Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo in 2013!!
bansheebeat (and whoever else has an opinion on the matter), where do I start with Bukowski?
I haven't read much of his poetry, but I love his novels. Some people advise reading them in the order they were published to see his style evolve. I disagree - I think his style came fully formed from the womb, so generally recommend reading them in the order they occurred in his life. So that would be:
Ham on Rye Factotum Post Office Women Hollywood
Ham on Rye is still my favorite just because it lays the foundation of a crazy childhood home into a crazy adult life. Women is okay, but he's got money and some fame in that one. The first three are most brilliant at depicting how down on his luck he constantly was. I haven't read them in a few years and some of the imagery, especially some of the women he was with, is still in my head. Hollywood is my least favorite but it's interesting in that it's mostly about his experience making Barfly. I might give them all a reread this year actually.
Haha some of his poems are good, but the vast majority of them are bad poetry IMO. Kinda like Allen Ginsberg--has a few really really good poems but way more really bad ones. I guess I'm just a poetry snob.
How did the cars run with the lack of oxygen? Big hole in the ending for me unless cars don't need much oxygen in order to operate.
The population density of the area which is enclosed in the dome along with the relative short time frame of the story allows King to dodge the big changes that would be brought up by such a situation happening. This serves the narrative since it allows the nerdy scientific side of me to calm down and enjoy the story.
Abra and I coined a term for writers called "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Syndrome". In case you haven't read that book, it's where a writer writes a detailed story for 95% of the book and then says "F*ck it." and wraps the rest up in 10 pages. I think this is what happened here. He builds and builds for around 1,000 pages then explosiongoodguydiesbadguydiesgoodguydiesbadguydiesdomeliftsfinish. Also, the answer to lifting the dome is to ask. Seriously? The whole idea of adolescent cruelty in an alien species was just very rough to me and didn't seem to fit in.
Haha, I think that's what King does best: writes crappy endings. NothingButFlowers and I have discussed that a few times.
I think King is a much better short-story writer than a novel writer; at least, his stories seem to end much better than his novels.
Haha some of his poems are good, but the vast majority of them are bad poetry IMO. Kinda like Allen Ginsberg--has a few really really good poems but way more really bad ones. I guess I'm just a poetry snob.
Ginsberg? Now you done quacked up twice.
I wouldn't call it snobbery, because the modern usage connotates superiority on your part, and I'm sure that myself and other poetry enthusiasts, poets,and English and Journalism majors on this board would strongly disagree with that notion. Simply a differing of opinion of what makes a "good poem". To each his own.
The population density of the area which is enclosed in the dome along with the relative short time frame of the story allows King to dodge the big changes that would be brought up by such a situation happening. This serves the narrative since it allows the nerdy scientific side of me to calm down and enjoy the story.
Abra and I coined a term for writers called "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Syndrome". In case you haven't read that book, it's where a writer writes a detailed story for 95% of the book and then says "F*ck it." and wraps the rest up in 10 pages. I think this is what happened here. He builds and builds for around 1,000 pages then explosiongoodguydiesbadguydiesgoodguydiesbadguydiesdomeliftsfinish. Also, the answer to lifting the dome is to ask. Seriously? The whole idea of adolescent cruelty in an alien species was just very rough to me and didn't seem to fit in.
Haha, I think that's what King does best: writes crappy endings. NothingButFlowers and I have discussed that a few times.
I think King is a much better short-story writer than a novel writer; at least, his stories seem to end much better than his novels.
I still prefer the books, but I did accept some time ago that reading them is more of an enjoy-it-for-the-journey-not-the-destination type of experience.
On the recommendations front... any particular Vonnegut short/essay collections stand out?
I've read Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle, Sirens Of Titan, Player Piano, Galapagos, maybe another one or two I'm forgetting (former coworker had a fantastic compilation in one huge book.)
Same visit I picked up Atlas Shrugged, I had found myself staring at the selection of used Vonnegut. It was all novels I'd already read, collections where I didn't know where to start, and TimeQuake. So I got TimeQuake and it's on deck.
