I'm learning so much about soil quality in 1800s hill country TexasPASTA wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2024 7:58 pmRead the first 2 the winter and summer before my diagnosis. Been a long time. SHould probably get after 'em again.GuyLaCroix wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2024 10:20 am Started Robert Caro's LBJ series. I only read the intro and I'm hooked.
Dude is 88, definitely gonna croak before he finishes the series. It's like Berserk for boomers.
Re: What are you reading?
652https://reverb.com/news/interview-anjal ... tely-maybe
Doesn't qualify as a long-read, so leaving it here. Lovely piece.
Doesn't qualify as a long-read, so leaving it here. Lovely piece.
at war with bellends
Re: What are you reading?
653Recently finished-
Southernmost by Silas House. Meh. Started strong and got tedious.
The Horse by Willy Vlautin. Tore through it over the course of a couple of nights. Vlautin gets bleak again with his usual themes of alcoholism and depression. This time it’s a musician on the casino circuit who retires to a remote mining claim in Nevada. A blind horse suddenly appears outside his trailer, and he has no idea what to do with it. Vlautin does a great job writing about music and musicians, probably because he’s a musician-turned-writer himself.
Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith. Some of the same themes as Larry Brown’s Fay, but I liked it better than Fay. I like the cut of MFS’s jib, and I’ll be looking into his other books. Mississippi has an incredible array of literary talent. It may be last place in a lot of things, but it certainly rides the crest of storytelling.
Speaking of musicians-turned-writers, I’m starting John Darnielle’s Universal Harvester when I get home from work today. I’ve read his others and have enjoyed them all, even if the first one was a little clunky. He certainly has my respect.
Southernmost by Silas House. Meh. Started strong and got tedious.
The Horse by Willy Vlautin. Tore through it over the course of a couple of nights. Vlautin gets bleak again with his usual themes of alcoholism and depression. This time it’s a musician on the casino circuit who retires to a remote mining claim in Nevada. A blind horse suddenly appears outside his trailer, and he has no idea what to do with it. Vlautin does a great job writing about music and musicians, probably because he’s a musician-turned-writer himself.
Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith. Some of the same themes as Larry Brown’s Fay, but I liked it better than Fay. I like the cut of MFS’s jib, and I’ll be looking into his other books. Mississippi has an incredible array of literary talent. It may be last place in a lot of things, but it certainly rides the crest of storytelling.
Speaking of musicians-turned-writers, I’m starting John Darnielle’s Universal Harvester when I get home from work today. I’ve read his others and have enjoyed them all, even if the first one was a little clunky. He certainly has my respect.
Re: What are you reading?
654I liked Wolf in White Van a lot more. Haven't gotten to Devil House yet.Dave N. wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2024 9:49 am
Speaking of musicians-turned-writers, I’m starting John Darnielle’s Universal Harvester when I get home from work today. I’ve read his others and have enjoyed them all, even if the first one was a little clunky. He certainly has my respect.
I'm more than halfway through Infinite Jest and I'm enjoying it, for the most part. Some passages are a slog though - I don't need a detail of driving through Boston at night. Helps that I'm using Lit Charts on all the chapters to get synopses of who's who and what's happening.
"Whatever happened to that album?"
"I broke it, remember? I threw it against the wall and it like, shattered."
"I broke it, remember? I threw it against the wall and it like, shattered."
Re: What are you reading?
655All very good books I think.zircona1 wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2024 10:04 amI liked Wolf in White Van a lot more. Haven't gotten to Devil House yet.Dave N. wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2024 9:49 am
Speaking of musicians-turned-writers, I’m starting John Darnielle’s Universal Harvester when I get home from work today. I’ve read his others and have enjoyed them all, even if the first one was a little clunky. He certainly has my respect.
I just started Moby-Dick. I know everyone has been waiting to know what I think of it. Will advise, pretty sure it involves fishing and I liked A River Runs Through It so I'm optimistic.
Re: What are you reading?
