Red Mosquito

This is actually getting to be a good discussion, but I don't believe it belongs in the reading thread anymore. Though maybe it does since we're kind of discussing ideas in a book.

Edit: mods, can you merge the recent discussion with this thread?

Anyway, you know what's just as cheap as beans and bananas? Spam and canned corn. There's a Walmart in every town that sells it all, and the processed stuff tastes better.

What I love about Michael Pollan is also what I hate about Michael Pollan...he fetishizes garden grown veggies in a way that makes the reader feel like growing your own food is the solution. Unfortunately, most people don't have the space or the climate to make that their whole menu...so we're left to supplement at a grocery store that prices people out of actual whole foods because the government subsidizes less than whole foods. This is what I mean when I say that Michael Pollan's food ethics writing leaves me feeling a little hopeless.

Going to give Bittman a try. I see he has an active podcast where he interviews food industry people.

TL:DR spending your entire grocery budget on whole foods is a nice idea, but not sustainable for a middle class family.

Just finished Tender is the Flesh

Picked up 4 used books for $8 at the library. All in great condition

Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson. Read it in like 2012 and don't remember much. It's long af.
Child of God - Cormac. Didn't realize how short it is.
Tinker, Tailor, Solider Spy - Le Carre. Loved the movie, but never read it.
A Spy Among Friends - Ben MacIntyre.

There was a YouTube short that came up called "books for guys to read". I had already read Billy Summers and 11/22/63. But another one she rec'd for guys is "Red Rising"

And it has a lot of acclaim, so I got it from the library.

It is mediocre. But I hate not finishing books so I'll keep at it.

Finished Red Rising.

Don’t read this if you cherish your brain cells


This is not advertised as YA, but reads like it is. Terrible writing and staccato-like sentences that get tiring.

It’s Harry Potter and and I’m guessing Hunger Games and Percy Jackson on Mars, but feels like clash of the titans and game of thrones.

All the main characters are teens, but act and talk like adults.

There’s five more books in this series. Pass.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:One Hundred Years of Solitude

I read that for the first time not too long ago.

Recently finished:



Just started the other night:

I read Horns when it came out. I had fun but i dont remember anything about It and also havent seen the movie

I'm about halfway through this:

So, like, 1333?

epilogue wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:One Hundred Years of Solitude

I read that for the first time not too long ago.

Your thoughts?

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:

epilogue wrote:

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:One Hundred Years of Solitude

I read that for the first time not too long ago.

Your thoughts?

Good not great. It's probably much more rewarding in the original Spanish.

The style is old fashioned and not totally my thing anymore. I understand what it's trying to do in terms of allegory and myth but I just wish there was more showing and less telling.

It's never boring but it is sometimes tedious. I want more scenes, like actual in the moment scene work.

The Argonaut wrote:So, like, 1333?

Yes, but now it's 2666. Probably one of the longest books I've read (~970 pages). I'll definitely check out more Bolano's books.

Found out after doing taxes that I spent 1000 bucks on books last year. I'm banned from buying any more until I read the crap I have.

Just started this. So far, I'm really digging it.

Started The Sound and the Fury a week or so ago, but have been too tired to read. Now my hotshot community college professor friend wants me to try Percival Everett's James and see if I think it's worth using in his class.

Finally started Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner.

lennytheweedwhacker wrote:Started The Sound and the Fury a week or so ago, but have been too tired to read. Now my hotshot community college professor friend wants me to try Percival Everett's James and see if I think it's worth using in his class.

What are you, his assistant? Tell him to do his own job!