Books: Book(s) you are Currently Reading | Part II

[Spring in Fialta]

 

[jasonleaffan]

After further reading and thought in regards to American Psycho, as much as I like the book, the constant mention of the brand, style and description of what everyone is wearing is tiresome. I find myself skipping over those lines. Although I know it shows his state of mind slowly devolving as I read, it's constant repitition. We get the point. I'm only 122 of 400 pages in, so hopefully this changes.

Edit: Same goes for his daily routines of manis, pedis, and facials. Workout regimen, and morning grooming. Clearly he's OCD.

I would like to mention that I was caught off guard at one point when, in the middle of a normal conversation, he thinks to himself how he would like to violently murder someone. Up until that there was no mention of anything even close to that. I was confused and thought I missed something, but I didn't.

 

[GB]

I thought you'd finished American Psycho. I'm really interested in your thoughts when you have finished.

 

[GB]

No, I haven't. I've not read Welsh in a very long time. I went through a few of them in my teens (and Bret Easton Ellis books too) so I can't really be sure if they hold up. Filth stands out more because I read it about 3 years ago. I remember liking his stuff though, like Trainspotting, Glue and Porno. But don't take my word for it. Do you enjoy him?

It's been a long while since I read any Irvine Welsh too. I read them mostly in my early 20's. I abandoned Glue but I liked, to varying degrees everything else I read by him, (everything approx 2004), especially Trainspotting & Porno.

 

[jasonleaffan]

I thought you'd finished American Psycho. I'm really interested in your thoughts when you have finished.

No, I just finished The Exorcist. I may read the second part Legion next or Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.

As you can tell I like my horrors.

I really only read on the subway to and from work each day. So around 90 minutes a day.

 

[jasonleaffan]

I thought you'd finished American Psycho. I'm really interested in your thoughts when you have finished.

I read a bit more today. As I mentioned previously about thinking I missed something or skipped a page, the instances of that happening are becoming more frequent. The chapter I just read, starts and ends both in the middle of a sentence. I'm assuming because the book is written from Patricks point of view, it slowly becomes more structured to mimic the way his brain works.

Should I share my thoughts as I go or save it for the end?


I picked up The Terror by Dan Simmons on the way home today.

 

[ORRFForever]

Game Changer: AlphaZero revitalizing the attack

 

[GB]

I read a bit more today. As I mentioned previously about thinking I missed something or skipped a page, the instances of that happening are becoming more frequent. The chapter I just read, starts and ends both in the middle of a sentence. I'm assuming because the book is written from Patricks point of view, it slowly becomes more structured to mimic the way his brain works.

Should I share my thoughts as I go or save it for the end?


I picked up The Terror by Dan Simmons on the way home today.

As you're reading it or when you've finished, whichever works best for you.

I think by the end of the book you'll have an additional interpretation of the narration. I'm being vague to avoid spoiling it but it's an ongoing theme through the book.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

No, I just finished The Exorcist. I may read the second part Legion next or Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.

As you can tell I like my horrors.

I really only read on the subway to and from work each day. So around 90 minutes a day.

Go with Blood Meridian. There's simply nothing like it. Let us know how you feel about it.

 

[ORRFForever]

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.

Not an easy read.

 

[jasonleaffan]

Not an easy read.

If this is in reference to the violence, that doesn't phase me at all.

 

[jasonleaffan]

Go with Blood Meridian. There's simply nothing like it. Let us know how you feel about it.

Thanks!!! I'll go with that. I'm figuring I'll be starting it early next week.

 

[ORRFForever]

If this is in reference to the violence, that doesn't phase me at all.

No. The writing is "unique".

 

[jasonleaffan]

No. The writing is "unique".

Lol now you've got me worried like I won't enjoy it.

 

[ORRFForever]

Lol now you've got me worried like I won't enjoy it.

It is very enjoyable. That is not the issue.

Like I said, the writing is unique. A lot of run on sentences - grammar be damned. Example :

“A legion of horribles, hundreds in number, half naked or clad in costumes attic or biblical or wardrobed out of a fevered dream with the skins of animals and silk finery and pieces of uniform still tracked with the blood of prior owners, coats of slain dragoons, frogged and braided cavalry jackets, one in a stovepipe hat and one with an umbrella and one in white stockings and a bloodstained weddingveil and some in headgear of cranefeathers or rawhide helmets that bore the horns of bull or buffalo and one in a pigeontailed coat worn backwards and otherwise naked and one in the armor of a spanish conquistador, the breastplate and pauldrons deeply dented with old blows of mace or saber done in another country by men whose very bones were dust and many with their braids spliced up with the hair of other beasts until they trailed upon the ground and their horses’ ears and tails worked with bits of brightly colored cloth and one whose horse’s whole head was painted crimson red and all the horsemen’s faces gaudy and grotesque with daubings like a company of mounted clowns, death hilarious, all howling in a barbarous tongue and riding down upon them like a horde from a hell more horrible yet than the brimstone land of Christian reckoning, screeching and yammering and clothed in smoke like those vaporous beings in regions beyond right knowing where the eye wanders and the lip jerks and drools.”

