"Ali Smith, There But For The"
i started this years ago and need to finish it
― Crazy Eddie & Jesus the Kid (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 19 December 2015 04:01 (eight years ago) link
oh i forgot
david shields & caleb powell - i think you're totally wrong
which was a lot of fun, i tore through that thing
i bought like three bruce wagner novels, am trying to make my way through "dead stars" but i have to be in a certain state of mind to really go there
― Crazy Eddie & Jesus the Kid (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 19 December 2015 04:04 (eight years ago) link
Not counting the numerous short fiction pieces and excerpts/chapters from academic texts read for school (finished my MA and began my PhD this year):
Louisa May Alcott, Little WomenSherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time IndianRobert Woodruff Anderson, Tea and SympathyPeter Cameron, Some Day This Pain Will Be Useful To YouLewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-GlassMichael Chabon, Maps and LegendsLynn Coady, Play the Monster BlindMary Gaitskill, Bad Behaviour Nelson George, The Hippest Trip in America: Soul Train and the Evolution of Culture & StyleJessica Hopper, The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock CriticSam Inglis, Harvest (33 1/3)Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill HouseThomas King, The Back of the TurtleAlexander MacLeod, Light LiftingLorrie Moore, Like LifeFlannery O'Connor, Everything That Rises Must ConvergeFlannery O'Connor, A Good Man is Hard To FindRaziel Reid, When Everything Feels Like the MoviesJ.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneTimothy Shary, Generation Multiplex: The Image of Youth in American Cinema Since 1980Mary Shelley, FrankensteinLionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About KevinTom Spanbauer, I Loved You MoreRobert Louis Stevenson, Treasure IslandColm Toibin, Nora Webster
― Fetty Wap Is Strong In Here (cryptosicko), Saturday, 19 December 2015 04:31 (eight years ago) link
Goodbye to Berlin Christopher IsherwoodA Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K Le GuinWolf Hall HIlary MantelSeason TO Taste Molly Birmbaumchickenhawk Robert MasonDay Of the Peacock Geoffrey Aquilana Ross
I'm going to have to come back to this since I know I've read several times that and can't think what offhand.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 19 December 2015 10:37 (eight years ago) link
ive read more books this year than ever before. most of this list is made up of books on irish film which will probably not interest anyone here.
what is film theory? - richard rushtoncinema on the periphery - conn holohanwolf in white van - john darniellemasculinity and irish popular culture - eds. tony tracy and conn holohanthe wounds of nations - linnie blakegaelic gothic - luke gibbonsgenre and cinema: ireland and transnationalism - ed. brian mcilroycinema and politics - andrew sarrisi married a communist - philip rothamerican pastoral - philip rothlabyrinths - jorge luis borgesreinventing ireland - peadar kirbynew irish storytellers - diog o'connellfrom prosperity to austerity - eugene o'brienamerica - jean baudrillardcreation stories - alan mcgeedisgrace - jm coetzeei, partridge - alan partridgefilm, media and popular culture in ireland - martin mcloonecarl theodor dreyer's 'gertrud': the moving word - james schamushere are the young men - rob doylegoodbye 20th century: a biography of sonic youth - david brownethe ticket that exploded - william s. burroughsneil jordan: exploring boundaries - emer rockettthe thing about december - donal ryansoft - rupert thomson
― i;m thinking about thos Beans (Michael B), Saturday, 19 December 2015 16:41 (eight years ago) link
i often feel like on these reading threads we all list and barely discuss
the autistic listing and awkward refusal of all eye-contact is kinda my favorite thing abt these threads.
― LEGIT (Lamp), Saturday, 19 December 2015 16:55 (eight years ago) link
Lol
― Die Angst des Elfmans beim Torschluss (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 19 December 2015 17:02 (eight years ago) link
John Darnielle's book is amazing btw. everyone should read it
― i;m thinking about thos Beans (Michael B), Saturday, 19 December 2015 17:03 (eight years ago) link
john lecarre - the spy who came in from the coldhenry green - party goinggabriella coleman - hacker hoaxer whistleblower spytom mccarthy - remainderelena ferrante - my briliant friendstephen levitt & steven dubner - freakonomicsdaron acemoglu & james robinson - why nations failtyler cowen - in praise of commercial culturejoseph stiglitz - globalization and its discontentsbarry eichengreen - the european economy since 1945philip k dick - do androids dream of electric sheep?franklin fisher - disequilibrium foundations of equilibrium economicskatherine addison - the goblin emperoratif mian & amir sufi - house of debtcharles kinderberger - manias, crashes and panicsmichelle alexander - the new jim crowdavid mitchell - ghostwritten
― flopson, Saturday, 19 December 2015 21:14 (eight years ago) link
that gabriella coleman was one of the most frustrating reading experiences i've had. the subject matter is so fascinating, she has so many great stories to tell and had such a unique vantage point (as an anthropologist studying anonymous basically by lurking on irc), yet her writing just destroys any momentum it ever catches wind of with unnecessary academic-ish detours into not that interesting questions like: what is the true nature of anonymous? after the sixth time she spills page after page of "anonymous isn't just one easily definable thing, it's a hydra-headed diffuse network that constantly renegotiates its norms and objectives, is paradoxically both hierarchical and anarchist, activist and troll" its just like... ok please tell me crazy stories about internet trolls now
― flopson, Saturday, 19 December 2015 22:00 (eight years ago) link
"goblin emperor" (which i picked up on an ilx rec) was weird, too. although i definitely enjoyed it, i suffered from an expectation that the writer would develop the who-done-it plot. instead she just kind of built up a world shown from the confused perspective of someone thrust into it, and at the at the eleventh hour wrapped up the murder mystery. basically the main character's father (the emperor) is assassinated, and no one knows who the assassins were, but it is assumed they are now going for him. everyone essentially forgets about it and goes on about their lives, and then in the last 15 pages someone lunges at the emperor with a sword at a dinner party, and then they're like "oh, i guess that's who killed your father."
