I'm in love with Roth's writing. Such tragicomic mastery, Portnoy's Complaint is without a doubt the funniest book I've ever read.

-

On a completely different note: I'm on college recess, so I finally have time to read À la recherche du temps perdu.

corumjhaelen

France6884 Posts

June 04 2014 20:02 GMT

#824

Do iiiiiiit. Not that I'm a fanboy of course :D

bookwyrm

United States722 Posts

June 04 2014 23:25 GMT

#825

edit: oh this book is great

TOCHMY

Sweden1692 Posts

June 05 2014 07:16 GMT

#826

I found something interesting yesterday in Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase .

"The 'world' - the world always makes me think of a tortoise and elephants tirelessly supporting a gigantic disc. The elephants have no knowledge of the tortoise's role, the tortoise unable to see what the elephants are doing. And neither is the least aware of the world on their backs."

The book was released 1982 in Japan, the year before Colors of Magic was released. However, A Wild Sheep Chase wasn't translated to English until 1989. I doubt that Pratchett could read Japanese. Maybe something happened around 82-83 that both authors drew inspiration from. Or it's a huge coincidence.

This is fascinating for me as a huge fan of both authors!

bookwyrm

United States722 Posts

June 05 2014 07:40 GMT

#827

It's a hindu thing, I think. Bertrand Russell tells a joke about this at the beginning of the 20th C, neither one of them invented it

Wesso

Netherlands1245 Posts

June 05 2014 07:42 GMT

#828

On June 05 2014 16:16 TOCHMY wrote:
I found something interesting yesterday in Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase .

"The 'world' - the world always makes me think of a tortoise and elephants tirelessly supporting a gigantic disc. The elephants have no knowledge of the tortoise's role, the tortoise unable to see what the elephants are doing. And neither is the least aware of the world on their backs."

The book was released 1982 in Japan, the year before Colors of Magic was released. However, A Wild Sheep Chase wasn't translated to English until 1989. I doubt that Pratchett could read Japanese. Maybe something happened around 82-83 that both authors drew inspiration from. Or it's a huge coincidence.

This is fascinating for me as a huge fan of both authors!

It's an old Hindu myth apparently:

"The combination of tortoise and elephant is present in John Locke's 1690 tract An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which references an "Indian who said the world was on an elephant which was on a tortoise "."

TOCHMY

Sweden1692 Posts

June 05 2014 08:06 GMT

#829

Thanks for that clarification fellas. Still kind of funny that they both wrote similar stuff around the same time.

IgnE

United States7684 Posts

June 05 2014 08:15 GMT

#830

On June 04 2014 22:35 Boblion wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coming_Insurrection

Surprisingly good for lefties. Never bothered to read it before but it was quite interesting. Still a a lot of self-hate, way too much "we" and snobbery (they refuse to be called lefties lol). Looks like a good preview of "their" future.
I somewhat enjoyed the analyzis of the utter meaningless of the slave life tho (it's very Baudrillesque !) and how even lefties can make fun of other lefties lol. Alas their solutions are utterly retarded as always and the two last chapters are atrocious to read.

Recommended for our dear comrad Sam ! Igne and farvacola should also read it because they aren't edgy enough yet. (They are still talking about wages, GDP, unemployement and all the perverted capitalist concepts duh)

Glenn Beck recommends it. How can it be bad?

farvacola

United States18876 Posts

June 05 2014 14:46 GMT

#831

Good to know what sort of straw goes into the scarecrow, thanks Bob!

lungic

Sweden123 Posts

June 05 2014 15:12 GMT

#832

On June 04 2014 04:49 FuDDx wrote:
last week and a half I have read

Prince of Thorns
King of Thorns
Emperor of Thorns

By Mark Lawrence

I enjoyed them. If I were to try to describe them Id say a mix of Salvatore meets George R R Martian kinda.....

...

Just finished Prince of Thorns a week ago. It was, interesting. Not a masterpiece, could've been a bit less simplistic at places, but still definitely worth a read. Perhaps one could call it "Easy reading dystopian fantasy featuring a destructive personality"?

How was King of Thorns? More of the same I'd guess?

dmnum

Brazil6910 Posts

June 05 2014 15:26 GMT

#833

farva what is your opinion on Philip Roth? And should I read the Zuckerman books in order or go straight to American Pastoral?

If anyone else has an opinion, I'm interested in it.

farvacola

United States18876 Posts

June 05 2014 15:35 GMT

#834

I've only read 3 of his full length novels: Letting Go, Portnoy's Complaint, and The Plot Against America. I very much enjoyed each, as Roth's prose is well-oiled, easy to read, and lends itself to a variety of topics that make good novel fodder. If we are to follow the advice of Roth and those who love him, you should read the Zuckerman books in order given the proper time and patience. Otherwise, I don't think it really matters; the bits of the Zuckerman series that I've read seemed like they could stand on their own.

bookwyrm

United States722 Posts

June 06 2014 16:49 GMT

#835

Gonna pick up the second book of Don Quixote, which I didn't get to the first time around.

ahw

Canada1099 Posts

June 06 2014 21:51 GMT

#836

I know there are some Murakami readers in here. I started with IQ84, which was alright, then Norwegian Wood, which was excellent, and I just finished Kafka on the Shore. I really enjoy his style and interwoven dream-like narratives, but the lack of resolution is starting to get at me. In particular in Kafka, the "meta"-ness of his novel was a bit tired. There are only so many allusions you can drop before its less of an allusion and more of a circle-jerk.

Anyway, I do enjoy his writing, would anyone suggest going after 'wind up bird' or some of his short stories next?

dmnum

Brazil6910 Posts

June 06 2014 21:57 GMT

#837

Sputnik Sweetheart is my favourite Murakami novel.

bookwyrm

United States722 Posts

June 06 2014 22:25 GMT

#838

I'm sorry you started with 1Q84, that book is a complete failure IMO

Some of his short stories are very brilliant. "The Second Bakery Attack" in particular is a masterpiece. I also recommend _A Wild Sheep Chase_

packrat386

United States5077 Posts

June 07 2014 04:13 GMT

#839

On June 03 2014 23:15 farvacola wrote:
Haha indeed. People have asked me what I like about the book and my response of "it's like the Bible but for Middle-Earth." Doesn't seem to win many people over

I've had the same issue. (Its seriously my favorite book though).

As for comparisons to the bible, its certainly the bible of its own genre, anything fantasy based from GRRM to Dungeons and Dragons draws heavily on Tolkien.

lungic

Sweden123 Posts

June 07 2014 07:08 GMT

#840

I had the privilige to get the "Tolkien Bestiary"* as a kid, to which I've devoted many hours while growing up. This book has a two page table in the beginning that describes the whole "genesis"* that is described in Silmarillion which I learned by heart.

When I read Silmarillion, I think I had a hard time taking it all in in it's written from, and I think that by studying the plotline for years, improved my understanding of great (read: big) the story is. Then upon realising that the Fëanor storyline is progressed over a couple of hundred pages, and in comparison the Ring line is like three pages long, what we could've had had Tolkien lived for another 200 years. It almost turns into a "you can't see the forest for all the trees" situation. But the forest is a most haunting beauty, even if one only get's to get a glimpse of it.

As for the bestiary, I really don't like the illustrations, but the book itself is a pretty nice summary of Tolkiens works.