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I love reading but dont have the right environment or time to read. I will resume reading in the future.
Rate the last Book you read
Confessions of a Mask, by Yukio Mishima.
The everyday story of a young Japanese guy whose creepy controlling grandmother gets a weird fixation on him and makes him live with her, in preference to his mother, and rub her feet. (This bit is autobiographical.)
He then discovers that he’s turned on by images of handsome unclothed young men getting stabbed or otherwise impaled, as in St. Sebastian. (This bit is also autobiographical.)
Interesting and powerful book. I find Mishima’s fetishization of violent death to be more than a bit icky but nobody can say he didn’t live the dream—he committed seppuku after a failed coup attempt in 1970. I read it mainly because I find his writing interesting, and it’s considered to be his most essential book.
The everyday story of a young Japanese guy whose creepy controlling grandmother gets a weird fixation on him and makes him live with her, in preference to his mother, and rub her feet. (This bit is autobiographical.)
He then discovers that he’s turned on by images of handsome unclothed young men getting stabbed or otherwise impaled, as in St. Sebastian. (This bit is also autobiographical.)
Interesting and powerful book. I find Mishima’s fetishization of violent death to be more than a bit icky but nobody can say he didn’t live the dream—he committed seppuku after a failed coup attempt in 1970. I read it mainly because I find his writing interesting, and it’s considered to be his most essential book.
Dark Matters - Pessimism and the Problem of Suffering
by Mara Van Der Lugt
My first dive back into philosophy in awhile with this, a counter to my natural optimism. Heavy reading where some material certainly went over my head, but it did change a lot of my perspectives on how to look at the evil in life.
by Mara Van Der Lugt
My first dive back into philosophy in awhile with this, a counter to my natural optimism. Heavy reading where some material certainly went over my head, but it did change a lot of my perspectives on how to look at the evil in life.
This might also be of interest to those into this stuff: https://global.oup.com/academic/prod...cc=us&lang=en&
Be warned, though, that one is DENSE!
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Recent for me were:
-My Loose Thread by Dennis Cooper---6/10
/-I Wished by Dennis Cooper---10/10
-My Loose Thread by Dennis Cooper---6/10
/-I Wished by Dennis Cooper---10/10
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Confessions of a Mask, by Yukio Mishima.
The everyday story of a young Japanese guy whose creepy controlling grandmother gets a weird fixation on him and makes him live with her, in preference to his mother, and rub her feet. (This bit is autobiographical.)
He then discovers that he’s turned on by images of handsome unclothed young men getting stabbed or otherwise impaled, as in St. Sebastian. (This bit is also autobiographical.)
Interesting and powerful book. I find Mishima’s fetishization of violent death to be more than a bit icky but nobody can say he didn’t live the dream—he committed seppuku after a failed coup attempt in 1970. I read it mainly because I find his writing interesting, and it’s considered to be his most essential book.
The everyday story of a young Japanese guy whose creepy controlling grandmother gets a weird fixation on him and makes him live with her, in preference to his mother, and rub her feet. (This bit is autobiographical.)
He then discovers that he’s turned on by images of handsome unclothed young men getting stabbed or otherwise impaled, as in St. Sebastian. (This bit is also autobiographical.)
Interesting and powerful book. I find Mishima’s fetishization of violent death to be more than a bit icky but nobody can say he didn’t live the dream—he committed seppuku after a failed coup attempt in 1970. I read it mainly because I find his writing interesting, and it’s considered to be his most essential book.
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My step-grandma just got me three more books. I have to get through more of these books more often, so right now I'm going through one of the new ones. I spent the last 45 minutes getting through 110 pages of Dan Simmons' Song of Kali. It's pretty effing good. It's highly detailed and combines the aesthetic of Indian religion with the mystique of H.P. Lovecraft.
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- Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ — technically rereading it, but it’s been a while. 10/10. Rather, ahem, apt for our times.
- Eric Kaufmann’s ‘Whiteshift’ — sounded rather incendiary, to put it mildly, but turned out to be pretty astute sociopolitical analysis. Was hooked. 9/10.
- ‘Don Quixote’ — 6/10, fascinating as the first modern novel and all, but I expected way more explicit metafiction. Must have been irreversibly corrupted by ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ way back in the day.
- Eric Kaufmann’s ‘Whiteshift’ — sounded rather incendiary, to put it mildly, but turned out to be pretty astute sociopolitical analysis. Was hooked. 9/10.
- ‘Don Quixote’ — 6/10, fascinating as the first modern novel and all, but I expected way more explicit metafiction. Must have been irreversibly corrupted by ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ way back in the day.
