i looked and i think the literature counterpart of the films thread doesn't exist yet so decided to create it.
right now,
blood meridian by cormac mccarthy (1985) - not finished yet but will soon as it's a very nice read. raw, bleak and ultra violent western odissey with excellent landscape descriptions.
The World According to Garp.
Mafia Export - by Francesco Forgione.
Pretty much like listing details and personnel of Italian mafia gone global.
Quote from: Tenebracid on January 15, 2012, 08:40:21 PM
i looked and i think the literature counterpart of the films thread doesn't exist yet so decided to create it.
right now,
blood meridian by cormac mccarthy (1985) - not finished yet but will soon as it's a very nice read. raw, bleak and ultra violent western odissey with excellent landscape descriptions.
I don't think so either. Good thread!
Blood Meridian is so heavy, not just in atmosphere but in language with it's extremely long sentences and endless wirling onslaught of words row upon row. One could read it over and over and maybe hope to get 75% at best. In homage to the Magic Realism of Latin America one could be bold and dub Blood Meridian as Violent Realism for the way an entire page can be dedicated to describing a stone in the desert while the most gruesome violence is brushed over in a sentence as if it was the most insignificant of things. Which, considering the setting of the story and the people at the centre of it, is a very accrurate approach. An extraordinary book!
My Current book is
The Reader. A sixteen year old kid in 1950's Germany fucks a woman 20 years his senior. The woman, Hanna, acts as a metaphor for Germany's complicated past and The Kid spends the next 30 years of his life pondering complex feelings of shame and love over his liason with a Woman of the SS. Sorrry, couldn't resist. The film version starring Kate Winslet and Raph Fiennes is on BBC at 21.00 tonight. Apart from the retarded English actors faking German accents it's not bad. Winslet is good as always. The book with all its details is of course miles better.
Just finished second part of the K.H.Wiik's biography (Tuomioja 1979 & 1982). Wiik being one of the most upfront marxist social-democrats of the first half of 20th century, the biography gives a nice view of the Finnish social-democrat movement as whole.
Wiik was against the Finnish revolution of 1918 but unlike most of the socialists who didn't exile to Russia, Wiik never gave up his marxism, yet he kept a strict line towards the communists. He was kicked from the party during the Intermin Peace (1940-1941) and imprisoned after the operation Barbarossa was launched.
After the war, Wiik turned into new left-democratic alliance but disillusioned shortly after, just before death at the age of 62.
Just started 'Dark Market' by Misha Glenny. It's very good so far, it's a detailed look at cyber crime. His previous book is called McMafia which is absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it which deals with the rise of organised crime after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Just got done reading "Index" by Peter Sotos and now reading "Depraved" by Harold Schechter about the serial killer H.H. Holmes. Pretty interesting so far.
Tim Powers - The Anubis Gates. Just started it this morning.
Currently 'a, a novel' - Andy Warhol - transcribed taped conversations from the speedfreaks and sexual misfits of the 60s Factory
Recently Jack Kerouac 'Wake Up' - retold life of the Buddha which eminded me why I hate Buddhists. John Steinbeck 'The Grapes Of Wrath' - something I should have read when a teenager, pretty powerful semi-modernist prose. Jon Ronson 'The Psychopath Test' - great expose of the excesses of psychiatry in humorous style, some interesting stuff on scientology in there. Lynn Crosbie 'Paul's Case' -excellent experimental fiction dealing with Bernardo/Homolka. David Smith 'Witness' - with amusement I noticed that this is the twelth book I have on the case now: not obsessed or anything.
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on January 16, 2012, 01:15:17 PM
Jon Ronson 'The Psychopath Test' - great expose of the excesses of psychiatry in humorous style, some interesting stuff on scientology in there.
Interesting. Have you read Robert Hare's book
Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us? Psychopathy is a subject I'm very interested in. Not the weak serial killer glorification bullshit, the actual psychopaths who walk among us. The ones we have and will encounter in our place of work and other everyday settings without even knowing it. It's a subject I believe everyone would benefit from learning about. I certainly have.
Quote from: GEWALTMONOPOL on January 16, 2012, 01:59:31 PM
Interesting. Have you read Robert Hare's book Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us?
I haven't read it but Hare and his checklist get a rough ride from Ronson in the book and the guy doesn't come over too well in interview sections. Then again, almost no-one does in 'The Psychopath Test' - the overwhelming theme is a criticism of the DSM as a money-making scheme to medicalise normal human variations.
Is that Hare and his checklist themselves or the way certain people and authorities have taken liberties with them? I know Hare is very critical about that himself which is apparently why he continues to lecture around the world well into his 70's.
Right now a bunch of introductory texts to intellectual property rights. But when I get off those, second part of Gene Wolfe's The Knight Wizard. First fantasy I've enjoyed. Also working my way through Brian Wood's DMZ series (comic books). Can't be bothered with anything non-fictious while I'm studying, prefer spaceships, dragons and future wars. But Blood Meridian might be one of the most harrowing, unsettling and mesmerizing things I've read, made this past summer a bit grimmer.
Quote from: GEWALTMONOPOL on January 16, 2012, 03:46:29 PM
Is that Hare and his checklist themselves or the way certain people and authorities have taken liberties with them? I know Hare is very critical about that himself which is apparently why he continues to lecture around the world well into his 70's.
The book goes into all this in detail, I'd recommend it highly, it manages to cover disturbing subject matter in a very entertaining way. He goes into Broadmoor mental hospital to meet a diagnosed psychopath with the help of Scientologists, and there's also details of life behind the scenes with Scientologists - surprisingly considering the terrible press they usually get they get off pretty lightly in this book and seem genuine people compared with some of the horrible fuckers he meets including a very successful businessman who meets all the psychopath criteria, maniacal child psychiatrists who live for medicating children unnecessarily, a psychopathic mercenary...
There is also a very intriguing beginning and end to the book which is kind of about a mysterious outsider art project, hard to describe.
(http://www.georgecarlin.com/update_10-29-08/images/CarlinLastWords.jpg) & (http://images.betterworldbooks.com/093/How-to-Brew-9780937381885.jpg)
I've been reading for a recording project in progress, and in part it's subject matter is the life of Idi Amin.
If you're at all interested in him look at these books, as there is a great deal of ignorance towards the man.
One is written by one of his sons,others are written by exiled cabinet ministers,some by journalists that are looking to give him a bad reputation,all interesting though.
IDI AMIN: HERO OR VILLAIN (JAFFAR AMIN / MARGARET AKULIA)
GENERAL AMIN (DAVID MARTIN)
STATE OF BLOOD (HENRY KYEMBA)
IDI AMIN 'LION OF AFRICA' (MANZOOR MOGHAL)
IDI AMIN AND MOAMMAR GADHAFI -'LESSONS FROM THE STORY PT 1' (MARGARET AKULIA)
Also - Joseph Conrad's 'Heart Of Darkness'
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on January 17, 2012, 07:50:56 PMI wouldn't call most people we encounter in daily life psychopaths, just self-absorbed jerks. Doesn't psychopathic generally mean violent, antisocial behavior and actual mental illness while sociopathic is pretty much the same thing but without so much mental illness?
No, psychopathic doesn't automatically equate to violent, murderous behavior. By definition psychopaths are people who lack empathy, don't experience emotions like most people, and are prone to antisocial behavior. Most psychopaths aren't violent killers, but most violent (serial)killers are psychopaths (hence why he said "Not the weak serial killer glorification bullshit"). I've known a couple psychopaths in my life, and they weren't violent. Just liars and cheats who have no remorse for how they negatively affect the lives of those around them. It's just another term that is misunderstood and misused, like how people use "antisocial" when they really mean "asocial/unsocial".
And nothing was said about "most people we encounter in daily life are psychopaths".
Thanks RG. Summed it up better than I would.
Antisocial behaviour? Not at the moment no. But as far as psychopaths are concerned one very classical route is the fraudster. The person who became trusted in the local church and took off with all the money. The telephone salesman who coerced the old lady into buying a plot of land she didn't need and which actually didn't even exist and cleared out a lifetimes savings. Or the bully at work. Not antisocial in the rowdy drunk at a park bench or the rogue element at work or elsewhere who defies certain norms. This is infinitely more destructive than that. Read the checklist here:
Factor 1: Personality "Aggressive narcissism"
Glibness/superficial charm
Grandiose sense of self-worth
Pathological lying
Cunning/manipulative
Lack of remorse or guilt
Shallow affect (genuine emotion is short-lived and egocentric)
Callousness; lack of empathy
Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
Factor 2: Case history "Socially deviant lifestyle".
Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
Parasitic lifestyle
Poor behavioral control
Lack of realistic long-term goals
Impulsivity
Irresponsibility
Juvenile delinquency
Early behavior problems
Revocation of conditional release
Traits not correlated with either factor
Promiscuous sexual behavior
Many short-term marital relationships
Criminal versatility
Acquired behavioural sociopathy/sociological conditioning (Item 21: a newly identified trait i.e. a person relying on sociological strategies and tricks to deceive)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Psychopathy_ChecklistI think it's fascnating. People need to get over Patrick Bateman and Hannibal Lecter. They are slick James Bond versions and fucking boring. The best film psychopath I've ever seen by far is Aaron Eckhart in In the Company of Men. If you want to watch a realistic and therefore MUCH creepier and more unsettling psychopath then that film is the best one I've ever found.
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on January 17, 2012, 11:26:17 PMMost everyone has a few of those. Just not all 7 at the same time...
Same for the checklist. Everyone will have a couple of those which is considered normal. When you get to more than that there's reason for concern and the select few who tick all or nearly all the boxes are very likely to be a big fucking headache to everyone wherever they go. The army and more regimented places are rare. Business, politics and other lofty spheres of power and risk taking are much more common.
Nikanor Teratologen: "Assisted Living", http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/book/?GCOI=15647100162230 - http://www.vice.com/read/nikanor-teratologen-s-rolodex-of-atrocities
The article fails to mention the heavy philosophical references thrown into this obscene rant, and it seems the heavily Northern dialect that made the Swedish original even more unique and compelling (and untranslatable) hasn't been transferred into the new language (the massive annotation in the people's edition is necessary, as it's sometimes completely incomprehensible even for the advanced Swedish reader). Think the Norwegian translation was in dialect, but any way... it's a must-read. They should also translate Teratologen's most recent work, feverish and obsessively obscene as always, the title translates to "To hate all human life". No humour, no dialect, just pure filthy darkness.
Pierre Guyotat Eden, Eden, Eden. Not a fan of his writing style but so far the book itself isn't bad. I do prefer Sade's brutality over PG's gay soldier loving.
Quote from: RyanWreck on January 19, 2012, 01:50:15 AM
Pierre Guyotat Eden, Eden, Eden. Not a fan of his writing style but so far the book itself isn't bad. I do prefer Sade's brutality over PG's gay soldier loving.
I couldn't get on with that book at all, had it built up in my mind as a great experimental classic due to mentions by Kathy Acker etc and was disappointed and bored. Certainly no Genet. And as far as the 'long sentence' language innovation goes, Gertrude Stein did all that thirty years before.
I don't know if anyone here has read Muriel Spark 'The Driver's Seat'? If anyone wants a brutal read (which you certainly wouldn't expect from someone who was a fairly mainstream literary figure and a Catholic to boot) this, in all honesty, is up there with Sade and Sotos. A devastating book, had it recommended to me by P Best.
Quote from: Peterson on January 19, 2012, 08:53:28 PM
There's another called "Oliver Twink," that, at the risk of sounding super-faggy, is beautiful.
Dennis Cooper has a big sadistic streak and that story could be read as glorying in the twink's demise and the uncle's cruel triumph. It's certainly a stand-out in the book. My favourite novels of his for brutality are Try and The Sluts. For spooky and otherworldly creepiness, Period. For sheer hilarity, even though the subject matter is the usual kiddy snuff porn etc, Guide. The whole tone of that one is hysterically funny.
His graphic novel in collaboration with Keith Mayerson 'Horror Hospital Unplugged' may be expensive and hard to find now, but it's an amazing book.
He's a phenomenal writer, one of the greatest living.
(http://kathrynsbooknook.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/under-the-banner-of-heaven.jpg)
mormons are fucking nuts.
(http://www.jerryesmith.com/myimages/covers/ravenscroftcover.jpg)
I think Vachss started the shit-talking with a garbled reference to the 'big-time freak' who produced Pure in an interview. Been a long while since I read any of his stuff, doesn't sound like his themes have changed much.
Currently: Bukowski 'Notes of a Dirty Old Man' - scrappy and slung-together newspaper columns which is making me want a drink.
Recently: David Cassidy 'C'mon Get Happy: Fear And Loathing On The Partridge Family Bus' - crummy showbiz ghost-written biog of 70s star - good for detail on the girl who died at his farewell show, his drug intake and a glimpse of Justin Bieber's most likely future.
Currently reading Boyd Rice - Twilight Man... ho hum, largely uninteresting. Rice's writing style isn't anything special. Another person's review sums it up nicely: "Another chapter in the ongoing self-mythologising of the World's Smartest Deadbeat."
Pentti Linkola - Can life prevail?
There were quite a lot of written somewhere about this book so I won't repeat. Quite interesting means and ideas about ecology.
The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead
Haven't read much yet, just the prologue and some other introductory chapters. Haven't gotten to the actual "Seven Sermons" yet, which only takes up 15 pages of the book. Been meaning for a while to delve into some occult topics and read an actual book instead of just various stuff on the internet, and this seemed like a decent start.
Harry Martinsson's Aniara.
Lyrical epic set on the spaceship Aniara. Earth is dead, leaving for Mars the steer off course and head towards deep space. Everything falls to pieces, the darkness of space as a metaphor for the bleakness of existence. At times amazing. He got the Nobel prize for it, so it should be pretty good. Reminds me of Poul Anderson's Tau Zero novel thematically, and also reminiscent of the stronger work by Arthur C Clarke. But of course this is "fine literature" and not lowly science fiction, bah...
Schiffer Book's 'uniforms of the waffen-ss' vol 1 2 and 3
FETISH!
Started reading Brighton Rock yesterday. Brighton seems like a pretty harsh place back in the day. I like it so far and it seems I've meet quite a lot of The Boy aka Pinkie wannabees over the years....
Finished of Gerhard from Allerseelens Blutleutche book the other day. Pretty unique reading experience. Maybe not the greatest writer at all times but being invited to stroll along with him on his different travels/searches for meaning was... I don't know but it felt honest and not so damn posing. It helps if your into the stuff he likes like Otto Rahn, Cathars, religious rites, völkish and so on.
Brighton Rock is a great cold-hearted mean read. I don't think it will be spoiling to say that you have a spectacularly unhappy ending to look forward to! Brighton is kinda gentrified now but many seaside towns in the UK are still a bit like this - I live in one.
Currently reading Andrew Boyd 'Blasphemous Rumours' (1991) - 400 pages of hysterical fantasies about Satanic ritual abuse from the Christian journalist whose TV show 'Beyond Belief' was responsible for Genesis P-Orridge leaving the country the next year. It's actually pretty good for info on obscure occult groups like Ray Bogarde's Orthodox Temple of the Prince. Also graphic descriptions of abuse from people who believe they were victims which coul be straight out of Pure magazine.
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on February 10, 2012, 04:58:20 PM
Brighton Rock is a great cold-hearted mean read. I don't think it will be spoiling to say that you have a spectacularly unhappy ending to look forward to! Brighton is kinda gentrified now but many seaside towns in the UK are still a bit like this - I live in one.
I spent quite a lot of vacations in Hastings during the seventies and early eighties. My uncle and aunt had a caravan there. I always thought it was a pretty depressing place. A lot of rain, a rocky beach and then going to the pier for some amusement....
And, yes, it is a mean book!
(http://ia600808.us.archive.org/zipview.php?zip=/7/items/olcovers88/olcovers88-L.zip&file=884151-L.jpg)
first exposure to artaud, had been wanting to read something by him for a while and found this one for cheap in a 2nd hand book store the other day..
picked up Howard Bloom's "Global Brain" on my lunch hour at work, will dive into it tonight.
just started this, good so far:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nFBad_JrCKc/S9I2vCdIAjI/AAAAAAAAAGw/5xshN3S7k2c/s1600/black+sun.jpeg)
Quote from: Nyodene D on February 25, 2012, 10:49:08 PM
just started this, good so far:
Very good book, Goodrick-Clarke really knows his business. For example he knows well the ideology and material that Myatt's ONA has released. Recommended.
excellent work, treats in the best way possibile both serious stuff and hypes without laughing too loud.
I remembering Black Sun being good but not as good as his earlier books The Occult Roots of Nazism and Hitler's Priestess: Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan Myth and Neo-Nazism. I have recollection of thinking that he was borderlining on brown-smear with certain radical traditionalist but maybe I should read it again.
well probably because most of the subjects of black book are fringe/bizarre individuals with a lot to show and not so much to tell than those studied in the previous books that, I agre, are possibly the best two books on the subject.
it fits more in the weirdo department than pure historical research...
Some recent reading:
TH#19
Japanese artbook/magazine series. So not really read it, but this issue is doll special and very good visuals.
SIITOINISTA HALLA-AHOON
The same guy who wrote the previous Siitoin book. Now he observes the development of right wing in Finland from 70's to current state. Full of typos, meta-language and general weirdness in logic. Nevertheless, good reading. Hard to say who exactly benefits from the book and what it really is meant for, but if you're into book that focuses a lot into letters of Pekka Siitoin found in national library archives, this is for you.
DAY OF BLOOD
Max Ribaric book about Blood Axis. There is one interview in English done by M.Deplano. Rest is Italian. Still good book to see lots of photos, artwork, etc etc. More than 200 pages of stuff. I hope they would do English version. It's hard to understand can there be MORE demand in Italian market than international?
HIGH GLITZ : THE EXTRAVAGANT WORLD OF CHILD BEAUTY PAGEANTS
Great foreword and introduction texts analysing the sub-culture. The photos focus most of Dixie Doll -style of child beauty pageants. Meaning, the most outrageous, the most over-the-top. It comes with also step-by-step guide of the clothing details, fake teeth, fake hair, shoes and all sorts of things what you need to get kids look like adults. Neat pink hardcover.
BLUTLEUCHTE
mr. Allerseelen's book compiling his old booklets. I have lots of them, but not all. This book is very well designed. Neat looking hardcover book with stylish lay-out. I have yet to read more than few parts, yet it instantly made me want to dig up the Lucifer Rising DVD from shelves..
I think it's always surprising how young any band feels, if they have started 1990 or later. But thinking it's 20+ years, I guess for many it's already something what makes very little difference did they start '82 or '90. 20 or 30 years, already lifetime for many (younger?) listeners.
When you think of it, suddenly they are there +-2 years same era as Fire+Ice, Sol Invictus, etc... and long before Der Blutharsch or such. Add Coup De Grace activities from mid 80's and he plays basically in same league as most older big names of the genre.
Memorizing Ecclesiae Gnostica Catholica Canon Missae otherwise known as Crowley's Gnostic Mass for the O.T.O (Liber XV). I have to memorize the Deacon's section as I will be part of the Ceremony since the former Deacon's wife is extremely ill. The Saints section is fucking ridiculous (74 names) and hard as hell to remember. The 118th anniversary of the reception of The Book Of The Law begins the 8th of April and continues until the 10th which is when Therion received the final chapter and at that point is when our Ceremony will begin (tomorrow). Been doing VIII (a ritual that, at its heart, includes masturbation 'til climax and then stopping before cumming) the past 2 days to "generate Magical force", I call it Invoking Hermes. Been chaste for a month so it is a very difficult practice. I hope tomorrow runs smoothly.
Gordon Burn - Pocket Money. Mid-80s journalism on professional UK snooker, nothing special, just a collection filler for one of my favourite writers. Many will know his biographies of Sutcliffe and West but his novels are phenomenal - can't recommend something like Fullalove more highly.
Paul Theroux - Dark Star Safari - probably the best of his excellent travel writing as with balls of steel he journeys the length of Africa travelling alone as an old man.
Nicole Ward Jouve - The Streetcleaner - rare Sutcliffe book from feminist and psychoanalytical perpective. OK stuff.
Tom Hodgkinson - How To Be Idle - good magazine but this book was dull and predictable.
Douglas Day - Malcolm Lowry: A Biography - recommended for anyone who thinks they may drink too much - meet a professional!
G Hirliman - The Hate Factory - harsh accounts of New Mexico prison riots, hellish.
I've been interested in reading up on runes (the history, the meanings, etc.) but am not quite sure on where to start. Any good recommendations on this subject?
Quote from: Reprobate on April 10, 2012, 01:55:53 AM
I've been interested in reading up on runes (the history, the meanings, etc.) but am not quite sure on where to start. Any good recommendations on this subject?
Do you mean the style of writing or the esoteric occult use (not exactly one in the same)? Although I have never been into runes I know a few people that I used to attend O.T.O. with who used them that suggested
Odin's Gateway. One of the classic's on the subject is Blume's
The Book of Runes, a few editions come with a bag of runes and I've heard some people talking about
Futhark by Thorsson which just came out.
I've always preferred the I Ching as far as divination is concerned. Geomancy is probably the most useless and base of all the choices out there, and the Tarot, while it is amazing for meditation and reflection on ideas that cannot be expressed in words like the path's on the Tree of Life, it is actually very, very difficult to use for divining. Dangerous if you don't know what you are doing too, as the general idea is to invoke a live "spirit" to control the operations of the hand and/or brain of the person using them. The idiots that have their little tables up or do it over the phone are Charlatan's.
Quote from: Reprobate on April 10, 2012, 01:55:53 AM
I've been interested in reading up on runes (the history, the meanings, etc.) but am not quite sure on where to start. Any good recommendations on this subject?
I think if you search there was a thread at some point about Runes...
Some people talk about it in the "Occult & Esoteric" thread. Doesn't really go into anything too deep.
Quote from: RyanWreck on April 10, 2012, 04:52:59 AM
Some people talk about it in the "Occult & Esoteric" thread. Doesn't really go into anything too deep.
Then maybe the thread was on the Troniks board. I definitely remember there being a Rune specific thread on one of the two boards though...
TOTAALIKAPITALISMI by Jean Peyrelevade
Original title "Le capitalisme total". I don't know if English version exists, but this pretty high profile economist has done plenty of books on topic of economy and capitalism. Within little over 100 pages it explains detailed, yet also pretty easy ways the mechanics and structures of how modern day financial capitalism works.
It's not anti-capitalist by any means. Yet offers critique towards corrupted, unrealistic and dysfunctional system which simply can't go on like this. I'm quite sure many people who watch the TV news of current euro crisis and wonder what the fuck is happening, this book could be good source. In Finland, I recall, you get this for 5 euro or some other bargain price the slightly non-cool pamphlets end up few years after they are published...
(http://dubious.dk/nrdstrm/nordstromsforlag/graphics/danishporn-fp.jpg)
DANSK PORNO / DANISH PORN
"now releases Danish Porn - 100 years of 'sin', 13 handpicked stories, 332 pages. A compilation played out on the best paper, written by the nicest people and wrapped in the most beautiful graphics. A look into the history of porn in Denmark with sinful images accompanied by short texts, the way we want you to experience it."
Great book! Hardcover professional book that came out just.. week ago (foreword is from April 2012!)? I doubt it has hit the shelves almost anywhere outside Copenhagen, but since I was there, I managed to score this.
