No, no, never too busy. I made a contribution, though. And The Elements of Style is an excellent, entertaining book that everyone should read. But maybe Hop on Pop! is more your speed.

[Edited on June 6, 2006 at 4:24 PM. Reason : Peace, we outta here.]

6/6/2006 4:24:11 PM

Quote :

""The Catcher in the Rye" I'm the only person I know who absolutely hated that book. Franny and Zooey was a lot better."

Well, now you know two. I also absolutely hate that book.

Quote :

"If you didn't find Kavalier's escape from Europe exciting....then put down the book. It's not for you. "

Yeah, it's definitely not for me then. *sigh*

6/6/2006 5:07:02 PM

^^ Yeah, okay. Read Gravity's Rainbow and get back to me, fag.

^

[Edited on June 6, 2006 at 5:33 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2006 5:33:02 PM

Reading Rainbow

6/6/2006 5:33:46 PM

Gravity's Rainbow is a gimmick book on par with The Da Vinci Code. Don't mistake a pop-up book for a work of artistic merit.

6/6/2006 5:37:18 PM

why dont you guys take this battle to PM?

6/6/2006 5:38:31 PM

Because trying to argue with me in public is the only way to resist my magnetic charm.

6/6/2006 5:39:22 PM

Quote :

"Don't mistake a pop-up book for a work of artistic merit."

Ditto.

And don't ever compare the two again.

6/6/2006 5:47:39 PM

oh shit

i'm gonna go get zooted and then read through this thread again

i bet it will be amazing

GETTIN' ZOOTED

6/6/2006 5:48:45 PM

THE ONLY REASON YOU EVER EVEN GOT TURNED ON TO GRAVITY'S RAINBOW IS 'CAUSE YOU WENT TO SEE V FOR VENDETTA

6/6/2006 5:53:23 PM

Actually, I never saw it. And wouldn't that make me read V. instead?

6/6/2006 5:57:54 PM

No, because you're dumb and would read some other work in order to distinguish yourself. Familiarity with an author's less popular works grants you the semblance of credibility.

Perhaps I shall write a house fire, in which you can die.

6/6/2006 5:59:09 PM

This is the best thread of all time.

6/6/2006 6:05:29 PM

^^Gravity's Rainbow is his best-known work. Oh sorry, I assumed you would know something like that.

^

[Edited on June 6, 2006 at 6:06 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2006 6:05:55 PM

Quote :

"Why don't you go back to your Toni Morrison books and leave this thread to the big kids?"

Wow. Lots of hostility in here. People are mentioning writers like Chuck Palahniuk and Orson Scott Card... I think we can chill out, because neither of them are rather spectacular.

6/6/2006 6:15:43 PM

Here's my beginner's guide to Pynchon, for people who are curious:
1. He's been on The Simpsons. TWICE.
2. His paperbacks cost $texas. Some of them cost $texas.50.

This concludes my guide to Pynchon.

6/6/2006 6:16:53 PM

They don't cost $texas at all. Go to Reader's Corner and get them cheaply or check out one of the many copies that D.H. Hill has. eBay has many copies listed under $10, too.



[Edited on June 6, 2006 at 6:24 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2006 6:19:11 PM

Quote :

"People are mentioning writers like Chuck Palahniuk"

I enjoy his writing style, though it's a shame most of his content is wholly one-dimensional.

6/6/2006 6:27:25 PM

Invisble Monsters was the last nail in the coffin of my never wanting to read Chuck Palahniuk again.

Now THAT'S a sentence!

6/6/2006 6:29:03 PM

I don't read much fiction, but if even if you don't like sci-fi Dune by Frank Herbert is pretty good.
For non-fiction, I'd probably suggest something like Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. Dude has some pretty good advice for life.

I didn't put down Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card until I finished it, was pretty good too.

[Edited on June 6, 2006 at 6:35 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2006 6:32:38 PM

I actually liked Invisible Monsters the most.

How many of his books did you read before it though? I've most people seem to read two or three of his books, then pick up the next one and go "I swear to god I just read this book".

6/6/2006 6:34:22 PM

I had read Fight Club and Choke. Seriously, Invisible Monsters was so bad it made me angry. It totally ruined the next book I read, which also happened to involve beauty pageants.

6/6/2006 6:36:05 PM

Looks like you and I will not be joining the same book club then

6/6/2006 6:44:29 PM

The book club for men who like books with beauty pageants?

[Edited on June 6, 2006 at 6:46 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2006 6:46:21 PM

I have a thing for literature involving attractive women and trannies.

You got a problem with that?

(Also, I like the "Birds ate my face." line)

6/6/2006 7:18:30 PM

Nope.

6/6/2006 7:23:46 PM

if i ever see anyone reading invisible monsters (it ain't worth underlinin') i may take the book from them and then smack them in the face with it

6/6/2006 7:40:43 PM

You all need to consult a collected volume called the BIBLE.

6/6/2006 7:42:13 PM

You'd all like Invisible Monsters a lot more if you'd read Haunted, since Haunted is about a million times worse.

Same with Diary.

The downward spiral of his work is actually pretty impressive.

