Haydon wrote:Reading Cormac's "All the Pretty Horses" at the moment and it really, really makes me very, very excited. I just love it very much.

I'm reading Suttree again right now. Haven't had as much time to read as of late. Kind of overcooked in comparison to his other books which have a somewhat quicker pace, but the language in the Suttree is perfect. Every line has a power to it. I read once McCarthy writes most of his books fairly quick, whereas Suttree was written on and off over twenty years. Supposedly his ex-wife typed the manuscript for him three times. 800+ pages. Dedication.

Reading Haruki Murakami's 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle' and enjoying it throughly. Every time I read Murakami I always seems to help the book will go on endlessly. It's not so much that i think they are exceptionally well written (which they are) or that they are doused in meaning (again - true) and complex (etc.) and that I wish the story would keep going on to allow for endless possibilities for all the above mentioned meanderings - it's just that the stories are fun to read.

I think I'll finish it tonite - then I need to finish HST 'Hey Rube' - which has (as always with HST) been a entertaining read.

Not quite sure what to read next though - I bought Moby Dick at the same time as the other two mentioned, since I've never read it and seem to think that I ought to. However I went through a stint of reading quite a few Mountaineering stories (all non-fiction) and am craving something non-fiction for the moment. Any good suggestions - musically related - sports related (especially about them 'olden days of sport') - or just hard living related?

The Northeast Regional Library around here is having a massive book sale since the state is cutting the budget again.

Bought quite a few books yesterday and today.

4/6/08

Bend Sinister by Vladimir Nabokov

The Crack-up by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow (first edition!)

Intruder in the Dust & Light in August by William Faulkner

The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely, & The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway

The Trial by Franz Kafka

The Writer Observed by Harvey Breit

Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard

$11.

4/7/08

Three: Wise Blood/The Violent Bear It Away/Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor

The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud

Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan

Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley

The Iliad & The Odyssey of Homer

Go Down, Moses & Sanctuary by William Faulkner

Solitude: A Return to the Self by Anthony Storr

Mountolive by Lawrence Durrell (I now have the quadrology!)

Humphry Clinker by Tobiuas Smollett

Boswell's Life of Johnson

The Viking Portable Library Jung

Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess

Waiting For Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts by Samuel Beckett (just had to do it, I know have three copies of the play)

$3.75

Tomorrow I will go back before class and everything is a dime. Kick ass.

I've started reading Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda In Bush's War On Iraq.

Thomas Pynchon's V.

llllllllllllllllllllllll wrote:Thomas Pynchon's V.

Excellent book.

Steve V. wrote:
Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner

I have a really old copy of this for some reason. I don't remember how i got it. Have you read it? I have not and want to know something about it. I have not read Faulkner before, either.

Haydon wrote:

Steve V. wrote:
Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner

I have a really old copy of this for some reason. I don't remember how i got it. Have you read it? I have not and want to know something about it. I have not read Faulkner before, either.

Not yet, but I plan to soon.

Starting to read Faulkner would be a good idea, the man is quite excellent.

I would recommend starting with As I Lay Dying personally. I found it the most accessible and it'll keep you juiced throughout the novel. Really, it is an exciting read.

Then, you should read one of the great 20th century novels, The Sound and the Fury, which is just a trip. The scope of the vision alone and the perfect execution of this novel is worth the read.

Lastly, to round out the top 3, I would go for Absalom, Absalom! AA is my favorite Faulkner book, probably his most emotionally-wrenching, and I think his best-written. It is dense. DENSE!

I think Ty Webb also claims this to be his favorite Faulkner. He'll learn ye something awful.

Go Down, Moses is, from what I've read about it after buying it, a book of interconnected short stories. That may be a good place to start, considering it's on your shelf. I read the first 30 pages (Was) and it gives a pretty solid idea of Faulkner's storytelling ability. I would suggest to nearly everyone to go seek out the novels listed above though. EVERYONE.

So for this class I'm in, besides the technical reading on light setups and such, we were assigned a slim book called Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking.

While some of the language and concepts veer into airy-fairy, the book, on the whole, is pretty great. It's helping me work through some of my creative issues, which is ultimately a good thing, but a difficult process to undertake.

It's kinda like a "Writing Down The Bones" type book, for artists, not just writers.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

It was good. Makes no sense whatsoever. I liked it a lot--very engrossing read. The ponce composer section is worth it alone--a despicable character, all id, and perfect in every way. The middle section is frustrating for 10 pages or so, but a rhythm develops. Good book.



Blood Meridian. Jesus H. Christ on a crutch. Jesus! I wish I could burn some of the images out of my brain. God.


ON DECK:
Mason and Dixon. Yep. This is it. This is the summer. I. CAN. DO. IT.

Ike