im rereading Pale Fire by nabokov which is still like one of the best novels ever written, for srs owns so hard
I need to read that in full. Also Ada, Or Ardour. And that complete short stories collection I have.
I did a report on Nabakov for a history class in ninth grade and one rather perceptive student asked if he had written anything where the plot wasn't depressing, morbid and/or sexually perverse. I said Pnin. Short stories aside, I think that's it.
it was explained to him that in strangling a young adult one of two methods was commonly used: the amateurish, none too efficient, frontal attack, and the more professional approach made from behind. In the first method, the eight fingers stiffly encircle the victim's neck while the two thumbs compress his or her throat; one runs, however, the risk of her or his hands seizing one's wrists or otherwise fighting off the assault. The second, much safer way, from behind, consists in pressing both thumbs hard against the back of the boy's or, preferably, girl's neck and working upon the throat with one's fingers. The first hold is dubbed among us "Pouce," the second "Fingerman."
-Transparent Things. I still don't understand what it was about.
Oh, and I also read "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" recently and I swear that Wolfe is the reigning grand master of the school of downplaying horrible, horrible things—the previous champ being Borges or perhaps Marquez.
Oh, and I also read "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" recently and I swear that Wolfe is the reigning grand master of the school of downplaying horrible, horrible things—the previous champ being Borges or perhaps Marquez.
It really is one of those stories that just gets better and more interesting the more that you think about it. Also more unsettling: It took my mom bringing up a few key details about Smart to be sure that my hunches were correct (and that there was worse to be read in), and that was well after I finished the book. And that's ignoring things like the Necronomicon sequence and St. Brendan's ship and the farmer at the end and so many other things.
kinbote is definitely insane and that's about as much as you can say for sure, that's the beauty of it though!! also it is hilarious, even funnier than i remember
I am reading Ramsey Campbell's The Darkest Part of the Woods and about to start William Gaddis' The Recognitions. I think Campbell's sense of atmosphere really works best in short form, but the novel is at least solid and sporadically quite spooky; and given what I know of Gaddis, and William H. Gass' excellent introduction, I am in for a treat with the latter. A thousand-page treat. Also checking out some Robert Aickman and Kelly Link, who are always delightful, and catching up on Gene Wolfe and the third Leviathan anthology—everybody loves a Vandermeer, no?
the recognitions is supposed to be insanely good and i wanna read it too, but also not right now i dont think
read recentlly:
julian barnes flaubert's parrot which i would characterise as 'a bit like pale fire but not as good' but nevertheless it was a good read actually
fadia faqir my name is salma holy fuck this book is depressing as hell. it certainly was a hopeless soul crushing experience to read. sad/10
leila aboulela the translator a 'halal novel'. translation of that is the main character has a weird lack of agency and theres a quite literal deus ex machina at the end. beautifully written tho
Read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger stories a bit ago. It's weird how two of them, The Poison Belt and "When the Earth Screamed", play around with premises that would fit right in with the Lovecraftian weird fiction ... but then both stories pull back from the consequences in a rather unsatisfying way.
It takes a lot for me to say that the complete extinction of all vertebrate life on Earth would have been a more narratively satisfying conclusion.
"Holy crap, the Earth is actually a single, giant organism! And Professor Challenger mined through its crust in order to jab its flesh with a needle! For the first time, the Earth noticed us! ... Oh, that wacky Professor Challenger! What will he think of next?" <laugh track>
Was reading Russell Hoban. Fine writer, but I was not in the mood at all.
Reading Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem's collaborations now; "The Man on the Ceiling" is pure beauty. Also, Leviathan 3 is bonkers and mostly very good, although the first Moorcock contribution was incomprehensible. The second was intriguing, at least, if only a chapter.
"Metaphysica Morum" is pure Burroughsian black comedy and "The Small People" is the weirdest indictment of racism I have ever read. Probably not his best work but entertaining and likely to grow on me like evil fungus.
been reading things, highlights are wg sebald's the emigrants, which is a cool book about the holocaust and also how shit manchester was a few decades ago, and a lot of books about holidays and how people only really go on holiday to have sex or bcos they are wage slaves
atm i am reading marc auge's non-places, because supermodernity owns, and also just started a book called 'the lost steps' by alejo carpentier who was a half cuban half french dude and writes exactly the way u would expect a half cuban half french dude to write
i finished Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee today. This is a book that Sunn Wolf recommended me. It's the first novel i've read in a little while.
