Red Mosquito

The Argonaut wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

B wrote:We agree on most books that we've both read. The only ones we don't agree on are classics that I didn't enjoy (On the Road, Breakfast of Champions, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance).

I'm not big on On the Road, either. It was fine, but ....

And I haven't read Breakfast of Champions or Zen and the...)

if you like vonnegut at all you should absolutely read breakfast of champions

I've actually never read any Vonnegut. So I have no opinion at this point.

What the hell, man?

I spent too much of my life as a non-reader and I'm catching up now. I'm not proud of this, but it is what it is. I'll get there. He's on my list.

He's a pretty easy read. I'd go with Breakfast of Champions or Slaughterhouse Five as a first read.

cutuphalfdead wrote:

The Argonaut wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

B wrote:We agree on most books that we've both read. The only ones we don't agree on are classics that I didn't enjoy (On the Road, Breakfast of Champions, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance).

I'm not big on On the Road, either. It was fine, but ....

And I haven't read Breakfast of Champions or Zen and the...)

if you like vonnegut at all you should absolutely read breakfast of champions

I've actually never read any Vonnegut. So I have no opinion at this point.

What the hell, man?

I spent too much of my life as a non-reader and I'm catching up now. I'm not proud of this, but it is what it is. I'll get there. He's on my list.

He's a pretty easy read. I'd go with Breakfast of Champions or Slaughterhouse Five as a first read.

I'd wait on Breakfast of Champions. Start with Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle.

Steve Albini wrote: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.

Steve Albini wrote: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.

tragabigzanda wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:freedom by jonathan franzen

Ugh. Do you like it? I absolutely hated this book.

Steve Albini wrote: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.

tragabigzanda wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:freedom by jonathan franzen

Ugh. Do you like it? I absolutely hated this book.

i'm only about a fourth in, but i like it so far...was a big fan of the corrections - did you like it?

Never read it, I know Oprah loved it. Freedom is the only Franzen book I've read. It suffers from the same problem that a lot of current fiction does (Girls, Todd Solonz films, etc), in that every character is despicable. Once I finished it, I just felt like "This was a masochistic process that I remained committed to only because all the literary rags told me too." I felt I'd been bamboozled; that I was supposed to learn something about the human condition, or at least witness some really fine writing. Neither one was true.

Steve Albini wrote: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.

tragabigzanda wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:freedom by jonathan franzen

Ugh. Do you like it? I absolutely hated this book.

i'm only about a fourth in, but i like it so far...was a big fan of the corrections - did you like it?

Never read it, I know Oprah loved it. Freedom is the only Franzen book I've read. It suffers from the same problem that a lot of current fiction does (Girls, Todd Solonz films, etc), in that every character is despicable. Once I finished it, I just felt like "This was a masochistic process that I remained committed to only because all the literary rags told me too." I felt I'd been bamboozled; that I was supposed to learn something about the human condition, or at least witness some really fine writing. Neither one was true.

you wouldn't care for the corrections either then

i guess i just like the way he observes and dissects his characters and the situations they're in...he doesn't write with any kind of spellbinding prose, but i do like the simple way in which he keeps me engaged...i don't mind that the characters don't have a lot of redeeming qualities

I'm all for simplistic writing. John Steinbeck and Stephen King are two of my favorites, and they couldn't be simpler. And you're right that he observes and dissects his characters very well; everyone in Freedom felt fully-formed and genuine. I just hated them all.

durdencommatyler wrote:I've never read any Jonathan Franzen. But I love GIRLS and Todd Solonz movies. So I guess I should get on the Franzen train.

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:I've never read any Jonathan Franzen. But I love GIRLS and Todd Solonz movies. So I guess I should get on the Franzen train.

i think you'd like the corrections...read it this weekend

Steve Albini wrote: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.