What are you reading?

[Fade to Black]

Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice .. fairly straightforward so far, although I find myself reading every page twice just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

[Servo2000]

I have to say that I liked Inherent Vice a lot. His novel Vineland has a similiar-ish vibe but is a little more - I guess I'd say 'serious' about it themes. Inherent Vice doesn't seem to carry quite the same menace behind things so some of Pynchon's weirdness starts to seem kind of disconnected where as when things get arguable even stranger in Vineland they seem grounded and I think it's a bit more effective.

In terms of 'crime novels' though Inherent Vice is right up my alley.

[Fade to Black]

I've been looking for an entry point into Pynchon for a long time now - just something about the guy and his work is taunting me to give it a go and try to crack the mystique...the larger tomes seem too impenetrable, this latest one sounded more straightforward but you're right - there's something very strange about the texture of his words. Even the most casual of sentences come off as more slippery than I'd imagine them being in the hands of any other author I can think of.

I may give Vineland a spin soon after I'm done with this.

Vice is right up my alley as well, with the late-60s cadence and all.


I recently got over a phase of biographical reading that ended with Robert Evans' The Kid Stays In the Picture (haven't seem the film version). The thing I loved the best about it, besides the voice of his words that couldn't have come from anybody else, was the way Evans has an impeccable knack for being able to sum up entire histories, feuds, betrayals and loves with the most effortlessly throwaway single sentences. Am constantly fascinated by how the people who've really seen it all in the world are able to communicate it so effectively with the least words. The words come off as simplified and maybe even a bit concealed, but looking at certain lines and just staring at them for about a minute you get a vague notion of exactly what he meant and everything behind it, even though (for good reason) a lot of details were left out.

[Mail-Moth]

Having some fun with Le Fanu's Uncle Silas. The young heroin - the mischievous governess - the frightening figure of the wretched uncle... Those are simple pleasures for sure - but sometimes there's nothing like a good old "tale of horror and mystery".

[mrbeuys]

Just reading Jay McInerny's The Good Life, which after having read Bright Lights Big City which I thought was a bit meh, is a really good read. Nothing illuminating, but captivating and an interesting view on life after and catalysed by 9/11.

[MaxM]

Just picked up Moon Palace by Paul Auster.

[endersgame]

currently reading helmut newton's autobiography. this guy can fuck..

[Fade to Black]

heh, good to see the man lives up to his pictures. i gotta go check that one out

[inyourroom]

I'm lately reading 3 books at the same time: simone de beauvoir's "le troisieme sexe", Franz Kafka's "Der Prozess" and Henry Miller's "Tropic of cancer". very good all of them.

[Acéphale]

« A thought written down is dead. It was alive. It lives no longer. It was a flower. Writing it down has made it artificial, that is to say, immutable. »

[ambition]

Started Art Power by Boris Groys today. Pretty good read so far.

Also Another Book/ Noch'n Buch by Hans-Peter Feldmann, which I received as an easter gift yesterday.

[TheNotoriousT]

Have read this about 5 times before but every now and then I have to pick it up again.
His best book imo!

[DRRRK]

^ definetely on my list for the near future. At the moment: Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow, which I picked up after it was recommended here.

[MoFiya]

I finally read Alice in Wonderland for the first time after having seen the movie... Although I really like Tim Burton and his screenplay I even preferred the book.

Other than that I recently read almost everything by Markus Werner - highly recommended to all of my german fellows. I especially enjoyed "Bis Bald".

By the way - I just picked up Sexus by H.M., thanks for the suggestion!

[Mail-Moth]

Just finished rereading André Frédérique's Histoires blanches - a selection of vignettes from this very confidential poet. This one's for you, Corsair Sanglot : he's one of those men whose unsettling fantasies root in provincial interiors - in an endless succession of naïve victims repeatedly trapped (for they never learn and never try to) by childish and cruel tormentors, in a room full of hidden lurkers and small machineries.

If I have time later, I'll try to type an extract here.