Oh, follow-up note on Atlas Shrugged... about 125 pages in but haven't touched it in about two weeks. My girlfriend remarked that she can tell I'm not really digging it, because I normally go through books way faster than that one...
On the recommendations front... any particular Vonnegut short/essay collections stand out?
I've read Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle, Sirens Of Titan, Player Piano, Galapagos, maybe another one or two I'm forgetting (former coworker had a fantastic compilation in one huge book.)
Same visit I picked up Atlas Shrugged, I had found myself staring at the selection of used Vonnegut. It was all novels I'd already read, collections where I didn't know where to start, and TimeQuake. So I got TimeQuake and it's on deck.
Oh, follow-up note on Atlas Shrugged... about 125 pages in but haven't touched it in about two weeks. My girlfriend remarked that she can tell I'm not really digging it, because I normally go through books way faster than that one...
I don't know about short essays from Vonnegut but if you have read God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater you should go do that now.
Finished the first volume in 1Q84, and the beginning of the second is getting really good. I need to stop reading books that take 500 pages to get going. After this book I think I'll do something quick like a McCarthy and then knock off a few hundred pages of Infinite Jest. I started it after I finished Anathem and had to put it down after about 200 pages.
I thought 1Q84 was a great book. I like his others better, though. Murakami is an excellent writer. I love Wind-Up Bird Chronicle!
My best friend sent me Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks for Christmas so I plan to start that one soon. I had never heard of it but every book she has ever given me has been great so I trust her judgment,
On the recommendations front... any particular Vonnegut short/essay collections stand out?
I've read Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle, Sirens Of Titan, Player Piano, Galapagos, maybe another one or two I'm forgetting (former coworker had a fantastic compilation in one huge book.)
Same visit I picked up Atlas Shrugged, I had found myself staring at the selection of used Vonnegut. It was all novels I'd already read, collections where I didn't know where to start, and TimeQuake. So I got TimeQuake and it's on deck.
Oh, follow-up note on Atlas Shrugged... about 125 pages in but haven't touched it in about two weeks. My girlfriend remarked that she can tell I'm not really digging it, because I normally go through books way faster than that one...
Post by gratefuled on Mar 22, 2013 23:12:21 GMT -5
I hate like hell that Chinua Achebe just died...one of the true world heavyweights; in many ways the anti-Conrad. If you haven't read his Things Fall Apart, I suggest you pick it up.
Post by ziggyandthemonkeys on Mar 28, 2013 14:48:58 GMT -5
Finished 18Q4. Pretty damn underwhelmed. Then at the end it lists suggested readings by other authors, with myself having read from the list Neal Stephenson, Kurt Vonnegut, and David Foster Wallace. This book was nowhere close to in their league as far as I'm concerned. If you like their books there is ultimately nothing to suggest you will like 18Q4.
Moving on. I think I will read Blood Meridian next. A good place to start into McCarthy?
Moving on. I think I will read Blood Meridian next. A good place to start into McCarthy?
Well since you asked...Blood Meridian is a perfect place to start. It is one of the most brilliant books I've ever read. After that go backward to Child of God or Suttree before diving into the Border trilogy. I loved his last two as well - easier reads for most folks and No Country's contemporary while the Road's well, in the future.
God I love Blood Meridian. I seriously think in 50 years older kids will be required to read it the way we were with weenieens or Melville. Well, I guess kids probably won't read in 50 years but you know what I mean.
I just finished Stephen King's Dark Tower series about a month ago. Wow what a read. Probably one of my favorite series. I was a Harry Potter fanatic so this bypassing that is a huge thing! I'm reading The Hobbit currently. I've never read it and after seeing the 1st movie I thought I should check it out. So far it's pretty alright.
Friday June 14th (Possibly one of the best days of my life) will hopefully go as followed:
Brunch/Trombone Shorty/Local Natives/(This slot I'm willing to compromise with the people I'm with on)/Wilco/PAUL QUACKING MCCARTNEY/Wu Tang/Animal Collective.
