Chatterbox: Literature Edition

Hey Zyxzy, I'm curious. Have you actually read The Dream Of The Red Chamber, or did you recommend it to me as a "I've heard good things about it and you should test it to me" sort of thing?

Either way I like it.

I just read I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.

I'm mildly disturbed.

I've started rereading The Bonehunters, book six of the ''Malazan Book Of The Fallen series. I figured that since it's one of my favourite books from the series, and thus one of my favourite books, but I've only read it once, I might as well reread it.

I just read The Postman Always Rings Twice and Les Miserables and I'm at a loss of what to read next. The Beige Prose of the first was so much easier to read. I was not a huge fan of the latter.

Currently almost done with The Confidence-Man.

edited 7th Feb '10 8:31:20 AM by OuttaTheBLAM

I just read Foucaults Pendulum. I have to say, out of all the criticism that the book made of esotericism, the only statement that felt really effective to me was "They've been told that God is mysterious and unfathomable so they think that incoherence is the closest thing to God".

In general though the book was pretty good. I still want to know whether or not Aglie was really the Comte Saint Germain, though.

edited 7th Feb '10 3:36:01 PM by Myrmidon

Funny thing about it is, Foucault's Pendulum is so erudite and Mind Screwy in general that I found its overall theme ("conspiracy theorists are full of shit") to be disappointing. It's a case, to me, of "the book is better than its message." If that makes any sense.

^Like I said elsewhere if you're the kind of person who understands all the references and thus able to fully apreciates the book, you're probably one of the people the book is attacking.

It is fairly sophisticated in deconstructing esotericism, I'll give it that. (And no, I'm not knowledgeable enough to understand it all without some help). I guess I just tend to favor ambiguity rather than outright attacks on stuff.

I also reread John Gardner's Grendel which is one of my favorite books of all time. Right now I'm reading The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor

edited 7th Feb '10 8:06:41 PM by Myrmidon

Ah, so Grendel is a good book? I've wanted to read it for a few years, but I've always been unsure.

^It's somewhat divisive, but I think that it's a good book.

I finished Neverwhere (technically I've got 10 more pages to go, but... yeah), now I'm deciding between Starship Troopers and Candide.

Never read Candide. The first chapter of Starship Troopers is really good but after that it's basically one big Author Tract.

Candide is also an Author Tract, isn't it?

Supposedly against Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. ...Or So I Heard.

Can someone recommend something a small library would have that's mindscrewy enough to keep me occupied for a while?

The Illuminatus triology perhaps? Keep in mind I only know of it through Pop-Cultural Osmosis but it seems popular enough to be in most libraries.

That, or anything by Jorge Luis Borges.

I'm seconding the Jorge Luis Borges recomendation. Try picking up Labyrinths

Not sure if a small library'd have Illuminatus, although if you do manage to find a copy, go for it.

I haven't read it, but I wasn't testing it out, as I fully intend to read all four of them(and the other, and Chinese books outside those). Now if I could just figure out how to get stuff on my eBook from outside the store...

What kind do you have?

Sony.

Small library? Try anything by Philip K. Dick or, hell, Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy). Enough symbolism in that book to choke a bear.

edited 8th Feb '10 4:48:19 PM by Zephid

Well, judging by Wikipedia, you'd have to void your warranty.

(Ugh I hate DRM so much, I can't believe they're doing it for books!)

edited 8th Feb '10 4:47:12 PM by Tzetze