I finished underworld recently (don dellio). Was good but felt a little like the beginners version of something like infinite jest. I'm thinking next book will be battle Royale or the rest of Clive barkers bibliography that I never got around to reading 20 years ago

Haven't read Underworld but think its rep is partially because it's such a doorstop. The Lit establishment in the US seem to think that a book needs to be as big as Moby Dick to be 'important.' I really like his 70s novel Players a lot. Probably a bit too cold and odd for the awards. Sometimes short, stark and focused is good.

^ This. The doorstop mentality is the Achilles heel of American literature, even though I know that American culture in general has a "go big or go home" ethos. Still, it would be nice if more critics and authors realized that greatness is frequently a question of luck as well as skill, and if an author simply does his best, he might get lucky and knock it out of the park once or twice over the course of his career.

I forget the author, but he was popular and wrote books with titles like 'Chesepeake' and 'Hawaii' and his novels were huge simply to encompass vast plots and enourmous amounts of research. It was very popular, workmanlike writing and his books sold wildly. But your Fosters and DeLillos seem to largely extrapolate techniques of poetry and short fiction to absurd lengths. I love Foster but mainly for his nonfiction essays and occasionally his short stories and I prefer shorter forms in general because I do most of my reading on the toilet like my Dad.

^ James A. Michener was the author. Never read it, but I think his novel, "Alaska," was sposed to be pretty good.

Yes, thank you. Michener. My Dad read that stuff. He also had a paperback of John Hersey's 'Hiroshima' on the bookshelf which captured my fancy at a young age. A slim volume on a subject whose scale can't be overstated, which is the scale I prefer.

Down Under (Bill Bryson)


A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson)

A History of Fascism 1914-45 by Stanley Payne.

Walter de la Mare Short Stories 1895-1926

I'm in a rut. Recommend something in the Sci Fi/Fantasy genre for me. I have tons of the stuff unread but can't seem to get motivated.

^ http://www.tasrt.ca/TASRTVersions/TASRT.pdf

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)

Lol Ugggggghhhhhhhhh

Right to the Edge: Sydney to Tokyo By Any Means (Charley Boorman)

Leigh Brackett's Sword of Rhiannon. Influenced by Robert E. Howard but more consistently written, vivid, colorful and pacey.

Right now reading Lawrence Osborne's Hunters in the Dark. A Greenish literary thriller set in Cambodia.

Read the entirety of Derf Backderf's comic book about his highschool friend Jeffrey Dahmer ('My Friend Dahmer') at the Barnes & Noble in Akron yesterday. Drank 2 iced cappucinos. Stared at ladies. Why do girls in bookstores dress so sexy comparatively?

Good comic book, you should have bought it cheapskate.

Reading Digger's Game by George V. Higgins.

That's a legitimate criticism but in my defense I'm not a part of the free downloading/pirating generation and libraries predate all of that by a long time and anyway we are in the midst of the death of one thing and the birth of something else as far as all media is concerned so I don't really consider myself a part of the problem or any problem really. Except for pornography and what that means, I'm completely implicated in that and I hate myself for it.

Mein Kampf. The edition that was given to POWs .

Auf Deutsch or translated into English? Some of the Fuhrer's flourishes get lost in translation I've heard.

English. I grabbed it on the suggestion that the Stalag version is the more accurate translation out there.

Couldn't get through MK or Rosenberg's Myth of the 20th Century, they're such humourless, montonous screeds. When it comes to fascists I actually enjoyed Celine, Junger, D'Annunzio and Gentile.

Yeah, I think we've covered this in a pm or a different thread , but intelligent is intelligent, and occasionally that quality transcends politics. I've been reading Nick Land, and the man is a genius, whatever his politics...

The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa.

I have always wanted to read D'Annunzio. Struck me more adventurer than proto-fascist.

Happily a lot of D'Annunzio has been getting translated and published in English recently. Just picked up a copy of The Innocent by him.

Forgot to mention Malaparte too, his essays on the Eastern Front called Kaput is terrific and his novel The Skin is supposed to be great too.

Looked him up, sounds interesting, particularly his book on Bataille. Is he a true blue nihlist or is it just a cover for a garden variety racist?

Isn't nihilism always a cover for something?

^ Unless you're a P-Dub. Then the cover is Existentialism.

Bio of General Sherman. Most instructive.

Isn't that the pyromaniac guy?

^ Only if you're wearing a hood and have yourself lit a cross.

He just wanted to let the South rise again.....from ashes.

Confessions of a Reluctant Hater by Greg Johnson.

Silver and Golden age comics. I like pictures.

I read on the computer between innings. Tonight I'm starting here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killer

Currently reading unemployment.ohio.gov. The last time I did this I had to go to an office and stand in line. The internet is wonderful.

They've got your mugshot posted at the security desk, don't they?

A background check on me reveals that I'm an upstanding citizen, sir. Can you say the same?

I'm "upstanding", or at least able to stand up, ten hours a day, five days a week. Hence, why I remain employed.

As a fellow liberal humanist I find your lack of empathy for my unemployment disturbing.

As an unemployed fellow, you should find my suggested remedy instructive.

I am NOT a drunken reprobate loser. I would be a brilliant addition to a company's roster.

I'm considering all my options though. A tremendously attractive one is cashing out my 401k, getting a part-time spot on the local rag, and making boozing/sweatpants/whoring my full-time job. The organs will begin failing long before the $ runs out.

Windsock cashes out his 401K


Sock: So, how much is left in my account?

Teller: Mmmmmm... $4.01, K?

The board software is derping it up as usual

Been reading Bolano, Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy and Gaitskill lately.

Not sure if I want to subject myself to 2666 or not.

Thinking I'll read some more Bukowski but not sure what to grab next as his bibliography is so huge. Maybe I'll check out the Vonnegut books I haven't already read.

I've read Infinte Jest, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Signifying Rappers, and Consider The Lobster. Which is the next DFW book I should pick up for when I'm feeling particularly wrist slitting?

I've got a love/hate relationship with DeLillo

Anyone read Samuel Delaney? I've yet to dive into any of his works, I hear he can be quite mind fucking

I was digging through junk in my house. Looking for books as my job is having a book drive and finding mostly shit ( I have a house mate ) and fighting with the other person to please let me get rid of the Patricia Cornwell's and twilight books and 10 year old cook books when I actually found some shit of theirs that is halfway decent, "We're ready for you mr Grodin" and Angela's Ashes. So I start reading a book at about 2 am after having 4 beers, seems like a good idea.

A History of Traffic Analysis.
https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-he...ic_analysis.pdf