That is ONE sentence.

 

[ORRFForever]

Harold Bloom loves Blood Meridian. He talks about it here...



You need to crank the volume.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

It is very enjoyable. That is not the issue.

Like I said, the writing is unique. A lot of run on sentences - grammar be damned. Example :

“A legion of horribles, hundreds in number, half naked or clad in costumes attic or biblical or wardrobed out of a fevered dream with the skins of animals and silk finery and pieces of uniform still tracked with the blood of prior owners, coats of slain dragoons, frogged and braided cavalry jackets, one in a stovepipe hat and one with an umbrella and one in white stockings and a bloodstained weddingveil and some in headgear of cranefeathers or rawhide helmets that bore the horns of bull or buffalo and one in a pigeontailed coat worn backwards and otherwise naked and one in the armor of a spanish conquistador, the breastplate and pauldrons deeply dented with old blows of mace or sabre done in another country by men whose very bones were dust and many with their braids spliced up with the hair of other beasts until they trailed upon the ground and their horses’ ears and tails worked with bits of brightly colored cloth and one whose horse’s whole head was painted crimson red and all the horsemen’s faces gaudy and grotesque with daubings like a company of mounted clowns, death hilarious, all howling in a barbarous tongue and riding down upon them like a horde from a hell more horrible yet than the brimstone land of Christian reckoning, screeching and yammering and clothed in smoke like those vaporous beings in regions beyond right knowing where the eye wanders and the lip jerks and drools.”

That is ONE sentence.

That's probably the longest sentence in the book - and what a colossal, highly artistic one - but yeah, it's dense and you definitely have to be fully concentrated. But it's completely worth it.

Also, according to an article/study done on the book, that passage was written on the first try. Think about that. No revision.

 

[ORRFForever]

That's probably the longest sentence in the book - and what a colossal, highly artistic one - but yeah, it's dense and you definitely have to be fully concentrated. But it's completely worth it.

Also, according to an article/study done on the book, that passage was written on the first try. Think about that. No revision.

People who hate Blood Meridian (and there are many) would say the passage reads like a "first try" and needed a LOT of revision.

Like I said, it is not an easy read. I have both read and listened to Blood Meridian - I recommend listening to people who find the writing too "dense" (your word) because both are very enjoyable.

 

[ORRFForever]

JasonLeafFan :

An easy (very easy) Cormac McCarthy read is, of course, The Road. If you haven't read it, I recommend starting with that.

Either way, enjoy.

 

[jasonleaffan]

JasonLeafFan :

An easy (very easy) Cormac McCarthy read is, of course, The Road. If you haven't read it, I recommend starting with that.

Either way, enjoy.

The example you gave me sort of reminds me of full paragraphs in American Psycho describing clothing or food.

I'm going to give Blood Meridian a shot anyways next. Hopefully I have no problems with it.

 

[ORRFForever]

The example you gave me sort of reminds me of full paragraphs in American Psycho describing clothing or food.

I'm going to give Blood Meridian a shot anyways next. Hopefully I have no problems with it.

Good luck. Enjoy, my friend.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

People who hate Blood Meridian (and there are many) would say the passage reads like a "first try" and needed a LOT of revision.

Like I said, it is not an easy read. I have both read and listened to Blood Meridian - I recommend listening to people who find the writing too "dense" (your word) because both are very enjoyable.

Are there? There may be, and I can understand that it's not an accessible work, but it's widely considered as one of the greatest American novels of all-time. It's McCarthy's ultimate masterpiece, IMO.

Frankly, I don't even know how widely read it is amongst average readers. Books like The Road and No Country for Old Men certainly have more mainstream appeal.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

The example you gave me sort of reminds me of full paragraphs in American Psycho describing clothing or food.

I'm going to give Blood Meridian a shot anyways next. Hopefully I have no problems with it.

Don't worry, Blood Meridian is nothing like American Psycho. It's the kind of book that should not happen, happens, and then never happens again.

 

[ORRFForever]

Are there? There may be, and I can understand that it's not an accessible work, but it's widely considered as one of the greatest American novels of all-time. It's McCarthy's ultimate masterpiece, IMO.

Frankly, I don't even know how widely read it is amongst average readers. Books like The Road and No Country for Old Men certainly have more mainstream appeal.

Any time you have a novel as well respected as Blood Meridian, there are going to be detractors. I wasn't trying to slight the work. I'm just saying it's not for everyone.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Any time you have a novel as well respected as Blood Meridian, there are going to be detractors. I wasn't trying to slight the work. I'm just saying it's not for everyone.

Oh I know you weren't and even if you were, that's okay, I'm just saying I've never really come across that sentiment myself. Actually, I don't even know that I've heard of someone disparaging McCarthy. He's pretty much on the Mount Rushmore of American letters. For my money, he's the best out of all the American novelists I've read, and my second favorite after Franz Kafka.