Book thread

[lukethedrifter]

you started it, you finish it.

[robbotis]

you started it, you finish it.

I always do, but I'd have to buy this one...
I haven't bought a book in years.
I just download them from the library. I won't get this one back for a year.

[Maclowery]

It's eight bucks, skip one Big Mac meal, or a beer or two, and it's suddenly free!

[Vidor]

Finally finished "Revolution 1989". I was somewhat surprised by the uncritically upbeat tone of the book. I had expected maybe a more complex take like in the film "Goodbye, Lenin!", but it presents the fall of Communism as an unalloyed good--and it was a good thing, to be sure. I just thought there would be more about the downside, but then again the first sentence is "This is a story with a happy ending."

Also ends surprisngly abruptly with the inauguration of Vaclav Havel on New Year's Day 1990. Had expected more about German reunification and the division of Czechoslovakia. The most fascinating part of the book is the portrait of Mikhail Gorbachev as a man who was doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. He completely failed to anticipate the results of what he was doing.

[Vidor]

The Ceaucescus totally had it coming, BTW.

[The Third Man]

I finally blitzed through Infinite Jest last week. There's almost too much to say about it, to the point I don't know where to start, but for one thing: holy [expletive], that's the best cast of characters I've ever come across in a novel, maybe in any work of fiction. All of the Incandenzas, Joelle van D., Poor Tony, Don Gately, Katie Gompert, Randy Lenz, Ortho Stice, Michael Pemulis (my favorite - kind of disheartening how DFW [expletive] on him in the end, though)...any one of these could've been the protagonist of their own novel so the fact that some of them are relegated to the margins gives an incredible depth to it. There's virtually never a passage that isn't compelling because everybody matters in a big way. (Okay, some of the Remy and Hugh conversations left me a bit impatient.) There are also so many passages that would be the best thing in 99% of novels but here they all have to compete against each other: Kate's description of clinical depression, Tony's seizure on the T, the Eschaton sequence (I was crying laughing when things finally went to hell - Evan Ingorsoll's logic in deciding to launch a ball at Ann Kittenplan's head was sublime), the big throwdown outside Ennet House, etc. etc. I can't wait to read it again, after coming to a few realizations about earlier sequences in the novel towards the end. Hal's conversation with his dad is especially eye-opening.

On a side note, it was amusing to note how many elements of DFW's This is Water speech were in IJ. The main joke, the stuff about cliches hiding deep truths, etc.

Also read The Corrections, which was great but tough at times due to how insufferable about half the characters were. I sympathized most with Gary and Denise, found Enid totally despicable (but understood that she had reasons for being the way she is - Alfred's no better), and thought Chip was hilarious albeit a bit of a tool. The final sequence with everything coming to a head at Christmas alone made the whole thing worthwhile. Damn good novel.

Followed it up with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which was, well, amazing. Fun, funny, vivid, and heartbreaking throughout. I can't think of many characters as endearing as the leads here and their relationship with each other is incredibly rewarding. Also, it's required reading for anybody who considers themselves a fan of comic books. I couldn't put it down - finished it in about two days. I really need to check out some more Michael Chabon; apparently his earlier work is totally different, tonally, but The Yiddish Policeman's Union (which the Coen brothers have been trying to adapt) looks like the one to visit next.

Reading Against the Day for the second time right now. I need to read V. and Inherent Vice before Pynchon's new novel comes out in ~2 months, but I can't resist jumping back in here.

[JackofDiamonds]

I think we've covered this before, but you've finished Gravity's Rainbow now as well, right? Have you read DF's The Pale King or Eggers' A Hologram for the King?

