Red Mosquito

I love Jonathan Richman so, so much.

tragabigzanda wrote:Yea, ST and I were in a similar train of thought, even if Joey wasn't. That forced sincerity that I (and Franzen) detect in Oberst is directly related to irony and skepticism: it's ironic that he has to feign sincerity to be seen as sincere, and his skepticism of the listener's ability to detect sincerity in a simpler lyric compels him to overplay his hand.

Can you break this down for me? I'm talking about his music and his lyrics specifically. Not his "act." What in Conor's lyrics betrays a "feigned sincerity?" I guess furthermore, is it appropriate to separate an artist's art from his act? Are those different things? But that's secondary. Please, first, explain to me what about Conor's music feigns sincerity. And what about his lyrics betray skepticism?

Thank you for having my wife and me at your dinner party.

The Argonaut wrote:Funny that Velocity came up tonight. I haven't read it yet, but it js in the stack on my bedside table:

Great, now I'm horny.

what are your thoughts on foer, argo? i adored everything is illuminated, but extremely loud and incredibly close didn't enamor me like i hoped (i should read it again because i flew through it)

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:what are your thoughts on foer, argo? i adored everything is illuminated, but extremely loud and incredibly close didn't enamor me like i hoped (i should read it again because i flew through it)

Interesting. I was a much bigger fan of Extremely Loud. That's one of my all time favorite books. Top 10 easily. That book broke my heart in the best way. I liked Everything is Illuminated a lot, too. But it's not as good as EL&IC.

Haven't read him yet, either. I'm going to start that Eating Animals book in the pic tomorrow, though. It's non-fiction, so not the same.

durdencommatyler wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:what are your thoughts on foer, argo? i adored everything is illuminated, but extremely loud and incredibly close didn't enamor me like i hoped (i should read it again because i flew through it)

Interesting. I was a much bigger fan of Extremely Loud. That's one of my all time favorite books. Top 10 easily. That book broke my heart in the best way. I liked Everything is Illuminated a lot, too. But it's not as good as EL&IC.

yeah i'm planning on giving it another go

the trachimbrod sections of illuminated just fascinated me so much

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:what are your thoughts on foer, argo? i adored everything is illuminated, but extremely loud and incredibly close didn't enamor me like i hoped (i should read it again because i flew through it)

Interesting. I was a much bigger fan of Extremely Loud. That's one of my all time favorite books. Top 10 easily. That book broke my heart in the best way. I liked Everything is Illuminated a lot, too. But it's not as good as EL&IC.

yeah i'm planning on giving it another go

the trachimbrod sections of illuminated just fascinated me so much

Oh totes. It's a really wonderful book. I should say I read EL&IC first. So that might be part of it. But there's a certain saccharin (but SUPER honest) element to EL that just hits me in the sweet spot.

i have to put a hold on cloud atlas so:

Spoiler: show

i almost checked out ready player one...i suppose it's a ya novel, but has anybody here read it?

Man I love that book.

Finished chapter 7 of Distant Star on the ride into work today.

Man! It's the chapter all about

Spoiler: show

What happened to Wieder after his photo showing and speculation about whether or not he's dead, etc

.

So. Fucking. Good. I love the sideways humor in this book. There's a sense of bizarre history to it. Like some it feels like it really happened, that it isn't fiction at all.

durdencommatyler wrote:Man I love that book.

ready player one?

I meant to say a few pages back: I do like Cloud Atlas, but I feel like it is a little too invested in its own structure and cleverness. I liked Ghostwritten, also by David Mitchell, a bit more.

Simple Torture wrote:I meant to say a few pages back: I do like Cloud Atlas, but I feel like it is a little too invested in its own structure and cleverness. I liked Ghostwritten, also by David Mitchell, a bit more.

your post about your dissertation makes me want to re-read the brief wondrous life of oscar wao

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

Simple Torture wrote:I meant to say a few pages back: I do like Cloud Atlas, but I feel like it is a little too invested in its own structure and cleverness. I liked Ghostwritten, also by David Mitchell, a bit more.

your post about your dissertation makes me want to re-read the brief wondrous life of oscar wao

I want to re-read that, too. I'm reading some of Diaz's short stories from Drown with my students right now, and I'm also writing about them, and they're a nice place to go if you want a taste of his work but don't have the time to commit to something longer.

Simple Torture wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

Simple Torture wrote:I meant to say a few pages back: I do like Cloud Atlas, but I feel like it is a little too invested in its own structure and cleverness. I liked Ghostwritten, also by David Mitchell, a bit more.

your post about your dissertation makes me want to re-read the brief wondrous life of oscar wao

I want to re-read that, too. I'm reading some of Diaz's short stories from Drown with my students right now, and I'm also writing about them, and they're a nice place to go if you want a taste of his work but don't have the time to commit to something longer.

yeah i need to read that one

did you like this is how you lose her? i picked it up in a bookstore and read the first chapter or so awhile back just to get a taste

durdencommatyler wrote:Finished chapter 7 of Distant Star on the ride into work today.

Man! It's the chapter all about

Spoiler: show

What happened to Wieder after his photo showing and speculation about whether or not he's dead, etc

.

So. Fucking. Good. I love the sideways humor in this book. There's a sense of bizarre history to it. Like some it feels like it really happened, that it isn't fiction at all.

Bolaño writes about the coup in that way across a number of different pieces of fiction. I think he's borrowing the tone and mood of magical realism at points--he's able, as you've seen, to get a reaction of, "This can't be real, can it?" out of readers quite easily--and it all makes it feel like a fever dream or a waking nightmare. I just re-read a short story called "Detectives" (from the collection The Return) that deals with Arturo's imprisonment during the coup from a different perspective, and I think it'd make a nice companion piece to Distant Star.

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

Simple Torture wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

Simple Torture wrote:I meant to say a few pages back: I do like Cloud Atlas, but I feel like it is a little too invested in its own structure and cleverness. I liked Ghostwritten, also by David Mitchell, a bit more.

your post about your dissertation makes me want to re-read the brief wondrous life of oscar wao

I want to re-read that, too. I'm reading some of Diaz's short stories from Drown with my students right now, and I'm also writing about them, and they're a nice place to go if you want a taste of his work but don't have the time to commit to something longer.

yeah i need to read that one

did you like this is how you lose her? i picked it up in a bookstore and read the first chapter or so awhile back just to get a taste

Haven't read it, but it's on my Kindle. My major professor has been urging me to not read widely right now, to just focus on my work--which is frustrating, but probably a good idea to get this shit done.