Castle to Castle, Céline.
The Murder of Professor Schlick: the Rise and Fall of the Vienna Circle, David Edmonds.

Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai

Particle Metaphysics - A Critical Account of Subatomic Reality by Brigitte Falkenburg

I also like Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and 1Q84 — javi2541997

[SPOILERS]

I just read 1Q84 and after the first book of the three, which was compelling and fascinating, it seemed to just fall flat, dominated by (a) mundane activities--which can be described interestingly in fiction but not here--and (b) the dull, bloodless thoughts of the main characters, especially Tengo. I can happily live with a main/point-of-view character who is evil or contradictory (or breast-fixated), but not with a boring one. He's the most boring fictional main character I can remember. In the third book, no sooner does the increasingly likeable and interesting Ushikawa begin to liven things up than he gets caught by Fuka-Eri's gaze and becomes as boring as the others, just before getting killed off.

It was my first Murukami and I've seen people say it shouldn't be the first one you read. And it has indeed put me off reading more.

Currently reading and reading soon:

• The Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake. I've read it every ten years or so since I was a teenager and it seems to get better each time.
• Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock, another re-read.
• Dune by Frank Herbert. Abandoned it after a few pages a few times for whatever reason, but I've just seen the movie and fancy reading it now.
• The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. I read this supposed classic (UKLG called Wolfe "our Melville" because of it) a long time ago and took its uneven narrative and confusing world-building to be clumsy incompetent writing, but I'm going to give it another go.
• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Now that I'm the same age as the character, it's time for a re-read.
• Black Spartacus by Sudhir Hazareesingh. So far the only book on Toussaint Louverture I've read is the brilliant classic The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James.
• The Volga: A History by Janet Hartley. I've just been on a cruise down the Volga, all the way to the Caspian, and I always for some reason do my research after I get back from my travels.

I also want to try those big difficult American classics, Infinite Jest and Gravity's Rainbow. Until now, just as the thought of being stuck in an upper class manners-infested house for a whole book has put me off Jane Austen, so getting bogged down in anything to do with tennis has put me off Infinite Jest. Maybe it's because I myself was a promising tennis athlete for a short time in my adolescence, before throwing it all away.

October reading

• The Nature of Middle-Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Carl F. Hostetter

Currently reading and reading soon:

• The Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake. I've read it every ten years or so since I was a teenager and it seems to get better each time.
• Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock, another re-read.
• Dune by Frank Herbert. Abandoned it after a few pages a few times for whatever reason, but I've just seen the movie and fancy reading it now.
• The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. I read this supposed classic (UKLG called Wolfe "our Melville" because of it) a long time ago and took its uneven narrative and confusing world-building to be clumsy incompetent writing, but I'm going to give it another go.
• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Now that I'm the same age as the character, it's time for a re-read.
• Black Spartacus by Sudhir Hazareesingh. So far the only book on Toussaint Louverture I've read is the brilliant classic The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James. — jamalrob

Brilliant! :up:

I'm really looking forward to Dune when it opens here in the US next month. At IMAX (matinee if possible). I've never ventured past Titus Groan, so maybe I'll give Peake's trilogy another chance. What do you think of Moorcock's Gloriana with its deliberately Gormenghast-like 'mood'? Btw, reading Gene Wolfe rewards patience.

I've never ventured past Titus Groan, so maybe I'll give Peake's trilogy another chance. — 180 Proof

I definitely recommend the second one, Gormenghast, but the third is non-essential and really not of a piece with the first two. But it's fascinatingly odd.

What do you think of Moorcock's Gloriana with its deliberately Gormenghast-like 'mood'? — 180 Proof

I abandoned it when I tried reading it in my adolescence but I'd be interested to try again. But although Moorcock loved Peake, I don't think he's the same kind of writer at all, so I don't know how he'd succeed with that kind of thing. I could be wrong about that, because there's a lot of Moorcock I haven't read (I've probably only read his Eternal Champion/Multiverse stories, and less than half of those). What did you think of it?

