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Post by seagull on Dec 31, 2010 1:10:31 GMT -5
alright, halfway through Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill - Stephen King's kid. CAN'T PUT IT DOWN its a fucking rock and roll ghost story. scares on every page. random AC/DC references. hot goth girls. Southern gothic. sweeeeeeeeet This sounds brilliant. I may well check it out. I'm currently reading C by Tom McCarthy. It's weird. I like it.
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Post by Sapphire on Jan 8, 2011 10:22:41 GMT -5
I am reading a biography on Luther, the Protestant. Interesting stuff.
Addy
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stringer
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Post by stringer on Feb 22, 2014 15:09:49 GMT -5
Bringing this thread back.
Recently finished 'It's Not Me, It's You!' by Jon Richardson, 'American Psycho' by Bret Easton Ellis and 'Fight Club' by Chuck Palahniuk.
'It's Not Me, It's You!' was nowhere near as funny as I expected it to be (being a fan of Richardson's comedy I had thought it would be funnier), however it was in turn better than I'd expected it would be. It's actually a brilliant look into the mind of someone who has Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCD's less famous cousin?) and a guy who seems very much like a regular bloke with some issues. The book is funny, but I felt like he wasn't sure what he was writing or what he'd end up with, which for me made it even better. It ended up being more of a self-exploratory self-help book. Definitely worth a read.
'American Psycho'... What can I say? Fucked up beyond reason in parts. Incredible writing. And the Genesis/Whitney/Huey Lewis chapters are absolutely golden. Only downside is that I felt like a lot of my questions were left unanswered (particularly regarding Bateman's mother).
I think I was less than one chapter in to 'Fight Club' before I retrospectively wished I hadn't seen the film yet. The film is more or less word-for-word, but there are comparisons you can't help but make having seen it. The way the whole book reads, it really feels like how your mind processes things - everything happens in short sentences. It was so short though! However that's to be expected given that it started as a seven page short story.
Currently reading 'Modern Ranch Living' by Mark Poirier. Picked it up in HMV for 49p, 'cause I liked the cover. So far, really enjoying. Fantastic characters. Can't wait to see where they end up.
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Post by campfirewood1980 on Feb 22, 2014 18:11:38 GMT -5
I'm halfway through The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides and am enjoying it thus far. I went in knowing very little beyond Eugenides' reputation (both Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides are on my "to read" list) and have found it quite engaging. I just finished Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard and Freedom by Jonathan Franzen within the last couple of weeks. Thumbs up on both, though for very different reasons. If you are so inclined, I do keep a bookshelf over at Goodreads, which can be found here. Excuse my slow pace, as reading for pleasure competes with work competes with family competes with my own writing quite frequently- I expect to accomplish more as summer arrives.
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Cory
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Post by Cory on Feb 23, 2014 7:09:22 GMT -5
I've recently been trying to read "classics" that I never read while I was in school or anything like that.
I'm about 150 pages into "Moby Dick", and I don't know if it's Melville's writing style, or the nature of the subject, but so far it's been an absolute struggle to get through. I'll read about a chapter or two and just not be able to read it anymore.
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Post by laurenjean on Feb 23, 2014 21:25:26 GMT -5
I recently finished "Five Days at Memorial." It's about a hospital in New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The book was really well researched and a very quick read, but since then I've been kind of obsessed with how we would respond if we lost power at the hospital I work at.
On Thursday I am going to see Rainbow Rowell speak at a St. Paul Public Library event. I'm excited because I've read her books "Eleanor and Park" and "Fangirl," and thought they were both really good young adult fiction. I am for any well written young adult fiction that does not involve sparkly vampires.
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lyman
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Post by lyman on Feb 25, 2014 14:27:27 GMT -5
I've recently been trying to read "classics" that I never read while I was in school or anything like that. I'm about 150 pages into "Moby Dick", and I don't know if it's Melville's writing style, or the nature of the subject, but so far it's been an absolute struggle to get through. I'll read about a chapter or two and just not be able to read it anymore. Same here! About a year ago I borrowed it and really tried to get into it. Just couldn't. I know it's a classic but my god, he really could have used an editor. I'm out of work for 3 weeks so I've got plenty of time to read, might pick up this copy of Rules of Civility by Amor Towles I was given for xmas. Know nothing about it.
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Post by doctoracula on Feb 25, 2014 19:45:24 GMT -5
Moby Dick stinks. In the Heart of the Sea is a much better book, and really happened!
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Post by xcalvinx on Feb 26, 2014 3:25:03 GMT -5
I picked up Willy Vlautin's "The Free" after reading some interview with Patterson Hood and then seeing Craig tweet about it. I sat down last night and read it front to back with only an hour break around the half way point. If you've been thinking about picking that one up you absolutely should. I can't stop thinking about it - I'm probably going to have to read it again.