656Spoiler alert: Moby Dick is way more homoerotic than A River Runs Through Iteephus wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2024 10:18 amAll very good books I think.zircona1 wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2024 10:04 amI liked Wolf in White Van a lot more. Haven't gotten to Devil House yet.Dave N. wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2024 9:49 am
Speaking of musicians-turned-writers, I’m starting John Darnielle’s Universal Harvester when I get home from work today. I’ve read his others and have enjoyed them all, even if the first one was a little clunky. He certainly has my respect.
I just started Moby-Dick. I know everyone has been waiting to know what I think of it. Will advise, pretty sure it involves fishing and I liked A River Runs Through It so I'm optimistic.
Re: What are you reading?
657Melville's Billy Budd is homoerotica hiding in plain sight. No wonder Benjamin Britten made it into an opera and E. M. Forster wrote the libretto.Dave N. wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2024 10:40 amSpoiler alert: Moby Dick is way more homoerotic than A River Runs Through Iteephus wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2024 10:18 amAll very good books I think.zircona1 wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2024 10:04 am
I liked Wolf in White Van a lot more. Haven't gotten to Devil House yet.
I just started Moby-Dick. I know everyone has been waiting to know what I think of it. Will advise, pretty sure it involves fishing and I liked A River Runs Through It so I'm optimistic.
Re: What are you reading?
658Have been reading a few Kindle eBooks at once while waiting for the temperature to drop . . .
Libra - My first DeLillo, and, it seems, a great place to start. So far, it fulfills my concept of how a good book behaves, in that the way the story is told is just as interesting, if not more interesting, than the subject matter. Am probably on some FBI list now what with doing searches for Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife, and Jack Ruby, at like three in the morning.
The Days of Abandonment - Not the best Ferrante according to book nerds, but the plot (a wife kinda losing it after finding out her husband's been cheating on her) was a selling point. Pretty good so far.
The Trouble with Being Born - Have just nibbled at it so far. Was expecting this E.M. Cioran book to be more nihilistic but the aphorisms are closer to Kierkegaard's in Either/Or (a book I'd like to read in full one day) or the writing of Pessoa.
Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers - Bought this several weeks back after it was recommended by a few women on GoodReads. Probably won't finish it. The true crime angle is okay, but not suspenseful or super revelatory; I ended up being more interested in the detailed descriptions of trucking, what it's like to do all that. Sounds very . . . involved.
One book I liked, from earlier this year, was the best seller The Burnout Society by Buying-Chul Han. Felt a painful sting of recognition reading it, especially the part about exploiting one's own free/cheap labor, the go-getter/D.I.Y.er type embodying the entire master-slave dialectic.
Libra - My first DeLillo, and, it seems, a great place to start. So far, it fulfills my concept of how a good book behaves, in that the way the story is told is just as interesting, if not more interesting, than the subject matter. Am probably on some FBI list now what with doing searches for Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife, and Jack Ruby, at like three in the morning.
The Days of Abandonment - Not the best Ferrante according to book nerds, but the plot (a wife kinda losing it after finding out her husband's been cheating on her) was a selling point. Pretty good so far.
The Trouble with Being Born - Have just nibbled at it so far. Was expecting this E.M. Cioran book to be more nihilistic but the aphorisms are closer to Kierkegaard's in Either/Or (a book I'd like to read in full one day) or the writing of Pessoa.
Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers - Bought this several weeks back after it was recommended by a few women on GoodReads. Probably won't finish it. The true crime angle is okay, but not suspenseful or super revelatory; I ended up being more interested in the detailed descriptions of trucking, what it's like to do all that. Sounds very . . . involved.
One book I liked, from earlier this year, was the best seller The Burnout Society by Buying-Chul Han. Felt a painful sting of recognition reading it, especially the part about exploiting one's own free/cheap labor, the go-getter/D.I.Y.er type embodying the entire master-slave dialectic.
Re: What are you reading?
659By the way, I am sorry if this ^^^ just comes off as a bunch of downer lit, but each of these titles honestly just caught my interest, for one reason or another.
Maybe something more "wholesome" and lighthearted is in order.
Maybe something more "wholesome" and lighthearted is in order.