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The All-New Books Thread

Started by Serge, April 14, 2016, 08:17:59 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Dannyhood91

I've ordered Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep and the bastards taking its time to get here.

Custard


Eight Taiwanese Teenagers

Hello gang, I am going on holiday in a week and wondering what books to take. I always end up planning on reading something a bit ambitious then getting bored/unmotivated and falling back on the things I have on my kindle but I have read before at least a couple of times:

Douglas Adams
Raymond Chandler
Haruki Murakami
Kurt Vonnegut
Philip K Dick
Also a set of short stories called Salmonella Men on Planet Porno by Yasutaka Tsusui

What would you recommend to someone who reads the above?

Serge

If you like Haruki Murakami, maybe Paul Auster, and definitely David Mitchell (not that one)?

If you like Raymond Chandler, probably Jim Thompson? There was a really good omnibus with 'The Killer Inside Me', 'The Getaway', 'The Grifters' and 'Pop. 1280' in published a few years ago, though not sure if it's still available. You might also like Chester Himes' 'The Harlem Cycle', though to be fair, only the first seven (of nine) are worth reading. Also, going a bit later, I always recommend the great George Pelecanos, though be careful, as some of his books are parts of trilogies and quartets, and it does matter in a couple of cases.

Eight Taiwanese Teenagers

Quote from: Serge on July 17, 2016, 01:22:18 PM
If you like Haruki Murakami, maybe Paul Auster, and definitely David Mitchell (not that one)?

If you like Raymond Chandler, probably Jim Thompson? There was a really good omnibus with 'The Killer Inside Me', 'The Getaway', 'The Grifters' and 'Pop. 1280' in published a few years ago, though not sure if it's still available. You might also like Chester Himes' 'The Harlem Cycle', though to be fair, only the first seven (of nine) are worth reading. Also, going a bit later, I always recommend the great George Pelecanos, though be careful, as some of his books are parts of trilogies and quartets, and it does matter in a couple of cases.


Forgot to mention David Mitchell, have read and reread him to death too. But haven't read Slade House so may check that one out, thanks for the reminder.

Thanks too for the other recommendations, I shall take a look.

Serge

Yeah, I haven't read 'Slade House' yet.....or 'Bone Clocks' for that matter.

I've just finished reading Travis Elborough's A Walk In The Park, which is the latest of his social histories, this time on the history of, er, the park. Pretty good, even if I did occasionally find my attention wandering whenever the subject of sport came up, but that might not be a problem for others! Despite largely concentrating on British parks, I have to say that the chapter I enjoyed the most was about the development of Central Park (which was, to be fair, inspired by
Spoiler alert
Birkenhead Park
[close]
). As ever, what makes his books so readable are when he throws in little digressions - for instance, I'd never heard of the archaic sport of fox tossing before. And I'd somehow never heard that the original idea for the cover of 'Sgt Pepper' was to be the band standing in a park with a floral clock in front of them. The final chapter, about the precarious future of public parks - sponsorship and moneymaking creeping in in the absence of government funding - is not exactly cheering, but unsurprising, I suppose. Will be interesting to see where he turns his attention next.

Before that, I read I'm Not With The Band, the excellent memoirs of the excellent Sylvia Patterson. Oddly enough, it just strikes me that her closing chapters are similarly gloomy about the state of magazines now compared to how they were when she first started out, with the biggest acts giving journalists 20-minute interviews and having all questions vetted beforehand, on the off-chance that something interesting might accidentally creep into their puff pieces. But this is a great book - the story of how she escaped from an unhappy family life (mother a raging split-personality alcoholic) in Dundee to the 'Smash Hits' of the mid-eighties in London and then onto the NME and other magazines of varying reputation. The Smash Hits years are always something I like to read about - why there isn't a statue of Tom Hibbert in London remains a mystery - and I realised again how much of my vocabulary came from reading that back in the day. Also warm words for the still much-missed Word magazine. Fantastic stuff.

Serge

Zipped through Tom Johansen's Jo Nesbo's latest, Midnight Sun, this afternoon. While it's far better than 'Blood On Snow' - I had the feeling that he lost commitment to the Johansen project and just wrote more in his own style - it's still lightweight, inessential fare for him. Sadly, I suspect that both this and 'Blood...' will quickly be turned into movies and become the books he's best known for, rather than the meatier (mostly Harry Hole-featuring) work that I hope he gets back to soon.

