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Burning Rain
Jul 17, 2006

What's happening?!?!

Declan MacManus posted:

So where do you guys go to find out about the latest novels? The only release information I can find is about various garbage and celebrity memoir and I don't feel like combing through Simon and Schuster's release schedule to see what authors they're pushing to retain credibility.

Complete Review is great: http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/index.htm . Otherwise it's the local newspapers, magazines or blogs you trust, really.

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ShutteredIn
Mar 24, 2005

El Campeon Mundial del Acordeon

Declan MacManus posted:

So where do you guys go to find out about the latest novels? The only release information I can find is about various garbage and celebrity memoir and I don't feel like combing through Simon and Schuster's release schedule to see what authors they're pushing to retain credibility.

http://www.themillions.com/2014/01/most-anticipated-the-great-2014-book-preview.html

WoG
Jul 13, 2004

^This, no question. The Millions as a whole is great, but their (bi-)annual preview lists are exactly what you want. I pick up a lot of leads from The New Yorker's Page-Turner blog, too (look for the "what we're reading" entries), and I do check in on a few small, reliable publishers' release lists from time to time.

WoG fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Feb 28, 2014

Mr. Squishy
Mar 22, 2010

A country where you can always get richer.
Does anyone know what the point of The Sot-Weed Factor is?

Slackerish
Jan 1, 2007

Hail Boognish

Mr. Squishy posted:

Does anyone know what the point of The Sot-Weed Factor is?

It's John Barth and I haven't read it but if it's like his other stuff then it's just extreme metafiction, basically.

Carly Gay Dead Son
Aug 27, 2007

Bonus.

Mr. Squishy posted:

Does anyone know what the point of The Sot-Weed Factor is?

Besides the poop and penis humor, I couldn't tell you, but it was a thing I enjoyed.

Popular Human
Jul 17, 2005

and if it's a lie, terrorists made me say it

Mr. Squishy posted:

Does anyone know what the point of The Sot-Weed Factor is?

From what I read of it before it had to go back to the library, Barth is really enamored with the idea that "satire" and "satyr" sound so much alike.

Mr. Squishy
Mar 22, 2010

A country where you can always get richer.
It feels like he got really annoyed at all the bashful allusions to or elisions of sexuality in Defoe and the like and decided to put the cocks back in.

Guy A. Person
May 23, 2003

Stravinsky posted:

Sadegh Hedayat ... The Blind Owl

You should paste the OP from your Sadegh Hedayat thread in here so it doesn't go to waste and also because I want to discuss the short stories I have been reading. For example, Three Drops of Blood, pretty crazy right?

--

Also, I know there was a discussion of S. earlier and how it was possibly a good story and possibly a mediocre story with some gimmicks, and it got me thinking of House of Leaves which seemed to have a similar reputation on these forums back when it came out (lot of praise but a handful of people said it was gimmicky crap).

Anyway, I have a small credit on Amazon which can't be used on Kindle books, and I was thinking of getting a book I can't get on Kindle, either because it can't be done in that format or else because its not likely to anytime soon (publisher issues or whatever). So I was wondering if anyone would recommend S. or House of Leaves (leaning toward HoL due to price), or if there is something else in a similar vein that would be recommended above either of those. Or I can alternately just get a book by an author I like since I haven't added much to the old book shelf recently.

CestMoi
Sep 16, 2011

House of Leaves was a pretty cool Blair Witch Project book ruined by a terrible superplot that nobody likes. The weird formatting didn't add much of anything. I haven't read or heard anything about S. but it's probably bad too; get a good book by someone you've never heard of before. Namaste.

Guy A. Person
May 23, 2003

Yeah I figured any book that relied on a gimmick was likely to be covering up shoddy writing so I'll get something good instead. Thanks!

Invicta{HOG}, M.D.
Jan 16, 2002
I think that both were pretty good. I mean, you can consider writing outside the typical spaces a gimmick or you can just relax and enjoy what writing outside the typical spaces allows the book to be. I enjoyed both books but would probably recommend House of Leaves if you could only get one.

savinhill
Mar 28, 2010

Invicta{HOG}, M.D. posted:

I think that both were pretty good. I mean, you can consider writing outside the typical spaces a gimmick or you can just relax and enjoy what writing outside the typical spaces allows the book to be. I enjoyed both books but would probably recommend House of Leaves if you could only get one.

I don't know much about S, but House of Leaves is a cool book to own 'cuz of the way it's put together even if you don't like some of the writing.

Joramun
Dec 1, 2011

No man has need of candles when the Sun awaits him.

Guy A. Person posted:

Also, I know there was a discussion of S. earlier and how it was possibly a good story and possibly a mediocre story with some gimmicks, and it got me thinking of House of Leaves which seemed to have a similar reputation on these forums back when it came out (lot of praise but a handful of people said it was gimmicky crap).

