What are you currently reading?

[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 feel like the internet has ruined my ability to read books. I can't concentrate anymore. I read pages and pages and have no idea what I just read. So frustrating. I don't think it was this bad five years ago. Does anyone else have this problem?

No

[epilogue]

I'm actually quite the opposite. I used to have a hell of a time focusing on reading when I was younger. That didn't change until after high school. And I didn't start reading regularly and efficiently until after college. I'm a much better reader now that I've ever been.

[BurtReynolds]

Smartphones have ruined me.

Sent from a smartphone.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

i have the same struggle

[epilogue]

Guys, By Night in Chile is exquisite.

[Simple Torture]

Guys, By Night in Chile is exquisite.

Bolaño wanted to title it "Shitstorm."

[epilogue]

Guys, By Night in Chile is exquisite.

Bolaño wanted to title it "Shitstorm."

I'm barely into the book. So I don't see how that fits. But I'm sure it'll make sense soon enough.

[bada]

My friend said I'll love Ready Player One so I started it today. We'll see.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

i had fun with it...nothing earth-shattering, but an enjoyable, quick read

[epilogue]

Guys, By Night in Chile is exquisite.

Bolaño wanted to title it "Shitstorm."

Hey, ST, where does this rank on your Bolano list?

[Simple Torture]

Guys, By Night in Chile is exquisite.

Bolaño wanted to title it "Shitstorm."

Hey, ST, where does this rank on your Bolano list?

I've only read it once, so I don't know if I can rightfully rank it. This summer I will probably do a huge re-read of every Bolano book, so I'll get back to you then.

[Dscans]

Guys, By Night in Chile is exquisite.

Bolaño wanted to title it "Shitstorm."

Hey, ST, where does this rank on your Bolano list?

I've only read it once, so I don't know if I can rightfully rank it. This summer I will probably do a huge re-read of every Bolano book, so I'll get back to you then.

I'm really looking forward to this. Don't let us down.

[Simple Torture]

Guys, By Night in Chile is exquisite.

Bolaño wanted to title it "Shitstorm."

Hey, ST, where does this rank on your Bolano list?

I've only read it once, so I don't know if I can rightfully rank it. This summer I will probably do a huge re-read of every Bolano book, so I'll get back to you then.

I'm really looking forward to this. Don't let us down.

I'm thinking chronological:

1980 - Antwerp
1982 - Monsieur Pain
1989 - The Third Reich
1993 - The Skating Rink
1996 - Nazi Literature
1996 - Distant Star
1997 - Telephone Calls
1998 - The Save Detectives
1999 - Amulet
2000 - By Night in Chile
2001 - A Little Lumpen Novelita
2001 - Assassin Whores
2003 - The Insufferable Gaucho
2003 - Woes of a True Policeman
2003 - 2666
2007 - The Secret of Evil

And I'll mix in some poetry, those are harder to nail down by year. I'll set a calendar notification reminder for 6/1.

[bune]

Also, I have commutes to and from work every day. And usually I'm able to take two hour lunch breaks at work. So, I have time to read a lot, which helps.

this all sounds absolutely horrible for reading. why bother reading at all?

I feel like the internet has ruined my ability to read books. I can't concentrate anymore. I read pages and pages and have no idea what I just read. So frustrating. I don't think it was this bad five years ago. Does anyone else have this problem?

Depends on the book. The one I'm reading right now, yeah. It's hard because it's so dense with information and yet at the same time the information is completely useless.

I'm almost done with it and there are times when the book proper is interesting - it's kind of sci-fi/Gulliver's Travels in a way - the meta book is annoying because there's a short-hand there that implies you're as familiar with the 'author's' other works as the characters are and it's ultimately unsatisfying. I gave up on actually reading the notes for a chapter or two (just skim a little here and there) and the book was made all the better for it. I'm almost done (less than 30 pages or so) and I can't wait to get this albatross off from around my neck.

The novel can be read alone in its entirety. Presented as Straka's nineteenth and final novel before his mysterious death, Ship of Theseus tells the story of an amnesiac on a strange journey to discover himself. Straka's enigmatic life and death are considered one of the literary world's greatest mysteries and enshrouded by conspiracy theories and claims of espionage and assassination. His identity is the subject of much scholarly debate as evidenced by a foreword and footnotes from F.X. Caldeira, described as Straka's chosen translator for many of his books, including Ship of Theseus, though even Caldeira never encountered Straka face-to-face.[2]

A second storyline takes place in the book's margins. Eric is a disgraced graduate student who has spent his life studying Straka and his literary works. Jen is a college senior contemplating the next step of her life. The two begin to trade a copy of Ship of Theseus back and forth without meeting, using the book's margins to carry out discussions about who Straka was using handwritten notes, arrows, and symbols.[3] The pair hopes to solve the mystery of Straka's identity before Eric's graduate professor, who allegedly stole his research and had him expelled, publishes his research on Straka. The hand-written marginalia are not always chronological. Different pen colors and handwriting styles denote the dialogues between the two and how they change on subsequent re-readings on the novel.

Concurrent with Jen and Eric's timeline of reading and annotating the novel, there are postcards, handwritten letters, maps, and photocopied articles and book excerpts physically folded and inserted between the book's bound pages as Jen and Eric provide evidence and clues to each other while exchanging the book.[4]

[Simple Torture]

Also, I have commutes to and from work every day. And usually I'm able to take two hour lunch breaks at work. So, I have time to read a lot, which helps.

this all sounds absolutely horrible for reading. why bother reading at all?

I would give almost anything to have a commute where I could read again. I got sooooooo much good reading done on the T back in the day.

[VinylGuy]

Between here and the yellow sea from Nic Pizzolatto.

[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.

[bune]

Also, I have commutes to and from work every day. And usually I'm able to take two hour lunch breaks at work. So, I have time to read a lot, which helps.

this all sounds absolutely horrible for reading. why bother reading at all?

I would give almost anything to have a commute where I could read again. I got sooooooo much good reading done on the T back in the day.

It's a callback...I suck at the RM meta game.

[The Argonaut]

Going to a Robert Coover reading tomorrow