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The Castel - Franz Kafka 9/10.
The Spy - A Espia (original title) - Paulo Coelho - a story about Mata Hari - based on real facts, but the author invented a few dialogues, inversed some events - 7/10.
I do not like all of his novels. I liked The Alchemist and one more book, but I don't like everything he wrote.
The Spy - A Espia (original title) - Paulo Coelho - a story about Mata Hari - based on real facts, but the author invented a few dialogues, inversed some events - 7/10.
I do not like all of his novels. I liked The Alchemist and one more book, but I don't like everything he wrote.
Last edited by Gwildor; 4 weeks ago at 03:59 PM.
Reason: adding something...
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The Castel - Franz Kafka 9/10.
The Spy - A Espia (original title) - Paulo Coelho - a story about Mata Hari - based on real facts, but the author invented a few dialogues, inversed some events - 7/10.
I do not like all of his novels. I liked The Alchemist and one more book, but I don't like everything he wrote.
The Spy - A Espia (original title) - Paulo Coelho - a story about Mata Hari - based on real facts, but the author invented a few dialogues, inversed some events - 7/10.
I do not like all of his novels. I liked The Alchemist and one more book, but I don't like everything he wrote.
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Only 9/10 for Kafka? I hope that's only because 9/10 of the novel was actually finished!
Great novels. His protagonists are dealing with bizarre bureaucratic institutions and people. Interesting to read.
Last edited by Gwildor; 3 weeks ago at 05:08 AM.
Reason: adding something
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Actually 9 is quite close to 10. Love his books. Also read The Process, Amerika and he also wrote a shorter story called The Metamorphosis - about a guy who morphs into an insect.
Great novels. His protagonists are dealing with bizarre bureaucratic institutions and people. Interesting to read.
Great novels. His protagonists are dealing with bizarre bureaucratic institutions and people. Interesting to read.
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The Trial is easily my favorite Kafka novel. But, when it comes to his short works, The Hunger Artist is about as good as it gets.
I know I read The Castle, and I liked it a lot, but it was far from a favorite.
I know I read The Castle, and I liked it a lot, but it was far from a favorite.
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I have yet to get to Amerika
I think this is the only thing of his I haven't read.
I worry I'm past my Kafka phase and might now never.
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The Trial is easily my favorite Kafka novel. But, when it comes to his short works, The Hunger Artist is about as good as it gets.
I know I read The Castle, and I liked it a lot, but it was far from a favorite.
I know I read The Castle, and I liked it a lot, but it was far from a favorite.
Love his bizarre books. Wants to point out bureaucracy but he exaggerates that to the limit.
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Night is when we slake our thirst."
~ William Hill ~
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I think this is the only thing of his I haven't read.
I worry I'm past my Kafka phase and might now never.
I worry I'm past my Kafka phase and might now never.
I am going to try and do Robbe-Grillet next.
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Bringing Down the House
Surprised it took so long for me to get to this, based on the true story that was eventually made into a movie. It does a reasonably good job explaining the math, as advantages can still be had today but it certainly isn't easy or a guarantee.
Surprised it took so long for me to get to this, based on the true story that was eventually made into a movie. It does a reasonably good job explaining the math, as advantages can still be had today but it certainly isn't easy or a guarantee.
I just sped-read Carrie in a single sitting. OK, I admit that most of the characters are Nickelodeon cartoon tropes with some teenage sexual dialogue in between.
Having said that, what in every **** imaginable. The writing tricks that King pulls off in this novel are incredible. And of course, there's the power of the message that's intact. Thankfully the movie kept that level of meat, but the book's making me re-evaluate my rating of the movie. I think I need to lower it a little due to more awareness of the lacking development for Tommy, even though I can safely say that the improved development for Sue and Chris maybe place the movie above the book. Yeah, I'm going with that. In fact, I might even say Tommy's lacking character development might've been the only flaw in the movie, and the flaw was more present in the book, even though King's writing helps make up for that.
9.5
Having said that, what in every **** imaginable. The writing tricks that King pulls off in this novel are incredible. And of course, there's the power of the message that's intact. Thankfully the movie kept that level of meat, but the book's making me re-evaluate my rating of the movie. I think I need to lower it a little due to more awareness of the lacking development for Tommy, even though I can safely say that the improved development for Sue and Chris maybe place the movie above the book. Yeah, I'm going with that. In fact, I might even say Tommy's lacking character development might've been the only flaw in the movie, and the flaw was more present in the book, even though King's writing helps make up for that.
9.5
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