i have to say i liked it a lot. i don't think i've read anything quite like it before. Actually, i felt as though the author was always leaps and bounds ahead of me and i got rather dizzy with it. i couldn't say, at the end, whether it was a funny novel or a serious one. It felt kind of both those things, usually at the same time.
i finally finished How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (i had checked it out from the library a few times but had not read it)
it is a well-paced little novel about how the way time, memory and the way one lives one's life relate to one another, as told from the perspective of a time machine repairman in a half-completed sci-fi universe who wishes to find his lost father.
it is both humorous and poignant, with lots of moderately weird and highly engaging meta shenanigans.
i just finished The King's Shadow by Elizabeth Alder, a young adult historical fiction novel recommended by @Aliroz. i liked it.
Historical fiction is not a genre i have read much. The events described were of course familiar - i think every child in England learns about Harold Godwinson and Norman the Conqueror. So i knew roughly how the story was going to end, and the pleasure was in Alder's telling of it. The book follows the perspective of Evyn, a character of Alder's own invention, but Harold Godwinson is prominent, portrayed here as selfless and heroic. This is a story of war, a struggle of good against evil, and of tragedy.
Perhaps as a consequence of coming at this immediately after the metafiction of Elizabeth Costello, the predicament of Evyn, a young storyteller who, at the end of the first chapter, is attacked and has his tongue cut out - this at a time when most people are illiterate, Evyn included, resonated strongly with me. Although The King's Shadow is a much more traditional novel, the themes of writing, speech and storytelling are prominent here, and i found that interesting.
Anyway, thank you, Aliroz, for recommending this. i enjoyed it very much.
Comments
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
kinbote is definitely insane and that's about as much as you can say for sure, that's the beauty of it though!! also it is hilarious, even funnier than i remember
Will keep y'all posted when I can.
read recentlly:
julian barnes flaubert's parrot which i would characterise as 'a bit like pale fire but not as good' but nevertheless it was a good read actually
fadia faqir my name is salma holy fuck this book is depressing as hell. it certainly was a hopeless soul crushing experience to read. sad/10
leila aboulela the translator a 'halal novel'. translation of that is the main character has a weird lack of agency and theres a quite literal deus ex machina at the end. beautifully written tho
i wasnt sure where this should go so its going here
(The other Jane)
(The other Jane)
For the first time.
I really really like it.
(The other Jane)
Reading Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem's collaborations now; "The Man on the Ceiling" is pure beauty. Also, Leviathan 3 is bonkers and mostly very good, although the first Moorcock contribution was incomprehensible. The second was intriguing, at least, if only a chapter.
"Metaphysica Morum" is pure Burroughsian black comedy and "The Small People" is the weirdest indictment of racism I have ever read. Probably not his best work but entertaining and likely to grow on me like evil fungus.
been reading things, highlights are wg sebald's the emigrants, which is a cool book about the holocaust and also how shit manchester was a few decades ago, and a lot of books about holidays and how people only really go on holiday to have sex or bcos they are wage slaves
atm i am reading marc auge's non-places, because supermodernity owns, and also just started a book called 'the lost steps' by alejo carpentier who was a half cuban half french dude and writes exactly the way u would expect a half cuban half french dude to write
i have to say i liked it a lot. i don't think i've read anything quite like it before. Actually, i felt as though the author was always leaps and bounds ahead of me and i got rather dizzy with it. i couldn't say, at the end, whether it was a funny novel or a serious one. It felt kind of both those things, usually at the same time.
Historical fiction is not a genre i have read much. The events described were of course familiar - i think every child in England learns about Harold Godwinson and Norman the Conqueror. So i knew roughly how the story was going to end, and the pleasure was in Alder's telling of it. The book follows the perspective of Evyn, a character of Alder's own invention, but Harold Godwinson is prominent, portrayed here as selfless and heroic. This is a story of war, a struggle of good against evil, and of tragedy.
Perhaps as a consequence of coming at this immediately after the metafiction of Elizabeth Costello, the predicament of Evyn, a young storyteller who, at the end of the first chapter, is attacked and has his tongue cut out - this at a time when most people are illiterate, Evyn included, resonated strongly with me. Although The King's Shadow is a much more traditional novel, the themes of writing, speech and storytelling are prominent here, and i found that interesting.
Anyway, thank you, Aliroz, for recommending this. i enjoyed it very much.
I should re-read it.