What's Everyone Reading At The Moment?

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half way through lucky jim and man do i hate that character. bitter and cowardly selfish and insincere. also not funny. i dont get whats supposed to be funny about any of it so far. nicely written in a very crisp classic style which is sort of a relief after reading so much of his son recently
 
so i finished lucky jim and read the alteration. lucky jim was a book and character that i couldnt get on with. it was well constructed and at times was very good but he kept needing to make jim right and to try and validate all his horrible behavior. i felt nothing for that character except maybe the tiniest bit of pity. christines character was totally unbelievable and seemed only to exist for jim to win from bertrand. painful at times to read. the alteration was way way better than i can go into detail at the moment. am now reading girl 20
 
Following up on my post above......just finished "A Light That Never Goes Out".....thought it was very good. It was really based of info from Johnny/Andy and those within the "circle" but I think it's a fair representation with what went on and why the band broke up. I would recommend to anyone here.

Thought it was cool that he gave a shout out to a few of the sites we all have frequented:
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finished Guy de M 's bio. No one you know. What a guy.

Is he drowning? Just waving?

Oh mother, in my hometown, the syphillis was calm, and another passes.
 
wow the information was so good. I love martin amiss and his supposedly difficult prose. this one is now my third fav behind lionel asbo and success and was actually really funny. still have sort of a problem with all of the loaded names. rereading this side of paradise for the millionth time but just got the definitive authorized text last week. reading the forward its funny how much he didn't care about grammar or the correct spelling of names places political figures and or proper nouns. apparently when first published scribner didn't care all that much to check either and published it with all of the errors. a man after my own heart (also loved his thoughts on stories endings). such a great book though. guess ill read London fields now but I was a bit disappointed with money and found it funny when he admitted later in an interview that he rushed to even complete it (it shows). don't know what ill read after that. either david copperfield, also got a nice edition of that a bit ago at the same time, or something new from Faulkner or Thomas wolf. if anyone has a real recommendation for either author id probably take it. ive read the sound and the fury as I lay dying and sanctuary (my fav) and cant go home again but am looking for some direction as of course Faulkner can be super difficult though sanctuary reminds me of amiss and his work a whole whole lot. the only other novel by him ive ever really heard about is Absalom Absalom and he has many. my "intellectual" ("" for you) friend can just hold his or her tongue if they can manage without a diagram telling them its proper location in the head and walking them through it step by step. they probably cant
 
huh wonder if amiss had inspiration from the sound and the fury for his book success. the fractured perspectives and the relationship between brother and sister inappropriate and otherwise along with it being about the disintegration of a once wealthy family revealed to be most ungracious. im trying to get my wife to read success
 
reading absalom from Faulkner as it was the only other book I knew from him though he has a bunch more. again if anyone has a recommendation from his body of work that's not the first three novels id probably try it out. does anyone read him
 
lets see, books no one cares about. finished absalom Absalom and just finished ending up by kingsly amis. not bad but I fail to the see the point of it other than the very obvious. got the last tycoon, fitzgeralds last unfinished novel and am going to start Thomas wolfes look homeward angel in a few days. I wanted to read cant go home again but this is what they had. of course if anyone has anything to say about any of this fiction feel free but im starting to doubt anyone has anything to say at all about fiction or novels in general.
 
never read either though the rum diary strikes a chord in title though it could just be false recall. are they fiction

Yes, both are fiction. The Rum Diary was one of Hunter S. Thompson's only novels he wrote before he left fiction and went into journalism. It's pre Fear and Loathing, so there is no drug abuse, just LOTS of rum. (so I'm surprised anyone got anything done). Thompson's alter ego is working for a San Jan newspaper that is ready to fold at any moment, and during his time he wonders about the roads not traveled, the atmosphere is desperate and the novel has tinges of youthful despair. I would suggest reading the book than watching the film that was made a few years ago because the film is underwhelming compared to the book, and the film was modernized to fit in the 21st century so a lot of The Rum Diary's 1960s mystique is gone and important aspects of the story are gone so you don't get a true taste of the novel that way.