Bodil, Color Climax, Ole Ege, Cocktail, Weekend Sex, Mary Willumsen,... Story starts from 1800's and goes from illegal written stories and kiosks dealing postcards to revolutionary freedom of all pornographic goods. It doesn't revolve too much in utter filth, but isn't afraid to show Bodil with dog, pig and horse (although horse genitals censored) and pictures of 70's porn shop wall of magazines including titles likes "Lola 14 år". Most of content is most of all tales of people pursuiting their desires on edge of what is accepted, but in very joyful and free-thinking spirit. Drugs, abuse, gangsters and such make their appearance frequently, but still more are footnote of bigger story. Lay-out is great, all the text is both Danish and English. Quality of print and images is top-notch! Anyone into vintage porn: Do not miss! This isn't once of those Taschen style "find it everywhere" books, but smaller company you find: http://nordstromsforlag.dk/
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on April 27, 2012, 10:34:06 PM
(http://dubious.dk/nrdstrm/nordstromsforlag/graphics/danishporn-fp.jpg)
DANSK PORNO / DANISH PORN
Thanks for the heads up. Ordered! How deep does into go into the more...childish side of Color Climax?
This topic is covered only in few sentences, where they mention CCC used to publish such material, but with rising outrage & opposition of general public, they announced they only bought such material abroad and didn't make anything by themselves.
If you need book about Copenhagen youngster section, you have to get Porn Gold (1988). It has extensive report with interviews of worlds most high profile publisher of the genre at the time - and the first guy who started making such magazines.
Would that be also titled Porn Gold: Inside the Pornography Business by David Hebditch? There seems to be another book that shares the same title Porn Gold and one is German (or maybe it is simply a translation of the same book?).
On another note, does anyone have any suggestions for good medical/law/clinical books with photos? In the vein of Sex Related Homicide and Death Investigation. I've seen so many but don't quite remember too many names. There was one with a photo of some guy laying on his bed who died of a heart attack from shoving extremely large dildos up his ass, I've been trying to find that one for awhile now if anyone knows what I am talking about.
yeah, that's the book. Cover looks very "normal". Like Teresa Orlowski on cover, very cheap late 80's graphics in dust-jacket, but this hardcover book includes studies of many relevant early makers of commercial pornography and special long chapters on Exim trading/Blue Movies as well as huge FBI sting operation.
I have a digital version of an Italian (possibly, can't remember) medical book that has one hell of a lot of pictures of a whole range of injuries and attacks. If you are interested let me know and I can send it over. It's just a big pdf document, about 220MB.
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on April 28, 2012, 10:51:19 PM
Quote from: RyanWreck on April 28, 2012, 09:58:17 AM
On another note, does anyone have any suggestions for good medical/law/clinical books with photos? In the vein of Sex Related Homicide and Death Investigation. I've seen so many but don't quite remember too many names. There was one with a photo of some guy laying on his bed who died of a heart attack from shoving extremely large dildos up his ass, I've been trying to find that one for awhile now if anyone knows what I am talking about.
There is PRACTICAL HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION. Had a color photo section & alot of b/w photos of victims of serial killers. Use to own but sold it when a revised ed. came out but never got around to ordering it. Sotos used text excerpts from one bk on child abuse that is expensive but I cannot remember the title of. Nor do I remember which book he used the excerpts in.
Maybe it is
"Child Maltreatment: A Comprehensive Photographic Reference" (I believe it was in Index)? Quite a few editions and spin off reference books have came from that one and they are all very detailed and great. Expensive though. They came out with one titled
"Child Sexual Exploitation" which is fantastic, has pictures from certain magazines and private polaroid collections. They come with CDRom's now you can view on the internet. I like how the books say "Not to be view by non-professionals" which is just saying it's going to be good.
New edition of Philip K Dick 'Exegesis'. Pretty daunting at almost 1000 pages, it's gonna keep me busy for a while.
PKD has been a big part of my life since I was a kid in the early 80s. My top five: Ubik, Valis, Flow My Tears, Scanner, Three Stigmata.
RE: legal 70s KP, there is an interesting chapter in Lawrence O'Toole's 'Pornocopia' on Rodox and CC. I know from an older friend and from that book on Robert Black that this stuff was once available in just about every town in the UK under the counter in newsagents.
OH no sorry, guess that was misleading. I meant the new version of those books you can order online now come with a CD-ROM.
The Wind Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
Suburban Hustler by Aaron Lawrence. Read the review o Cruising For Sex and thought it might be of interest. Well it wasn't a totally let down but it wasn't amazing. I must be jaded about this stuff from all the Sotos I have been reading for years and years.
David Morehouse 'Psychic Warrior' (1995)
Unbelievably bizarre account of life in secret US military remote viewing facilities, where highly trained soldiers meet the spirit world head on. Alternately hilarious and creepy. NB I was 'guided' towards finding this rare book in a second-hand shop by my own 'gifts' ;)
Currently reading this:
(http://images.borders.com.au/images/bau/97818731/9781873176030/0/0/plain/answer-me-the-first-three.jpg)
And I've recently finished this:
(http://feralhouse.com/press/mini_sites/voluptuous_panic/images/vp_cover_330x.jpg)
"La gioia armata" - Alfredo Bonanno.
Theoretical pamphlet for anarchist armed struggle. Written in the 70's, banned and burned for a long time, now easily available on the net. Definitely suits this new -apparently- anarchist oriented uprise in Italy with bombs, vandalism and one shooting.
The book itslef is completely out of reality, but some remarks are very intense.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I have probably 5 different versions of this, but couldn't refuse to buy quite new Finnish edition with so neat look on the book since it was so cheap. Very traditional hardcover. Absurdity of nonsense and level of violence is so high, you sometimes wonder what exactly children get from it - or do they get more? It's quite quick read and story ends very abruptly.
There is now 6 finnish translations? Curiously one done in 60's (2nd translation) was banned, since court ruled it destroys the artistic value of the book. 2010 book consisting also Through the Looking Glass, is told to be absolutely best and most joyful of all. It has also original artwork (except if you consider Carrolls own sketchbook version of story "original").
How has the prose & rhymes translated into Finnish? I remember from the Swedish edition that the translator claimed it was one of the hardest works in his career, with all the paraphrased nursery rhymes etc that Victorian kids, and in some cases contemporary ones would get, but Swedes/non-Brits would miss completely, an appropriating it to Swedish cultural heritage.
Started working through the anthology "Beyond Binary - Gender-queer and sexually fluid speculative fiction", but after a few short stories I gave up. I appreciate the attempt but many of the stories seemed too arbitrary, semi-Medieval or urban fantasy (I prefer proper science fiction). Just to provoke against the reader's expectations, "they should be monogamous heterosexuals, but they are... polyamorous transvestites!" Some of the stories portrayed some interesting "perversions", for example one fantasy story where warriors travel in quads (2 males 2 females in open sexual relationship), and the "hero" who hooks up with one of these groups turn out to be sexually aroused by his style of fighting only - each time he practices, it is sex for him, which of course is a bit troublesome when he realizes that by practicing with his friends, he rapes them unknowingly. But all in all there was a bit too much point-proving, which seems to often be the case in thematical anthologies.
http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky
Good example showing the poem in its original english form, and 4 "translations" in Finnish. When original poem is nonsense, each "translation" differs drastically. It could be hard to even recognize that we're talking about same poem, if we see the verse separately. How accurately they represent the original spirit and intention - I leave that judgement to literature professors - such as the translator herself was. To me it worked well.
I haven't really ever read alice in wonderland. What is so violent about it, the "off with their heads" bit?
That, but also for example the visit in house where they appear problems with child torture, but eventually child turn out to be pig.
total classic...
and definitely not a children's book.
I am reading Mario Mierli's Homosexuality and Liberation: Elements of a Gay Critique.
Very extreme book dealing by Italy's cult gay figure that definitely touches some nerves.
History seen as a curruption of nature due to heterosexual rule that negates the intrinsic transexuality of humanity.
Visionary suggestion for liberation through a transexual communist utopia...
Despite being an icon for many righteous homosexuals, his work definitely differs from the classic raimbow coloured rethoric and stresses out and ecourage pedohilia, necrophilia, tranvestitism and coprophilia.
I was not expecting such an extreme approach. Although I do not agree with one single sentence I have read until now, it has become an instant classic.
I have discovered he was born in my hometown and after he killed himself with gas he got buried 5 mins drive from where I am writing.
Definitely want to know more about and see what political homosexuals think about his legacyabout child abuse and poo fetishism.
http://libcom.org/library/gay-communism-mario-mieli
Speaking about Gay. Have anyone read Destroyer?
(http://entartetesleben.com/wp-content/uploads/gay_mans_worst_friend_by_karl_andersson.jpg)
The gay establishment in Sweden hates it so I guess it could be good...
And speaking about gay I was asked yesterday if I was woman by a transsexual. I thought the beard would be a give away but no. He was trying out his new outfit by the kids pool/fountain in our yard. The kids looked at him like the UFO he really was.
ian brady's gates of janus. found a 2nd hand copy (first page has handwritten "mother's day 2002" and there are stains of dry blood? or is it chocolate? in some pages) of this in abebooks uk for dirt cheap. Takes me a bit more effort to read since english is not my mother tongue but it's a pretty addictive read so far
Kuolema - Oikeuslääkäri Selvittää by Kari Karkola
Cheap paperback by old school coroner. He explains the work in common language with his own remarks, and throws in some stories about peculiar cases.
Philip K Dick - The Divine Invasion
Second part of Dick's final trilogy. Read VALIS back in college and never thought to read the next two books. It's good so far but not quite as good as VALIS.
I never got into Philip K. Dick. The writing is too boring for me, even if the ideas and story are good. His books simply can't hold my interest.
I recently finished Kawabata's Thousand Cranes. Enjoyed it completely. Kawabata is probably my favourite japanese writer. His stories aren't too amazing but his minimalistic writing is just too good. While most writers descripe a lot of the places, things that happen and so on, Kawabata leaves most of that out focusing on the interaction of the characters instead. While I enjoyed the book some of the things that cause distress or are taken as insults confuse me but maybe I should be japanese and live in that time period to understand them.
Now I am reading The Golden Pavilion by Mishima. It's much darker in tone than Kawabata's book and the text is far more heavier but it clearly stands on it's own feet as a good read.
Quote from: H.H*D.H on June 12, 2012, 05:30:09 PM
I recently finished Kawabata's Thousand Cranes. Enjoyed it completely. Kawabata is probably my favourite japanese writer. His stories aren't too amazing but his minimalistic writing is just too good. While most writers descripe a lot of the places, things that happen and so on, Kawabata leaves most of that out focusing on the interaction of the characters instead. While I enjoyed the book some of the things that cause distress or are taken as insults confuse me but maybe I should be japanese and live in that time period to understand them.
Kawabata is outstanding. His
House of the Sleeping Beauties being my personal favourite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Sleeping_Beauties
M.A. Numminen: Till Helsingfors (Swedish translation. Rönells.)
Amusing reading about a Juho Nitty (alter ego of M.A. Numminen) and his encounters with avantgarde / electronic music and different kinds of culture. Not to mention his huge interest in alcohol and women.... autobiographical. Always wanted to read more about his early days so this was a great opportunity to do so. There is some good video footage around of his early electronic experiments on some TV show. Can't find it right now....
Bror Gadelius: Tro och öfvertro i gångna tider (Belief and superstition in past times)
Found two volumes of this very rare book from 1912 recently.... Dealing with witchcraft, paganism, sorcery, witchhunts in scandinavia, demonomania and so on. Many interesting chapters on mental illness and demonic possession. Written in intersting way with rich amount of illustrations and photos.
Today I finally ordered Pure Filth - got high expectations for it.
Quote from: ghoulson on June 12, 2012, 07:00:15 PM
M.A. Numminen: Till Helsingfors (Swedish translation. Rönells.)
Amusing reading about a Juho Nitty (alter ego of M.A. Numminen) and his encounters with avantgarde / electronic music and different kinds of culture. Not to mention his huge interest in alcohol and women.... autobiographical. Always wanted to read more about his early days so this was a great opportunity to do so. There is some good video footage around of his early electronic experiments on some TV show. Can't find it right now....
This? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J19o3s0ytZw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J19o3s0ytZw)
(http://www.gameofthrones.tv/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Game-of-Thrones-Book-Series.jpg)
I am not too kin on fantasy, (except for Howard and Tolkien), but this is classic.
(http://www.malatestiana.it/images/fotograndi/rom%20genti%20libere.jpg)
Excellent Italian book about Gipsy culture from "insider" perspective, with in depth research on the Indo-Aryan origins, the different groups, language, etc.
I have just started it but it is definitely one of the best book on the subject I read apart from Fonseca's Bury me standing.
(http://bikinandbrotherhood.authorsxpress.com/files/2012/01/Bikinandbrotherhood.png)
http://books.google.ch/books?id=L8TOLzWH1q0C&printsec=frontcover&hl=it&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
by ex high rank member of the Outlaws MC.
Ian Stuart Donaldson memories - by Mark Green
"Nazi Rock Star" by Paul Of London was pretty ok overview of band, but appeared to approach subject slightly too careful (I mean in attempt not to piss off the die hard fans with negative remarks what band surely should get). Came in 2002. This "memories" book came few years ago, 2007 I believe, and it's few hundred pages of his career observed via stories of friends, collaborators, supporters, and somehow related people. Includes most of all people who has nothing but praise. From bands a'la Brutal Attack, Störkraft, English Rose, etc etc. To his band mates etc. But also some people who are slightly critical or at least in mood to rather forget some phase on their own history. This includes for example Tony Wakeford, who actually didn't even give interview for book per se, but editor had selected few interview quotes where Tony speaks about the pre-Sol Invictus project and it's connections to R-O-R and White Noise Records.
It also includes some newspaper clippings, some comments from bands who played Skrewdriver cover songs (such as Antiseen). Occasional brief interview clips from man himself and not to mention the one and only existing interview of Ian's ex girlfriend who had also brief story about Lemmy. Not a book to find in any regular book stores music sections, but if you liked various biographies of UK punk, I'm sure this needs to be in shelves as I doubt the "real press" will cover it. It's pretty amusing to compare same stories from perspective of different parties and how mythical proportions of "meetings" of oi lads from different political spectrum get.
Never met him myself but I know and sometimes drink with a number of people who grew up with ISD, many of whose critical views of him would not have been used for an obviously pro-slanted biography - but of course how to write an unbiased biography of such a person is a difficult matter. I would be interested to know if Mark Radcliffe's quotes from his book 'Showbusiness' about his experiences drumming in Skrewdriver in 1980 were used? He disguised ISD as 'Des' in the book for some reason. Don was his name to those he grew up with, many of whom were surprised by his move into pseudo-politics over the last decade of his life apparently at his dad's suggestion.
Recently read Charles Fleming 'High Concept' - astonishing book on Hollywood excesses of 80s/90s film producer Don Simpson (Top Gun, Beverley Hills Cop) - twisted S&M orgies, cocaine, prescription drugs and junk food.
I don't know what Mark Radcliffe has been saying, but most certainly there are no real criticism in the book. It's all about how friendly, civilized, humble and well spoken the man was. Which most certainly can't be all the truth, hah..
But lets say compared to Paul Of London's book (aka Burnley aka No Remorse singer), there he goes into pretty laughable level of apologizing in foreword that he will have to be brutally honest about less-good Skrewdriver releases, and it ends up being merely on style of "material of this album was not as strong as Hail The New Dawn"! Haha...
But I guess we've all read enough about the violent monsters portrayed by "media", and it was perhaps purely logical this will provide just about opposite side.
Nevertheless, pretty harsh stories from early Dutch live show for example, where local band was unimpressed that they were just "warm up band" and they chased Skrewdriver members out of venue with knives. And while UK skins traditionally fought with bare fists, the Dutch skin carried bats, knives, iron knuckles, etc, and there was a mass fight.
Also pretty amusing story of ex- Combat 84 member turned into chealsea headhunter and engaging into ... was it 5 against 100 fight with skins and despite receiving hammer in the head assault - walked out as winners.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8QwtDVOg-3U/TcsNx0_0j7I/AAAAAAAAAfk/4NxksqzyyDs/s320/25%253A100.jpg)
Jean Genet - Funeral Rites.
Thanx for the thread. Saw a selection of books I marked with interest for the future. Anyone read Sotos' Pure Filth yet? Curious about that one, considering a buy. Other than that I recommend abuse forums for victims of violence etc.
Finally found a copy of "The Most of S.J. Perelman" for a buck after looking for it for years. Perelman was a writer on the first couple of Marx brothers films, which strangely he is most famous for despite just being one writer of a committee who wrote the scripts. He wrote a lot of short stories for the New Yorker and Harpers Bazaar, which is what is mostly collected in the book. It's funny how even up to the eighties he was renown as Americas greatest humorist, but has since all but disappeared from the collective unconscious. I'd recommend it, but there may not be enough rape and racism for this crowd, although all the material is from '58 or before, so it isn't PC or anything.
Quote from: theotherjohn on June 22, 2012, 02:40:21 AM
Quote from: Jordan on June 22, 2012, 01:45:58 AM
Finally found a copy of "The Most of S.J. Perelman" for a buck after looking for it for years. Perelman was a writer on the first couple of Marx brothers films, which strangely he is most famous for despite just being one writer of a committee who wrote the scripts. He wrote a lot of short stories for the New Yorker and Harpers Bazaar, which is what is mostly collected in the book. It's funny how even up to the eighties he was renown as Americas greatest humorist, but has since all but disappeared from the collective unconscious. I'd recommend it, but there may not be enough rape and racism for this crowd, although all the material is from '58 or before, so it isn't PC or anything.
Thanks for reminding me of his name. I think I owned a cheap hardback copy of this at one point (a nearby bookshop had about half a dozen copies of this book in their humour section) but I never properly delved into its contents at the time. Probably sold it on as I tend to hoard books rather than actually read them. I'll see if my local library has a copy tomorrow - probably due a much needed [re]visit as all I've been reading lately are books on minimalist music.
There's an okay biography by Dorothy Herrmann on Perelman that I read sometime last year. It's interesting that he was friends with a lot of international avant-garde artists and whatnot but he never did anything but write short humour pieces and cartoons. I guess publishers tried to persuade him to do a serious novel, but he just wouldn't do it.
Some favourite lines from his cartoons - "I don't know anything about medicine, but I know what I like." "I've got Bright's disease, and he's got mine."
Read "Det parapornografiska manifestet" (the Parapornographic manifesto), a short text written by the Swedish libertine & book publisher Carl-Michael Edenborg. He's the head of Vertigo, who've since the early nineties been publishing all the classic pornographic literature (de Sade, Bataille, Delany, Reage, Apollonaire etc - tasty covers as well: http://vertigo.se/index.php?id=29), a whole lot of horror (Lovecraft, Meyrink, Poe), and shitloads of other more or less transgressive stuff (on anarchism, necrophilia, snuff movies etc). Anyway, this 60 something pages long manifesto details what Edenborg (Ph. D in history of ideas & philosophy) calls parapornography, building on the juxtaposition of pornography/anti-pornography and what he calls postpornography ("conscious/PC porn" more or less). A few days since I read it, plus it's pretty dense & intellectual, but what he basically means is that pronography & anti-pornography is built on, is that there is a human core, deep inside, that should be exploited/revealed/defiled or protected/hidden. Whereas parapornography does not accept that - pornography is Euclidean, parapornography is non-Euclidean; for example, The Atrocity Exhibition. No boundaries, no limits of the orgasm. As the cover says, "Parapornography accepts that the phallus is always cut off, that the castration precedes the phallic myth". Unfortunately it's just now been published in Swedish, perhaps we might see an English translation. A lot of it can definitely be related to aspects of industrial/power electronics culture.
Lord Of Flies - by William Golding.
I have vague recollections reading this as youngster. As it is one of very controversial, very pessimistic, could be of interest of any "industrial" people, but also written by Nobel prize winning author and really part of common literary culture, probably should be on reading list of anyone?
It was reminded to me by the "10 kirjaa vallasta" (10 books about power") radio series in Finnish Yle1, which I happened to catch this particular program about Lord Of Flies. As I already had goal to re-read the more complex of philosophical books what I have read as youngster (to see if I experience them differently now), this was obvious choice for it.
Bunch of 6-12 year old English boys crash on island during WWII. With no adults, no civilization, they have to try to set up some type of mini-society to survive and also use any means available to try send message to potentially by-passing ships. Which means fire = some. Written back in 1954, it's long before "Survivors" type of nonsense, and the tribes what are born out of necessities, human characteristics and hidden maliciousness, are something else.
It's utterly popular for studies etc. Allegories the novel offers in pretty short 250 pages length are relatively simple, yet full of possibilities! When I went to local antique/2nd hand book shop, I asked them this and got it for 4 euros. The old guy told this book is among top-5 requested 2nd hand book in Finnish used books site network. Once I bought it, the old man just sighed "read it, and go kill people".
Reading "Franco: Soldier, Commander, Dictator". Like most books it has some leftist, knee jerk reactions to a lot of what Franco stood for and detracts from a lot of what he did instead of being an objective biography, which is what I want and have yet to find. I think Franco had a lot of great ideas but I'm not a huge fan of Catholicism and Christianity. Theoretically I like Mussolini's writings better but he was a coward and too self-serving (pretty much what you don't want in a Fascist party) unlike Franco who had a far better idea of how to command a military and was a soldier himself.
Sweet! I had a friend who turned into a hustler too. And he usually dealt with truckers as well. Me and his roommate had to pick him up from a rest area once and we were trying to find him then he just hops out of some dudes cab. He dated this huge weight lifting black tweaker/steroid user (such a weird combination and I can't imagine those mood swings) when he was in San Diego who worked at a really popular bathhouse. He actually got clean for about 5 years and inherited his fathers construction company and then after about a year of running that he sold it to someone for like $10,000 and sold his house and pretty much just disappeared back into the streets. I can't see him still being alive with what he was doing and having all that cash to blow on junk and coke but who knows.
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on June 25, 2012, 07:24:23 PM
When I went to local antique/2nd hand book shop, I asked them this and got it for 4 euros. The old guy told this book is among top-5 requested 2nd hand book in Finnish used books site network. Once I bought it, the old man just sighed "read it, and go kill people".
Hah! This was propably Markku, the guy from Antikvaarinen Kirjakauppa Aleksis K.? Such a great fellow, I go there at least once a year, and every time I spend at least an hour there just talking. He could seem a little bit rude guy at first but in the end he's really nice to chat with. Last summer we talked in lenght about Marquis de Sade, and he told he has a special collection of Sade material at his home.
yep, that's him. He is a real professional. When you ask him things, he knows it all.
Bought several books from there. He would know things simply if I would forget what exactly I was after, and say "that finnish depressive poet" and he'd know it.
And I've gotten several freebies of all sorts. Old civil war red songs, ray bradbury books, etc. And scored various kinds of things from Linkola to old soviet avantgarde art related books etc. It's just a old style regular 2nd hand book store - but perhaps exactly because of that good place to visit.
I'm alwaysmultireading, which means all books take a little longer to finish. Right now there's been a lot of psychoanalytic writers, something I've widely ignored earlier but which recently started to draw my attention. It is uite entertaining to study these abstract systems of thought.
I started on Julia Kristevas "The Power of Horror: An essay on abjection" but I haven't gotten very far yet as it is quite dense.
Slavoj Zizeks "Survival in the endtimes" in which he describes the global crisis in terms of the stages of grief. Very entertaining. It's a brick of a book and I do enjoy it so far. The book is mostly spent dissecting capitalism and christianity in a humorous but sharp way.
