What Are You Reading?

[floating opera]

some of the references aren't all that esoteric. i'd read Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo & i had not read it i would have totally missed out on the reference cuz its very brief. there's an allusion to Malcolm X, which of course everyone knows who Malcolm X is but unless you've actually read the Autobiographie of Malcolm X or know his nickname was "Red," one would probably miss out on that as well.

i think a reader guide would be good for someone reading it for the first time becuz of the likelihood that they probably won't finish it anyway w/o one: i think using a reader guide makes it more likely that some one would finish it. Ulysses doesn't have to be read w/ a user guide the first time becuz that is a more readable, accessible book. Infinite Jest is an extremely readable book but ppl don't finish that becuz they're just plain lazy...

[smile_man]

The best way to read GR I find is to not watch tv at all if you plan on reading it that day.

[floating opera]

seems like a great strategie overall but i remember watching television & being on the INTERNET while i read GR. i definitely would be reading a lot more if i cut out television and the INTERNET.

[Mudfuzz]

I don't watch "TV" and anymore do most of my "reading" on the "INTERNET", really most of my net time is reading manga anymore... even when I'm on here....

Only book I'm reading right now is Making Sense of Japanese by Jay Rubin, good book too.

[DallasLemonade]

Lots of school reading over the summer:
The Great Train Robbery-Michael Crichton
All Quiet on the Western Front- Erich Maria Remarque
Brunelleschi's Dome- Ross King
Huckleberry Finn-Mark Twain
Catcher in the Rye-J.D. Salinger

[tuffteef]

just read a sonic youth bio

and it was terrible
half the time it had nothing to do with sonic youth

[Morax]

MAD Magazine from the early 50's thru the late 70's...Bill Gaines was a genius

[magiclawnchair]

I finally decided to nerd-up and start reading the copy of Dune that I have been moving around the country for years.

I hope that the movie hasn't tainted me too much...

i read that book a few years ago and i really enjoyed it!

i need to start reading again...

[Gunner Recall]

Any of you book nerds use any kinda of ereader thingy (kindle, ipad, nook or whatever)?

Some of these books are a friggin bitch to lug around (I've started and stopped IJ a few dozen times because of the size preventing me from bringing it places)

[floating opera]

just read a sonic youth bio

and it was terrible
half the time it had nothing to do with sonic youth

i read that last year & i thought it was okay. its not bad. i bought it on halfdotcom fo' cheap. it read way too much like a formulaic "biographie" though. but there was some good nuggets of information in it. esp. around the Jim O'Rourke years, which is my favorite SY-era--

there is another older SY book & the Henry Rollins "Get In The Van" book that is in my library system so i am going to check those two out as soon as i finish the other books i am reading.

i am a little psyched for Ecstacic Peace Library too i hope some good books come out of that venture.

[phantasmagorovich]

I should've discovered this thread earlier! Books are my second... err... third... Well, one of my primary lives. Books are top ten for sure and they used to be the most important thing in my life. Sadly work and family is eating up most of my time and in the little free time there is I prefer to make music which seems to be more productive.

Last read:
Thomas Pynchon - Against the Day

Excellent. Just as dense as Gravity's Rainbow which seems to get lots of airplay around here. I also belong to the "plunge in and don't worry about references that might escape you" faction. Just read the goddamn book. If it doesn't work when just read it's crap. And apart from all the density in references they do work that way. Surprisingly I might say.
I didn't like Mason & Dixon that much. Vineland was a disappointment, cause i read it right after Gravitys Rainbow, V and The crying of lot 49. For starters lot 49 is best. It's short, it has that Pynchon quality of dense reference and his playing with language but it's a more accessible read than his later stuff.

Now I'm reading a swiss book that is completely unknown even here. Noone will have heard of it in the states.

Hermann Burger - Schilten.

It is great though. Has a ot of kafkaesque qualities but even more humorous. It's excellent.

I always have a pile of books I want to read but these might be next:

Bart Plantenga - Yodel - Ay - Ee - Oooo
A book about yodeling. You can't go wrong.

Alice in Wonderland

[floating opera]

Any of you book nerds use any kinda of ereader thingy (kindle, ipad, nook or whatever)?

Some of these books are a friggin bitch to lug around (I've started and stopped IJ a few dozen times because of the size preventing me from bringing it places)

yeah either get a kindle. or man the fuck up & grow some balls...

Last read:
Thomas Pynchon - Against the Day

Excellent. Just as dense as Gravity's Rainbow which seems to gets lots of airplay around here. I also belong to the "plunge in and don't worry about references that might escape you" faction. Just read the goddamn book. If it doesn't work when just read it's crap. And apart from all the density in references they do work that way. Surprisingly I might say.
I didn't like Mason & Dixon that much. Vineland was a disappointment, cause i read it right after Gravitys Rainbow, V and The crying of lot 49. For starters lot 49 is best. It's short, it has that Pynchon quality of dense reference and his playing with language but it's a more accessible read than his later stuff.

yeah GR gets a lot of airplay here, & elsewhere, for "obvious" reasons. after i read Vineland i hope to tackle Against the Day & Mason & Dixon. i'm reading Vineland becuz i read V. last spring & i read a blog post about it being a book about weed so after i finished V. i picked Vineland & of GR, V. & Vineland, Vineland is the Pynchon book that i actually own that i have not read yet--

i wholeheartedly agree w/ yr Crying Lot of 49 sentiment. not only is it my favorite of Pynchon's work that i've read, i also think that is the best place to start w/ Pynchon.

[tuffteef]

just read a sonic youth bio

and it was terrible
half the time it had nothing to do with sonic youth

i read that last year & i thought it was okay. its not bad. i bought it on halfdotcom fo' cheap. it read way too much like a formulaic "biographie" though. but there was some good nuggets of information in it. esp. around the Jim O'Rourke years, which is my favorite SY-era--

there is another older SY book & the Henry Rollins "Get In The Van" book that is in my library system so i am going to check those two out as soon as i finish the other books i am reading.

i am a little psyched for Ecstacic Peace Library too i hope some good books come out of that venture.

it had a few interesting things
i liked the explanation of experimental jet set trash and no star

lee is experimental kim is jet set thurston is trash and steve is no star

[smile_man]

I really want to read VALIS, anyone else read it? Opinions?

[smile_man]

lee is experimental kim is jet set thurston is trash and steve is no star