| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 07/20/2005 : 10:06:15
As i stated in the "House of Leaves" thread:
---i've been informed via email from a bunch of members of the book club that "House of Leaves" has been now made into a 'long term assignment' because of the difficulty in some people obtaining it/reading it, and i have been assigned the task of picking a month-long or so assignment for the book club. i'll be compiling my top 3 choices, and i'll make sure they're quasi-easily obtainable.---
I have my Top 3 choices. All three are available both new and used in the US, UK and Canada. All other nations i'm sorry, i didn't check your Amazon pages.
Choice #1: Natural Novel, by Georgi Gospodinv:
An excerpt from the Believer review:
"Gospodinov...[constructs] a baroque apparatus of false starts, digressions, devices, and dodges in order to avoid an extraordinarily painful story - that of a writer who finds out his wife is pregnant with another man's child. The basic trauma of the situation is ineluctable, so that the more yarns the narrator spins around it, the more you sense his desperation and avoidanc.
Episode after episode presents a frentic series of ideas for various novels and books: a novel composed only of verbs; a 'Novel of Beginnings' that reboots automatically every seventeen pages; a nightmare text called 'The Bible of the Flies' that tells the story of Genesis from the perspective of the flies watching all flesh be prepared for their delectation."
Choice #2: A Box of Matches, by Nicholson Baker:
An excerpt from the Amazon.com review:
"One man's simple, colloquial meditations on his past, his family, and his life's daily minutia are the substance of Nicholson Baker's A Box of Matches. Feeling that life is passing him by, Emmett, a middle-aged medical textbook editor, decides to wake up early each day to sit by a fire in his country house and record his thoughts in a diary. "Good morning," Emmett begins, "it's January and its 4:17 a.m., and I'm going to sit here in the dark." From this vantage point, Emmett reflects stream-of-consciousness style on whatever occurs to him, no matter how mundane: his recent trip to Home Depot, how he met his wife, the habits of the family duck. Routines, such as how he makes his morning coffee in the dark or picks up his underwear with his toes, are described with childlike reverence and directness."
Choice #3: Carnival Wolves, by Peter Rock
An excerpt from the Amazon.com review:
"Fleeing an unsatisfying life as a museum guard in upstate New York, Alan and a distrustful Dalmatian (which has fallen off a bridge and landed at his feet) traverse harsh, surreal landscapes in Wisconsin, Utah, California and other far-flung locales, searching for human connection. Along the way, Alan encounters and often relinquishes narrative duties to a bizarre menagerie of men, women and animals, including Eddie Polenka, a horrifically imaginative taxidermist; Claudia, a neglected wife who watches over her absent husband's contraband lions and tigers while engaging Alan in S&M games; a dazed hitchhiker who sports a three-inch tail dangling from her spine; and Rufus, a Las Vegas circus chimpanzee who tears apart his owner's hapless, drug-running lackey. Following equally memorable run-ins with polygamists and religious zealots, Alan hooks up with Miriam, an unlikely savior with rings on all 10 toes, and escapes to L.A. where, in a dingy apartment, he comes to understand the value of his extraordinary experiences."
So vote everyone, and we'll start soon!
-Brian
If you move I shoots!
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| 35 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| zub_the_goat |
Posted - 01/14/2006 : 10:03:24
Heh, thanks, id rather be posting book reviews than revising runnily enough, anyone up for talking about house of leaves yet? |
| kathryn |
Posted - 01/06/2006 : 08:27:08
zub said it best, i think.
I got some heaven in my head
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| zub_the_goat |
Posted - 01/06/2006 : 07:03:10
yeah, i think basically there is no real storyline neccesarily, its more of a mans thought processes as it shifts time and place....i liked it, but i always felt like i was waiting for something more to kick in. I found it hugely frustrating at times when the narrator would witter on about things that were unimportant and uninteresting, which in the past in books ive enjoyed, but not here, obviously it was vital to the book that he needed to escape the pain of his divorce, but i found the book pretty lacking in substance, i think it would have been better if it was even shorter. Im tempted to give it a re-read to see if i missed something, im fine with books having no real narrative if you've got somehting to back it up,and im not sure this did. |
| offerw |
Posted - 01/06/2006 : 06:43:40
Well, I really cannot say it is a bad novel. I just had a hard time connecting with the novel, not because of culture but because of the tangents Gospodinov takes. I guess the idea was to have this character who avoids the pain of his divorce through keeping his mind busy by thinking about anything else.
The novel is certainly worth reading.
wilhelm |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 01/05/2006 : 20:53:04
i actually was surprised kiki with how little adjustments i needed to make for cultural reasons. i found i slipped right into it.
and i'm sorry wilhelm that you didn't enjoy it. i thought it was a good quick read
-Brian
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| offerw |
Posted - 01/05/2006 : 11:47:18
Unfortunately I did not like the novel much.
His ramblings in-between the main story line was most often just pointless and only every now and then funny.
