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 PLEASE READ THE RULES Part shamefest, part de-shamening, it's time for... THE GREATEST BOOKS YOU'VE NEVER READ: "ASK YOUR LOCAL LIBRARIAN" EDITION We all have that backlog of books that's been building up, that classic "must-read" we keep putting off, shelves bowed from books collecting dust. Not everyone likes to participate in a yearly challenge, but do like to be pushed into reading a book at their own pace. This thread is that push. HOW THIS WORKS 1. You PICK ONE (1) BOOK FROM THE PREVIOUS POSTER'S LIST for him/her to read. They must now read that book. 2. You POST AT MOST TEN (10) BOOKS YOU ARE ASHAMED OF NEVER READING. Please also WRITE A SHORT ANECDOTE about each book and why you haven't read it/why it's on your list. 3. The next poster PICKS ONE (1) BOOK FROM YOUR LIST for you to read. You must now read that book. 4. You read the book picked for you, then WRITE A SHORT REVIEW. 5. You SWAP OUT THE BOOK YOU JUST READ WITH A NEW BOOK, then POST YOUR NEW LIST Again, you must limit your list to at most TEN (10) BOOKS. 6. You PICK ONE (1) BOOK FROM THE PREVIOUS POSTER'S LIST for him/her to read. They must now read that book. 7. The next poster PICKS ONE (1) BOOK FROM YOUR NEW LIST to read. You must now read that book. THE CYCLE CONTINUES! IMPORTANT - REMEMBER TO PICK A BOOK FOR THE PREVIOUS POSTER! - If someone has already picked a book for the previous poster, pick a book for the next available poster. - If a poster has been skipped for a pick, pick a book for your poster and the skipped poster. This keeps things moving! - Only pick books from the poster’s list. - You’re free to comment on other posters’ lists and even make recommendations; however, only the “picker” can make the poster read the book. - Please read the book that’s been picked for you. If for some reason you can’t, please say and someone will pick another book for you. - Keep the conversation healthy and good-spirited! - If you provide a date for when the book was added to your list, they don't stay there forever - Non-fiction books and Poetry Collections and Short Story Collections and Plays are appropriate, graphic novels and TPBs are NOT (no, not even Chris Ware, Charles Burns, Alison Bechdel, etc.) . - Yes, audiobooks count - Feel free to post your GoodReads account with your posts - Books can overlap with the Annual Reading Challenge - Try to have variety in your lists. It's okay to have genre fiction, but try to avoid nothing but. Put in a classic or something outside of your comfort zone! - Try to have at least FIVE (5) books on your list - This OP will update as the thread grows, so check in every so often. The Over-Achiever Rule, or reading more than is assigned If you read a book on your list that was not assigned to you, write your review/notes, make sure you cross it off the list and replace it with a new book. You do not get to assign an extra book. For example (because, ironically, critical reading isn't the strongest skill set on the book forum): Lowtax gets assigned Moby Dick. Lowtax reads Moby Dick and Gravity's Rainbow Lowtax does a write-up of both Moby Dick and Gravity's Rainbow Lowtax assigns a book to a user in need of a book because he completed Moby Dick. He replaces it on his list with another classic. Lowtax replaces Gravity's Rainbow with another classic. He feels really good about reading more than one classic, but he does not get to assign an extra book. Lowtax is happy because Franchescanado doesn't have to mode MY SHAMEFUL LIST 1. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (1930) (7.12.17) I've never read any Faulkner, despite my love of Southern Gothic lit and stream-of-conscious prose. 2. Under The Volcano by Malcolm Lowry (1947) (7.12.17) A depressed drunk in a terrible relationship during Dia de los Muertos? Sign me up. Just kidding, it's been on my shelf for years despite being right up my ally. 3. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (1934) (7.12.17) I've heard of this book's reputation. I like books about assholes and artists. 4. Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan (2011) (7.12.17) This was recommended to me a while ago by the Lit. Thread. I've enjoyed the Eastern novels I've read, but there's so much more to explore. 5. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1986) (7.12.17) I don't really care to watch the Hulu series, everyone talks about this book now due to the political climate in the US, but I don't really read sci-fi. Everyone I know loves this book, though. 6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813) (7.12.17) I don't read romance novels. 7. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859) (7.12.17) I was supposed to read this in high school and didn't. I've somehow always avoided reading Dickens, mainly due to book length, not quality. 8. White Noise by Don DeLillo (1985) (7.12.17) I'm a big fan of PoMo lit, but I haven't read DeLillo yet. I know it's his most accessible, but also very different than his other work. 9. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (2001) (7.12.17) Probably the only Franzen I'll read. 10. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa (1977) (7.12.17) I like the excerpts I've read of Llosa, and I want to read more Spanish lit. COMPLETED: none yet Goodreads HELPFUL LINKS These will help you find acclaimed books you've yet to read. TBB Book Recommendation Superstation !! 1001 Books to Read Before You Die List Time's 100 Greatest Novels TheGreatestBooks.org 100 Best Novels, in Translation, Since 1900 (thanks Burning Rain) African Literature Reading List (thanks TheManFromFOXHOUND) (I would like a list of non-North American novels for the OP if anyone would like to provide one) (I would like a list of poetry collections if anyone would like to provide one) Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 16:04 on May 14, 2018 |
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Jul 12, 2017 15:11
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Franchescanado posted:MY SHAMEFUL LIST Read Aunt Julia and The Scriptwriter Mother Fucker (7/12) Moby Dick by Herman Melville - I got 200 pages into this fucker in college and gave up97 (7/12) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - I loathe Fitzgerald as a stylist and literary have never gotten past the first page. (7/12) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling - I have never read or seen any Harry Potter and my friends always go "WHHHAAAT???!!!" when I tell them. (7/12) Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami - I've never read any Murakami and keep intending to (7/12) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - Always meant to, never got around to it (7/12) The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing - I like Lessing, but never committed to this (7/12) Parallel Stories by Peter Nadas - I keep trying to get into it but it is just too weirdly perverse Mel Mudkiper fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Jul 12, 2017 |
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Jul 12, 2017 15:45
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I was really hoping someone would pick Aunt Julia for me, so thanks Mel!
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Jul 12, 2017 15:56
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Read Aunt Julia and The Scriptwriter Mother Fucker Read Moby Dick, because we're p. much opposites in taste, and i want to see if you hate it to encourage me to pick it up. Also, do it in Bob Dylan's voice, which is how I've been meaning to read it. Ok, so these aren't my 'must-read' books, but those i want to do at my own pace, so here's some a bit less 'classic' stuff i've been curious about and have had on shelves for years, but always lacked the final push to actually start reading the drat things. --- Cities of the Red Night by William Burroughs - I didn't enjoy Naked Lunch in high school obv, but this did sound quite interesting, so I picked it up. And never got around to. Three Famous Short Novels: Spotted Horses / Old Man / The Bear by William Faulkner - I loved As I Lay Dying, and soon after finishing found this in a charity shop, so I grabbed it. But apparently a couple of those are excerpts from bigger novels or something? I got confused and shelved it. The Prince by Hushang Golshiri - sounded right up my alley, but I've always been suspicious that it might be one of those novels that are important rather than good. The Virtues of a Solitary Bird by Juan Goytisolo - the first Goytisolo I got, but also looks like one of his most difficult books, which says something. Beyond Illusions by Dương Thu Hương - had heard good things about her, but it might be misery porn, and I tend not to like those. Memory of the Abyss by Marcello Fois - picked on a whim, then a Sardinian friend told me he's actually good, but he's been so low down my priority list all these years, that something always got in front of the book. The Year of the Ladybird by Graham Joyce - my girlfriend gifted it to me a couple of years ago, but it honestly looks pretty poo poo, so I haven't even opened it. Somebody tell me it's not poo poo? Burning Rain fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Jul 12, 2017 |
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Jul 12, 2017 16:11
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Franchescanado posted:(I would like a list of non-North American novels for the OP if anyone would like to provide one) this is pretty good, with few exceptions: https://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/12/100-best-novels-in-translation-since-1900/
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Jul 12, 2017 16:15
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Burning Rain posted:this is pretty good, with few exceptions: https://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/12/100-best-novels-in-translation-since-1900/ Awesome, thank you. Already added it to the OP.
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Jul 12, 2017 16:19
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Here's a list of African works as well, since I didn't see too many on the counterpunch list: http://bookriot.com/2014/09/24/african-reading-list/
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Jul 12, 2017 17:01
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Burning Rain posted:The Year of the Ladybird by Graham Joyce - my girlfriend gifted it to me a couple of years ago, but it honestly looks pretty poo poo, so I haven't even opened it. Somebody tell me it's not poo poo? Read The Year of the Ladybird so that you finally know if your girlfriend has poo poo taste, requiring you to  I don't tend to keep books I read as I don't like clutter, so now most of my bookshelf is taken up by books I haven't read, instead hauling them around for a decade or so because ~someday~. It's very SHAMEFUL. I'm intimidated by big books, and there are lots of them taking up lots of space for many years. My bookshelf is full of reproach. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 12/07/17 - I got about halfway through this about a decade ago and was surprised about how much I was enjoying that. I stopped reading it for a bit for some reason I don't remember, and when I tried to go back to it, I couldn't remember who everyone was any more and didn't feel like starting again, so it's sat on a shelf. Middlemarch - George Eliot 12/07/17 - A class made this sound really interesting and I got good mark despite not having read it. I feel guilty  Ulysses - James Joyce 12/07/17 - Another book that's been sitting on the shelf for ages. Joyce intimidates me and I have trouble committing to a big book I think I'm too thick to understand. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy 12/07/17 - Someone gave this to me ~17 years ago. Should probably read it? Perdido Street Station - China Mieville 12/07/17 - I picked up a few of his books on a whim from a book sale many years ago because I wanted to support the library. This is the fattest and takes up the most room on the bookshelf. I'm not even really sure what it's about. Enfys fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Jan 4, 2018 |
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Jul 12, 2017 17:02
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Not to get too picky on format, but you only need to quote the book you are making the above poster read. It will keep the page less cluttered. Like this:Burning Rain posted:The Year of the Ladybird by Graham Joyce - my girlfriend gifted it to me a couple of years ago, but it honestly looks pretty poo poo, so I haven't even opened it. Somebody tell me it's not poo poo? I understand if you're phone posting, though. Formatting can be a bitch in the Awful app. TheManFromFOXHOUND posted:Here's a list of African works as well, since I didn't see too many on the counterpunch list: http://bookriot.com/2014/09/24/african-reading-list/ Thank you. I'm glad to see people already participating. I hope everyone enjoys their books. I'm amazed Mel wasn't given Harry Potter. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Jul 12, 2017 |
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Jul 12, 2017 17:26
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Enfys posted:Perdido Street Station - China Mieville Please read Perdido Street Station. It's one of my favorites. I also have dozens of hard copy books in my apartment that I want to read. Here are the ten I most want to consider reading next: Scorch Atlas by Blake Butler. I picked this up at the AWP convention I went to last February because I heard people talking about how weird the author was. It might have been in the cosmic horror thread. I like weird, and I'm looking forward to this book. A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson. Also from AWP; I definitely remember the cosmic horror thread recommending this. Kindred by Octavia Butler. A gift from my mother. It's about time I read something by Octavia Butler. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carre. Once I visited a professor at my local university and expressed admiration for the books on his shelf. He allowed me to take some home with me, since he wanted to reduce his collection. It'd be nice to read some actual spy thrillers as opposed to James Bond poo poo. Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard. Also from that professor. I might want to write some sort of hard-boiled crime thing and apparently Elmore Leonard was one of the best at that, so I can learn from him. Heavy Time by C.J. Cherryh. Bought this for almost nothing at a university book sale. The SFF thread loves Cherryh's extended universe, and while this might not be the best place to start, it's what I found at the sale. The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx. Another gift from my mom. I don't know much about it, but apparently it's good. Erewhon by Samuel Butler. Also from the book sale. It sounds like a metaphysical proto-fantasy, which I like the idea of. Atonement by Ian McEwan. Also from the book sale. I know the literature thread loving hates McEwan, but I really like this premise, so I got it anyway. Candide, Zadig and Other Stories by Voltaire. I've had this book so long that I can't remember where I got it. I think it was a gift from my dad in high school or college? I could use some more philosophy in my life. Edited to add anecdotes. Solitair fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Jul 16, 2017 |