Quote :

"You all need to consult a collected volume called the BIBLE."

I tried, but the version I had was pretty short. I've heard they added some new chapters though?

[Edited on June 6, 2006 at 7:47 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2006 7:47:16 PM

Not so much a case of a disappointing sophomore effort as a case of continually repeating sophomore year.

[Edited on June 6, 2006 at 7:48 PM. Reason : I like it when Stein makes Jew jokes. He's so classy about it.]

6/6/2006 7:48:10 PM

I keep telling myself I'm going to expand my horizons and read more. Making all the Jew jokes generally gets in the way of that though

6/6/2006 11:19:52 PM

man, i love reading the elements of style. good shit.

6/6/2006 11:32:49 PM

Spoiler alert! The semicolon did it.

6/6/2006 11:44:45 PM

OMG NO WAY. I guess that makes sense. He's a head with a stabby stick. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

6/6/2006 11:45:24 PM

What's this Elements of Style thing?

6/6/2006 11:55:09 PM

It's a book that instructs you on various stylistic issues, but mainly on how to write as succinctly and purposefully as possible.

[Edited on June 7, 2006 at 12:00 AM. Reason : .]

6/6/2006 11:59:36 PM

Oh.

I like sounding as pompous and vain as humanly possible whenever I write, so I guess I should skip that one.

6/7/2006 12:03:25 AM

Dan Simmons' "Hyperion Canticle" and "Endymion Canticle" make up a good series of 4 books. Not nearly enough people have read them.

6/7/2006 12:23:06 AM

Quote :

"What's this Elements of Style thing?"

It's that book you consulted in high school when you had to figure out how to properly cite a bi-monthly periodical.

[Edited on June 7, 2006 at 3:24 PM. Reason : .]

6/7/2006 3:24:09 PM

^No, that was probably The MLA Handbook. Strunk and White's The Elements of Style is just that: elements of writing style-- including proper usage, principles of composition, misused words-- but no bibliography rules.

[Edited on June 7, 2006 at 3:57 PM. Reason : :]

6/7/2006 3:56:39 PM

I'll second Ishamael by Quinn and add:

A Feast of Love by Charles Baxter. Or anything by Baxter really...

6/7/2006 4:35:25 PM

I just got my copy of



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1844138135/103-6564078-7724637?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155

to read next week on vacation in addition to



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/055380202X/103-6564078-7724637?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155

and



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553804367/103-6564078-7724637?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155

7/31/2006 6:36:30 PM

I picked up Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell again and it's really good. It's sort of a novel, but it's sort of a collection of loosely connected short stories. There's a lot of connections between the stories, and there's connections to his other books as well.

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 6:38 PM. Reason : ]

7/31/2006 6:38:26 PM

I'm still chugging through the following:

The Art of the Novel, Kundera
Ulysses, Joyce
Manhattan Transfer, Dos Passos (It's a reread- I love this book; it makes me want to move to New York immediately.)

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 7:41 PM. Reason : .]

7/31/2006 7:40:00 PM

Instead of reading Ulysses, just have somebody punch you in the face. It's the same basic experience, but it's way faster and doesn't cost you any money.

7/31/2006 8:33:08 PM

I SECOND The Kite Runner and I just read the book Running With Scissors which was a pretty easy read (Coming out as a movie soon)

7/31/2006 11:06:26 PM

I'm working on A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius. Good so far.

7/31/2006 11:29:23 PM

Quote :

"Instead of reading Ulysses, just have somebody punch you in the face. It's the same basic experience, but it's way faster and doesn't cost you any money."

Poor James Joyce.

7/31/2006 11:33:55 PM

I'm debating whether I should read this old spy novel my dad gave me called Shibumi. It seems like it might be pretty worthless, but it does have ninjas and Go masters.

8/1/2006 9:58:07 AM

Quote :

"People are mentioning writers like Chuck Palahniuk"

I think we discussed this in the other thread, but most people I know really enjoy the first book or two of Palahniuk that they read, but then when they get to the second or third they get really bored with him. The order you read them in doesn't seem to matter, its just whichever you read first that you will like.

Quote :

" I'm the only person I know who absolutely hated that book."

I wouldn't say I hated it, but definately didn't see what all the hype was about. I find that with some classic books they seem really cliche and boring, and even though I appreciate its because they started the cliches and have been homaged or outright plagarized in other works that I read earlier, it doesn't make it seem less boring while I'm reading it. Also found that with On the Road.

I think I mentioned them in the other thread but I'll second Chabon; not just K&C but I liked; The Final Solution, Summerland, and Wonder Boys as well, never got into Mysteries of Pittsburgh though.

Mitch Cullin is also good.

Also if you're interested in a crazy Scottish Postmodern Re-Work of Frankenstein, try Alasdair Gray's Poor Things.

She might be taught in High Schools by now but I've also enjoyed Margaret Atwood.

Finally if you like short fiction, try the McSweeney's collections, also a good way to find new authors.

[Edited on August 2, 2006 at 5:45 AM. Reason : Stein sorry didn't see your Palahniuk comment before posting.]

8/2/2006 5:36:44 AM