What's Everyone Reading At The Moment?

[countthree]

I thought this book was going to be really interesting and well written. The topic is fascinating and timely but it is a snooze-fest. Woman shows no sense of humor in her writing. Granted she’s not a writer by trade. But she’s written six books; you’d think she’d develop a craft for engaging a reader by now. Just a bunch of dates and name dropping with little analysis. A handful of grad students could’ve researched and put this one together with Elmer’s glue.

Maybe that's how it actually happened...

 

[Anonymous]

for a racist twat, he was a fine writer
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/wd.aspx

Probably better to be a talented racist than a murderous stalking lunatic like you.

 

[Anonymous]

Finally finished the moviegoer a couple of days ago. I did not care for it. It’s an extremely academic novel that kinda reminded me of candide though less absurdly amusing and with a view point that I didn’t relate to or hold. The entire book revolves around the exploration of existential angst. The inability to handle the meaninglessness of existence, or at least a lack of knowledge of existences meaning, and the inability to tolerate the phony social interactions that people use to distract themselves from the fear and panic of being alive. The inauthentic social demands that can’t seem to be avoided and the family ties that reinforce them. It’s also set in the south in the sixties when society in general was changing fast leaving many confused about where the old existence they knew and felt safe in went. Both main characters have events that had them and make them search for the real and both sorta deal in there own way. He the main character spends his time chasing his sectretaries for sexual relief to his angst and goes to the movies for some feeling he finds to feel more authentic than his life( though the title is misleading as he only goes three times to the movies in the story) and just manages for a while to live a life of deferment and mental distance. It’s kinda complex and as a text book for someone younger it’d probably be a great find but for me who’s already had his introduction to the ideas presented and doesn’t subscribe to or suffer from them it falls kinda flat with repeated situations making it very hard to slog through. Once I got to page 150 or so I just kept sighing to myself god how many more times can we talk about this. How many times can a new random character pop up so we can further discuss he situation only for them to never appear again. It’s an impeccable novel objectively and a neat academic literary accomplishment though. From what I’ve read most people who love the book found it at the right time in the life

Anyway in contrast to the moviegoer I’m blowing through Richard Yates a good school which is a semi autobiographical story of his time in prep school right as the us was about to enter the war. It’s also a novel about the changing norms, this time in traditional family structures and the shared values that used to be more commonly shared amongst them. The school is a failing one full of slightly damaged students and faculty, the only people it can find even when having to halve the tuition, who maybe represent the feelings starting to brew in America around then. Interesting though as it did have a line that basically said the people who obsess with movies are afraid and hiding from reality and emptiness. Will probably finish this tomorrow

 

[Anonymous]

Finished a good school by Richard Yates and it was very good. Some nostalgia for his own time at prep school, with some critical rebuttals about sentimentality thrown in for good measure, as well as a story of the ominous times and the changing times focusing on topics like the breakdown of the family structure, race relations and the shadow ww2 cast on America. I really liked a line in the last paragraph of the afterward. The prologue or forward and the afterword are written in first person anonymous which is supposed to be Richard talking about himself before he segways into and out of the main characters stories. In the afterward he writes about his feelings for the school and his fathers death which accured during his second year

“I will probably always ask my father these questions in the privacy of my heart, seeking his love as I failed and failed to seek it when it mattered”

Now reading mao 2 which probably goes without saying, though I’m going to anyway, will be a different sort of read

 

[Deleted member 25370]

after finishing moshfegh's "my year of rest and relaxation" which was kinda interesting in a superficial, disposable way, but will leave no longer impression but the conviction that us american culture and media have always been aimed at the infantile character and whoever needs or wants more from life should better take the inevitable medication to be able to stand it all more or less bravely and never grow up. like so many american novels this one is also about self-imposed imprisonment in order to avoid responsibility. not saying that we dont have such novels here in europe too. it is interesting that the novel takes place in the new york of the 90s before and during 9/11, and the female character is looking for (parental) love in the wrong place at the wrong time.

almost through with this british science fiction classic published in a series by the british library. it's from 1958. due to h-bombs experiments in the pacific a gigantic crack has opened in the earth's ocean floors and all the water is disappearing into cavitites inside our planet, probably even cooling down the planet's core. it's mostly about how our political representatives and big business moguls censor all media in order to gain time while quickly and secretly getting themselves and their families into safety, namely to the arctic which is going to be the only inhabitable place on earth. the masses of "have-nots" turn into mobs killing, raping, burglaring and dying. the narrator is kinda privileged coz of his governmental job in a new government agency of information. like other "haves" he is only marginally confronted with the effects of the apocalypse. his matter-of-fact style was kinda boring at the beginning, but now that the shit is hittin the fan really adds a new, almost composed, angle to this genre, as it is not only about survival techniques and tricks, but mostly about observing the apocalyptic chaos from the distance of the privileged.