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Jul 12, 2017 17:43
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Read Solitair posted:Heavy Time by C.J. Cherryh No reason, just picked one at random. Here is my list of books each one I swear I'll start reading next but pass up for something else at the last moment. Some I've been avoiding for some time. A few I've selected at random. The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas The Periodic Table Primo Levi Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy The Idiot Fyodor Dostoyevsky Inner Tube Hob Broun Molloy Samuel Beckett Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver Three Men in a Boat Jerome K Jerome
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Jul 12, 2017 18:12
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Nice try shitheads, I am proud of ALL of my book reading -- Actually that isn't true but all of the books are some of the bigger "important" books that I feel like a doofus when they come up in a thread, but that when I think about reading I look at the page count and grimace: Moby Dick Ulysses Don Quixote The Count of Monte Cristo War and Peace The Brothers Karamazov JR also Lolita which I sincerely don't understand how I haven't read yet fridge corn posted:Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy I've only read these two and of the 2 I liked Blood Meridian more so read that
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Jul 12, 2017 18:26
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Guy A. Person posted:also Lolita which I sincerely don't understand how I haven't read yet which is why you should read it. If you need a copy, my local bookshop has one with a picture of a showering woman on the cover and the blurb "STEAMY CLASSIC OF EROTIC LITERATURE" I'm stuck in a summer apartment away from my bookshelf for a couple of months, but I do have with me a few SHAMEFULly unread books I've been meaning to get around to: Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco I liked The Name of the Rose quite a bit and decided to follow that up with this one, but I dropped it at 300 or so pages a few weeks ago for some reason or another and haven't picked it up since. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Haven't read much true crime before, and this seemed as good a place as any to start. I read a bit of the beginning and I'm reasonably intrigued, but haven't gotten around to it since. White Teeth by Zadie Smith Picked it up at a flea market because somebody somewhere at some point probably said it was good. The Tale of the Heike translated by Royall Tyler The hardcover was gorgeous and on sale and it had tons of translator's notes at the beginning which are always fun. Read those, haven't read the book itself. Autobiography by Morrissey It's a Penguin Classic don't ya know
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Jul 12, 2017 18:37
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Forktoss posted:
Read this, it's good. The Prague Cemetery - Umberto Eco. The only one of his novels I haven't read yet. The Iliad - Homer. Got a German translation of this lying around. It's in Verse. I'm not used to verse. Is this even a book? Empire of the Sun - J.G. Ballard. Bought that one ages ago, never got around to reading it. Liked his SF, though. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides. I think I picked that one up at some flea market. Infinite Jest - DFW. Well, I don't know. It seems like an awful lot of effort. I'm lazy. V - Thomas Pynchon. I adore Against the Day, loved Gravity's Rainbow and Inherent Vice, liked Crying but for some reason I bounced hard off this one. Should I try again?
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Jul 12, 2017 19:27
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ima let u finish in me posted:The Iliad - Homer. Got a German translation of this lying around. It's in Verse. I'm not used to verse. Is this even a book? Read this now, it's so important for western culture. Thinking though my "really should read" list now gets me Ulysses started it twice, actually caused me to fail an English course, but since I got through Gravity's Rainbow I should give it another go. I have also visited Dublin in the meantime! Don Quixote always meant to, never have done Moby Dick not sure why I never have actually Sound and the Fury just cause The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Its just sitting on the shelf, staring at me... The Decameron ...and anyting by John Steinbeck. After having lived in California I really should do. Say Cannery Row to start. e. my Goodreads, which is missing several decades of books that I have already read Bilirubin fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Jul 12, 2017 |
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Jul 12, 2017 20:10
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BTW, excellent idea for a thread!
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Jul 12, 2017 20:11
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Bilirubin posted:
Anna Karenina Paradise Lost A Confederacy of Dunces I am a Strange Loop The Bible The Count of Monte Cristo Gulliver's Travels On the Road Das Kapital Aeneid Will edit for anecdotes in a sec!
