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

[lazarus]

Laz, don't open:

Spoiler

Gump, would you agree that if Laz does not like the VERY end, he has no soul?

I thought the final lines were beautiful.

But I think he could have conjured up that imagery as the harbor faded away in the distance from Jacob's viewpoint on the departing ship, instead of having to give us a Cliff's Notes condensation of the rest of his life so he could stage the vision on his deathbed. Yes, it makes a nice reflection with the birth at the beginning of the book, but I don't know if it completely worked for me.

Especially compared with Cloud Atlas, which has one of the greatest endings I've ever read.

Anyway, great book, a pleasure to read, and perhaps even more cinematic than anything he's previously written because of how immersed in the world one becomes. I'd probably put this #2 under Cloud Atlas.

For now, that is. Because it's time to crack open the epic story of Lance's Mom over six different time periods in The Blown Cocks.

 

[lazarus]

Well, I'm over 1/3 in. Was sprinting through the thing and this Iraq War stuff is really slowing me down. Boring the hell out of me, to be honest.

Not sure if I should take a break or just get through it.

Anyway, I'm intrigued. But it's really going to have to kick into another gear if it's going to compete with CA.

 

[No spoken words]

It does not compete with CA. But it does pick up.

 

[lazarus]

You finished already??

The Iraq stuff actually improved for me, more because of how personal it got. But if I wanted a detail-heavy exploration of the "Emerald City", I'd read Chandrasekaran's book like Mitchell did. And it felt like he was using this section to beat the dead horse that is Bush & Cheney's misguided adventures in the Middle East. That news is like 10 years old.

Anyway, I'm on the Crispin Hershey section now, and this is a little too reminiscent of the Timothy Cavendish storyline of Cloud Atlas, the snarky literary world insider stuff. It's funny, but yeah.

 

[No spoken words]

I'm finished, yeah. Reading 1776 now.

I didn't mind the Iraq section but didn't exactly love it either. It didn't slow me down or anything but I was not plowing through it to see how it ended either.

I like the Hershey section, it evolves a bit, and I didn't mind the insider stuff again because this had a different feel in that Hershey is more of a has-been whereas Cavendish was a never-was who got very lucky very quickly. 2 different perspectives, didn't feel too same-y to me. BUT THAT'S JUST ME.

 

[bono_212]

I'm begrudgingly here to admit that I greatly enjoy The Hunger Games.

 

[No spoken words]

I liked the first book, thought the 2nd was a joke, thought the 3rd was in the middle.

 

[bono_212]

I think that was about Travis' assessment as well. I kinda feel like this is going to end up being like the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. The first movie = REALLY good. Second = What's the point? Third = Well, that brought things together OK in the end.

 

[LemonMelon]

I liked the first book, thought the 2nd was a joke, thought the 3rd was in the middle.

This is exactly right.

I think that was about Travis' assessment as well.

This is exactly right.

 

[lazarus]

Mitchell sure knows how to end a book, doesn't he?

Spoiler

I really loved how he tied this back to Thousand Autumns. Ingeniously. I wonder how far in advance he planned this.

 

[No spoken words]

I told you it picks up.

Spoiler

I've read some interviews with him and he claims that his books are all part of some sort of metaverse or something akin to that. Not sure he planned this to a T but it seems he's had the idea of connectivity between his novels in his head all along. He references characters or books characters wrote or albums they created all the time, as you know….

So I cannot claim to have liked this book as much as Cloud Atlas or Thousand Autumns (to be fair I rarely have enjoyed a book as much as Cloud Atlas) but I did enjoy it more and more as the novel went along and I certainly was a sucker for the end. I don't know, it's easy to write a happy ending but something about the way he closes his books always leaves me with a really good feeling. Hard to quantify, at least for me but I know what I mean.

 

[No spoken words]

This is exactly right.



This is exactly right.

You know what kind of disappointed me about the 2nd book. She had a very easy chance to go into some more depth and detail about each individual district. Not just as exposition but organically and she ignored the opportunity. I am rarely one to talk about how an artist could have made a better book or album because I don't know shit but in this case, you've built this world, we know a decent amount about two districts, you've touched on a few more, let's dive in deeper here. Nope. Guess it's nitpick but it sticks with me even now for whatever reason. I'll say this, though, and if it's damning with faint praise, so be it - all three books were really really quick reads, plowed through the trilogy in less than a week, so they did keep me reading. I read them before the first film came out, figured I might as well.

 

[lazarus]

I told you it picks up.

Spoiler

So I cannot claim to have liked this book as much as Cloud Atlas or Thousand Autumns (to be fair I rarely have enjoyed a book as much as Cloud Atlas) but I did enjoy it more and more as the novel went along and I certainly was a sucker for the end. I don't know, it's easy to write a happy ending but something about the way he closes his books always leaves me with a really good feeling. Hard to quantify, at least for me but I know what I mean.

Yeah that's exactly in line with my estimation.

I think in this case, compared to Cloud Atlas, the whole is not better than the sum of the parts. Each section has its own pleasures, but I'm not sure everything was mapped/tied together in the same satisfying way.

It's very readable, like all of his work.