 

[countthree]

Just began to read it. I feel it makes a lot of sense given the number of people with both autoimmune disorders and depression, or people who suffer one of them and are misdiagnosed with the other. Since just 1/10 of people who suffer from celiac disease are diagnosed during their lifetime, it has a lot of sense to look for it when there's a seemingly unbeatable depression.

 

[Anonymous]

Almost finished mao 2 which is just alright and am deciding what to read next. Thinking either white teeth by zadie Smith empire falls by Russo or the corrections by franzen. Anybody read white teeth. I know it’s her big one

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

I first fell in love with this author's writing, gulp, 3 decades ago, he's still brillaint

 

[Anonymous]

Finished mao 2 and it was very good if not my fav delillo novel. It’s hard as there’s so much info and talk today about terrorism that it felt dated and almost trite in its ideas. The internet has changed to much of the world as well and moved beyond the ideas regarding the news. He makes many interesting points about art vs terror as drivers of culture and the language he uses is as always dazzling but it’s just a very different world today. Gonna go stare at the shelves now until I decide what to start next

 

[Anonymous]

Started Brighton rock

 

[Try Anything Twice]

 

[Unruly_boy]

Received a gift voucher for Amazon so I bought all of Nietzsche's works. A very angry man indeed.

 

[Deleted member 25370]

irvine welsh, rave, which consists of excerpts taken from the novel ecstacy.
its all in scottish dialect so reading it aloud can be quite funny. poor chap, a real c***, is constantly on drugs, has phoooaaw sex or meaningless conversations. lotsa childish slapstick humour, like when his mate finds a teenage girls underwear, puts it over his head to sniff at it, and then is surprised in flagranti by the father, and this sort of thing...
its only 110 pages, so i will probably finish it.

 

[billybu69]

 

[billybu69]

 

[billybu69]

Started making bread, and this is a great tutor.

 

[Try Anything Twice]

Started making bread, and this is a great tutor.

Fresh baked bread has to be one of the best possible smells. What kinds are you making?

 

[Anonymous]

irvine welsh, rave, which consists of excerpts taken from the novel ecstacy.
its all in scottish dialect so reading it aloud can be quite funny. poor chap, a real c***, is constantly on drugs, has phoooaaw sex or meaningless conversations. lotsa childish slapstick humour, like when his mate finds a teenage girls underwear, puts it over his head to sniff at it, and then is surprised in flagranti by the father, and this sort of thing...
its only 110 pages, so i will probably finish it.

I really really enjoy some welsh but he’s written a bit of pointless junk and some really terrible stuff. Trainspotting, porno, filth, glue, stork nightmares, skagboys are all great. Ecstasy, acid house, crime are meh, all for different reasons, but novels you can find something in it you’re in the right mood and don’t expect to much from them. Juice boy terry, the blade artist, the sex lives of Siamese twins should be avoided at all costs. Haven’t read the newest and dont think I will as it’s another trainspotting sequal and the story just keeps getting more and more ridiculous. I’m also forgetting one that should be in the meh category. I can somewhat sympathize. He’s exhausted his source material and it seems like he doesn’t quite know where to go. He also became really popular early on and I’m sure he’s got pressure to keep it up and I think as a result of these two factors is putting out sequels which are ruining the beauty of the original versions of the characters. Nothing epitomizes this quite like the blade artist. Trying to move into a newish genre but reusing a popular character he destroys everything you loved about said character and distracts from the story which could have been mildly fun in a meh sorta way. Crime suffers in the same way but with a lesser known less beloved character. He needs to take a break recharge and find something he finds meaningful to write about again

 

[billybu69]

Fresh baked bread has to be one of the best possible smells. What kinds are you making?

Yorkshire brack, the fruit sank while baking but still ace, and a wholemeal seeded honey loaf.

 

[Try Anything Twice]

Yorkshire brack, the fruit sank while baking but still ace, and a wholemeal seeded honey loaf. View attachment 48232

You should share recipes you really like in the cooking thread. I like dark breads but the fruit has me concerned as I have this thing against raisins. The both sound tasty.