It's a great read - I learned a lot, particularly the history of corporations. Here's the youtube link that I stumbled upon which brought me to reading it:
Chances are (since most of you are older than myself) you already know all of this. I didn't, so I read the book.
Now on to:
Meat187
quote:
Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
A friend recommended that one to me recently, saying that he thought I might be intellectual enough to enjoy it. :wtf: (which I'm totally not)
So is it any good? Remember that I hate lots of what's supposed to be great artistic literature, like Ulysses, 1984 or certain WW2 and Holocaust stuff our German teachers used to brag about. If a book isn't well written, interesting and entertaining I'll throw it away. I never understood how making it impossible for the reader to understand what's going on and writing sentences that last for 3 pages without any necessary content whatsoever is oh so great literature.
In that light, would you say I might like that book?
TranceOwnsLol
SD-A
I just started this. It's pretty good so far
Watts
House of Leaves is pretty good.
MrJiveBoJingles
quote:
Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
This was good, although it did leave me a bit unsatisfied as you have to sort of just speculate why certain key events happen; Wallace never tells you explicitly. Lots of fun characters and amusing situations, though, and prose that is mostly good and occasionally brilliant.
quote:
I think I finally realized what bugs me so much about Saul Bellow and why I can only rarely finish his books: none of his characters are very likable. I have read significant amounts of but not finished The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, and now Humboldt's Gift. I finished Ravelstein, but I think that was because it was about Allan Bloom and I was really interested in Bloom at the time. It's also shorter than many of his other books.
Anyway, Bellow's protagonists always feel like they're just avatars of the author. Bellow was married five times and divorced four: his protagonists always have trouble with women and failing marriages. He was at the University of Chicago during the "Great Books" phase instigated by Hutchins and Adler: his protagonists always seem to have a thing for old philosophy and history in general. But more than their obvious resemblance to the author, the protagonists annoy me because of their narcissism. The incessant narcissism and self-regard sometimes comes disguised as self-deprecation and "aw shucks" attitude, which annoys me even more than open preening. And the rest of the characters that fill the story are either almost as annoying or not fleshed out enough to be interesting. I mean, I know that realistic characters are supposed to have flaws, but that doesn't mean that every character has to have flaws that overpower anything good about them.
Okay, enough negativity. Bellow does write great prose and I enjoy his philosophical musings. His writing is even insightful sometimes. But I just can't get over his annoying characters.
MrJiveBoJingles
quote:
Originally posted by Meat187
A friend recommended [Infinite Jest] to me recently, saying that he thought I might be intellectual enough to enjoy it. :wtf: (which I'm totally not)
So is it any good? Remember that I hate lots of what's supposed to be great artistic literature, like Ulysses, 1984 or certain WW2 and Holocaust stuff our German teachers used to brag about. If a book isn't well written, interesting and entertaining I'll throw it away. I never understood how making it impossible for the reader to understand what's going on and writing sentences that last for 3 pages without any necessary content whatsoever is oh so great literature.
In that light, would you say I might like that book?
It is not hard to understand. It's nothing like James Joyce. There aren't indigestible run-on sentences or long sequences of hard-to-decipher fragments. It doesn't use esoteric vocabulary for the most part. You don't have to be an "intellectual" to enjoy it.
I will say that it might be easier for Americans to appreciate because it is set in the U.S. and in many ways is "reliant" on that setting for its atmosphere and plot. One thing that could put some people off is that it uses endnotes, and some of these endnotes are vital to the story so you can't just skip over them. Also, the sequence of the plot is non-linear to a degree, but the time that each event happens is almost always specified clearly, so it doesn't feel "random" or like a puzzle. And there are definitely a few parts that drag on, and there's also what I wrote above about how it doesn't really give you enough information to wrap everything up and figure everything out at the end. But I still found it a fun read, if you have the patience to power through the occasional tedious bits.
It's hard to classify as far as "genre." It has a few elements of magical realism, sci-fi, and dystopianism, and definitely a satirical edge, but mostly it is just about all the weird relationships between the characters, a few of whom are bat nuts, and how the people evolve over the course of the story.
AnotherWay83
some books from my amazong wishlist - havent yet read them but friends have recommended them -
Meat187
quote:
Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
It is not hard to understand. It's nothing like James Joyce. There aren't indigestible run-on sentences or long sequences of hard-to-decipher fragments. It doesn't use esoteric vocabulary for the most part. You don't have to be an "intellectual" to enjoy it.
I will say that it might be easier for Americans to appreciate because it is set in the U.S. and in many ways is "reliant" on that setting for its atmosphere and plot. One thing that could put some people off is that it uses endnotes, and some of these endnotes are vital to the story so you can't just skip over them. Also, the sequence of the plot is non-linear to a degree, but the time that each event happens is almost always specified clearly, so it doesn't feel "random" or like a puzzle. And there are definitely a few parts that drag on, and there's also what I wrote above about how it doesn't really give you enough information to wrap everything up and figure everything out at the end. But I still found it a fun read, if you have the patience to power through the occasional tedious bits.
It's hard to classify as far as "genre." It has a few elements of magical realism, sci-fi, and dystopianism, and definitely a satirical edge, but mostly it is just about all the weird relationships between the characters, a few of whom are bat nuts, and how the people evolve over the course of the story.
Thanks! Sounds like I'll give it a try in the future but won't put it on top of my priority list. :)
Warren, a Canadian science journalist, combines the rigorous self-experimentation of Steven Johnson's Mind Wide Open with the wacky self-experimentation of A.J. Jacobs's The Know-It-All in this entertaining field guide to the varying levels of mental awareness. Beginning with the mild hallucinogenic state that comes just before true sleep, he tries to hone his skills at lucid dreaming, subjects himself to hypnosis and joins a Buddhist meditation retreat, among other adventures. Along the way, he begins to realize that dreaming and waking are equivalent states, and that we can learn how to induce the subtle gradations of consciousness within ourselves. This could come off as New Age psychobabble, but Warren is well versed in the scientific literature, and he provides detailed accounts of his own research. (During one three-week period, for example, he goes to bed at sundown to recreate a period of wakefulness before returning to sleep that used to be common before electric light reconfigured our sleep schedules.) His self-mocking attitude toward his inability to achieve instant nirvana, along with a steady stream of cartoon illustrations, ensures that his ideas remain accessible. More important than the theories, though, may be the basic tools—and the visionary spirit—that Warren hands off to those interested in hacking their own minds.
Reading some of it via Google Books right now and it has me intrigued.
Pokit
Just got this one
:toothless
couch-potato
I'm on & off about starting Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I've heard nothing but disdain for it, it's long, & from what I've previewed her writing is atrocious. But on the other hand I did spend $8.99 on it on a whim.