― flopson, Saturday, 19 December 2015 22:27 (eight years ago) link
― i;m thinking about thos Beans (Michael B), Saturday, 19 December 2015 17:03 (Yesterday) Permalink
forgot to include it on my list, not sure why as it was amazing
― Crazy Eddie & Jesus the Kid (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 20 December 2015 03:52 (eight years ago) link
2015: year of reading Scandinavian
Jo Nesbo - The BatJo Nesbo - The RedeemerJo Nesbo – Blood on SnowHakan Nesser - The Inspector and SilenceHakan Nesser - Borkmann’s PointHakan Nesser - Mind’s EyeLawrence Wright - Thirteen Days In September: Carter, Begin & Sadat at Camp DavidLars Kepler - The HypnotistLars Kepler - The NightmareLars Kepler - The Fire WitnessAsa Larsson - The Second Deadly SinMichael Hastings - The Last MagazineAke Edwardson - Room No. 10Ake Edwardson - Frozen TracksArnaldur Indridason - Black SkiesArnaldur Indridason - HypothermiaArnaldur Indridason - OutrageChristopher Hitchens - Blood, Class And EmpireChristopher Hitchens - Unacknowledged Legislation Writers In The Public SphereDavid Remnick - Lenin’s TombRobert Christgau - Going To The CityRenata Adler - After the Tall TimberSaul Bellow - There Is Simply Too Much To Think AboutRichard Price/Harry Brandt - The WhitesKim Gordon - Girl In A BandDonna Tartt – The Secret HistoryDonna Tartt – The Little FriendDonna Tartt – The GoldfinchZachary Leader – The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame And Fortune 1916-1964Ben MacIntyre – A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby And The Great BetrayalKevin Schultz – Buckley and Mailer: The Difficult Friendship That Shaped The SixtiesDavid Browne – So Many Roads: The Life And Times of the Grateful DeadKarin Fossum – Eva’s EyeKarin Fossum – I Can See In The DarkGeorge Pelecanos – The Martini ShotGeorge Pelecanos – The CutDon Winslow – SavagesDon Winslow – The Gentlemen’s HourAlan Furst – Kingdom of ShadowsTravis Milhauser – Sweet GirlBen Macintyre – Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day SpiesBen Macintyre - A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal Brad Gooch – Smash Cut: A Memoir of Howard and Art in the 70s and 80sOliver Sacks – On The MoveBrandon Stusoy – Up Is Up But So Is DownSteven Hager – Art After MidnightCamilla Lackberg – The StrangerCamilla Lackberg - The Hidden ChildCamilla Lackberg - The DrowningJill Leovy – Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in AmericaPeter Gay – Freud: A Life for Our TimeDavid I. Kertzer – The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI & the Rise of Fascism in EuropeLeif GW Persson – Between Summer’s Longing And Winter’s EndLeif GW Persson - Another Time, Another LifeLeif GW Persson - Free Falling As If In A Dream (The Fall Of The Welfare State trilogy)Erik Larson – Dead Wake: Last Crossing of the LusitaniaMichael Connelly - The CrossingJussi Adler- Olson - The Hanging GirlJussi Adler- Olson - The Marco EffectJussi Adler-Olson - The Alphabet House
languidly dipping into Boswell's Life of Johnson in between, may finish in a few years
― an emotionally withholding exterminator (m coleman), Sunday, 20 December 2015 14:17 (eight years ago) link
Not all dead trees, some were audio editions:
FICTIONAchebe, Chinna - Things Fall ApartBacigalupi, Paolo - The Water KnifeBarron, Laird - Occultation and Other StoriesCline, Ernest - Ready Player OneCroshaw, Yahtzee - JamCroshaw, Yahtzee - MogworldHaig, Matt - The HumansHaldeman, Joe - The Forever WarKenemore, Scott - The Zen of Zombie: Better Living through the UndeadLem, Stanislaw - FiascoNorth, Claire - The First Fifteen Lives of Harry AugustReid, Rob - Year ZeroSawyer, Robert J - Calculating GodWatkins, Claire Vaye - Gold Fame CitrusWatts, Peter – EchopraxiaWilson, Robert Charles – SpinWilson, Robert Charles – AxisWilson, Robert Charles – Vortex
NON-FICTIONAnsary, Tamim - Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic EyesArendt, Hannah - Eichmann in JerusalemArmstrong, Karen - BuddhaBatchelor, Stephen - After BuddhismBatchelor, Stephen - Confession of a Buddhist AtheistBering, Jesse - Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of UsBreer, Paul - The Spontaneous Self: Viable Alternatives to Free WillBrown, Mike - How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It ComingByrne, David - How Music WorksChogyam Trungpa - The Myth of Freedom and the Way of MeditationComte-Sponville, Andre - The Little Book of Atheist SpiritualityDamasio, Antonio - Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious BrainEttlinger, Steve - Twinkie, DeconstructedFlanagan, Owen - The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism NaturalizedFrazer, James - The Golden BoughGaarder, Jostein - Sophie's WorldGazzaniga, Michael S. - Who's in Charge: Free Will and the Science of the BrainGoldacre, Ben - Bad PharmaGoldacre, Ben - Bad ScienceGrayling, A. C. - The Good Book: A Humanist BibleHanson, Rick - Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, & WisdomHarari, Yuval Noah - Sapiens: a Brief History of HumankindHarris, Sam - Free WillHarris, Sam - Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without ReligionHastings, Max - Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945Herrigel, Eugen - Zen in the Art of ArcheryLane, Nick - Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of EvolutionLane, Nick - The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex LifeLustig, Robert - Fat ChanceManchester, William - Goodbye, DarknessMeredith, Martin - Born in Africa: The Quest for the Origins of Human LifeMizuno, Kogen - The Beginnings of BuddhismMontefiore, Simon - Stalin, The Court of the Red TsarReding, Nick - MethlandRussell, Mark - God Is Disappointed in YouSnyder, Timothy - Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and StalinTaylor, Jill Bolte - My Stroke of InsightTennesen, Michael - The Next Species: The Future of Evolution in the Aftermath of ManWatts, Alan - The Way of ZenWeiner, Tim - Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIAWright, Lawrence - The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9-11
Most recently, a book of John Grey-like essays disguised as Big History:Harari, Yuval Noah - Sapiens: a Brief History of Humankind
In my messenger bag:Greger, Michael - How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse DiseaseRavven, Heidi M. - The Self Beyond Itself: An Alternative History of Ethics, the New Brain Sciences, and the Myth of Free WillW., Bill – Alcoholics Anonymous 4th edn
― 50 Shades of Santa (Sanpaku), Monday, 21 December 2015 03:51 (eight years ago) link
you all read a lot. i can remember:
the wretched of the earth - fanonmrs. dalloway - woolfno beast so fierce - bunkerthe last good kiss - crumleyhigh rise - ballardthe road - mccarthytropic of cancer - millerwhite noise - delillothe contested murder of latasha harlins - stevensoninherent vice - pynchonvalis, flow my tears, martian time slip, a scanner darkly, we can build you - dickinverted world - priestthe left hand of darkness - le guinvandover and the brute - norrisadorno guide for the perplexed - thomsonmany entries in biographical dictionary of film - different thomsonreread bits of labor and monopoly capital - bravermanthe success and failure of picasso - berger
― home organ, Monday, 21 December 2015 04:44 (eight years ago) link
> you all read a lot
Life without television: how do people do it?
― 50 Shades of Santa (Sanpaku), Monday, 21 December 2015 05:38 (eight years ago) link
I often read with the TV switched on and vol turned off btw.
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 21 December 2015 12:10 (eight years ago) link
isn't that backwards, it should have sound but no looking so you can focus on the book which is after all the important thing
― j., Monday, 21 December 2015 17:38 (eight years ago) link
how did you like ghettoside coleman? i picked it up yesterday while xmas shopping
― flopson, Monday, 21 December 2015 19:54 (eight years ago) link
sorry for ruining the autistic purity of this thread lol
― Crazy Eddie & Jesus the Kid (Raymond Cummings), Friday, December 18, 2015 10:01 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
It was enjoyable but my least favorite out of the three novels.
― expertly crafted referential display name (Jordan), Monday, 21 December 2015 20:03 (eight years ago) link
not the most artfully constructed or consciously well-written nonfiction book i've ever read but author is an empathetic and thorough reporter so the content is devastating
― an emotionally withholding exterminator (m coleman), Monday, 21 December 2015 21:04 (eight years ago) link
About half a dozen of these I didn't completely finish:
Leo Tolstoy - The CossacksAlberto Moravia - The VoyeurSimon Danczuk & Matthew Baker - Smile For The CameraHelen MacDonald - H is for HawkAlberto Moravia - Woman of RomeIvan Turgenev - Home of the GentryGillian Rose - Love's WorkRose Macaulay - Told By An IdiotCurzio Malaparte - SkinAugust Kubizek - The Young Hitler I KnewJohn Carey - The Unexpected ProfessorHeinz Linge - With Hitler To The EndaksaAngela Hewins (ed.) - The DillenHammon Innes - The Lonely SkierA L Rowse - A Cornish ChildhoodMaurice O'Sullivan - Twenty Years A-GrowingTim Cohu - The Wolf PitBernice Rubens - When I Grow UpPenelope Mortimer - About TimeSybille Bedford - QuicksandsJack London - The People of the AbyssH L Mencken - Selected PrejudicesIsaac Bashevis Singer - In My Father's CourtChristoper Isherwood - ExhumationsRose Macaulay - Personal PleasuresBernice Rubens - Sunday BestIvan Turgenev - Virgin Soil [Constance Barnett]Virginia Woolf - Haunting The Streets & Other EssaysE Spencer Shew - The Second Companion To MurderBrian Thompson - Keeping MumBernice Rubens - Spring SonataKathleen Jamie - FindingsNancy Mitford - The BlessingAndre Gide - Strait is the GateAnton Chekhov - The Shooting Party [Ronald Wilks]Sergei Aksakov - Years of ChildhoodBernice Rubens - Madame SousatzkaAnthony Trollope - The Golden Lion of GranpereThomas Love Peacock - Nightmare Abbey & Crotchet CastleElizabeth Jenkins - HarrietSergei Askakov - A Russian SchoolboyJonathan Goodman - The Killing of Julia WallacePaul Theroux - The Great Railway BazaarFyodor Dostoevsky - Poor Folk & The Gambler [C J Hogarth]Steve Hanley & Olivia Piekarski - The Big MidweekDostoevsky - A Disgraceful Affair & Other StoriesIvan Turgenev - SmokeGoethe: Conversations and Encounters [D Luke & R Pick]Gabriel Chevalier - ClochemerleMarcel Aymé - The Conscience of LoveAnatole France - The Crime of Sylvestre BonnardNan Shepherd - The Living MountainDostoevksy - Winter Notes on