What are you reading?

[Shadaloo]

I just finished Richard Adams' Watership Down and The Plague Dogs. I was nowhere near as scarred as I expected to be, but some parts of TPD made me cringe.

[elevenism]

I just finished Richard Adams' Watership Down and The Plague Dogs. I was nowhere near as scarred as I expected to be, but some parts of TPD made me cringe.

@Shadaloo , don't you think that Adams is LYING when he says there is no religious symbolism in Watership?

[Shadaloo]

I think the very notion of El-ahrairah answers that.

[blake]

Recently finished "Camp Redemption" by Raymond Atkins and started on "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel.

[eversonpoe]

finally reading John Dies At The End

i saw the movie at a screening introduced by Don Coscarelli a few years ago (and it was a double-feature with Bubba Ho Tep), and it was so much fun. i've been meaning to read the book since then, and just never got around to it.
so far, i feel like the movie did an extremely faithful job of keeping the voice and tone of the book, and i'm excited to see what surprises are in store (since i know they didn't/couldn't include everything fromt he book in the movie).

[implanted_microchip]

@elevenism and I are both working our ways through Infinite Jest with differing degrees of enthusiasm and have been passing a lot of back-and-forth between one another around it and Wallace in general; I couldn't help but adore this Onion article and figure anyone who's read any DFW might appreciate it:

http://www.theonion.com/article/girl...allace-brea-76

[elevenism]

i fucking adored John Dies At the End @eversonpoe , the movie anyway. i didn't realize there was a book until recently, and i will have to check it out.

And yes, @kleiner352 says true. :P
It's fun to be reading and discussing such a massive tome with someone i know, especially someone so insightful and verbose as young kleiner.

[eversonpoe]

i fucking adored John Dies At the End @eversonpoe , the movie anyway. i didn't realize there was a book until recently, and i will have to check it out.

And yes, @kleiner352 says true. :P
It's fun to be reading and discussing such a massive tome with someone i know, especially someone so insightful and verbose as young kleiner.

i feel similarly to how i did when i saw The Golden Compass and then read the book.
1/2 way through: oh, wow, the book has a lot more stuff in it than the movie!
3/4 of the way through: that movie's fine on its own but i'm glad i didn't read the book first...
Finished: FUCK THAT MOVIE!

now, i don't feel like john dies at the end is BAD the way the golden compass is FUCKING AWFUL compared to the book. but, when you take a 466-page book and turn it into a less-than-two-hour movie, you're gonna lose a lot of info. the big issues i have with it are character motivation, because a lot of that changes drastically (they combined two characters from the book into one girl and basically stripped her of any personality). i would say if you enjoyed the film, definitely read the book, because it's great. i just wish the R word Spoiler: retarded wasn't used so constantly (although i know that's "in-character" for the people in the book) because it just makes me sad.

also, i'm currently reading the sequel, "This Book Is Full Of Spiders (Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It)" and i'm quite enjoying it so far.

[elevenism]

i feel similarly to how i did when i saw The Golden Compass and then read the book.
1/2 way through: oh, wow, the book has a lot more stuff in it than the movie!
3/4 of the way through: that movie's fine on its own but i'm glad i didn't read the book first...
Finished: FUCK THAT MOVIE!

now, i don't feel like john dies at the end is BAD the way the golden compass is FUCKING AWFUL compared to the book. but, when you take a 466-page book and turn it into a less-than-two-hour movie, you're gonna lose a lot of info. the big issues i have with it are character motivation, because a lot of that changes drastically (they combined two characters from the book into one girl and basically stripped her of any personality). i would say if you enjoyed the film, definitely read the book, because it's great. i just wish the R word Spoiler: retarded wasn't used so constantly (although i know that's "in-character" for the people in the book) because it just makes me sad.

also, i'm currently reading the sequel, "Don't Touch This Book, It's Full Of Spiders (Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It)" and i'm quite enjoying it so far.

ordering it right now.
Any avid readers on the board right now, is there anything else i simply MUST put in the cart?