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Jul 13, 2017 07:02
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Aryu Kiddimeh posted:A Confederacy of Dunces Mine wall of backlog shame, fiction and nonfiction alike: - Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky - blind and shameful spot in my Dostoevsky experience since high school - Pattern Recognition by William Gibson - love Sprawl trilogy and really want to jump into evolved Gibson - Underworld by Don DeLillo - a scary gift that watches me sleep from the bookshelf - Master of the Senate by Robert Caro - recommended countless times by politics junkies that I respect - The Uncertainties of Knowledge by Immanuel Wallerstein - filed under marxist studies - Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz - I haven't read any egyptian writer and the summary sounds like extremely my poo poo - Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima - the story of that fascist fascinates me and one day I am going to actually read his works - Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter - random selection from my goodreads list - Dispatches by Michael Herr - I was led to believe that it is THE book to read about Vietnam War and I hope it lives up
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Jul 13, 2017 12:00
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fatherboxx posted:- Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima - the story of that fascist fascinates me and one day I am going to actually read his works Here's my list: 1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo Somehow I've managed to avoid ever reading anything by Victor Hugo. I've owned this for a while and I always meant to get around to it, but haven't. 2. The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa . I've been hearing good things about this, but never started it. It's also been on my to-read list for like, five years. 3. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky Okay, this is probably the most shameful one for me. I've never read Dostoevsky, so this is probably a decent place to start. 4. Life: A User's Manuel - Georges Perec I barely know what this book is about, and I can't remember how I found out about it, but I have it as a gift or something. 5. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez I bought this book when I was ten after seeing it mentioned as an answer in Jeopardy. I knew nothing about the author or story because I was ten, but the title grabbed my imagination. When I went back home after buying it, my dad looked at it and said, 'isn't that a boring book?' Shaken by his parental authority, I put the book in the bookshelf and never touched it again. 6. Nightwood - Djuna Barnes I think ts eliot or someone said good things about it so I went and got it. Also I think there was some throwaway mention of it in Midnight in Paris too. 7. The Blind Owl - Sadegh Hedayat I've never read any Iranian literature, so this seems pretty interesting to me.
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Jul 13, 2017 12:27
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Akarshi posted:
Great book, first part is a little tough to get into because there is a whole lot of describing apartments and different objects in the apartment but totally worth it. 1. The Idiot - Dostoyevsky I really haven't read enough Russian lit and have had this on the to-read list for a while. 2 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez I have been bouncing around Latin/South American lit but have missed this one 3.Maldoror - Comte de Lautreamont Bought this a while ago and haven't gotten around to reading it 4. The Street of Crocodiles - Bruno Schulz It has been sitting on my nightstand 5.The Obscene Bird of the Night - Jose Donoso Came highly recommended and I have tried to start it a few times but have failed so this might be the push I need. 6. Gravity's Rainbow - Pyncheon Got a few hundred pages in before getting overwhelmed sometime last year think it might be time for another run at it. 7. Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man - Joyce I have been meaning to get into Joyce for a while and this seems like a good jumping off point. 8. The African Trilogy - Achebe I read Things Fall Apart but then lost momentum Swarmin Swedes fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Jul 13, 2017 |
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Jul 13, 2017 15:15
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Aryu Kiddimeh posted:Anna Karenina Oh you would  Alright, its next on the list after I finish Four Ways to Forgiveness by Leguin
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Jul 14, 2017 21:44
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Bilirubin posted:Oh you would Shouldn't have posted it unless you were willing. That's why I kept all my books manageable lengths even though I got Mason & Dixon and Ulysses staring me down from the shelf.
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Jul 14, 2017 22:00
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Franchescanado posted:Shouldn't have posted it unless you were willing. That's why I kept all my books manageable lengths even though I got Mason & Dixon and Ulysses staring me down from the shelf. I wouldn't have posted it if I were unwilling. Going to need to put in a few really short books afterwards to meet the annual reading challenge I set for myself.
