Now Reading in the New New Year

[jimmyjimmy]

Recently... Never fails to amaze me this one.

 

 

 

 

 

NR:

[Party Cheetos]

Totally just finished Infinite Jest. I really don't get the hype for it. It was good enough, but in the end I just couldn't get all that into it, I guess.

 

Now going to read A Tale of Two Cities, probably.

[Analogman]

Steven Naifeh, Gregory White Smith:

The Mormon Murders: A true story of greed, forgery, deceit, and death

 

James Rollins:

Sandstorm

Map of Bones

The Doomsday Key

 

Paul Christopher:

The Templar Cross

The Templar Throne

 

Michael Lang:

The Road to Woodstock

[IATTBYB]

Totally just finished Infinite Jest. I really don't get the hype for it. It was good enough, but in the end I just couldn't get all that into it, I guess.

 

Now going to read A Tale of Two Cities, probably.

I just finished reading IJ for the second time (in 3 years). There was so much more that I got out of it the second time around. I'm sure in about 18 months when I go for round 3, there will still be more revelations.

 

Now reading William McFeeely's biography of U.S. Grant.

[explodo]

Finished Ragtime, Doctorow the other day. Second time reading it, but first time outside of school which means it was the first time I paid any attention. Didn't really do it for me.

 

Now onto Wittgenstein's Mistress, Markson. I read Reader's Block awhile back and my brain melted.

 

Also struggling slowly through a book about Herman Hesse's novels.

[Good Old Neon]

[Moss]

 

My first venture into Wallace. Actually just bought it but have not yet started it.

[Oil Can Boyd]

[kathyp]

in the meantime, i'm starting

 

I just read this about a week ago. It was charming for the most part. I like Rob Sheffield, and I really enjoyed his first book, but there were elements of Talking To Girls... that made me roll my eyes, especially that women and girls are flaky, superficial music fans who just want to dance. I take it that it's supposed to be some sort of compliment (we girls don't have to worry about serious stuff like bootleg collecting, or discussing the minutiae of Smiths lyrics -- my examples, not his), but it's a tired old stereotype.

[anthony]

 

My first venture into Wallace. Actually just bought it but have not yet started it.

I recently finished this one. Really enjoyed it. I dare you not to tackle IJ after Broom.

[kidsmoke]

I recently finished this one. Really enjoyed it. I dare you not to tackle IJ after Broom.

 

Anthony, does Broom relate to IJ in any way? I'm another who recently read IJ. What a crazy, convoluted, madcap book.

[anthony]

Anthony, does Broom relate to IJ in any way? I'm another who recently read IJ. What a crazy, convoluted, madcap book.

Not directly related, no. But the same style of writing: unreliable narrator, unseen characters, characters with odd/unexplained personal quirks, plots that tangentially intertwine, an implied ending (without expressly seen), ... All the stuff that makes IJ so fun is here - just in less pages.

 

I read IJ before Broom, so it left me wanting more

[Moss]

 

I read IJ before Broom, so it left me wanting more

 

 

Cool, I'm doing it in the right order then!

[Moss]

Just saw this in the news.

 

Theaters adapt, stage 'A Confederacy of Dunces'

 

Confederacy of dunces

 

With a picture of the guy playing Ignatius.

[uncool2pillow]

Apparently, movie productions have started and stopped on this for years. It could be an easy book to ruin on stage or screen. It could also be potentially brilliant. Maybe in the hands of Wes Anderson or another respectful director.

[Oil Can Boyd]

 

Almost done with this and it's a pretty interesting book. I am a bigger fan of Patti Smith as a person and an artist than as a musician, if that makes any sense. She has some classic songs but I rarely put them on.

[Sir Stewart]

I am a bigger fan of Patti Smith as a person and an artist than as a musician, if that makes any sense.

 

Makes sense to me. She seems like a fascinating, intoxicating person, but I don't really care for her music.

[IATTBYB]

I'm currently reading Brief Interviews With Hideous Men and just finished "Suicide as a Sort of Present". What a stomach punch of an ending.

[The Inside of Outside]

[Sir Stewart]

On a Paul Auster roll: just finished Man In The Dark, just started Invisible.

[Jay]

Recently I finished Don Quixote, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, and Pride & Prejudice. I think this will be next:

 

[trevor]

Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen.

 

Heck yes.

[PopTodd]

[jff]

 

Saw this in the library and was very reluctant to check it out, but it's turned out to be the most entertaining reading I've done in a long time.

 

In some ways, this is the exact same book as Angela's Ahses.

[Analogman]

Saw this in the library and was very reluctant to check it out, but it's turned out to be the most entertaining reading I've done in a long time.

 

In some ways, this is the exact same book as Angela's Ahses.

 

I didn't think it was very good. Some funny stuff, but not really a lot of music talk.