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Godd Benway! This is worse than that time London posted asking everyone for hip-hop recommendations and then ignored them in favour of the opinion of some guy she knew who glamourously wrote about hip-hop for a magazine.
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It's very bad. I made it through about one chapter, fired off an abusive email to Endemic for ever saying the words Bret Easton Ellis in my presence and then burned it.
Can you take it back? Be ditzy. Admit you made a mistake. Beg.
Actually I didn't burn it, but I did have it encased in concrete and buried in a graveyard to keep it out of circulation.
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I bet I like it. I should make it clear that I've liked everything else that he's done. I even liked what little of "infinite Jest" that I made it through.
[ 11.10.2005, 10:08: Message edited by: Dr. Benway ]
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: Godd Benway! This is worse than that time London posted asking everyone for hip-hop recommendations and then ignored them in favour of the opinion of some guy she knew who glamourously wrote about hip-hop for a magazine.
Yeah, Benway's long been an admirer of my work on this forum. To be such an inspiration to him after everything that's gone on between us brings a warm little glow to my heart.
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No, I didn't do that, I tried to find a few of the books that were recommended, and they weren't there. I would never be like London. I Hatt her!
quote:Originally posted by Endemic: To summarise succinctly, Less than Zero (1986) ground breaking brilliance, Rules of Attraction (1988), bitter, painful, excellent, American Psycho(1992) possibly the best violent satire ever written by anyone ever anywhere, The Informers (1995) interesting, well written, quirky ideas, Glamorama (1999) shite.
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You're just going to fucking lie, Benway, aren't you, whether you like the fucking thing or not? I can see you now, eyes trying to shut themselves as you near the ending of the book, brain squirting out of your ears as it tries to avoid even ingesting the words, and then, next day, you'll be here, all glowing reviews. You're a dirty liar, Benway, and I'm never trusting anything you say again.
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I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to force myself to like it either. So, there is every chance that I will think that it's shite too. But I'm willing to give it the benefit of my own highly evolved critical appraisal, rather than bowing to the lumpen and bullish summarising that so often passes for criticism, here at the TMO Literary Review.
quote:Originally posted by Kira: I have been reading Irvine Welsh 'Glue' which is funny and a bit tragic. Although you have to be quite comfortable reading 'weedgie', which I know some people dont have the patience for!
I also enjoyed this book, and Porno.
quote: I am also trying but failing to read A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and struggling. Can anyone tell me if I should perservere?
Depending on how far you're through it, I would say yes just because you've started, and it is one of the most important science-fiction novels of all time. I read it when I was 16 and (I sadly believe) brighter, keener and intellectually stronger than I am now; and I didn't find it difficult at the time.
However, if you give up I would recommend you read Nineteen Eighty-Four, which is genuinely gripping as well as being equally important.
I hope you're not someone I don't like off some other forum, under a new name, Kira, because I am the only person kindly replying to your post here.
quote: Originally posted by Kovacs I hope you're not someone I don't like off some other forum, under a new name, Kira, because I am the only person kindly replying to your post here.
Thanks for the reply! And no I dont think you dislike me on another board as I dont post anywhere else....
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Keep reading Brave New World, it's not the best book, but it is good. Also, agree with Kovacs, Nineteen Eighty-Four is fantastic.
Thorn, I have a Sven Hassel book in my by-the-bed pile ready to read once I've finished the never ending (or ne'erending) The Confusion (it's the first one Legion of the Damned, the Sven Hassel book), which I bought purely because I think you mentioned his books in an art thread on the board.
Benway - have you read The Master and Margaretta? (sorry not sure of spelling).
ETA: Those who control the past etc
[ 12.10.2005, 04:05: Message edited by: Benny the Ball ]
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quote:Originally posted by kovacs: I would recommend you read Nineteen Eighty-Four, which is genuinely gripping as well as being equally important.
I have just finished reading this at work (which says a lot about my workload!) and absolutely loved it. What a great book! If anyone has any recommendations similar to 1984 they would be most welcome.
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There's always Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Coming Up For Air, Orwell's 2nd and 3rd greatest books in my opinion. Though Nineteen Eighty-Four, and I'm afraid I persist in thinking that's the only way to spell the title, is set in the future (past), it has much more in common with Orwell's other novels about the 40s than it does with any 80s fiction. Funny really to compare Nineteen Eighty-Four with something like Money from 1984. Amis was born, by the way, in 1949, the year Nineteen Eighty-Four was published... and John Self, in Money, reads Nineteen Eighty-Four. Perhaps there's an essay there for someone. Perhaps it's already been written.
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Is Martin Amis really that old. Perhaps I should know as I did read his autobiography once.
I would of course say carry on with Brave New World, but if you're finding that difficult, I'd say 1984 is perhaps harder- it's quite a dense, relentless book. The Handmaid's Tale is another great dystopian novel with lots of interesting ideas, although the politics are more subtle.
Benway, have you read any Kurt Vonnegut? I am currently re-reading The Sirens of Titan and I'd forgotten how sharp and funny he is. I think you'd enjoy it.
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Thanks Kovacs. I'm off to look for online versions of these. It's quite a difficult adjustment reading ebooks but the chances of me finding either title in paperback are pretty slim.
quote:Originally posted by squeegy: Thanks Kovacs. I'm off to look for online versions of these. It's quite a difficult adjustment reading ebooks but the chances of me finding either title in paperback are pretty slim.
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