaction to the ending!!

dunya wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:35 am Khaled Hosseini - And The Mountain Echoed.

Just starting it. Will give you my opinion when I form one.

loved that one!!!


I'm in the middle of The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruíz Zafón, part of his "Cemetery of Forgotten Books" trio of interweaving novels --one of which, The Shadow of the Wind, is one of my favorite books of all time -- I recently re-read it and read the other one The Prisoner of Heaven as well; the three books don't need to be read in order but there's a lot of plot/character/timeline stuff related across them that's fun to cross-reference

nutella wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:20 pm

speedchuck wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2017 11:25 am I'm finally on the last book of the original Mistborn trilogy.

I was sidetracked by my own book and the four most recent Dresden Files books.

yesss I'm looking forward to your reaction to the ending!!

Huh. I finished The Hero of Ages the very minute you posted. Creepy.

Feel free to PM me about it. I'm not sure I want to throw spoilers in here.
And I think I may need to process a bit overnight.

Ahh nice!