It's a great book. Give it another shot. I liked it better than The Savage Detectives. But thats subjective, of course.
What Are You Reading?
- Thread starter HenryChinaski
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What I really like about this edition, along with the one I have for The Savage Detectives, is that it has some notes from Bolaño’s notebook when making the book. Really sheds some light about the sloppy creative process that goes into making a wonderfully crafted novel like this one.
Black Swan
Abord the Yorikke!
It is sitting on a shelf. I started it twice so far, unable to go on. I have read The Skating Rink and only kind of liked it. Not sure what it is...
Lashing Out in Verse
The first time I read about Yahya Hassan was around the same time the above article in the New York Times was published. Debut poetry collection of an 18 yr old, 100,000 sold copies within a couple months. Okay, I thought, but what can an adolescent tell me after all?
Last fall I laid my ignorance aside and started to read Yahya‘s poems. They are full of energy. Brutal and sad. Lively and perceptive. Tender and raw.
Last month Yahya was found dead in his apartment, 24 years old. RIP brother.
The first time I read about Yahya Hassan was around the same time the above article in the New York Times was published. Debut poetry collection of an 18 yr old, 100,000 sold copies within a couple months. Okay, I thought, but what can an adolescent tell me after all?
Last fall I laid my ignorance aside and started to read Yahya‘s poems. They are full of energy. Brutal and sad. Lively and perceptive. Tender and raw.
Last month Yahya was found dead in his apartment, 24 years old. RIP brother.
Re-reading this right now.
Roughly translated it would be Chin Chin The Wino. Best way I could describe it is kind of like Factotum, written in a Hubert Selby style (lack of puntuation, lots of slang and no regard for grammar) and set in Tepito, Mexico City. It's worth checking out (though I don’t know if there’s a translated version).
Roughly translated it would be Chin Chin The Wino. Best way I could describe it is kind of like Factotum, written in a Hubert Selby style (lack of puntuation, lots of slang and no regard for grammar) and set in Tepito, Mexico City. It's worth checking out (though I don’t know if there’s a translated version).
It was sitting on my bookshelf so I said "why not?" It's taking me a lot longer than it should, since I'm practically plowing through the thing but don’t wanna drop it this far into it (sunk cost fallacy, I know). I think Marlow sorta summarizes my feelings towards it in one part of the book: "Not a very enthralling book; but at first glance you could see there a singleness of intention, an honest concern with the right way of going to work, which made these humble pages, thought out so many years ago, luminous with another than professional light."
I just watched the Toni Morrison doc on Netflix last night. Highly recommended.
Started Zeno's Conscience by Svevo today. Was done with the first two chapters by morning. Am loving it like I haven't loved a novel in a while, very promising.
Roughly translated to This isn’t Miami. A book of chronicles set in Veracruz, Mexico. I don’t know if there’s an english version, but it’s one of the best books I've read from front to back, so if you can get your hands on it, I truly recommend it. It's quite surreal to read a book that describes places you've seen, been to or heard about.
Mind and Nature. Thought I was clever and ordered this in German. But it didn‘t help. The text is teeming with technical terms and confusing descriptions and alligations. I am halfway through now, and only every 20 pages a glimpse of understanding touches my poor brain. But these are the moments we are living for, aren‘t we.
I had yet to read this, despite being big into comics. Not quite as good as The Dark Knight Returns, but definitely a nice, mature read.
I also read the first few pages just because it mentioned Bukowski. As far as self-help books go, it looks like one of the better ones. However, I couldn’t get into it since I'm not into self-help books at all.
Let's see how it goes... the fact that it starts with Bukowski is very promising.
I'm not a big fan of self-help books, inspirational quotes that are husks of optimism, gurus that tell me I'm God and that everything's God but it definitely helps to buy their books and their own gluten-free vegan protein shakes. To each their own, of course. It doesn't cut it for me.
I'm not a big fan of self-help books, inspirational quotes that are husks of optimism, gurus that tell me I'm God and that everything's God but it definitely helps to buy their books and their own gluten-free vegan protein shakes. To each their own, of course. It doesn't cut it for me.
Same author from a couple posts above. This one does have an english translation (Season of Hurricanes) and I highly recommend checking it out, too.
Okay, serious non-serious question here: do you guys drink and read? I didn’t know where else to post this but it’s a question I’ve pondered for a while now. I personally can drink and read at the same time, but it takes a lot of effort to do so and I feel I don’t catch all the little details of a book while doing so.
