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Books/Reading Thread


axlrose15

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I definitely agree with the people who suggested reading American Psycho and Catcher In the Rye. Those are two of my favorite books. Another great read is Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. Really good book in my opinion. A little twisted but good!

Another one of my favorite books is The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis (the same guy who wrote American Psycho). Awesome book!

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cant remember the last time i read a book. i gotta say, the reading habits of this forum are so atypical, its not even funny. its all like...books of movies or like...the sort of counter-culture required reading like fear and loathing and bukowski :lol: not that theres anything wrong with that you understand..

Edited by ffrankwhite
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cant remember the last time i read a book. i gotta say, the reading habits of this forum are so atypical, its not even funny. its all like...books of movies or like...the sort of counter-culture required reading like fear and loathing and bukowski :lol: not that theres anything wrong with that you understand..

We apologise for not being obscure enough for you frank :tongue2:. Gotta start somewhere though right?

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cant remember the last time i read a book. i gotta say, the reading habits of this forum are so atypical, its not even funny. its all like...books of movies or like...the sort of counter-culture required reading like fear and loathing and bukowski :lol: not that theres anything wrong with that you understand..

We apologise for not being obscure enough for you frank :tongue2:. Gotta start somewhere though right?

right after i finished typing that i thought 'wow, you just came off like a dick' :lol:

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angela's ashes by frank mccourt.

man, this guy totally ficked me up. i was in high school and after i read the book, i was so impressed by his style (it's a memoir so he writes it like it's a diary, fuck the rules!) and i was like, MOTHERFUCKER YEAH!!! FUCK THE RULES! IMMA GONNA WRITE MY ESSAYS MEMOIR STYLE!!! seriously, it opened up another world for me. before that i was writing typical high school essays. my teacher wasn't too impressed. she was kinda dissapointed. i was getting a's before. then i got a c. i didn't care. i tried to go back to my old writing style but i couldn't, i forgot how to write proper. i could only write the way i spoke. it was a total paradigm shift.

so yea, great book. you get hooked from the first page.

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...the sort of counter-culture required reading like fear and loathing and bukowski :lol: not that theres anything wrong with that you understand..

Hey, that counter-culture, trying-to-look-like-a-hip-outsider thing made reading somewhat cool again, so god bless! All you have to do when you want someone to read your book of the moment now is trick them by going "If you liked Fear and Loathing, you'll love this..."

PS: Hunter S. is ridiculously overrated, but Bukowski is still the man. :tongue2:

angela's ashes by frank mccourt.

Awww, that's a sweet little book. 'Tis was pretty good as well. Although when it comes to the growing-up-poor-and-religious

in Ireland plotline, I prefer something along the lines of McCabe's The Butcher Boy.

Edited by nameless_girl
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PS: Hunter S. is ridiculously overrated, but Bukowski is still the man.

i've never hit a girl before. dont tempt me :xmasssanta: (kidding!) seriously though, can you explain that a little? im really interested in how someone might think that :)

tristessta

the subterraneans

the soft machine

thats what im talkin' bout...soft machine is a total trip.

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PS: Hunter S. is ridiculously overrated, but Bukowski is still the man.

i've never hit a girl before. dont tempt me :xmasssanta: (kidding!) seriously though, can you explain that a little? im really interested in how someone might think that :)

Because he was all style over substance. The funny thing, though, is that the very reason I never warmed up to his writing seems to be the exact same reason he's managed to attain such a massive cult following, to my knowledge at least. Most of his fanbase appears to be more in awe of his liberal consumption of drugs, alcohol, and the "Gonzo" lifestyle that accompanied his professional journalism and writing than the writing itself. There was intrigue, mystery, zaniness and all that in his literary efforts, of course, but it sort of falls flat for me without any real, stir-you-up content to base it around. I don't actually mind him, and I do think he was capable of writing quite interesting things stylistically, but I do find it both puzzling and a shame several far more talented authors of his time remained in obscurity.

As for Bukowski, he was quite the legend himself, but I find his writing equally compelling when I separate the man's whims from his art.

