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Post by Martin Stett on Jun 5, 2022 21:34:36 GMT
Blindness by Jose Saramago Those things you mention in the first paragraph are just part of his writing style, and I'm glad that the translator had that in mind and decided to preserve it. That's what translators should do, especially those working with literature. Saramago has this unique style, and I get that it might not click with everyone, but he's a great writer, one of the few from this country who deserves to be called a genius. His book Baltasar and Blimunda is currently mandatory reading in high schools across Portugal. Yeah, that just doesn't do it for me. I also found the book to be rather... blunt and simplistic in its view of humanity. Not a great one, but I'm glad I tried it.
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Post by ingmarhepburn on Jun 6, 2022 0:10:56 GMT
Those things you mention in the first paragraph are just part of his writing style, and I'm glad that the translator had that in mind and decided to preserve it. That's what translators should do, especially those working with literature. Saramago has this unique style, and I get that it might not click with everyone, but he's a great writer, one of the few from this country who deserves to be called a genius. His book Baltasar and Blimunda is currently mandatory reading in high schools across Portugal. Yeah, that just doesn't do it for me. I also found the book to be rather... blunt and simplistic in its view of humanity. Not a great one, but I'm glad I tried it. It's mostly a metaphor for social desintegration and moral decay, and as with every methaphor, it's best not to take things literally. It's not his best book, if you ask me, but it makes for an interesting and often compelling read, like an accident happening in front of your eyes and you just can't look away. Having said this, my favorites from him are All the Names and Death at Intervals, with HM to Baltasar and Blimunda.
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Post by Martin Stett on Jun 6, 2022 1:05:55 GMT
Yeah, that just doesn't do it for me. I also found the book to be rather... blunt and simplistic in its view of humanity. Not a great one, but I'm glad I tried it. It's mostly a metaphor for social desintegration and moral decay, and as with every methaphor, it's best not to take things literally. It's not his best book, if you ask me, but it makes for an interesting and often compelling read, like an accident happening in front of your eyes and you just can't look away. Having said this, my favorites from him are All the Names and Death at Intervals, with HM to Baltasar and Blimunda. Well, that's my problems with metaphors: They fall apart when viewed through any sort of critical lens. You can use it to make a point, but writing a whole metaphorical novel is opening yourself up to making something too stupid to be believable. And I just... don't buy the metaphor either. Not what I could make of it, anyway. (Which is pretty much nothing - I have no clue what Saramago was trying to say, tbh.) I don't have the dim view of humanity that Saramago seems to embrace.
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Post by Mattsby on Jun 10, 2022 17:40:24 GMT
"It was his cruel fate to be delicious."Zero Gravity (2022) by Woody Allen........Hysterical, possibly my favorite of his collections.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jun 26, 2022 16:51:15 GMT
my first Nick Cutter. Trying to broaden my horror horizons beyond King and I figured I'd start with this one. Allegedly very gory, which I like in my spooky books.
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Post by stephen on Jun 26, 2022 20:22:23 GMT
my first Nick Cutter. Trying to broaden my horror horizons beyond King and I figured I'd start with this one. Allegedly very gory, which I like in my spooky books. Aw yeah, The Troop fucks hard. Read that, then Kealan Patrick Burke's magnificently grisly Kin (his homage to Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and then cap it off with Andy Davidson's phenomenal In the Valley of the Sun, which is like if Dracula and Paris, Texas had a kid and they weaned him on No Country for Old Men.
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Post by Brother Fease on Jun 27, 2022 0:27:29 GMT
I am reading two books. The first one is "XO" by Jeffery Deaver. I am almost done with the Kathryn Dance novels. The second one is the first Joe Pickett book from CJ Book, called "Open Season". Both are really good. CJ Box is a master storyteller. I have been reading the Myron Bolitar series and the Mickey Haller series.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jul 3, 2022 21:11:15 GMT
biography of Marilyn Monroe by Charles Casillo
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jul 6, 2022 5:26:19 GMT
knocked out Casillo's Marilyn biography in three sittings and it only made me hungry for more. Going to check out Donald Spoto's at some point which is twice as long. She's such a captivating figure. next up, going for more horror with HP Lovecraft's "dream cycle" in a collection called Dreams of Terror and Death. Fingers crossed there won't be too much racism.
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Post by Martin Stett on Jul 7, 2022 18:19:18 GMT
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. SZilla watched the movie last week and that reminded me that I ought to read the book. Haven't seen the film, but I've heard that the book is better, and I've been curious for awhile.
After dumping my last few novels early on, I'm pretty sure that I'll stick by this one. It's straight-up Sherlock Holmes IN THE MIDDLE AGES and I'm having a blast with it. William of Baskerville (even his name is a Holmes reference!) is pretty much a straight transplant of the world's greatest detective, and the mystery looks like it will probably be a lot of fun. The bursts of untranslated Latin are a little annoying, but I can manage.
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Post by Brother Fease on Jul 8, 2022 1:33:17 GMT
Just started reading this on Tuesday. Anybody read it?
