Moby Dick isn't my favorite book ever *(that would be Sometimes a Great Notion...) but, it IS the BEST book I've ever read. (moby dick is number 3 on my Favorite list...)
I really think there is very little in any art form that is fuckin' with that book.
MOBY DICK =
Why do you consider it the best book you've ever read? Just curious...
Have you read anything by Charles Olson? He did a book titled Call Me Ishmael that focused on Melville's Moby Dick (obviously). His writing is also very reflective of his love for Melville -- both authors pack their writings with copious amounts of information that some regard as unnecessary (my main gripe with Moby Dick).
I will definitely finish MD some day, but not anytime soon.
Moby Dick isn't my favorite book ever *(that would be Sometimes a Great Notion...) but, it IS the BEST book I've ever read. (moby dick is number 3 on my Favorite list...)
I really think there is very little in any art form that is fuckin' with that book.
MOBY DICK =
Why do you consider it the best book you've ever read? Just curious...
Have you read anything by Charles Olson? He did a book titled Call Me Ishmael that focused on Melville's Moby Dick (obviously). His writing is also very reflective of his love for Melville -- both authors pack their writings with copious amounts of information that some regard as unnecessary (my main gripe with Moby Dick).
I will definitely finish MD some day, but not anytime soon.
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey is my favorite. I could go on at length about that book...Man. I'd LOVE to go on about that book, but it's late, and I'm tired.
I haven't read the book you are referencing, and I'm dubious of spinoff books...That aside, what I LOVE about Moby Dick is all the seemingly superfluous information. The reasoning is two fold- 1) it gives Ishmael's voice a chance to unwind, and you really get to build a feeling and relationship for him, and 2) as Ken Kesey said in a Paris Review interview about why he wrote Sometimes a Great Notion, "Melville gave such a complete view of whaling life in Nantucket in the 1850s...I wanted to do something like that with Oregon logging life." Well, Melville did that, in what is the most profound accomplishment in American Letters, imo.
Oh, and number 2 on my list is Invisible Man.
My top five, while I'm at it: 1. Sometimes a Great Notion 2. Invisible Man 3. Moby Dick 4. Infinite Jest 5. Don Quixote
(these are my 5 FAVORITES. I feel the distinction is important.)
Charles Olson was literally a giant of American Literature (he was well over 6 ft tall and was "big-boned"). There's no need to be dubious of his books. You might like them.
Charles Olson was literally a giant of American Literature (he was well over 6 ft tall and was "big-boned"). There's no need to be dubious of his books. You might like them.
I forgot all about the Corner. Thanks for reminding me!
"Dead Planet" is an excellent book about food politics and questions why our entire food system is in crisis. Topics include supermarket monopoly and how it effects consumer and farmer, how supermarkets refusing to build in inner cities are directly effecting the health of the poor, food slotting. Mad cow and avian flu are touched on lightly. Industrial farming has thrown many variables out of whack.
It's well written and researched. Quick reading, too. Highly recommended.
looks great. in the same vein, just led a discussion with incoming penn freshman on this
(few of the little cunts actually read it) great book...we are a nation of walking corn chips
Good dude...I see him around town a lot, and we've talked a few times. Once, when I first moved here and had a job for a month at a sporting good store, I sold him a pair of kicks.
Good dude...I see him around town a lot, and we've talked a few times. Once, when I first moved here and had a job for a month at a sporting good store, I sold him a pair of kicks.
Thanks for posting that.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,916 Posts
Just finished this:
Which I absolutely loved. Now I'm back to buying the paper every morning until I can find a worthy follow up.
I read that a few years ago. When I finished it, I wasn't exactly sure that I knew what it was about, but I quite liked the journey, if you know what I mean.
Just started this yesterday;
It's already an engrossing read, and I'm barely up to the 1960s. Julian Cope's done a pretty spectacular job of repositioning himself from his previous life as a man who fled near-certain pop superstardom on a wave of hallucinogenics, into that of a noted and respected historian, and this has a historian's eye for detail and fondness for meticulous research all over it.
Which I absolutely loved. Now I'm back to buying the paper every morning until I can find a worthy follow up.
I read that a few years ago. When I finished it, I wasn't exactly sure that I knew what it was about, but I quite liked the journey, if you know what I mean.
Ha ha yeah this was pretty much what I came away from it with. As soon as I realised that the story wasn't the central issue then I was happy to get taken on the journey. It's the kind of novel I always hoped magic realism would offer but was always let down by.
Which I absolutely loved. Now I'm back to buying the paper every morning until I can find a worthy follow up.
I read that a few years ago. When I finished it, I wasn't exactly sure that I knew what it was about, but I quite liked the journey, if you know what I mean.
Ha ha yeah this was pretty much what I came away from it with. As soon as I realised that the story wasn't the central issue then I was happy to get taken on the journey. It's the kind of novel I always hoped magic realism would offer but was always let down by.
A great book.
Check out these two as well Kafka by the Sea Norwegian Wood
Pointman, we've gotten along so well in this thread, but this is where we diverge...
I will bring the Murakami hate fo' dayz... Dude does nothing for me; how his pseudonewage minimalisism is mistaken for brilliance I will never understand.
I know EVERYONE loves that guy, but I don't think I'll be missing out if I never read another word he writes.
You'll want to avoid the Moncrieff translation, I hear.
ah, ok - any recommendations on which translation to read?
He's referring to the recent Lydia Davis translation probably. Moncrieff translated Proust while the series of novels was still in progress and took many liberties. For most English readers, Moncrieff=Proust so you would still obviously be able to enjoy Swann's Way reading his translation. However, Davis's is supposed to be much more accurate.
Pointman, we've gotten along so well in this thread, but this is where we diverge...
I will bring the Murakami hate fo' dayz... Dude does nothing for me; how his pseudonewage minimalisism is mistaken for brilliance I will never understand.
I know EVERYONE loves that guy, but I don't think I'll be missing out if I never read another word he writes.
All good. I won't even pretend that Murakami is for everyone.
I'm still gonna go cop Junot's new book after work and Jesus' Son will forever be my shit.
Comments
Why do you consider it the best book you've ever read? Just curious...
Have you read anything by Charles Olson? He did a book titled Call Me Ishmael that focused on Melville's Moby Dick (obviously). His writing is also very reflective of his love for Melville -- both authors pack their writings with copious amounts of information that some regard as unnecessary (my main gripe with Moby Dick).
I will definitely finish MD some day, but not anytime soon.
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey is my favorite. I could go on at length about that book...Man. I'd LOVE to go on about that book, but it's late, and I'm tired.
I haven't read the book you are referencing, and I'm dubious of spinoff books...That aside, what I LOVE about Moby Dick is all the seemingly superfluous information. The reasoning is two fold- 1) it gives Ishmael's voice a chance to unwind, and you really get to build a feeling and relationship for him, and 2) as Ken Kesey said in a Paris Review interview about why he wrote Sometimes a Great Notion, "Melville gave such a complete view of whaling life in Nantucket in the 1850s...I wanted to do something like that with Oregon logging life." Well, Melville did that, in what is the most profound accomplishment in American Letters, imo.
Oh, and number 2 on my list is Invisible Man.
My top five, while I'm at it:
1. Sometimes a Great Notion
2. Invisible Man
3. Moby Dick
4. Infinite Jest
5. Don Quixote
(these are my 5 FAVORITES. I feel the distinction is important.)
fair nuff.
I just finished:
Depressing as hell, but also funny, 600 plus page novel about intertwined lives in 1975 India.
Now I'm reading:
Stolen from Rootless Cosmo's old bedroom bookshelf. Fascinating. Also depressing as, well, hell.
Also, professionally I'm reading:
and
Holler, teachers.
looks great. in the same vein,
just led a discussion with incoming penn freshman on this
(few of the little cunts actually read it)
great book...we are a nation of walking corn chips
one of the dopest books on Drakula ive ever read, i spent alot of time listenin to Delays Rajaz Meter mix (Plug One)
i reccomeend checkin both owt (plug 2)
delay if your out thaer, any chance of u uppin the psycrunk mix for a brutha
startin this ;
always enjoy pickin up this one at anytime
and many others...
ah, ok - any recommendations on which translation to read?
Which I absolutely loved. Now I'm back to buying the paper every morning until I can find a worthy follow up.
Go for the Lydia Davis one. The Moncrieff really is leaden.
YES!
First books on my list are now these two!
I'm thinking of nerding out and pre-ordering a signed edition of the Diaz book from Powells.
Here's a link to an article the Boston Globe published yesterday about the struggles Diaz went through in creating this, his follow up to DROWN.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/09/10/eleven_years_later/
Good dude...I see him around town a lot, and we've talked a few times. Once, when I first moved here and had a job for a month at a sporting good store, I sold him a pair of kicks.
Thanks for posting that.
I read that a few years ago. When I finished it, I wasn't exactly sure that I knew what it was about, but I quite liked the journey, if you know what I mean.
Just started this yesterday;
It's already an engrossing read, and I'm barely up to the 1960s. Julian Cope's done a pretty spectacular job of repositioning himself from his previous life as a man who fled near-certain pop superstardom on a wave of hallucinogenics, into that of a noted and respected historian, and this has a historian's eye for detail and fondness for meticulous research all over it.
&
Ha ha yeah this was pretty much what I came away from it with. As soon as I realised that the story wasn't the central issue then I was happy to get taken on the journey. It's the kind of novel I always hoped magic realism would offer but was always let down by.
A great book.
Check out these two as well
Kafka by the Sea
Norwegian Wood
I will bring the Murakami hate fo' dayz...
Dude does nothing for me; how his pseudonewage minimalisism is mistaken for brilliance I will never understand.
I know EVERYONE loves that guy, but I don't think I'll be missing out if I never read another word he writes.
He's referring to the recent Lydia Davis translation probably. Moncrieff translated Proust while the series of novels was still in progress and took many liberties. For most English readers, Moncrieff=Proust so you would still obviously be able to enjoy Swann's Way reading his translation. However, Davis's is supposed to be much more accurate.
All good. I won't even pretend that Murakami is for everyone.
I'm still gonna go cop Junot's new book after work and Jesus' Son will forever be my shit.
I will ride for this till the day I die.
he is pretty much
damn I need to get this...Amazon's got it for $20! What a bargain!