[eversonpoe]

ordering it right now.
Any avid readers on the board right now, is there anything else i simply MUST put in the cart?

the Johannes Cabal books are also excellent. there's four of them, so far. Johannes Cabal The Necromancer, Johannes Cabal The Detective, Johannes Cabal The Fear Institute, The Brothers Cabal. the first and third are my favorites, but the second one is fun and the fourth is really good. if you like Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury and you like steampunk sensibilities, the first book will suck you right in.

[cashpiles (closed)]

finally reading John Dies At The End

i saw the movie at a screening introduced by Don Coscarelli a few years ago (and it was a double-feature with Bubba Ho Tep), and it was so much fun. i've been meaning to read the book since then, and just never got around to it.
so far, i feel like the movie did an extremely faithful job of keeping the voice and tone of the book, and i'm excited to see what surprises are in store (since i know they didn't/couldn't include everything fromt he book in the movie).

probably the funniest book I've ever read. unfortunately every novel "Wong" has released since then hasn't come close.

[eversonpoe]

probably the funniest book I've ever read. unfortunately every novel "Wong" has released since then hasn't come close.

i'm about a quarter or a third of the way through "this book is full of spiders" and i'm quite enjoying it!

[implanted_microchip]

I made myself finish Infinite Jest as fast as possible recently. I can only assume Wallace's book A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again is about reading this novel. Not for me whatsoever and I'm extremely disappointed considering the cult of obsession around it. I'm probably going to rinse my literary mouth out with Don DeLillo's Underworld next.

[allegro]

I made myself finish Infinite Jest as fast as possible recently. I can only assume Wallace's book A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again is about reading this novel. Not for me whatsoever and I'm extremely disappointed considering the cult of obsession around it. I'm probably going to rinse my literary mouth out with Don DeLillo's Underworld next.

You should rinse it out with some JANE AUSTEN!!! :-)

[eversonpoe]

Lumberjanes, vol. 1

wish it hadn't taken me so long to get this, because it is SO GOOD

[elevenism]

@eversonpoe , thank you so much for the recommendation of John Dies at the End.
I'm reading it in a break from infinite jest, and damn, i love it. Comedy and horror are both very hard to get right, but this book nails both.

[elevenism]

@allegro Cobain's Journals are on their way in the mail

[eversonpoe]

finally reading Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and it's SO DIFFERENT than i thought it was going to be, which i kind of love.

[elevenism]

i've also got the first two books of GoT on the way. I didn't really get into the first book; i had it before and lost it.

But now that i'm an avid fan of the show, i bet i will get a big kick out of it

[elevenism]

Kurt Cobain's "Journals" today.

It's a fucking AMAZING window into the mind of a man i idolized but often misunderstood when i was like age 12-16.
Nirvana hit the mainstream when i was in the 7th grade. We had to write papers about the greatest piece of music ever written and like defend it and explain why it is so great, and i wrote my paper about Nevermind.
I can't get enough of this stuff, but at the same time, i feel a LITTLE guilty for looking through it-he even says IN the journal that he feels raped by people reading the journal. But it's irresistible.
It's such a sublime irony. The man himself was pure sublime irony. Thanks again for pointing me to this, @allegro

[Ryan]

I think I'll finally start SK's Finders Keepers and then move on to End Of Watch before @elevenism kills me.

[allegro]

Kurt Cobain's "Journals" today.

It's a fucking AMAZING window into the mind of a man i idolized but often misunderstood when i was like age 12-16.
Nirvana hit the mainstream when i was in the 7th grade. We had to write papers about the greatest piece of music ever written and like defend it and explain why it is so great, and i wrote my paper about Nevermind.
I can't get enough of this stuff, but at the same time, i feel a LITTLE guilty for looking through it-he even says IN the journal that he feels raped by people reading the journal. But it's irresistible.
It's such a sublime irony. The man himself was pure sublime irony. Thanks again for pointing me to this, @allegro

It seems obvious to me that he wanted people to read it; it all reads like journalism, list upon list, commentary, etc. And I came away feeling that my teenage self related so much because I used to do the same shit. Some of it also seems to be a sort of business plan.