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Jul 14, 2017 22:16
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Bilirubin posted:I wouldn't have posted it if I were unwilling. Going to need to put in a few really short books afterwards to meet the annual reading challenge I set for myself. If you haven't yet, read Dubliners and the Portrait first, they're short, good, and introduce Joyce really well.
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Jul 15, 2017 04:52
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Forktoss posted:which is why you should read it. If you need a copy, my local bookshop has one with a picture of a showering woman on the cover and the blurb "STEAMY CLASSIC OF EROTIC LITERATURE"   Whichever journeyman scrivener snuck this through is my hero.
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Jul 15, 2017 05:31
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Safety Biscuits posted:If you haven't yet, read Dubliners and the Portrait first, they're short, good, and introduce Joyce really well. Have already read Portrait, which was a very enjoyable and accessible read
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Jul 15, 2017 06:27
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Franchescanado posted:Shouldn't have posted it unless you were willing. That's why I kept all my books manageable lengths even though I got Mason & Dixon and Ulysses staring me down from the shelf. I also have a hard copy of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, but gently caress if I'm going to go straight from Against the Day to that.
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Jul 16, 2017 17:26
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The answer to all of the above is Ulysses.
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Jul 16, 2017 19:12
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Swarmin Swedes posted:I haven't read much on your list, but this looks interesting: 4. The Street of Crocodiles - Bruno Schulz Here is my list. 1. The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. I got about a fourth through this doorstopper and liked it, especially the details about the lives of the scientists working on the projects. I learned how one of the greatest science potentials of all time, Henry Moseley who helped create the periodic table, was allowed to volunteer in WWI and died a meaningless death and how that led to a ban on British scientists being able to enlist to avoid such ridiculous waste. 2. Hiroshima by John Hersey. This is a smaller book that I got a third through, been meaning to finish. 3. The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Picked this up at Powells, I've been hearing about it for years. 4. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. I'm about a third through the audiobook, I really liked Tenth of December and CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, but didn't enjoy In Persuasion Nation. 5. 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. Haha I saw two others in this thread got started too. I'm about a 100 pages in and I was enjoying it, but started to get characters mixed up. 6. Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut. Haven't started yet, but I liked Cat's Cradle and Mother Night. 7. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. I haven't read much Wolfe, but did like his 'best of" collection.
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Jul 16, 2017 23:12
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Burning Rain posted:Read Moby Dick, because we're p. much opposites in taste, and i want to see if you hate it to encourage me to pick it up. Also, do it in Bob Dylan's voice, which is how I've been meaning to read it. What the... Naked Lunch seems like the perfect book for a teenager to read Lots of poop jokes and loving and there's no boring plot to follow
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Jul 22, 2017 06:18
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Hyrax Attack! posted:6. Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut. Haven't started yet, but I liked Cat's Cradle and Mother Night. I actually haven't read this but Vonnegut is amazing so I'm sure this will be good. Holy moley, am I the first to finish my book? Lolita was amazing but also kind of uncomfortable for obvious reasons. Nabokov is a genius and he does a great job of making H.H. a charming narrator, so when he casually says something awful (like his plan to marry Lolita for the sole purpose of fathering a daughter that he can do the same poo poo to) it is genuinely disturbing. There were definitely times when I had to remind myself to keep my guard up. The prose though is as good as everyone has ever said, a delight to read. Certainly going to read more of his stuff. My new list: Moby Dick Ulysses Don Quixote The Count of Monte Cristo War and Peace The Brothers Karamazov JR 100 Years of Solitude
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Aug 1, 2017 17:16
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Guy A. Person posted:The Count of Monte Cristo Finally finished Life: A User's Manual! The long lists of stuff at the beginning didn't really bother me, and I enjoyed the book. I really was completely blind going in, so I had no idea that it would have so many stories within stories. It makes for a pretty engaging read. I got a little confused with all the names and callbacks sometimes, and I feel like there's a lot of relationships I missed, but it was a good read. It kind of reminds me of the movie The Forbidden Room by Guy Maddin somehow, due to all the stories within stories. Here's my list: 1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo Somehow I've managed to avoid ever reading anything by Victor Hugo. I've owned this for a while and I always meant to get around to it, but haven't. 2. The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa . I've been hearing good things about this, but never started it. It's also been on my to-read list for like, five years. 3. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky Okay, this is probably the most shameful one for me. I've never read Dostoevsky, so this is probably a decent place to start. 4. Warlock - Oakley Hall I haven't read many Westerns, but this one came recommended. It's been gathering dust on my bookshelf for a few years now. 5. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez I bought this book when I was ten after seeing it mentioned as an answer in Jeopardy. I knew nothing about the author or story because I was ten, but the title grabbed my imagination. When I went back home after buying it, my dad looked at it and said, 'isn't that a boring book?' Shaken by his parental authority, I put the book in the bookshelf and never touched it again. 6. Nightwood - Djuna Barnes I think ts eliot or someone said good things about it so I went and got it. Also I think there was some throwaway mention of it in Midnight in Paris too. 7. The Blind Owl - Sadegh Hedayat I've never read any Iranian literature, so this seems pretty interesting to me.