BritishHobo

It felt so similar to Blood on Snow to me. Criminal with a heart of gold escaping his crimelord boss, finding redemption in romance despite flashbacks showing that he's skilfully managed to avoid doing anything all that bad in his time as a career criminal.

It's such a shame, because The Kidnapping could have been such an interesting, odd, metatextual thing. Maybe some of the complaints I had about the books would have been echoed by characters in The Kidnapping.

Bad Ambassador

I'm nearly 50 pages into Dune. I'm really not feeling it. Is it worth persisting with?

Serge

Quote from: BritishHobo on July 19, 2016, 04:11:31 PM
It felt so similar to Blood on Snow to me. Criminal with a heart of gold escaping his crimelord boss, finding redemption in romance despite flashbacks showing that he's skilfully managed to avoid doing anything all that bad in his time as a career criminal.

It's such a shame, because The Kidnapping could have been such an interesting, odd, metatextual thing. Maybe some of the complaints I had about the books would have been echoed by characters in The Kidnapping.

Yeah, it would have worked a lot better if they had been published as Tom Johansen books (and I'm aware we've both moaned about this on here before!) - and there still seems to be no news on whether The Kidnapping is ever likely to come out.

mr. logic

I'm looking for some great non-fiction books to throw on my kindle before moving away to work at the end of August.

True crime, behind the scenes stuff (film, television, politics), historical.

I really need to get more into non-fiction.  I try and read it as frequently as I read fiction (I alternate chapters) but I'm rarely as engrossed in the non-fiction as I feel like I should be.

Non-fiction books I've loved:

Anthony Summers- Not in your Lifetime/his 9/11 book
Toobin's OJ Simpson book
Rubicon

Em...Some others.  Can you lot recommend any more?

Bad Ambassador

Bollocks to Frank Herbert then.

Good behind-the-scenes stuff: The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero, about the making of The Room and his friendship with Tommy Wiseau; Spielberg, Truffaut and Me by Bob Balaban, based on his diaries from the making of Close Encounters; and of course The Life and Death of Peter Sellers by Roger Lewis. Fascinating stuff.

Pit-Pat

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on July 19, 2016, 04:14:28 PM
I'm nearly 50 pages into Dune. I'm really not feeling it. Is it worth persisting with?

Yes, though I'm surprised you're not yet gripped by it.

It's a true classic in my opinion.

The Disaster Artist is also good though it's surprisingly dissimilar to Dune.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: mr. logic on July 20, 2016, 11:30:40 AM
I'm looking for some great non-fiction books to throw on my kindle before moving away to work at the end of August.

True crime, behind the scenes stuff (film, television, politics), historical.

I really need to get more into non-fiction.  I try and read it as frequently as I read fiction (I alternate chapters) but I'm rarely as engrossed in the non-fiction as I feel like I should be.

Non-fiction books I've loved:

Anthony Summers- Not in your Lifetime/his 9/11 book
Toobin's OJ Simpson book
Rubicon

Em...Some others.  Can you lot recommend any more?

The Lost One by Stephen Youngkin – an absolutely outstanding (and lengthy) biography about Peter Lorre. There's a lot of the film industry, German theatre (pre-WWII) and history in this as well as being the definitive analysis of what the truly great actors.

Don't know if it's on Kindle, but Simon Louvish's biography of WC Fields is marvellous. Again, there's a lot about the industry – plus and cultural history.

Marty by Robert Ross – decent and pretty readable biography about Marty Feldman.

Louis Barfe's biography about Dawson is highly recommended.

The President and the Provocateur – parallel biographies of Kennedy and Oswald; would say that's the best book about the JFK assassination by Alex Cox (FWIW, he's not putting forward a theory).

Handsome Brute and The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House – brilliant researched works about true crime with a lot of social history to boot. On a true crime kick, I would recommend Invisible Darkness and Karla: Pact with the Devil by Stephen Williams – both are companion pieces about the same (very disturbing) case that was blighted by police incompetence; Williams received an award from Human Rights Watch because of the legal problems, he found himself in.

If you like WWII stuff, Ben McIntyre's books are readable and reasonably interesting (although I think he likes to gild the lily a bit) and Max Hastings' military histories are solid – both get discounted on Kindle now and then.

Were there any time periods you were interested in speficially?

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on July 19, 2016, 04:14:28 PM
I'm nearly 50 pages into Dune. I'm really not feeling it. Is it worth persisting with?

Although clumsily written, yes, I would say so.