Summer ImpressionsJean Giono - The Man Who Planted TreesRobert Nye - The Life and Death of My Lord Gilles de RaisJohn Berger - A Fortunate ManMoliere - The Misanthrope & Other PlaysMarcel Pagnol - My Father's Glory & My Mother's CastleLeo Tolstoy - BoyhoodE T A Hoffmann - The Devil's ElixirsVirginia Woolf - Selected EssaysWilliam Hazlitt - Liber AmorisAnthony Trollope - Dr Wortle's SchoolSigrid Undset - Gunnar's DaughterLawrence Durrell - MonsieurAnthony Trollope - Castle RichmondAnthony Trollope - The LandleaguersBeryl Bainbridge - Master GeorgieChristoper Potter - How to Make a Human BeingMarcel Pagnol - Jean de Florette & Manon des SourcesRobert Louis Stevenson - The Master of BallantraeGeorges Simenon - The Shadow PuppetR K Narayan - A Tiger for MalgudiErnst Gombrich - A Little History of the WorldD H Lawrence - The Prussian Office & Other StoriesGeorges Simenon - The Night at the CrossroadsGeorges Simenon - The Mahé CircleL P Hartley - The HirelingJohn Williams - StonerDerek Marlowe - Do You Remember England?Chekhov - Uncle Vanya [David Lan]Zola - GerminalMarghanita Laski - Little Boy LostRichard Yates - Revolutionary RoadStevie Smith - Novel On Yellow PaperV S Naipaul - A Bend in the RiverL P Hartley - The BrickfieldAlan Sillitoe - The Loneliness of the Long Distance RunnerElizabeth Taylor - Mrs Palfrey at the ClaremontGeoff Dyer - Out of Sheer RageMuriel Spark - The Girls of Slender MeansDostoevsky - The Brothers Karamazov [D McDuff]Patrick McGrath - AsylumGeoff Dyer - The Missing of the SommeAngus Wilson - Hemlock and AfterNathaniel Hawthorne - A Wonder BookDorothy Parker - The Portable Dorothy ParkerG K Chesterton - The Secret of Father BrownBrian Moore - Lies of SilenceW H Hudson - Adventures Among BirdsKarl Philipp Moritz - Anton ReiserEric Ambler - The Mask of DimitriosGoethe - Italian Journey [Auden & Mayer]Otto Duv Kulka - Landscapes of the Metropolis of DeathBrian Moore - Cold HeavenDavid Moody - The Unconditioned MindArthur Ransome - Old Peter's Russian TalesJ L Carr - A Day in SummerMichel Tournier - The Erl KingChekhov - The Cherry Orchard [D Lan]Zola - The Beast Within [Roger Whitehouse]Georges Simenon - The Blue RoomArnold Bennett - The CardThomas Carlyle - On Heroes, Hero-Worship & the Heroic in HistoryZola - The Earth [D Parmee]Karl Philipp Moritz - Travels in EnglandGeoff Dyer - But BeautifulCharles Dickens - Bleak HouseCarlo Levi - Christ Stopped at EboliAlison Uttley - The Country ChildGeorge Gissing - The Private Papers of Henry RyecroftCesare Pavese - Among Women OnlyG K Chesterton - OrthodoxyDostoevsky - The Insulted and Humiliated [Olga Shartse]Elisabeth de Waal - The Exiles ReturnAlexander Herzen - Childhood, Youth and Exile [J.C. Duff]R C Sheriff - A Fortnight in SeptemberAlberto Moravia - AgostinoAnthony Trollope - He Knew He Was RightD E Stevenson - Miss Buncle's Book
These four were my favourites of the year:
Goethe: Conversations and EncountersSergei Aksakov - Years of ChildhoodMichel Tournier - The Erl King (a Jonathan Meades recommendation - it was fantastic)Carlo Levi - Christ Stopped at Eboli
― crimplebacker, Tuesday, 22 December 2015 18:33 (eight years ago) link
sanpaku your non-fiction list is amazing, gonna follow up on a few of those in the new year
― dutch_justice, Tuesday, 22 December 2015 19:10 (eight years ago) link
jemisin - the fifth season, the inheritance trilogy
lamp, how was this?
― expertly crafted referential display name (Jordan), Thursday, 24 December 2015 17:43 (eight years ago) link
small-ish list this year. i might try for 50 next year. * = a favorite
fictionO’Neill - Long Day’s Journey Into Night (written 1942, pub. 1956) *Darnielle - Wolf in White Van (2014)Salinger - Franny and Zooey (1955-57)Silverberg ed. - The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. 1 (1934-1963)Bova ed. - The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. 2 A (1895-1962)Lewis - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950)Harris, Thomas - Red Dragon (1981)Achebe - Things Fall Apart (1958)Pohl & Kornbluth - The Space Merchants (1952) *Chesterton - The Man Who Was Thursday (1908)Weir - The Martian (2011)Strugatsky Bros. - The Dead Mountaineer’s Inn (1970)Carr - The Man Who Could Not Shudder (1940)Christie - Cards on the Table (1936) Steadman - The Light Between Oceans (2012)
nonfictionSkloot - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010)Harris, Mark - Five Came Back (2014)Hitchens - The Trial of Henry Kissinger (2001) *Hitchens - No One Left To Lie To (1999)Cronin - Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? (2012)Davis - 33 ⅓: Led Zeppelin IV (2005)Smolin - The Trouble with Physics (2006)Higgs - KLF: Chaos Magic Music Money (2012)
comicsOtomo - Akira (1982-1990)Vaughan - Ex Machina (2004-2010)Morrison - JLA V1Brubaker & Rucka - Gotham Central V2, V3Wiebe - Rat Queens V1Fraction - Sex Criminals V1Wilson & al. - Ms. Marvel V1Vaughan - Saga V1, V2, V3
― aaaaablnnn (abanana), Saturday, 26 December 2015 18:42 (eight years ago) link
how's that curzio malaparte?
― flopson, Saturday, 26 December 2015 18:55 (eight years ago) link
Michel Tournier - The Erl King (a Jonathan Meades recommendation - it was fantastic)
mentioned this a good few times this year around here, where did meades talk about it? it's an incredible book.
― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Saturday, 26 December 2015 20:34 (eight years ago) link
I'd never heard of The Erl King before I read a Meades interview in the Irish Times - he described it as the book that influenced him the most. There's also a Good Read episode on Radio 4 you can still listen to where he talks about it. It blew me away - magnificent and mind-bending.
I didn't think the Malaparte was a masterpiece or anything, but as an account of Italy and Europe's disintegration and degradation, it was very good. Would recommend it but I was somehow expecting more given some of the reviews.
― crimplebacker, Sunday, 27 December 2015 11:40 (eight years ago) link
yeah i'd never heard of it either until i worked with a guy who was a big reader - we were discussing under the volcano and auto-da-fe and he recommended the erl-king, while joking i'd be put on a register if i bought it. the concept and execution is just amazing, this deviant placed against the backdrop of nazi germany. the whole thing is pretty challenging.
i bought a few other tourniers but haven't read them yet. interesting that meades is a fan - i guess i can see it in his nazi buildings doc - definitely goes at the heart of nazi madness in a similar way.
― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Sunday, 27 December 2015 12:34 (eight years ago) link
I suppose it is pretty challenging but I found it a hugely enjoyable read. The ending struck me as slightly corny and false (didn't he carry a concentration camp child away on his shoulders?). Auto Da Fe, on the other hand, I found dismal and in the end completely unreadable.
― crimplebacker, Monday, 28 December 2015 11:37 (eight years ago) link
i guess i meant challenging to my sense of morality really.
i absolutely love auto-da-fe, but to each his own...
― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Monday, 28 December 2015 11:46 (eight years ago) link
As an interesting aside, Bernice Rubens wrote about Canetti in her autobiography - the only person she'd ever truly hated, her father thought he was evil and she was once sorely tempted to kill him when the opportunity arose driving through Hampstead in her car. I felt a bit like that after half of Auto da Fe! Maybe I'll try it again sometime, maybe not...
― crimplebacker, Monday, 28 December 2015 12:00 (eight years ago) link
heh.. most people i know who've read it found it really great - i think there are some fans around here also.
will be interested to read more tournier as and when i have a chance.
― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Monday, 28 December 2015 12:02 (eight years ago) link
Highly recommend collection of fragments of his called Die Fliegenpein/The Agony of Flies.
― Die Angst des Elfmans beim Torschluss (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 28 December 2015 13:01 (eight years ago) link
i think that the inheritance trilogy had a lot of problems and ended up being not very enjoyable as a thing to read. i liked 'the fifth season' a lot more, there was more to distinguish itself than 'literature as social justice' which fwiw i think is an interesting thing in and of itself but wears very thin over 800 or so pages of nonsense.
― -san (Lamp), Monday, 28 December 2015 22:23 (eight years ago) link
dope booksquite a lot of them
― things that are jokes pretty much (nakhchivan), Monday, 28 December 2015 22:47 (eight years ago) link
crap booksfewer of those
― things that are jokes pretty much (nakhchivan), Monday, 28 December 2015 22:48 (eight years ago) link
Looking back there appears to be #trends - i) reading a lot of female writers (that run of Lispector, Duras, Ginzburg, Yourcenar, plus plenty of one-offs that screwed with my head - Rhys, Highsmith, Haushofer - and I revisited Woolf and Spark, carrying all the way to Walsh's Hotel, the first main writer I've checked solely from twitter), ii) I am steadily building on that personal 18th century canon (Melville (Loving Moby-Dick currently, haven't finished at the time of writing this), Nerval, Pushkin, Leskov and iii) lotsa Latin American fiction towards the end. In that respect Bolano's In Parenthesis was key to hardening my resolve to read more. Reissues are helping - Casares, Ocampo and Arlt from NYRB (only read Casares but the others will happen in 2016), Alvaro Mutis was great but also painful (this massive thing hanging around that took me such a long time to finish due to work getting heavy - and kept digging at me until I actually did so), and finally Sergio Pitol, who is the best thing I found that I had no idea was coming to me at the beginning of the year.
For poetry Cavafy was best. De Sade was the joker (i.e. great and no sorta about it)
Kurt Tucholsky - Castle Grispholm: A Summer StoryJean Rhys - Good Morning, MidnightElsa Morante - Arturo's IslandWolfgang Borchett - A Man Outside (Play)Josef Winkler - Natura MortaMichele Bernstein - The NightClarice Lispector - Agua VivaGerard de Nerval - Selected WritingsJoan Mellen - In the Realm of the sensesClarice Lispector - The Passion According to G.HAlexander Pushkin - The Captain's DaughterClarice Lispector - Breath of LifePaul Valery - Monsieur TesteMuriel Spark - Memento MoriRene Daumal - A Night of Serious Drinking
Margerite Duras - The Rapture of Lol V. SteinNatalia Ginzburg - Valentino and SagittariusMuriel Spark - Ballad of Peckham RyeNadine Gordimer - Burger's DaughterHerman Melville - The Confidence ManPatricia Highsmith - Little Tales of MisogynyMargerite Duras - Emily L.Natalia Ginzburg - Little VirtuesNatalia Ginzburg - Family SayingsFrank Wedekind - The Lulu PlaysNatalia Ginzburg - Voices in the EveningVirginia Woolf - Mrs DallowayMarlen Haushofer - The WallAssia Djebar - Seven Stories*
Marguerite Yourcenar - Memoirs of HadrianVictor Serge - Midnight in the CenturyVirginia Woolf - Street Haunting and Other EssaysMarguerite Yourcenar - Mishima: A Vision of the VoidRoberto Bolano - Between Parnthesis: Essays, Articles and Speeches 1998-2003Hilda Hilst - With my Dog's EyesJoseph Roth - PerlefterLouis-Ferdinand Celine - NormanceHalldor Laxness - Independent People*Enrique Villa-Matas - Bartleby & Co.Joseph Roth - Flight Without EndAlejandro Zambra - Ways of Going HomeCarl Jung - Flying SaucersNikolai Leskov - Selected TalesMarquis De Sade - 120 Days of Sodom
