What are you reading?

[Pennglock]

Originally Posted by Jokerman

Im looking for some more books like Dantes Inferno. Like dark gothic books from the same era or older. Any recomendations?

Milton, Homor, Blake, Browning come to mind.

 

[denimdestroyedmylife]

I read The Idiot sort of recently (last year?). Really funny book----I love that one. The Possessed... there were peaks for sure, but I felt I had to push through it; the only Dostoyevsky novel I can say that about. Maybe it is time I reread it. I recently enjoyed The Gambler and The Double. Amazing how adept he is at creating that fever pitch as in The Bros K in so few pages. I am working on getting around to his minor works----there's a ton out there.

 

[Pennglock]

I am 60 pages into The Remains of the Day. From what I can tell, this book seems almost universally loved, but I am having a few problems.

First is the ridiculous language the narrator uses. Every paragraph is crammed with the kind of cliche and exterraneous phrasing you'd expect to find in the dialogue of a dime-store romance novel. I'm sure a turn-of-the-century butler talked like this to some degree, but my eyes feel assaulted after reading page after page of this nonsense. Question for those who have read other works by Ishiguro: is this really his writing style or is he just in character for the butler?

I am also having trouble buying the extent of the repression in some of the characters. The scene where the butler is talking to his father and relieving him of some duties... The father-character seen walking up and down a flight of steps he earlier tripped over, trying to figure out a reason he fell? That's just so over the top, it doesn't belong in this kind of novel..

Im at the verge of putting the book down. I know where it's going, the butler is going to meet up with this woman ex-housekeeper and after ruminating on a dozen or so other acts of near-unbelievable repression is going to see the error of his ways.

 

[Go Surface]

Originally Posted by dusty

Crazy! I just started what I hope to become a Dostoevsky binge with Crime and Punishment, which I am about 1/3 of the way through. Up next I wanted to do The Idiot or The Possessed.
His work is really addicting. I started with The Brothers Karamazov, then Notes From Underground, then Crime and Punishment (All in June). Now I'm reading The Idiot. Next up will be The Adolescent or Demons (The Possessed is a mistranslation).

 

[Chris2289]

I just finished reading American Psycho. I think I am going to read it again, it is such an amazing book. It is definitely one of the most captivating and funny books I have read.

 

[MetroStyles]

Just finished Kobo Abe's Woman in the Dunes. I thought it was one of the weirdest, most unique books I've come across. I really enjoyed it - and even though his writing is not the smoothest and style is not the most pleasing, I found the concept and overall package enthralling. I heard borrows a lot from Kafka's The Castle, so if you've already read that, this may not be as rewarding.

Originally Posted by Pennglock

I am 60 pages into The Remains of the Day. From what I can tell, this book seems almost universally loved, but I am having a few problems.

First is the ridiculous language the narrator uses. Every paragraph is crammed with the kind of cliche and exterraneous phrasing you'd expect to find in the dialogue of a dime-store romance novel. I'm sure a turn-of-the-century butler talked like this to some degree, but my eyes feel assaulted after reading page after page of this nonsense. Question for those who have read other works by Ishiguro: is this really his writing style or is he just in character for the butler?

I am also having trouble buying the extent of the repression in some of the characters. The scene where the butler is talking to his father and relieving him of some duties... The father-character seen walking up and down a flight of steps he earlier tripped over, trying to figure out a reason he fell? That's just so over the top, it doesn't belong in this kind of novel..

Im at the verge of putting the book down. I know where it's going, the butler is going to meet up with this woman ex-housekeeper and after ruminating on a dozen or so other acts of near-unbelievable repression is going to see the error of his ways.

If I recall correctly, the main character uses this tone of voice to help convey his propriety, so yes, it is purposeful. That said, you are right in that the novel is not exactly chock full of twists and turns, but then again, it's not that kind of novel.

Originally Posted by Chris2289

I just finished reading American Psycho. I think I am going to read it again, it is such an amazing book. It is definitely one of the most captivating and funny books I have read.

Agreed, it is a book you can keep on picking up again and again and just reading random passages over. One of only books I do that with on a consistent basis. There are really no slow parts to it.

 

[shoreman1782]

Originally Posted by shoreman1782

Light reading.

Embarrassed that, a month in, I'm only 300 p into Infinite Jest. On the other hand, I finished Winesburg (good but took a little time to sink in), What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (zzz), and some random essays, so I guess I'm OK.

 

[bullethead]

I just picked up Woman in the Dunes. Sounds like it will be good.
Box Man by Abe is one of my favorite books.

Just read Edisto by Padgett Powell. Arguably my favorite writer, though i prefer his short stories to novels. Great sense of humor, writes about the american south.

Deep River by Endo is on the current docket. Got off to a good start yesterday

 

[Petyot]

Berlin Noir: March Violets; The Pale Criminal; A German Requiem by Philip Kerr
and
Dressing the man by Alan Flusser

I just finished "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

 

[Hard2Fit]

Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas.

 

[Connemara]

At Vanna/iammatt's urging, I think I will be reading Crime and Punishment next.

 

[MetroStyles]

Originally Posted by shoreman1782

Embarrassed that, a month in, I'm only 300 p into Infinite Jest. On the other hand, I finished Winesburg (good but took a little time to sink in), What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (zzz), and some random essays, so I guess I'm OK.
Yeah I was really let down by Murakami's "What I Talk About...". I heard his latest, After Dark, was also weak. I am concerned that maybe he has burnt out...which is too bad considering his older work is some of my favorite.

 

[paraiso]

Women by Bukowski. I drank a 1/2 bottle of cutty sark and read until I couldn't keep my eyes open. Then I read the rest of the book while nursing the hangover. It was a pretty good experience.

 

[MetroStyles]

Originally Posted by paraiso

Women by Bukowski. I drank a 1/2 bottle of cutty sark and read until I couldn't keep my eyes open. Then I read the rest of the book while nursing the hangover. It was a pretty good experience.

Great book - I read it as a freshman in college and I think it had a lot to do with the way I turned out.

?

 

[paraiso]

Originally Posted by MetroStyles

Great book - I read it as a freshman in college and I think it had a lot to do with the way I turned out.

?

It's messed up. I'm all horny from reading that book. It's crazy.