Quote from: Eight Taiwanese Teenagers on July 17, 2016, 09:51:32 AM
Hello gang, I am going on holiday in a week and wondering what books to take. I always end up planning on reading something a bit ambitious then getting bored/unmotivated and falling back on the things I have on my kindle but I have read before at least a couple of times:

Douglas Adams
Raymond Chandler
Haruki Murakami
Kurt Vonnegut
Philip K Dick
Also a set of short stories called Salmonella Men on Planet Porno by Yasutaka Tsusui

What would you recommend to someone who reads the above?

I'll second the Paul Auster recommendation. The New York Trilogy is a good fit with your selection (postmodern detective fiction). I didn't enjoy it very much though. I liked Mr. Vertigo better.

Richard Brautigan (any of his novellas really) and Flann O'Brien (The Third Policeman especially in relation to your list but At Swim-Two-Birds is another good one if you get on well with that). Television or The Bathroom by Jean-Philippe Toussaint. B. S. Johnson (Your choice).

Maybe Stanislaw Lem, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges. I've been trying to think of female writers that fit in with the writers on your list but I'm not sure. Maybe Muriel Spark.

pesahson

#76
Here are my non-fiction recommendations. It's usually "world affairs" stuff. Maybe something will catch your eye:

Schibbye, Persson "438 days. How our quest to expose the dirty oil business in the Horn of Africa got us tortured, sentenced as terrorists and put away in Ethiopia's most infamous prison. "

Frans de Waal "Our inner ape"

Yval Noah Harari "Sapiens. A brief history of humankind"

Svetlana Alexievich "Wars Unwomanly face", "Zinky boys"

George Orwell "Hommage to Catalonia"

Joris Luyendijk "People like us. Misrepresenting the Middle East"

Barbara Demick "Nothing to envy. Ordinary lives in Nort h Korea"

Ben Goldacre "Bad Science"







Serge

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on July 20, 2016, 11:43:09 AMSpielberg, Truffaut and Me by Bob Balaban, based on his diaries from the making of Close Encounters

Interesting....I used to have a copy of this under the title 'The Close Encounters Diary' or something similar.....certainly didn't have either of the names in the title! I suppose the renaming is a way of extending its shelf-life beyond 'film tie-in'. I wish I knew what happened to my copy.

Quote from: Ignatius_S on July 20, 2016, 03:48:26 PMLouis Barfe's biography about Dawson is highly recommended.

Seconded on this one!

Quote from: Smeraldina Rima on July 20, 2016, 04:18:08 PMI'll second the Paul Auster recommendation. The New York Trilogy is a good fit with your selection (postmodern detective fiction). I didn't enjoy it very much though. I liked Mr. Vertigo better.

Agreed on 'The New York Trilogy' - I think it's incredibly overrated, and it always frustrates me that it seems to be the one that most people start with and it often puts them off exploring further (also seems to be the only Auster book that some bookshops stock.) My two favourites, which I re-read earlier this year, are 'Moon Palace' and 'Leviathan'.

As for non-fiction recommendations, have you read 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls' by Peter Biskind? Perfect holiday reading. Anything by Travis Elborough (I recommend either 'Wish You Were Here' or 'London Bridge In America'). Although I've got a few others to get through first, I'm girding my loins to tackle David Kynastons' three books (so far) on Post-War Britain sometime soon. 'Off The Map' by Alastair Bonnett. Any Owen Hatherley.

marquis_de_sad

I've been clearing out some of my stuff and in the process coming across books that have just been sitting on a shelf for years. One that I decided to read again was Masters of Doom, David Kushner's history of id Software. It's very much a straight, journalistic history and works well when it does that. Occasionally though Kushner goes off on one about the history of technology, which is really not his strength. There's one bit where Kushner is talking about John Carmack's attempt to create 3D graphics and he just starts rambling about Aldous Huxley, Morton Heilig, Myron Krueger, William Gibson, etc etc, in a very superficial way, only to end with

QuoteCarmack's research into 3-D computer games was on a more intuitive level. Though he was a fan of science fiction, enamored of Star Trek's Holodeck, his focus was not on chipping away at some grand design of such a virtual world but, rather, on solving the immediate problem of the next technological advance.

So if he's not bothered about it, what was the point of that wikipedia précis of the history of virtual reality? It's like when a hack airport novelist describes the exact technical specifications of an aeroplane or whatever despite being totally irrelevant to the story and characters. It's just there to bulk up the word count.

Fortunately those moments are few and far between and the rest of the book is a bit light but very enjoyable.

