Think I'm gonna finally pick back up Catch 22. That book was hilarious from the 100 or so pages that I actually read.

I figured out how to read only The Navidson Report parts of House of Leaves and feel all the better for it. Like Sekto, I really truly tried to give it a shot but ultimately Johnny's perspective is pretty much meaningless beyond implying maybe he's possibly crazy AND that he's only fucking the same girl over and over and doesn't remember it, or something like that.
The parts that are actually about the exploration of the house are really great little horror vignettes and the author should have just told the story through those.

I read that around nowish last year. I did the same thing and can tell you it's worth giving another go.
Probably, but much of the Yiddish he uses stands out a bit better and flows into the dialogue to explain itself pretty easily. These words just seem like flowering up the first few chapters.

Do the parts with Johnny actually resolve to anything significant, or can I totally skip them? Because I'm only like a third of the way through, and I'm already sick to death of his part of the story.

I thought they were interesting. The book is a purposeful clusterfuck of boring weirdness. I liked it for that, but I definitely won't read it twice.

I get that. It just got so much praise, so I was expecting it to be more.

There’s a bit more to Johnny’s story than what Mac describes. I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as interesting as the exploration of the house, but there’s something to it.

THE DETAILS OF YOUR DEATH SENTENCE THAT'S WHAT!

Just kidding, I'm reading Doggie Daycare Murder.

http://img2.imagesbn.com/p/978075821...1_s260x420.JPG

I thought we scared you away.

I started reading The Society of The Spectacle by Guy Debord. My friend purchased it in a fit of raucous philosophical angst after he discovered our local Chapters (corporate bookstore chain) had stocked only the barest and most shitty of the Philosophy section, with gems such as
FINAL FANTASY AND PHILOSOPHY
BREAKING BAD AND PHILOSOPHY
CIGARETTE SMOKING AND PHILOSOPHY
THE ZEN ART OF MOTORCYCLE REPAIR
THE ZEN ART OF COOKING CRYSTAL METH
etc...
It's pretty much exactly what I need to read right now so that I'll stop purchasing stupid garbage. Abrupt marxist criticism of obsession, addiction and dependency on a self-improving utterly autonomous media entity coagulating our senses with an entirely separate world for us to consider and judge our decisions from that, though completely synthetic and within our own minds, dominates our decisions and basically makes every assumption a conclusion before we consider it.

Semi-related: Television fucking sucks nowadays.

You thought wrong sir, please don't hurt me!

These were my thoughts halfway through the book:... and they haven't changed much. The second half kept with the one narrative and didn't digress very much. But it was still kinda hard to care, because it just didn't go anywhere. The ending was a dull thud, rather than a resounding boom!

Terry Pratchett is a dull thud.

I remember you bringing up that you thought Pratchett was pedestrian before. What books of his have you read?

I'm going to take a wild shot in the dark and say the early ones.

The early ones.

He got better over time. the early ones are good in their own way, but the golden age starts at Moving Pictures. Once you read Night Watch, it's like a totally different author than Color of Magic.

I actually really liked Colour of Magic. It wasn't the best book I've ever read but it was still fun.

Color of Magic is a quirky fantasy parody. It's still a fun book, but it doesn't even compare with what Discworld eventually becomes.

Oh, the Discworld guy. Everyone seems to love the hell of those books. What am I missing out on?

My first Discworld books were The Amazing Maurice and Wyrd Sisters.

I’m not sure at what point in his career they were written but they’re good.


A very good sense of humor.

Maybe when I'm done with Hitchhiker's I'll try one of them.

He's definitely to fantasy what Douglas Adams was to sci-fi.

Wings is right. Discworld started as a joke, but Pterry grew to care for his characters, and you will too. The basic formula, so much as there is one, is taking a parallel fantasy-reality of about 200 years ago and introducing some modern societal issue - the internet, racism, wartime indoctrination etc. all the while laced with a sort of understated Dickensian humour.

Wyrd Sisters is the sixth book. There's still two not-so-good books after it (Pyramids and especially Eric) before you got to Moving Pictures and consistently fantastic territory (For that I think Ridcully plays quite a big part. He very much grounded the magical aspect of the universe which was very unfocused in the first nine books) but at that point it's definitely the best one so far. Mauriece is smack in the middle of the genius run in the 20's. Right between my two personal favorites (Thief of Time and Night Watch).

I thought Discworld was good but his latest book was about poop and that made it GREAT

I finished the first, uh, sub-volume of the third volume of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It was still fun, but Jesus Christ all those references clogged up the narrative structure a ridiculous amount. It wasn't so much a story as it was Alan Moore's Great Victorian Fanfic.

Rouse Up, O Young Men of The New Age! by Kenzaburo Oe. I read it a few years ago because it was a grad present but didn't really stop and try to appreciate it. Giving it another go because it's exquisitely written and helped to temper some distasteful ideas that had entered my head around the first ttime I was reading it.

I've just started Parasyte.

http://z.mfcdn.net/store/manga/588/0.../ki01_012a.jpg

I think I'm going to like this one.

Oh my fucking god you're me. Stop.


I'm reading something called Brave New Worlds. A dystopian fiction collection featuring the works of Neil Gaiman, Philip K. Dick, and other people I really like.

Also reading through Transmetropolitan, something I feel I should have done years ago. As well as Sandman. I've been on a comic binge for the past year or so. Also pre-ordered Gaiman's new book with my fingers tightly crossed hoping it'll be amazing all the while knowing that of course it will be, stupid.

Also very recently finished A Hundred Years of Solitude which made me physically ill, albeit in a positive way, and made me very proud to be part of my culture. It's a nice feeling.

Without my computer and before I remembered I have DS games other than pokemon, I was marathoning a book called 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.

And it is perfect.

I mean, holy shit. I can't think of any other way to describe this ridiculous silly epic. It's perfect. Characterization is perfect, plotting is amazing and the writing style is such a sumptuous delicacy to read I am shocked every paragraph that this is actually a translated novel. The translator deserves five rounds of applause. No novel has made me feel this way since American Gods and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

This is the second Murakami book I've read, and having read and not really understood Kafka on the Shore I wasn't really expecting that much but really holy shit.

I read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle about five years ago. I really, really enjoyed it. If you are going to try another of his books, I recommend that one.

I'm moving on to Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Interestingly Boromir's last scene in the Fellowship movie is actually the first chapter of the Two Towers book. Right now I'm up to the bit where Aragorn chats with the horse lords.

Eomer: "I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood a little further from the ground"