Also "Viennese Actionism" from some spanish publishing company. Over 400 pages, mostly photos - beautifull documentations, both b&w as well as many in vivid color, of their performances, each of the main artists get a lot of representation. Also original texts translated and transcribed, mostly from Muehl and Brus, but there is some from all. Relatively expensive but well worth it.
I try to re-read Kathy Acker's "Empire of the Senseless" every now and then, I love that book.
Also, Gene Wolfes "Book of the New Sun" one of my favourite sci-fi/fantasy, probably due to its many unconventional aspects.
Every now and then I also re-read Batailles "the eye", which is without doubt the most powerful reading revelation I've ever had. I'm lucky I first read as a teenager not really exposed to much of the things I've encountered after. That was probably the only time I ever felt sick (as in overridden) by a litterary experience.
Quote from: Black_Angkar on July 05, 2012, 03:34:31 AM
Slavoj Zizeks "Survival in the endtimes" in which he describes the global crisis in terms of the stages of grief. Very entertaining. It's a brick of a book and I do enjoy it so far. The book is mostly spent dissecting capitalism and christianity in a humorous but sharp way.
absolutely a must read. One of his best books.
He is always funny and thought provoking.
I am readying "L'aquila e il condor", by Stefano Delle Chiaie. Notorious right wing extremist who has been behind AVANGUARDIA NAZIONALE, a recurring name of the so called "lead years" we were talking about.
He gives his vision of those years trying to clean his organisation's name. Unfortunately with these biographies you never know how much you can trust, but the central part regarding his adventures in Africa, Latin America and Spain are absolutely a must for people interested in those years.
I am reading a bunch of books regarding the Balkan wars, too many to name, but the most interesting was "Processo agli scorpioni" (The scorpions trial), regarding the Serbian commando accused of some of the Srebrenica massacre. The group was accused after somebody found a video shot by one of them where they execute some Bosniacs -you can easily find it on line, just check Scorpioni or Skorpioni -
very interesting since it goes into details I missed in the video, since I do not speak Serbian language. The problem is that the author is a so-called "woman in black", so it is filled of pathetic feminist undertones, etc.
Quote from: Black_Angkar on July 05, 2012, 03:34:31 AM
Also, Gene Wolfes "Book of the New Sun" one of my favourite sci-fi/fantasy, probably due to its many unconventional aspects.
Every now and then I also re-read Batailles "the eye", which is without doubt the most powerful reading revelation I've ever had.
A massive YES to Wolfe. One of the greatest reading experience I've encountered. "Urth of the New Sun", the fifth book, is astonishing. The Book of the Long Sun, set in the same universe as some sort of prequel or sequel (doesn't matter really) has been sitting in my bookshelf for way too long now. I'm getting to it...
Only read "The Eye" a year or two ago, but it is indeed a powerful experience.
On a lighter note, will check out Tony Iommi's autobiography from the library later today. There's so many books about Ozzy that I'd never want to read, finally the man himself gets one.
Quote from: ARKHE on July 05, 2012, 04:32:47 PM
A massive YES to Wolfe. One of the greatest reading experience I've encountered. "Urth of the New Sun", the fifth book, is astonishing. The Book of the Long Sun, set in the same universe as some sort of prequel or sequel (doesn't matter really) has been sitting in my bookshelf for way too long now. I'm getting to it...
Only read "The Eye" a year or two ago, but it is indeed a powerful experience.
Yes, especially the Urth of the New Sun makes this by far the most superior in its genre, archaic yet futuristic, in parts transgressive and very poetic. The apocalyptic parts are fantastic. I've not read the Book of the Long Sun either, but its been on my to read list forever.
The Blue of Noon and My Mother are other classics, which are not as deliriously written as the eye, but very good none the less.
Quote from: Black_Angkar on July 05, 2012, 03:34:31 AM
Also "Viennese Actionism" from some spanish publishing company. Over 400 pages, mostly photos - beautifull documentations, both b&w as well as many in vivid color, of their performances, each of the main artists get a lot of representation. Also original texts translated and transcribed, mostly from Muehl and Brus, but there is some from all. Relatively expensive but well worth it.
Any links or any more info about the book?
Quote from: tiny_tove on July 05, 2012, 10:37:42 AM
I am readying "L'aquila e il condor", by Stefano Delle Chiaie. Notorious right wing extremist who has been behind AVANGUARDIA NAZIONALE, a recurring name of the so called "lead years" we were talking about.
He gives his vision of those years trying to clean his organisation's name. Unfortunately with these biographies you never know how much you can trust, but the central part regarding his adventures in Africa, Latin America and Spain are absolutely a must for people interested in those years.
In Italian only I presume? It's time to get back to the lead years. I found I file I made a couple of years ago the other day while cleaning at the office. I'm also interested in Fernand Legros http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Legros and especially his contacts with right wing extremists in Latin America.
There is no Gene Wolfe translations to Finnish - but the landmark series of 4 books starts this autumn. There was just article of him in Tähtivaeltaja magazine (long running sci-fi fanzine) with two short stories in Finnish.
Quote from: Strömkarlen on July 05, 2012, 05:50:10 PM
Any links or any more info about the book?
found it.
http://www.actar.com/index.php?option=com_dbquery&task=ExecuteQuery&qid=2&idllibre=4246&lang=en
As stated most photographic material from actions. Some facsimiles of original posters, some prints, sketches etc as well as some manifestos, short biographies etc. Found it in a venetian shop for art books (at some ehibition place). Unfortunately I missed an Nitsch exhibition going on at the time in Venice as well.
Quote from: Black_Angkar on July 05, 2012, 08:24:32 PM
Quote from: Strömkarlen on July 05, 2012, 05:50:10 PM
Any links or any more info about the book?
found it.
http://www.actar.com/index.php?option=com_dbquery&task=ExecuteQuery&qid=2&idllibre=4246&lang=en
As stated most photographic material from actions. Some facsimiles of original posters, some prints, sketches etc as well as some manifestos, short biographies etc. Found it in a venetian shop for art books (at some ehibition place). Unfortunately I missed an Nitsch exhibition going on at the time in Venice as well.
Thanks! I now realised that I passed on it because of the price and the fact that I already have the Ritter Verlag books on the boys from Vienna.
Quote from: tiny_tove on July 05, 2012, 10:37:42 AM
I am readying "L'aquila e il condor", by Stefano Delle Chiaie. Notorious right wing extremist who has been behind AVANGUARDIA NAZIONALE, a recurring name of the so called "lead years" we were talking about.
He gives his vision of those years trying to clean his organisation's name. Unfortunately with these biographies you never know how much you can trust, but the central part regarding his adventures in Africa, Latin America and Spain are absolutely a must for people interested in those years.
I am reading a bunch of books regarding the Balkan wars, too many to name, but the most interesting was "Processo agli scorpioni" (The scorpions trial), regarding the Serbian commando accused of some of the Srebrenica massacre. The group was accused after somebody found a video shot by one of them where they execute some Bosniacs -you can easily find it on line, just check Scorpioni or Skorpioni -
very interesting since it goes into details I missed in the video, since I do not speak Serbian language. The problem is that the author is a so-called "woman in black", so it is filled of pathetic feminist undertones, etc.
I am hardly ever bothered by any undertones, even blatant ones, as long as its well written. Have nothing against reading feminists either, as long as that the political agenda does not interfere with the litterary product, like the Linda Lovelace-book (the christian one). It can actually be quite interesting or at least entertaining to read about the same events from several opposing perspectives, and it is likely the best way to get a bigger picture.
Balkan seems to be an everlasting mix of conflicts which explodes from time to time. With their long and violent history I suppose things are extremely complicated, and very fascinating to study.
Quote from: Strömkarlen on July 05, 2012, 08:34:31 PM
Thanks! I now realised that I passed on it because of the price and the fact that I already have the Ritter Verlag books on the boys from Vienna.
There seems to be a increased amount of books published about the Actionists these day. Have you read the Ritter Verlag edition of Günter Brus "Irrwisch"? I only have an version in german, and I don't know german but I understand some and I MOSTLY bought it for the illustrations. Which of course, are quite self-explainatory...
Quote from: Strömkarlen on July 05, 2012, 06:01:10 PM
In Italian only I presume? It's time to get back to the lead years. I found I file I made a couple of years ago the other day while cleaning at the office. I'm also interested in Fernand Legros http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Legros and especially his contacts with right wing extremists in Latin America.
Yep, unfortunately it has just been released I must admit I am loosing myself a bit in the final chapters since he is quoting so many names that I can't follow. But still an impressive read.
Delle Chiaie came to talk with other lead years veterans in my hometown at 5 mins walk from my place, but I didn't know.
regarding the "Lead years" I will re-surrect the old thread during the week end with some goodies ;)
Never heard of Fernand Legros, I will definitely look into it.
@Black_Angkar
I agree with what you say regarding undertones, but If I buy a book regarding a specific tragic event, I don't want to reduce the Balkan wars to mere patriarchy reasons as it often she seems to suggest.
regarding the subject I have started the MASSIVE Joze Pirjevec's "Le guerre Jugslae" (Jugoslavian wars).over 700 pages covering the conflicts starting from 1991 to 1999.
If anybody has any decent book on the suject featuring many pictures, please tell me.
Quote from: tiny_tove on July 05, 2012, 09:52:56 PM
Quote from: Strömkarlen on July 05, 2012, 06:01:10 PM
In Italian only I presume? It's time to get back to the lead years. I found I file I made a couple of years ago the other day while cleaning at the office. I'm also interested in Fernand Legros http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Legros and especially his contacts with right wing extremists in Latin America.
Yep, unfortunately it has just been released I must admit I am loosing myself a bit in the final chapters since he is quoting so many names that I can't follow. But still an impressive read.
Delle Chiaie came to talk with other lead years veterans in my hometown at 5 mins walk from my place, but I didn't know.
regarding the "Lead years" I will re-surrect the old thread during the week end with some goodies ;)
Never heard of Fernand Legros, I will definitely look into it.
Looking forward to it! Fernand Legros is a strange character. He is mostly known for his involvement with arch-forger Elmyr de Hory but according to Henrik Krüger (do any of the Danes know if he is alive) he was a "playboy, millionaire, art dealer and CIA agent..."
http://jimhougan.com/wordpress/?tag=fernand-legros
Quote from: Black_Angkar on July 05, 2012, 08:54:47 PM
Quote from: Strömkarlen on July 05, 2012, 08:34:31 PM
Thanks! I now realised that I passed on it because of the price and the fact that I already have the Ritter Verlag books on the boys from Vienna.
There seems to be a increased amount of books published about the Actionists these day. Have you read the Ritter Verlag edition of Günter Brus "Irrwisch"? I only have an version in german, and I don't know german but I understand some and I MOSTLY bought it for the illustrations. Which of course, are quite self-explainatory...
I leafed through it while in Berlin earlier these year. In a way I think I have enough with the early Ritter books about WA and their Schwarzkogler book.
Quote from: Strömkarlen on July 05, 2012, 10:07:20 PM
Quote from: Black_Angkar on July 05, 2012, 08:54:47 PM
Quote from: Strömkarlen on July 05, 2012, 08:34:31 PM
Thanks! I now realised that I passed on it because of the price and the fact that I already have the Ritter Verlag books on the boys from Vienna.
There seems to be a increased amount of books published about the Actionists these day. Have you read the Ritter Verlag edition of Günter Brus "Irrwisch"? I only have an version in german, and I don't know german but I understand some and I MOSTLY bought it for the illustrations. Which of course, are quite self-explainatory...
I leafed through it while in Berlin earlier these year. In a way I think I have enough with the early Ritter books about WA and their Schwarzkogler book.
Ok. I'm quite into it even though I can't make any meaningful context of the text. The illustrations are, as said, good stand alone. I like the way it connects with his other work of the same era, yet is not part of the live documentation which is far more common to encounter. It was nice seeing some of the photos "firsthand" in Berlin though... I need to check out the Schwartzkoggler book. Is it good?
It is very good and expensive.
http://www.amazon.com/Rudolf-Schwarzkogler-Leben-German-Edition/dp/3854151039/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341565043&sr=8-1&keywords=schwarzkogler
Thanks to Arkhe and Black Angkar for the Gene Wolfe mention. I don't know his work, but after reading about him and the Book of the New Sun series, I had to get a copy. Anxiously awaiting it in the mail, since no local book store had a copy. I've been hungry for a new sci-fi author to read for a while now.
Quote from: ConcreteMascara on July 09, 2012, 07:24:41 PM
Thanks to Arkhe and Black Angkar for the Gene Wolfe mention. I don't know his work, but after reading about him and the Book of the New Sun series, I had to get a copy. Anxiously awaiting it in the mail, since no local book store had a copy. I've been hungry for a new sci-fi author to read for a while now.
You're welcome. What's fascinating about
Book of the New Sun is that it more or less is a fantasy series - swords, incredibly dark medieval atmospheres, supernatural beings and whatnot - but technically, it's still SF. You should also check out his debut,
The Fifth Head of Cerberus. Three novellas set on the same planet, from different perspectives. Very intelligent book.
Anyone here into Samuel R Delany's SF works? Suppose he's mainly enjoyed around here for
Hogg, but just like JG Ballard, his SF works are spectacular. Delany is much more working in the space opera tradition, which Ballard had nothing to do with of course. Very intense stuff, like with Wolfe you can never be too sure of what's really going on.
Picked up an English translation of The Koran for 99p at the weekend, on a whim. Should be interesting.
ÄLDREOMSORGEN I ÖVRE KÅGEDALEN / FÖRENSLIGANDET AV DET EGENTLIGA VÄSTERBOTTEN (Nikanor Teratologen)
A reason for me to read these books for the fifth time or something.... the first and second books of Teratologen have been published in luxerous clothbound hardcover book with excellent illustrations by Andreas Kalliaridis (same person responsible for the Brainbombs website btw). I think it's about time that people here check out the translation of the first book; "Assisted Living". It is the ultimate reading for power electronics fanatics.
I regret a bit that I gave away my copy of "Hebbershålsapokryferna" to ClauDEDI of Ain Soph... but in the end of the book they sing "Cuore Nero" - very beautiful song in weirdest context ever.
Quote from: ghoulson on July 14, 2012, 11:55:59 AM
ÄLDREOMSORGEN I ÖVRE KÅGEDALEN / FÖRENSLIGANDET AV DET EGENTLIGA VÄSTERBOTTEN (Nikanor Teratologen)
A reason for me to read these books for the fifth time or something.... the first and second books of Teratologen have been published in luxerous clothbound hardcover book with excellent illustrations by Andreas Kalliaridis (same person responsible for the Brainbombs website btw). I think it's about time that people here check out the translation of the first book; "Assisted Living". It is the ultimate reading for power electronics fanatics.
I regret a bit that I gave away my copy of "Hebbershålsapokryferna" to ClauDEDI of Ain Soph... but in the end of the book they sing "Cuore Nero" - very beautiful song in weirdest context ever.
Been some time since I read them the last time. I suppose one must call them among the most important swedish books ever. At least for me personally. I have not read the translated version, but I must imagine translation changes the overall effect of the book, since the endless flow of untranslatable dialect was part of the original's extreme effectivity? The over the top cruelty, perversion and violence mixed with the virtous litterary skill, the extreme sense of detail and layers of reference makes it perhaps the "worst" books coming from Sweden. I would have to call it surrealist more than anything else. I have a hard time thinking of any other book that comes close.
Ghoulson, Angkar, have you read the Norwegian translation? Stig Saeterbakken did it, if I'm not mistaken. Looking forward to reading Förensligandet... again, it's been out of print for quite some time hasn't it? The should translate Att hata allt mänskligt liv, that one is extremely intense. Nothing in dialect either so it shouldn't be that hard.
I haver only read the swedish translations, I haven't been able to gather energy enough to actually read it in any other language considering how perfect the swedish version is. I suppose it would be interesting for comparative reasons, and that it wouldn't be much more difficult than the "swedish" used in large parts of the book... I have on the other hand, not read "Att hata allt mänskligt liv" yet, there just haven't been time(opportunity, though it's been on my to read-list since its publication.
Finished today Murakami's book 1Q84 and it certainly is his weakest work to date. Or at least weakest from the ones I have read which are in order, A wild sheep chase, Kafka on the shore and Norwegian wood. I expected so much from this work and my expectations grew as I read the first 300 pages but when I got to the second book it simply fell flat on it's ass and couldn't get up. The set-up for the story was interesting, a real mystery brewing with many possibilities for a descent, good or great story but it seems Murakami threw all these possibilities away to detail the minutae of the characters lives, going over again and again the same things he wrote about for thirty times before. The problems deepen as I read foward and saw how little substance the whole work had. Characters came into play having interesting characterics, another set of possibilities but then they disappeared with little to no explanation from the story leaving the feeling that they were just paper dolls and hat no real meaning or impact to the story, a poor cut-out supporting cast for one of the worst love stories I have ever had to endure. In the end, there were nothing that really would make anyone want to read the work in full. 924 pages to slough through where one can witness a beginnings for extremely interesting stories that just wither out and die like last flames on dying bonfire, 924 pages full of padding, worthless descriptions of worthless situations in worthless characters worthless lives. You have completely failed as an author when the main characters of your work are less interesting than the supporting cast and when the story you write is less interesting than the unwritteng stories happening in the background. It feels like Murakami began writing knowing just what he wanted to tell but for some reason decided that he needed a novel that is almost thousand pages long, just like Dostoyevski and Tolstoy and thus decided to pad a story which would have been good in 200 - 300 pages with annoying repetition, worthless minutae and boring story.
I read that some review said that 1Q94 was Murakami's magnum opus. It isn't because it worst mess of words he has put out. As far as I'm concerned his magnum opus is 'A wild cheep chase'. Don't even think about wasting your time with this.
Quote from: ghoulson on July 14, 2012, 11:55:59 AM
ÄLDREOMSORGEN I ÖVRE KÅGEDALEN / FÖRENSLIGANDET AV DET EGENTLIGA VÄSTERBOTTEN (Nikanor Teratologen)
A reason for me to read these books for the fifth time or something.... the first and second books of Teratologen have been published in luxerous clothbound hardcover book with excellent illustrations by Andreas Kalliaridis (same person responsible for the Brainbombs website btw). I think it's about time that people here check out the translation of the first book; "Assisted Living". It is the ultimate reading for power electronics fanatics.
I regret a bit that I gave away my copy of "Hebbershålsapokryferna" to ClauDEDI of Ain Soph... but in the end of the book they sing "Cuore Nero" - very beautiful song in weirdest context ever.
This series is on my read list. I'd like to harbor the Swedish edition, but I have been told it is written in such an obscure Swedish dialect that at times it can be difficult to follow. Stig Sæterbakken translated the first two books to Norwegian. The first Eldreomsorgen.. is translated into Hamar (northeast city a bit north of Oslo) dialect, and is completely sold out. Impossible to get in any antiquarian or at http://antikvariat.net/ (http://antikvariat.net/) as well. Sæterbakken completed the second book before he died last year. It should be in the shelfs sometime this fall, probably in very, very short circulation. Might have to pick up the Swedish editions when next time in Svea.... Read excerpts of the books mentioned here and there, and it builds promise ..
Quote from: Peterson on August 08, 2012, 02:56:29 AM
"Divine Invasions: A Life Of Philip K. Dick" has been taking up my free time lately, that guy was both fucking nuts and on to something.
I love his works. As you say both conspiratory and trulyfull of insight. I think this genre of conspiracy scifi is great, one of the best. I especially enjoy VALIS. The empire never ended.
Quote from: Peterson on August 08, 2012, 02:56:29 AM
"Divine Invasions: A Life Of Philip K. Dick" has been taking up my free time lately, that guy was both fucking nuts and on to something.
Is the book good, or is it mostly the subject matter that's interesting? I'm a huge fan of PKD.
Currently reading Heliopolis by Ernst Jünger. I finished On the marble cliffs a while back and really enjoyed it, this one is a bit tougher to get through. I feel like I've seen Jünger referenced a hundred times in these circles so it was high time to read something of his.
Quote
This series is on my read list. I'd like to harbor the Swedish edition, but I have been told it is written in such an obscure Swedish dialect that at times it can be difficult to follow. Stig Sæterbakken translated the first two books to Norwegian. The first Eldreomsorgen.. is translated into Hamar (northeast city a bit north of Oslo) dialect, and is completely sold out. Impossible to get in any antiquarian or at http://antikvariat.net/ (http://antikvariat.net/) as well. Sæterbakken completed the second book before he died last year. It should be in the shelfs sometime this fall, probably in very, very short circulation. Might have to pick up the Swedish editions when next time in Svea.... Read excerpts of the books mentioned here and there, and it builds promise ..
Go for the Swedish edition, it has a huge appendix translating most of the incomprehensible (to everyone outside of Kågedalen) words & the more obscure cultural/historical references. Educating and arousing at the same time.
Anyone read that "50 shades of grey"? Saw it at work today, thought I might go at it... someone predicted that it soon would be the most top selling book ever after the Bible & Mao's little red book. Everything I've heard & read about it sounds atrocious, would be interesting to see what the fuzz is about.
Read Deborah Curtis' book about Ian Curtis, after seeing Control when it came out. Poorly written (though some of it might be caused by the translation, but after all she's not a writer) and not really interesting. Ian Curtis comes off as an even bigger self-absorbed, pretentious and dependent little annoying cunt than in the movie. Good reading while travelling though. Most interesting part of the book was the unpublished/unused lyrics & poems, at least if you're into Joy Division in any way.
Some weeks before I've been reading Thomas Karlsson's treatise on kliffoth and Goetian magic. Don't know if it has been translated from Swedish. Even if standing outside the realm of "dark magic" (Karlsson is the founder and leader of Dragon Rouge), it's interesting with it's take on Kabbalah and the dark sides of it and Jewish mysticism. His book on runes was more interesting and relevant for me personally though. His acadmic career shines through at times, though the incantations reek of his pompous Therion lyrics.
I have been studying for my certification test, so I've been going over CEH Certified Ethical Hacker All-in-One Exam Guide for the last 2 weeks. There is no way I could read anything else right now. When I got my Security+ and LPI (Linux) certs I didn't even have the exam guides and passed by a hair so I am hoping this will be a breeze.
Quote from: ARKHE on August 08, 2012, 07:34:14 PMGo for the Swedish edition, it has a huge appendix translating most of the incomprehensible (to everyone outside of Kågedalen) words & the more obscure cultural/historical references. Educating and arousing at the same time.
Thanx Arkhe. Looks like I'll travel to Sweden in September sometime. Will def cruise for the edition you suggest then. Inspiring, inspiring. Reading up on the North-Norwegian region - Lofoten's - history from the Stoneage to the 1500's. Quite interesting, though not in-depth. Serves as more of an introduction. Preparing a research travel to these days. Will visit a ritual site from the Stone age. A huge cave. 150 meters deep. Ceiling 50 meters high. Negative cathedral. Contains cave paintings dating 2000BC in perfect condition. (http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQzr5zz-mjNwfJQIIIGw9JxiRidaIPzMiWBMtSmw9NOna6xzCmXmg)
Quote from: ARKHE on August 08, 2012, 07:34:14 PM
Some weeks before I've been reading Thomas Karlsson's treatise on kliffoth and Goetian magic. Don't know if it has been translated from Swedish. Even if standing outside the realm of "dark magic" (Karlsson is the founder and leader of Dragon Rouge), it's interesting with it's take on Kabbalah and the dark sides of it and Jewish mysticism. His book on runes was more interesting and relevant for me personally though. His acadmic career shines through at times, though the incantations reek of his pompous Therion lyrics.
