Latest Gene Wolfe book you read (1-10 scale)

[neckbeard]

It was an audiobook

[The Real MPD]

Richard Price - Clockers - 9

[LolaFaun]

Shit My Dad Says- 10/10
This book made me laugh out loud several times, and I don't usually laugh out loud from books. The quotes are priceless and the stories are poignant without being saccharine. It started out as a Twitter account, but don't let that stop you from checking it out. I think guis particularly will enjoy this, tho I found a lot to relate to.

www.twitter.com/ShitMyDadSays

http://www.ShitMyDadSays.com

[John Jr.]

oh lola, i'm so sorry about your impending facepalms and backlash.

[LolaFaun]

oh lola, i'm so sorry about your impending facepalms and backlash.

Why's that? Not intellectual enough?

[father of lies]

Burroughs - The Ticket That Exploded - 9.5

VERY close to my favorite Burroughs. Fucking beautiful book.

[ibn Horowitz]

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman - 9/10
totally amazing. an example of the best sci-fi can be, and why it is such a vital genre
Tomato Red - Daniel Woodrell - 8/10
Country-noir in the tradition of Jim Thompson. Much better than Winter's Bone.
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - 7/10
A virtuoso performance, but ultimately pretty hollow.

[altars of radness]

Chomsky - Profit Over People
First chomsky I've read. It came out in the mid-90s, but the theme of ultraliberalism couldn't be any more timely or depressing. Intelligent, well-argued, highly readable. 8/10

George Saunders - In Persuasion Nation
Probably the best short story collection I've ever read. I love George Saunders and recommend him anytime I'm talking books with someone. 10/10

James Joyce - Dubliners
Each story is longer and more boring than the one before it. Hated it. 2/10

Michael Chabon - Mysteries of Pittsburgh
My least favorite Chabon novel; but it's also his first. 6/10

Russel Banks - Affliction
Amazing. I haven't had as many "holy fuck" moments while reading a novel since I read Sabbath's Theatre or All the Pretty Horses. Relentlessly engaging and interspersed with some brutal, fucking brilliant insight. 10/10

I'm halfway done Dostoyevsky's The Idiot. So far I prefer Iggy's.

[copstache]

James Joyce - Dubliners
Each story is longer and more boring than the one before it. Hated it. 2/10

lol

[neckbeard]

Russel Banks - Affliction
Amazing. I haven't had as many "holy fuck" moments while reading a novel since I read Sabbath's Theatre or All the Pretty Horses. Relentlessly engaging and interspersed with some brutal, fucking brilliant insight. 10/10
.

what parts of All the Pretty Horses made you say that? I don't remember that one that well. Have you read The Crossing ? It's my favorite of the series. Bleak.

[altars of radness]

Russel Banks - Affliction
Amazing. I haven't had as many "holy fuck" moments while reading a novel since I read Sabbath's Theatre or All the Pretty Horses. Relentlessly engaging and interspersed with some brutal, fucking brilliant insight. 10/10
.

what parts of All the Pretty Horses made you say that? I don't remember that one that well. Have you read The Crossing ? It's my favorite of the series. Bleak.

Horses is by far my favorite McCarthy. Aside from it probably being his best story-telling, I found it to be utterly devastating and beautifully. It's been a couple years since I read it, but I remember being knocked on my ass by a lot of what happened between the kid/the girl/the grandmother and by a lot of the "between the idea and the thing lies the world" kind of McCarthyisms.

Blood Meridian, No Country, Outter Dark -- I love all those books, but Horses is the one that really did it for me.

[neckbeard]

The Crossing

[altars of radness]

The Crossing

Nope, haven't read that or Cities of the Plain. I have a copy of the trilogy sitting in my Amazon basket. I'll get it when I get through the pile of books on my desk.

[neckbeard]

Revelation: From Metaphor to Analogy - Swinburne - 8

The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood - 6
Too slow. Too much highschool chick the problems.
Every few chapters, began with a hymn sung by the God's Gardners cult and the audiobook people actually had someone compose and sing them as songs.

[james]

Every few chapters, began with a hymn sung by the God's Gardners cult and the audiobook people actually had someone compose and sing them as songs.

I get so fucking confused when they pull shit like that

the fucking absolute best is when they have some asshole playing a jingle on a casio in the background to set the tone of the scene

[neckbeard]

All the songs were distillations of all the cliches of contemporary church music. It made me laugh a lot.

[altars of radness]

Dostoevsky -- The Idiot

That's pretty much what I felt like after reading the entire thing. A long-winded piece of shit free of momentum and interesting characters. 2/10

[EEEOOOEEEOOOEEEOOO]

Dostoevsky -- The Idiot

That's pretty much what I felt like after reading the entire thing. A long-winded piece of shit free of momentum and interesting characters. 2/10

Worst. Opinion. Ever.

[The Real MPD]

Alan Dean Foster - The Thing: A Novel - 7.5

[altars of radness]

Dostoevsky -- The Idiot

That's pretty much what I felt like after reading the entire thing. A long-winded piece of shit free of momentum and interesting characters. 2/10

Worst. Opinion. Ever.

Tell me what you liked about it.

[Pooeyegg]

Jesse Ventura - Lies, liars and the lying liars who lie

Ah man, this book is a total cash in on the shock value of his TV series without the head bobbing and confrontational hilarity. Skip it.

[ibn Horowitz]

White Jazz - James Ellroy - 8
i don't know how he maintains these plots of his
i think if i read another couple of books i'll start seeing the man behind the curtain but for now i am still amazed

[Whee of the Dead]

Roadwork - 8

[altars of radness]

White Jazz - James Ellroy - 8
i don't know how he maintains these plots of his
i think if i read another couple of books i'll start seeing the man behind the curtain but for now i am still amazed

That's my favorite of his by far. People flip out for the political underworld stuff he did later, but I think the L.A. Trilogy is Ellroy's peak.

[ibn Horowitz]

The Jugger - Richard Stark - 7/10
anyone else read the Parker books?
Feast of Snakes - Harry Crews - 8/10
A bit uneven but generally just really weird, funny, intimidating hicksploitation