Book Thread

Hardy is the shit, son.

Once the writer in every individual comes to life (and that time is not far off), we are in for an age of universal deafness and lack of understanding

― Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979)


this line has popped into my mind many times during my internet wanderings of the last few years. came across it again in Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being and felt the need to write it down.

Benjamin has a similar formulation about the politicization of art that demands that everyone become a critic/expert/commentator. Or at least I think that is what the quote sort of resembles.

I read the Hardy and actually liked it. Now I am writing a 10-page paper about the commodification of self (or something like that) while sweating bullets in this sweltering studio apartment. Fun stuff!

So my teacher brought in wine and whiskey to class since it was our last day yesterday. I didn't actually think that not being 21 would have been significant because I sort of thought that at least a couple of the other students in the class would have been my age. Turns out they were almost all seniors and he actually expressed concern at one point when he thought that someone could be underage. So that was weird because I was putting em back.

Then I had to sit in front of the room and read my Marxist interpretation of The Mayor of Casterbridge out loud in front of the class. It took me 20 minutes just to read through the paper and when I finished my teacher spent 10 minutes, publicly in front of everyone, applauding the paper and told me not to do the final but instead work on revising and adding onto the paper so that it could get published. It was very awkward for me and I don't know why I am telling you all this.

Biegler's shitted trousers have just gotten lost in the vortex for me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweik_in_the_Second_World_War
Has anyone read that?

Yo dogs. So my paper that I wrote in one night about the Mayor of Casterbridge has been nominated for publication in DePaul's LAS Student Research Journal. Not really that big of a deal but it is kind of cool and I feel good about it sorta. Reading books and stuff!

Good job WP

Just picked up Ulysses, Pale Fire, and Spring Snow oh can't wait.

Finished with Svejk which was a fun read, one I doubt I will ever make in full again, but it might be enjoyable to pick up occasionally and be reminded of the read via the nearest anecdote.

I've just restarted Freud's Civilization & its Discontents and will likely be reading Spring Snow or Slaughterhaus Fünf next. I've not the energy to start another 700+ paged beast atm and, with the exception of Pale Fire, the two aforementioned books, and Invisible Man (Ellison), that is basically all I have unread on my shelves currently.

I've instead decided to read If On A Winter's Night A Traveler... which I enjoy and don't, and it is difficult for me to articulate what brings me to both conclusions. I'll try to expound on this once I finish it; it is a pretty quick read it seems. Also still going through the Freud.

My friend stayed with me for a few days and as a thank you purchased The Tunnel - William Gass for me, and a copy for himself, so I can add yet another post-modern behemoth to my to-read shelf. Has anyone any familiarity with his works?

C-poots wrote:I've instead decided to read If On A Winter's Night A Traveler...

Neat! This is going to be the next book I read.

Just started Trumps Of Doom which is like the 6th book in Robert Zelasny's Great Book of Amber series. Some serious nerdy shit but a fun read through 600 pages thus far.

read The Sisters Brothers in its entirety whilst adjusting my bodyclock last night. a quixotic comedy of the blackest ever black. right up my fudge tunnel.

Haha holy shit now I have to use "fudge tunnel" in a conversation at some point today.

Despite Kinbote's recommendations, I started reading Pale Fire from the start and just wrapped up the poem. The brief introduction was good at sparking my interests and the poem itself wasn't bad! Looking forward to the "Commentary" section.

Couldn't finish Mishima - Spring Snow. Too precious, gonna save for winter.

Currently reading Lolita, should revisit Pale Fire when I'm done. It's been a few years!

happy memories of burning through the Mishima tetralogy over the course of a brutal japanese winter.

I've been reading a lot during my unemployment. Read The Ask and the Fun Parts by Sam Lipsyte (Fun Parts was superior IMO), In the Miso Soup by Murakami, The Sense of an Ending by Barnes, and Plainsong by Haruf recently. Enjoyed all to varying degrees; all easy reads.

Currently about 1/3 of the way through Inherent Vice. It's fine but nothing special. This is the first Pynchon I've read...I'm guessing it's not representative of his work though?

I've read Mason & Dixon, The Crying of Lot 49, and Inherent Vice. I got halfway through Vineland and stopped for no particular reason. Vineland and Inherent Vice seem to have the most in common - frivolous but convoluted plots w/ caricatured, interconnected central figures and lots of external referents. Inherent Vice was my favorite read of the group, even if Mason & Dixon feels like a better book and much more important.

May as well dive in at the deep end and start with Gravity's Rainbow, I suppose.

I tried to read Vineland as my first Pynchon, that turned out to be a massive mistake.

GR was great, I really enjoyed that book.

I finished up Pale Fire this weekend and I did not love it, though I have a difficult time articulating what it was I didn't like - funny enough I used this same line when I was getting into If On A Winter's Night A Traveller and I am reminded of that book in Pale Fire. It is a book that seems to have the capacity to entice loads of questions, theories, dissertations, etc but I just don't feel that enthusiastic about digging deeper.

Anyway, I returned to the Mishima also and the second half is quite drastically different than the first. I've been tearing through this one also and expect to finish up tonight.

Starting Love in the Time of Cholera in the next few days.

Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim

I would feel comfortable recommending this book to pretty much anyone.

I've not encountered a book that has as little dialogue throughout as Love in the Time of Cholera. I like the pace of the book, it is likely the most charming thing I've ever read (perhaps too charming at moments), and despite being more than 70% of the way through, I still feel as though I'm an outsider to these characters because none of them speak more than a line at a time to one another. Conversation isn't an idea Garcia Marquez had much care for when writing this. All of his characters act and think and do significant things in their lives, but hardly say a word to one another. It's interesting to say the least.