This?
(http://www.theajnaoffensive.com/images/stories/qqgm.jpg)
http://www.theajnaoffensive.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=181:qabalah-qliphoth-and-goetic-magic-pre-order&catid=1&Itemid=41
That one yes.
(http://www.librosalcana.com/225362.jpg)
Just finished Frisk by Dennis Cooper. About 60 pages in to Less Than Zero by Brett Easton Ellis. Finally done with Black Sun by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke as well...
Quote from: Peterson on September 24, 2012, 09:54:05 PM
It's also quite strange to learn that it's creator, Matt Groening, basically has nothing to do with the show save for it's merchandising.
it's not really that surprising when you think about it.
Finished Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" a couple of weeks ago. I plowed through the first 3 books in less than a month, but it took me another month to read the last one. I guess I was subconsciously savoring it? Cheers again to ARKHE and Black Angkar for the suggestion.
Followed that up with "Roadside Picnic" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. A nice, negative picture of what would happen to humanity following brief alien contact. Reminds me of Phillip K Dick at parts; it's not quite as weird as PKD, but it deals with the same issues of soul crushing modernity, greed and identity that a lot of his works do. Good stuff and a quick read. Also it's the basis/inspiration for Tarkovsky's STALKER.
Starting Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" now, which shamefully, I've never read before...
Just started reading, for the first time, Spenglers "The Decline of the West" in its totality. I have been wanting to read the full text for quite some time.
Quote from: ConcreteMascara on September 27, 2012, 04:49:16 PM
Finished Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" a couple of weeks ago. I plowed through the first 3 books in less than a month, but it took me another month to read the last one. I guess I was subconsciously savoring it? Cheers again to ARKHE and Black Angkar for the suggestion.
Oh but you have two books left. Urth of the New Sun follows Severian directly as an appendix to the four first books (it's a decade older). 3 books into Book of the Long Sun, the second set of books in that universe - aiming to procure the three Books of the Short Sun as well which ties the whole thing together. Have no idea yet how the New Sun and Long Sun books fit together, but as always with Wolfe you just have to guess.
Speaking of PKD, read VALIS some week ago. Amazing book, him dealing semi-autobiographically (the narrator is PKD himself, describing his visions as happening to a fictitious person going through what he went through). He takes the true story of his own experiences and evolve them into what may or might not be a proper SF story. It's extremely convoluted, and probably the best I've read form him. Just 30 or so more books to go...
VALIS is top notch, but I still prefer The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and Martian Time Slip. Nothing can beat those two.
Quote from: ARKHE on September 28, 2012, 07:00:14 PM
Quote from: ConcreteMascara on September 27, 2012, 04:49:16 PM
Finished Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" a couple of weeks ago. I plowed through the first 3 books in less than a month, but it took me another month to read the last one. I guess I was subconsciously savoring it? Cheers again to ARKHE and Black Angkar for the suggestion.
Oh but you have two books left. Urth of the New Sun follows Severian directly as an appendix to the four first books (it's a decade older). 3 books into Book of the Long Sun, the second set of books in that universe - aiming to procure the three Books of the Short Sun as well which ties the whole thing together. Have no idea yet how the New Sun and Long Sun books fit together, but as always with Wolfe you just have to guess.
Speaking of PKD, read VALIS some week ago. Amazing book, him dealing semi-autobiographically (the narrator is PKD himself, describing his visions as happening to a fictitious person going through what he went through). He takes the true story of his own experiences and evolve them into what may or might not be a proper SF story. It's extremely convoluted, and probably the best I've read form him. Just 30 or so more books to go...
Considering my absolute love for the first books (since I was teenager, have read them more than any others) as well as the Urth of the New Sun I'm amazed that I havent tried the other titles. Do they deliver?
As well, VALIS is incredible, I must agree. "The empire never ended" is one of the best oneliners in litterature.
M.C. ESCHER "taikapeili" book
Original title probably Magic Mirror. 1990 Taschen Finnish edition, extensive look for Eschers' art, his biography/extensive introduction of all his different eras, techniques, approaches and also ideology behind the works. I'm quite sure everybody has seen his work - even those who wouldn't know the name. With all the background information, the works get further depth.
Mein Kampf
Obviously necessary reading for anyone who has genuine interest to find out what kind of ideals are behind national socialism, beyond exploitative sensationalism and economic leanings. I don't think book has been re-printed in Finland since 40's, but old versions you can still get from libraries and obviously english language versions are available as cheap paperbacks, at nearest paypal button accepting bookdealer.
NO
by Boyd Rice
Hmm... Read it already while ago. Was considering reviewing it in SI magazine, but then just didn't. Boyd is one of those guys who as youngster appeared to be more intelligent and well spoken than majority, but the more years pass, it is either the exposure to really exceptional thinkers or exposure to actually high class authors, that the books appear now to be basically this type of "zine journalism" level one mans hobby. Nothing wrong with it. That's what I do, with no shame, haha.. But at the same time, when pretty much every topic what perhaps could have been somehow "unusual" view, now appears to be like journal of american individualist populism.
Naturally Boyd has certain vision, but its american vision for prevailing american society. He writes good and easy flowing text, but it really operates on level of... lets say LaVey "satan speaks". It ain't that bad, but still, you get this "uh? so? what else?". In a way, it all makes sense, perhaps like these other american heroes a'la Ayn Rand. Where theoretically it appears to make sense and sinks to fertile ground of individualists... but in the end is so trapped in construction what at the same time opposes, but also makes this ideology possible.
So if you got limited budget what to buy and you got to choose from Boyd or Hitler - go for the real deal.
Quote from: Black_Angkar on September 29, 2012, 08:54:52 AM
Considering my absolute love for the first books (since I was teenager, have read them more than any others) as well as the Urth of the New Sun I'm amazed that I havent tried the other titles. Do they deliver?
They do. The Long Sun isn't as apocalyptic and surreal as the New Sun, a bit more evolved in writing style - it seems more realistic but I think that's more of a facade - shitloads of things happening beneath the surface. "The bird is never just a bird", as someone said, and the bird is very important here. There's a LOT of religion in it; political vs personal, polytheism vs monotheism, and throngs of animal sacrifice. Still have about 200 pages to go, its slow work but extremely rewarding. So go get it.
Just finished reading this...
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41o2a8FjQfL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
..and now I'm reading this one
(http://i43.tower.com/images/mm107283744/secret-king-myth-reality-nazi-occultism-michael-moynihan-paperback-cover-art.jpg)
Any good? I recently read about half of Black Sun by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke before having to turn it back in to the library... pretty interesting, it didn't examine in depth so much but as an overview of many different topics it seemed well informed.
Low funds means going to town on the classics section at the library down the street, revisiting books I only half-assed read because it was required in school or just never got around to.
Read Martian Chronicles. Not all the stories are equally effective but love the overall melancholic feel. Really evokes an atmosphere of being completely alone, missed opportunities, decisions and actions that dramatically affect the rest of your life.
About 300 pages into Dracula. Starting to drag a little, they're assembling their "posse" after Lucy has successfully been destroyed.
Looking to re-read The Hobbit in anticipation of the movie.
Any other classics I should pick up that would be at most libraries?
anything Phillip K Dick. And not obscure or hardcore, but East of Eden by Steinbeck.
Thanks. Remember really enjoying Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, but that's as deep as I got into Steinbeck. Was actually looking at his section at the book store last night and didn't realize he wrote so many books.
Have you read Tortilla Flats?
I have not, but Cannery Row is also good. And also I'd highly recommend Cormac McCarthy; specifically "Blood Meridian", "The Road", "All The Pretty Horses" and "No Country For Old Men".
Hammer of the Gods is well written and researched. The two things which bugged me was the complete lack of pictures, and even though the Thule Society was much involved in the civil war, it put too much detail and length into the fight between red guards and freikorps. A good read nonetheless.
The Secret King on the other hand has pictures, but the thing which makes it brilliant and worth buying (I've heard the hardcover first edition is quite valuable nowadays), is the translations of Karl Maria Wiligut's poems, articles and it even includes and interview with a person who knew him personally. Though the subtitle suggests it to be about the "Myth and reality of Nazi occultism", it doesn't go to such detail or depths as Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's Occult roots of Nazism, but rather focusing on the somewhat obscure figure of Wiligut and his thoughts and teachings. Written by Stephen E. Flowers and Michael Moynihan, I can only recommend it.
As for classics, I just finished reading Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf. And if you're into science fiction, can't go wrong with Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny.
PUNK ON KUOLLUT - ELÄKÖÖN HARDCORE
(=punk is dead - long live hardcore)
Finnish language only. Focusing on interviews edited as kind of oral history of Finnish hardcore punk. Starting basically from 79. People who may have already been into old punk, but with uprise of DIY culture as opposed to big labels and youth culture music magazines, and rise of harsher music and more in-you-face political attitudes, hardcore was born. Possibly already "peak" of some sort in '82, yet book basically covers things 79-90, with few things talking earlier or later things.
Edited by guy who was already little older back then - and photographer, and took lots of good photos of scene around then. People interviewed are some key figures and some perhaps "lesser importance". You will have P-Tuotanto, Propaganda Records, Decadenz, Terveet Kädet, Nussivat Nunnat, Turun Palo, Ulo, Laama, etc.. It's no way "academic study", just nostalgic recollections of small but influential moment in Finnish.. ehm.. "culture".
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe & Jean-Luc Nancy: Natsimyytti
originally: "Le mythe nazi"
Finnish edition includes also further analysis/commentary: Janne Porttikivi "Keskeytetty Myytti" ("intercepted myth") and Tuomas Nevanlinna "Totalitarismista" ("about totalitarism"). Published by Tutkijaliitto, so you know it will be tough philosophical masturbation through entire book.
Of course this is most of all attempt to explain and criticize nazism, totalitarianism, present differences of right & left totalitarian states, observe italy, germany and soviet union. BUT most of all, it's about myth, and role of myth in human life/culture. So book hardly talks about anything very detailed about politics, mundane order of society etc, but simply observes the myth itself.
Natsimyytti on kansallisten identiteettipyrkimysten pirstomassa maailmassa jatkuvasti ajankohtainen analyysi natsismin mahdollistaneesta ideologiasta. Sen kirjoittajat kysyvät, miksi ja kuinka myytti ja myyttiin vetoaminen asettui natsismille tyypillisten poliittisten ja sosiaalisten käytäntöjen ytimeen.
I realize book does attempt to take certain moral stand on what is "right" and "wrong", yet it's most of all quite dry analysis, and many times one just has to conclude "that sounds good", even when attempt is probably to show how it in somewhat negative light.
Myytin muodostamisen kyky on herätettävä (tieteen, demokratian ja filosofian) abstraktien universaalien osoittauduttua kestämättömiksi ja kahden mordernin ajan uskomuksen sorruttua: Kristillisyyden ja uskon ihmisyyteen.
And while the danger of myth and danger of totalitarian approach to life is in constant critique, often the I'll be just nodding about good observations, but somewhat confused why exactly that is supposed to be bad?
Around 20 euro, if you are bothered by themes of myth or concepts of identity and metaphysical things. Tag names of interest could include heidegger, stalin, hitler, bataille, rosenberg, etc
Recent finished Fear and Trembling by Kierkegaard. Been forcing myself to reread some of his works that I only half-digested as a teenager. The translation I just read, by Alastair Hannay, seems significantly clearer than the one I read before, although perhaps it is just my thinking that has become more clear. An obviously important work, and a good polemic against the systematic, objective philosophies, yet the centrality of God in his work is a little hard for someone as atheistic as myself to trudge through. I'm going to reread Stephen Hawking's The Grand Design as an antidote to that, although it's a pretty lousy book. It's best quality I think is that it's very short, although there are a few things in there I want to make notes on, and I'm generally in agreement with the idea the philosophy is being made redundant by science. The co-author of The Grand Design, Leonard Mlodinow, is the author of The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, which I've been meaning to read ever since it came out a few years ago.
Quote from: redswordwhiteplough on October 27, 2012, 12:49:21 AM
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's Occult roots of Nazism
I have this book somewhere in the book shelves, but just while ago got
Hitler's Priestess - Savitri Devi - the hindu-aryan myth and neo-nazism by Goodrick-Clarke. Haven't yet stared to read, but waiting to find time for it.
Recent reading has been Alfred Rosenberg "Uutta Eurooppaa kohti" (towards new europe). Found great condition copy for tolerable price. Published back in 1942 in Finland by Otava. Mr. Rosenberg himself collected his speeches and shorter articles to be this Finnish book. I have not found any information that book would exists in other languages, but probably has, simply just disappeared in history? Who knows. If it's only in Finnish, I think there's significant piece of culture here in danger of disappearing. Rosenberg is naturally most famous for "myth of the 20th century" and being one of the ideologist of national socialism. Book would be obviously mandatory reading for anyone who can only associate NS ideology to "holocaust" or much more recent rise of boneheaded street hooligans. Selected writings deal with culture, religion, science, new german uprising, true nature of national socialism, womens role in movement, and all sorts of things. Most writing or speeches goes back to 30's but finally made it to print decade later. In Finland you may have possibility to simply walk to nearest library and ask them to borrow copy of book. I'm sure it is available and I strongly recommend for anyone who is interested in alternative view of humanity and society - beyond capitalism and the shockwaves of french revolution or marxism.
Quote from: jake on October 26, 2012, 03:15:14 AMAbout 300 pages into Dracula. Starting to drag a little, they're assembling their "posse" after Lucy has successfully been destroyed.
The best part of that book is pretty much Harker's diary in the castle and the log of the captain of the ship taking the coffins to England. After that it turns into pure melodrama. I kept thinking if that Van Helsing said "dear madame Mina" one more time I was going to jump into the book and punch him in the face.
The Martian Chronicles rate as one of my favourite books. You're right about the sense of loneliness and melancholy. My personal favourite story is "Way Up In The Middle Of The Air".
Soon finished with Tom Waits' biography
(https://www.plazakauppa.fi/productresources/defaultpic/9789524832045.jpg)
and continuing with Pahuuden anatomia (Anatomy of Evil)
(http://kirjasto.vantaa.fi/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Pahuuden-anatomia.jpg)
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on November 02, 2012, 09:39:01 PM
Quote from: redswordwhiteplough on October 27, 2012, 12:49:21 AM
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's Occult roots of Nazism
I have this book somewhere in the book shelves, but just while ago got Hitler's Priestess - Savitri Devi - the hindu-aryan myth and neo-nazism by Goodrick-Clarke. Haven't yet stared to read, but waiting to find time for it.
Got it as well, but sadly can't remember anything of it. Should read it again.
Gitta Sereny - Into That Darkness
The last major work of hers that I still hadn't read. I have a strong stomach for unpleasantness but quite literally felt nauseated every few pages - not with the detail so much as with the human interaction with Stangl. The section where in denial mechanism mode he talks in fantasy about saving someone's father is simply painful to contemplate psychologically. Spent over a week putting this down and trying to forget about it before getting through to the devastating final pages. Nazis, child prostitutes, child murderers, what a fantastically miserable writer she was.
The sheer amount of guilt-riddled and very disturbing testimony from those implicated in the four extermination camps only makes the agenda of Holocaust deniers more confusing.
(http://ecimages.kobobooks.com/Image.ashx?imageID=gGKm3i_Iy0GEfapIQWxr-Q&Type=Full)
Suttree - Cormac McCarthy
I know I've read "Into the Darkness". I was thinking I owned it but can't find it on the shelves, may be stuck in the top of a closet. I do have her book, "Invisible Children".
I'm currently re-reading Dennis Lehane's "Shutter Island". Going to start McCarthy's "All the Pretty Horses" next.
Recently finished Anais Nin "delta of venus" and "house of incest".
Currently reading "hunger" by Knut Hamsun.
Diaries of Kalervo Palsa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalervo_Palsa
SAVITRI DEVI "forever and ever"
Publisher says: "Forever and Ever is one of three books left unpublished when Savitri Devi died in 1982. The manuscript was long thought to be lost. But in 2006, a French friend of Savitri contacted the Archive with the news that all three volumes were extant. This is the first of Savitri Devi's long-awaited posthumous works to be published."
Paperback finally released in 2012 by Counter-Currents. Material from early 50's may not belong to most influential and celebrated works of Devi, but this c. 100 pages of devotional poems and hymns of praise - sometimes very poetic, sometimes bordering simply richly written confessions of admiration essays. Certainly if one would want to check out some esoteric hitlerism, this is mandatory reading. Book is very well done. Translations, foot-/linernotes, photos and scans of original manuscripts.
QuoteGoing to start McCarthy's "All the Pretty Horses" next.
from what i hear "child of god" is a great one too
but i haven't had much luck finding it locally (which is fucking odd cause the dude lived here)
so i guess i'm gonna have to get it off amazon or something
have read this one?
I think I've read "Child of God"; I've read most of his work. I would love to come across a used copy of "Blood Meridian", that's his best. Check out abebooks.com for cheap paperbacks.
"Every man has a right to his opinion.
No, he doesn't. Men are foolish. They eat and drink and pass gas and fornicare and procreate, and this last is particularly
unfortunate, because the world would be a much better place with far fewer of us in it. Retards and mud children and lunatics and
people of low moral character- that's what we produce. That's what we spoil this earth with. In the South now, they're trying to
keep their niggers in line. But I'll tell you something, I've spent time in the SOuth, and they're all niggers down there, son.
White niggers, black niggers, women niggers. Got niggers everywhere and they're no more use than two-legged dogs. Least the dog
can still sniff out a scent from time to time. You're a nigger,son. You're of low fiber. I can smell it in you."- from SHUTTER ISLAND
by Dennis Lehane
Could someone recommend me a book about German cooperation (political and philosophical etc.) with the Arabs during the Third Reich and after?
Rights Of Burial by Tom Jackman and Troy Cole
true crime rag on the crimes of homosexual serial killer Robert Berdella. Kinda boring in some parts and then there are other parts that are mind blowing and make you think.
All in all I highly recommend it. Taint is the only person I know of that has specifically referenced this case.
For some reason I've just started reading The Elixir And The Stone by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Only on the first chapter but I might give up on it soon enough.
Quote from: Jordan on November 17, 2012, 10:12:18 PM
For some reason I've just started reading The Elixir And The Stone by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Only on the first chapter but I might give up on it soon enough.
Holy Blood, Holy Grail was quite interesting, I think. Can't take it seriously, but it makes good entertainment.
I just started reading Hal Duncan's Vellum.
dostoyevsky's diaries from the underground
Hyun Se Lee - "Hard Boiled Angel" - while looking up some info on Mike Diana's Boiled Angel I came across this graphic novel. Just started it but it's about a bad ass Korean female detective, the first in Korea. Starts off with a peeping Tom/high roller watching her for going on a year plus, then trying to rape her at a park. I know the overall plot involves a bunch of women getting murdered but I just started it so not much else to say.
edit: Hard Boiled Angel, half way done and not so great. Maybe I'm desensitized but it just seems to try to be edgy without fully committing. I like the art style but the writing is very meh.
also reading the first volume of Dave Sim's "Cerebus the Ardvark", enjoying it so far.
Gherasim Luca "Self Shadowing Prey"
Kenneth Anger "Hollywood Babylon"
Johann von Goethe "Faust"
Comte de Lautreamont "Les Chants de Maldoror"
Hawking's A Brief History of Time
also picked up Camus' The Plague yesterday
I'm finishing the last part of "Into that darkness" by Gitta Sereny, following HongKongs suggestion earlier in the thread. Very good read... sometimes the attention to detail (who said what to whom where, who can verify it, etc.) is a bit slow to get through, but it also comes across as very convincing due to the amount of work put into it. I like Serenys philosophy of histories, accepting that the stories of different people sometimes contradict each other, not all events can be proven with 100% certainty and it's the broad picture that matters. Makes me want to re-read "The short summer of anarchy" by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, a biography of Durruti told without "official sources" and only through personal accounts from different people who were involved with him in some way.
Dennis Cooper: The Marbled Swarm
Aleister Crowley: Gems from the Equinox
The Writings of Austin Osman Spare
Arthur C. Clarke: Childhood's End
Lisa Carver: _______ (book with no title)
Ms Suckdog's take on 'victim literature' with a huge number of additional and pretty good paintings by her as full colour illustrative plates. No gossipy sexy light tone and good humour this time, and no bitching about her ex-husbands either: this is a very disturbing and intense book about buried memories from childhood resurfacing, about not knowing what was real anymore, about how a painting project led to a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder. You really don't like the sound of her dad at all by the end. But like her, the reader is in quicksand: what was real? Why did Rollerderby readers point out that the zine's content and preoccupations had all the hallmarks of someone sexually abused as a child when she couldn't remember much about it until the age of 42? It's not at all like the usual exploitative painful lives memoirs (I burst out laughing in bookshops when I see titles like "Dance For Your Daddy" and "Ma, He Sold Me For A Few Cigarettes" at the sheer prurient tastelessness): it's a very unsettling, dark and murky read and she puts a sentence together pretty good.
Free software. Free society. Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman.
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on December 26, 2012, 12:11:12 AM
Lisa Carver: _______ (book with no title)
Ms Suckdog's take on 'victim literature' with a huge number of additional and pretty good paintings by her as full colour illustrative plates. No gossipy sexy light tone and good humour this time, and no bitching about her ex-husbands either: this is a very disturbing and intense book about buried memories from childhood resurfacing, about not knowing what was real anymore, about how a painting project led to a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder. You really don't like the sound of her dad at all by the end. But like her, the reader is in quicksand: what was real? Why did Rollerderby readers point out that the zine's content and preoccupations had all the hallmarks of someone sexually abused as a child when she couldn't remember much about it until the age of 42? It's not at all like the usual exploitative painful lives memoirs (I burst out laughing in bookshops when I see titles like "Dance For Your Daddy" and "Ma, He Sold Me For A Few Cigarettes" at the sheer prurient tastelessness): it's a very unsettling, dark and murky read and she puts a sentence together pretty good.
Read this one a couple of months ago. Can't really say anymore than you did. As usual, or at least often, good writting. Her recent Vice Magazine piece about her son Wolf was pretty heart wrenching.
The Wolf: The Artist From... book has a really good piece by Lisa Carver as well.
Just finished the annotated and expanded version of
The Atrocity Exhibition by Ballard. Never got my hands on the
Re/Search edition so I was pretty excited for this, and not let down at all. Puts a lot of stuff in context, in other Ballard works as well. This book also features the excellent short story
The Smile. Would highly recommend it to anyone who's only read the original edition, like myself.
About to embark upon
Ezra Pound: a close-up by Michael Reck.
December:
Olympos, by Dan Simmons. Second part following Ilium. Masterful SF, mixing up Shakespeare, Homer and quantum mechanics on a truly epic scale even though they haven't left the solar system (unless you count the departures into parallel universes). One of the true masters of modern science fiction, in my opinion. Highly entertaining.
Gilgamesh epic. Thought about picking up the Iliad but looking at the sheer weight of it I decided to go with this most recent annotated translation of the even older epic, which is much thinner. It is unfortunate that some the most exciting parts have been destroyed through the ages, but still exceptional reading once you get into the repetitive writing style. Strange that it hasn't been filmed yet, as far as I know, the dynamic between Gilgamesh and Enkidu would make a great Hollywood partnership.
Eurock: the Second Culture. Mentioned this in the prog/RIO-thread, but worth mentioning again. Collection of the US fanzine Eurock, from 1973 and forwards: snapshots of the European cosmic/progressive rock movement seen from the perspective of a US fanatic. Worth reading alone for the dismissive attitude towards the recently departed flower power era & the imbecile worship of it that the mainstream rock press was (is!) succumbed in. Fuck that five year old shit, screw Pink Floyd, let's listen to Amon Düül II and Magma. First issues are simple presentations of several bands, discussing their discography up to date (Tangerine Dream have just signed to Virgin records and will release a new album in early 1974, Wolfgang Flur has just joined Kraftwerk etc). It's old news since it was published in 2002, but still available from Amazon.
QuoteEurock: the Second Culture
How much of this book deals with Zeuhl & RIO? I've seen the index for it on Amazon and a lot of the French bands & musicians were there, but I'm curious how big a part of the book is about them (bands like Magma, Offering, Weidorje, Patrick Gauthier, Bernard Paganotti etc.). Also curious about the presence of RIO in the book.
I'm asking cause I don't like all of Krautrock and wouldn't want to spend $40 (I think that's what the book costs at Amazon) plus postage unless I really needed the book. Thanks!
Acsenger: there's a lot more Kraut than Zeuhl and RIO, but there is at least one issue that's only Zeuhl - mind that I've only read up to 1976 this far so that stuff hasn't really happened yet in the chronology of the book. If you don't like Kraut rock at all, you might want to skip the book, though I think there are few resources from that time that wrote anything at all about the RIO movement for example, or the bands/musicians you mention. Looking at the index, there's a LOT of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze being mentioned, but also hundreds of bands I've never heard of.
Almost finished listening to Dostoyevsky - Crime and Punishment . I guess no comments are needed.
Reading Stanislav Grof - Books of the dead. I'm returning to him from time to time. very interesting psychoanalytic material.
Quote from: Levas on January 12, 2013, 12:43:52 PMAlmost finished listening to Dostoyevsky - Crime and Punishment . I guess no comments are needed.
Took me two reads to get it, and I guess there are issues with translation and language. I seem to recall reading, although I can't remember where right now, that it's rather dense style was criticised at the time. In any case, I came 'round to it, you just have to go the hard yards and slog it out.
EDIT - listening to it being narrated would, in fact, make it easier, no?
Well, the style is dense and overall the book is intense, weird, moralizing and depressing. Truth is i never liked listening to audiobooks, but I was bored with listening to music while going somewhere etc. so tried it. I would've never read 6 tomes of that book I guess..
Finished Don DeLillo's Point Omega yesterday. Short & nice, more like two 60-something pages short stories that are subtly connected. Very open-ended, leaves most questions pleasantly unanswered.
Will Self - Walking To Hollywood - this is a terrible book which would not have been published if written by an unknown, it's going in the bin.
Re-read JG Ballard - Running Wild - his last flash of brilliance for me after the unbeatable 70s Atrocity Exhibition to Unlimited Dream Company run of what might be called pro-psychopath literature. A fantasy of coddled suburban kids imploding into a private secret language that very much resembles industrial culture - pornography, concentration camp fetishism, senseless violence. Amazing short book.
I would like to read "Westley Allan Dodd: The Victorian-Renaissance Evidence" by Thomas A Green having been tipped off to its obscure self-published existence by Mr Sotos. Author's blurb: "In 1990, nine boxes of corrosive, criminal evidence travel from the courtroom of Westley Allan Dodd's execution sentencing to the warehouse for the Washington State Archives in Olympia. They harbor a bizarre secret that could unravel the mystery of Dodd's murderous motive, heretofore, recognized by most as simply, "Evil." The trial is gruesome in its details, leaving psychologically savaged Jurors beyond the healing of counseling. The boxes remain untouched for 20 years, too loathsome to resurrect, or, reconstruct. The author, as a Forensic Psychology graduate student working on his Master's Degree, is informed that he is the first to request them. Could the Victorian-Renaissance reproductions in Dodd's collection of child erotica hold the skeleton key to the inspiration for Dodd's brutal desire to have sex with the dead bodies of children? What role did the Angels play? "What are young angels, if not dead children, returned to life?" But the introduction you can read on Amazon tells another story.
Yukio Mishima - Confessions of a Mask
Brilliant novel, just like the others I've read by Mishima. Ponderings on sex and death in young age always gets me going. St Sebastian has a quite central role here, which suits me perfectly. Always been drawn to paintings of his death, although not in the same way as the young hero in this novel.
Jukka Koskelainen - Rakas rappio : pelastus ja perikato länsimaisessa ajattelussa
Jani Närhi - Paratiisien synty : ihmismieli, evoluutio ja taivaalliset puutarhat
Hannu-Pekka Björkman - Kadonneet askeleet : matkoja aikaan ja taiteeseen¨
Richard Appignanesi - The wolf man : graphic Freud
Currently starting out on Islands In The Net by Bruce Sterling, a cyberpunk novel which draws on some ideas of Hakim Bey and Bob Black/Zero Work stuff. I desperately wanted to read this as a teenager, but not nearly as excited now. Oh well.
Just trudged through ABC of Reading by Ezra Pound. The first couple (short) chapters had some worthwhile, immensely quotable statements about literature in general, which are mostly derived from his earlier, shorter and better pamphlet How To Read. It then gets really boring with translated Greek, Provencal, Troubadour etc. poetry, most of which I couldn't care less about. If you're interested in Pound and his views on literature, stick with How To Read.
Before that I read Dark Stars Rising by Shane Rupe, which my father got me for Christmas. Some pretty interesting interviews, although I noticed a number of factually impaired statements throughout, on the part of the interviewer as well as the interviewees. Perhaps footnotes with corrections could have been employed. All in all, a fairly eclectic mix of exploitation directors, actors, writers, artists, etc. that should all be familiar to the denizens of this board, taken from the archives of Headpress.
Mircea Eliade - A History of Religious Ideas vol. 3
Solid and interesting book. It was quite shocking to read about the birth of Islam, how Muhammad used to raid caravans for income and how he forced Jews to flee from Medina to get their houses and money... The chapter about Central Asian shamanism was very interesting too, as was that about early Christianity. I'll have to get a detailed book about the latter. Although I'm not religious, it's fascinating to read about what human imagination can and does create in regards to religions.
Quote from: acsenger on January 26, 2013, 11:33:04 AM
Mircea Eliade - A History of Religious Ideas vol. 3
Solid and interesting book. It was quite shocking to read about the birth of Islam, how Muhammad used to raid caravans for income and how he forced Jews to flee from Medina to get their houses and money... The chapter about Central Asian shamanism was very interesting too, as was that about early Christianity. I'll have to get a detailed book about the latter. Although I'm not religious, it's fascinating to read about what human imagination can and does create in regards to religions.
I'd recommend his book on Shamanism (Techniques of Archaic Extacy), it's very encompassing. Perhaps not that correct, and his methods have been criticized, but the basic assumptions about religious phenomenology are philosophically interesting and inspiring.
Sonni Krag
"Blandt bare negrer" ("Among negros only")
Aschehoug & co, Oslo. 1938.
A biography written by Krag - a Norwegian coffee plantation owner - outlaying his experiences in Africa in the early 1900 century.
"The City Is Ablaze!" by Karren Ablaze, because as a contributor I got a free copy - http://www.thecityisablaze.com/
Never a fan of many of the bigger bands featured such as Nirvana and Pixies. The Riot Grrrl content and Nation of Ulysses features some extraordinary violent and unreasonable rhetoric which is still fun. It's a pretty impressive volume in all.
Thanks for the word up about this book Mr. Goolagong, I never knew it existed and although I lived in Hulme between 1984-1990 I have never heard of this magazine/fanzine...looks like it might prod my failing memory bank! I remember Debris fanzine and City Lights .... I've bought a copy ...
I am struggling with "Copendium" at the moment and dipping into "Antibothis 4" now and then ...
Finished listening to Bulgakov's Master and Margarita - decent book though two of these Russian classics in a row seems like far too much for me..
Read some local novels to fill in the gaps. Now reading: We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency
interesting, catchy and nicely written book for those interested in this theme. None of the technical details and overall I'm really enjoying this.
Quote from: Baglady on January 22, 2013, 03:12:53 PM
Yukio Mishima - Confessions of a Mask
Brilliant novel, just like the others I've read by Mishima. Ponderings on sex and death in young age always gets me going. St Sebastian has a quite central role here, which suits me perfectly. Always been drawn to paintings of his death, although not in the same way as the young hero in this novel.
His first and one of his very best, along with the incredible short thriller 'The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea' and the incomparable final series of masterpieces 'The Sea of Fertility'. Although reading these novels in translation it's so difficult to judge them all on their real individual merits, as the translators have added so much that they may be almost considered co-authors.
Spent some evenings reading "Nattvardsslottet (Le Château de Cène)" by Bernard Noël. I'll return with some more reflections once I've finished it. Swedish version is published by Modernista and sold out. English version is still available and called "The Castle of Communion".
(http://www.atlaspress.co.uk/img/tt10.jpg)
Quote from Atlas Press website:
"The author recounts an intense initiatory sexual quest which occurs on a mysterious remote island. Chosen as the moon's lover the hero undertakes a Dantesque voyage through sucessive levels of pain and ecstasy. The book's climax is a beatific rite of sexual purification in the Castle of Communion, which is described in a poetic language at once incantatory, crude and almost mystical. The intensity of the book matches its method of composition: dictated into a tape recorder and finished in only 3 weeks, and written as a partial response to the atrocities of the French authorities in Algeria.)"
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on January 29, 2013, 12:00:06 AM
Quote from: Baglady on January 22, 2013, 03:12:53 PM
Yukio Mishima - Confessions of a Mask
Brilliant novel, just like the others I've read by Mishima. Ponderings on sex and death in young age always gets me going. St Sebastian has a quite central role here, which suits me perfectly. Always been drawn to paintings of his death, although not in the same way as the young hero in this novel.
His first and one of his very best, along with the incredible short thriller 'The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea' and the incomparable final series of masterpieces 'The Sea of Fertility'. Although reading these novels in translation it's so difficult to judge them all on their real individual merits, as the translators have added so much that they may be almost considered co-authors.
I totally agree about
Confessions Of A Mask and
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, but I always felt all the reincarnation stuff in The Sea Of Fertility Tetralogy seemed a little forced. Still great books, but they just don't compare to those other books mentioned earlier. It could be a translation problem, but I think he was trying too hard on that. If I remember correctly, Henry Scott-Stokes said much the same in
The Life And Death Of Yukio Mishima, a pretty good biography by a foreign correspondent for Time magazine (I think) who came to know Mishima quite well while stationed in Japan.
Death In Midsummer and other short stories is an excellent collection of short works, including a Noh play. In Japan, short story writing is considered a very serious art form, although Mishima did write a lot of pulp and pap in the format for ladies magazines and the like to pay the bills.
He also wrote a Sci-Fi novel which, last I checked anyhow, remains untranslated. I'm pretty sure it was given a pretty unanimously negative response. Still, I would like to read it some day.
The Criterion Collection edition of
Patriotism features a BBC english language interview (audio only) that is just absolutely mandatory for any Mishima fan to listen to. The almost jovial approach to discussing his obsession with, and aspirations to, ritual suicide is wonderful. He jokes and laughs, and I recall the audience and interviewer following suit, though I'd imagine that their motivations for doing so would be a world apart from Mishima's. It's probably available on youtube.
I've been reading a lot of Masamune Shirow's manga: Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell, Black Magic M-66. I've read Ghost in the Shell and its sequels many, many times before, but only recently did I get the last half of the Applessed saga. If like manga at all you've probably read GitS, but I heartily recommend Appleseed as well. What keeps bringing me back to all these works is that as technology advances, the futures they envision become less and less sci-fi, and more reality. Certain elements of the tech and social issues in his writing are already ubiquitous in todays society (the net, electronic communication, the digital divide). I know there's been some negative thoughts about manga expressed here before, but whatever, I like it.
Soon I plan on starting Mark Danielewski's "House of Leaves". People have been recommending it to me since high school, but I finally got a copy for Christmas so I guess I'll give it a shot.
Quote from: ConcreteMascara on January 30, 2013, 06:31:01 PM
Soon I plan on starting Mark Danielewski's "House of Leaves". People have been recommending it to me since high school, but I finally got a copy for Christmas so I guess I'll give it a shot.
I loved this book, although everything connected with it told me I shouldn't - the Goth image, the clever marketing, the hipster patina. Simply a very clever and moving novel with some aspects of real mystery. I enjoyed his second (career-ending) book Only Revolutions a lot too - a long. uplifting and psychedelic piece of poetry.
I'm so lost when it comes to new fiction. The most recent author I've really read a lot of is probably Kathy Acker, or maybe Stewart Home. I guess you could maybe put Sotos in there as well, or at least in new literature that isn't completely nonfiction. I've read a couple of things by Will Self, I think just Cock & Bull Psychogeography and Great Apes. I thought that Great Apes was funny, or at least a funny idea, and it had some moments I truly enjoyed, but other parts of it bugged me. I got that Psychogeography book with Ralph Steadman as a present, and it was the first work of his that I actually read, despite hearing about him for forever, but aside from the part where he's at a gun show somewhere in Africa and asks one of the gun sellers if the gun he's holding would be suitable to assassinate Mugabe, I wasn't really interested in much else, just the Steadman works. Cock & Bull was amusing at parts, but again nothing really struck me as particularly memorable.
So who's a good new author? And not an older author who's still writing, I think I'm not so behind on that. Someone who's debut came in say, the nineties or something. There must be something. I googled that House of Leaves book, and it seemed mildly interesting.
Another question: Has anyone ever read Crowstone: The Chronicles of Qamar by Peter Lamborn Wilson/Hakim Bey? It's a man/boy love themed sword and sorcery novel by a shameless pedo. It's hard to track down, but I've been interested in checking it out for a long time now. Also, that guy who took over Factsheet Five, Jacob Rabinowitz I think, wrote a story called something like Louie, Louie that I would like to check out, anyone read that? He also translated the works of Catullus in modern homosexual speak which, from the extracts I read anyway, seemed pretty good. I like the dirty poems of Catullus. I used one, I can't remember the number right now, about Caesar being a pederast as the basis for a song about the Roman Catholic church being an ancient Roman pedophile club hiding under the guise of Christianity. Usually I don't like translations that take too many liberties in modernizing poetry, but the selections of that Catullus book I read seemed rather entertaining.
Quote from: Jordan on January 30, 2013, 07:57:29 PM
So who's a good new author? And not an older author who's still writing, I think I'm not so behind on that. Someone who's debut came in say, the nineties or something. There must be something.
Thorn Kief Hillsbery isn't bad at all. Laura Albert's "J.T. Leroy" books were amazing.
"The Wonderful World Of Robert Sheckley": the straight sci-fi is not my cup of tea, but the dystopian novels are great. especially the one that is the base for Petri's "The 10th Victim", highly recommended movie.
Finished Dan Simmons' "The Terror" a week or so ago. Really great book about a British Expedition through the Arctic getting frozen in and a creature stalking them.
Currently on: Stephen King's "Insomnia" Just under 200 pgs in, kinda slow but not bad.
Currently reading and almost finished "Neonomicon" written by Alan Moore and art by Jacen Burrows. I highly recommend it to any Lovecraft fans. The art is very nice and stylish, it actually reminds me a quite a bit of Si Clark's stuff. And the writing is pretty solid. It's set in modern times but successfully recreates Lovecraft's atmosphere.
(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/BOOKS/Pix/pictures/2012/12/6/1354794578276/Neonomicon-008.jpg)
Also, I must shamefully admit that I'm starting Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" for the first time. About a quarter of the way through it and I'm already regretting I never read it sooner.
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on January 29, 2013, 12:00:06 AM
Quote from: Baglady on January 22, 2013, 03:12:53 PM
Yukio Mishima - Confessions of a Mask
Brilliant novel, just like the others I've read by Mishima. Ponderings on sex and death in young age always gets me going. St Sebastian has a quite central role here, which suits me perfectly. Always been drawn to paintings of his death, although not in the same way as the young hero in this novel.
His first and one of his very best, along with the incredible short thriller 'The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea' and the incomparable final series of masterpieces 'The Sea of Fertility'. Although reading these novels in translation it's so difficult to judge them all on their real individual merits, as the translators have added so much that they may be almost considered co-authors.
I've read about these dubious translations before, and it makes me curious to see the difference. I think I might try to track down the old swedish translation of
Confessions, which shouldnt be too hard but will cost me some money. Probably worth the effort, as long as they're not built on an english translation.
Quote from: Jordan on January 30, 2013, 12:38:07 AM
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on January 29, 2013, 12:00:06 AM
Quote from: Baglady on January 22, 2013, 03:12:53 PM
Yukio Mishima - Confessions of a Mask
Brilliant novel, just like the others I've read by Mishima. Ponderings on sex and death in young age always gets me going. St Sebastian has a quite central role here, which suits me perfectly. Always been drawn to paintings of his death, although not in the same way as the young hero in this novel.
His first and one of his very best, along with the incredible short thriller 'The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea' and the incomparable final series of masterpieces 'The Sea of Fertility'. Although reading these novels in translation it's so difficult to judge them all on their real individual merits, as the translators have added so much that they may be almost considered co-authors.
Death In Midsummer and other short stories is an excellent collection of short works, including a Noh play. In Japan, short story writing is considered a very serious art form, although Mishima did write a lot of pulp and pap in the format for ladies magazines and the like to pay the bills.
The Criterion Collection edition of Patriotism features a BBC english language interview (audio only) that is just absolutely mandatory for any Mishima fan to listen to. The almost jovial approach to discussing his obsession with, and aspirations to, ritual suicide is wonderful. He jokes and laughs, and I recall the audience and interviewer following suit, though I'd imagine that their motivations for doing so would be a world apart from Mishima's. It's probably available on youtube.
Thanks alot! I'm at a crossroads in where to go next with Mishima so this is great help. I'll make sure to track down the interview as well.
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on January 30, 2013, 09:54:37 PM
Quote from: Jordan on January 30, 2013, 07:57:29 PM
So who's a good new author? And not an older author who's still writing, I think I'm not so behind on that. Someone who's debut came in say, the nineties or something. There must be something.
Thorn Kief Hillsbery isn't bad at all. Laura Albert's "J.T. Leroy" books were amazing.
Have the J.T. Leroy books on the way. I've seen that
What We Do Is Secret book around, but I figured it had something to do with that movie. I remember like fifteen years or so ago stumbling across the website of the director of that film when he was trying to raise money for it's production.
Trying to not buy any new books, but failed miserably and picked up
QuoteI AM BEAUTIFUL MONSTER: Poetry, Prose, and Provocation of Francis Picabia
and a few other things.
The First Masochist, about Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch. I was hoping for a sort of psychological examination of his sexual fetish, and a sort of tracing his life to find triggers in his early life that could be attributed to his ardent masochism, but no such luck. I'm hoping and praying Sotos' Mine comes in the mail in the next day or two so I can start that as soon as I finish Masochist.
Quote from: ConcreteMascara on February 10, 2013, 07:06:19 PM
Currently reading and almost finished "Neonomicon" written by Alan Moore and art by Jacen Burrows. I highly recommend it to any Lovecraft fans. The art is very nice and stylish, it actually reminds me a quite a bit of Si Clark's stuff. And the writing is pretty solid. It's set in modern times but successfully recreates Lovecraft's atmosphere.
(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/BOOKS/Pix/pictures/2012/12/6/1354794578276/Neonomicon-008.jpg)
This is a good read indeed.
At the moment I'm reading
(http://images.betterworldbooks.com/184/From-Asgard-to-Valhalla-9781845118297.jpg)
(http://press.princeton.edu/images/k7705.gif)
(http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1172925559l/230733.jpg)
C.G Jung, Red book/liber novus (readers edition, which is much more cheaper than previous 120 eur editions)
Philip K Dick "The Zap Gun"
Correct me if i'm wrong, but this seems to be a slightly overlooked PKD-novel. Conspiracy theories and cold war-references all the way through. Good stuff.
Quote from: Martin on March 07, 2013, 01:27:37 AM
Philip K Dick "The Zap Gun"
Correct me if i'm wrong, but this seems to be slightly overlooked PKD-novel. Conspiracy theories and cold war-references all the way through. Good stuff.
I have the first edition, and I must admit that I remember being turned off by the cover, so I didn't read it for a long time, but it's a pretty good one. Anything Dick story inspired by the terror he experienced from every day, banal kind of objects, like his children's toys (like this one, or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch/The Days Of Perky Pat) or his toaster, I tend to like a lot.
Quote from: Jordan on March 07, 2013, 07:03:01 AM
Quote from: Martin on March 07, 2013, 01:27:37 AM
Philip K Dick "The Zap Gun"
Correct me if i'm wrong, but this seems to be slightly overlooked PKD-novel. Conspiracy theories and cold war-references all the way through. Good stuff.
I have the first edition, and I must admit that I remember being turned off by the cover, so I didn't read it for a long time, but it's a pretty good one. Anything Dick story inspired by the terror he experienced from every day, banal kind of objects, like his children's toys (like this one, or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch/The Days Of Perky Pat) or his toaster, I tend to like a lot.
Definitely one of his more overlooked works. While not quite on the same level as
The Divine Invasion,
Ubik or
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, it's still a great read. I'd rank it as "second-tier" PKD, alongside
Martian Time-Slip and some others. Very enjoyable, full of interesting ideas, but not his A-game.
I think Martian Time-Slip is one of the all time best PKD works. It spoke to my personal fears and experience more than any other PKD work except A Scanner Darkly... It's not his best written work, but the whole style of repeating phrases and scenes with subtle variations between them really got to me.
GUBBLE GUBBLE
Quote from: ConcreteMascara on March 07, 2013, 05:22:47 PM
I think Martian Time-Slip is one of the all time best PKD works. It spoke to my personal fears and experience more than any other PKD work except A Scanner Darkly... It's not his best written work, but the whole style of repeating phrases and scenes with subtle variations between them really got to me.
GUBBLE GUBBLE
Fair enough. I wasn't trying to disparage it by any means, just not among my personal favorites of his. Still far better than anything most other genre authors could ever come up with, though. The man was brilliant.
i'm consuming vast amounts of material regarding the Waffen-SS, especially the volunteers from other countries like Belgium, Holland, Bosnia,etc.....Finland will be next.
also an excellent book on the V2 weapon : http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer/book_template.php?isbn=0764324527 (http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer/book_template.php?isbn=0764324527), rather technical, but also great background, didn't know the Britisch actually copied the V2-design (Operation Backfire).
Read that the guy who started BME died which led me to his blog which led me to this pdf book he compiled:
http://www.zentastic.com/blog/meet-tommy/
Just started scrolling through it & there's an interview with a guy who has paid 'to be impregnated with AIDS' along with photos of his body mods & eating shit.
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on March 26, 2013, 01:07:42 AM
Read that the guy who started BME died which led me to his blog which led me to this pdf book he compiled:
http://www.zentastic.com/blog/meet-tommy/
Just started scrolling through it & there's an interview with a guy who has paid 'to be impregnated with AIDS' along with photos of his body mods & eating shit.
I've been wondering if Shannon killed himself by piercing his brain. I've been to BME bbqs in Toronto, even though I'm very much beneath a moderate when it comes to that kind of stuff, and the couple of times I met him, he seemed like an alright guy. I like that Pain Olympics genital torture video he supposedly made, anyway. Funny that I didn't hear about his death until it was in Reason today, or at least I didn't read it until today. His reasoning for offing himself seems kind of weak, and I wonder if it had more to do with Caitlin than he was letting on.
Thomas Tryon Harvest home: "a family relocates in an isolated village that seems an idyllic farming community. The villagers celebrate a number of festivals that revolve around the cultivation of corn. While the villagers are ostensibly Christian, the main character gradually becomes aware of the paganism that underlies life in the village, particularly its rituals."
Very good one. Similar theme/feel as The Wicker Man (and both from 1973 as well).
Sofi Oksanen's latest book Kun kyyhkyset katosivat (When the Doves Disappeared) is due to come out in Swedish translation soon. I'll be sure to read it since I really liked her previous one Puhdistus (Purge). Any of you guys from Finland read it yet? Or is she considered too PC/mainstream, despite her goth styled public persona? I know that she's a self-proclaimed bisexual, but I remember reading somewhere that she was also into bdsm. Anyone knows more about this? I'd like to see her in a Grunt video, haha.
Re: Sofi Oskanen:
QuoteSofi Oksanen's latest book Kun kyyhkyset katosivat (When the Doves Disappeared) is due to come out in Swedish translation soon. I'll be sure to read it since I really liked her previous one Puhdistus (Purge). Any of you guys from Finland read it yet? Or is she considered too PC/mainstream, despite her goth styled public persona? I know that she's a self-proclaimed bisexual, but I remember reading somewhere that she was also into bdsm. Anyone knows more about this? I'd like to see her in a Grunt video, haha.
I was given 'Purge' by an ex-girlfriends mum whilst visiting Finland.Not read it yet.
Apparently S.O is Estonian?
Quote from: Hal Hutchinson on April 15, 2013, 11:44:41 AM
I was given 'Purge' by an ex-girlfriends mum whilst visiting Finland.Not read it yet.
Apparently S.O is Estonian?
Her mother is Estonian, while the father is Finnish. Apparently spending childhood summers at her maternal grandma's house in Estonia and hearing all her stories, formed her fixation with Estonias complicated past history.
Quote from: post-morten on April 15, 2013, 11:40:30 AM
I'd like to see her in a Grunt video, haha.
Huh, Sofi was at the Lumous goth fest where Grunt played. Not sure if she had entered venue by the time I played, but after gig she was in audience. I made conscious move to pass her with Durden style if you know what I mean.
I am not sure, have her books been translated and are they any good at all?
The Purge thing sounds interesting.
Quote from: tiny_tove on April 15, 2013, 04:10:20 PM
I am not sure, have her books been translated and are they any good at all?
The Purge thing sounds interesting.
The Purge has been translated to 38 languages... And there is also a movie of it in international circulation.
Can't comment on her books...
Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKNpZf776_4
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on April 15, 2013, 02:58:30 PM
I made conscious move to pass her with Durden style if you know what I mean.
You punched her nose? Would have been a good publicity stunt, if nothing else!
Not that. When passing woman, you make the conscious decision if it's going to be this shy method of turning your back and passing through, or just opposite: the good old bulge-side making the contact, with intent to make quick rub on the way. In this light sweep of hand over latex skirt. It's not question whether the woman notices (or cares), but that you do.
A friend was nice enough to bring me some reading material for my hospital stay, and after having exhausted issues of Bananafish, Unsound and Muckraker, I bit the bullet and settled down with Standing In Two Circles, and though I've read many of the articles elsewhere, I must say that writing is NOT Mr. Rice's forte. The article on Savitri Devi has at least four paragraphs that lead with "Whether you love her or hate her, agree or disagree..." and leaves you feeling like you've just read a schoolboy's book report.
The ' Dystopia' article is even worse, I don't think I've read it, though an abridged version does appear in Apocalypse Culture 2. He makes so many assumptions about Darwinian evolution that are so pedestrian, not to mention patently false, that it's obvious that he has no real understanding of Darwin's work. Darwin didn't posit an arrow of evolution, that's an earlier idea that Darwin, as an abolitionist sought to disprove. Spencer used the term "survival of the fittest" after reading Darwin, but meant it in a way that was inline with his earlier economic theories. Darwin picked it up, but Darwinian fitness isn't generally understood along the same lines.
Also, and I understand it is a somewhat older essay, but to call Freud the "father of modern psychology" hints that he has absolutely no understanding of what modern psychology is. Freud's literary/metaphorical understanding of the psyche has long been left behind by objective science wrought from statistical analysis, neuro-imaging, etc. I still think that Freud is relevant in some regards, but Mr. Rice, in trying to seem intelligent, ends up bragging of his ignorance.
Richard Brautigan - six novels and one book of short stories, re-read over the last few days
This writer who will always be associated with the 1960s is increasingly forgotten and marginalised. His most famous book Trout Fishing In America is one of his worst: twee and silly aphorisms which sold two million copies to people who had taken so much LSD that's all they could concentrate on. His voice is somewhere between Jack Kerouac and Kurt Vonnegut, and the more misanthropy and black humour he reveals behind the mock-naive tone the better the books get. In Watermelon Sugar seems at first to be set in a hippy utopia, but then you get a mass suicide and the narrator's ex-girlfriend killing herself too...The Abortion and Sombrero Fallout are decent novels based on relationships and their failings, with some inventive wit. His final novel So The Wind Won't Blow It All Away is a creepy and morbid thing based around a disastrous decision to suddenly shoot a gun while hunting: the ghost haunting the book was Brautigan's own as after its publication and poor reception he impulsively shot himself late at night after drinking, aged 49. Short, simple and always interesting books, and a sad life lived by the writer.
Quote from: Jordan on April 15, 2013, 08:06:56 PM
Standing In Two Circles, and though I've read many of the articles elsewhere, I must say that writing is NOT Mr. Rice's forte. The article on Savitri Devi has at least four paragraphs that lead with "Whether you love her or hate her, agree or disagree..." and leaves you feeling like you've just read a schoolboy's book report.
Yep, I did some critical comments of his other book some pages ago. He is ok writer, when themes are of your interest. That's very common thing. When you settle for underground zine level, where exceptional interests rules over skill as author...
I recommend to check out:
Hitler's Priestess: Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan Myth and Neo-Nazism
by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. Biography of Savitri Devi with tons of nice information of just about anything related to matter.
New York University Press, 1998. Widely available for quite cheap prices.
Not reading, but just noticed this book. Seems to be quite weird/interesting.
David Rothenberg Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise
In the spring of 2013 the cicadas in the Northeastern United States will yet again emerge from their seventeen-year cycle—the longest gestation period of any animal. Those who experience this great sonic invasion compare their sense of wonder to the arrival of a comet or a solar eclipse. This unending rhythmic cycle is just one unique example of how the pulse and noise of insects has taught humans the meaning of rhythm, from the whirr of a cricket's wings to this unfathomable and exact seventeen-year beat.
In listening to cicadas, as well as other humming, clicking, and thrumming insects, Bug Music is the first book to consider the radical notion that we humans got our idea of rhythm, synchronization, and dance from the world of insect sounds that surrounded our species over the millions of years over which we evolved. Completing the trilogy he began with Why Birds Sing and Thousand Mile Song, David Rothenberg explores a unique part of our relationship with nature and sound—the music of insects that has provided a soundtrack for humanity throughout the history of our species. Bug Music continues Rothenberg's in-depth research and spirited writing on the relationship between human and animal music, and it follows him as he explores insect influences in classical and modern music, plays his saxophone with crickets and other insects, and confers with researchers and scientists nationwide.
This engaging and thought-provoking book challenges our understanding of our place in nature and our relationship to the creatures surrounding us, and makes a passionate case for the interconnectedness of species.
Quote from: Levas on May 21, 2013, 08:54:38 PM
Not reading, but just noticed this book. Seems to be quite weird/interesting.
David Rothenberg Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise
In the spring of 2013 the cicadas in the Northeastern United States will yet again emerge from their seventeen-year cycle—the longest gestation period of any animal. Those who experience this great sonic invasion compare their sense of wonder to the arrival of a comet or a solar eclipse. This unending rhythmic cycle is just one unique example of how the pulse and noise of insects has taught humans the meaning of rhythm, from the whirr of a cricket's wings to this unfathomable and exact seventeen-year beat.
In listening to cicadas, as well as other humming, clicking, and thrumming insects, Bug Music is the first book to consider the radical notion that we humans got our idea of rhythm, synchronization, and dance from the world of insect sounds that surrounded our species over the millions of years over which we evolved. Completing the trilogy he began with Why Birds Sing and Thousand Mile Song, David Rothenberg explores a unique part of our relationship with nature and sound—the music of insects that has provided a soundtrack for humanity throughout the history of our species. Bug Music continues Rothenberg's in-depth research and spirited writing on the relationship between human and animal music, and it follows him as he explores insect influences in classical and modern music, plays his saxophone with crickets and other insects, and confers with researchers and scientists nationwide.
This engaging and thought-provoking book challenges our understanding of our place in nature and our relationship to the creatures surrounding us, and makes a passionate case for the interconnectedness of species.
If you haven't already, look up Radiolab's podcast interviewing David Rothenberg and talking about cicada sounds, it's great. Also, the guy apparently did an experiment where he transmitted his clarinet live through an underwater speaker over to a whale and managed to get recordings of the whale trying to mimic the sounds.
Haven't read it yet but I found Alan Dean Foster's novelization of John Carpenter's THE THING!
Currently reading a crime novel called "Vengeance Road" written by Rick Mofina.
I keep a list of books I've read so over the last couple of months: "American Sniper" by Chris Kyle; "Her Last Scream" by J.A. Kerley; "The Fall" by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan; "Unwanted" by Kristina Ohlsson; "Captured" by Neil Cross; "Witchspell" by Guy N. Smith plus a 2-in-1 novel called "Transgressions" with Lawrence Block & Jeff Deaver or Beaver, I can't read my scribbling...
Alain de Benoist - Beyond human rights - critique of human rights. Interesting insights, but for me, as a non native English speaker without any background in philosophy, it's rather difficult reading.
not reading, but waiting for this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2332670/American-WWII-GIs-dangerous-sex-crazed-rapists-French-feared-Germans-explosive-book-claims.html#ixzz2UiOu1Vqu
The Unabomber Manifesto
Heart of Darkness
and i downloaded the koran, that should be an interesting read
Quote from: andy vomit on June 05, 2013, 02:16:59 AM
and i downloaded the koran, that should be an interesting read
Let me know when you've finished ;)
Peter Nilsson - Messias med träbenet
Yukio Mishima - Death in midsummer and other stories
Two collections of short stories. I guess everyone knows about Mishima (amazing stuff, as expected). Peter Nilsson on the other hand... doubt he's been translated to any greater extent. This is a fantastic pile of stories (Messiah with the wooden leg, or something like that), and just like Mishima his stories, at least in this volume, revolves around death. From a different angle though. Kinda folklorish, but without being corny. Rather unsettling at times actually.
I'll need to check out Mishima's short stories eventually. I've read seven of his novels, and actually just finished Temple of the Golden Pavilion no more than twenty minutes ago.
I'm torn between what I'm reading next. Maybe Kafka's Amerika, The Necklace and Other Stories by Maupassant or a collection of Moliere's plays (which I'm leaning toward since I enjoyed The Misanthrope).
I often find myself coming back to the Amok Journal - http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/187892303X (http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/187892303X)
It has essays and reports about self-mutilation, auto-erotic fatalities, trepanning, cargo cults etc. There are some great first-hand accounts of self-emasculation in there as well.
Quote from: vyrixin on June 07, 2013, 12:39:30 AM
I often find myself coming back to the Amok Journal - http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/187892303X (http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/187892303X)
It has essays and reports about self-mutilation, auto-erotic fatalities, trepanning, cargo cults etc. There are some great first-hand accounts of self-emasculation in there as well.
Thanks for posting. That seems very interesting. I put it on my wish list.
Anyway, I opted for this history of Surrealism over Moliere's plays:
(http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1313274242l/4387681.jpg)
After not reading any kind of fiction books, but only work-related, research, scientific etc. I stumbled upon William Hope Hodgson's - The House on the Borderland. (thanks to A. Brandal's dedication of some tape or so to this book). Wow. Was it my longing for the good read or is this book is really fantastic. It's been years and years since I've read something with such a big pleasure. Perhaps Lovecraft is also worth trying? For some reason I was always sceptic about Lovecraft's creations, but if he manages to reach such intense and beauty of cosmic horror as W. H. Hodgson, I guess it's worth a try.
The Rest Is Propaganda - Steve Ignorant
It's interesting to see how he became the man he is (or was) and what life was like to grow up within the working class in the last generation where class was so clear cut and easily defined.
Quote from: Levas on June 09, 2013, 03:21:28 PM
After not reading any kind of fiction books, but only work-related, research, scientific etc. I stumbled upon William Hope Hodgson's - The House on the Borderland. (thanks to A. Brandal's dedication of some tape or so to this book). Wow. Was it my longing for the good read or is this book is really fantastic. It's been years and years since I've read something with such a big pleasure. Perhaps Lovecraft is also worth trying? For some reason I was always sceptic about Lovecraft's creations, but if he manages to reach such intense and beauty of cosmic horror as W. H. Hodgson, I guess it's worth a try.
I was lucky enough to find and read that book when I was very young, maybe 13 or 14, alongside some Clark Ashton Smith collections.
Lovecraft is very hit-and-miss - there are lots of lesser works and not so great fantasy stories unfortunately in print. And even if you just are in the wrong mood, the good stuff may not hit the spot - his work is often eerily dependent on the circumstances in which you read it. I would recommend At The Mountains Of Madness, The Whisperer In Darkness, The Colour Out Of Space, The Shadow Over Innsmouth as some of his very best.
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on June 09, 2013, 04:15:46 PM
Quote from: Levas on June 09, 2013, 03:21:28 PM
After not reading any kind of fiction books, but only work-related, research, scientific etc. I stumbled upon William Hope Hodgson's - The House on the Borderland. (thanks to A. Brandal's dedication of some tape or so to this book). Wow. Was it my longing for the good read or is this book is really fantastic. It's been years and years since I've read something with such a big pleasure. Perhaps Lovecraft is also worth trying? For some reason I was always sceptic about Lovecraft's creations, but if he manages to reach such intense and beauty of cosmic horror as W. H. Hodgson, I guess it's worth a try.
I was lucky enough to find and read that book when I was very young, maybe 13 or 14, alongside some Clark Ashton Smith collections.
Lovecraft is very hit-and-miss - there are lots of lesser works and not so great fantasy stories unfortunately in print. And even if you just are in the wrong mood, the good stuff may not hit the spot - his work is often eerily dependent on the circumstances in which you read it. I would recommend At The Mountains Of Madness, The Whisperer In Darkness, The Colour Out Of Space, The Shadow Over Innsmouth as some of his very best.
I'd also mention
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. In many ways the closest to Poe, but still with elements of the Cthulhu mythos. I actually prefer it to
the Mountains of Madness.
Thanks for your recommendations. Now going through "manifesto for european rennaissance". Fantastic. French new right..
Quote from: Baglady on June 06, 2013, 09:23:29 AM
Peter Nilsson - Messias med träbenet
Yukio Mishima - Death in midsummer and other stories
Two collections of short stories. I guess everyone knows about Mishima (amazing stuff, as expected). Peter Nilsson on the other hand... doubt he's been translated to any greater extent. This is a fantastic pile of stories (Messiah with the wooden leg, or something like that), and just like Mishima his stories, at least in this volume, revolves around death. From a different angle though. Kinda folklorish, but without being corny. Rather unsettling at times actually.
I really liked "Messias med träbenet".... Picked it up for 5 SEK after a friend recommended it to me. Great stories... I can agree with the Mishima vibes. Since we're talking swedish literature I can mention a book I just read for the second time - Startpistolen by Claes Holmström.
The books deals with the life of Robert Englund, a young man from Stockholm. Triathlon athlete and politically active on the far right. He makes a living from white slavery - selling swedish teenage girls to rich people across the world. Lots of violence and perversion, in an extremely amusing way. Recommended for those who understand swedish.
Quote from: ghoulson on June 11, 2013, 09:41:49 PM
I really liked "Messias med träbenet".... Picked it up for 5 SEK after a friend recommended it to me. Great stories... I can agree with the Mishima vibes. Since we're talking swedish literature I can mention a book I just read for the second time - Startpistolen by Claes Holmström.
The books deals with the life of Robert Englund, a young man from Stockholm. Triathlon athlete and politically active on the far right. He makes a living from white slavery - selling swedish teenage girls to rich people across the world. Lots of violence and perversion, in an extremely amusing way. Recommended for those who understand swedish.
I wonder, could it be we were recommended this book by a mutual friend named Pelle? Anyhow, initially the title "En död varelse med många vita fjädrar" made me think of the song
Skvaderkadaver. Turned out to be a false preconception, but it was nice while it lasted.
Thanks for reminding me about Holmström! I've been meaning to look that novel up for years. Seems to be hard to find though. Wonder if he had Kreuger or maybe the actor in mind when naming the character...
Quote from: ghoulson on June 11, 2013, 09:41:49 PM
Startpistolen by Claes Holmström.
The books deals with the life of Robert Englund, a young man from Stockholm. Triathlon athlete and politically active on the far right. He makes a living from white slavery - selling swedish teenage girls to rich people across the world. Lots of violence and perversion, in an extremely amusing way. Recommended for those who understand swedish.
Oh, no the good lizard from V.
(http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/robert-englund.png)
(http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/cover1/9781847729316.jpg)
very interesting read, not only on Kraftwerk but also music in general in post-war Germany (and East vs West). very good.
Just finished "House of Suns" by Alistair Reynolds (it was great)
Just picked up and about to start "Needful Things" by Stephen King.
Quote from: JoeTheStache on June 14, 2013, 06:26:58 AM
Just finished "House of Suns" by Alistair Reynolds (it was great)
Reynolds can be uneven - he always have great ideas, but doesn't realize them all the time, literally - but that is one of his better. Looking forward to his new book, second part of a trilogy he began some year ago; like House of Suns it's not set in the Revelation Space universe either.
Finally came around to read "We" by Eugene Samjatin/Zamyatin - found a Swedish translation at work, has been out of print for a long time: a masterpiece. Rather than the cold brutality and physical oppression of Orwell and Huxley, this was a more insidious dystopia, kind of reminding a bit about (what we know about) modern day North Korea. Beautifully written as well - he was supposedly synaesthetic, which clearly resonates through the text. Just some day after finishing it I heard about pressure chambers they used in Soviet for torture, pumping out the air with some poor bastard inside - maybe Zamyatin's concept inspired the KGB? Life imitating art, hah.
And now, in remembrance of Iain M. Banks' recent departure from the land of the living: "The Hydrogen Sonata", the last (as it came to be) installment in the Culture universe.
Offbeat: British Cinema's Curiosities, Obscurities and Forgotten Gems edited by Julian Upton.
New Headpress book. Basically features what the title says, lots of obscure and some better known British films. Lots of black and white pics and some interviews and overviews. Hadn't heard of most of the films covered. The Black Panther(1977) is high on my list of films to see based on the descrpition. Good book.
(https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1371433272l/18080098.jpg)
Has anyone read Dog Days I&II by Gene Gregorits?
It's some of the best "fiction" being written right now. Volume I especially, which is kind of like crime fiction about a man who is driven to kill four pitbulls by poisoning them with antifreeze after his cat, Hank, is killed by them, which may or may not have actually happened, interspersed with events that are definitely pulled right from the authors life. His cat was really killed by the pitbulls, I'm just not sure he killed them in revenge. The prose is great, some of the pop-culture references are kind of lost on me, significance-wise, but all in all, the best modern novel I've read in a really, really long time.
Volume II is a little more uneven, seeing as how it was written over the course of six days in a maximum security mental institution, but it's kind of scatterbrainedness works on some levels. At some points I may een like it better than Volume I. It mostly details his ill fated trip to Costa Rica with a hipster girl whom he plies with cocaine for fucking, and whose purse and luggage he ultimately dumps deep in the forest into a river or something whilst going through cocaine psychosis. It also details the beginning of his time in Detroit, which will be finished off in Dog Days III sometime in the future.
I would write better reviews, but I'm about to kill my landlord right now and I'm having a hard time keeping my composure. I'm not really going to kill him of course, I'm just angry.
UNBROKEN WARRIOR - The Richard Scutari Letters
Magnus Soderman & Henrik Holappa
When two key members (at the time) of north european resistance movement team up together to make book about one of better known members of Bruders Schweigen - also known as THE ORDER - one can't expect moderate and objective journalism. What we have here, is simply book to spark spirit among suitable people and glorify the sacrifice of political activism.
In opening lines where Henrik and Magnus talk about how correspondence with Scutari changed their lives and made them really think - at first I'm kind of disappointed how short and casual the actual letters are. But to think, that this is guy, who has been in isolation of maximum security prisons of USA since 1986, and gets letter from unknown teenager from Finland who expresses interests in racialist movement... How deep one would go straight away. Especially when your letters are being monitored and every word you express ends up piling up more reason to spend next months in hole...
Letters go through 2000 to 2008 and perhaps more interesting is the interview conducted by Magnus, and pieces was friends and associates of Scutari wrote about him. As well as "essays" of Scutari himself. While book proceeds... and finally ends, I have to say that I have zero doubts that still somewhat unsure teenager will find great example of deep rooted iron will and commitment to cause from this man. Despite spokesman of wotanism, he keeps things very simple and to the point. Repeats very basic ideas and quotations. For readers expecting something elitist or secretive, there is not. It's more like fatherly lessons of qualities of noble virtues of common man.
There is good "between the lines" information. You can see the first steps of nordic resistance movement. Where Scutari is the middle man, suggesting Henrik to contact Magnus and establish contacts to build bigger organization. His praise for usual suspects a'la D.Lane, B. Matthews, Savitri Devi, etc.. but also throws in curious names. Like in some sentence he refers to Homo Galactica -idea, although doesn't mention Myatt (of NSM, Order of Nine Angles,..) and tells the curious story of Glenn Miller. Power electronics fans may realize Operation Cleansweep track where sample repeats things about "white patriot party". Miller is still in the game, even running to senate in missouri 2010. Ex-KKK, ex-WPP guy who apparently ratted out The Order members who financed his 80's career with bank robberies etc.
c.150 pages, some photos, mostly text. Some typos and general language issues like we've used to in this field of writing... Nevertheless, good reading for those who would like to see something from man who has been target of semi-fictional books and hollywood adaptations.
Holappa is no longer the chief in Finnish Resistance Movement, Scutari finally couple years ago, decided to stop his political role, hoping to get out perhaps 2016... His mandatory release is 2026, at age of.. 78...
