March 2011
22 posts
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BEING THERE
Being there was a very short book, and I would say the brevity of the work detracted from it as a whole. Even though at times, Being There was brilliant, in the end, it ended abruptly, and lacked development.
Kosinski created a weird character in Chance. His name is who he is, what his life is based on. He is a blank slate to whom happenstance is the only motivator. That and TV. The...
February 2011
28 posts
BOOK SEER →
This project is really awesome!
Reading to the One I Love →
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The Remains of the Day
The Remains of the Day was a tight, astounding little book. It was very introverted and focused on one character, a butler names Stevens. He’s reminiscing about his life as a butler while on a “motoring holiday” and visiting an old acquaintance of his, a Miss Kensington. I’m afraid to say if you don’t like the sound of this, you will not like The Remains of the...
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WatchDID YOU READ?
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The First Real David Foster Wallace Documentary →
You can listen to the entire documentary at this link.
The Lisa Simpson Book Club →
Love you guys!
Middle Earth according to Mordor →
VERY COOL.
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TOP 10 FAVORITE LITERARY ROMANCES
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
1. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy - Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
2. Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley - Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
3. Catherine and Henry - A Farewell to Arms, Earnest Hemingway
4. Ada and Van Veen - Ada, or Ardor, Vladimir Nabokov
5. Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladov and Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov - Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dosteyvsky
6. Jo...
THE NAKED AND THE CONFLICTED →
So I read the piece, and it’s really good- my favorite line is:
“But the sexism in the work of the heirs apparent is simply wilier and shrewder and harder to smoke out. What comes to mind is Franzen’s description of one of his female characters in “The Corrections”: “Denise at 32 was still beautiful.” To the esteemed ladies of the movement I would suggest this is not how our great...
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Winter's Bone - Daniel Woodrell
I read Winter’s Bone.
Winter’s Bone, the book, practically happened to me. The pace of this book, right off the bat, is urgent and it’s almost as if each word motivates you to keep on reading. Woodrell has written an engrossing tale, while exciting and plot focused, also resoundingly succeeds in its characterization of Ree, the protagonist and in its uncanny, realistic...
Books about sex not by "Great White Male Writers" →
I’m mostly posting this here because I don’t want to forget to read it myself.
“The good, the admirable reader identifies himself not with the boy or the girl...”
– Vladimir Nabokov (via feelinganddreaming)
Experts determine age of book 'nobody can read' →
Top 50 Essential Books for Weirdos →
ha!
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Pornografia by Witold Gombrowicz
I struggled with two impulses during the first few pages of Witold Gombrowicz’s Pornografia. First- I wanted to study it like a text, annotating it, scrutinizing it closely. I wanted to write all-out criticism of it. Second- I wanted to read it straight through without thinking or stopping. Ultimately, the veritable joy and perfection of the Gombrowicz’s words propelled me to...
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“Oh man,” Gail said, “it just hit me- I must’ve been raised up...”
– Daniel Woodrell, Winter’s Bone
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“It was our particular teasing, somewhere, in a galaxy, a human provocation in...”
– Witold Gombrowicz, Pornografia
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“Hipolit’s enormousness besmeared with a thick sauce of sleep, the lady of...”
– Witold Gombrowicz, Pornografia
Where Have All the Book Editors Gone? →
Readability- A new way to support writers by... →
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The Satanic Verses
I finally finished The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. I say “finally” because I have never read a book I didn’t like for as long as I read The Satanic Verses, which I didn’t like. I know I should have put it down right away, and read something else, but something didn’t allow me to put it down; I constantly felt as though the next page would be better, that I...
Sheila Heti excerpt in N + 1 →
Sheila Heti is doing a reading tonight in DUMBO, and I really want to go. I mean, just the title of her new book, How Should a Person Be convinced me.