Books Part V, featuring Benny Profane and the Whole Sick Crew

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Based on some descriptions I've come across...it sounds extraordinarily boring. I'm impressed that you made it 70 pages.
 
I'm reading North Side Story. It's this collection of magazine articles about some band from Ireland. It came in the mail one day, so I thought I'd give it a try.
 
I've started reading again during my vacation (I've nearly got three months so I have to fill it with something lol). I've finished Cloud Atlas which was great. Especially Frobisher's letters. I think I only started reading it because I saw a few enthusiastic djerdap posts about it on here so thanks for that.

Then I got onto Geert Mak's Reizen zonder John. The Dutch author describes his journey through the United States following in the footsteps of John Steinbeck, but fifty years later, in 2010. It's basically about the history of America and its current state. A large portion of the book talks about Steinbeck and his journey too. I have to say I hadn't even heard of Steinbeck beforehand. So now I'm intrigued by his work as well, mainly Travels with Charley. In general I learned a lot about America. Concepts like American Exceptionism were completely new to me. I've always been fascinated by the USA, probably because I lived there as small kid and of course its large influence across the world, so it was very interesting to me.

And now I'm reading Murakami's 1Q84. I just started book two. I'm a big fan of Murakami so it's no surprise I'm really enjoying this so far. It even made me listen to some classical music for the first time in my life.
 
Have I gone on record here stating how much I have Steinbeck yet? I probably have. I think someone mentioned they were reading The Pearl once and I had to go there.

That book does sound kind of cool, though. But...Steinbeck. Fucking grapes of fucking wrath. And East of Eden. Bleh.

I'm at that point with the book I've been reading where I'm halfway done, and have no motivation to finish it yet it doesn't really suck enough to drop it entirely.
 
Fucking phone, always distracting me with the auto correct on "fucking"I didn't even see that. haha. idon't think I've ever used the word "ducking," what the hell, phone?
 
I've started reading again during my vacation (I've nearly got three months so I have to fill it with something lol). I've finished Cloud Atlas which was great. Especially Frobisher's letters. I think I only started reading it because I saw a few enthusiastic djerdap posts about it on here so thanks for that.

And now I'm reading Murakami's 1Q84. I just started book two. I'm a big fan of Murakami so it's no surprise I'm really enjoying this so far. It even made me listen to some classical music for the first time in my life.

I'll combine these two authors by mentioning that I'm currently reading David Mitchell's second novel, number9dream, which is so much in the style of Murakami that I keep forgetting it's not one of the Japanese master's works.
It's an uncanny impression.

More importantly, Mitchell has a new book coming out in the fall that seems to share some similarities with Cloud Atlas but with a different twist.

I may be more excited about this novel's release than any music or movie due before the end of the year:

David Mitchell: a storyteller of infinite richness | Observer profile | From the Observer | The Observer
 
I've started reading again during my vacation (I've nearly got three months so I have to fill it with something lol). I've finished Cloud Atlas which was great. Especially Frobisher's letters. I think I only started reading it because I saw a few enthusiastic djerdap posts about it on here so thanks for that.

Heh, no worries. Glad to see you finished it.
 
Just finished "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion.

A very intense study of life after her husband's sudden death. The writing was beautiful.
 
Laz, you'll be pleased to know that I finally for real for real finished Cloud Atlas. Adam's story was never my favorite, but it did book end everything quite nicely and that last line really rang out beautifully, not just for his story, but the book as a whole.

Am now reading Carrion Comfort.
 
I'll combine these two authors by mentioning that I'm currently reading David Mitchell's second novel, number9dream, which is so much in the style of Murakami that I keep forgetting it's not one of the Japanese master's works.
It's an uncanny impression.

More importantly, Mitchell has a new book coming out in the fall that seems to share some similarities with Cloud Atlas but with a different twist.

I may be more excited about this novel's release than any music or movie due before the end of the year:

David Mitchell: a storyteller of infinite richness | Observer profile | From the Observer | The Observer

Also, I missed this post before, but that is very exciting news.
 
Laz, you'll be pleased to know that I finally for real for real finished Cloud Atlas. Adam's story was never my favorite, but it did book end everything quite nicely and that last line really rang out beautifully, not just for his story, but the book as a whole.


Care to rank/comment on the other plot lines?

In the book, my favorites were Sloosha's Crossin' and Sonmi-451, but in the film I think the Frobisher scenes were the most powerful.
 
Care to rank/comment on the other plot lines?

In the book, my favorites were Sloosha's Crossin' and Sonmi-451, but in the film I think the Frobisher scenes were the most powerful.

I think Frobisher's story is my favorite, on a cerebral level, while I enjoy the experience of reading Cavendish and Rey's stories the most.

I think the movie really colored my enjoyment of Sloosha's Crossin', but as I recall, I enjoyed reading it. Sonmi's story is right there in the middle for me, and still good. In fact, I don't dislike any of the stories, I'd just say that Ewing's was my "least" favorite.
 
Sonmi-Sloosha's Crossin'-Luisa Rey-Cavendish-Frobisher-Adam Ewing for me.
 
I've been picking up Ernest Hemingway short stories over the past couple of days and really enjoying them. I feel like his prose is best suited to such a concise medium. The ending of Up in Michigan is terribly disturbing.
 
I've finished V., featuring Benny Profane and the Whole Sick Crew.

Pynchon certainly has a way with endings, in the sense that one can't seem to stop thinking about the book after it's finished. Thematically, the novel has some similarities with Gravity's Rainbow (process of dehumanization in a increasingly violent world that the individual is having less and less control of), but the characters are more reliable and relatable, even if certain scenes from GR are more memorable and it feels more cohesive as a whole. Although I prefer GR, I thought the humour in V. was executed more successfully, though still inconsistent. In any case, a great book and it would serve as a logical introductory point to Pynchon.
 
I'm giving James Joyce another chance. Dubliners is way, way more enjoyable than Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
 
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