Junichiro Tanizaki - The Reed Cutter and Captain Shigemoto's MotherVarious: The Existential Imagination - From de Sade to SartreIngeborg Bachmann - Three Paths to the LakeJuan Jose Saer - La GrandeRodrigo De Souza Leao - All Dogs are BlueJuan Jose Saer - ScarsDag Solstad - Shyness and DignityFyodor Dostoevsky - DemonsHan Kang - The VegetarianJosep Pla - Life EmbittersSergio Pitol - Art of FlightMiklos Szentkuthy - Towards the One and Only MetaphorAndei Platonov - The Portable PlatonovHjalmar Soderbergh - A Serious GameNadeszha Mandelstam - Hope Abandoned
Sergio Pitol - The JourneyDeszo Kosztolanyi - Kornel Esti: A NovelJoseph Roth - What I SawTarjei Vesaas - Spring NightJoseph Roth - JobVirginia Woolf - To the LighthouseRichard Weiner - Game for RealMarguerite Duras - L'AmourAlvaro Mutis - The Adventures and Misadventures of MaqrollAdolfo Bioy Casares - The Invention of MorelThomas Bernhard - The Voice ImitatorYves Bonnefoy - Rue TraversiereJoanna Walsh - Hotel
Poetry:
Wallace Stevens - SelectedNazim Hikmet - SelectedNicanor Parra - Poems and Anti-poemsYannis Ritsos - Diaries of ExileCavafy - CompleteBaudelaire - Flowers of EvilApollinaire - SelectedRovert Lowell - SelectedThe Penguin Book of Russian PoetryRoberto Bolano - Romantic DogsFrancois Villon - SelectedDante - Inferno (tr. Steve Ellis)Gunter Grass - SelectedRimbaud - CompleteZbiginew Herbert - SelectedSandor Weores and Ferenc Juhasz - SelectedHans Magnus Enzensberger - Moral Poems
* = didn't finish
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 30 December 2015 20:45 (eight years ago) link
did the yourcenar get reprinted this year?
― -san (Lamp), Wednesday, 30 December 2015 20:48 (eight years ago) link
Picked up Hadrian 2nd hand - copies about everywhere here. Her Mishima book was from the library - think that's out of print
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 30 December 2015 20:52 (eight years ago) link
One leopard, two birds, three wolves, a lot of Le Guin, and (at the end, just before the Ferrante which I should finish just under the wire) the reason my list may be shorter next year:
The Leopard - Guisepe Tomasi di LampedusaStoner - John WilliamsThe House of Doctor Dee - Peter AckryodThe Compass Rose - Ursula Le GuinGood Morning Midnight - Jean RhysThe Periodic Table - Primo LeviHere - Richard McGuireThe Oxford book of Modern Science Writing - VariousDear James - R O Blechmancolorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage - Haruki MurakamiThe Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-ExupéryThe Goldfinch - Donna TarttThe Bostonians - Henry JamesH is for Hawk - Helen MacDonaldPalestine - Joe SaccoThe Winds Twelve Quarters vol 2 - Ursula Le GuinThe Lathe of Heaven - Ursula Le GuinHer Smoke Rose up Forever - James Tiptree JrWolf Hall - Hilary MantellWolf in White Van - John DarnielleSteppenwolf - Herman HesseBring up the Bodies - Hilary MantellThe Vorrh - Brian CatlingThe Three Body Problem - Cixin LiuSettled Wanderers - VariousAnnihalation - Jeff VandermeerThreshold - Ursula Le GuinThe Rings of Saturn - WG SebaldA Haunted House - Virginia WoolfThe Winds Twelve Quarters vol 1 - Ursula Le GuinAmmonite - Nicola GriffithEngine Summer - John CrowleyThe Communist Manifesto - Marx and EngelsGulliver's Travels - Jonathan SwiftMy Mother She Killed Me My Father He Ate Me - VariousThe Story of Art - E H GombrichDawn (Lilith's Brood Book One) - Octavia ButlerA Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon JamesThe Influencing Machine - Mike JayHanging Man: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei - Barnaby MartinRebel Footprints - David RosenbergThe Worm forgives The Plough - John Stewart CollisThe Expectant Father - Armin Brott, Jennifer AshMy Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante
― ledge, Wednesday, 30 December 2015 21:24 (eight years ago) link
includes a bunch of stuff from comixology and borrowed batman GNs, and the odd short story.
2014.61 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens2015.01 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley2015.02 Volume 05: The Wife and others - Anton Chekhov2015.03 The Red Inn - Honore de Balzac2015.04 Batman 1: Court Of Owls (GN) 2015.05 Snow Country - KAWABATA Yasunari 2015.06 Batman 2: City of Owls (GN) 2015.07 Batman 3: Death Of The Family (GN) 2015.08 All Star Superman (GN) 2015.09 The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury2015.10 A Desperate Character (Short) - Turgenev2015.11 The Peripheral - William Gibson2015.12 The Black Book - Ian Rankin2015.13 04 The Con Man (1957) - Ed McBain2015.14 Batman: Black Mirror (GN) 2015.15 Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy2015.16 Old Curiosity Shop - Charles Dickens2015.17 The City and the Stars - Arthur C Clarke2015.18 Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson2015.19 A Study In Scarlet - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle2015.20 Red Badge Of Courage - Stephen Crane2015.21 Blood Relatives - Ed McBain2015.22 Poseidon’s Wake - Alastair Reynolds2015.23 Batman 4: (GN) 2015.24 Batman 5: (GN) 2015.25 Mortal Causes - Ian Rankin2015.26 Flowers For Algernon - Daniel Keyes2015.27 Thousand Cranes - KAWABATA Yasunari 2015.28 The Master And Margarita - Bulgakov2015.29 Final Crisis (GN) 2015.30 Superman: Doomed (GN) 2015.31 Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens2015.32 World Of Jeeves - P G Wodehouse (partial)2015.33 Ghost Stories of an Antiquary - M R James2015.34 More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary - M R James2015.35 The Great English Short-Story Writers, Volume 1 - Various (partial)2015.36 Volume 06: The Witch - Anton Chekhov2015.37 Age Of Ultron (GN) 2015.38 Joker: Death of the Family (GN) 2015.39 Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman2015.40 Old Man's War - John Scalsi2015.41 Time - Stephen Baxter2015.42 Station 11 - Emily St John Mandel2015.43 North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell2015.44 The Secret Adversary - Agatha Christie2015.45 Hut Six Story - Gordon Welchman 2015.46 Pickwick Papers - Charles Dickens (not yet finished)
shocking lack of female authors, must fix that in 2016.
