What are you reading?

[Jinsai]

[Demogorgon]

I would like this a billion more times if I could. Probably one of the very few things you and I will ever have in common. Excellent book, hope you are enjoying it.

[kel]

seconded. such a fun, bizarre read. good choice.

[Mantra]

@Jinsai is it your first time reading it?

[Jinsai]

@Jinsai is it your first time reading it?

Yup. It's been sitting on the shelf for a while though, and I've poked at it over the years.

[Mantra]

Yup. It's been sitting on the shelf for a while though, and I've poked at it over the years.

Oh okay, cool. What do you think of it so far?

[Jinsai]

Oh okay, cool. What do you think of it so far?

I like it. It's trippy and creepy.

[Mantra]

I like it. It's trippy and creepy.

Cool, I'd be interested to hear what you think of it when you finish it. I read it more than a decade ago and really loved it at the time. The older I get, the more I feel like the rest of Danielewski's work is not so great, but when I think back on House of Leaves, I still find the concepts and the whole approach to be pretty exciting. I've been thinking I might re-read it at some point, just to see if it still holds up.

[Demogorgon]

Cool, I'd be interested to hear what you think of it when you finish it. I read it more than a decade ago and really loved it at the time. The older I get, the more I feel like the rest of Danielewski's work is not so great, but when I think back on House of Leaves, I still find the concepts and the whole approach to be pretty exciting. I've been thinking I might re-read it at some point, just to see if it still holds up.

Yeah, I've tried to read two other books of his and they just don't grab my attention. Only Revolutions feels like a rambling mess no matter how you read it.

[Jinsai]

I can see how this could have proven to be a one-off home run, with a sort of approach that couldn't survive repackaging and retreading. Still, finding it really entertainin

[Mantra]

Yeah, I've tried to read two other books of his and they just don't grab my attention. Only Revolutions feels like a rambling mess no matter how you read it.

Yeah, thinking about it now, Only Revolutions feels like a botched attempt to make one of those super difficult, impenetrable books like Finnegan's Wake or Gravity's Rainbow. The problem is that it just feels hollow at the core.

I can see how this could have proven to be a one-off home run, with a sort of approach that couldn't survive repackaging and retreading. Still, finding it really entertainin

Exactly. He achieved everything he could have hoped for with House of Leaves, and given the spooky subject matter of this house taking on a life of its own, it makes sense that the text itself could be used to express that. It didn't strike me as gimmicky. But the other books just feel like he's doing weird textual stuff because that's his "thing" now, even though it doesn't really make sense in the context of these other stories. I think it would have been better for him to completely move on from the textual experiments for good after HOL and just concentrate on other approaches to writing, experimental or otherwise.

[allegate]

Cool, I'd be interested to hear what you think of it when you finish it. I read it more than a decade ago and really loved it at the time. The older I get, the more I feel like the rest of Danielewski's work is not so great, but when I think back on House of Leaves, I still find the concepts and the whole approach to be pretty exciting. I've been thinking I might re-read it at some point, just to see if it still holds up.

Ditto. I tried OR and couldn't get into it at all and that bull about a 27-volume story is just too much. Though I did read The Fifty Year Sword and it was OK. I blame this book for my reading S. as well.

[Mantra]

Ditto. I tried OR and couldn't get into it at all and that bull about a 27-volume story is just too much. Though I did read The Fifty Year Sword and it was OK. I blame this book for my reading S. as well.

Oh yeah, that 27 volume thing is deranged. I still can't believe it's real. And it's not like they're little novellas. Each volume is 880 pages. So the final product will be a book series that's 23,000 pages long? Does he honestly think anyone's gonna want to read all of that? Even Proust's In Search of Lost Time is only 3000 pages, and that's already offputting enough to most people, regardless of how great that book is supposed to be. Who's gonna wanna read 23,000 PAGES?! I'll bet that in the entire world, there'll be maybe 600 die hard fans who, driven by the sheer power of their Danielewski devotion, manage to successfully trudge through it all. Everyone else will be running for the hills.

I've never heard of that S. book, but wow, it sounds like a blatant rippoff of HOL.

[allegate]

It took me three tries to read it. I just got to this weird spot where I couldn't give a crap about the "main" characters because they were fake people. I've never had that happen before and it was really weird. My last try I just powered through it because it was the only book that I had ever given up on and I was not going to have that be the only book on my Goodreads as abandoned.

[Boots]

I'm reading Brooklyn by Colm Toibin.

[allegro]

"Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul"

Re-reading it, I first read it in the 70s, reading it with fresh eyes and an older perspective.


Edit: Also still reading Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” as well as Lindsey Vonn’s “Strong is the New Beautiful”

[Mantra]

I'm sort of curious about Fire and Fury, but I'm also trying to lower my blood pressure, so I don't know.

[allegro]

I'm sort of curious about Fire and Fury, but I'm also trying to lower my blood pressure, so I don't know.