Btw, reading Gene Wolfe rewards patience. — 180 Proof

Glad to get some support for my suspicion that he's not just crap after all!

EDIT: btw, I saw Dune in a beautiful "premium" cinema with big chairs and tables and all that, and only four other people there. It was a very good experience, but I'll say no more.

(I've probably only read his Eternal Champion/Multiverse stories, and less than half of those). What did you think of it? — jamalrob

I first read Moorcock back in the late '70s – The Eternal Champion-Silver Warriors duology and Elric stories mostly, later Behold the Man, von Bek stories and "sampled" quite a few other of his novels. I really fell for Moorcock's pulpish weird fantasy (i.e. sword & sorcery), especially Elric and the Multiverse back in the day (which, along with Conan stories and Lord of the Rings-The Silmarillion, lead me to running & designing tabletop roleplaying games through the mid-80s). Foundational stuff for me. Also, Ursula LeGuin, Poul Anderson, "Cthulhu Mythos" stories, Gene Wolfe, Charles Saunders (Imaro) ... Frank Herbert, et al.

I definitely recommend the second one, Gormenghast ...

:up:

Ducks, Newsburyport by Lucy Ellmann

Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality by Frank Wilczek

I first read Moorcock back in the late '70s – The Eternal Champion-Silver Warriors duology and Elric stories mostly, later Behold the Man, von Bek stories and "sampled" quite a few other of his novels. I really fell for Moorcock's pulpish weird fantasy (i.e. sword & sorcery), especially Elric and the Multiverse back in the day (which, along with Conan stories and Lord of the Rings-The Silmarillion, lead me to running & designing tabletop roleplaying games through the mid-80s). Foundational stuff for me. — 180 Proof

:cool:

I was into the Corum and Von Bek stories back in the day. Later on Colonel Pyat.

Ursula LeGuin — 180 Proof

:up: :up: :up:

I also want to try those big difficult American classics, Infinite Jest and Gravity's Rainbow. Until now, just as the thought of being stuck in an upper class manners-infested house for a whole book has put me off Jane Austen, so getting bogged down in anything to do with tennis has put me off Infinite Jest. Maybe it's because I myself was a promising tennis athlete for a short time in my adolescence, before throwing it all away. — jamalrob

It varies. Gravity's Rainbow is quite difficult. You need to be able to withstand not understanding almost anything for 240 pages, then it takes off for a good while. But the last 100-ish pages go back to obscurity. It was quite a feat finishing that. Feels like an accomplishment. But at least most things you read afterward become easy or they cease to intimidate. A unique experience, no doubt about that.

Infinite Jest, on the other hand, is much easier to read and has some creative and fun moments. But the endnotes killed me. Sure, you can skip them if you wish, but then I felt like I was cheating the book. But going back and forth all the time just became a total slog. And I wasn't enjoying it, not because it was hard, but because it was unrewarding despite some nice pages and passages. Stopped at p.400.

But some people swear on this book.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate it.

There was a time when I went for big difficult books in the way that young men do: to prove to myself and to others that I was a serious intellectual.

These days, it's more like curiosity and exploration. These books stand in the cultural landscape like mountains to be climbed.

The endnotes thing puts me off, I have to say. Friends of mine have raved about Infinite Jest, but I feel more drawn to Gravity's Rainbow. I can handle books I can't understand so long as it seems like the writer knows what he's writing about, and if it looks like it could be interesting. That's when I know I have to go and do some research of my own.

There are whole guidebooks for GR. Once it gets going it's crazy: characters appearing left and right, changes in prose from paranoiac to authoritative to funny all in a few pages. You have to be determined to finish the book, at least that's how I read it.

Mason & Dixon, on the other hand, took him something like 25 years to write, to get the language right and the like, it reads beautifully - a total mastery of the English language. But it's also very hard.

IJ is curious. Obviously Wallace could write very well, but I think he was much better in his non-fiction essays by a lot. The end notes did not enhance the experience for me.

