Most of the list was suggested by my advisor based on our discussions about my thesis and what I believe my strengths/weaknesses are, etc. No Country for Old Men, Oblivion: Stories, and The Plague were my own suggestions that made the cut.
I did an MFA a few years back. How do you like it? There's sure a lot of reading. How's the thesis going? I tend to buy collections after reading a short story by an author in a literary journal or magazine. Well, writers just don't make too much (at least I don't right now) so I haven't bought all that many and I lost my whole library shortly after graduating. I tend to spend my reading money on subscriptions to the journals. But at some point you've got to start thinking collection. Good luck with school, and feel free to DM me if you need any MFA survival tips. And thanks for the list.
I like it. I've met a lot of awesome people that I can see myself keeping in touch with long after the program, which was one of the main drawing points of returning to school. The requirement of writing an annotation on every book is also forcing me to read a bit differently/more critically and I'm tapping into a more varied library than I probably would have otherwise, which are all good things IMO. Thesis is going well too. My thesis is a novel and I've written two novels before so I feel confident with it. To get this thread back on track.. I just started Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Just finished my read of the first of KSR's Mars Trilogy. Overall it was an enjoyable read. Long format story, and often reads documentary style; a look back at how Mars was colonized, and seen through the eyes of some of the original colonizers. Sometimes he does get technical, and sometimes that's in a subject that I'm not at all familiar with, which did lead to me skipping through pages of pschological terms once. In general though, very good, and well written, start to a unique trilogy.
Started reading The Gunslinger again, only burned through The Dark Tower series once when I was fifteen. Always found the opening sentence to be one of the most memorable out of any books I've read, though it's hard to explain why... Going easy on my scrambled brain.
It's been almost embarrassing how long I've gone without reading other than romance novels for research, so I'm picking this back up, although I'm remembering now why I put it down in the first place. It's not bad, but the author goes into excruciating detail about the plays and books early sensationalized murders got, which isn't a bad thing, like I said, but it's a bit dry.
Just finished reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Really enjoyed this, kind of modern fantasy in London. It's a bit oddball and also funny in places and has great characters. The ending was a tad drawn out but otherwise a wacky fun read for the most part. I've been wanting to read something by Gaiman other than American Gods, which I tried and never finished, as I'd heard good things from him over the years.
Yeah, I had the same opinion. Gaiman is good, but after reading Gods first and Neverwhere second, I feel like I've heard everything he has to say. As for me, dealers choice tonight. Got about half a dozen solid candidates on my shelf. Having recently moved, I've touched, sorted, and alphabetized all my books, so the candidates are more obvious than normal.
Alphabetized eh? Nice. As for Gaiman, I was hoping for more of Neverwhere at the very least. Also wasn't he the guy that wrote The Sandman?
I don't even want to consider alphabetization yet. All my books are double lined and stacked on the shelves (all full and stacking on the floor) and the task would take more than I'm willing to do at the moment. More power to you. I have been thinking of trying Mutiny on the Bounty though, partly because I'm interested, but mainly because it is visible.
Started doing it 20 years ago. The trick is to leave space on each shelf for additions and resorting.
He did write The Sandman! I wholeheartedly recommend that as well as his book Anansi Boys. That one is probably my favorite. If you wanted more Gaiman, that is. Totes cool if nah.
Recently finished A Menagerie in Revolt, a collection of writings (poems, essays, short stories) by the surrealist Benjamin Peret. Currently reading The Collected Poems of Li He (Tang dynasty poet, sometimes compared to French decadents like Rimbaud or Baudelaire) and Eagle or Sun? a book of prose poems by Octavio Paz.
Just finished Arthur C Clarkes Childhood's End . I read the book years a go , and my only memory of it is , it is a good book . Now that I have reread it , I don't know what I liked the first time . It is actuly tedious to read .
Yeah, Sandman is so good! My library had these giant collections of Gaiman's Sandman and I read the first two volumes. (I'm always looking for volume 3, but it's never there.) The emotional impact of some of those stories is off the charts. It takes a couple of issues to really truly accept the world, and then it's just utterly fantastic. I know it's a graphic novel, or a comic, or visual whatever, but his stories really hit hard. That one where Dream follows his sister, Death, around for the day and sort of watches her work. Oh my god . . . I'm trying not to think about it. I believe that Gaiman had it in his contract that when he quits writing Sandman, no one else is allowed to continue it. Only he is allowed to shape that character. Kind of unusual for comics. And he did quit writing it, minus a brief reprisal a few years ago. The story is done. I respect that.
Yeah, I've never heard of it as being in anything but comic form. Sometimes there's talk of a movie, but I don't know . . . it would have to really be true to the material. It's too weird for a normal audience and its fanbase wouldn't tolerate anything that's a Hollywood cliche. In Hollywood, that's called "unfilmable."
Don't get me started on Hollwwood adaptions. I thought I heard something about a Netflix series, they would certainly be more likely to stay true to material.
The Iliad. My reading tastes have gone old school. Love how it's episodic and each chapter begins with a round up of what's to come, like a Dragonball Z episode. There's a lot of parallels to be drawn between ancient stories and popular culture, especially marvel comics. That's the beauty of studying classical literature, you stumble upon the origins of various aspects of our culture, beliefs, superstitions and words that are still in use today. Take the word "lesbian" for instance. It was first used to describe the inhabitants of Lesbos, until a woman from Lesbos started writing poetry about how much she loved sleeping with women. The rest, as they say, is history... Probably won't move on to the Odyssey straight after this. It's hard going, but satisfying all the same. I've also just started reading "Pimp" by Iceberg Slim which I can already tell by reading the introduction by Irvine Walsh is going to be a blast.
