What's Everyone Reading At The Moment?

[CrystalGeezer]

Happily ... what does it say ?

No it's crap, I was joking.

In other news To Kill A Mockingbird 2 is set to be published. Can't wait.

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacket...kill-a-mockingbird-sequel-20150203-story.html

 

[Anonymous]

the pregnant widow so far is excellent style though im not sure of the plot yet. loved the title and the quote he got it from. so says alexander herzen...

"the death of the contemporary forms of social order ought to gladden rather than trouble the soul. yet what is frightening is that the departing world leaves behind it, not an heir, but a pregnant widow. between the death of the one and the birth of the other, much water will flow by, a long night of chaos and desolation will pass". this is fantastic and makes me want to read it despite my hatred of russian literature tolstoy the exception imo.

as an side heres a couple of funny quotes i read when trying to find the above quote.

"consciousness is not revolutionized by the snap of a finger. And feminism, I reckon, is about halfway through its second trimester."


"When I wrote 'The Pregnant Widow' three or four years ago, I tried to reread my first novel, 'The Rachel Papers,' because their young heroes are the same age. I couldn't finish it. It seemed to me so technically slapdash and weak."

 

[bhops]

let me ask about lionel asbo, what did you think of him working the quote who let the dogs in, which appears before the first chapter (which i thought was gonna be a trite comment on who let the trash into the upper class by quoting a very trashy song) and then finding it worked into the dialog of the last chapter totally relevant to the plot? that was technically brilliant to me. uncle li, who let the dogs in? who, who let the dogs in. (i really thought the baby was dead). i also loved the symmetry of the first and last chapter mimicking each others syntax and prose. he mentions a symmetrical poem in house of meetings and then he kinda writes it in lionel asbo. i also loved the loaded name of lion-el, the way he pronounces it (bringing to mind a lion and his pride), and all the pride he had in him which he was always denying existed at all. like when he actually calls the warden sir when he learns hes won a lot of money. the first sign that money, even the possibility of money, will indeed change him despite his claim to an unchanging nature represented by his name (anti social behavior disorder). the split nature of des's race with all the good, intelligence, height and strength coming from the black father he had and not the other white relatives which is what everyone wants to think (dawns fathers brain size comments come to mind). grace aging and dying anything but gracefully. i could keep going but a lot of this technicality in his writing was amazing to me. i also loved the love dread that des had for lionel, i know that feeling first hand and very up close (the fear and dependency). it felt very accurate to me and the line about there being inconceivable voids in des's knowledge also rung home for me. as an aside the topless models are no more and have just been done away with.

the rachel papers is the book im kinda fearing to read as i think i wont connect to its subject matter whatsoever. it feels like its gonna be very generational with no connection to my lifes experience at all. sex is kinda taken for granted in todays times so i dont understand the conscious pursuit of it as a motivation for a character in as novel. anyway still reading the pregnant widow which is good in style so far but im wondering if ill connect to the plot at all. i liked his comments on times passing and its effect on peoples psyches but his comments on womens measurements seems kinda lame to me so far. who does that. no one ive ever known

Sorry for the late reply. Well with Lionel Asbo you've noted a couple of clever structural elements to the novel but it as his caharcters that I found hard to relate to. Amis has written about the underclasses very well in the past but for me in this novel not so much.

Lionel Asbo seems like a thuggier version of Keith Talent, and not a character Amis is particularly familiar with. And why create such a well adjusted character as Des Pepperdine only to end up having him f***ing his own grandmother! This just felt like Amis being provocative for the sake of it.

I'll admit that I only read it the once and don't have a great deal to add, I actually found it a bit depressing, even the part where Lionel buys a house in the country.

Hopefully when you chew through a few more of his books and I'm thinking specifically of the two you are leaving until last, you might have a different view as to how Lionel Asbo fits into Amis' canon of work. However if you've enjoyed it as much as you seem to, then more power to you, our enjoyment of literature is a very personal and subject pursuit.

One more I forgot to mention having read was his memoir, 'Experience.' Probably my third favourite work of his. The way he writes about his father who is nearing death after what has been a difficult relationship I found very moving. Well worth checking out.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the late reply. Well with Lionel Asbo you've noted a couple of clever structural elements to the novel but it as his caharcters that I found hard to relate to. Amis has written about the underclasses very well in the past but for me in this novel not so much.

Lionel Asbo seems like a thuggier version of Keith Talent, and not a character Amis is particularly familiar with. And why create such a well adjusted character as Des Pepperdine only to end up having him f***ing his own grandmother! This just felt like Amis being provocative for the sake of it.

I'll admit that I only read it the once and don't have a great deal to add, I actually found it a bit depressing, even the part where Lionel buys a house in the country.