Anyway, I have a small credit on Amazon which can't be used on Kindle books, and I was thinking of getting a book I can't get on Kindle, either because it can't be done in that format or else because its not likely to anytime soon (publisher issues or whatever). So I was wondering if anyone would recommend S. or House of Leaves (leaning toward HoL due to price), or if there is something else in a similar vein that would be recommended above either of those.

You could also consider The Raw Shark Texts. Just Google image search it and you'll see.

Earwicker
Jan 6, 2003

Along those lines I would also strongly recommend Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic. It also has a structural "gimmick" in that it is read in lexicon format than as a linear novel, but it's a fictional and somewhat magical realist story both about the ancient Khazar people and about 20th century Yugoslavia. The writing is very good IMO much stronger than the "gimmick" nature of the book would suggest.

Ezzum
Mar 13, 2014

For Now
I've been reading a lot of good books this year. Only March and already I've already read multiple books I'd put on my favorites list.

Started the year with a Nabokov marathon. I really like Nabokov stylistically and he's also a very good novelist in that his organization of ideas is very interesting. Much like Ishiguro he lets his characters' prejudices and what they don't say speak for his characters as much as what they do say, and that's super fuckin' cool. Lolita's probably one of my new favorite books. Though I detest some of the scholarship surrounding it. "Greatest love story"? Ew.

Other books of note include A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. I liked it a lot for the first three-quarters. The parts about Haruki #1 and the suicide bombers were particularly cool and actually gave me some goosebumps but then the ending got kind of ridiculous as it encroached into sci-fi. I mean it was technically foreshadowed but at the same time it threw me for a loop, kinda out of left field. Still really liked it. Kinda makes me want to check out My Year of Meats, which is also supposed to be good.

About halfway through The Face Of Another by Kobo Abe. I want to know how he comes up with these wicked concepts. Seriously, that takes some imagination. Every book I've read by him has just had the coolest ideas behind it and he's quickly turning into one of my favorite writers. More people need to read his poo poo.

On the topic of House of Leaves, I started it earlier this year but abandoned it for Pale Fire. Odd, since both books share a kinda similar conceit. I think House of Leaves is more readable, weirdly enough, just because you don't have to constantly flip around the book to get it. But Nabokov's a better writer than Danielewski.

Ezzum fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Mar 14, 2014

Stravinsky
May 31, 2011

Guy A. Person posted:

You should paste the OP from your Sadegh Hedayat thread in here so it doesn't go to waste and also because I want to discuss the short stories I have been reading. For example, Three Drops of Blood, pretty crazy right?


ok

Stravinsky posted:



Lets talk about the greatest Iranian writer of all time, Sadegh Hedayat.

Born into a Iranian aristocratic family in Tehran, he went to Paris to study architecture before dropping that in favor of dentistry. He would then proceed to drop dentistry in favor of taking an interest in seeing how much water from a river he could fill his lungs with. After his failure to even do that he went back home and dedicated himself to literature. While translating Kafka and Chekhov as well as middle Persian works into Farsi he wrote stories of beating women, repetitive imagery and events, cat sex, madness, and loss. He is most well known for The Blind Owl which shares some themes with Enter the Void and supposedly drove people to commit suicide. Which he himself did in Paris. At least he was kind enough to pay for his own funeral.

List of fiction:
1930 Buried Alive
1931 Mongol Shadow
1932 Three Drops of Blood
1933 Chiaroscuro
1934 Mister Bow Wow (Real title did not make it up)
1936 Sampingé
1936 Lunatique
1937 The Blind Owl
1942 The Stray Dog
1943 Mistress Alaviyeh
1944 Velengārī
1944 The Elixir of Life
1945 The Pilgrim
1946 Tomorrow
1947 The Pearl Cannon
Parvin, Sassan's Daughter
Māzīyār
The Fable of Creation



He has also written a travelogue and a bunch criticisms and studies (The Advantages of Vegetarianism). So please read Hedayat and see why he is banned in Iran and hated by Muslims in France.

Srice
Sep 11, 2011

Ezzum posted:

About halfway through The Face Of Another by Kobo Abe. I want to know how he comes up with these wicked concepts. Seriously, that takes some imagination. Every book I've read by him has just had the coolest ideas behind it and he's quickly turning into one of my favorite writers. More people need to read his poo poo.

I haven't read that one but dang did I really enjoy The Ark Sakura. Abe is good at taking an absurd premise and running with it as if it's the most natural thing in the world, and most of his characters also act that way. Not to mention that book in particular opens up with the perfect metaphor, about a fictional bug that is unable to move but survives by slowly spinning around all day, while eating its own poo poo.