Maybe I just don't get "post-modern".
wilhelm |
| kathryn |
Posted - 01/05/2006 : 11:13:09
I'll discuss it. For starters: I am glad I read it but it took me a while to get into it. Anybody else experience cultural dissonance? All those Eastern European-ish kaffee klatch philosophical discussions with his buddy weirded me out.
I got some heaven in my head
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| offerw |
Posted - 01/05/2006 : 10:03:26
ok
are we going to discuss Natural Novel?
wilhelm |
| offerw |
Posted - 01/03/2006 : 10:50:30
I will be done with Natural Novel by tomorrow.
wilhelm |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 16:38:45
sounds good to me. if i still had my copy, i'd mail it over to ya, but alas it is not.
-Brian
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| starmekitten |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 16:32:41
then do! I doubt I would be able to get hold of this in time to discuss it with any one sadly as eviction means I'm all here there and everywhere at the moment, but it looks like you got a group who have read it. I'll give it another week or so before starting a new thread? sound ok? |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 16:20:56
ditto
-Brian
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| zub_the_goat |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 15:31:49
Im in, id too like to discuss Natural Novel, think I need to have another read first as ive forgotten stuff I think. |
| kathryn |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 15:07:05
I'm in. But it'd also be good to discuss Natural Novel.
I got some heaven in my head
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| starmekitten |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 14:44:59
I'm so sorry, I let this whole book club thing slide. I was unable to get hold of this one (student workload + student finances makes tre a dull girl) and it kind of petered out there.
What do we want to do start afresh with a new novel? I'm quite happy to start a new ball and pick a new book as I have literally nothing else to do with my time at the moment. If there's enough interest??? |
| kathryn |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 12:36:54
Nope. Like my love, no one wanted it.
I got some heaven in my head
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| Broken Face |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 11:00:34
Kiki, did you ever pass this along to anyone else?
-Brian
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| PixieSteve |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 09:57:24
if someone in the UK wants to send it to me for free without expecting it back, i'll join.
 |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 08:59:12
i would like to discuss it.
-Brian
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| kathryn |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 08:07:01
Ok, people. Where are we with this, if anywhere at all? Anybody else read Natural Novel? I know that offerw, Broken Face and I have. Care to discuss?
I got some heaven in my head
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| Broken Face |
Posted - 09/29/2005 : 08:38:20
AHEM
-Brian
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| kathryn |
Posted - 08/10/2005 : 09:22:03
Just finished. Be happy to mail it to anybody who can't get it.
A quick and enjoyable read. Good choice, Brian. Looking forward to discussing it.
Sometimes, no matter how shitty things get, you have to just do a little dance. - Frank
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| Broken Face |
Posted - 08/07/2005 : 16:07:17
started/finished it in 24 hours and passed it along to kiki @ newport. so everyone else track it down and start reading!
-Brian
If you move I shoots!
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| zub_the_goat |
Posted - 08/07/2005 : 10:25:06
cool, thanks |
| starmekitten |
Posted - 08/07/2005 : 10:13:07
I think we're going with natural novel, I'm going to order it tomorrow.
You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics |
| zub_the_goat |
Posted - 08/07/2005 : 09:47:43
whats happening with this by the way? everyone getting natural novel? i just got me some spending money and if i dont know which book to get it'll go on something useless like bills or food |
| Newo |
Posted - 07/21/2005 : 15:41:40
Yeah I like the guys name so sounds good.
--
Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to corner the fish market and marvel at the small acts of philanthropy he commits while depriving most of the world of fish. |
| zub_the_goat |
Posted - 07/21/2005 : 14:53:33
me too...so there |
| offerw |
Posted - 07/21/2005 : 12:03:36
me too
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| kathryn |
Posted - 07/21/2005 : 10:57:00
Fine with me.
Sometimes, no matter how shitty things get, you have to just do a little dance. - Frank
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| starmekitten |
Posted - 07/21/2005 : 10:22:24
My vote too goes to Natural Novel, if no one pipes up soon we're going with that.
Because I said so.
and you're questioning the sciences
and questioning religion
you're looking like an idiot
and you no longer care.
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| Broken Face |
Posted - 07/21/2005 : 07:43:45
well dammit, vote people! my vote goes to Natural Novel, with a close second being A Box of Matches, and a not too distant third Carnival Wolves, but i will really read whatever we decide on. would cover pictures help?
-Brian
If you move I shoots!
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| Broken Face |
Posted - 07/20/2005 : 11:29:23
i'm glad my choices seem to be popular ones. everyone check your local amazon.com page and read some reviews, maybe that'll help.
-Brian
If you move I shoots!
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| starmekitten |
Posted - 07/20/2005 : 11:25:32
I think the first one, maybe.
Damn Brian those are sounding very good though, each one interests me.
and you're questioning the sciences
and questioning religion
you're looking like an idiot
and you no longer care.
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| zub_the_goat |
Posted - 07/20/2005 : 11:20:03
ooohhh, they all look good, think the top 2 sound the most intriguing at the moment |
