Underworld is the one about the Kennedy assassination, right? That's the one I want to read.
It's all about choices, Faith. The ones we make, and the ones we don't. Oh, and the consequences. Those are always fun.
Angelus ,'Smile Time'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Kate P. - May 15, 2006 7:19:42 am PDT #461 of 28095
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love
erikaj - May 15, 2006 7:23:35 am PDT #462 of 28095
Always Anti-fascist!
If only "The Corrections" were as funny or brilliant as the author thought it was. Man, that's why I hate lists...never meant to slight K&K. I'd put "Fortress of Solitude" right up next to it, too (Climbs up on Roth bench with Hecubus.) You'll have to bring your own liver, boychik. My mama told me not to do that with married guys anymore. I'm sure you understand.
Matt the Bruins fan - May 15, 2006 7:24:12 am PDT #463 of 28095
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
I've always felt I should read A Confederacy of Dunces, but somehow never managed to work up the motivation to actually start reading.
DavidS - May 15, 2006 7:26:59 am PDT #464 of 28095
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
You'll have to bring your own liver, boychik.
I never graduated to organ meat.
I've always felt I should read A Confederacy of Dunces, but somehow never managed to work up the motivation to actually start reading.
It's funny! Not a spinach book.
erikaj - May 15, 2006 7:28:00 am PDT #465 of 28095
Always Anti-fascist!
I really thought it was hilarious, but sometimes the canon thing makes me twitch...trying to decide what America laughs at, or something. Of course, as a writing student, I heard the Toole story as a cautionary tale first.
Jessica - May 15, 2006 7:32:24 am PDT #466 of 28095
If I want to become a cloud of bats, does each bat need a separate vaccination?
It's funny! Not a spinach book.
I only made it about 20 pages in. I'm sure it was supposed to be funny, but I just couldn't get into the writing style.
brenda m - May 15, 2006 7:33:56 am PDT #467 of 28095
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
Jess is me.
erikaj - May 15, 2006 7:37:25 am PDT #468 of 28095
Always Anti-fascist!
I read it for A Boy. Good thing I liked the book. I always do that...I think if I read their books I'll know what they're thinking, and...bang. I'm widely read and single at thirty-two. Possibly, next time, tighter blouses instead?
Matt the Bruins fan - May 15, 2006 7:40:35 am PDT #469 of 28095
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Slacker idealogue raging impotently against the State of Affairs while enduring a surreal job search doesn't appeal to me that much - I had a roommate who lived that story, and it wasn't funny to watch.
DavidS - May 15, 2006 7:41:37 am PDT #470 of 28095
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
but sometimes the canon thing makes me twitch
It never bugs me because I always see it as fluid. A kind of cultural conversation rather than a definitive list. There's no definitive list, but the exercise forces people to think about what they value and why. Who cares what the ranking is? But I love to hear the cases being made and disputed.
Speaking of Zadie Smith, she has an interesting piece on Kafka here.
I'm mulling over her claim here:
All novelists who are worth anything at all resist a version of life as it has been presented to them. What Flaubert meant by bourgeois life is not what his age meant by bourgeois life, and what Austen meant by the word "woman" was subtly at odds with the usage of that word in her time.