Boldering Forums

Anyone read a good book lately? I'd been plodding through the standard set of public lands management, his bio and eco theses, short stories, poetry, and original audio recodings of the HHGG to put me to sleep, nothing too interesting.

Reading Don Whillans biography "The Villain" now. First book of this sort I've ever picked up. Unbelievably well written, with only a few missteps into horrible prose. The progression of "wtf are we doing?" is entertaining and gives a lot of background history that I was mostly unaware of.


I know at least a few of you are literate. Post up what's good.

currently reading DMT The Spirit Molecule, and trying to go back to front with the encyclopedia of ethnobotany

botany of desire was good

guns germs and steel duh

been working on prousts 'a rememberance of things past' for a while

skull wars' was an interesting look at anthropology

The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder
seems interesting but i haven't gotten that far.

I've read the DMT the Spirit Molecule. Most of it was interesting but the bits where he tried to use quantum mechanics, dark energy and other random bits of poorly understood by the masses science to explain the DMT experience made me want to kick puppies. Jesus baby banging Christ, every time some hallucinogen fried hippy has a confusing moment he starts rattling on about quantum this and quantum that. Cue Morbo: QUANTUM MECHANICS DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!!!!!

I read some Huxley and Castaneda and Thompson and all that... I gotta say I really hate teh spiritual-drug-hippy-quest genre.

Skav... have you gotten around to reading Vurt yet? I gotta read that book every couple years because it goes quick and it is BADASS.

I'd never heard of that one. I'll stop by work later today and grab a copy.

i find it really interesting, all these teenybopper 'scifi' books parelleling seemingly ghastly scenarios with current world events.

feed was pretty good and in the same vein. feed is pretty obvious, but are they meant to be thought provoking or more subliminal? hell, are they just supposed to be fun?

trying to make my sister read feed. vurt as well.

Well... after reading the follow up to Vurt, which was Pollen, I can say that the medium lends itself well to express an opinion on current events. Vurt establishes the framework of the world involved (future-manchester; collective dreams) and the Pollen seems to speak to the dangers of a society that comprehensively monitors public behavior, a growing trend in British cities.

Personally, I like Jeff Noon's flow and construct. His world is vibrant and rich and fantastic and at the same time tangible and real. The interpersonal relationships are well-written and his resolutions "make sense."

Then again, I could just be a wierd "writer's writer" fan, which would explain my love of Stephen King, DF Wallace, Haruki Murakami, and Henry Miller... as opposed to more classically novel-oriented fiction.

skav wrote:I'd never heard of that one. I'll stop by work later today and grab a copy.

are you a librarian?

reading some Bukowski junk (Teh Prettiest Woman In Town). short stories. good bedtime stuff 'cuz it's completely mindless / un-pretentious. completely vacuous. it really shuts the mind down. clears it. leaves it nothing to think about, ponder, question, etc. sleep the whole night.

and that's it's worth: a good night's sleep.

somehow he takes pride as a "realist writer". lols.

his poetry is decent.

i will concede one chord that he struck w/me, but that's only because he stated it without eloquence. in reference to the 9-to-5 lifestyle, "Working is a wasted life".

Not a librarian, but I do work in a bookstore.

Buk's "Betting on the Muse" is a really good collection of his poetry with a handful of short stories thrown in. I picked up a copy of Hemingway's complete short stories the other day though. Shits all over everything.

Lox wrote:Well... after reading the follow up to Vurt, which was Pollen, I can say that the medium lends itself well to express an opinion on current events. Vurt establishes the framework of the world involved (future-manchester; collective dreams) and the Pollen seems to speak to the dangers of a society that comprehensively monitors public behavior, a growing trend in British cities.

is this that twilight ish?

just grabbed sadiris' "when you're engulfed in flames" for next week's hut2hut trip. like the van gogh cover

Twilight like vampires?

No. Twilight is just a retelling of the first two seasons of Buffy. Joss Weedon is your master now.

If you can find or download a copy of Scott Bradfields 'the History of Luminous Motion' you'll probably read it every other year 4lyfe.

Ray Kurzweil: The Age of Spiritual Machines. Although you all should have read this one years ago.

Harry Crews' A Feast of Snakes;

Wallace's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and Broom of the System

Melloy's Half in Love--really nice short story collection

McCarthy's Sutree

Just picked up a collection of WT Vollman's fiction and non-fiction; he writes some pretty fine sentences.

hweight wrote:Harry Crews' A Feast of Snakes;

McCarthy's Sutree

Just picked up a collection of WT Vollman's fiction and non-fiction; he writes some pretty fine sentences.

How's it compare to the Border Trilogy?

everyone read Gravity's Rainbow

Ikefromla wrote:

hweight wrote:Harry Crews' A Feast of Snakes;

McCarthy's Sutree

Just picked up a collection of WT Vollman's fiction and non-fiction; he writes some pretty fine sentences.

How's it compare to the Border Trilogy?

everyone read Gravity's Rainbow

Totally different, though he's still playing with genre. I haven't read any of his earliest stuff, though that comes recommended to me as well.

Never tried Gravity's Rainbow; I've read some of his short fiction. Maybe that will be my summer book . . .

hweight wrote:Never tried Gravity's Rainbow; I've read some of his short fiction. Maybe that will be my summer book . . .

Go with V. or Crying of Lot 49 first.

elblat wrote:

hweight wrote:Never tried Gravity's Rainbow; I've read some of his short fiction. Maybe that will be my summer book . . .

Go with V. or Crying of Lot 49 first.

I've heard a lot of good things about V. Thanks.

Yes, and Crying of Lot 49 is amazingly boring.

How can a book about philately possibly be boring?