[allegro]

@elevenism , speaking of recommended reading: have you ever read THIS?

[elevenism]

It seems obvious to me that he wanted people to read it; it all reads like journalism, list upon list, commentary, etc. And I came away feeling that my teenage self related so much because I used to do the same shit. Some of it also seems to be a sort of business plan.

The "business plan" aspect is interesting, because it is a stark contrast to the punk rock aesthetic he wanted to display.
I've heard rumors that kurt talked about hating mtv, and was CALLING mtv to complain that nirvana videos weren't getting enough airplay.
My teenage self relates a HELL of a lot as well, like the Mr Mustache cartoon.
@allegro , is the book you mentioned the hot ticket? We are having some kind of trouble with our bank card, but i will order it asap if you think it's worth a read. You've given me 2 great suggestions so far.

[allegro]

The "business plan" aspect is interesting, because it is a stark contrast to the punk rock aesthetic he wanted to display.
I've heard rumors that kurt talked about hating mtv, and was CALLING mtv to complain that nirvana videos weren't getting enough airplay.
My teenage self relates a HELL of a lot as well, like the Mr Mustache cartoon.
@allegro , is the book you mentioned the hot ticket? We are having some kind of trouble with our bank card, but i will order it asap if you think it's worth a read. You've given me 2 great suggestions so far.

1) Yes, exactly, Kurt was a complex dude.

2) It's an old book but very relevant today. Not urgent, though.

[elevenism]

@allegro do you do Steinbeck?
Allow me to recommend a book to you: East of Eden.
The story of adam and eve, cain and able are repeated over and over in a sweeping generational saga.
It's one of the best books i've ever read (i have a thing for steinbeck's "voice.") And i just love, love, LOVE symbolism.

[allegro]

@allegro do you do Steinbeck?
Allow me to recommend a book to you: East of Eden.
The story of adam and eve, cain and able are repeated over and over in a sweeping generational saga.
It's one of the best books i've ever read (i have a thing for steinbeck's "voice.") And i just love, love, LOVE symbolism.

Yeah Oprah had "East of Eden" on her Book Club list in 2003 but I didn't pick it up then because I was already reading too much in college. In 2006, I spent 6 months with Milton's "Paradise Lost" for my Capstone project so that was about as much Genesis as I could handle for a long time, LOL. Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" is considered his magnum opus and has been on my literature list, though (I have a literary obsession with the Dust Bowl).

I only recommended "Handmaid's" due to its dystopian theme.

[elevenism]

Oh @allegro , Grapes of Wrath is not to be missed. It, too, is rife with religious symbolism, though some of it is more subtle than East of Eden. I suggest reading both, but if you are interested in the Dust Bowl, you MUST read GoW. It demonstrates the triumph of the human spirit over all adversity through love and sacrifice and pure determination.
I've read everything Steinbeck's ever written. I simply adore him and regard him as the best american writer, i think. His work can be dense and is often chock full of "easter eggs" of symbolism, but is also surprisingly readable.
I live RIGHT in the epicenter of the Dust Bowl, of where it all went down. They say the true epicenter of it was Boise City, which is like 34 miles north of here. We still get dust storms. My ancestors lived through it.
But i digress. I deeply adore both East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath. EoE is often mentioned as a "hard" book, which means you will have lots of fun finding the themes, and it's like seeing one of those magic view posters and makes you feel awesome for figuring it out I've read EoE 3 times and i'm due to read it again. I can't recommend both books enough. Also, for lighter fare, check out the utterly epic Tortilla Flat, and the tragicomedy Cannery Row.

[the duder]

Just finished "Dark Matter" by Blake Crouch. Fantastic.

[allegro]

@elevenism my fave Dust Bowl books (so far) are by Willa Cather. (Dust Bowl meaning disasterous farming on the Great Plains region in the 1930s.) Highly recommended. Symbolism: I have a degree in that, LOL, thanks.

You want a fun symbolism book, I can recommend lots: For instance read "The Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison.