what are you reading?

[raining]

i'm new here but how appropriate that my first post has to do with one of my favorite things: dave eggers! A Heartbreaking Work...is one of my all-time favorites and since i've read it i've been on a quest to read everything of his. betty felon is right about mcsweeny's - it is an amazing publication and they may not know it yet, but one day they are going to be publishing my stuff! ;) i was lucky enough to get to see eggers do a reading a couple of months ago and he proved to be as clever in person as he is in his writing, although i think i freaked him out when i told him how his work had inspired me to keep writing.

oh, and right now i'm reading Lolita.

[Squid]

James Frey - A Million Little Pieces, which is good when you're in Unapologetic Ambulance Chaser Mode. I bought Augusten Burrough's Dry with the intention of continuing down the path to ruin but haven't cracked it yet.

Edwidge Danticat - The Dewbreaker. I wasn't entirely in love with this latest one, but she's still one of my favorite authors of all time.

Arundhati Roy - Power Politics I'm kinda round about with Roy, as I've never read God of Small Things, but I am plenty impressed with her political essays. I mean, I'm not exactly what you'd call an activist, but her descriptions of the effects of Capitalism on modern-day India will light a fire under you, I promise. She's got another one, called War, that I'm hitting next...

David Foster Wallace - Anyone read his new ones? I get to see him on Wednesday night here in SF ! It's thru CityArts, i think standing room's still available. eeeeee! I prolly shouldn't admit how excited I am...

[Laura Suzanne]

The God of Small Things is, without question,
my favorite novel of all time. Roy is fucking amazing.
In my dream world i would be able to write half as
well as she does.

[hovering]

thank you so much for reminding me that i need to read [u]the god of small things[u] so very soon.

[gingerman]

I'm reading this forum.
....and also the complete Grimm's Fairie Tales.
I recommend Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates by Tom Robbins...Switters is the man.

[Betty Felon]

I'm reading this forum.
....and also the complete Grimm's Fairie Tales.
I recommend Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates by Tom Robbins...Switters is the man.

Ahhhh....Grimm's. haha. You read them when over the age of 10 and the only possible response is "These are SO EFFED UP."

My favorite: "The Mouse, the Bird, and The Sausage" where the sausage is an actual character in the story. They live in a house together and the sausage's job is to roll around in the food and season the vegetables. The plot involves sending the sausage to get fire wood where he is eaten by a dog. When the bird complains, the dog tells him he found false papers on the sausage.

[grant]

I have very fond memories of that story as illustrated by Arthur Rackham. The sausage had spectacles and a little tail (he was a hand-made sausage, after all).

[Squid]

The God of Small Things is, without question,
my favorite novel of all time. Roy is fucking amazing.
In my dream world i would be able to write half as
well as she does.

She's gotta be amazing, even her political essays are beautifully written. I really can't think of anyone who could write about the redundancy of Dams in India in a way that would hold my attention. She's done just that.

Oh! are we only talking books here? Comics-wise, I'm currently obsessed with Dogwitch...A little gothic for some, A bit too sexy for others, but there you go, i loved the Sandman Chrons too...

[gingerman]

The sausage stayed by the pot, saw that the food
was cooking well, and, when it was nearly time for dinner,
it rolled itself once or twice through the broth or vegetables
and then they were buttered, salted, and ready.

and how about...

But the little sausage stayed so
long on the road that they both feared something was amiss,
and the bird flew out a little way in the air to meet it.
Not far off, however, it met a dog on the road who had fallen
on the poor sausage as lawful booty, and had seized and
swallowed it. The bird charged the dog with an act of
bare-faced robbery, but words were useless, for the dog said
he had found forged letters on the sausage, on which account
its life was forfeited to him.

[LngHrvWntrsDngr]

i enjoy you all throughly. you make me happy with your perpetual insanity and love for all that is off kilter, creepy, and wonderful.

[LoveSickJerk]

Which is why we love you too! *hugs*

[Squid]

erm, fwiw, the david foster wallace reading was awesome, and i have now been shamed into reading gaddis, who is apparently a veritable cornerstone of wallace's literary style. (this according to some way smart types that sat near me)

color me...shamed. shamed but willing, baby! anyone with insight on gaddis, please pipe up now. cheers!

ps: i missed the "what movies are you watching thread", didn't I...two words: NAPOLEON DYNAMITE! suh-weet!

[Betty Felon]

shamed? I'm afraid I dont even know if gaddis is a person or book! I only know about things my wandering eyes catch on quite radomly.

I attempted to read Infinite Jest once, but it was too exhausting to carry around so I got about 20 pages in and quit. Other than that the only Wallace I've read are articles in McSweeney's.

Maybe you can help me...what of his is particularly enjoyable to read?

[quickstop711]

Well i just picked up a new book the other day call "The Hive" and I haven't been able to put it down. It's about a beehive through the eyes of the queen and you see her struggle for power through sex and demolition. It's quite cool. I also just finished a book called "Bitter Ice" which was also very good. It was a memoir of this womans life in which she battles with her husbands severe case of anerxia and her battle with trying to cope with her husbands obscurities and odd behavior. It's very good but sad...

[hovering]

I just got my dad a copy of Learning How to Die by Greg Kot, but I'm reading it myself before I give it to him for father's day. it's about wilco and stuff. so far, so good.

[Squid]

shamed? I'm afraid I dont even know if gaddis is a person or book! I only know about things my wandering eyes catch on quite radomly.

haha, believe me, i didn't know either. Turns out it's William Gaddis. Knowing nothing of his work, i was really more immediately struck with his likeness to Leonard Bernstein. But I digress...I'm out to get a hold of some, and shall report my findings.

Maybe you can help me...what of his is particularly enjoyable to read?

Hmm, now, granted, i myself haven't gotten through ALL of DFW's stuff, but how about, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again? It's a collection of non-fictional essays. I guess it's a little ironic to suggest this, seeing as DFW really considers himself a author of fiction...but i found it very funny (particularly the Cruise Ship piece), and you don't have to commit yourself for more than about 30 pgs at a time, if memory serves.

For the record, his newest one, Oblivion, is also a collection of short (fictional) stories, but i'm not recommeding it til i read it myself.

[SlimChance]

I've just finished reading 'The Da Vinci Code,' by Dan Brown, and I must say, this is probably the best book I've ever read. I suggest anyone read eet!

[mildlyrestarted]

i've worked at barnes and noble for a year and a half and i truly can't remember what it was like when anything OTHER THAN the da vinci code was the #1 seller. i have not read it out of spite. i want to see sedaris on that coveted shelf.

[quickstop711]

what is with the divinci code? is it any good? everyone i know can't stop talking about it and im not sure why?

[aj]

I was also not reading it out of spite.

Then a random copy was left at the office where I work and I decided that a free book is better than no book.

Love it. Hated that everyone wouldn't stop talking about it. Now I'm one of them.