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vegaji posted:The stuff about the bear and Henry Kissinger hit me harder than anything I've read in years, except for when I read Isaak Babel's "My First Goose" for the first time Wait, you didn't think that was hilarious? I mean, yeah, there's the tragedy of that one guy dying in the bear suit, but the image of Henry Kissinger screaming and assaulting a bear head on is the funniest thing to me.
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May 8, 2012 17:51
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 18:43 |
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I finished Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk and I can say with complete confidence that it is the worst book I've ever read. The broken English gimmick is played out by the second chapter around the same time the story gets so insultingly crass that it's neither amusing nor even interesting. This is truly a bastardization of the grotesque; it's prepackaged shock value with zero impact. The whole experience felt like a rite of passage because I believe with all my heart that I will never come anywhere close to reading something this awful again.
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Sep 15, 2012 18:25
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I felt like writing so here's what I've read this year so far. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick: This is such middle-of-the-road PKD I can barely even remember what happens in it at this point. It’s still better than most SF. Diary of a Dead Man on Leave by David Downing: Despite being a little fluffier than I prefer, this is a really solid little WWII spy novel told in journal format. It makes me think I’ve been neglecting the genre at large. Andy Catlett: Early Travels by Wendell Berry: This is a nice little novelette about pastoral life through the eyes of a young boy as he visits his grandparents. It’s neither as deep, heavy, nor good as some other Berry I’ve read, in particular A Place on Earth, but he’s a hell of a writer so I ain’t complaining. Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh: I think this book has a lot of good points about how little is understood about the lifestyles, livelihoods, hopes, and struggles of folks in rural communities in America. On a literary level it’s decent but far from prose I’d save for a rainy day. The Stench of Honolulu by Jack Handey: Really was not into this; I think I’d just prefer a book of jokes compared to this paper-thin thread of narrative tying them all together. Handey is undoubtedly a master of whatever you’d call his craft. Murder and Mayhem: The War of Reconstruction in Texas by James M. Smallwood: This is essentially a history of Klan violence in North Texas after the Civil War, revising what has long been framed in the area as a family feud between noble ex-Confederates and bastard carpetbagging Union soldiers. I was curious about it because I had basically read the Lost Cause version of the story in the book Murder at the Corners, and I figured there had to be more to it. What I discovered was kind of a gut punch; humans can be so drat horrible, man. This guy Bob Lee, who had been touted in the area for so long as a champion of state’s rights, was not only a murderous klansman, but also a bandit and a valor thief. The writing was interminably academic. So Far from Heaven by Richard Bradford: This is sort of a lost gem of New Mexican literature. The author’s first book, Red Sky at Morning, had some notable success back in the 70s, and his followup just fell off the map. It’s so specifically regional that I wonder if someone not from here would appreciate it, but it does a wonderful job of satirizing all the state’s weirdness, from useless politicians to smalltime domestic terrorism. The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie: A classic of the Western genre that just didn’t grab me at all. It’s got the darkness and cynicism of Cormac McCarthy but none of the poetic flair. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman: This was a welcome reprieve in tone at the onset of social distancing. It’s humorous, kinetic, and emotionally moving. The Stars Around Us edited by Robert Hoskins: Overall this is a mediocre SF short story collection. The standouts aren’t surprises. “Fondly Fahrenheit” by Alfred Best is majestically deranged and understandably a classic. “The Feeling of Power” by Isaac Asimov is a minor miracle, so tightly composed.
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Apr 4, 2020 16:43
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The Color of Lightning by Paulette Jiles. loving excellent Western about Britt Johnson, the freedman in North Texas who ventured out into Comanche/Kiowa land to get back his captured wife and kids. It's a peer with my favorites, Lonesome Dove and The Crossing.
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Apr 24, 2020 14:15
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This morning I finished Buddha's Little Finger by Victor Pelevin. It's an esoteric work that practically demands no small familiarity with the robust Russian literary tradition before entry. The book is a presentation of life as a strange circus where a man can know madness in more than one world at a time. Speckled amongst its oscillations between waking and dream states are lengthy, playful conversations about the nature of spirituality, philosophy, and Russia in the 20th century. It's a hell of a ride.
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Jun 28, 2020 18:53
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 18:43 |
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Thanks for the recs! I had read Omon Ra in college and only recently thought to myself, "What else did that psychedelic cosmonaut author get up to?"
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Jun 29, 2020 15:25
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