What are you currently reading?

[Simple Torture]

I'm in the middle of this one. So far so good

Yeah, I’m enjoying it, but at times I realize I’m not paying attention as much as I should. I re-read his first novel a few times, and there were always layers being pulled back, so it’s nice to see it again here.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[wease]

Bob Odenkirk’s A Load of Hooey audiobook is so absurd and silly and highly recommended

Is that the autobiography?

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[blueviper]

I'm in the middle of this one. So far so good

Yeah, I’m enjoying it, but at times I realize I’m not paying attention as much as I should. I re-read his first novel a few times, and there were always layers being pulled back, so it’s nice to see it again here.

It feels in a similar vein as Cloud Atlas or Cloud Cuckoo Land.

[epilogue]

I didn't realize what Klara and the Sun was about...

Goddamn loving it so far

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[epilogue]

I didn't realize what Klara and the Sun was about...

Goddamn loving it so far

This was one of my wife’s favorites of the last few years, she still talks about it

Well, I wish she posted here to tell me how awesome it is (I'm only 50 pages in).

[Simple Torture]

I'm in the middle of this one. So far so good

Yeah, I’m enjoying it, but at times I realize I’m not paying attention as much as I should. I re-read his first novel a few times, and there were always layers being pulled back, so it’s nice to see it again here.

It feels in a similar vein as Cloud Atlas or Cloud Cuckoo Land.

You can feel the David Mitchell-ness of it all, definitely.

[BurtReynolds]

i have no idea what's going on.

[BurtReynolds]

It was ok. Not as good as the other book on 19th century utopian cults that I read earlier, and the two things mentioned are barely connected, but its entertaining.

[Simple Torture]

I’m re-reading all of Roberto Bolaño’s work in 2024, nearly chronologically (I cheated a bit and read a few short things at the end of 2023). So I have now read 4 of his books in a row, and I’m struggling trying to decide if I give myself a break and read someone else, or really just plow through. I imagine this is going to take me around 1/3 of this year to complete.

[Simple Torture]

Before any psychos ask what order I’m reading them in:

Spoiler: show

Title Year Type
Antwerp 1980 Novel
Prose from Autumn in Gerona 1981 Poems
Monsieur Pain 1982 Novel
The Spirit of Science Fiction 1984 Novel
Woes of a True Policeman 1989 Novel
The Third Reich 1989 Novel
The Skating Rink 1993 Novel
The Neochileans 1993 Poem
Fatherland 1994 Short Story
A Stroll Through Literature 1994 Poem
Cowboy Graves 1995 Short Story
The Unknown University 1995 Poetry Collection
Nazi Literature 1996 Novel
Distant Star 1996 Novel
Henri Simon Leprince 1997 Short Story
Sensini 1997 Short Story
Enrique Martín 1997 Short Story
A Literary Adventure 1997 Short Story
Phone Calls 1997 Short Story
The Grub 1997 Short Story
Anne Moore's Life 1997 Short Story
Snow 1997 Short Story
Another Russian Tale 1997 Short Story
William Burns 1997 Short Story
Detectives 1997 Short Story
Cell Mates 1997 Short Story
Clara 1997 Short Story
Joanna Silvestri 1997 Short Story
The Romantic Dogs 1998 Poetry Collection
The Savage Detectives 1998 Novel
Amulet 1999 Novel
By Night in Chile 2000 Novel
A Little Lumpen Novelita 2001 Novel
"Mauricio (""The Eye"") Silva" 2001 Short Story
Gómez Palacio 2001 Short Story
Last Evenings on Earth 2001 Short Story
Days of 1978 2001 Short Story
Vagabond in France and Belgium 2001 Short Story
Dentist 2001 Short Story
Dance Card 2001 Short Story
Prefiguration of Lalo Cura 2001 Short Story
Murdering Whores 2001 Short Story
The Return 2001 Short Story
Buba 2001 Short Story
Photos 2001 Short Story
Meeting with Enrique Lihn 2001 Short Story
French Comedy of Horrors 2002 Short Story
The Insufferable Gaucho 2003 Story Collection
The Secret of Evil 2007 Story Collection
2666 2003 Novel

[dad]

i'd never read a Chuck Klosterman book until recently. I finished X a few days ago, and I've started on IV, with The Nineties in the queue.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[dad]

i'd never read a Chuck Klosterman book until recently. I finished X a few days ago, and I've started on IV, with The Nineties in the queue.

IV is great.
X is solid.
Nineties is a mixed bag.

I think his best are IV, Eating the Dinosaur, and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs.

His later works like X, Nineties, and I Wear the Black Hat are very much more of the same, but he either got a new editor or his old editor just doesn't care any more -- the quality ratio starts to dip.

I'll put Eating the Dinosaur and SDCP in the queue.

[blueviper]

Klosterman's novel, The Visible Man, was pretty good, from what I recall.


I'm currently reading, Erasure - Percival Everett

[dad]

Klosterman's novel, The Visible Man, was pretty good, from what I recall.


I'm currently reading, Erasure - Percival Everett

Nice! are you planning on seeing American Fiction?

[blueviper]

Klosterman's novel, The Visible Man, was pretty good, from what I recall.


I'm currently reading, Erasure - Percival Everett

Nice! are you planning on seeing American Fiction?

I might. I did get the book because the movie sounded interesting.

[epilogue]

I'm through Part One of Bunny by Mona Awad (like 1/3 of the way though).

This book is unreal. Bananas in the brewery, must exciting way. Holy shit!