For me reading is it’s own kind of high, one which shouldn’t be impaired by any outside forces. Just like sometimes a good, tall, cold glass of beer should be enjoyed in silence.
What do you people think?
For me reading is it’s own kind of high, one which shouldn’t be impaired by any outside forces. Just like sometimes a good, tall, cold glass of beer should be enjoyed in silence.
What do you people think?
Depends on the book. Maybe?
When I first read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas it was after a night of drinking. I read it in one sitting before going to bed. But I think that was an anomaly.
I think after a few glasses I would lose focus now. But I'm old. Ha.
When I first read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas it was after a night of drinking. I read it in one sitting before going to bed. But I think that was an anomaly.
I think after a few glasses I would lose focus now. But I'm old. Ha.
So it had been a few weeks since I had read anything (partly because I just didn’t want to, partly because of daily life), but I got trigger happy with my money all of a sudden and decided to buy a little bit of everything.
I've been jumping back and forth between all of them (which is and isn't such a good idea), but of course I was mostly looking forward to the Bukowski poems, cause it had been quite a while since I injected some Bukowski into my veins, and I kinda wanted to talk about them here.
The poems (at least most of them for me) had a very different feeling from the poems I was used to reading by him. These are mostly, of course, his earlier poems. Like he says in the intro, the poems aren’t "better" or "lesser", but they are definitely different. To me they felt more allegorical and abstract, more of what you would picture in your head when you think of a poem, compared to the more straightforward, from-the-gut feeling of other Bukowski collections I've read.
To those that have read this collection, what did you think? Did the poems feel different to you? (Note: Admittedly, I haven’t finished all lf the poems since I've been jumping from book to book like I said before. I'm a little over halfway through, so I might be in for change of pace for all I know, but I wanted to share my initial impressions)
I've been jumping back and forth between all of them (which is and isn't such a good idea), but of course I was mostly looking forward to the Bukowski poems, cause it had been quite a while since I injected some Bukowski into my veins, and I kinda wanted to talk about them here.
The poems (at least most of them for me) had a very different feeling from the poems I was used to reading by him. These are mostly, of course, his earlier poems. Like he says in the intro, the poems aren’t "better" or "lesser", but they are definitely different. To me they felt more allegorical and abstract, more of what you would picture in your head when you think of a poem, compared to the more straightforward, from-the-gut feeling of other Bukowski collections I've read.
To those that have read this collection, what did you think? Did the poems feel different to you? (Note: Admittedly, I haven’t finished all lf the poems since I've been jumping from book to book like I said before. I'm a little over halfway through, so I might be in for change of pace for all I know, but I wanted to share my initial impressions)
Yes, the Roominghouse poems tend to be more abstract, which I like, but there's some One-Hour Martinizing in there, unfortunately. It's still a worthy collection despite that, IMO.
I got into Camus before I got into Buk, and I think that The Myth of Sisyphus makes a nice contrast to the lyricism of Buk. I mean, Camus is somehow lyrical despite his subject matter, but really, he's kinda dry. But he writes so well that he's engaging for me.
If I only had Buk, Camus, Dostoyevsky, Kafka and all of the small press stuff I have, I'd probably be good.
I got into Camus before I got into Buk, and I think that The Myth of Sisyphus makes a nice contrast to the lyricism of Buk. I mean, Camus is somehow lyrical despite his subject matter, but really, he's kinda dry. But he writes so well that he's engaging for me.
If I only had Buk, Camus, Dostoyevsky, Kafka and all of the small press stuff I have, I'd probably be good.
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I agree. In fact, I think the topics both Bukowski and Camus deal with are very similar in matter. The approach is what differentiates them.
I started The Myth of Sisyphs first but now I'm leaving it for last and I'm probably going to read it twice, since I really want to take my time to get a grasp on what Camus is proposing. I read somewhere that you shouldn’t approach philosophy books the way you approach a novel, and I think it’s true for the most part. But yeah as far as philosophers go, I could do with Camus only.
That one I had actually already read before, but it was a long time ago so I wanted to give it another whirl. I remembered loving the themes discussed in the book, but do having some problems with the art. What interested me about this edition is that it fixes some of the issues with the coloring and lettering (it's still the same art style, but it does look a bit more readable), plus it has the full Grant Morrison script attached, and that definitely helps clear some things up.
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Finally getting around to reading Gorky. All I can say so far is Bukowski never lets me down with his recommendations (except maybe with Lawrence).