Reading Tab

I haven't read it. It's been on my "maybe I'll read it" list for awhile. I read The Sea and Poison (same author) a couple years ago, and while it's pretty powerful in the context of Japanese WWII literature (which tends overwhelmingly to focus on Japanese victims. In contrast, that book was about Japanese doctors performing brutal "experiments" on P.O.W.s) I had some difficulty connecting with it.

Yeah, I wonder if that's because of the cultural differences Endo likes to write about, the distance the translation creates, or both. But then, with Silence, that distance actually reinforces the narrative, so maybe it's not a bad thing.

I don't know enough about your tastes to recommend it, I guess, except to say that it's obviously not the kind of book I love enough to recommend indiscriminately without knowing someone's tastes well enough. But I am glad I read it, and I guess there's something to be said for a book that disappoints you in the sense of leaving you wanting more, as opposed to disliking what it gives you.

Random note: I also had a fairly well-worn used copy that was absolutely littered with highlights, sticky notes, and notes in the margin. I think I may have found one of the previous owners on Facebook (they have an unusual name, which is written on and in the book), but haven't heard back from them yet.

One of these days I'll venture out of graphic novels and comic books again, but I know myself enough to know I just have to ride out the obsession.

Chew - John Layman Rob Guillory

Chew is pretty original. The main character is a F.D.A agent that can get psychic impressions from what he eats. I've only read the first one so far, but I'll be going back. I like the artwork and the characters are well-defined and funny.

Good Dog - Graham Chaffee

I liked the artwork but there isn't much in originality here. It's another sad stray story and I'm not sure Graham interpreted the inner mind of a dog as I would. Sure it got me a couple of times, but I'm a sucker for a dog story. It's interesting to note that he doesn't have a dog.

Still reading all the Buffy comics and graphic novels. It's Buffy and I love it, but boy can it make for clunky reading sometimes.

Also on book 11 in The Walking Dead. Good story, but I wish the characters were defined more clearly. Most characters have the same speech patterns and some don't have very strong personalities. It makes for monotonous reading if it's not a crucial place in the story.

Recently-Finished Books:



Renegade by Mark E. Smith (I'm guessing the title was the publisher's idea. It's terrible. Also wonder how much actual writing the ghostwriter did; it seems more like he recorded a bunch of rants and then stitched them together as best he could. It's a good thing that it's not too coherent, though. Smith's half-assed rambling is paradoxically razor sharp and constantly quotable. "If you're going to play it out of tune, then play it out of tune properly.")

Murphy by Samuel Beckett
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Of Walking in Ice: Munich-Paris, 11/23 to 12/14, 1974 by Werner Herzog
It by Stephen King

------------------------------

Comics:

Niji Iro Togarashi vol. 4 by Mitsuru Adachi

Currently I'm reading Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon.

Before that it was:

The End of the Affair, Graham Greene
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield
Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol
Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography, Alex Ferguson + Paul Hayward
The Sorrows of Young Werther, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Scatter, Adapt and Remember, Annalee Newitz
Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
A History of Warfare, John Keegan

and I think before those:

True History of the Kelly Gang, Peter Carey
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

I think I enjoyed Hadfield's book the most. Newitz's was the only one I didn't much like.

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth - really interesting.. Thanks stevo3001 for sharing..

Just finished Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving , I've liked the books I've read of his, some more than others. A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my favourite books.

Last Night in Twisted River is a story that unfolds over 50 years and is a great yarn.

Currently reading:

Good read. Not too heavy, but it dealt with some difficult themes. I really believe with more time and effort, this couldve been a epic storyline, a la the Dune novels, but I think this is that kind of thing, written on an everyman level.



halfway through this one - typical revenge soaked slash and bash. Who can resist that?

__________________
something witty goes here......

Started reading:

Roman economic history has always been a passion of mine, since I was 15, one big problem in the field, however, is the low quality of the research produced, as most talented economic historians work in modern modern periods, in fact, even medieval china has had better research done in the are than Greco-Roman history, a sad fact. I had to endure the work of crackpots like Finley before I came upon first rate work that began to be done around the year 2000 (indeed, a very new field of study in some ways, at least as a field using modern quantitative methods and serious knowledge of modern economic theory to allow for a more satisfactory analysis of this fascinating field). Although much of this book consists of papers that Temin had published over the past 13 years in several journals which I had already read before. (for now)

Finishing:

Although of lower quality than Temin's work in some ways, this work here still is valuable in many ways in detailing the information that we have, for instance, in ancient Greek archeological data, to allow us to paint a more detailed picture of the economic trajectory of archaic and classical greece. Though there is some analysis here that still shows the degrading influences of the conservative/marxist/outdated views of Finley over the work of these researchers.

