The 2nd "What are you reading now" thread

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Ocha905 said:
Did the pages keep turning?

I've only read 1Q84 by Murakami but it's probably the fastest I've ever read. Afterwards I saw some valid criticism of the book but in the moment it didn't bother me.
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He reminds me of Auster the way his books just flow so well. It's a different feeling to those "can't put the book down" kind of writers, because I can put the book down easily and look forward to reading it again later. It's just more that I find that it's a pleasure to read Murakami and it feels effortless the way you can coast through his work but still find it really engaging.

Norwegian Wood is probably seen as a modern classic these days.
 
Hainberg said:
He reminds me of Auster the way his books just flow so well. It's a different feeling to those "can't put the book down" kind of writers, because I can put the book down easily and look forward to reading it again later. It's just more that I find that it's a pleasure to read Murakami and it feels effortless the way you can coast through his work but still find it really engaging.

Norwegian Wood is probably seen as a modern classic these days.
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Said it better than I could. Great call. Definitely keen to read another. Got the Wind Up Bird Chronicle on the shelf. I wish I hadn't seen the movie version of Norwegian Wood. It makes me unmotivated to pick up the book.
 
Btw Just finished Inherent Vice. Some absolute gem writing is in here but it's buried in an overly convoluted plot. Convoluted at least for someone of my (lacking) intelligence. An affectionate thumbs down.
 

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Ocha905 said:
Did the pages keep turning?

I've only read 1Q84 by Murakami but it's probably the fastest I've ever read. Afterwards I saw some valid criticism of the book but in the moment it didn't bother me.
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I was shocked actually, I absolutely burned through it. I'm more-or-less an incidental reader but I was hanging out at home stuck to it which I literally haven't done with a book for 5 years or more.

Hainberg said:
He reminds me of Auster the way his books just flow so well. It's a different feeling to those "can't put the book down" kind of writers, because I can put the book down easily and look forward to reading it again later. It's just more that I find that it's a pleasure to read Murakami and it feels effortless the way you can coast through his work but still find it really engaging.
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Interesting you mention this- he talks about how important "rhythm" is in writing in his book Absolutely on Music which is basically just a transcription of a number of interviews he did with a friend who is a conductor. He says he can't read authors that don't have rhythm but when the conductor asks what that means by this he can't actually explain it.
 
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I haven't really read anything by any Japanese authors apart from Murakami so cannot compare him to his fellow countrymen. Maybe that way of using specific rhythms when writing is a more common trait used in Japanese literature.
 
To people who loved Confederacy of Dunces and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: What are some other good funny books like them?

I read Catch-22, Slaughterhouse Five and tried reading Dice Man and Lolita (had too many big words), but didn't go for any of them.

Are there any other good ones out there like the aforementioned two?
 
I'm attempting to read Paradise Lost by John Milton. It seems a hard task but hopefully it's rewarding in the end.
 
Bucking Bronco said:
To people who loved Confederacy of Dunces and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: What are some other good funny books like them?

I read Catch-22, Slaughterhouse Five and tried reading Dice Man and Lolita (had too many big words), but didn't go for any of them.

Are there any other good ones out there like the aforementioned two?
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I thought Bukowski novels like Ham on Rye or Post Office were pretty amusing reads.
 
Mikhail Bakhtin The Dialogic Imagination
 
Bucking Bronco said:
To people who loved Confederacy of Dunces and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: What are some other good funny books like them?

I read Catch-22, Slaughterhouse Five and tried reading Dice Man and Lolita (had too many big words), but didn't go for any of them.

Are there any other good ones out there like the aforementioned two?
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I've found that comedy is severely lacking in novels. Two suggestions are Don Quixote and The Stench of Honolulu. Both aren't similar in style to CoD or FaLiLV (both so good btw) though.

Edit - Oh and The Master and Margarita had some funny moments too.
 
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Hainberg said:
I'm attempting to read Paradise Lost by John Milton. It seems a hard task but hopefully it's rewarding in the end.
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Good luck. I tried and failed. Its obviously a classic for a reason but I just didn't have enough patience. Also recently gave up on Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. They would be the two I've given up on in 5 years.

Currently reading the Crossing by Cormac McCarthy. Apart from the indecipherable Spanish conversations it's great so far.
 
View attachment 630909

Got these little gems from Amazon today. I am currently doing my doctorate with a thesis in a history of gay Russia through literature, using the theories of Bakhtin.
 
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At the moment I’m re-reading the Honorverse saga, building up to the two new books I got in that series. Space opera stuff.


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Ocha905 said:
Good luck. I tried and failed. Its obviously a classic for a reason but I just didn't have enough patience. Also recently gave up on Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. They would be the two I've given up on in 5 years.

Currently reading the Crossing by Cormac McCarthy. Apart from the indecipherable Spanish conversations it's great so far.
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The Crossing is excellent. Very powerful prose.
 
In the middle of an Indian Trilogy about Shiva. It's about how he goes from a man to a God and it's really great. Was recommended to me by an Indian colleague at the public library we work at.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/amish/

edit: forgot to say that I am really enjoying it.
 
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Ocha905 said:
I've found that comedy is severely lacking in novels. Two suggestions are Don Quixote and The Stench of Honolulu. Both aren't similar in style to CoD or FaLiLV (both so good btw) though.

Edit - Oh and The Master and Margarita had some funny moments too.
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It's a very subjective thing humour. One mans gold is anothers steaming pile.....

Personally I can recommend Tom Robbins for juvenile ridiculousness of a Hunter S Thompson nature.
 
So far this year:

(light) 4 stars
1. Breath - Tim Winton
2. Light in August - William Faulkner
3. The Mauritius Command - Patrick O'Brian

(strong) 3 stars
4. The Reivers - William Faulkner
5. Between Two Worlds [Archives exhibition in print] - Rowena MacDonald
6. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - PKD
7. The Book of Illusions - Paul Auster
8. The Last Tycoon - FSF

Starting Margaret Humphrey's Empty Cradles (aka Oranges & Sunshine).
 
Escape from Five Shadows by Elmore Leonard. This is a real cracker of a read. The typical western prison escape plot works here through Dutch's 3 dimensional characters, dialogue and storytelling that comes off as almost too easy for him. I was under the impression his western 50s phase were more his formative years but here he's written a great novel.
 
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