Edited by nameless_girl
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PS: Hunter S. is ridiculously overrated, but Bukowski is still the man.

i've never hit a girl before. dont tempt me :xmasssanta: (kidding!) seriously though, can you explain that a little? im really interested in how someone might think that :)

Because he was all style over substance. The funny thing, though, is that the very reason I never warmed up to his writing seems to be the exact same reason he's managed to attain such a massive cult following, to my knowledge at least. Most of his fanbase appears to be more in awe of his liberal consumption of drugs, alcohol, and the "Gonzo" lifestyle that accompanied his professional journalism and writing than the writing itself. There was intrigue, mystery, zaniness and all that in his literary efforts, of course, but it sort of falls flat for me without any real, stir-you-up content to base it around. I don't actually mind him, and I do think he was capable of writing quite interesting things stylistically, but I do find it both puzzling and a shame several far more talented authors of his time remained in obscurity.

As for Bukowski, he was quite the legend himself, but I find his writing equally compelling when I separate the man's whims from his art.

theres a lot in what your saying but...a lot of it is not Hunters fault. if people sort of...latch onto some sort of weird heroism they see in what he did. i think Hunter had an incredibly eloquent way of concluding as it were...of summing up a sort of...mood or feeling or common thread through the people he tried to write about, his work is awfully substancial, i do really think that substance was his thing, he didnt actually have any wild stylistic thing that was like...so evident on the page y'know? i mean you're told or you pick up the idea that he wrote sort of...on the run as it were but its not terribly evident on the page, for all the insanity its all very lucid on his part. possibly i dunno, in a way i see what you mean but...its not like a Kerouac spontaeneous prose thing where its patently obvious that ur reading something thats like...stylistically groundbreaking so it cant really be THAT much of a case of style over substance. Hunter sort of...spoke for the generation or society or...no thats pretencious bullshit isnt it? what am i trying to say here? with Bukowski its more a personal thing and...his books always sort of conclude in this wonderful sort of way where you get this...theres no grandeur to it if you get what i mean, its kinda understated...he sort of hushes himself whereas Hunter (and this is/was where the substance lay) summed shit up REALLY eloquently and, i personally think, had a way with words and a REALLY original way of describing things. Bukowski is like the cynics cynic y'know? which is great and everything and he is an amazing writer but...sometimes you get the idea that he doesnt really know where his book is going...even by the end of it. Hunter may have been wild but he was...zeroed in, he had the shit in his crosshairs...Hunter was passionate...in the way a man determined to finish a marathon is passionate. Hank was passionate in the way a man taking a pebbles worth out of the wall of his prison cell wall every day for 30 years makin a hole so's he can escape is passionate...

horses for courses, i guess its a matter of taste and i do so hate doing this "he's better, no he's not THIS GUY is" sort of top of the pops bullshit, just felt the need to hold up Hunters end here a little :)

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PS: Hunter S. is ridiculously overrated, but Bukowski is still the man.

i've never hit a girl before. dont tempt me :xmasssanta: (kidding!) seriously though, can you explain that a little? im really interested in how someone might think that :)

tristessta

the subterraneans

the soft machine

thats what im talkin' bout...soft machine is a total trip.

yeah frank I knew you'd like that

i've gotten through all of jackyboy's road novels.

i've also started western lands and I kinda put it down then forgot about it.

i'll get around to it.

hopefully i'll get through all of burrough's this summer but that might be tough.

as for the bukowski question i've read the post office and i wasn't too impressed. it took me 2 days of sitting in barnes n noble for a couple hours and i found it amusing and cynical but overall...too linear for me.

if you really want a book with all substance and no structure try some burroughs.

i dunno about hunter haven't read 'im.

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I just finished reading all of Chuck Klosterman's books (4). Any fans?

I've been on a re-reading Bukowski binge lately, but other than that, I also picked up Journey to the End of the Night, which is just one of those books everyone should read at least once in their lifetime, even if they aren't massive Céline devotees. How I wish I knew French well enough to read it in its original form. :(

Bukowski - amazing. I re-read his poetry all the time. Love his 'fiction' also. - :)

Edited by Ions
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Any other Tom Robbins people around these parts? I'm always re-reading something of his, Still Life with Woodpecker presently. His books are like a security blanket to me. :heart:

Edited by Angelica
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