[heyzeus]

I finally blitzed through Infinite Jest last week. There's almost too much to say about it, to the point I don't know where to start, but for one thing: holy [expletive], that's the best cast of characters I've ever come across in a novel, maybe in any work of fiction. All of the Incandenzas, Joelle van D., Poor Tony, Don Gately, Katie Gompert, Randy Lenz, Ortho Stice, Michael Pemulis (my favorite - kind of disheartening how DFW [expletive] on him in the end, though)...any one of these could've been the protagonist of their own novel so the fact that some of them are relegated to the margins gives an incredible depth to it. There's virtually never a passage that isn't compelling because everybody matters in a big way. (Okay, some of the Remy and Hugh conversations left me a bit impatient.) There are also so many passages that would be the best thing in 99% of novels but here they all have to compete against each other: Kate's description of clinical depression, Tony's seizure on the T, the Eschaton sequence (I was crying laughing when things finally went to hell - Evan Ingorsoll's logic in deciding to launch a ball at Ann Kittenplan's head was sublime), the big throwdown outside Ennet House, etc. etc. I can't wait to read it again, after coming to a few realizations about earlier sequences in the novel towards the end. Hal's conversation with his dad is especially eye-opening.

On a side note, it was amusing to note how many elements of DFW's This is Water speech were in IJ. The main joke, the stuff about cliches hiding deep truths, etc.

Also read The Corrections, which was great but tough at times due to how insufferable about half the characters were. I sympathized most with Gary and Denise, found Enid totally despicable (but understood that she had reasons for being the way she is - Alfred's no better), and thought Chip was hilarious albeit a bit of a tool. The final sequence with everything coming to a head at Christmas alone made the whole thing worthwhile. Damn good novel.

Followed it up with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which was, well, amazing. Fun, funny, vivid, and heartbreaking throughout. I can't think of many characters as endearing as the leads here and their relationship with each other is incredibly rewarding. Also, it's required reading for anybody who considers themselves a fan of comic books. I couldn't put it down - finished it in about two days. I really need to check out some more Michael Chabon; apparently his earlier work is totally different, tonally, but The Yiddish Policeman's Union (which the Coen brothers have been trying to adapt) looks like the one to visit next.

Reading Against the Day for the second time right now. I need to read V. and Inherent Vice before Pynchon's new novel comes out in ~2 months, but I can't resist jumping back in here.

You just plowed through possibly my three favorite novels of all time. A few notes:

1. Infinite Jest is the Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius that Dave Eggers was striving before (not a surprise that he wrote the foreward to IJ). You're spot on with your analysis of the kaleidoscopic cast of characters and disparate story lines. It's impossible to really explain to anyone what it's about, but it's probably not a surprise to learn that much of it is autobiographical (DFW did time at a rehab facility much like Ennet House in Boston). I can't wait to re-read it some day, and savor the whimsy of the end notes and the remy digressions and the mission for the Entertainment without worrying about trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

2. There's a rumor that Michael Schur is working on a screenplay and directing a film version of IJ. It's a bit scary to think of anyone trying to make a movie out of that book that wouldn't, you know, insultingly simplify the book. But he was the writer behind Fire Joe Morgan, a writer on the office, and producer or writer of Parks and Rec. And, he directed this Decemberists video, which if you haven't seen yet, you will probably orgasm all over.

[/youtube]

DFW was a pure [expletive] genius, and it pisses me off to no end that he's gone.

3. The Corrections is Franzen's best work, if unrelentingly depressing. He's not a prolific author, and I've been varying degrees of disappointed by everything else he wrote. You may be tempted to read 27th City, which is one of his first works, and about his hometown of St. Louis (The Corrections is too, just fictionalized). Don't. It's a fiction fantasy in which a relative of Gandhi comes over from India to be STL's new chief of police, then engineers the unification of the city and county, and then installs all of her corrupt Indian relatives in positions of power, then all hell breaks loose. It's as dumb as it sounds.

His most recent book, Freedom, is ok. Every character is an unlikable caricature of Dubya Bush-era political symbols. Franzen really is a bitter and unlikable person.

