Books: Book(s) you are Currently Reading

[kihei]

Good job! That’s a serious feat you’ve accomplished in finishing it!

I should give it another go. Maybe start around p 150 where I crash landed last time. It sits there petulantly on my book shelf screaming "LOSER," so I really should do something about it.

 

[Shadowtron]

Good job! That’s a serious feat you’ve accomplished in finishing it!

Thanks, sir! I'm in the final push for the finish line lol!

 

[Shadowtron]

I should give it another go. Maybe start around p 150 where I crash landed last time. It sits there petulantly on my book shelf screaming "LOSER," so I really should do something about it.

That's usually about where I crashed and burned with this book. But what helped this time around is I used the internet to help keep track of all the characters/places. And I also used a digital copy of the book to help get to the footnotes faster. Flipping back and forth between pages was always a problem for me lol!!

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Would like to know how you feel about this one. McInerney is kind of seen as a joke now but this put him on the map so I wonder. Also, from what I understand, it's written in the second person. I wonder if it fails as spectacularly as it should on paper.

 

[kihei]

Cecile Is Dead, by Georges Simenon.

Simenon's Inspector Maigret series (75 books, 28 short stories) have historically been my go-to palette cleanser whenever I think I need to recharge my critical faculties. As always, lean, precise, engaging--the best ever at this sort of thing.

 

[GB]

Would like to know how you feel about this one. McInerney is kind of seen as a joke now but this put him on the map so I wonder. Also, from what I understand, it's written in the second person. I wonder if it fails as spectacularly as it should on paper.

Reading reviews the book seems really divisive, few people are just OK about it. Or they don't write reviews if they are. I really liked it. The protagonist is deeply unlikeable but not unrecognisable, (although for the record I'd like to state I've never been a cocaine user or a fact checker). The story starts late in his downward spiral and fills in information as it goes. A piece of information is only revealed later on in the book that changes the story. Normally I really enjoy that technique if the protagonist is finding out the information at the same time but here it's information that he already knew. I'm not always a fan of that but it works well here and fits in well with his character.

I see this grouped with American Psycho and I get why but the two protagonists are very different. Bright Lights, Big City's protagonist is a damaged human who you can believe could eventually stop, and is working towards no longer, being a colossal f*** up.

The second person narration worked pretty well, it wasn't jarring and it didn't pull me out of the book in anyway. It's really short so if you're tempted it won't take you long.

I'm now reading

and

 

[Thucydides]

Had no internet connection for the last bit. In the middle of Grapes and Pay any price, the others I’ve finished . Would recommend Desperation road .

 

[Thucydides]

 

[amj h]

Nearly finished Maison Ikoku. Last chapter left. It's a good romance.

 

[GB]

 

[Thucydides]

 

[kihei]

Collected Poems by Philip Larkin (I want to exercise a different part of my brain and poetry does that) and I am just starting David Frum's Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic.

 

[GB]

 

[Babe Ruth]

Auto-biographical account of Dianne Lake, teen member of the Manson Family..
By Lake's account, her parents became hippies, and subsequently became negligent & rootless parents. This negligence led to Lake becoming rootless, and she eventually drifted in to the Manson Family & their descent..
I'm halfway thru, interesting and insightful.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

 

[GB]

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Awesome book! Let me know what you think. Have you read Hear the Wind Sing?

 

[GB]

It's a dual edition with both novellas in. I finished Hear the Wind Sing about 5 minutes ago. I'm just about to start Pinball.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

It's a dual edition with both novellas in. I finished Hear the Wind Sing about 5 minutes ago. I'm just about to start Pinball.

Yeah, I noticed that after posting. I've got the same thing. I don't think they're ever sold separately outside of Japan. What did you think of Hear the Wind Sing?

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Ended up starting this one instead.

 

[GB]

 

[GB]

Yeah, I noticed that after posting. I've got the same thing. I don't think they're ever sold separately outside of Japan. What did you think of Hear the Wind Sing?

I was surprised how fully formed Murakami's voice and style were. I wonder if I'd have read them first how I'd have felt about them. With them being translated so late and only becoming available after I'd read so much of his work I think it's inevitable that the similarities to his later work stand out so much.

Hear the Wind Sing I think is the best of the two novellas. The twins in Pinball, 1973 bugged me but otherwise I thought that was good too. I thought the introductory essay was the best part of the collection.

 

[kihei]

Camus' The Fall. Never read it, so....

 

[Thucydides]

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Camus' The Fall. Never read it, so....

It's his masterpiece. I suspect it hasn't gotten the same recognition/mainstream popularity as The Stranger because it's not as immediately readable and clear as The Stranger and that Meurseault comes across as a more stylish character/trope as the man who feels close to nothing.