What are you reading?

[deius]

Graham Greene - Monsignor Quixote
A very light, comedic modern retelling of Don Quixote (though I haven't read it, I'm tempted to). Plenty of discussion of belief and religion.

After racing through a huge string of modern classics I feel like something recent and "edgy", like a post-punk novel or a smart thriller. Nick Cave has just released a new book, it might be what I need.

[galia]

Oh really? What's it called? I remember loving loving loving And The Ass Saw The Angel a few years ago...

[Mail-Moth]

Arno Schmidt's Vaches en demi-deuil ; full of minor science, terribly cunning, sarcastic and funny. One of the very few writers that can make me laugh, strangely - always taking me by surprise. And he's got this very special talent for metaphors that reminds me of Jean Paul.

Also a selection of Noh theater. I love it - the way bribes of ancient poetry merge in the words of those who speak, the way one begins a sentence that will be finished by the other, the way the main character sometimes speak of himself as if he were someone else, saying "And slowly he disappears" while he's walking away.

[mamaboy]

proust again....no hope for me.....at least i am not llstening to "leningrad" all the time

[deius]

Oh really? What's it called? I remember loving loving loving And The Ass Saw The Angel a few years ago...

Haven't read that, it's called the Death of Bunny Munro, a new release. Mixed reviews though, I've seen 2 saying that it's well written but ultimately mediocre.

[galia]

Cool I'll try to check it out

[klangspiel]

revisiting this literary gem after attending the documentary on gysin and the dreammachine. book reads better than i remember it.

[tarzan63]

Did you read already 'Whistling a happy tune'? Not many other books have appeared about him. And those who did are sold out. Coming up soon a book on his paintings. Join the Borremans admirors ;-)

[tarzan63]

Wondering if anyone has any nice artist monograph recommendations? Just picked up a book by the artist Michael Borremans and it is incredible. Also ordered an Urs Fischer book.

Did you read already 'Whistling a happy tune'? Not many other books have appeared about him. And those who did are sold out. Horse hunting, Weight, The Performance... Coming up soon a book on his paintings.

[laika]

galia and Mail-Moth, your manners of literary description are very enticing!

Also a selection of Noh theater. I love it - the way bribes of ancient poetry merge in the words of those who speak, the way one begins a sentence that will be finished by the other, the way the main character sometimes speak of himself as if he were someone else, saying "And slowly he disappears" while he's walking away.

i literally dashed to the bookshelf to take down my own neglected volume of Noh.

[ose]

thank you, galia and BSR! i borrowed both, la cousine bette and eugenie grandet, also because my father couldn't praise either one enough, he is quite the balzac enthusiast.. seems rather like he wants to turn me into one too

[galia]

I really need to read more Balzac, last time I read him I was in high school (shame)

I am currently reading El Aleph, a book of short stories by JL Borges. As usual, it is absolutely splendid and tortuous. I haven't finished it, but so far everything seems to be based on the image of the labyrinth, the stories are built on the idea of reversal and the unveiling of a reality that is a dramatic opposite of what it seems. I'm sure I'm not the only Borges fan here, so I'll leave it at that.

Before that, I read The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan, who is probably my favourite living author. I liked it a lot ; it was, in true McEwanian form, extremely eerie, and downright creepy at times. The writing is magnificent, precise and wrought to the extreme. However, to me it is not his best book, as I tend to feel he has been getting better and better with time (which is good, as usually it is the reverse, especially with "pop" writers). The perversion was much more in-your-face in his early work, and I love how it is still fully there now, but in an almost invisible way. To me his last one, On Chesil Beach, was a perfect example of that, since the (SPOILER ALERT) incest is never mentioned, even though it is the cornerstone of the psychology of the female character and therefore of the whole story. On Chesil Beach is a masterpiece anyway, I'm sure I'll re-read it many times.

[Faust]

I don't know how it is in French, but in English these stories are collected into a volume that's called The Labyrinths.

[galia]

Well apparently there was a first partial collection of these short stories called Le Labyrinthe, because not all of them were translated at first. Some time later, the remaining stories were published in French and then both were combined under the original title, L'Aleph

(There is an introduction to the book, I'm not that geeky in real life)

[cabl3]

Currently in the middle of Snuff by Chuck Palahnuick

Next in line (as in Ive bought too many books and need to read them, haha):

1984, George Orwell
Atlas Shrugged, Ayrn Rand
The Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
Spook Country, William Gibson

A friend of mine swears by The Picture of Dorian Grey, says its his favorite novel ever. Anyone have recommendations as far as finding a novel as (i havent read it) enthralling and amazing, and stylistically similar to it?