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stringer
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Post by stringer on Feb 26, 2014 4:11:03 GMT -5
I saw Willy Vlautin do a reading of 'Lean on Pete' a few years back, accompanied by a guy on slide guitar (which was awesome). I searched for Willy Vlautin on Twitter the other day, and the top result was Craig's tweet, which I'd actually missed haha. Small world. Definitely going to pick up 'The Free'.
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stringer
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Post by stringer on Mar 4, 2014 14:35:35 GMT -5
Mark Poirier - 'Modern Ranch Living'
This book was excellent. The characters were different and well thought out, really weird in their own little ways. With obscure but not unbelievable personal issues. And the ending was great. The whole story was totally interesting, with little decorations to the characters which kept the pace really fun and interesting. There's a central storyline around which two main characters (linked because they're neighbours) revolve, and it jumps between them without losing any pace. Definitely worth a read!
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Post by laurenjean on Mar 12, 2014 13:38:50 GMT -5
I read Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" for this months Books and Bars. This time I understood a lot more than I did when I read it in high school and I didn't get caught up in the book being fiction. My dad was supposed to go Vietnam but his blood pressure got really high (possibly because the army gave them salt pills) and he was excused. He seems guilty sometimes when talking about friends that went. I wish he didn't carry that, but I am glad he didn't have go.
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Post by bluemoondust on Mar 31, 2014 18:41:54 GMT -5
I picked up Willy Vlautin's "The Free" after reading some interview with Patterson Hood and then seeing Craig tweet about it. I sat down last night and read it front to back with only an hour break around the half way point. If you've been thinking about picking that one up you absolutely should. I can't stop thinking about it - I'm probably going to have to read it again. There is a review of the book by Craig here. Richmond Fontaine have been one of my favourite bands over the last few years, though I discovered them relatively late on (with 'We Used to Think...'), would love to see Willy and Craig performing together.
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stringer
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Post by stringer on Apr 1, 2014 8:52:42 GMT -5
I picked up Willy Vlautin's "The Free" after reading some interview with Patterson Hood and then seeing Craig tweet about it. I sat down last night and read it front to back with only an hour break around the half way point. If you've been thinking about picking that one up you absolutely should. I can't stop thinking about it - I'm probably going to have to read it again. There is a review of the book by Craig here. Richmond Fontaine have been one of my favourite bands over the last few years, though I discovered them relatively late on (with 'We Used to Think...'), would love to see Willy and Craig performing together. That would be a GREAT show.
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Post by yesterdayspapers on Apr 21, 2014 22:54:32 GMT -5
I made a new year‘s resolution to read 30 books this year. I‘m on book 11, The Wings of the Dove by Henry James and its a bit of a slow read. I‘ve been finally discovering Canadian literature and omg where the fuck have you been my entire life? Alice Munro more than lives up to the hype and Gabrielle Roy‘s the Tin Flute is easily a top 10 for me with the added bonus of being set in a place I know very well.
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Post by laurenjean on Apr 27, 2014 16:17:57 GMT -5
I just started "Lexicon" for Books and Bars. I am reserving judgment so far.
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stringer
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Post by stringer on Apr 30, 2014 2:10:23 GMT -5
'The Road' is horrible to read. When people told me it was difficult, I assumed they meant the storyline and not the actual writing.
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Post by delboydrums on Apr 30, 2014 2:13:15 GMT -5
'The Road' is horrible to read. When people told me it was difficult, I assumed they meant the storyline and not the actual writing. WHHHAAAAT???!?!?
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stringer
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Post by stringer on Apr 30, 2014 6:09:27 GMT -5
'The Road' is horrible to read. When people told me it was difficult, I assumed they meant the storyline and not the actual writing. WHHHAAAAT???!?!? It's difficult because it's written like it's stream of consciousness. The and the and the and the and the
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Post by delboydrums on Apr 30, 2014 6:15:26 GMT -5
That's part of what makes it so good!
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stringer
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Post by stringer on Apr 30, 2014 8:17:29 GMT -5
I'm not saying it's not good, just that... It's not fun to read!
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Post by delboydrums on Apr 30, 2014 9:19:10 GMT -5
Not much fun about it anyway!
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Post by yesterdayspapers on May 6, 2014 22:30:17 GMT -5
Book 12 is Family of Secrets by Russ Baker. Solid investigative work about one of the great evils of the 20th and 21st centuries.
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Post by laurenjean on May 7, 2014 19:43:02 GMT -5
I ended up enjoying "Lexicon" even though it was confusing. I started "Divergent" this afternoon while waiting for my tire to get changed (potholes are horrible this year) and blew through the first hundred pages. I am so glad that I didn't have to make any life defining decisions at sixteen.
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Post by yesterdayspapers on May 15, 2014 14:01:28 GMT -5
Was slumming a bit with The Hunger Games now I‘m reading about good ol JFK assassination
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