 

[No spoken words]

It's very readable, like all of his work.

Agreed. I love spending time in his world(s).

 

[bono_212]

Finished Mockingjay. Loved it.

Started Wayward Pines. Hate it.

 

[IWasBored]

apparently nick hornby's book to movie ratio is more than i thought, since there's a movie version of a long way down on netflix. starring that guy who i think played bond in a couple movies and jesse pinkman, and some other people i have no idea who they are.

 

[Rachel D.]

I just started Next by Michael Crichton. I was reading Volume II of The Complete Sherlock Holmes, but took a break before starting The Valley of Fear, since that one looks like it's novel length. Those stories are still awesome so far.


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[bono_212]

Finished Mockingjay. Loved it.

Started Wayward Pines. Hate it.

Quit Wayward Pines...it was trash.

Started reading Station Eleven. Pretty sure I really, really like it.

 

[IWasBored]

I just started Next by Michael Crichton. I was reading Volume II of The Complete Sherlock Holmes, but took a break before starting The Valley of Fear, since that one looks like it's novel length. Those stories are still awesome so far.


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Valley of Fear was fairly inferior to the other novel-length ones, too.

 

[Rachel D.]

Valley of Fear was fairly inferior to the other novel-length ones, too.

Hmm, that's a shame. The preface to Volume II said that the very last Sherlock Holmes stories took such a turn that a lot of people suspect that Doyle didn't even write them, but had someone else do it and then stuck his name on them.


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[IWasBored]

Hmm, that's a shame. The preface to Volume II said that the very last Sherlock Holmes stories took such a turn that a lot of people suspect that Doyle didn't even write them, but had someone else do it and then stuck his name on them.


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The last batch are pretty weak. Especially the ones that aren't from Watson's pov. There are a couple in the third person, and one that was actually supposed to be first person Holmes. Really fucks things up and fails hard.

 

[LemonMelon]

The Shock of the Fall was a heartbreaker. I really dug the prose in this one; crisp and direct, offering enough grit to cut the plot's inevitable dose of sentimentality. A schizophrenic teen feeling guilt over the death of his Down syndrome-suffering brother sounds like a whole forest of syrup, but it doesn't read that way at all. In fact, it was actually quite fun in spots; the varied typography and sketches scattered throughout gave me a House of Leaves vibe and the author has a great sense of humor. Definitely recommended.

 

[djerdap]

I'm working on my Spanish by reading 2666 and it's working quite nicely. So far I'm really happy with the book. Bolaño creates a uniquely unsettling, creepy mood, mixed in with some bizarre and unexpected humour. I'm curious if it will truly feel as one piece of work by the end (since it is strictly divided into five parts).

I've been doing some DeLillo reading as well, namely White Noise and Mao II. White Noise was hilarious, oddly poignant in parts and frustrating at times due to the overwhelmingly whining nature of its characters. Mao II was a mixed bag. Just as it started going it ended abruptly, it peaked just at the beginning, and characters obviously seem not to be DeLillo's strongpoint.

 

[Rachel D.]

I'm reading Last of the Mohicans. Eight chapters in, and the characters are still trapped in a cave surrounded by hostile Indians. The main character likes to wax poetic and spout his knowledge about various topics during moments of crisis, which makes the story more wordier than it needs to be.


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[IWasBored]

Was he trying to bore them into letting him go?

 

[Rachel D.]

Was he trying to bore them into letting him go?

He actually jumped in a river and swam away, letting the other characters get captured. What a guy!


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[Rachel D.]

Doesn't anyone read anymore?

I read The Picture of Dorian Gray for the first time. That was pretty disturbing, but very good. Excellent writing.

Now I'm reading A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway wasn't a fan of commas, was he? Run-on sentences galore!


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[bono_212]

I just finished Dorian a couple months ago, myself. Loved it.

Reading Tale of Two Cities, now. Enjoying it, but it's taking forever to read.

Between those I read The Book Thief, which had serious problems, but a decent premise.

 

[LemonMelon]

I get paid to read unreleased books in need of serious polishing, plus I'm in grad school, so I don't read much for fun anymore. If I had the spare time, I would be in here daily.

 

[lazarus]

Reading Tale of Two Cities, now. Enjoying it, but it's taking forever to read.

This isn't even one of the longer Dickens books! Have you read Great Expectations or David Copperfield yet?

Two Cities finishes VERY strong. Really enjoyed it.

Currently trying to get through Joseph Conrad's Nostromo, believed by many to be his best. Prior to this I'd only read Heart Of Darkness and The Secret Sharer, way back in high school as required reading. But he's held in very high regard so I'm trying to check out more of his work.

During my vacation I read Walker Percy's The Moviegoer, which was fantastic. Apparently it's notorious because it came out of nowhere to beat Franny & Zooey and Catch-22 for the National Book Award, but since those books didn't need any help to reach their place in the zeitgeist I'm glad this more obscure work was singled out. Set in New Orleans, it certainly has some similarities to A Confederacy Of Dunces (written almost 20 years later), but it's less grotesque and more existential. Just as funny, however, depending on your sense of humor of course.