BOBBY FLOWERS

Currently reading Kafka - The Complete Stories after Smeraldina Rima I believe recommended his shorter fiction. I'd read the Metamorphosis years ago (so long ago it doesn't count) but other than that hadn't read any Kafka. I'm only halfway through but my impression of Kafka was slightly off. I knew he could be nightmarish but I hadn't realised how surreal it could be and how the nightmare was created by blending the real with the surreal and unreal.

The first story is Description of a Struggle which wikipedia tells me is not critically well thought of or not a good place to start but it's one that's struck one of the strongest chords with me. The dreamlike state is uncanny and unnerving because how uncanny it is. There were times where his thoughts wander and it reminded me of the unpleasant way your thoughts wander when (I hate myself for saying this) you've have taken too much MDMA or when you're having a bad trip.   

This article[nb]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2944142/[/nb] talks about Kafka's use of hypnogogic states (which I used to get when I was probably depressed) and also talks about the mild psychosis that can be induced by sleep deprivation. (Mild psychosis also being a state that can be induced by tripping.):[nb]The article describes sleep deprivation as a, "non-drug "psychotomimetic" model". Hallucinogens themselves are a type of psychotomimetic model[/nb]

Quote from: Kafka, paranoic doubles and the brain: hypnagogic vs. hyper-reflexive models of disrupted self in neuropsychiatric disorders and anomalous conscious statesKafka deliberately scheduled his writing during the night in a sleep-deprived state. It is also known that he drew from hypnagogic imagery in his stories [40]. In his Diaries, Kafka describes his nocturnal writing as conducted "entirely in darkness, deep in his workshop" [26], p. 518; see also [14]. As Kafka reports, writing without sleep enables access to unusual thoughts and associations which otherwise would be inaccessible: "How easily everything can be said as if a great fire had been prepared for all these things in which the strangest thoughts emerge and again disappear" [26], pp. 293-4, my translation). With regard to this transformed state of consciousness, he writes, "all I possess are certain powers which, at a depth almost inaccessible at normal conditions, shape themselves into literature..." [41], p. 270." Similarly, Kafka writes in his Diaries, "Again it was the power of my dreams, shining forth into wakefulness even before I fall asleep, which did not let me sleep... I feel shaken to the core of my being and can get out of myself whatever I desire. It is a matter of ... mysterious powers..." (cited by Corngold, [42], p. 23). Sleep deprivation may serve as a non-drug "psychotomimetic" model (i.e., producing a psychotic like state in healthy individuals) with attendant changes in dopamine in the striatum and NMDA and AMPA ionotropic glutamate receptor function in pre-frontal cortex [43]. Indirectly, this suggests a possible relationship between intrusive hypnagogic imagery (which is increased with sleep deprivation) and the experiences of beginning psychosis [44], and below.

Anyway I mostly wanted to recommend the article because it enhances the imagery used and allows for very personal explorations of it.

Thinking of reading Ice by Anna Kavan next because I read that so long ago I can't remember it but something in Kafka kept making me think of it.

Edit: actually, going by that article maybe I should read Kafka's diaries next.

Eight Taiwanese Teenagers

Quote from: Smeraldina Rima on July 20, 2016, 04:18:08 PM
I'll second the Paul Auster recommendation. The New York Trilogy is a good fit with your selection (postmodern detective fiction). I didn't enjoy it very much though. I liked Mr. Vertigo better.

Richard Brautigan (any of his novellas really) and Flann O'Brien (The Third Policeman especially in relation to your list but At Swim-Two-Birds is another good one if you get on well with that). Television or The Bathroom by Jean-Philippe Toussaint. B. S. Johnson (Your choice).

Maybe Stanislaw Lem, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges. I've been trying to think of female writers that fit in with the writers on your list but I'm not sure. Maybe Muriel Spark.

Wanted to say thanks via karma but apparently I've already used it up today. Thanks.

Camp Tramp

Recently read Declare by Tim Powers. It covers a gap in the life of Kim Philby and combines spy drama with the supernatural in a middle eastern setting. A good book with some lovely descriptions.

Not so good was Solo by William Boyd, I knew it was supposed to be faithful to the literary James Bond but I eventually got bored of the descriptions of sumptous meals and expensive wines. Still I now have the recipe for James Bond's salad dressing, which is something.

Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson concerns the approach of a Generation ship to a possibly habitable planet in the Tau Ceti star system. I can't say too much more without giving away the plot but the book manages to be both very bleak but uplifting at the same time. The way the book is written definitely confirms to the authors viewpoint on interstellar colonisation and travel. A very good book.