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Aug 3, 2017 15:28
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Your dad sounds like a dumbass
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Aug 3, 2017 15:32
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Guy A. Person posted:Lolita was amazing but also kind of uncomfortable for obvious reasons. Nabokov is a genius and he does a great job of making H.H. a charming narrator, so when he casually says something awful (like his plan to marry Lolita for the sole purpose of fathering a daughter that he can do the same poo poo to) it is genuinely disturbing. There were definitely times when I had to remind myself to keep my guard up. The prose though is as good as everyone has ever said, a delight to read. Certainly going to read more of his stuff. Did you pick up on the fact that the girl that's mentioned in the "introduction" as dying during child birth was actually Lolita?
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Aug 3, 2017 15:44
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Akarshi posted:5. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez I bought this book when I was ten after seeing it mentioned as an answer in Jeopardy. I knew nothing about the author or story because I was ten, but the title grabbed my imagination. When I went back home after buying it, my dad looked at it and said, 'isn't that a boring book?' Shaken by his parental authority, I put the book in the bookshelf and never touched it again. It's time to prove yer da wrong I finished Blood Meridian and it was okay. Didn't really jive with the style and found it sorta dry and cumbersome. Anyway it did pick up a bit past the halfway point and the ending was pretty good. I give it a 3 out of 5. An updated list : The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas The Periodic Table Primo Levi Broken April Ismail Kadare The Idiot Fyodor Dostoyevsky Inner Tube Hob Broun Molloy Samuel Beckett Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver Three Men in a Boat Jerome K Jerome
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Aug 3, 2017 16:00
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Franchescanado posted:Did you pick up on the fact that the girl that's mentioned in the "introduction" as dying during child birth was actually Lolita? Yeah absolutely, I went back to that section to double check since I knew I probably wouldn't remember after first reading that section.
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Aug 3, 2017 16:22
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Franchescanado, I had a feeling someday someone might port this thread over here.  fridge corn posted:The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas #2 for you. The Prince - Older political philosophy. A Tale of Two Cities - Something about head removal. The Rebel - Something about revolution. Fahrenheit 451 - I keep thinking I should read this before seeing the film. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - Been recommended by multiple people over the years. Still procrastinating. Burr - Political fiction. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values - Riding around on a motorcycle. A Perfect Spy - The perfect spy novel? The Way Things Ought to Be - A holy text of conservatism from 25 years back. The OP said to go outside your comfort zone.  Cancer Schmancer - Fran Drescher vs. Cancer.
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Aug 4, 2017 05:28
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Update on me reading Foucault's Pendulum: my roommate walked in on me reading it on the toilet and I'm pretty sure he now thinks I masturbate to Umberto Eco
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Aug 6, 2017 21:39
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actually; you should
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Aug 7, 2017 08:45
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Forktoss posted:Update on me reading Foucault's Pendulum: my roommate walked in on me reading it on the toilet and I'm pretty sure he now thinks I masturbate to Umberto Eco Update on me reading Ulysses: am a third of the way through A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man because I remembered zero of it and thought I should refresh my memory first and my god what a masterful book
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Aug 8, 2017 05:16
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