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When I read House of leaves I came away thinking it was a fun art project, but not really a great book. This was like 15 years ago though.

There were points when it was kind of frustrating to get through, but I read it when I was at my family's house waiting out the hurricane. I was isolated and depressed and feeling crazy, so I was in the perfect headspace to read it

I LOVED the Navidson story but some of the Johnny Truant stuff was a little tired when he goes on about his drugs and especially his women, but I understand why it was like that after reading all the appendices.

Weird book.

Been chipping away at Bolano's 2666 but dad life makes it a long term goal.
Anyone read this? Pretty great so far.

D.o.S. wrote:When I read House of leaves I came away thinking it was a fun art project, but not really a great book. This was like 15 years ago though.

You're pretty spot on, really.

I think I admire a lot of the book, and in its own way it is very much a great work of contemporary/post-modern fiction. But more for WHAT it does for the genre rather than all of its content.

Finished Radio Free Albemuth, which was more coherent than I was expecting going in, and am now about halfway through Mother Night. Thinking about giving Underworld a go afterwards. Found it at Goodwill a while back, it's been kinda looming on the shelf, taunting me every time I go to grab a new book.

Just finished 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster.

Very long and not 100% great. It feels like it doesn't quite fulfil its ambition, but overall was a surprisingly engaging read and I enjoyed it.

Wouldn't recommend to people who don't like huge books though.

coldbrightsunlight wrote:Just finished 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster.

Very long and not 100% great. It feels like it doesn't quite fulfil its ambition, but overall was a surprisingly engaging read and I enjoyed it.

Wouldn't recommend to people who don't like huge books though.

Paul Auster is great though.

Yeah I meant surprising in that the concept and size seemed a bit much. Not surprised in general because I've enjoyed all his books that I've read.

odontophobia wrote:

D.o.S. wrote:When I read House of leaves I came away thinking it was a fun art project, but not really a great book. This was like 15 years ago though.

You're pretty spot on, really.

I think I admire a lot of the book, and in its own way it is very much a great work of contemporary/post-modern fiction. But more for WHAT it does for the genre rather than all of its content.

i always looked at it as more of an art-book than a book of fiction, per se. though i know it is a work of fiction. i felt it deeply indebted to those who crossed mediums of classification before, in a way that, say, william blake or theodore roethke did (no way comparing it to either of them). aesthetically, what a book. as a work of fiction, not bad but terribly convoluted and hard to follow. a "jacob's ladder" of sort, if you will.

ok...after reading a bit more of Dark Places...I've decided to give up...house of leaves is next...sounds like its an older book, so will have to hit pop the library, as bookstores these days only seem to carry new releases and cooking books!

samzadgan wrote:ok...after reading a bit more of Dark Places...I've decided to give up...house of leaves is next...sounds like its an older book, so will have to hit pop the library, as bookstores these days only seem to carry new releases and cooking books!

It's not that old. I read it in undergrad and I don't think it had been out that long.

Had somehow missed that there is a new translation of Yasutaka Tsuitsui short stories out (came last year, apparently). Looking forward to digging into it when I'm done with the reading for this semester.

Just picked up Room to Dream, hopefully it's a good one.

samzadgan wrote:ok...after reading a bit more of Dark Places...I've decided to give up...house of leaves is next...sounds like its an older book, so will have to hit pop the library, as bookstores these days only seem to carry new releases and cooking books!

I didn't like Dark Places very much, either. Really pretty just kinda run of the mill, and could've been quite a lot better.

Re: Paul Auster, hearing that last mention makes me want to read the NY Trilogy again. So good—I love that weird concept of sorta non-resolving noir. There needs to be a Lynch/Austin collab.

Yeah the NY trilogy appealed to me.

Finally reading A Tale of Two Cities. Good so far, to the surprise of nobody.