Finished:

Cool tragic manga about little girls that are brainwhased by an Italian government agency and turned into cyborg assassins. Brutal as sh*t as it makes Robocop look like a Pixar movie. , must read for anybody who likes drama.

The Nausicaa manga is the best novel I ever read.

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B Movie Actor (2009)
by Bruce Campbell

Decided to dust off and re-read this old favorite. It's a really fun read.

__________________

I love A Prayer for Owen Meany. Probably would make my top 50 books if I were to ever make such a list.. I also love The World According to Garp. I'm a big Irving fan, but there are some books of his where the characters draw me in and I feel like I completely understand them, but every once in awhile I read one of his books that do the exact opposite; the characters confuse and alienate me and I don't get their motivations at all.

Absolutely agree. Loved Meany, Garp, Cider House, and the Twisted River books. Liked A Widow for One Year but struggled through Hotel New Hampshire and The Fourth Hand. Prob read some others too but can't think at the mo so they're obviously not stand out.

The Hotel New Hampshire is the exact book I had been mind when I was talking about the characters alienating me.

Latest reads:
Unterzakhn by Leela Corman ~ Really liked the story, not so fond of the artwork. It would make a great movie if it were done in an old fashioned Betty Davis type of way.


Writing Is My Drink: A Writer's Story of Finding Her Voice (and a Guide to How You Can Too) by Theo Pauline Nestor Part memoir; part teaching guide. She says some things that I identify with and also some things I really needed to hear if I am serious about improving my writing. The exercises she gives you I found to be really helpful.

Light in August by William Faulkner I've always kind of struggled with Faulkner's narrative style, so I usually have to read his books twice before I fully appreciate them. This is my first read of this particular book. I thought it was good, but nowhere near what the Sound and the Fury is.

Dominion by C.J. Sansom A spy thriller set in the dour England of the 1950s , with a twist. It's a country that's given in to Nazi Germany who have won the war in Europe without much opposition, but are now still fighting a war of attrition with Russia. The UK surrendered in exchange for holding on to their Empire . They govern themselves nominally, but they're under the higher control of Germany. Churchill is on the run, Beaverbrook is Prime Minister and Oswold Mosley and Enoch Powell are influential government ministers .

This book's plot is about the resistance rescuing a wanted man under the noses of the SS , but it's the side details that are specially intriguing. Imagining all those things that might've happened had we lost the war really makes you stop and think.

The Voyeurs ~ Gabrielle Bell Firstly, I don't know how much I really respect Bell's decision to be an autobiographical comic strip writer. I think if you're going to do true to life work you have to really have a clear voice on how you perceive the world and those that inhabit it. If I were to do an autobiographical novel, I'm sure I would get more than one phone call from a friend with hurt feelings asking if that's how I really see them and did they ever really say that. Not that I would even wan to cast people I know in a negative light, it's just that how you see others and how others see themselves are generally at odds. At least some of the time. There is none of that in this book and it sails right along being very cutesy and self-depreciating. She dated Michel Gondry and the parts with him in it feel very careful. Yeah, he's famous and it's probably better not to step on any toes, but what's the point of an autobiographical anything? Bell manages very carefully to let us in just enough without ever having to resort to anything remotely uncomfortable.

Having said that, there is something oddly compelling about The Voyeurs and I couldn't put it down. She is a really good writer and a fair artist. She's just not remotely honest. The person who did the forward even says as much but he manages to spin it into a positive.

Hmm, trying to remember what I've read since my last post in this thread - apparently according to my last post I was reading The Stand. Aside from that, I managed to start and finish the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series, as well as finally finish The Hobbit (which I got as a Christmas present about fifteen years ago but never finished until recently.) Am currently dedicating my literary attention to Infinite Jest and The Lord of the Rings. Go hard or go home.

Ratings:

The Stand -

+
A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones -

A Song of Ice and Fire: A Clash of Kings -

A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords -

+ (yes, I'm packing both volumes together, as I will with A Dance of Dragons)
A Song of Ice and Fire: A Feast for Crows -

+
A Song of Ice and Fire: A Dance with Dragons -

Maus -

+
The Hobbit -

Edit: forgot about Maus.

__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Here's what I finished since my last post.

Sour Grapes: Studies In The Subversion Of Rationality by John Elster
Kiss Me, Deadly by Mickey Spillane
The Secret Rooms: a True Gothic Mystery by Catherine Bailey
Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business by Fredric Danen
Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life by Herman Melville

Picked up The Iliad from the library today. It's action right from the get go. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it over the weekend.

__________________
“The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson