love in the time of cholera

the decameron

portnoys complaint

fear of flying

severo sarduy’s de donde son los cantantes & cobra

henry miller’s tropic of cancer

something nasty in the woodshed what was the name have not read the book but yuoll liikely laugh

any oscar wilde except for de profundis

le malade imaginaire whats the name of that en ingles

memorias postumas de bras cubas / dom casmurro / o alienista

—

eta:id be wary of taking a confederacy of dunces as a funy book necessarily. i found it undendingly depressing because unlike the mainstream blockheads i identified with the protagonist. oh yeah. it’s a sad book read that way. no wonder the writer offed himself.

Funny you should mention Don Quixote. I'll do that one next. Thanks man. Gotta get through the rest of the book first. He's about to embark on talking about the Abu Ghrabi thing. Woo...

Confederacy of dunces is one of those books I read but can barely remember. Do remember absolutely HATING the main character. However, that doesn't mean I didn't like the character/book. Just I didn't like him as a person.

MARK TWAIN

anything by him

Honestly, never read it, but this can't be too depressing:

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker

he's an interesting guy and a good lecturer. I've seen him speak a couple of times.

I just read a review of his latest Elightenment Now in Nation mag. They got it fairly wrong. He says the world is getting better, the reviewer seemed to think that discounts the efforts put in to make it so, which is a pretty flawed reading, IMO

That's actually on my reading list. I'll get round to that soon I reckon.

Sandman is indeed a great read.

Loved it. He almost flirts with satire at the beginning, but I soon cared for both characters and it ends up being a very moving tragedy.

His prose style isn't anything to really excite me, but the book doesn't call for any pyrotechnics. Anyway, it was brilliantly put together and he clearly has a talent for the craft.

No idea why they made a movie of it when it can be read in an afternoon.

Now I want more McEwan.

On a roll, I wanted to read this. I was sure I had a copy. Couldn't find it. Goddamn holiday and the library wasn't open. Not sure why this book is calling out to me, but it is.

Finished the history of early US literature, onto a book of contemporary Chinese short stories

Glad you liked it. If you want recommendations for more McEwan: Cement Garden; Child in Time and The Innocent. But his two collections of short stories (First Love Last Rites and In Between the Sheets) are also excellent. He seemed to mellow after The Innocent but, of his later period, there's some really great writing in Saturday but I'd still say OCB is his masterpiece from that era. Atonement gets all the acclaim, maybe because it's arguably his first really great story, but personally I found it far too long-winded and the theme and characters just never really clicked with me. I think I'm in a minority though.

If you liked On Chesil Beach you might also like Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day. McEwan and Ishiguro graduated from the same writing programme and there are definite similarities in their style and overall approach. But I think McEwan's real strength is his set-pieces. He sort of reminds me of DeLillo in that sense.

Adding to Symbol's list,

Steinbeck - Cannery Row
Nabokov - Lolita
Elmore Leonard - Swag
Dickens - The Pickwick Papers
Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim
Carl Hiaasen - Tourist Season
PG Wodehouse - The Code of the Woosters
Evelyn Waugh - Scoop
David Lodge - Small World
Spike Milligan - Puckoon

Lolita?! Jeez man. Your sense of humour is different to mine.

However, Puckoon, any Wooster book, and Cannery Row I can agree with. Ordered Don Quixote so that should be here by the time I finish The Lucifer Effect.

Lolita is really funny. Laugh-out-loud funny.

I'm suddenly feeling all weird about that now. It is funny though, right? ... right? ... anyone?

Well what ever floats your boat...:D

yes language wise but the overall universe is bleak as fuck

denisovich is immersed in a bleak hole but he manages to... win lolol

connect with frankl

I'd like to re-visit this because when I was younger I gave it a go and it bored me. I'm really hoping I've matured since then. I've heard nothing but praise for it.


Sick fuck. Blocked. And I'm calling the police.

If I remember correctly, there WAS one really funny thing in Lolita, it was the drama teacher speaking, and Nabokov's use of a mixture of bold and italic words to show the way some of those teachers tend to exaggerate and stress everything, even though it ain't needed at all...


I've launched myself into reading Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain.
I've tried once before and failed half way through.
3 years ago a new translation's been printed.
I'm tiptoeing into the novel now.


And unfortunately, the soccer world cup is about to start. Won't be able to do both...

hey! join the fantasy league. h8kurdt just started one. come on!

you have 4 years after that to read thomas mann.