― koogs, Wednesday, 30 December 2015 21:54 (eight years ago) link
Just as a note its something I noticed when compiling (and only the 2nd year I've done so) among a couple of other trends. I wouldn't force it - most of those female authors write and talk about things I am interested in.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 31 December 2015 10:17 (eight years ago) link
I tried to read 50% women a couple of years ago but found it too restricting in the end. I seem to manage about 30% without forcing it.
― ledge, Thursday, 31 December 2015 10:49 (eight years ago) link
Walsh's Hotel,
this arrived yesterday, really looking forward to it, I read an extract and thought it was great. may try read it in a hotel.
― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Thursday, 31 December 2015 10:56 (eight years ago) link
Try a year of reading only female authors. It seems an eye-opening exercise for people who actually do it.
I'm bad at writing down PDFs I read on my phone so this may be incomplete:
Octavia Butler - Parable of the Sower *Roland Barthes Reader (the one edited by Susan Sontag)David J Haskins - Who Killed Mr MoonlightDonald Robertson - Stoicism and the Art of HappinessBret Easton Ellis - The Rules of Attraction ~Sara Maitland - How To Be AloneLloyd Bradley - Sounds Like LondonAndrea Dworkin - IntercourseMarianne Faithfull - Memories, Dreams and ReflectionsMichel Foucault - History of Sexuality Volume 1 (I did also read 2 & 3 at some point but didn't write them down)Sinclair MacKay - Ramble OnShiri Eisner - Notes For A Bisexual RevolutionJean Cocteau - The Difficulty of BeingA.S. Byatt - Portraits in FictionJohn Carey - What Good Are The Arts ~Ivan Bunin - The VillageViv Albertine - Clothes Music Boys *Poppy Z Brite - Courtney Love The Real StoryMary Midgley - Science and PoetryDebra Fine - The Fine Art of Small TalkDeborah Cameron - The Myth of Mars and VenusJill Dudley - Gods In Britain ~J. Jack Halberstam - Gaga FeminismRobert Dellar - Splitting In TwoFerdinand de Saussure - Course In General LInguistics (re-read)Robert Weiss & Jennifer Schneider - Closer Together; Further Apart ~David R Brake - Sharing Our Lives OnlineDavid Buckley - KraftwerkpublikationLynne Hume - The Religious Life of DressMelissa Harrison - Clay *Dan Gardner - Risk; The Politics and Science of FearRebecca Solnit - A Field Guide To Getting Lost *Catherine Arnold - Necropolis *Philip Marsden - Rising GroundDaphne du Maurier - My Cousin RachelWolfgang Flür - I Was A Robot (re-read)Tanith Lee - Silver Metal Lover *Judith (Jack) Halberstam - Female Masculinity *Leslie Feinberg - Stone Butch BluesBernard Sumner - Chapter and VerseSimon Reynolds - Retromania ~Steve Silberman - NeurotribesMary Midgley - Are You An Illusion?Melissa Harrison - At Hawthorn TimeGillian Flynn - Gone Girl ~Margaret Atwood - Lady Oracle
"*' for things I really loved; "~' for things I utterly hated but I thought was probably good for me to read something I disagreed with so thoroughly,
― Liebe ist kälter als der Todmorden (Branwell with an N), Thursday, 31 December 2015 11:24 (eight years ago) link
Joyce Carol Oates - The AccursedHilary Mantel - Bring Up The BodiesVladimir Nabokov - Lolita (reread)Donna Tartt - The Secret HistoryJohn Darnielle - Wolf In White VanRaymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About LoveEmma Healey - Elizabeth Is MissingMarshall Berman - All That Is Solid Melts Into AirThomas Mann - Dr FaustusAlan Warner - The Man Who WalksJunot Diaz - The Brief Wonderous Life Of Oscar WaoAlan Hollinghurst - The Line of BeautyAli Smith - How To Be BothLazslo Krasznahorkai - SatantangoRichard Flanagan - The Narrow Road To The Deep NorthSteve Erickson - The Sea Came In At MidnightAlbertine Sarrazin - AstragalPatrick Modiano - The Night WatchHaruki Murakami - Hear The Wind SingJohn Cheever - The Wapshot ScandalPhilip K Dick - The Three Stigmata of Palmer EldrichDavid Nicholls - UsKaren Joy Fowler - The Case of The Imaginary DetectiveJohn Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of DuncesElmore Leonard - KillshotEvelyn Waugh - Brideshead RevisitedToni Morrison - JazzMarcel Proust - Swann's WayMichael Chabon - Wonder BoysElena Ferrante - My Brilliant FriendPaul Mason - PostcapitalismMarlon James - A Brief History of Seven KillingsEL Doctorow - Billy BathgateGary Shteyngart - The Russian Debutante's Handbook
I'm pretty sure there are two or three I've forgotten in there as well. Feel like I read a lot of amazing stuff this year but also a reasonably large proportion of crap, of which the worst was unsurprisingly that David Nicholls thing I read on holiday. The Accursed was probably the biggest disappointment - Joyce Carol Oates does 19th Century gothic was one of those ideas much better in theory than practice. I also think I just outright dislike Ali Smith's writing.
