Jump to content

What books are you reading?


Recommended Posts

Got Rings of Saturn for Christmas by W.G. Sebald. Looking forward to spinning some Caretaker and diving in.

That was probably my favorite of his, though my wife would argue that Austerlitz is better.

I recommended it above, but if you dig Sebald you should give Perec's "W, or A Memory of Childhood" a try. Everything by Perec is great, but Sebald's stuff reads really similiarly to this particular one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For those asking for lists of book recommendations, I'm going to mix it up and offer up a list of short stories that have sculpted how I read, as well as how I write; as each one is amazing in their own way.  Most of these can be found via a simple Google search, though some may prove more difficult.  If there is something you're dying to get ahold of, hit me up, I've got stacks (literally) of books filled with short stories that I was required to purchase for school, but refuse to let go of.  

 

- All The Way in Flagstaff, Arizona- Richard Bausch

- What We Talk About When We Talk About Love- Raymond Carver

- Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been- Joyce Carol Oates

- Sea Oak- George Saunders

- A Hunger Artist- Franz Kafka

- The Rockinghorse Winner- D.H. Lawrence 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For those asking for lists of book recommendations, I'm going to mix it up and offer up a list of short stories that have sculpted how I read, as well as how I write; as each one is amazing in their own way.  Most of these can be found via a simple Google search, though some may prove more difficult.  If there is something you're dying to get ahold of, hit me up, I've got stacks (literally) of books filled with short stories that I was required to purchase for school, but refuse to let go of.  

 

- All The Way in Flagstaff, Arizona- Richard Bausch

- What We Talk About When We Talk About Love- Raymond Carver

- Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been- Joyce Carol Oates

- Sea Oak- George Saunders

- A Hunger Artist- Franz Kafka

- The Rockinghorse Winner- D.H. Lawrence 

 

A Hunger Artist is my favorite short story of all time. The Rockinghorse Winner is also up there. excellent list!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Hunger Artist is my favorite short story of all time. The Rockinghorse Winner is also up there. excellent list!

 

Thanks!  I've been focusing on short stories for the last two years in school, so I haven't given a lot of attention to a full novel in quite some time.  I'm always blown away how each writer can transform a handful of pages into something completely mind-blowing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I'm about 3/4 of the way through The Blood of Heaven. Armchair analysis is that the plot could stand to be tightened a bit the lead characters voice really comes to live. If you like bleak and bloody stories about religion, revolution and violence in early 19th century Florida you will like it.

 

I'm moving on to one of the following next, any chance anyone has read them and has an opinion. A longshot but they were all NPR picks so I thought maybe....

 

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway 

California by Edan Lepucki 

On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee

Link to comment
Share on other sites

been reading a lot lately. read haruki murakami's short story "the strange library", frank miller's "ronin" over the weekend. finished "watership down yesterday". and started "do androids dream of electric sheep?" today. trying to get through at least 25 books in 2015.

Do Androids Dream is a goddamn wonderful book.

 

And it's ten times better than Blade Runner and anyone who says differently is wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do Androids Dream is a goddamn wonderful book.

 

And it's ten times better than Blade Runner and anyone who says differently is wrong.

 

This.  And don't get me wrong, the movie is great.

 

But even further... 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' isn't even close to PKD's best work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man in the High Castle

Ubik

A Scanner Darkly

VALIS

 

These might be his most popular, but they're the ones I have read (and remember reading) and I enjoyed them all.

 

 

You need to be in the right mood for VALIS, in my opinion. but it was one of my favorites.  It's particularly heavy on the theology and philosophy side of things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist