What are you reading?

[gainesvillegreen]

Finished 'child of god' by cormac maccarthy.
fun little read, if you like stories about necrophiliac southern hill jacks... and who doesn't?

I would recommend dialing it back one and reading Outer Dark, because the only thing better than reading about necrophiliac southern hill jacks is reading about brothers and sisters fucking each other and the infanticidal southern hill jacks who follow them around Appalachia.

Also, I like Outer Dark the best of the 'southern' novels he has written.

If it is too soon for more McCarthy, then I would recommend either of these by this guy:

Donald Ray Pollack

Short Story Collection: Knockemstiff

In this unforgettable work of fiction, Donald Ray Pollock peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the sad, stunted but resilient lives of its residents. Knockemstiff is a genuine entry into the literature of place.Spanning a period from the mid-sixties to the late nineties, the linked stories that comprise Knockemstiff feature a cast of recurring characters who are irresistibly, undeniably real. A father pumps his son full of steroids so he can vicariously relive his days as a perpetual runner-up body builder. A psychotic rural recluse comes upon two siblings committing incest and feels compelled to take action. Donald Ray Pollock presents his characters and the sordid goings-on with a stern intelligence, a bracing absence of value judgments, and a refreshingly dark sense of bottom-dog humor.

Novel (which I am currently reading as I am typing this): The Devil All The Time

In The Devil All the Time, Donald Ray Pollock has written a novel that marries the twisted intensity of Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers with the religious and Gothic over­tones of Flannery O'Connor at her most haunting.  Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There's Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can't save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrifi­cial blood he pours on his "prayer log." There's Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial kill­ers, who troll America's highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There's the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte's orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right.
Donald Ray Pollock braids his plotlines into a taut narrative that will leave readers astonished and deeply moved. With his first novel, he proves himself a master storyteller in the grittiest and most uncompromising American grain.

[barnesy305]

Finished 'child of god' by cormac maccarthy.
fun little read, if you like stories about necrophiliac southern hill jacks... and who doesn't?

I would recommend dialing it back one and reading Outer Dark, because the only thing better than reading about necrophiliac southern hill jacks is reading about brothers and sisters fucking each other and the infanticidal southern hill jacks who follow them around Appalachia.

Also, I like Outer Dark the best of the 'southern' novels he has written.

If it is too soon for more McCarthy, then I would recommend either of these by this guy:

Donald Ray Pollack

Short Story Collection: Knockemstiff

In this unforgettable work of fiction, Donald Ray Pollock peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the sad, stunted but resilient lives of its residents. Knockemstiff is a genuine entry into the literature of place.Spanning a period from the mid-sixties to the late nineties, the linked stories that comprise Knockemstiff feature a cast of recurring characters who are irresistibly, undeniably real. A father pumps his son full of steroids so he can vicariously relive his days as a perpetual runner-up body builder. A psychotic rural recluse comes upon two siblings committing incest and feels compelled to take action. Donald Ray Pollock presents his characters and the sordid goings-on with a stern intelligence, a bracing absence of value judgments, and a refreshingly dark sense of bottom-dog humor.

Novel (which I am currently reading as I am typing this): The Devil All The Time

In The Devil All the Time, Donald Ray Pollock has written a novel that marries the twisted intensity of Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers with the religious and Gothic over­tones of Flannery O'Connor at her most haunting.  Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There's Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can't save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrifi­cial blood he pours on his "prayer log." There's Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial kill­ers, who troll America's highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There's the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte's orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right.
Donald Ray Pollock braids his plotlines into a taut narrative that will leave readers astonished and deeply moved. With his first novel, he proves himself a master storyteller in the grittiest and most uncompromising American grain.

Have you guys read " And The Ass Saw The Angel" by Nick Cave? It's got some fucked up shit in it along these lines. I mean, it is Nick Cave and all.

[whatapiper]

My wife bought the series and said it was awesome so I gave it a shot.  This is the third of the 3 book series.  It's very good.  The first book is being released as a movie, in March I think.

my special lady friend just finished this series and was trying to get me into it.
it sounded a little too 'young adult-y' for me.

if it gets the mehead seal of approval i might just give it a go.

Iwas thinking the same way and it did take some convincing to get me to read them.

Ha, my wife just tore through the first book and told me I had to read them too. I responded in similar "young adult-y" fashion, but maybe I'll give it a shot.

heh, my wife finished these 3 a few months back, she was hooked.   I assumed it was more for the ladies but now that I see some respectful paugers having read them, maybe it's time to give them a shot.

As for me I am trying to decide whether to read "Deadwood" or "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy",  both were gifts over the holiday.

[sls.stormyrider]

Steven King
11/22/63
cool time travel story about one of the defining days in our time

[gah]

I've been on Paulo Coelho's The Witch of Portobello. Enjoying the journey.

[twatts]

Hunger Games Series

Being a big fantasy and sci-fi reader as a kid, I had the first book figured out before my wife had finished the first chapter...  Rehashed premises and themes...  Its been repackaged to empower teenage girls, a group that has tended to avoid fantasy and sci-fi... 

But my wife enjoyed the series...  Of course she thought Harry Potter was awesome but refuses to read Tolkein...

Terry

[iamhydroJen]

Finished the Hunger Games series, and finally reading:



... when I have time between class assignments and tests 

[Mr Minor]

Hunger Games Series

Being a big fantasy and sci-fi reader as a kid, I had the first book figured out before my wife had finished the first chapter...  Rehashed premises and themes...  Its been repackaged to empower teenage girls, a group that has tended to avoid fantasy and sci-fi... 

But my wife enjoyed the series...  Of course she thought Harry Potter was awesome but refuses to read Tolkein...

Terry

:-o
That's a shame, almost blasphemous.   :wink:   Such a master of literature.

I just finished Game of Thrones.  On to A Clash of Kings.  What an interesting series!

[birdman]

Just finished this...



Brilliant but very depressing

Now Im working on Andre Dubus' biography. He grew up in the city I now live in. Interesting to read about how the town has changed so much.

[gainesvillegreen]

Been meaning to read the Collected Stories of Daddy Dubus, I assume he talks about him some in Townie?

Right now, reading:
Thom Jones
The Pugilist At Rest (short stories)

Beginning a week of Jones reading, anyone know or read this writer before?

Also wanted to HIGHLY recommend to anyone who likes short stories the collection Corpus Christi by Bret Anthony Johnston:
http://www.amazon.com/Corpus-Christi-Bret-Anthony-Johnston/dp/0812971876
Interview in The Atlantic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/07/stories-to-break-our-hearts/3381/

There is a story in the collection, "Outside The Toy Store", which is one of the best I've read this year. So simple, just two people talking on a bench in a mall, but it is extremely tight, and shows what can be done with just imagination and some dialogue.

[rowjimmy]

The Fourteenth Book is entitled, "What can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?"
It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period.
This is it:
"Nothing.

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

[cactusfan]

The Fourteenth Book is entitled, "What can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?"
It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period.
This is it:
"Nothing.

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

tiger got to hunt
bird got to fly
man got to sit and wonder, why why why?
tiger got to sleep
bird got to land
man got to tell himself he understand

[rowjimmy]

The Fourteenth Book is entitled, "What can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?"
It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period.
This is it:
"Nothing.

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

tiger got to hunt
bird got to fly
man got to sit and wonder, why why why?
tiger got to sleep
bird got to land
man got to tell himself he understand

No cat, no cradle!

[mbw]

The Fourteenth Book is entitled, "What can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?"
It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period.
This is it:
"Nothing.

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

tiger got to hunt
bird got to fly
man got to sit and wonder, why why why?
tiger got to sleep
bird got to land
man got to tell himself he understand

No cat, no cradle!

Bokonon's 53rd Calypso

Oh, a sleeping drunkard
Up in Central Park, 
And a lion-hunter 
In the jungle dark, 
And a chinese dentist, 
And a British queen - 
All fit together 
In the same machine. 
Nice, nice, very nice; 
Nice, nice, very nice; 
Nice, nice, very nice - 
So many different people 
In the same device.

[mehead]