Since this is a philosophy forum, you might want to check out Novel Explosives by Jim Gauer, it is amazing. Better than GR, imo. I have to do PR for that book, since you mentioned these two novels. ;)

I definitely recommend the second one, Gormenghast, but the third is non-essential and really not of a piece with the first two. — jamalrob

I loved "Titus Groan," but I'm surprised I finished it. Luckily, about a quarter of the way in, something grabbed me by the collar and dragged me the rest of the way through. Really odd, but wonderful. I've been trying to get up the nerve to read "Gormenghast."

Just so you know, there is a rule for books identified as "classics" - you get just as much credit for reading short easy-to-read ones as for the difficult ones. I recommend "Heart of Darkness." Mr. Pynchon, he dead.

I've been trying to get up the nerve to read "Gormenghast." — T Clark

Titus Groan is ponderous, if you can imagine that as a positive, but Gormenghast I found somewhat lighter and more comedic, in a Dickensian kind of way.

Really odd, but wonderful. — T Clark

:up: :100: :cool:

This tower, patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously at heaven. At night the owls made of it an echoing throat; by day it stood voiceless and cast its long shadow. — Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan

This is always quoted, but the thing is: the whole book is like that.

There are whole guidebooks for GR — Manuel

I looked at one today, but I approach literature as I do film, knowing as little about it beforehand as possible and certainly avoiding plot spoilers, which this guidebook apparently has.

That's the best way to read novels.

Mason & Dixon, on the other hand, took him something like 25 years to write, to get the language right and the like, it reads beautifully - a total mastery of the English language. But it's also very hard. — Manuel

This is the only Pynchon novel I've "withstood" long enough to finish. Enjoyed it though. At the time, I was also reading William Gass' The Tunnel which I very much preferred. Ever read David Markson's "novels"? If not, I highly recommend Wittgenstein's Mistress (and Springer's Progress too). :up:

This is the only Pynchon novel I've "withstood" long enough to finish. Enjoyed it though. At the time, I was also reading William Gass' The Tunnel which I very much preferred. Ever read David Markson's "novels"? If not, I highly recommend Wittgenstein's Mistress (and Springer's Progress too). :up: — 180 Proof

I couldn't finish The Tunnel when I first tried. Wasn't in to it back then, am going to have to give it another shot.

Yep, Markson's Wittgenstein's Mistress is great. Will check out Springer's Progress, that I have not seen.

Thanks!

American Extremist: The Psychology of Political Extremism, Josh Neal.

Well, I'm an idiot, that guy's a white supremacist :vomit:

I couldn't finish The Tunnel when I first tried. — Manuel

Neither could I, it went a bit over my head and felt like a chore to get through. I'll try again some other time.

Neither could I, it went a bit over my head and felt like a chore to get through. I'll try again some other time. — darthbarracuda

Yes, these authors tend to produce dense works that require persistence and patience, ideally, it ends up being worth the effort. Depending on the person, it can pay off in spades or it could be garbage. People have both loved and hated Pynchon and Wallace. Same with Gass.

Definitely not the type of book you'd pick up casually.

Adventures of Ideas by Alfred North Whitehead

Georges Dumezil - The Destiny of a King
Georges Dumezil - Mitra-Varuna: An Essay on Two Indo-European Representations of Sovereignty
James Baldwin - The Fire Next Time
Kathryn Yusoff - A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None

Gilles Deleuze - Foucault
Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari - Kafka

The Fascism This Time, Theo Horesh.

Also Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. Cannot read it right now, the copy I got has so many notes on every page that it's impossible to focus on the story.

The Drowned World, J. G. Ballard. Holy shit what a novel.

Federico Finchelstein - A Brief History of Fascist Lies.

:up:

• The Journal of Albion Moonlight, Kenneth Patchen
• The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You, Frank Stanford
• Zone One, Colson Whitehead

Coming Through Slaughter Buddy Bolden imagined by Michael Ondaatje

:cool: On my to-be-read list. Please share your thoughts on this one when you're done.