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Post by Mattsby on Jul 9, 2022 0:57:34 GMT
Slow Learner - Thomas Pynchon (1984) - a collection of his earliest short stories. He spends the whole intro insisting that his writing here is flawed and amateur. I guess he isn't wrong, I don't think they're very well written but it's a bunch of good general ideas, some'd make good movies: a lawyer quits his job and bums around with the local garbageman, two spies in Egypt stumble into an assassination plot, a group of boys from Long Island try to convince a boy genius to assist their plans in disrupting their school's parent-teacher night. I'm not a Pynchon fan but then I haven't read most of him. I've been told I'd love Mason & Dixon but those 800 pgs don't look befriendable.
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Post by stephen on Jul 9, 2022 1:09:51 GMT
Slow Learner - Thomas Pynchon (1984) - a collection of his earliest short stories. He spends the whole intro insisting that his writing here is flawed and amateur. I guess he isn't wrong, I don't think they're very well written but it's a bunch of good general ideas, some'd make good movies: a lawyer quits his job and bums around with the local garbageman, two spies in Egypt stumble into an assassination plot, a group of boys from Long Island try to convince a boy genius to assist their plans in disrupting their school's parent-teacher night. I'm not a Pynchon fan but then I haven't read most of him. I've been told I'd love Mason & Dixon but those 800 pgs don't look befriendable. Mason & Dixon is my favorite Pynchon, but it is a daunting read, primarily because it is written in the syntax and dialect of 18th-century diaries and documents. But it is easily one of the funniest and most endlessly delightful books I've had the pleasure of reading -- once you find your groove with it, it's a book you'll want to re-read over and over. I usually tell people to start with V. when it comes to Pynchon. It's the book that captures the vibe of the man and it's one of the most singularly powerful debut novels ever written; Pynchon's ethos was fully fleshed out from the gate when he wrote that book. The Crying of Lot 49 and Inherent Vice are next, as they are both relatively easier reads by his standards but still have that trademark hazy, heady style. (You could probably toss Bleeding Edge in here as well, but I personally found that one to be a bit of a letdown; would've been better as a short story, I think.) Vineland you could go either way with. But his big three, Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon and Against the Day are absolutely not where I'd start with Pynchon, but they are all three essential novels in modern literature. I'd read Against the Day first, then Mason & Dixon, and then finish it off with Gravity's Rainbow.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2022 0:46:05 GMT
An anthology collection of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry - all about Ava Gardner. It includes works by Margaret Atwood and Robert Graves, among many others.
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Post by Brother Fease on Jul 10, 2022 20:37:42 GMT
my first Nick Cutter. Trying to broaden my horror horizons beyond King and I figured I'd start with this one. Allegedly very gory, which I like in my spooky books. Are you an Audiobook person? I do mostly audiobooks, but still like to do reading reading.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jul 10, 2022 20:58:27 GMT
Are you an Audiobook person? I do mostly audiobooks, but still like to do reading reading. Only audiobooks for me. I used to read a lot in highschool but I've always had difficulty focusing on reading for long periods of time. I always had to go back to catch up on what I missed when my mind would wander. I like to listen to audiobooks while doing mundane tasks or things with my hands. Keeps my brain awake and receptive.
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Post by Brother Fease on Jul 10, 2022 21:33:56 GMT
Are you an Audiobook person? I do mostly audiobooks, but still like to do reading reading. Only audiobooks for me. I used to read a lot in highschool but I've always had difficulty focusing on reading for long periods of time. I always had to go back to catch up on what I missed when my mind would wander. I like to listen to audiobooks while doing mundane tasks or things with my hands. Keeps my brain awake and receptive. Excellent. I absolutely love audiobooks. I listen to them in the car and when I go on my daily 1-2 hour walks. I mirror your commentary above. Sitting down and reading a book book, almost always becomes a daunting task. I have no issue reading articles on the internet about politics and film/tv industry, but there's just something about reading a book book which doesn't hit the brain right.
At the moment, I am reading books from four different authors: Harlan Coben, Jeffery Deaver, Michael Connelly and CJ Box. Going to try The Woman in Cabin 10 next after finishing The Boy From the Woods and The Lincoln Lawyer. Two months ago, I completed Where the Crawdads Sing, which was a nice and easy read.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jul 17, 2022 18:07:37 GMT
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Post by Brother Fease on Jul 17, 2022 18:19:03 GMT
Just started reading it today. The book starts off with a bang. Read the tagline.
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Post by Brother Fease on Jul 25, 2022 2:11:51 GMT
The Match by Harlan Coben and Savage Run by CJ Box. Both books are sequels.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jul 27, 2022 19:14:02 GMT
Donner Party nonfiction by Daniel james Brown.
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Post by stabcaesar on Jul 30, 2022 17:50:02 GMT
I'm about 15% in and so far the only thought I have is jesus christ are these fuckers pretentious.
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Post by stephen on Jul 31, 2022 0:53:00 GMT
Donner Party nonfiction by Daniel james Brown. This was recommended by the Last Podcast on the Left boys on their Donner Party episodes. They consider it one of the finest historical books they've ever used as research.
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Post by sterlingarcher86 on Jul 31, 2022 1:32:27 GMT
My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones. I’m really glad Jones is starting to become a success. He deserves it.
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Post by stephen on Jul 31, 2022 14:02:38 GMT
My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones. I’m really glad Jones is starting to become a success. He deserves it. My first Jones was The Least of My Scars, which is one of the most disturbing novels I've ever read. It's the closest thing to a literary version of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer I've found.
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