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.
I will ride for this till the day I die.
is this a good one to start with, have heard nothing but good things about him
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
Cheers Pointman, been meaning to pick up more of his work but wasn't sure if the effect would be less in other works (I seem to have a natural talent for selecting and enjoying books focusing on male middle life crisis).
I'm about 2/3 of the way through and it's so incredibly moving. It's a tough read, or maybe I'm just reading slowly to savor every word. I don't want it to be over.
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.
I will ride for this till the day I die.
is this a good one to start with, have heard nothing but good things about him
If I remember correctly, Harold Bloom has called this the second best book ever written -- next to "As I Lay Dying."
We are reading this right now in 10th grade World Literature. I am [Liza Minnelli]enthralled[/Liza Minnelli] with it! It reminds me of 100 Years of Solitude, one of my favorite books ever, as far as the construction of Okonkwo as a person belonging to a commmunity like the Buendia family of OYS. I also appreciate how Chinua Achebe isn't fucking around with some Hawthorne-ian back-story for the whole thing. Okonkwo's father was a shiftless loser, it is portrayed as such, and Okonkwo decides to not follow in his footsteps, instead building his own legend through hard work and success and kicking some local wrestler's ass. Thank you for not cluttering it with meaningless drivel.
The legend grows. I'm anxious to see where it goes. (I didn't mean to rhyme that.)
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
Cheers Pointman, been meaning to pick up more of his work but wasn't sure if the effect would be less in other works (I seem to have a natural talent for selecting and enjoying books focusing on male middle life crisis).
on the Murakami. I always have a hard time putting his books down, great writer.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
We are reading this right now in 10th grade World Literature. I am [Liza Minnelli]enthralled[/Liza Minnelli] with it! It reminds me of 100 Years of Solitude, one of my favorite books ever, as far as the construction of Okonkwo as a person belonging to a commmunity like the Buendia family of OYS. I also appreciate how Chinua Achebe isn't fucking around with some Hawthorne-ian back-story for the whole thing. Okonkwo's father was a shiftless loser, it is portrayed as such, and Okonkwo decides to not follow in his footsteps, instead building his own legend through hard work and success and kicking some local wrestler's ass. Thank you for not cluttering it with meaningless drivel.
The legend grows. I'm anxious to see where it goes. (I didn't mean to rhyme that.)
It's a great book, beautifully written. The ending just did me in.
Besides my philosophy text books, I've been exclusively reading Icelandic literature. Svava Jakobsd??ttir is an author who's especially gotten to me. Beautifully written, surreal, feminist short stories from the late 60's and upwards.
One story depicts a mother-of-many whose sole concern is pleasing her children. In every way. They begin by cutting one of her big toes off, to see if she performs her maternal tasks efficiently(!). They later tie her up and saw out her brain, just to, you know, check it out. She willingly conforms. As she herself says of the boy who performs the crude surgery; "he always was curious."
Said curious boy trashes her brainly remains after 'nough examination, only to be salvaged by the family father and displayed in a jar in the living room. Missing her brain, "by natural law", her heart begins to compensate for the aforementioned loss and grows engrossly to encloud her lungs. She has a doctor cut it out, and wishes for her (now) long-left-home children to accept it as a gift but they claim that it won't fit in with their modern furniture. So her heart ends up in a jar next to the brain-jar in her old aparment. Completely void.
I can only imagine being, both/either, a young woman reading that text vs. a (recently) settled family-woman, at that time.
Last semester I took a course that looked at social constructions of nature. Deconstruction completely flipped my understanding of nature and I hope this book gets me thinking differently about race, class and gender.
I'm about 2/3 of the way through and it's so incredibly moving. It's a tough read, or maybe I'm just reading slowly to savor every word. I don't want it to be over.
Since I could not find the Diaz book I picked this up in the airport. 60pgs in and it's quite interesting but has yet to really [nohomo]grab me by the balls.[/nohomo]
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...which I have been waiting for for a decade.
is this a good one to start with, have heard nothing but good things about him
Cheers Pointman, been meaning to pick up more of his work but wasn't sure if the effect would be less in other works (I seem to have a natural talent for selecting and enjoying books focusing on male middle life crisis).
I've been to three local bookstores in two days trying to find this and all three were sold out.
I'm pissed but at least happy to hear it's selling.
FUCK YEAH...
I'm so geeked for this book, and so happy for J. Diaz that it is 1) done, and 2) doing well.
Faux, I posted an article on page 2 about his struggles in writing this from Monday's Boston Globe. Peep game.
I'm about 2/3 of the way through and it's so incredibly moving. It's a tough read, or maybe I'm just reading slowly to savor every word. I don't want it to be over.
If I remember correctly, Harold Bloom has called this the second best book ever written -- next to "As I Lay Dying."
We are reading this right now in 10th grade World Literature. I am [Liza Minnelli]enthralled[/Liza Minnelli] with it! It reminds me of 100 Years of Solitude, one of my favorite books ever, as far as the construction of Okonkwo as a person belonging to a commmunity like the Buendia family of OYS. I also appreciate how Chinua Achebe isn't fucking around with some Hawthorne-ian back-story for the whole thing. Okonkwo's father was a shiftless loser, it is portrayed as such, and Okonkwo decides to not follow in his footsteps, instead building his own legend through hard work and success and kicking some local wrestler's ass. Thank you for not cluttering it with meaningless drivel.
The legend grows. I'm anxious to see where it goes. (I didn't mean to rhyme that.)
It's a great book, beautifully written. The ending just did me in.
In a good way?
One story depicts a mother-of-many whose sole concern is pleasing her children. In every way. They begin by cutting one of her big toes off, to see if she performs her maternal tasks efficiently(!). They later tie her up and saw out her brain, just to, you know, check it out. She willingly conforms. As she herself says of the boy who performs the crude surgery; "he always was curious."
Said curious boy trashes her brainly remains after 'nough examination, only to be salvaged by the family father and displayed in a jar in the living room. Missing her brain, "by natural law", her heart begins to compensate for the aforementioned loss and grows engrossly to encloud her lungs. She has a doctor cut it out, and wishes for her (now) long-left-home children to accept it as a gift but they claim that it won't fit in with their modern furniture. So her heart ends up in a jar next to the brain-jar in her old aparment. Completely void.
I can only imagine being, both/either, a young woman reading that text vs. a (recently) settled family-woman, at that time.
Last semester I took a course that looked at social constructions of nature. Deconstruction completely flipped my understanding of nature and I hope this book gets me thinking differently about race, class and gender.
Since I could not find the Diaz book I picked this up in the airport. 60pgs in and it's quite interesting but has yet to really [nohomo]grab me by the balls.[/nohomo]