|
CestMoi posted:Italo Calvino Italo Calvino is a weird author for me because I love all of his books in theory but then I am typically bored as hell when actually in the process of reading them. Like I always get excited by the descriptions of his books, but none have actually enthralled me and made me fall in love with him as an author. I recently read Cosmicomics for the exact same reason and while it had all of the elements of being something I would love it just didn't really hook me in and make me want to go out and buy another of his books, or recommend it to all of my friends or anything. I am not currently reading anything applicable (one genre book and one non-fic) but one of the best books I read last year was The Republic of Wine by Mo Yan. It alternates between three narratives: a detective novel being written by "Mo Yan" (involving a drunken detective and cannibalism), letters from a PhD student in "liquor studies" who aspires to be an author and is sending letters and short stories to Mo Yan, and Mo Yan's replies to these letters. There is obviously a ton of focus on liquor and food, and the narratives start to interact in interesting ways: the PhD student's short stories are highly autobiographical but get progressively weirder, the line between reality and fiction starts to blur, and also I am pretty sure Mo Yan starts to blatantly rip off this kid since the same elements from his stories start showing up in the detective novel. My favorite line of the novel comes when the "author" is drunk and writing in stream of consciousness: (spoiler for an awesome line) "drat some will say I'm obviously imitating the style of Ulysses in this section Who cares I'm drunk" We did have a Mo Yan thread for a short while just after he won the Nobel Prize, but unfortunately it fizzled out. I have also read The Garlic Ballads which was funny but also pretty depressing. I have Big Breasts & Wide Hips and Life and Death are Wearing Me Out queued up, I will post about them when I read them. Guy A. Person fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Feb 11, 2014 |
#
¿
Feb 11, 2014 17:48
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Dec 7, 2025 22:05 |
|
|
Poutling posted:Has anyone read S. by Doug Dorst yet? I ordered a copy online and I'm waiting for it to come in. I'm a sucker for gimmicks and I loved the fact that he partially based it off the whole mystery surrounding the author B. Traven. Let me know how it is; I heard about it the other day and it looked interesting. I have been trying to look for more books that I wouldn't be able to read on my Kindle like this or House of Leaves. Otherwise the Kindle is too good a deal to ignore in most cases. Also what is with J.J. Abrams' involvement in the book? He is listed as "creator", is he just an idea and finance man or did he also have a hand in writing it?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 14, 2014 18:41
|
|
|
Invicta{HOG}, M.D. posted:That's a pretty neat paragraph if you ask me though I've not read the book. Captures what it means to be in a job like that, I'm sure. This is what I was going to say. It is about something super boring and mundane and tedious and it is written in a way to emphasize the super mundane and tedious nature of it, but at the same time the writing is beautiful and he captures such a simple human moment so perfectly. The numbers are obviously something that I kept glossing over but the part about "just looking at the strange reddish dark and the little flashes and floaters in there that got almost hypnotic when you really looked at them" is brilliant. Then again I am a major DFW fan, if I read that without knowing it was him I might not be as forgiving (although it is so obviously his style that I don't think I would mistake it anyway). The worst thing about the Pale King is how unfinished it feels, and how tragic that is. I mostly read it as a fan, and enjoyed all the little vignettes as isolated bits of writing, but I could see it being tedious because it is obviously not a final, polished draft.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 21, 2014 20:59
|
|
|
Mr. Squishy posted:It's a deliberate artistic statement and masterfully done but that doesn't make it fun to read. I know, but what I was saying was that (for me, personally, although obviously not for everyone) it was fun to read.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 21, 2014 22:32
|
|
|
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.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 12, 2014 21:16
|
|
|
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!
|
|
#
¿
Mar 13, 2014 02:18
|
|
|
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.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 13, 2014 20:35
|
|
|
Honestly, TDB is something I have been interested in for awhile based on it being referenced in/influence on other stuff. This just gives me an excuse to move it out of "I'll read it eventually" land.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 18, 2014 18:11
|
|
|
A slew of books by Italo Calvino are on sale today for the kindle daily deal. Unfortunately not If on a Winter's Night a Traveler..., but Invisible Cities is good and he is a great writer in general.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2014 01:18
|
|
|
ShutteredIn posted:Italian Folktales is awesome and weird as heck. It's also pretty huge. Nice. I ended up just buying them all (except Cities which I have a physical copy of).
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2014 04:56
|
|
|
The Man was also way more cynical while the Boy is more trusting and hopeful. The Man is basically just trying to survive, but that is not enough to actually "carry the fire" into the future, you have to trust in other people and be hopeful for better days. So the ending was not a cop-out, it was a fulfillment of the Boy's arc.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 1, 2014 15:09
|
|
|
So I am trying to expand my reading habits and one of those ways is trying to read more lit from other cultures/countries. I have Europe covered pretty well, as well as Russia, Japan and a little from China (Mo Yan mostly). Looking for any recommendations from South America (I got Marquez and Bolano covered), Australia, India, the rest of East Asia, the Middle East, ummmm, anywhere else you guys recommend.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 20, 2014 17:00
|
|
|
rasser posted:Europe is a lot of cultures. Which have you covered/would you like covered? Yeah this is a totally fair point. I generalized Europe as "covered" just because I know I have read stuff from several countries (France, Italy, Spain, England, Poland, Germany) while I definitely have never read a single thing from Australia or India. That's why I thought it was better to start with regions that I had absolutely no experience with first. Whalley posted:Don't just google "Australian novels" This is definitely what I wanted to avoid, so thanks for the suggestions (everyone else as well).
|
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2014 15:51
|
|
|
ulvir posted:I'd still recommend you read some Knut Hamsun though. Hunger and Growth of the Soil are great books, and the guy won a Nobel prize for literature. Henrik Ibsen's dramas are also a great look into 19th century Norway. The guy was hella critical of the society back then. Oh yeah I am definitely not going to ignore any recommendations, I was just explaining my (admittedly totally rear end-pulled) original criteria. I am going to try to read everything people here have recommended because yay books, it is just a matter of working them into my queue.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 25, 2014 15:09
|
|
|
Poutling posted:A little late to the party but you might want to try Janet Turner Hospital from Queensland for your Australia fix, I read Oyster and really enjoyed it. David Malouf is another Australian writer that's gotten a lot of praise, I read An Imaginary Life many years ago and liked it (in fact it may be time for a reread). I'd add Mario Vargas Llosa (Peruvian) to your South American list. Aw heck yes, books. I will add these to the list. I have been sorting through the recommendations I already got and I need to go to the library for some inter-library loan action but I have been lazy and spoiled by the convenience of my Kindle. I did read Things Fall Apart which was awesome and I just got The God of Small Things and also Hunger since it was free and will read both of those shortly. I also just read The Good Earth by Peal S. Buck which was about a Chinese farmer mostly chilling and working the land which is what he understands best but then he gets tripped up by dealing with other people and events but always eventually finds his way back to the land which always provides for him. There are apparently some follow up novels about his kids presumably loving everything up but I kind of liked just following that guy.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 20, 2014 01:41
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Dec 7, 2025 22:05 |
|
|
Earwicker posted:The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy from India I just wanted to come back here to post that this was a pro as hell recommendation. I finished reading it last week and it was brilliant, possibly my favorite book of the year. I also read Master and Margarita last month which was awesome. It was lent to me by my friend's Russian girlfriend so she was explaining to me about various things I picked up on but didn't fully understand the context of like housing disputes and foreign currency bans, etc. Otherwise I have been catching up on a lot of non-fic, but I want to continue reading some of the "world tour" recommendations I got in the coming months.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 3, 2014 18:09
|
|