Finally I just picked up Coldest Winter by David Halberstam, a superb history of the early stages of the Korean War which brings the characters into sharp relief. I ended up admiring some figures, hating others and pitying a few.

Bobby Dazzler

Quote from: Eight Taiwanese Teenagers on July 17, 2016, 09:51:32 AM
Hello gang, I am going on holiday in a week and wondering what books to take. I always end up planning on reading something a bit ambitious then getting bored/unmotivated and falling back on the things I have on my kindle but I have read before at least a couple of times:

Douglas Adams
Raymond Chandler
Haruki Murakami
Kurt Vonnegut
Philip K Dick
Also a set of short stories called Salmonella Men on Planet Porno by Yasutaka Tsusui

What would you recommend to someone who reads the above?

A bit too late for your hols, but there's James M. Cain if you haven't read him already, who wrote hardboiled crime like Chandler but isn't really as well-known as him. The Postman Always Rings Twice is short, breakneck, and surprisingly winds up elevating the central seedy murder plot into something more akin to a tragedy; and there's Double Indemnity, better known by the film noir adaptation, although I haven't read that yet.

There was also a chap called C.S. Forester who wrote three grimy noir-style stories set in 1930s England and then, annoyingly, spent the rest of his career writing about blokes fighting on ships. I'd recommend all three but Plain Murder and Payment Deferred are my favourites. The former is sort of a murder mystery from the murderer's perspective, and basically charts a psychopath's descent (rise?) into egomania as he starts bumping off anyone he deems inconvenient; the latter is about somebody who commits a murder but then spends the rest of the story self-destructing with paranoia[nb]If you're anything like me, then you'll take a book about a guy slowly descending into madness as he obsesses over the terrible secret in his garden any day[/nb], and veers into dark comedy at moments. Both of them have their flaws, but if you'd like some historical atmosphere and psychological intrigue to go with your crime then they're good choices, I loved them both.

Quote from: BOBBY FLOWERS on July 22, 2016, 02:59:46 PM
The first story is Description of a Struggle which wikipedia tells me is not critically well thought of or not a good place to start but it's one that's struck one of the strongest chords with me. The dreamlike state is uncanny and unnerving because how uncanny it is. There were times where his thoughts wander and it reminded me of the unpleasant way your thoughts wander when (I hate myself for saying this) you've have taken too much MDMA or when you're having a bad trip.   

It's not well thought of (by John Updike for example) because it lacks the clarity and coherence of Kafka's later writing but it was popular after the war I think for its incoherence and the difficulties in communication between the pairs (in the conversations with a drunk and beggar). Personally, I like the story too. But I read different versions, one where at the end one character stabs himself in the arm with a knife (this ending is very good and makes me think a bit of Camus and Peter's mad thoughts) and another where that part with the knife wasn't there. His diaries are fascinating. There are also the "Blue Octavo Notebooks", which contain more aphorisms and sketches than personal entries.


I recently read Herman Hesse's novella Knulp about a wanderer and his occasional relationships which he tends to leave abruptly. It's very simple, presented in three parts that build towards its main theme of homesickness or nostalgia, but through some discussions about free will, impenetrable souls, drunkenness and lastly regret about a past affair and the worth of Knulp's life after this failure or betrayal. One thing Hesse seems particularly good at, here and in Demian, is writing engaging dialogues, because they are surprising but they always anticipate the reader's likely objections. If I read a novel with a lot of dialogue, half way through I'm bound to think, ah but what about this? Usually there's no response from the interlocutor, but there usually is with Hesse.

Large Noise

Reading Sartre's Nausea at the moment, which is enjoyable enough so far. Listened to a reading of No Exit last night, which was good. One of those touchstones you come across then realise that lots of other things you've seen have been influenced by it.

Have been reading a bit of Thornton Wilder lately, after having a lovely old time with The Bridge of San Luis Rey a couple of years ago. The Woman of Andros, though, wasn't as good. Need to crack on with The Ides of March, which I've just started and seems promising.

I want to read Patrick Cockburn's The Rise of Islamic State, and Kim Barker's The Taliban Shuffle next. Anyone read either?

Also, I've read fuck all Steinbeck. Where should I start with him?

Finally, The Unbearable Lightness of Being sounds interesting, but is it a good read?

Blinder Data

Quote from: Large Noise on July 25, 2016, 10:39:28 AM
Also, I've read fuck all Steinbeck. Where should I start with him?

