Books

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

This Little Life (which was great, but tore me apart and put me into a bit of a depression)

This one has been on my radar for a bit with the Man Booker nomination. Might need to add this to my forthcoming amazon order.

Just be in a really great mood when you begin. That books literally will tear you down and then stomp on you.

Cool. Thanks for the feedback (and the feedback on The Girls too).

[Bagley]

Has anyone read Paul Beatty's The Sellout or Emma Cline's The Girls and have thoughts/recommendations on either?

I highly recommend The Sellout.  Brilliant satire!

[hutch]

starting James Brown's autobiography....we'll see...

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Has anyone read Paul Beatty's The Sellout or Emma Cline's The Girls and have thoughts/recommendations on either?

I highly recommend The Sellout.  Brilliant satire!

Thanks for the recommendation!

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

I really liked The Girls. Loved her language and the description of the friendship. A little on the nose, but still an enjoyable read. I would be interested to know if men enjoy this book, or if it's more for women.

Finished this on Saturday. I'm sort of of two minds about the book. She's obviously an immensely talented writer. She has a talent for layering short descriptive sentences about something one after another and weaving this really well-written tapestry. But on the other hand, I sort of found the overriding story not that great. She's someone who I think will put out an amazing book at 36, but probably she isn't full cooked at 26. I did not think it was only for women although I think women will probably more immediately relate to the "Suzanne-obsession" element more than men.

Started A Little Life and obviously that's going to take me a few weeks at 720 pages of very, very small font. It hasn't gotten brutal yet but several people have warned me its just gratuitously awful to the main character so I'm bracing myself.

[K8teebug]

I really liked The Girls. Loved her language and the description of the friendship. A little on the nose, but still an enjoyable read. I would be interested to know if men enjoy this book, or if it's more for women.

Finished this on Saturday. I'm sort of of two minds about the book. She's obviously an immensely talented writer. She has a talent for layering short descriptive sentences about something one after another and weaving this really well-written tapestry. But on the other hand, I sort of found the overriding story not that great. She's someone who I think will put out an amazing book at 36, but probably she isn't full cooked at 26. I did not think it was only for women although I think women will probably more immediately relate to the "Suzanne-obsession" element more than men.

Started A Little Life and obviously that's going to take me a few weeks at 720 pages of very, very small font. It hasn't gotten brutal yet but several people have warned me its just gratuitously awful to the main character so I'm bracing myself.

Agree. Some of her sentences just knocked me dead. But, that is what I meant by a little too "on the nose". The overall story was just ok.

[brennser]

I just read "the Power of the Dog" at the beach - an oldie but a goodie

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Started A Little Life and obviously that's going to take me a few weeks at 720 pages of very, very small font. It hasn't gotten brutal yet but several people have warned me its just gratuitously awful to the main character so I'm bracing myself.

This book is just fucking brutal.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Has anyone read Paul Beatty's The Sellout or Emma Cline's The Girls and have thoughts/recommendations on either?

I highly recommend The Sellout.  Brilliant satire!

Just got on the Man Booker shortlist. It's up next if I ever can bring myself to finish the literary torture porn that is A Little Life.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Finally finished A Little Life. That was a tough read. Excellent book but very depressing.

Started White Teeth by Zadie Smith which I somehow have never gotten around to reading. (My order for The Sellout and Brief History of Seven Killings is taking forever to get delivered so The Sellout isn't up next like I said but they're the next two in my literary queue.)

Does anyone else use GoodReads?

[Space Freely]

Two books about the Boss.

Just finished "Bruce" by Peter Ames Carlin.

Currently reading "God is not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hitchens.

Both good reads.

[bob72]

Just started this one:

[Relaxer]

These are the ones I've recently finished and liked a lot

[ggw]

Fags, punks, and blue-bloods intersecting in NYC between the Bicentennial and the Great Blackout of 1977.  It's a long book but the writing is spectacular.



Crap.  Pure and utter crap.  NPR Best Book of the Year.  Agatha Christie comparisons.  Turns out its really just incredibly flat characters, strained dialogue, and predictable plotlines.  I blame this book's success on this whole Gone Girl, Girl on a Train thing going on.  This will be a mediocre film at some point.  Perhaps I'll watch the film, because I abandoned the book after 150 pages, which I almost never do.



8 out of 10.  Great writing.  Almost all character development with the plot a conscious afterthought.  Some find it pretentious, but I get the sense it is a purposeful pretension that speaks to the characters.

[walkie,talkie]

david lynch

catching the big fish




read it, bitch