I thought I was on crack for not fw the stranger as much as everyone else. Like yeah, I got the point of the story mostly, but Camus writing ain't my favorite

just finished the grapes of wrath

i enjoyed it even though it didnt really have much in the way of a middle / end. just one long journey that felt like it could go on as long as the author wanted. this might make it sound like i didnt like it - i did - but this is my one criticism.

i also think if there was ever a book that confirms my political beliefs, its this one

Llamadas Telefónicas by Roberto Bolaño

collection of short stories by Bolaño published in 1997. divided into three sections, the first was good but the last 2 sections I enjoyed a lot more. like most collections, one or two of the stories didn't do much for me, but most of the stories were good and a few were excellent. Bolaño's talent clearly works well for short stories as well as longer novels. a few characters from Savage Detectives popped up too, it's like Bolaño has his own literary universe that overlaps through his work

8/10

Bolaño is 2/2 for me now and slowly becoming one of my favorite authors. he almost reminds me of Murakami in a way. the plot isn't always the most exciting but Bolaño's prose makes reading him a comfortable and pleasurable experience. also feel like I can relate to a lot of his experiences as an expat

first full length book I've read in Spanish

going to keep reading Bolaño's other books in Spanish and try to work my way up to 2666

fantastic book, i didn't see that ending coming lmao

Just an absolutely sick Western about an outlaw, a poker playing nun, a group of besieged children and a band of Apache. There isn't a wasted word in this whole book and it moves like a really tense thriller. The prose is simple and some of the religious themes are a bit heavy handed but I don't think any of that matters when you have a story this good

definitely gonna check this out

interested to hear your thoughts whenever you get to it on the western style novel I posted a few pages ago In The Distance by Hernan Diaz. one of my favorite reads this year

he's got a new book coming out tomorrow that I'm very excited to read too

yeah that ending was very wild, an image that will def stay with me for a long time

Yeah I've got that one on my (very long) list

Trust by Hernan Diaz

Diaz's debut novel In The Distance is one of my favorite reads this year so I was very excited about his new book that just game out last week. unfortunately I was a bit disappointed.

the story follows a business tycoon in the early 20th century building his empire. it's told in 4 different sections with different narrators and the truth lying somewhere between their 4 perspectives.

this felt like another example of the trap that so many contemporary authors fall into where they try to reinvent the wheel and rely on unique storytelling or a different structure to tell a story instead of the plot and characters being strong enough to stand for themselves.

characters came across as cold or void of personality and the story didn't seem interesting enough to merit 4 perspectives. In The Distance was amazing and I'll keep recommending it to everybody, but Trust, while well written, was a miss for me

7/10

Admits the lit scene of the 90’s William H Gass had published what is often considered as his magnum opus after 35 years of working on it. Originally wanting to publish and sell the book as a 1,304 single sided paged “manuscript” wrapped in a rubber band within a paper sack, the book is about a History professor William Kohler who is working on finishing his magnum opus “Guilt and Innocence Of Nazi Germany” as he finds himself not being able to finish the introduction to his book he ends up writing the pages to something else entirely, the story of his life as well as occupying himself with building a tunnel… . An extraordinary meditation and refutation on fascism and bigotry/ the importance of art in a postmodern society. The books prose can be difficult at times and the first 100 pages where meant to be tough to get through to test the reader but it is by far one of the most enjoyable breathtaking and hallucinatory reading experiences I’ve encountered. Totally convinced Gass can write about the most mundane events and make it interesting and totally engaging. I was told before I read it to read his other work first before the Tunnel but I always loathe when people tell me that so I didn’t. It’ll be interesting reading his other work afterwards. Give it a read. Will be coming back to it in the future.

A Happy Death is v decent imo, I preferred that over The Stranger.

"Another Roadside Attraction" by Tom Robbins

Sheesh a solid 9/10 for me
It took a slight minute to get used to the structure of the whole thing, but once I finished I re-read some of the beginning parts and wow yeah he nailed it. I enjoy his writing style and how he does this thing where you'll be in the middle of something and then a character/narrator will give you four paragraphs of explaining a thing in detail so you can see exactly what they're referencing. Also all of his ways he describes settings, feelings, and thoughts even is unique. I would have enjoyed a bit more John Paul story, whether that going into his travels in Africa (or was it India?), or some Mon Cul shenanigan's. I can understand why there wasn't more though.

Overall big recommended this book, especially if you enjoy a more funky story telling style. I am now onto finishing up "Promethea" by Alan Moore, J. H. Williams III, and Mick Gray

just got thru amiri baraka’s short story collection from 67 “tales”

baraka’s an amazing storyteller, v abstract n shifts perspectives a lot but always thought provoking and never loses attention (lotta f bombs in them stories tho), great poet and writer and amazing work

Cover is

What the F***?!

5 stars

Going to blindly the buy book and not read the synopsis.

It's a wild ride

👀

Exactly. Heard it's a Russian classic, and that's all I need to know

I did get to finishing Promethea, but The Picture of Dorian Grey was just staring at my soul so I decided to read that first.

"The Picture of Dorian Grey" by Oscar Wilde

Another 9/10
It took my a little bit to get used to the sort of language he was using, but like any other book I got used to it. Wow though what a wonderful story. I love the irony of the book Dorian gets because what he goes through with the book is something someone else could do with "TPoDG". The first time jump threw me a little bit, but being done with the book now I actually enjoyed how it progressed through time. The version I have has a BUNCH of commentary on the person who did the forward (which I don't particularly care for), but I find it very interesting that the three "main" characters are based upon perceptions of Oscar Wilde. One of my favorite bits was when Dorian was in the backwoodsie opium fields and G dang I would have loved to live in that moment maybe a chapter or two longer. It felt so gritty comparatively to the rest of the book.

"Promthea" by Alan Moore, J. H. Williams III, Mick Gray

Wooooooow I don't want to give it a perfect score, but for me it is a 10/10
I loved this series. I haven't read many comics come to think of it, but it felt like it had the perfect amount of everything. The amount of psychedelia could be a turn off for some, but with the final bit in book 5 I feel that it's justified thoroughly. My one and only qualm is when Sophie has to "run away". The immediacy of Promethea doing her main thing felt a bit rushed, but I guess she had a job to do and wanted to get it done My golly the way they implemented other art forms was also impressive. They knew exactly when to lean into tropes, but also any time we are in the Immertia felt so fresh and creative.

Overall would recommend both "TPoDG" and "Promethea", just really good story telling. "TPoDG" is a bit more grounded in reality and "Promethea" obviously is a bit more fantastical. Up next I am re-reading "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami with a group. (Probably my second or third fav Murakami book, 1Q84 is not even on my list - was a big disappointment imo.)

posted in the wrong thread first

not actually a book but i finally read Emerson's Self-Reliance essay, its only 21 pages but full of quotables. recommend for anyone interested in a wholesome individualist perspective

“What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude”

Copped and going in blindly as well

Highly recommend for the surreal

Alright guys I’m coming back. I have a goal to finish

2666 in Spanish?!

Good luck my guy. I was struggling reading it in English and that’s my native language lol