If you filter out the obvious classics, Wolf In White Van probably represents my single most enjoyable reading experience of the year, in no small part because I read it in one sitting by a fire in a pub in Cumbria one afternoon. Albertine Sarrazin's Astragal is also astonishing (as was the Ferrante and the Marlon James, but everyone's raving about them).
― Matt DC, Thursday, 31 December 2015 14:12 (eight years ago) link
These lists are just reiterating my embarrassment at not having yet read Wolf in White Van.
― Bitch I'm in the 2112 (cryptosicko), Thursday, 31 December 2015 14:18 (eight years ago) link
Updating this for 2016 - had some bad indifferent patches of reading little because life got in the way (I think much of this was from the first four months of the year). On the other hand I am learning not to finish if I'm bored or even indifferent. I do need to finish less (looking at the list I see books I was indifferent that I just finished). Real sense of wants and needs. What will fulfill, add. Tell yourself to allow a few bits of the new but not too much.
New voices I hadn't come across before that wrote books 4 life: Raduan Nassar, Wolfgang Hilbig, Goncourt Bros. and Maggie Nelson. For poetry I will keep travelling alongside Arseny Tarkovsky and Arun Kolatkar.
Herman Melville - Moby-DickErnesto Sabato - The TunnelGeorges Simenon - Tropic MoonVasily Grossman - Armenian SketchVasily Grossman - The RoadMarcel Schwob - The King in the Golden Mask*Clarence Lispector - Hour of the StarRaduan Nassar - A Cup of RagePeter Stamm - All Days are NightElena Ferrante - Story of the Lost ChildSvetlana Alexievich - Voices from ChernobylJosef Winkler - When the Time ComesMargerite Duras - The Vice-ConsulHan Kang - Human ActsEdmond and Jules De Goncourt - Pages from the Goncourt Journals
Jean Rhys - Voyage in the DarkMargerite Duras - Summer RainCesare Pavese - Told in Confidence and Other StoriesAnn Quin - PassagesMairtin O Cadhain - The Dirty DustWolfgang Hilbig - Sleep of the RighteousCesare Pavese - Festivaal Night and Other StoriesMarguerite Duras - Outside (Selected Writings)Jean Rhys - After Leaving Mr. MackenzieJuan Jose Saer - The WitnessJunichiro Tanizaki - In Praise of ShadowsJean Rhys - Tigers are Better LookingJean Rhys - Sleep it Off LadyMarguerite Duras - DestroyMarguerite Duras - The Afternoon of Monsieur Andesmas
Clarice Lispector - The Complete Short StoriesRoberto Bolano - The ReturnJuan Carlos Onetti - The ShipyardRoberto Bolano - Secret EvilAlberto Moravia - AgostinoAdolfo Bioy Casares - Asleep in the SunOzamu Dazai - The Setting SunJoseph Roth - Complete Short FictionSvetlana Alexievich - Zinky BoysJames Baldwin - The Fire Next TimeAlvaro Enrigue - Sudden Death*Bertolt Brecht - Collected Short Stories*Pere Gimferrer - FortunyHrabal - Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in AgeJames Baldwin - Notes of a Native Son
Antonio Tabucchi - Time Ages in a HurryRainer Maria Rilke - Letters 1910-1926Heinrich Von Kleist - The Prince of HomburgSilvina Ocampo - Thus were their Faces*Dag Solstad - Professor Andersen's NightBohumil Hrabal: The Little Town where Time Stood Still/Cutting it ShortBKS Iyengar - Light on Yoga*Elsa Morante - ArcoeliAugust Strindberg - The Defence of a MadmanLászló Krasznahorkai - Seibo There BelowChris Kraus - I Love DickVincent Van Gogh - LettersYasunari Kawabata - The LakeErich Heller - KafkaThomas Bernhard - Yes
Joseph Roth - TarabasMarie Ndiaye - Self-Portrait in GreenFlann O'Brien - The Best of MylesMaggie Nelson - The ArgonautsW.H.Auden - Dyer's HandBoris & Arkady Strugatsky - Hard to be a GodMiroslav Holub - The Dimension of the Present Moment and Other Essays
Gerard de Nerval - ChimerasArun Kolatkar - CompleteMahmoud Darwish - A River Dies of ThirstHans Magnus Ensensberger - The Sinking of the TitanicMahmoud Darwish - Why did you Leave the Horse Alone?Friedrich Holderlin - SelectedFernando Pessoa - SelectedSilvina Ocampo - SeletedPetrarch - CanzionereSpeaking of SivaWilliam Empson - CompleteGottfried Benn - ImpromptusSakutaro Hagowara - Cat Town*Arseny Tarkovsky - I Burned at the Feast (Selected Poems)Cesare Pavese - Disaffections: Poems 1930-1950
* didn't finish
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 18 December 2016 12:00 (seven years ago) link
Pere Gimferrer was the oddest of books, kinda brilliant and unique. I'll re-read and talk about it on the poetry/prose thread sometime. With Seibo There Below it felt like I was reading Krasznahorkai for the first time. Baldwin was the one well known writer I hadn't got round to till this year and I'm glad I did.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 18 December 2016 12:07 (seven years ago) link
For simplicity's sake, I've started a new thread for 2016 here.
― one way street, Sunday, 18 December 2016 15:40 (seven years ago) link
I'm curious what you thought about Baldwin and Passages, xyzzzz__.
― one way street, Sunday, 18 December 2016 16:36 (seven years ago) link