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  • mne
    Member
    • Mar 2016
    • 93

    *sits with her notepad ferociously writing down all the recommendations*

    I'm about to embark on "This Examined Life" by Stephen Grosz, not by choice (I joined a book club). It's the last 'self-help' book I will read for a while though. All the answers are in the classic literature duuuh !

    Comment

    • Faust
      kitsch killer
      • Sep 2006
      • 37852

      Originally posted by mne View Post
      *sits with her notepad ferociously writing down all the recommendations*

      I'm about to embark on "This Examined Life" by Stephen Grosz, not by choice (I joined a book club). It's the last 'self-help' book I will read for a while though. All the answers are in the classic literature duuuh !
      Exactly!
      Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

      StyleZeitgeist Magazine

      Comment

      • therestorationwing
        Junior Member
        • May 2018
        • 6

        Recently finished: 'Concrete' by Thomas Bernard (great as always); 'Mountainhead' by New Juche (a masterpiece); 'Hollow Faces, Merciless Moons' by William Scott Home (not quite sure what this thing is but it is most definitely a thing); '30 Fake Beheadings' by Gary J. Shipley (not his best work but still an interesting read); 'On the Natural History of Destruction' by W.G. Sebald (beautiful, sad).

        Presently: 'The Buried Giant' by Kazuo Ishiguro (not my usual thing, but somehow keep picking it back up) and the first volume of Witold Gombrowicz's journals (very much my thing, and just totally absorbing).

        On deck: the most recent batch of chapbooks from the always great Amphetamine Sulphate imprint (by Josh Peterson, Gary Mundy, Martin Bladh).

        Comment

        • GucciAmen
          Senior Member
          • Sep 2014
          • 363

          Read a lot since last time I was here...

          Currently on top of Works of Love by Soren Kierkegaard and the stories of Gargantua & Pantagruel by Rabelais.

          Prior to the Kierkegaard work on ethics I read Nietzsche's last two pieces before he succumbed...

          Some other books of note:

          Lost Illusions, Eugenie Grandet, Old Father Goriot - Balzac of course, fantastic literature, can see how they influenced Sartre, atleast in his Nausea.

          Almost through Dostoevsky's full catalog, finished The Idiot which he claims to be his favourite piece, though he acknowledges numerous flaws.

          And Quiet Flows The Don, nice stuff, interesting picture of the Cossacks and their role in Russia at the time.

          Read some other French stuff, like Germinal by Zola, great sociological document for those interested in some context for socialism.

          Can't forget this nice collection of essays by Camus, really helps in understanding his fictitious works, i.e. Myth of Sisyphus.

          The Monk - Matthew Lewis, highly recommend this, found it in a Montreal used bookstore by fate, gorgeous cover drew me to it, fallibility of the human condition, critical of divinity and all that entails.

          Crimes of Passion and Meat Air, great poetry if you can get your hands on it, highly recommend.

          Confessions of a Confidence Man, Felix Krull. Great book, Thomas Mann's last, yet evidently one of his earliest as well as he decided to pick it up again towards the very end of his life.

          Women in Love - D.H. Lawrence, beautiful.

          Comment

          • Faust
            kitsch killer
            • Sep 2006
            • 37852

            /\ That's quite a list. I am glad we have one student who is not on a computer engineering track or whatever.

            About to start a collection of writing of Gay Talese. A must for every journalist, I suppose.
            Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

            StyleZeitgeist Magazine

            Comment

            • ahn
              Senior Member
              • Jul 2012
              • 293

              I know it's an older release but I just finished reading We Need To Talk About Kevin and my goodness it was one of the most brilliantly devastating books I've read in a long long time. I deeply resonated with the protagonist which made it maybe particularly harrowing from almost the first chapter, to the ending that took me by genuine surprise. I've not seen the film and at this point I'm not sure I want to? I finished it now a couple of weeks ago and every time I think of it I'm reeling again.
              some do it fast, some do it better in smaller amounts.