I'm mostly LAUGHING while reading it, fwiw, it's pretty sarcastic and funny,

[Jinsai]

I liked Fire and Fury. It seemed plausible, and occasionally hilarious.

[kel]

couldn't sleep, spent the past two hours reading night by elie wiesel.

wow. just incredible.

[allegate]

Just finished 1984. What a book. I don't know how/why it was never assigned in high school or how I made it to this late age without reading it, but it's done now. And it's terrifying. I can imagine it being terrifying pretty much at any time but now especially with the Facebook stuff and the (just today!) removal of "the need for a free press and public trial" by the Trump Admin. Whew.

[Nellyrific]

Just finished 1984. What a book. I don't know how/why it was never assigned in high school or how I made it to this late age without reading it, but it's done now. And it's terrifying. I can imagine it being terrifying pretty much at any time but now especially with the Facebook stuff and the (just today!) removal of "the need for a free press and public trial" by the Trump Admin. Whew.

I love that book. I read Brave New World right after that and loved it even more. You should read that next!

[allegro]

Just finished 1984. What a book. I don't know how/why it was never assigned in high school or how I made it to this late age without reading it, but it's done now. And it's terrifying. I can imagine it being terrifying pretty much at any time but now especially with the Facebook stuff and the (just today!) removal of "the need for a free press and public trial" by the Trump Admin. Whew.

Have you read Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, yet?

[allegate]

Oddly enough, I have read both of those books. Brave New World was two years ago (I need to read the follow-up) and Handmaid's Tale was last year (mostly because I had never heard of it until the show was announced). Next up is It Can't Happen Here.

[Mantra]

What about Fahrenheit 451, have you read that one? Probably my favorite dystopian novel.

To be honest, I haven't been in the mood for reading/watching any dystopian or post-apocalypse shit for a long time. I don't know what it is. I used to read that stuff, but these days it just drags me down for some reason. I can't deal with the oppressive mood. It's funny cause after Trump, apparently there was a lot of renewed interest in dystopian lit, but I feel the exact opposite, like I need an escape. It's weird cause I'll read plenty of stuff that's super depressing and I still love it. But I don't know, I can't explain it, I just have this visceral reaction against anything dystopian these days.

[eversonpoe]

What about Fahrenheit 451, have you read that one? Probably my favorite dystopian novel.

To be honest, I haven't been in the mood for reading/watching any dystopian or post-apocalypse shit for a long time. I don't know what it is. I used to read that stuff, but these days it just drags me down for some reason. I can't deal with the oppressive mood. It's funny cause after Trump, apparently there was a lot of renewed interest in dystopian lit, but I feel the exact opposite, like I need an escape. It's weird cause I'll read plenty of stuff that's super depressing and I still love it. But I don't know, I can't explain it, I just have this visceral reaction against anything dystopian these days.

100% on board with you for that. (both parts)

i have found myself gravitating more toward horror (with a touch of humor) because it offers an escape. the last few books i've read have all had a similar tone (scare the shit out of me AND make me crack up regularly).

[Mantra]

Finished East of Eden last week...



I really did not like this book very much. There were so many things that bothered me about it that I don't even know how to organize all my thoughts into anything coherent.

And the weird thing is that it seems like everyone else loves it. My coworkers talk about it like it's the greatest novel of the last hundred years. I told my friend the other day that I didn't like it, and he just stared at me in shock. I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't like it. Maybe I'm crazy, but to me there were a lot of major problems with this book.

[allegate]

What about Fahrenheit 451, have you read that one? Probably my favorite dystopian novel.

To be honest, I haven't been in the mood for reading/watching any dystopian or post-apocalypse shit for a long time. I don't know what it is. I used to read that stuff, but these days it just drags me down for some reason. I can't deal with the oppressive mood. It's funny cause after Trump, apparently there was a lot of renewed interest in dystopian lit, but I feel the exact opposite, like I need an escape. It's weird cause I'll read plenty of stuff that's super depressing and I still love it. But I don't know, I can't explain it, I just have this visceral reaction against anything dystopian these days.

Alright, that one's next up. Right now I'm finishing the sequel series to Willow (yes, that Willow). Mostly out of obligation because I read the first book in the trilogy and I hate leaving things incomplete. At least the second one was less of a comic book (Chris Claremont is the author) and the twist at the end was set up well so I'm kind of interested to see where it could possibly go. I'm a sucker for a twist I didn't see coming, especially after a few chapters of not being surprised by some other twists that were being set up.

[theburningreptile]

I picked up Four after Midnight and Just after Sunset by Stephen King.

Can anyone recommend any horror/thriller or post-apocalyptic books? It would be greatly appreciated.

[eversonpoe]

I picked up Four after Midnight and Just after Sunset by Stephen King.

Can anyone recommend any horror/thriller or post-apocalyptic books? It would be greatly appreciated.

both of Grady Hendrix's fiction books are fantastic. "Horrorstör" is a haunted house story that takes place in a literal ikea knockoff, and "My Best Friend's Exorcism", much like its stylized cover, is basically an 80s horror movie in book form.