Hopefully when you chew through a few more of his books and I'm thinking specifically of the two you are leaving until last, you might have a different view as to how Lionel Asbo fits into Amis' canon of work. However if you've enjoyed it as much as you seem to, then more power to you, our enjoyment of literature is a very personal and subject pursuit.

One more I forgot to mention having read was his memoir, 'Experience.' Probably my third favourite work of his. The way he writes about his father who is nearing death after what has been a difficult relationship I found very moving. Well worth checking out.

well i related to it exactly because it felt very much how i grew up. i mean theres the underclass and then theres the class thats outcast meaning you dont see or interact with them much as you arent needed by anyone. des when he sleeps with his grandmother is like twelve so id be asking her why she did it and not des (i mean that is his only example of women as lionel just tell him to start looking at porn as his other example of interacting with women). des is not very well rounded or adjusted when the book starts and when it starts hes already slept with her. this kinda thing happens way more often than people in the underclass middle or upper likes to think it does. the part where he desperately tries to tell dawn and she just wont accept or hear and when he realizes hell have to keep it secret for the rest of his life, thats super accurate and realistic. its the secrecy and shame of being abused that kills you slowly in life. and of course the guilt he feels when lionel makes him point out rory and is complicit with his being sold to sex traffickers is also just a continuation of that guilt shame and powerlessness. hes reliant on lionel for lots of things. to me it felt very realistic if exaggerated like all fiction but having lived and grown up in what felt like another world in another time i super related to it. i felt very much like des growing up. many of the people i grew up with are either dead or in jail for murder and drugs. some of the murderers are responsible for kiling some of the dead. i wouldnt recommend living that way and theres nothing romantic about it, thats just defense against the shame and fear. i read a bunch of novels about living in places like "diston" and he really nailed it very well imo which a lot of people dont. hell i still dont live in the most civilized of places. not long ago they found a torture house that had been in use for a couple of years not far from here. life huh


yeah ive been curious about his non fiction especially the one about how he grew up as there are themes that run from the rachel papers all the way to lionel asbo. also very curious about einstiens monsters which is between money and london fields but seems to never be talked about (london fields just came out in a beautiful hard back anniversary edition). i also thought his criticism of the rachel papers was hilarious. he couldnt even get through it though ill try and read it at some point i guess. thanks for the replt however late. weve got lives i understand. keep readin

 

[MindlessRuffian]

Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast Of Champions



Not as good as Slaughter-House Five but that's hardly any fault of his. I enjoyed the same atmosphere of bewilderment as occurred in the former ... life is a difficult business, indeed !

I love Vonnegut. I've even got two Vonnegut tattoos. You know, because books.

 

[Anonymous]

I love Vonnegut. I've even got two Vonnegut tattoos. You know, because books.

whats your fav vonnegut book?

 

[Anonymous]

hey bhops, ever notice how martins amis's books sorta connect in weird ways? sure he reuses a lot of names but there are other things that connect as well. he of course is constantly writing about siblings but he also uses phrases and lines back to back in different books. i already mentioned how he talked about the symmetrical poem and then of course sorta writes a symmetrical novel in lionel asbo but that book also has a sub title, state of england, which is the same as the title of one of his short stories in other people. in house of meetings he describe the three way relationship as un even, an isosceles triangle and then again uses the same phrase to describe a relationship in the pregnant widow (which i enjoyed much more once it finally became an american novel). in the pregnant widow he also uses the word success for scoring with women which is the main theme from the book success, at least superficially, and he also uses the line "you must be fryin' alive in that" in the pregnant widow which is what gran says to des before there cuddle. i almost feel like im missing something bigger, a biugger more specific connection, as he doesnt seem the type to be careless with his work or lexicon at all. is there more that you know of that i should be looking out for? im about to start the information sunday and now im definitely on the look out

 

[Anonymous]

good god its like the pregnant widow has every previous amis novel somehow folded into this one (a bit of the next one as well). his brother is a foster brother whom is in every way somehow better than keith just like in success. while im on the subject of keiths, keith was the "court dwarf" in dead babies and this one has a "midget" named adriano. he mentions agony column in the last bit of the book and then dear daphne in the next line just like des does in the first chapter of lionel asbo. he mentions einstein which is also in the title of one of his books. keith is an orphan just like in success. i wonder what ill discover in the information thats also somehow in this book. strange

 

[Anonymous]

one more thing bhops. if you do end up reading success youre gonna see a lot more of terrence than lionel, which i dont see much of, in keith nearing. i mean there almost the exact same character in different settings. i hesitate to say plot since the pregnant widow like much of russian lit, tolstoy aside whom i love, has very little plot but you will immediately see the comparisons upon completion. tell me what you think of it if you do read it as success has lots of plot lines that move so it might not be as frustrating to you as some of his later books are to me in that sense. house of meetings the pregnant widow. i thought lionel had a lot of plot but i wonder where this element creeped into his story telling. guess ill find out soon as im starting the information today

 

[Anonymous]

oh man the book was narrated by his divorced and then rejoined super ego/conscience (con science, thats funny from a biological standpoint. yes in know the latin of con means with but its still funny). thats brilliant and now i feel i need to reread it to understand its meaning more. amis is a master of mystery allusion and reveal. almost unparalleled imo. well im starting money today as my copy of the information (which loooks like its going to excellent) did not arrive yet like i hoped thought it would. should be good

 

[Justin Playfair]

-The article on Stevie Nicks is very good. I wasn't that big of a fan of hers before I read it, but I am now. Cool article about a cool woman.

