This forum is for talking about non-music-related stuff that the DBT fanbase might be interested in. This is not the place for inside jokes and BS. Take that crap to some other board.
Finished it last night. I'd call it good but unexceptional. Kinda boring, but I suppose that was the point. I don't see how it made that Esquire list of 80 books.
Next up: I have no idea what it's about but I've heard good things.
Finished it last night. I'd call it good but unexceptional. Kinda boring, but I suppose that was the point. I don't see how it made that Esquire list of 80 books.
Next up: I have no idea what it's about but I've heard good things.
It's so good.
Because everyone in my life has somehow read this before me. Been sitting out on Galway bay in the evenings and digging into it.
I'm not the biggest fan of the genre but i really liked this one and think you will, too, flea.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - WTF?? How is it that I'd never heard of this book until a few months ago and probably wouldn't have read it if it weren't for the mentions here? The first half of this book contains some of the most luminous, wonderful and wise writing I've ever read. Virtually every page includes a sentence that just leaps out, sparkling and beautiful just waiting to be re-read and treasured. I don't know how many times I said to myself "I know I'm not going to remember that sentence but gee i really wish i could." The second half is very good and let's say the last 40 pages or so return to the form of the first half but I did feel a bit of a dip mostly because of the dense theological considerations. I'm also guessing that I missed out on a lot of "Protestant humor" as I suspect there were a number of shots taken at various denominations, all of which meant nothing to me. But damn! What a book! Read it. Ms. Robinson clearly has a rare gift and I'm really looking forward to the sequel, Lila.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard
Personal by Lee Child - Raises the eternal question that all series writers eventually face - has he lost his fastball for real or is he just too fat & lazy to care? Child is still the ace of pace, so this one will occupy you for a little while on an airplane or a beach, but that's about all that can be said for it. The plot veers from stupid to obvious to ridiculous, the secondary characters are all stick figures and even the great Jack Reacher can't be made interesting when placed in such boring, pointless circumstances. A real disappointment.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard
beantownbubba wrote:Personal by Lee Child - Raises the eternal question that all series writers eventually face - has he lost his fastball for real or is he just too fat & lazy to care? Child is still the ace of pace, so this one will occupy you for a little while on an airplane or a beach, but that's about all that can be said for it. The plot veers from stupid to obvious to ridiculous, the secondary characters are all stick figures and even the great Jack Reacher can't be made interesting when placed in such boring, pointless circumstances. A real disappointment.
Ha. Just bought this one Sunday. Dern your hide for not posting this a few days earlier.
Just started "So, Anyway.." by John Cleese. I rarely purchase a physical book, never mind a hard cover, but it is CLEESE!!! Every living room needs a hard copy. Read the first chapter. It is very funny, not wacky like his performance humor, and insightful. I think this one needs to be savored.
oilpiers wrote:Just started "So, Anyway.." by John Cleese. I rarely purchase a physical book, never mind a hard cover, but it is CLEESE!!! Every living room needs a hard copy. Read the first chapter. It is very funny, not wacky like his performance humor, and insightful. I think this one needs to be savored.
I've been meaning to snag that since his Daily Show appearance. Thanks for the reminder!
oilpiers wrote:Just started "So, Anyway.." by John Cleese. I rarely purchase a physical book, never mind a hard cover, but it is CLEESE!!! Every living room needs a hard copy. Read the first chapter. It is very funny, not wacky like his performance humor, and insightful. I think this one needs to be savored.
I've been meaning to snag that since his Daily Show appearance. Thanks for the reminder!
So I'm reading this old mindless thriller by Brad Meltzer and it turns out that the lead character brothers went to my high school. Then there's a reference to that school's main rival (which also happens to be the HS my sister went to). Then there's a description of the brothers getting off the subway at my old stop and walking down the main commercial street of my neighborhood, which also happens to be the street that borders the block I grew up on. Then there's a description of them arriving at their destination, which is the apartment building on the corner of my block (the intersection of my street and that commercial street), easily identifiable by the details but nailed for sure when the author actually provides the street address, which I happen to know because it's the building my first g/f lived in.
All in all, pretty damn weird but kinda fun.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard
NY Times Book Review has put out their list of 100 Notable Books. I have read exactly 3 of them (Lila by Marilynne Robinson, No Good Men Among the Living by Anand Gopal, The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert) but I could never recommend them enough. But if you had to read one book from this year, if I couldn't pick Lila I'd have to say Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle. Both are linked in my mind because I read them back-to-back, but they also have a shared sense of the looseness of time, and are intense works of profound empathy with lyrical structures.
Another work that is vastly different than his previous work, and while not quite on par with recent works such as 11/22/63, I enjoyed it very much... I give it a 95% "normality" rating devolving into only 5% "Stephen King batshit crazy".
We got messed up minds for these messed up times...
Finished it last night. I'd call it good but unexceptional. Kinda boring, but I suppose that was the point. I don't see how it made that Esquire list of 80 books.
Next up: I have no idea what it's about but I've heard good things.
I finished Plainsong myself last night (& I haven't even checked this thread since around October!) and I tend to agree with Clams on this. I would have much preferred an entire book about the McPheron Bros & Victoria - but Guthrie & his wife were so tedious. Ike & Bobby's story was so depressing and I had to wonder what kind of sadist Haruf must have been to write characters who are clearly doomed for a terrible life. Stylistically, this was a mess - as much as I'm sure this makes me a philistine, I can't stand books without proper punctuation - but more to the point, by taking such a removed vantage point from the characters (so much so that he can't be bothered to use their names in the 3rd person, even when the chapters are named after them) we're robbed of getting inside what makes these characters do the things they do. Lastly, the villains in the book were so one dimensional, maybe they had to be that way because Guthrie was such an asshole the only way we could be on his side was to root for him against pure evil - but I just prefer a little more nuance in my books.
Contrasting this one with Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead" which I read in November - that book has such grace and humility. She found a way to tease out the divine from the ordinary in a way that I just didn't get from Haruf. Very eager to read the rest of her trilogy.
phungi wrote:Anyone else read Revival by Stephen King?
Another work that is vastly different than his previous work, and while not quite on par with recent works such as 11/22/63, I enjoyed it very much... I give it a 95% "normality" rating devolving into only 5% "Stephen King batshit crazy".
Hmmmmm. I'm a long time fan but I've mostly avoided King's recent work. I picked up Mr. Mercedes when I found out it was a detective story and wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed it a lot and look forward to the next two installments of that story.
But lately I can't get real excited when a new King book hits the shelves. As much as I loved the Dark Tower series (except for the last two books. I slogged through them simply because I had so much time invested in the story and had to find out what happened) I didn't even bother with The Wind Through The Keyhole. Maybe too much water had passed under the bridge and I didn't want to revisit those characters and end up disappointed. But what I really think is that Lisey's Story made me extremely gun shy about buying a new King book. Good Lord that was one of the worst books be ever read and made me think King was writing just because he doesn't have anything better to do at this stage of the game.
Early Christmas gifts from my sister. Though I might read this first:
Also, spent a bit of this morning reorganizing my bookshelf, taking things from the backup bookshelf I have in another room. I also have books in my room in Ireland (I'm home for the holidays), and probably a bunch piled elsewhere, so this is a fun activity for me.