              Comment

              • Faust
                kitsch killer
                • Sep 2006
                • 37852

                Originally posted by ahn View Post
                I know it's an older release but I just finished reading We Need To Talk About Kevin and my goodness it was one of the most brilliantly devastating books I've read in a long long time. I deeply resonated with the protagonist which made it maybe particularly harrowing from almost the first chapter, to the ending that took me by genuine surprise. I've not seen the film and at this point I'm not sure I want to? I finished it now a couple of weeks ago and every time I think of it I'm reeling again.
                The film was sick, too. So sick that I probably won't touch the book.
                Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                Comment

                • wahnfrieden
                  Member
                  • Feb 2011
                  • 44


                  Just began reading the Man Booker prizewinner. I saw mention of Sebald influence, so I picked it up.

                  Comment

                  • DannyDagger
                    Member
                    • Nov 2018
                    • 35

                    I wasn't that much of a reader in the past, but I'm finally starting to realise what I've been missing out on, both in fashion/art history and classic literature. Right now I'm reading The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. Being half Japanese, I think it's vital I better understand my country's culture and traditions, even if the content has been considered to be less relevant in the current day. So far, I'm definitely invested in it.

                    Not sure what I'll read after this, but classic novels like Crime and Punishment and 1984 have caught my eye, although I need to be sure I can unpack and understand them before I attempt them.

                    Comment

                    • mne
                      Member
                      • Mar 2016
                      • 93

                      Originally posted by Faust View Post
                      Indeed, I do :-) The Oprah thing is a long story and a wonderful example of how one is no longer able to stand up to mass culture. The whole blame of his merit as a writer as some privileged white male is beyond preposterous. Cheap shots from lesser people.
                      I finished 'How to be Alone'. What a brilliant book. Brilliant in its sober accuracy - especially 'The Royal Bedroom" chapter on privacy. I found 'Scavenging' (rotary phone ;)) and 'Meet Me in St. Louis' (The Oprah thing)particularly heartbreaking. So I'm an instant fan now and I need more! Where to next? 'Corrections' ?

                      Comment

                      • Faust
                        kitsch killer
                        • Sep 2006
                        • 37852

                        Originally posted by mne View Post
                        I finished 'How to be Alone'. What a brilliant book. Brilliant in its sober accuracy - especially 'The Royal Bedroom" chapter on privacy. I found 'Scavenging' (rotary phone ;)) and 'Meet Me in St. Louis' (The Oprah thing)particularly heartbreaking. So I'm an instant fan now and I need more! Where to next? 'Corrections' ?
                        Corrections, of course! I am glad :-)
                        Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                        StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                        Comment

                        • mmsix
                          Member
                          • Sep 2016
                          • 31

                          Originally posted by mne View Post
                          I finished 'How to be Alone'. What a brilliant book. Brilliant in its sober accuracy - especially 'The Royal Bedroom" chapter on privacy. I found 'Scavenging' (rotary phone ;)) and 'Meet Me in St. Louis' (The Oprah thing)particularly heartbreaking. So I'm an instant fan now and I need more! Where to next? 'Corrections' ?
                          I always liked 'Corrections' but for me 'Freedom' felt stronger in the long term.

                          For the topic:
                          I'm reading Zadie Smith's 'The Autograph Man' and while I enjoyed Swing Time, White Teeth and especially london N. W. I'm having problems getting into this one. Perhaps it's stacked with too many references I don't get.

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                          • mne
                            Member
                            • Mar 2016
                            • 93

                            Originally posted by mmsix View Post
                            I always liked 'Corrections' but for me 'Freedom' felt stronger in the long term.

                            For the topic:
                            I'm reading Zadie Smith's 'The Autograph Man' and while I enjoyed Swing Time, White Teeth and especially london N. W. I'm having problems getting into this one. Perhaps it's stacked with too many references I don't get.
                            Thank you for recommending ! I will check it out as well :)

                            Comment

                            • WolfSchwet
                              Junior Member
                              • Apr 2019
                              • 12

                              Currently

                              Les Chants de Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont


                              and Sleep Has His House by Anna Kava



                              Each referenced by Nurse With Wound and Current 93 in their album titles respectively but it's actually entirely coincidental I'm reading both at once and that those two artists/groups have collaborated.

                              Comment

                              • marux
                                Junior Member
                                • Apr 2013
                                • 13

                                Anybody got tips on japanese literature, specifically regarding philosophy? Looking for some ancient wisdom stuff.

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