 

[Anonymous]

so im reading money by martin amis which is really great but ive also picked up and am half way though kim gordans girl in a band (she seemed to have been friends with and or dated everyone at some point in time. danny elfman was one of her first boyfriends before he was remotely famous, she went to the high school that my so called life was filmed at and knew the creators etc etc etc). i also picked up a novel by amis's father kingsley amis and am set to start the alteration which i immediately bought on k dicks recommendation of it being the best alternate world history novel ever written. considering he himself wrote the man who japped, yeah i bought that right away

 

[123xyz]

Robert Ferguson - Enigma : The Life Of Knut Hamsun


A really decent biography. It's quite disheartening to read of Hamsun's increasingly reactionary politics from 1905-ish onwards. From contempt for feminism to fears of organised labour ... culminating in overt support for Nazism prior to and during the war. From the psychologically profound author of Hunger and Mysteries, it's such an absurd self-blindness ...

 

[Anonymous]

so kim gordans (sonic youth and other fame) was really good though it really made me hate thurston. really disappointed in that guy but her tales of her very extraordinary life growing up in la hong kong and hawaii was really interesting. the people shes met before they were famous or important just seems totally unreal but some people just have extraordinary lives through no doing of theyre own. ive also realized that she has almost no facial expressions in any pics from the time she was ten to now which is interesting to me. now im back to reading amis's money which is alright so far and then i think ill read sutton (famous bank robber) and then the information by amis which im super stoked to read

 

[CrystalGeezer]

 

[Anonymous]

man i havent read juxtapoz or ad busters in like forever. reminds me of my school days. also gotta like anything with a gaiman recommendation. i have evrything hes dine that i can get my hands on even stuff like fashion beast which he did with malcome mcclaren or mr punch with alice cooper. just bought the book on the cover art of sandman, dust covers with david mc kean

 

[Anonymous]

so im like a hundred pages into money so far and for my money its not my fav of his novels so far. his excess doesnt seem very excessive so far and please for the love of god dont let john self be calling himself demanding money and threaten to kill himself which would make the subtitle accurate in a post modern way. still love him and the book but out of the six ive read since christmas its for sure the one ive had to push through the most. the pregnant widow was frustrating but amazingly rewarding on completion so maybe this will go the same way. im really ready to start the information now. also i dont get what the weird word on the back cover means but maybe that meaning will soon reveal itself as well. the word $bertkrak$

 

[Anonymous]

so im like a hundred pages into money so far and for my money its not my fav of his novels so far. his excess doesnt seem very excessive so far and please for the love of god dont let john self be calling himself demanding money and threaten to kill himself which would make the subtitle accurate in a post modern way. still love him and the book but out of the six ive read since christmas its for sure the one ive had to push through the most. the pregnant widow was frustrating but amazingly rewarding on completion so maybe this will go the same way. im really ready to start the information now. also i dont get what the weird word on the back cover means but maybe that meaning will soon reveal itself as well. the word $bertkrak$

oh yeah, and he wrote himself into his novel for some reason i cant understand yet

 

[Anonymous]

Just realized Amis wrote money after success which he mentions in money. Funny

 

[Anonymous]

so i finished money by martin amis, read two parkers in there as well, and i need bhops here. im just gonna post as if youre reading this bhops as it seems you are the only person to have read both. do you think there is a deliberate connection to money and lionel asbo? an inversion if you will. when john looses everything, all his money, he starts gambling on a machine ands starts winning. 20 pe, then 50 pe, etc until he gets to 1.40 pe which is the exact same amount lionel wins except its 140,000,000 which just seems to be to much of a coincidence as the characters are very similar with one important exception, john self has no idea who he is while lionel does almost to a inhuman degree though he surprises himself by bringing out his competing self with the help of money. in money they go on and on about otello and desdemona while in lionel asbo the main character is des, who is of mixed race and starts the book off with an indiscretion of romance and cheating (with gran). all of this seems to much to just be a coincidence but maybe thats also the point. a mystery leading to no conclusion but i have doubts. any thoughts bhops on this subject.

started reading lucky jim today so i really just switched to another amis. should be fun reading about the anger of brittish citizens with the decline of the empire after they went broke from ww2.