CestMoi
Sep 16, 2011

Earwicker posted:

Along those lines I would also strongly recommend Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic. It also has a structural "gimmick" in that it is read in lexicon format than as a linear novel, but it's a fictional and somewhat magical realist story both about the ancient Khazar people and about 20th century Yugoslavia. The writing is very good IMO much stronger than the "gimmick" nature of the book would suggest.

Do you know how the androgynous Kindle edition handles the Male/Female thing? I sort of want to just get one of them to get the "real" experience or whatever but they're expensive and the Kindle edition is cheap.

Ezzum
Mar 13, 2014

For Now

Srice posted:

I haven't read that one but dang did I really enjoy The Ark Sakura. Abe is good at taking an absurd premise and running with it as if it's the most natural thing in the world, and most of his characters also act that way. Not to mention that book in particular opens up with the perfect metaphor, about a fictional bug that is unable to move but survives by slowly spinning around all day, while eating its own poo poo.

Yeah. It's like the weird specificity and realism of the situations adds to the horror. Kinda similar to Kafka in that regard. Haven't read The Ark Sakura, but want to.

Any metaphor that can remind me simultaneously of The Woman In The Dunes, "A Perfect Day For Bananafish," and The Human Centipede is really the ideal metaphor.

Guy A. Person
May 23, 2003

Joramun posted:

You could also consider The Raw Shark Texts. Just Google image search it and you'll see.

I actually already own this one and I remember I liked it when I read it.

Earwicker posted:

Along those lines I would also strongly recommend Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic. It also has a structural "gimmick" in that it is read in lexicon format than as a linear novel, but it's a fictional and somewhat magical realist story both about the ancient Khazar people and about 20th century Yugoslavia. The writing is very good IMO much stronger than the "gimmick" nature of the book would suggest.

I will look into this.

I guess I asked this thread instead of the Recommendation Superstation because I wanted to know if there were any books with gimmicks that would be considered "good" by this thread's standards, and not just a "fun read" or whatever.


Rad. I have really been enjoying his short stories. I have read Three Drops of Blood 3 times trying to get a sense of what is actually going on. It seems like the narrator is in the insane asylum for murdering someone in a fit of jealousy - maybe his friend Siyavosh and possibly for sleeping with his fiance? - but obviously the whole thing is non-linear and told by an insane dude, so you're probably not supposed to "solve" it. In either case it is loving haunting and compelling. I am going to read The Tibetan Book of the Dead in preparation for The Blind Owl soon, since I would like to read something longer form from him.

WoG
Jul 13, 2004

CestMoi posted:

Do you know how the androgynous Kindle edition handles the Male/Female thing? I sort of want to just get one of them to get the "real" experience or whatever but they're expensive and the Kindle edition is cheap.

It's the male version; I don't know why they call it "androgynous". The two versions only differ in one paragraph, though.

ulvir
Jan 2, 2005

Ezzum posted:

Started the year with a Nabokov marathon. I really like Nabokov stylistically and he's also a very good novelist in that his organization of ideas is very interesting. Much like Ishiguro he lets his characters' prejudices and what they don't say speak for his characters as much as what they do say, and that's super fuckin' cool. Lolita's probably one of my new favorite books. Though I detest some of the scholarship surrounding it. "Greatest love story"? Ew.
This makes me want to give Lolita a try, but I think I've got a complete mental block on it. The subject matter is so creepy to me that I just can't. Even just the opening passage makes me wince. :(

Mr. Squishy
Mar 22, 2010

A country where you can always get richer.
It's a good book but that's fair, I think.

Ezzum
Mar 13, 2014

For Now

ulvir posted:

This makes me want to give Lolita a try, but I think I've got a complete mental block on it. The subject matter is so creepy to me that I just can't. Even just the opening passage makes me wince. :(

Oh no, it's absolutely creepy and disgusting. There's eyeball licking within the first hundred pages. It's just also really fascinating and sad and beautifully written.

barkingclam
Jun 20, 2007
I don't have my copy handy, but I was always under the impression that Nabokov didn't want readers to think Humbert was anything short of a monster. So I've never really understood what people meant when they call it a love story, unless they're really trying to excuse HH or something.

Mr. Squishy
Mar 22, 2010

A country where you can always get richer.
Maybe they just take a dim view of the concept of love.

Ezzum
Mar 13, 2014

For Now
I've also seen a lot of people who blame Dolores for enticing Humbert, so really I think it's more that the people interpreting the book are morons trying too hard to justify its existence for the wrong reasons.

Hieronymous Alloy
Jan 30, 2009


Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!




Morbid Hound

barkingclam posted:

I don't have my copy handy, but I was always under the impression that Nabokov didn't want readers to think Humbert was anything short of a monster. So I've never really understood what people meant when they call it a love story, unless they're really trying to excuse HH or something.

Yeah, I think a large part of what Nabokov was trying to do with Lolita was maximize the tension between "beautiful writing" and "horrible subject."

Chamberk
Jan 11, 2004

when there is nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire
I'm about halfway through one of my favorite books, Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion.

It's a massive monster of a book, but it's worth the time you put in. It follows a logging clan in Oregon, the Stampers, as they buck the union and cut trees on their own. Tension and resentment towards the Stampers build up in the neighboring town until things get about as bad as they can get. The Stampers themselves - gnarled old patriarch Henry, his strapping son Hank, Hank's wife Viv, and Hank's resentful younger brother Leland - are amazing characters. The book has a decent amount of stream-of-consciousness writing, with the narrative shifting from Hank to Leland to Viv to a hunting dog to a union organizer deadset against the Stampers (sometimes within a single paragraph) in a way that reminds me a lot of Virginia Woolf, only with a lot more farting and tree-cutting. Alternately, it's as if Faulkner in the wet wilds of untamed Oregon.

If your exposure to Kesey is just "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and you like Woolf or Faulkner, you owe it to yourself to check this one out. It's probably in my top 5 favorite books of all time.

Toph Bei Fong
Feb 29, 2008
Probation
Can't post for 6 hours!

barkingclam posted:

I don't have my copy handy, but I was always under the impression that Nabokov didn't want readers to think Humbert was anything short of a monster. So I've never really understood what people meant when they call it a love story, unless they're really trying to excuse HH or something.

The copy at my library had a "romance" sticker on the spine. The other librarians and I had a real good chuckle about that before removing it, because the last thing we need is someone looking for a chaste Amish pot boiler or tantalizing bodice ripper fooling themselves into thinking it's a period piece about an English professor's relationship with a divorcee or something.

I've gotta concur with the other posters: Nabokov does a masterful job of making Humbert into a charismatic scumbag, always trying to weasel out or justify or rationalize or come up with some special circumstances for why his loving a child are completely different from the regular scumbags who do it. It changes the way you look at the world. Whenever you see an interview with someone who just raped a passed out person and is trying to say that the person wanted it, or trying to talk you into believing that they were justified in cheating someone out of their house and retirement funds, you just think back to HH claiming that, no, really, she's not a child, she's a nymphet which is completely different from a regular child, and in no way was their love anything sordid or dirty, and you're the ones who are sick for thinking it was anything other than wonderful.

It's a hosed up book, and I don't blame folks for not wanting to start and/or not being able to finish it. But drat it is a good portrayal of a monstrous human being, and the lengths he will go to pretend he isn't one.

Ezzum
Mar 13, 2014

For Now
Am I the only one who pegged Humbert as a major histrionic?

Srice
Sep 11, 2011

Heck the book even opens with a foreword by a fictional editor who doesn't mince words and just straight up calls Humbert a horrible person. Anyone who tries to think otherwise of Humbert is probably projecting.

Srice fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Mar 15, 2014

Ezzum
Mar 13, 2014

For Now

Srice posted:

Heck the book even opens with a foreword by a fictional editor who doesn't mince words and just straight up calls Humbert a horrible person. Anyone who tries to think otherwise of Humbert is probably projecting.

I don't remember that at all. What edition did you read?

Mr. Squishy
Mar 22, 2010

A country where you can always get richer.
My Penguin Books 1980 edition has a forward by John Ray Jr, PHD which announces Humbert's death and calls him, among other things, "not a gentleman." It's three fairly boring pages in the start of the book, I wouldn't beat yourself up for forgetting about them.

Earwicker
Jan 6, 2003

Mr. Squishy posted:

"not a gentleman."

drat.. I mean I know the guy's a pedophile and lovely person in general but "not a gentleman".. that's just incredibly harsh, I'm surprised Penguin allowed that in print.

Srice
Sep 11, 2011

Ezzum posted:

I don't remember that at all. What edition did you read?

Not sure since I borrowed it through my library's ebook lending service, but I don't think there are many ebook versions out there.

Mr. Squishy posted:

My Penguin Books 1980 edition has a forward by John Ray Jr, PHD which announces Humbert's death and calls him, among other things, "not a gentleman." It's three fairly boring pages in the start of the book, I wouldn't beat yourself up for forgetting about them.

Ah yeah that would be it.

barkingclam
Jun 20, 2007

Ezzum posted:

I don't remember that at all. What edition did you read?

I have the annotated edition published by Vintage and I'm pretty sure it has that introduction, too.

rasser
Jul 2, 2003
From sheer memory, I think all editions have that introduction and that Nabokov was the real author behind it. He liked to use other personae to comment on his work, as seen in this article mentioned above by Hieronymous Alloy http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/apr/17/weekend7.weekend2

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Slackerish
Jan 1, 2007

Hail Boognish
Has anyone here read A Naked Singularity? I've heard good things but I read the first 20 or so pages and it felt like DeLillo pastiche and I'm not a huge DeLillo fan in the first place.

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