I've only read The Grapes of Wrath, which is a bloody brilliant book. For the first 100 pages or so I found the dialogue and characters a bit hokey, but then you get into it. A real gut-puncher. So you shouldn't go wrong if you start with that (although Of Mice and Men is shorter).

OnBoardNavvy

Quote from: Blinder Data on July 25, 2016, 11:40:38 AM
I've only read The Grapes of Wrath, which is a bloody brilliant book. For the first 100 pages or so I found the dialogue and characters a bit hokey, but then you get into it. A real gut-puncher. So you shouldn't go wrong if you start with that (although Of Mice and Men is shorter).

Seconded. And agree about the slow burn too. Really earns its ending though. Did The Pearl at school; found it interesting at the time, but now seems a bit Steinbeck-On-Rails.

Quote from: Large Noise on July 25, 2016, 10:39:28 AM
I want to read Patrick Cockburn's The Rise of Islamic State, and Kim Barker's The Taliban Shuffle next. Anyone read either?
I rate Cockburn really highly. Someone who doesn't sit on his arse in a green zone. The IS book, and also the one on Muqtada al-Sadr (if for no other reason than as a way to approach the whole post-2003 mess). Most of his journalism (Indy, LRB) ends up on Counterpunch.org, so a search of the site should give a good taster.

Read Unbearable Lightness when it came out in paperback; to be honest, not one thing has stuck. Sweetcorn.

BOBBY FLOWERS

Re: Steinbeck

Grapes of Wrath is brutal and great. East of Eden is brutal and great but brutal in a different way and with more humanity. A lot of stuff about self-deception and projection and the convenient view we have of our own and others actions. Cannery Row is very good book about throwing someone a nice party.

BOBBY FLOWERS

Quote from: Smeraldina Rima on July 25, 2016, 12:58:39 AM
It's not well thought of (by John Updike for example) because it lacks the clarity and coherence of Kafka's later writing but it was popular after the war I think for its incoherence and the difficulties in communication between the pairs (in the conversations with a drunk and beggar). Personally, I like the story too. But I read different versions, one where at the end one character stabs himself in the arm with a knife (this ending is very good and makes me think a bit of Camus and Peter's mad thoughts) and another where that part with the knife wasn't there. His diaries are fascinating. There are also the "Blue Octavo Notebooks", which contain more aphorisms and sketches than personal entries.


I recently read Herman Hesse's novella Knulp about a wanderer and his occasional relationships which he tends to leave abruptly. It's very simple, presented in three parts that build towards its main theme of homesickness or nostalgia, but through some discussions about free will, impenetrable souls, drunkenness and lastly regret about a past affair and the worth of Knulp's life after this failure or betrayal. One thing Hesse seems particularly good at, here and in Demian, is writing engaging dialogues, because they are surprising but they always anticipate the reader's likely objections. If I read a novel with a lot of dialogue, half way through I'm bound to think, ah but what about this? Usually there's no response from the interlocutor, but there usually is with Hesse.

Updike wrote the foreward for the edition I have but I'm going to read it last. Since last posting I've read A Country Doctor the horror and terror of which really struck me.

I'm queuing Knulp after your description. I do like drunkenness and ending relationships abruptly.

OnBoardNavvy

Just finished a couple of re(re-)reads:

Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner. Flat-out the best SF book of all time. By far the thickest (as in Raymond Williams, rather than Terry Fuckwitt) description of a future society I've ever read[nb]2010![/nb]. It not only satirises TV technology of the future (Mr and Mrs Everywhere) but it does so in the form of a calypso, to give some idea. The stroke of genius is to insert passages from the work of the sociologist Chad C Mulligan. He not only contextualises the overcrowded, genetics-obsessed Western society but is also readable in his own right, and the best thing in the book. It also predicts JustFuckingGoogleIt.
Quote[Pseudoquote] Donald didn't understand why the man didn't just dial up an encyclopedia connection, rather than ask him

The Linguistics Wars by Randy Allen Harris. It's been said before, but the case tends to be that people who are arsey about Chomsky's politics will concede the importance of his work on syntax, whereas people who think his influence on linguistics has been just poisonous, are pretty sympathetic with the politics. This book (which is far more pacey than it has any right to be) explains the positions between those who venerate Chomsky's linguistic programme, and those who would rather the Standard Model get fucked off a cliff, and how these views often turn out to be held by the same people at different times. Also always surprised at how good the explanations of the ideas at stake are, and how much technical stuff doesn't get left out.