4. Kavalier and Clay is awesomeness, and will make a great movie someday. The only other book of his that I've read is Yiddish Policeman's Union, and it's a ton of fun too - a noir detective novel mixed with historical fiction. The premise assumes that, instead of the Holocaust, the world's Jews were relocated to a small Alaskan territory called Sitka, and settled into a Gotham-like metropolis. It's like the Coen Brothers wrote a novel, so I really hope they do bring it to the screen.

[The Third Man]

I think we've covered this before, but you've finished Gravity's Rainbow now as well, right? Have you read DF's The Pale King or Eggers' A Hologram for the King?

Indeed I have, including once with the Weisenburger companion. Fave novel ever. Though IJ is right up there next to it along with a couple of others. Haven't read The Pale King yet - I was actually gonna pick that one up after The Corrections, but Kavalier and Clay caught my eye and I couldn't resist. Pale King will probably be next after I reread Against the Day, unless I decide to go for The Instructions by Adam Levin, who I've seen compared to DFW here and there, or The Recognitions if I decide to finally tackle Gaddis. Haven't read any Eggers.

You just plowed through possibly my three favorite novels of all time. A few notes:

1. Infinite Jest is the Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius that Dave Eggers was striving before (not a surprise that he wrote the foreward to IJ). You're spot on with your analysis of the kaleidoscopic cast of characters and disparate story lines. It's impossible to really explain to anyone what it's about, but it's probably not a surprise to learn that much of it is autobiographical (DFW did time at a rehab facility much like Ennet House in Boston). I can't wait to re-read it some day, and savor the whimsy of the end notes and the remy digressions and the mission for the Entertainment without worrying about trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

2. There's a rumor that Michael Schur is working on a screenplay and directing a film version of IJ. It's a bit scary to think of anyone trying to make a movie out of that book that wouldn't, you know, insultingly simplify the book. But he was the writer behind Fire Joe Morgan, a writer on the office, and producer or writer of Parks and Rec. And, he directed this Decemberists video, which if you haven't seen yet, you will probably orgasm all over.

[/youtube]

DFW was a pure [expletive] genius, and it pisses me off to no end that he's gone.

Yeah, that video tickled me pink when my cousin showed it to me. He's a big DFW fan as well. I knew Schur was an acolyte but I didn't realize he had the film rights to IJ. That's pretty cool; probably an impossible task but would nonetheless be interesting.

3. The Corrections is Franzen's best work, if unrelentingly depressing. He's not a prolific author, and I've been varying degrees of disappointed by everything else he wrote. You may be tempted to read 27th City, which is one of his first works, and about his hometown of St. Louis (The Corrections is too, just fictionalized). Don't. It's a fiction fantasy in which a relative of Gandhi comes over from India to be STL's new chief of police, then engineers the unification of the city and county, and then installs all of her corrupt Indian relatives in positions of power, then all hell breaks loose. It's as dumb as it sounds.

His most recent book, Freedom, is ok. Every character is an unlikable caricature of Dubya Bush-era political symbols. Franzen really is a bitter and unlikable person.

Haha, that sounds awful. But Freedom is on my list, so I'll have to see how I feel about that one.

4. Kavalier and Clay is awesomeness, and will make a great movie someday. The only other book of his that I've read is Yiddish Policeman's Union, and it's a ton of fun too - a noir detective novel mixed with historical fiction. The premise assumes that, instead of the Holocaust, the world's Jews were relocated to a small Alaskan territory called Sitka, and settled into a Gotham-like metropolis. It's like the Coen Brothers wrote a novel, so I really hope they do bring it to the screen.

I was completely blindsided by how good K&C was. I hadn't even heard of it until a day before I picked it up, but I was reading up on The Corrections and came across an interview where Bret Easton Ellis said, of the novels of his generation, the three great ones were The Corrections, Kavalier and Clay, and The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem (which needless to say has found its way onto my list).

[expletive] I'm glad I'm reading again. I read a bunch last summer but as always I cooled off after a while and hadn't read any fiction all year until the past couple of weeks.

[The Third Man]

Also, here's VICE Magazine's take on Michael Pemulis. Tempted to make this my next Halloween costume.