Ask The Dust is by John Fante. I met his grandson at a book reading where he told me stories when he hung out with Charles Bukowski and Ernest Hemingway before they died. He explained to me Hemingway never drank while he wrote, only when he was done and out golfing. And that Bukowski was really an intelligent, humorous man--but when he drank he REALLY could drink. Fante's grandson's novel I read was OK, but Ask The Dust is a "hidden gem" in American literature. I have read good things about it, so I'm excited to read it. Bukowski reveres John as his God, and I love Bukowski so I'm intrigued.
 
Yes, both are fiction. The Rum Diary was one of Hunter S. Thompson's only novels he wrote before he left fiction and went into journalism. It's pre Fear and Loathing, so there is no drug abuse, just LOTS of rum. (so I'm surprised anyone got anything done). Thompson's alter ego is working for a San Jan newspaper that is ready to fold at any moment, and during his time he wonders about the roads not traveled, the atmosphere is desperate and the novel has tinges of youthful despair. I would suggest reading the book than watching the film that was made a few years ago because the film is underwhelming compared to the book, and the film was modernized to fit in the 21st century so a lot of The Rum Diary's 1960s mystique is gone and important aspects of the story are gone so you don't get a true taste of the novel that way.

Ask The Dust is by John Fante. I met his grandson at a book reading where he told me stories when he hung out with Charles Bukowski and Ernest Hemingway before they died. He explained to me Hemingway never drank while he wrote, only when he was done and out golfing. And that Bukowski was really an intelligent, humorous man--but when he drank he REALLY could drink. Fante's grandson's novel I read was OK, but Ask The Dust is a "hidden gem" in American literature. I have read good things about it, so I'm excited to read it. Bukowski reveres John as his God, and I love Bukowski so I'm intrigued.

thats interesting. ive only read fear and loathing and as for film adaptations have seen also fear and loathing and where the buffalo roam with bill murrary which was really funny. bukowski is good but not my fav. i think like many ham on rye is his best in terms of fiction but post office is also really neat just in terms of ideas. never got into his poetry as im not really a poetry guy but i hear thats where his strength was and a big part of what he celebrated for. he did really get me into short stories though with hot water music. he could kick up some drama in only six pages or so
 
Susan Sontag: Regarding the Pain of Others.

With "others" Sontag means human victims of war shown in photography and film. I also have animals in mind, as there are millions of them being treated and dying the most horrendous ways every single day and minute and second. Thanks to social media we can now see what's really going on. I haven't finished her essay yet and i hope she can give me some answers to why these images arouse empathy in some, and nothing but disinterest in others.

Virginia Woolf is quoted at the beginning and her opinion that "war has a gender - and it is male". This statement made her essay the least well received of her books. Why? I think because she is saying the most obvious. THis was (and i guess, still is) a temerity to point out.

I couldn't help but develop her thoughts even further. I would say that if we want to save our planet we have to gain control of the male sex drive (Testosteron) and modern genetic engineering can help us with that, namely stopping archaic behaviour in a modern world which doesn't need any more of that shit, it's neither adorable nor necessary in a man. Education takes too much time unfortunately.

If you want to comment on this, feel free to do so.

why do women allow men to go to war. dont they have any say cause it for sure seems they do and often it seems they deem it war useful and profitable. testosterone doesnt seem to be the problem, only part of it if you wanna stretch that argument. profit is the cause of all war and all winners men and women have desired it and benefited from it.

currently reading and finishing the love of the last tycoon and will start next on look homeward angel by thomas wolf who is amazing in the morning
 
Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure whether i understand what you mean with "women allow men to go to war". I don't know any woman who wants a beloved or needed man to go to war. The few women in powerful positions are driven by other motives than their male counterparts. It's not so much profit maximation and ego aggrandizement but rather finding approval of the society they live in. That's why they play this game. In my opinion "testosterone" lies at the roots of the quest of profit and war.

many have in history for profit land and fear of being invaded. watch war rallies and there are women I the crowd cheering along with all of the men about going to war
 
I see your point, and you are right about women showing support of the war. Their motivation though for doing so is different (s.a.), it's more an issue of finding appreciation for who they are within their society, for men i would argue it's mostly among other reasons a biological thing.

biology would tell me that they send men out to protect them from threats to the home and well being whether direct or abstract (financial, ownership, political oppression etc)
 
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