Now reading Kai Murros "Vallankumous ja sen toteuttaminen modernissa yhteiskunnassa"
Big Finnish book publisher LIKE did this in 2001. Political pamphlet titled "revolution, and how to put it in action in modern society". Pretty bad translation from my behalf, but can't really think what words exactly to use.. Back then, Kai Murros was perhaps sort of Mao influenced socialist. Before, he had already been member of conservative/right crap of kokoomus and now decade later he appears to have abandoned the left wing ideal and moved closer to traditionalist circles? This book, despite it's clear marxist tone, appears to be appreciated by all sorts of extremists. Manifest operates in brief to-the-point comments listed one after another. To think this violent, this fanatical text could be published by mainstream press and distributed all over the country in bookstores, can only happen as it talked about revolution of people against the plague of international financial capitalism. It still could boldly talk about "patriots" and nationalist commitments towards the state & people. But lets think if this book was to be published NOW, not 10 years ago, and this slight communist tone would have been changed to to something else... Not a chance. I'm sure conservative right will always hate him for being communist, and the left hates him for teaming up with blood conscious traditionalist... Therefore good book to grab. Provocative and harsh.
The book by mr. Murros appeared to be very fine indeed... Recommended reading for finns. I doubt translation will be done. He is now quite active in Saratus site.
Quote from: Levas on June 11, 2013, 07:24:12 PM
Thanks for your recommendations. Now going through "manifesto for european rennaissance". Fantastic. French new right..
Have you checked out North American New Right vol 1?
Came out 2012, still in print, obviously:
http://www.counter-currents.com/north-american-new-right-vol-1/
QuoteNorth American New Right is the journal of a new intellectual movement, the North American New Right. This movement seeks to understand the causes of the ongoing demographic, political, and cultural decline of European peoples in North America and around the globe — and to lay the metapolitical foundations for halting and reversing these trends.
The North American New Right seeks to apply the ideas of the European New Right and allied intellectual and political movements in the North American context. Thus North American New Right publishes translations by leading European thinkers as well as interviews, articles, and reviews about their works.
Metapolitical project from web collected into book. Haven't read it all yet, but appears to be ok. When they say "new north american right", it has kind of... hmm... unpleasant tone to it. But be sure it has very little, if anything, to do with north american right. New really means that there is strong intellectual & euro perspective, including translations of Evola and such... And includes european writers too, but there is acknowledged the cultural difference of Europe and USA.
Now starting Octave Mirbeau - Torture Garden. Never read this one before.
Thanks, Mikko. I've ordered that. Finished reading Manifesto for a European Renaissance. very good!
I found myself reading books about India again.
Just finished Aki Cederberg's Pyhiinvaellus - Matkalla Intiassa ja Nepalissa which originally appeared in Fenris Wolf magazine under the title In Search of Magic Mirrors. Continuing with A Search in Secret India by Paul Brunton.
I have to rant and this seems like the most appropriate topic for this.
Today I went to library and saw a finnish translation of a The Witcher novel. According the back cover it was 'The first The Witcher novel' so I decided to loan it. Cue to my complete surprise when I started reading it and found out on first page that it is THE THIRD BOOK IN THE WITCHER SERIES.
Why the fuck this isnt on the covers?!
I mean, that is quite important information on which I base what books I loan. If I want to get into lenghty series, I want to start from the first novel and go from there, not from the middle of the series. Why? Who thought this would be a good idea?!
There should be some standards on how to design a cover. It should contain all the necessary information, author, title of the book and if it's part of series, which part it is. Is it so hard to put there 'Part 3 of The Witcher saga'?
Same goes for vinyls. I abbhor vinyls that dont mark rpm and side a/b on the middle of the vinyl. I really dont enjoy going through the matrix with magnifying glass or having to go discogs.com and hope somebody has updated necessary information there. Also, fuck black font on black background.
./rant
Check the title page, that usually has a list of previous titles by the same author, if the publishing company hasn't started translating right in the middle of a series. Now why the back cover stated something obviously incorrect like that is another question.
Quote from: cr on June 23, 2013, 06:27:45 PM
Now starting Octave Mirbeau - Torture Garden. Never read this one before.
Amazing book, by an amazing man. Huge influence on the Euro-individualist/egoist scene which I admire so much.
Now going through aphorisms by the mighty Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Colombian writer and thinker. It's too hot here (at least for me) for reading an entire book. Some quotes from Dávila:
"I distrust every idea that doesn't seem obsolete and grotesque to my contemporaries."
"Conformism and non-conformism are symmetrical expressions of a lack of originality."
"Hierarchies are celestial. In hell all are equal."
"In an age in which the media broadcast countless pieces of foolishness, the educated man is defined not by what he knows, but by what he doesn't know."
"Revolution is progressive and seeks the strengthening of the state; rebellion is reactionary and seeks its disappearance.
The revolutionary is a potential government official; the rebel is a reactionary in action."
My book is called (my translation): 'Life is the Guillotine of Truths". Don't know if this exists also in other languages than German.
now reading :
(http://www.karensbooks.com/store//product_photos/1JP.jpg)
took years of heavy research, destroying the myth of a good tactic & 'ordinary' heroic soldier....digging deeper into politics & warcrimes. very extensive book!
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on June 17, 2013, 06:46:02 PMNow reading Kai Murros "Vallankumous ja sen toteuttaminen modernissa yhteiskunnassa"
Big Finnish book publisher LIKE did this in 2001. Political pamphlet titled "revolution, and how to put it in action in modern society". Pretty bad translation from my behalf, but can't really think what words exactly to use.. Back then, Kai Murros was perhaps sort of Mao influenced socialist. Before, he had already been member of conservative/right crap of kokoomus and now decade later he appears to have abandoned the left wing ideal and moved closer to traditionalist circles? This book, despite it's clear marxist tone, appears to be appreciated by all sorts of extremists. Manifest operates in brief to-the-point comments listed one after another. To think this violent, this fanatical text could be published by mainstream press and distributed all over the country in bookstores, can only happen as it talked about revolution of people against the plague of international financial capitalism. It still could boldly talk about "patriots" and nationalist commitments towards the state & people. But lets think if this book was to be published NOW, not 10 years ago, and this slight communist tone would have been changed to to something else... Not a chance. I'm sure conservative right will always hate him for being communist, and the left hates him for teaming up with blood conscious traditionalist... Therefore good book to grab. Provocative and harsh.
I remember Murros commenting on this book somewhere, he said that he wanted to write a nationalist manifest that is cleverly camouflaged as a revolutionary left/socialist pamflet. He pretty much succeeded in this, I remember leftists reading, selling and recommending it. If you read it with this knowledge, you can see the nationalistic and patriotic message there. I don't think that Murros was ever really a leftist/Maoist/whatever, I think there is a side of a trickster in him that goes easily unnoticed. He is also still somewhat active with his ideas, writes for Sarastus and recently I saw some photos where he was boozing around with Timo Hännikäinen and some other Finnish nationalist intellectuals. All in all, quite interesting guy.
Professor Kai Murros: Spreading Radical Nationalism ~ The Sunic Journal - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naupPxh-r9o
Of course the patriotism or nationalism is clearly expressed in the book. But it doesn't address any racial characteristics. It merely abandons the internationalist side of communism, and takes the "socialism within state" approach.
Actually, whole book in English here:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/aquilon/content.htm
I am currently reading this: Teemu Keskisarja: Kyynelten kallio. Kertomuksia seksistä ja väkivallasta
Interesting stories about the sexual deviants and other pervs of the Finnish history.
Nice book. Very curious detail is that according to court papers, homosexuality as sexual deviancy supposedly didn't exist in Finland before southern priests came and introduced this behavior. People were more into fucking animals, which became almost epidemic despite harsh punishments!
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on July 24, 2013, 06:59:11 AM
People were more into fucking animals, which became almost epidemic despite harsh punishments!
Filthy pervs probably got off on that too...
I recall in case of bestiality, they killed the animals and jailed the man. Extensive punishments - but still people engaging into it, and it create the fantasy that if people are ready to face almost death sentence, it MUST be good. Therefore suddenly masses of people wanted to give it a try. There was certain period in history when boys was not allowed on fields with cattle. Risk of something filthy happening was just too big.
I'm currently reading an anthology called "Zombie" with stories by John Connolly, Joe Hill, Kelley Armstrong, Mike Carey, Stephen Bissette, David Wellington, & others. Edited by Christopher Golden & was published in the U.S. as "The New Dead".
Previously read "The Damned Don't Die" by Jim Nisbet & "The Killing Moon" by Chuck Hogan. Both are crime novels. Before those, "The Given Day" by Dennis Lahane about Boston MA in 1919 when the police went on strike & there were riots. Lots of entertaining racism & violence.
Recently finished the latest swedish translation of Torture Garden by Octave Mirbeau. Enjoyed it alot. Raphael Freida's old illustrations really added alot to the experience. Wonder if this is where Céline got the idea to use the "..." between almost every sentence?
Currently reading Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Train '72 by Hunter S. Thompson. I was sceptical, reading 500 pages about the '72 election, but it was worth a shot for sure. Lot's of havoc and drama and "why the hell am I doing this anyway..."
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on July 24, 2013, 09:05:36 PM
I recall in case of bestiality, they killed the animals and jailed the man. Extensive punishments - but still people engaging into it,
...There was certain period in history when boys was not allowed on fields with cattle. Risk of something filthy happening was just too big.
Does seem excessive punishment, merely for trying to inject a little local flavor. Though on second assessment, I've been places where getting caught porking a holy cow could net your sunk costs a decisively unrecoverable verdict.
"Sorry, son. I'm afraid you've freaked your last animal."
Tähtäimessä Eichmann a.k.a. Hunting Eichmann
2009 english version, and bigger finnish edition came quite soon too I think. Now book came out in Finland as part of this cheap paperback series on Gummerus. 400+ pages book for... was it around 7 or 9 euros?
One would expect most people to know who is Adolf Eichmann, but those who don't, he's considered to be the architect of the final solution. Responsible for gathering vast populations for mass exterminations all over europe. After WWII, he managed to escape germany and this book is very detailed story of everything what happened after war, until his execution in Israel.
I like how book goes to details. I like how it builds the atmosphere. But in 400+ pages, starts to feel like maybe it could have been compressed to 300. Or even 200. Occasionally drags quite a bit.
Another thing what seems unnecessary is the amount of slander what is directed towards Eichmann. Author makes sure that his "weakness" and "old fragility" and whatever is presented over and over again, and how the mossad agents felt repulsed how the man who caused their people so much harm, was now such a pitiful creature. This reminds me of one of many WWII German documentaries where narration talks about old, tired, strengthless Hitler shaking hands with Hitler Youth boys, and they show the footage at the same time and me and my rather unbiased wife concludes: WTF?! Man looks more virile, strong and healthy than about 95% of people that walk on streets right now. Of course one understands disgust created by hatred, yet when dialogue starts to remind Viktor Malarek's book: The Natashas (recommended reading too..). Where every man on good side is bright eyed, strong, handsome, virile hero. And every man on the wrong side is some sort of weak, deformed, ugly, grotesque, smelly loser.
Good lesson in propaganda PR, though.
Not a classic book by any means. Entertaining, ok'ish. Grab paperback from the supermarket bins...
(http://paganthreads.org.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/nine-worlds1.jpg)
(http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/DrPaul_Cover.jpg)
Timo Hännikäinen "Ilman"
Small Savukeidas publisher put this out 2009. Back then, Hännikäinen had not yet made much of name as traditionalist / conservative / nationalist author. In his early 30's, frustrated man in need of woman. Book title means "without". That's what this book is. Collection of texts including confessions, social commentary, personal experiences, analyzing cultural phenomenas. At the same time often conservative ideas, yet also fueled by addictions on pornography, masturbation, drinking, etc...
It covers partly the "male right movements" territory, but luckily avoids worst pits.
Often finds analogies between sexual life and liberal capitalism. For Finns, unfortunately small publishing house means often higher prices and limited distribution. For people abroad - no translations exists.
you liked the book, it was well written and all that?
ive seen a couple interviews of him and I can definetly see why women wouldnt want to fuck him.
I think he had a bunch of good points but I cant listen to this fairly recent uprise of men complaining that lack of cunt is having a bad effect on their lives, mentally etc.
It's written with occasional fun and with social observations worth to read.
As I mentioned: It covers partly the "male right movements" territory, but luckily avoids worst pits. Meaning, yes, it spends time on analyzing the sexual power of women and result obviously is less cunt for the men who aren't good enough in modern sense. But more it observes sex-centered/obsessed society and its outsiders.
He is not that much looking to merely fuck (like not considering prostitutes or anonymous sex as any solution for himself) as he is looking for actual relationship.
Umberto Eco - The Prague Cemetery
A very good historical novel centered around a fictional, late 19th century Italian forger and spy. Apparently every character, reference and historical episode besides the main character was taken from real life. The main themes are hatred and conspiracy theories of all kinds: mainly antisemitism, but also hatred of Jesuits, the Catholic Church, liberals etc.; I assume whatever was prevalent in the day in Europe. The main character takes part in several important historic events such as the fight for the unification of Italy, riots in Paris and the Dreyfus Affair, and the central theme of the book is his writing of what would eventually become the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (finished by the Russian secret police).
I found the book very interesting and well-written, only the part about Garibaldi's fight was a little boring at times. There are plenty of small details and references in the book (e.g. Freud is featured as an as yet unknown, young doctor; Satanic rituals; occultism and freemasonry etc.) that make it an intellectual delight to read.
On another note, I just ordered Conjuring by James Randi , which is a detailed history of magic. I don't quite know what to expect as it's not a topic I'm familiar with but I have high hopes for it.
Currently reading these:
(http://ardentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/enemies_cover_4001.jpg)
Lots of interesting material here... unfortunately the layout is awful and the editing is piss-poor. Still worth picking up for anyone interested in non-left anarchist thought and especially the influence of Max Stirner's radical individualism.
(http://www.atomicbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/t/h/theepsychbible.jpg)
I picked this one up a year or two ago and have finally just started to delve into it... fascinating to say the least.
Edward Lee: 'Teratologist' and 'The Pig' - Couldn't stop reading.
OTTO STRASSER - The Life & Times Of A German Socialist
by Troy Southgate
Interesting book of guy who is at the same time infamous and globally important, but also largely unknown. Early stages member of German National Socialist party, representing it's more radical left-wing side. Having almost purely socialist perspective (economy most of all), rejecting the racialism & totalitarianism etc. Therefore rejecting communism, fascism and nazism. His idea of German Socialism walked hand in hand with early forms of National Socialists, but later on he became the no 1. enemy of 3rd Reich.
Book covers his involvement in politics, developments between the Hitlerists and Strasserists and eventually Night Of The Long Knives purge, Otto's travel and fight done abroad against Hitlerist vision of NS. Eventually book leads to chapters with post-war times, his old age political activism and finally death in 70's. Final chapters expose the Strassers influence in different organizations in 60s, 70's, 80's and onwards. And Finally concludes appreciation of Strasser by National Anarchist. Easy to read, stays in very basic political ideas without much of complexity, quite short chapters focusing on particular aspect or moment. c. 200 pages.
Quote from: cr on October 27, 2013, 07:08:38 PM
Edward Lee: 'Teratologist' and 'The Pig' - Couldn't stop reading.
I've read "Teratologist" but not sure about "The Pig". Necro Publications needs to do a collection of all of Lee's novellas. Seems like it's been quite a few years Lee
has had a mass market paperback published...
I'm a bit more than half-way through "Pariah" by Bob Fingerman.
The Martydom Of William Joyce
by Michael Walsch
Booklet of 30 pages about life & activities of William Joyce. Volunteer for German propaganda ministry before WWII, broadcasting English language radio transmissions for English audience. Been said 50% of English population would listen his transmissions. Hardly any sort of objective journalism here, but neat nuggets of information of (quite large) british fascist organizations before WWII and such. Joyce was hanged - some feel - illegally. And whole process explained in the booklet.
In Finland distributed by www.kadulle.com In rest of world probably found easy too..
This fella was Irish initially - or at least, his family was. Of course, during those times many Irishmen were pro-German, adhering to the old adage that 'England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity', and so you had IRA men plotting with the Nazi regime against England. However, Joyce was very pro-British, so his involvement w/ the Germans at this time was a bit of an anomaly.
I presume this is the same as the article that can be found on the internet, or is it longer?
I would suspect exactly same article. There is that other topic of "booklets" somewhere here on SI board. Thought should it be there or here. Anyways, I very rarely like to read long articles online. I would find it preferable if all sorts of pamphlets and booklets was still printed and distributed. I have no problem paying few euros if that makes me avoid looking at screen.
I think that pro-British being involved with Germans at the time could be simply seen that ideas presented where not necessarily malicious towards Brits or Britain, but against the political order and its consequences. This would be very good lesson for many contemporary "common man" nationalists who are attached to quite dull elements. Still seeing all things from chauvinist perspectives.
Also:
TECHNOLOGICAL SLAVERY - Collected Writings of Theodore J. Kaczynski
Have all sorts of Unabomber related books. I recall lately hearing that Finnish translation of manifesto is increasingly harder to buy, as due all sorts of "terrorist activity", book has become quite unwanted by sellers...
Anyways, lots of other (unfinished) writings was re-published by Feral House in 2010. Been in my shelves waiting for a while, but certainly kind of book one should buy just in case.. Even if not reading instantly.
I think foreword alone has pretty good remarks, under headline "The political left is technological society's first line of defense against revolution". It brings so vivid image of watching interview of new spokesman of Green Party of finland. He was being asked: Do you care more for old forests or gay rights. And man replies "both are important for our party". Which one you care more? "both are important for our party". But from these two, which one you care more? "As a party we value both greatly". And it was like atrocious moment when GREEN PARTY, which was originally involved with people like Linkola, has now regressed into this. It took like 5 minutes in tv for them to have guts to admit that they do spend more time for environment, BUT that gay rights are no less important.
I urge to get the unabomber books, including this one and check out the chapter mentioned...
For fans of fanzine culture/independent press and trash cinema, the new book XEROX FEROX comes highly recommended. 800 pages (yep), interviews with Video Watchdog, Schock Xpress, Cinema Sewer, Sleazoid Express, Deep Red etc etc. Only a few chapters in but this is just too good. More info: http://www.headpress.com/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=126
Quote from: Matthias on November 14, 2013, 10:48:13 AM
For fans of fanzine culture/independent press and trash cinema, the new book XEROX FEROX comes highly recommended. 800 pages (yep), interviews with Video Watchdog, Schock Xpress, Cinema Sewer, Sleazoid Express, Deep Red etc etc. Only a few chapters in but this is just too good. More info: http://www.headpress.com/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=126
wow this looks really great, definitely going to try and pick up a copy
Almost finished Gene Gregorits - Dog Days. I wasn't sure about this writer when I first heard of him what with Vice magazine press and the guy's infamous facebook habit. Happily his writing is very good and a long way from the hipster tripe of Tao Lin.
His influences are very clearly discernible - Bukowski, Celine, Burroughs' 'Cat Inside' - but he makes a beautiful elegiac and bittersweet book out of a failed love affair for part one, then erupts into hilarious farce for part two where he describes the sort of holiday none of us want to go on. I'd read Fishhook previously and enjoyed it - that one's very funny - but this really is extraordinarily powerful and affecting writing. I'd class this as the equal of Bret Easton Ellis and David Peace, for anyone who rates them.
More Edward Lee:
'Haunter of the Threshold'
'Creekers'
and now starting 'The Bighead'
just started : http://www.schifferbooks.com/?main_page=product_book_info&products_id=5191 (http://www.schifferbooks.com/?main_page=product_book_info&products_id=5191), insanely detailed, day-by-day reports on tactics & casualties, some heavy reading
Not so much what I am reading, but I am really enjoying a contemporary art book I picked up brand new for $10. It is a Saatchi Gallery book from 2009 called 'The Shape of Things to Come' and focuses on contemporary art sculptures. The book is full colour, close to 700 pages, about 11 x 11 inches and close to 10 pounds in weight, so a bulky read.
As with contemporary art, whether or not some pieces are genius or rubbish depends on the eye of the beholder. Probably the most 'well known' artists for underground interests is Banks Violette where his Sunn O))) collaboration piece is featured here.
These are not the types of books i normally check out - due to cost - but for $10 a great find.
More info here: http://www.amazon.com/Shape-Things-Come-New-Sculpture/dp/B008SM25HI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1387598054&sr=8-2&keywords=the+shape+of+things+to+come+art
Got Fight?: The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat by Forrest Griffin. The book for good laughs by ex MMA fighter. It's not that much about techniques etc., but about the worldview, attitude etc. Very good.
Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected by Rory Miller. I've read quite a few recommendations about how this book is good. Will see. It's an interesting material about the violence and how to "prepare" for it etc.
And also going through Robert A. Heinlein books. Unfortunately most of the translations to Lithuanian are awful.
Recent biography of Finnish communist O.W. Kuusinen who exiled to Russia in 1918 and made a notable career in CPSU surviving Stalin's era and entering politbyro at Khrushchev's time.
The book is not based on new archive studies, so the base of the book seem to be in memoirs of his wife Aino ("Jumala syöksee enkelinsä") and Arvo "Poika" Tuominen as well as Kuusinen's writings. Perhaps because of that the book does not cover his last years when Kuusinen was at the height of his power at Soviet Union. Haven't read the Vihainen's book ("O.W. Kuusinen ja Neuvostoliiton ideologinen kriisi vuosina 1957-64") of his later years, perhaps I should check it next - as well as the memoirs of Aino Kuusinen and Arvo Tuominen.
Kuusinen's life until 1918 is also covered very lightly, I guess Paavolainen's biography of Väinö Tanner told more about Kuusinen's views of events 1917 than this book tells, hah. The author of the book says there is recent 900 page long French book of Kuusinen's early years. Sounds insane.
Anyway, nice look into life of a person who definitely is not only one of the most cold blooded Finnish politicians but also who became one of the most influental (internationally speaking) Finn.
This book: http://paasilinna.fi/kirjat/suomensyoja-otto-wille-kuusinen/
Finally picked up a copy of E.M. Cioran-A Short History of Decay. Pretty amazing stuff reminds me of Georges Bataille and essays by Gherasim Luca.
Found an original newspaper copy of Re/Search #2 has some solid interviews with DNA and Z'ev. Awesome layout style throughout the whole thing.
Also finished Ultra-Gash Inferno by Suehiro Mauro and recommend it highly! Most brutal and surreal manga I have read in years.
ASSIMILATE (A Critical History Of Industrial Music) by S. Alexander Reed
THE 30-DAY DIARRHEA DIET PLAN by Kurt Brecht
DEAD SOULS by Nikolai Gogol
Martin Bladh - DES ... Excellent work in texts and images. Love the paper and the format. Bravo!
Quote from: tiny_tove on January 28, 2014, 12:13:57 AM
Martin Bladh - DES ... Excellent work in texts and images. Love the paper and the format. Bravo!
I really enjoyed this one too. Beautiful book. The various news paper snippets, the photos of Nilsen-related locations, the letters and last but not least the staged photo series by Martin. Out of all of Bladh's many projects, this seems to tie it all together somehow. I'm sure he sees it differently, but that's what DES did for me at least.
Recently read
Qualis Artifex Pereo, a book by Bladh and his partner in crime, Bo I. Cavefors. They interview each other, and the interview with Bladh, conducted by Peter Sotos, is also included. Interesting to say the least. The DVD that comes with this book was good too. It deserves some words itself, but I'd need to rewatch it first. Highly recommended!
Werner Schwab: Fäkaliendramen
20 years after his death, he is still one of my greatest influences. Don't know if this was translated in other languages than german.
The Golden bough, wrote by James Frazer. A great comparative study of mythology and religion.
The Kids Next Door: Sons And Daughters Who Kill Their Parents
Gregory W. Morris
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jKDuEG1KcRM/TMPtwMMUDzI/AAAAAAAAH_A/gLOFXzeZpQo/s1600/the+hilliker-curse,+James+Ellroy.jpg)
Really enjoying this. Brutal and excruciating memoir of obsession and satyriasis.
Tyr 3.
Nice to dip into when I get the time.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Coming Race
Story of a race living inside the Earth. Supposedly inspired Hitler. I am just annoyed by a billion sentences glued together to make it at places very confusing. Readable books are the best.
Started
Albert Speer: Inside the Third Reich
Interesting read so far.
On Pain- Ernst Junger
The Forest Passage- Ernst Junger
Junger wrote On Pain in 1934 after fighting in WWI and receiving medals for his injuries sustained in battle. I would recommend this to anyone looking into the metaphysics of pain as well as philosophical ideas related to the camera or lens that was becoming popularized at this time.
I'm reading Elmore Lenard for a change of pace,
previously rereading Willian S Burroughs and William Gibson.
Bundy--The Deliberate Stranger Richard W. Larsen
"The bedspread had been pulled up over her, but Newkirk could see the gaping hole in her skull. "'Oh Sweet Jesus,"' he muttered. A nylon was wrapped so tightly around her throat, it looked like she had been decapitated. The wall was spattered with blood. (215)"
"Eventually The detectives reached a common interpretation: Bundy was telling them his "'problem'" was a need to possess, wholly control, dominate girls or women. They also concluded that Ted had been, as Chapman put it, "'a voyeur'" who furtively watched, savored,coveted unsuspecting young women. (233)"
"Was it a death wish? An Internal subconscious need to self-impose punishment? Or was it Ted's long-cultivated feeling of omnipotence? To play his thrilling drama on the most ominous of stages?(301)"
After reading Conversations With A Killer, The Only Living Witness, and The Stranger Beside Me; this is the best book on Bundy I have come across.
Written by a personal friend of Bundy's it sticks only to the facts and offers new insights the other books exclude. I could not put this down from the moment I picked it up and it taught me a lot.
I think this may be the best book on True Crime I have read. It's written very carefully and hold nothing back. Recommended for all readers.
Peter Sotos: Special
That's the only Sotos book I know which was translated to German language, or are there any more?
Ruotsin mafia (originally Svensk maffia: en kartläggning av de kriminella gängen)
Covers some early days, various smaller MC gangs, then Hells Angels, Bandidos, Wolfpack, immigrant gangs, dealers, little bit references for skinheads and such things. I have been mentioned it's not all accurate information, but I guess many of gangs live from mythological perception. Decent book all in all. Covers also some Denmark, Norway and Finland.
started albert camus - ''the outsider'' last night. enjoying it very much, but its short. dont know what i'll read next, any recommendations?
A collection of essays and treatises on Aesthetics and the philosophy of art compiled by Cambridge. Specifically effective and entertaining are the works on the avant-garde and art as amusement and/or pleasure (Hume, Mill and Collingwood).
Fiction wise I just finished
"Oblomov" which I didn't really care for; it felt like some Russian, 19th century version of Seinfeld. I've been reading a lot of the classic's of Gothic literature as well.
"Melmoth The Wanderer" and
"The Monk" were metal as fuck.
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on March 27, 2014, 02:32:47 AM
Gigantic image of James Ellroy book here
Really enjoying this. Brutal and excruciating memoir of obsession and satyriasis.
I read "My Dark Places" years ago but didn't get around to finishing it, but what I did read was absorbing. I didn't know much about him outside of his more popular works, which I had never read, and was surprised at his candid detailing about his paraphilias and other... patrician tastes.
Anyone read this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Metal-Evolution-Dayal-Patterson/dp/1936239752/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404644425&sr=8-1&keywords=black+metal+evolution+of+the+cult) yet?:
I have Lords Of Chaos but haven't dipped back into it since first reading and know that there are plenty of detractors around that publication, but how does this one compare? There's on interview here (http://heathenharvest.org/2014/07/06/buried-by-time-and-dust-an-interview-with-dayal-patterson-author-of-black-metal-evolution-of-the-cult/) on Heathen Harvest but to be honest it's a pretty dull read.
Got this one last week:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41qbcQO46-L.jpg)
Now I am reading a 50 shadows of Grey
this is hmm so different book, sometime I have to read something else than my interested
Anyone read this book? Any opinion?
I've read 4 Dennis Lehane crime novels in the last week that I found covered in dust pushed back behind other books. Figured I'd re-read them before turning them in for credit at the local used bookstore:
A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR
DARKNESS TAKE MY HAND
SACRED
GONE, BABY, GONE
If you like hardboiled crime fiction then Lehane is definitely worth checking out:
"I'm talking to this snitch in the Somerville projects. I'm alone, and I hear this baby screaming. I mean screaming like he's being bitten by dogs. And the snitch, the people walking down the corridor, they don't hear it. They just don't hear it. 'Cause they hear it every day. So I tell the snitch to beat it, I follow the sound, kick in the door of this shit-smelling apartment, and I find him in the back. The place is empty. My son - and he is my son, Kenzie, fuck you if you don't think so - he's starving. He lying in a crib, six months old, and he's starving. You can see his ribs. He's fucking handcuffed, Kenzie, and his diaper is so filled it's leaking through the seams, and he's stuck - HE'S FUCKING STUCK TO THE MATTRESS, KENZIE!" - Dennis Lehane, "Gone Baby Gone"
A bit offtopic, but could someone recommend good books about Voodoo? More academic ones.
Quote from: Misantropo on September 23, 2014, 04:11:18 AM
A bit offtopic, but could someone recommend good books about Voodoo? More academic ones.
What exactly are you looking for? Are you interested in Vodou from a cultural perspective, or are you interested in practices, or what? And how academic a work are you seeking? Maya Deren's "Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti" is a classic, as is Zora Neale Hurston's "Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica". And of course, Wade Davis's "The Serpent and the Rainbow" and "Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie" are both fascinating, although possibly tangential to your interests.
It was a bit late when I wrote my post, so let me elaborate a bit:
So basicly everything that is related to the darker side of Voodoo. The human sacrifices, Zombies and all that kind of stuff. With academic I meant something that is based more or less on research about these practices etc when compared to some kind of "pulp" kind of writing. I don't know, maybe I just put it there to get more convincing works. I was playing Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers last night and once againt got inspired by the subject but as usual had no idea where to start.
I see you already mentioned some works so thanks for that.
Burnt Tongues a collection of short transgressive stories hand picked by chuck Palahniuk
Peace by Gene Wolfe. I found this as a recommendation of fantastic realism I think. A rather interesting book. Narrator is remembering himself growing up, etc. Somewhat calm and soothing book. I also have 100 years of loneliness in queue.
Previusly finished reading Magic without tears. One of the easiest reading material about Thelema - Crowley is exchanging mails and answering questions etc. Also finished Bhagavad gita, The Way of the Fight, sort of biography of Georges S'Pierre (MMA fighter). Not that interesting comparing to Griffith's book. Talking with serial killers by C. Berry-Dee. Rather interesting compilations of not that well know (at least for me) serial killers and perhaps something else.
Quote from: yosef666 on September 23, 2014, 08:36:13 AM
Wade Davis's "The Serpent and the Rainbow" and "Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie" are both fascinating, although possibly tangential to your interests.
total classics. still amazed by these two books after all these years.
Saw some interesting interviews to Davis as well.
Quote from: C601 on September 24, 2014, 04:13:57 PM
Burnt Tongues a collection of short transgressive stories hand picked by chuck Palahniuk
There's a couple of copies of that at the bookstore I work at. I almost picked it up, but then I realized what it was. Not a fan of Palahniuk. At. All.
There's a similar anthology edited by Dennis Cooper called Userlands. I like Dennis Cooper, but the few stories I read in the book did nothing for me. Has anyone read it, and, if so, any recommendations of worthwhile material in the book?
Keeler's most PE novel i guess
(http://img2.imagesbn.com/p/9781257667499_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG)
I am currently reading some writings of August Strindberg.
The danish title translates to Occult Diary and it's sort of an autobiographic diary from the time he lived in Paris.
It was probably the most troubled period of his life where he starts exploring and obsessing about alchemy and occultism. He becomes very paranoid and explains his life as a sort of Inferno. Very interesting stuff.
Inferno was written partly in Ystad in a building adjacent to Ystads Allehanda. The paranoid and (I believe) newly divorced Strindberg allegedly wrote to the sound of the news paper printing machines at night. I have a theory that Inferno may have been the birth of Swedish industrial.
Quote from: GEWALTMONOPOL on November 02, 2014, 02:37:36 PM
Inferno was written partly in Ystad in a building adjacent to Ystads Allehanda. The paranoid and (I believe) newly divorced Strindberg allegedly wrote to the sound of the news paper printing machines at night. I have a theory that Inferno may have been the birth of Swedish industrial.
Inferno is a different book though, i think (?) where a lot of writing from Occult Diary was included? I think the diaries were more scattered whereas Inferno was a more chronologic autobiography. I might be wrong. Definitely had some trouble figuring out what was written when.
interesting nonetheless.
I think so but they must be from and about the same time.
Now I am reading Brian Tracy and The Real Secret of Success from 2008.
Very good book
And I recommend a site http://www.exea.pl/uslugi-cloud
On my reading list:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QeayI6iqL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439837122 (http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439837122)
Maybe quite silly question, but inspired by reading the really interesting 'Power Electronics Cinema' - article in Exoteric #6 again, I asked myself, if there are any recommended books, you would file under 'Power Electronics Literature'?
Hubert Selby (The Room, 1971.) Suom. Pentti Saarikoski. Otava, 1974.
Found from flea market, second time i read this, first time about 15 years ago and still same feeling.. it somehow make me feel better as do the other books of the writer.
Juha Hurme & Radiopuhelimet: Radiopuhelimet. Like 2006
Light reading but well worth what i paid for it, 0.20€ on librarys removal section.
Need to crab some record`s from them since this makes me think i have huge gab to fill on my knowledge.. they have always go just under my radar.
Next try to finish Kyynelten kallio: kertomuksia seksistä ja väkivallasta
by Teemu Keskisarja
but Jaakko Korjus : OtsaSSa kuoleman kuva : raportti suomalaisesta SS-vapaaehtoisjoukosta. Vaasa Oy Vaasa 1981 and Wikingin hurjat, romaani. Kirjayhtymä 1982 haunting bedside table .. as do too many other books.
Quote from: Peterson on November 30, 2014, 07:43:28 AM
Quote from: cr on November 28, 2014, 11:28:48 PM
Maybe quite silly question, but inspired by reading the really interesting 'Power Electronics Cinema' - article in Exoteric #6 again, I asked myself, if there are any recommended books, you would file under 'Power Electronics Literature'?
"Green River, Running Red" Ann Rule
"The Stranger Beside Me" Ann Rule
...and most people would obviously say anything by Peter Sotos.
+ De Sade, Georges Bataille, "The Turner Diaries", Andrea Dworkin, Junger's "Storm of Steel", Hugo Ball and Duchamps books on Dadaism, the diary of Wesley Allen Dodd (the name escapes me at the moment) and really any true crime books the best are sensationalist ones from the late 80s-mid 90's especially the crazier junk on satanic ritual abuse, Dennis Cooper, maybe the original works on Futurism, Alesiter Crowley's autobiography "Confessions", Delany's "Privatizing Public Sex", David Ernst "Musique concrete", etc. Really too many to think of off the top of my head. PE has a lot more substance and content than people give it credit for.
I've read everything by Dennis Lehane & all of his books are worth reading. I just finished "The Drop":
"This is so simple- you show up at the designated time, do the thing, and leave. Why can't anyone just stick to a fucking plan in this world anymore? Your generation, you pack your assholes with ADD before you leave the house every morning?"
and
"I'm sorry , but you kids, you know? You don't have any manners. You go out of the house dressed like you're
still in your living room. You say terrible things about women. You hurt harmless dogs. I'm tired of you, man."
Read in the last couple of months:
RITUAL, SKIN, PIG ISLAND, & currently reading GONE all by Mo Hayder
TORSOS by John Peyton Cooke (fiction based on Cleveland OH serial killer in the '30s; lots of homo sexual violence)
A FINE DARK LINE by Joe R. Lansdale ('coming of age' story during the '50s. lots of brutal racism; the 'fine dark line' refers to relationships w/whites that are slowly changing)
THE CUT by George Pelecanos (Pelecanos writes good crime fiction & has something to do w/"The Wire" but I've never seen a single episode)
THE WHISPERERS by John Connolly (excellent crime author)
DARK HOLLOW by Brian Keene (horror fiction)
THE MURDERER VINE by Shepard Rifkin (Northern private detective hired to do some dirty work in the South, lots of violence & racism. This is one of the Hardcase Crime books)
LAST DAYS by Adam Nevill (excellent supernatural horror fiction; the other book by Nevill I had read, THE RITUAL, was okay)
Quote from: online prowler on November 17, 2014, 10:36:45 AM
On my reading list:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QeayI6iqL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439837122 (http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439837122)
I believe I have a spiral bound, Xeroxed version of this book.
anybody has it on file?
[i(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd374/ComaDetox/journals-1.jpg) (http://s1216.photobucket.com/user/ComaDetox/media/journals-1.jpg.html)][/i]
Forgot I had these stashed away at work. Makes for good bathroom reading material.
The Amok journal section of autoerotic deaths is worth a look.
Yes I recently went and purchased the "Amok Journal - Sensurround Edition, A Compendium of Phycho-Physiological Investigation" on the recommendation of someone from this forum, and its really good reading, fairly short articles with photos on a range of topics, NSK, Autoerotic Deaths, Infrasound, Amputee Fetishism and more. Great book to have laying around the living room for a quick read here and there.
Henry Kissinger - World Order (Reflections on the Character of Nations and the Course of History)
Having so far read 180 of the almost 400 pages, I'm liking this book a lot. It examines the current and past world orders, that is, the relationships between nations, focusing mostly on post-mid-17th century history (as that's when the modern state system appeared in Europe). I've so far read the chapters about Europe and the Muslim world; next is Asia and then the US. The writing style is for the most part easy to read, with just a few parts that need re-reading to fully understand.
Some parts are a reminder that Kissinger was an American national security advisor and secretary of state as he clearly outlines what American interests were in the past or should be in the future, but that's to be expected and at least he's not masking the fact that his point of view is often not neutral. All in all, a great book about world history through the lens of interstate relations and about current world affairs as well.
Watchmen by Alan Moore - Been putting it off for way too long! Probably going to read Lost Girls after I finish this. Aso interested in From Hell.
Close to the Knives by David Wojnarowicz - So far, a great memoir about being fucked up and queer in the height of AIDS. Similar in style to Kathy Acker, visible Genet influence.
The Good Nurse by Charles Graeber - Gripping and excellently written true crime. Incredible all of the compexities and bureacratic messiness that allowed Cullen to go on killing for so long!
Also starting Ligotti's Conspiracy Against the Human Race but I'm not deep into it yet.
Read The Collector, which one might add to the list of books that might interest users of special-interests.net specifically. It is about a guy who abducts a girl, told half from the pereptrator's and half from the victim's perspective. I did not have the appropriate mental equipment to take much else from it than a horror story. There is some kind of vague criticism made towards the common man's desire to "own" through the main character, but personally it didn't lead into any grander insights or revelations.
I did not read for a while but the last book was Notes from the underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, about an angry man, educated and intelligent, unaffected by people, choosing to live by himself with strongly violent speech, and threats. Back then I was in a total shock by the nature of that book. Heck Even Nietzsche liked it.
Quote from: cdlevy on March 12, 2015, 12:17:41 AM
Read The Collector
Good one! It has stuck with me somehow. One of the few books where I pretty much remember everything, even though years has gone by. I love
The Magus as well. Close to a masterpiece, that one. Have the short story collection
The Ebony Tower by John Fowles in my shelf as well since many years, but I haven't got around to read it yet for some reason.
Quote from: Zoladingoing on March 14, 2015, 05:41:36 PM
I did not read for a while but the last book was Notes from the underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, about an angry man, educated and intelligent, unaffected by people, choosing to live by himself with strongly violent speech, and threats. Back then I was in a total shock by the nature of that book. Heck Even Nietzsche liked it.
Notes from Underground is a classic. If you enjoyed that try Crime & Punishment, my favorite of Dostoevsky's longer works. I've read it a couple times and it's really a masterpiece of psychological / crime fiction. Don't let the length scare you away.
Just finished American Pastoral by Philip Roth. It was good in the way post-50s American Literature's supposed to be good, but I'm happy I'm done with it. It was a clear capsule of America and the shock of the revolutionary movements of the 60s and 70s, and the 'why me' response of the older generation unprepared to deal with a malevolent force from within being directed at their way of life. As I said, American Literature dealing primarily with the conflicts and inner turmoil of living in America after WW2.
Quote from: firstcircle on April 03, 2015, 04:07:36 PM
Quote from: Zoladingoing on March 14, 2015, 05:41:36 PM
I did not read for a while but the last book was Notes from the underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, about an angry man, educated and intelligent, unaffected by people, choosing to live by himself with strongly violent speech, and threats. Back then I was in a total shock by the nature of that book. Heck Even Nietzsche liked it.
Notes from Underground is a classic. If you enjoyed that try Crime & Punishment, my favorite of Dostoevsky's longer works. I've read it a couple times and it's really a masterpiece of psychological / crime fiction. Don't let the length scare you away.
Just finished American Pastoral by Philip Roth. It was good in the way post-50s American Literature's supposed to be good, but I'm happy I'm done with it. It was a clear capsule of America and the shock of the revolutionary movements of the 60s and 70s, and the 'why me' response of the older generation unprepared to deal with a malevolent force from within being directed at their way of life. As I said, American Literature dealing primarily with the conflicts and inner turmoil of living in America after WW2.
bought crime and punishment few years ago I know it is a decent book but for whatever odd reason never checked it out all this time. with Dostoevsky length won't be an issue as i finished before the brothers Karamazov and if I am not mistaken it was Dostoevsky longest works....wow that chapter the grand inquisitor, the information around us says that Dostoevsky was Christian but his use of Satan is nothing like Goethe or Baudelaire, even far away from Milton romantic framework (but I think Dostoevsky & Milton share the same political views) anyways Dostoevsky devil is rather based on "actual" facts such as the examination of conscience, psychology, sociology and herd mentality. what worse Dostoevsky let it seems like it is morally justified. I know William Blake once said this : "Milton was on Satan's side and didn't know it" but that is totally not the case with Dostoevsky. because there is no sympathy here but only cold data and statics.
Just bought Today:
Herman Hesse : Narkissos ja kulta suu
Rudolf Höss : Auschwizin komendantti (`59)
Michael de Koningh/Laurence Cane-Honeysett:Young, Gifted, and Black: The Story of Trojan Records without the cd.. don`know where to start yet.
MATT COYLE's WORRY DOLL
(http://mattcoyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Concerning-Developments.jpg)
For those of you interested in graphic novels... I really recommend this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omLPnj16Kz4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omLPnj16Kz4)
Teenage Satanists in Oklahoma 3
(http://kiddiepunk.com/images/tsio3_sample_2.jpg)
Latest zine by Michael Salerno. A drastic development in form and materialty. Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/123108441 (https://vimeo.com/123108441)
will eisner's educational books:
- Comics and Sequential Art
- Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative
- Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative: Principles and Practices
Quote from: tiny_tove on April 16, 2015, 01:25:45 PM
will eisner's educational books:
- Comics and Sequential Art
- Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative
- Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative: Principles and Practices
Eisner is a demi god. He was the artist that opened my eyes when I was a youngster. Truly great craftsman and pioneer in visual narrative.
Quote from: Zoladingoing on April 10, 2015, 10:16:51 AM
bought crime and punishment few years ago I know it is a decent book but for whatever odd reason never checked it out all this time. with Dostoevsky length won't be an issue as i finished before the brothers Karamazov and if I am not mistaken it was Dostoevsky longest works....wow that chapter the grand inquisitor, the information around us says that Dostoevsky was Christian but his use of Satan is nothing like Goethe or Baudelaire, even far away from Milton romantic framework (but I think Dostoevsky & Milton share the same political views) anyways Dostoevsky devil is rather based on "actual" facts such as the examination of conscience, psychology, sociology and herd mentality. what worse Dostoevsky let it seems like it is morally justified. I know William Blake once said this : "Milton was on Satan's side and didn't know it" but that is totally not the case with Dostoevsky. because there is no sympathy here but only cold data and statics.
If you get the chance read about Dostoevsky's life, it's really fascinating. To give a quick summary, when he was young he was part of a liberal book group that would regularly meet and discuss ideas. the whole group was arrested by the Czar, sentenced to be executed, then at the last minute pardoned, only to be sent to live in a gulag for 5-10 years (The House of the Dead came from that experience, it's worth reading). After that there's a marked shift in his philosophy, becoming more obsessed with the idea of Russia and the importance of Christianity in it. He never went full Tolstoy, but the change is rather significant.
Quote from: firstcircle on April 17, 2015, 04:28:25 AM
Quote from: Zoladingoing on April 10, 2015, 10:16:51 AM
bought crime and punishment few years ago I know it is a decent book but for whatever odd reason never checked it out all this time. with Dostoevsky length won't be an issue as i finished before the brothers Karamazov and if I am not mistaken it was Dostoevsky longest works....wow that chapter the grand inquisitor, the information around us says that Dostoevsky was Christian but his use of Satan is nothing like Goethe or Baudelaire, even far away from Milton romantic framework (but I think Dostoevsky & Milton share the same political views) anyways Dostoevsky devil is rather based on "actual" facts such as the examination of conscience, psychology, sociology and herd mentality. what worse Dostoevsky let it seems like it is morally justified. I know William Blake once said this : "Milton was on Satan's side and didn't know it" but that is totally not the case with Dostoevsky. because there is no sympathy here but only cold data and statics.
If you get the chance read about Dostoevsky's life, it's really fascinating. To give a quick summary, when he was young he was part of a liberal book group that would regularly meet and discuss ideas. the whole group was arrested by the Czar, sentenced to be executed, then at the last minute pardoned, only to be sent to live in a gulag for 5-10 years (The House of the Dead came from that experience, it's worth reading). After that there's a marked shift in his philosophy, becoming more obsessed with the idea of Russia and the importance of Christianity in it. He never went full Tolstoy, but the change is rather significant.
that is true I think Dostoevsky just like Milton sometimes shared the same "wrongly accused of being heretical" political ideas or rather unpopular at the time. in Milton political writings for example once he argued that divorce was a private matter, not legal nor ecclesiastical (meaning relating to the Christian church or its clergy) which even back then in England considered dangerous. even in today England just imagine if some writer declared such views, his career would be totally ruined or least accused of being sexist or misogynist. back to Dostoevsky besides Christianity there is other interesting elements such as some heavy existentialism specially in notes from the underground which is also considered the first existentialist work ever. in the brothers Karamazov the themes were almost religious mixed with mysticism something similar to Emil Cioran early writings such as tears and saints which was not only Christian but rather a mystic religious writing in general since there was other elements of various religious teachings.
I'm reading The Collected Poems of Ai. She taught poetry at Oklahoma State, of all places. All of her poems are about men and women hurting each other in horrible ways both physically and emotionally. Well, most of them ...
Starting Henry Miller's Sexus. I loved the Tropic books, Colossus, etc. so I'm sure this will be great as well.
Also about a quarter of the way through Alissa Nutting's Tampa. The main character is sort of a Debra LaFavre type, though I doubt LaFavre is as smart and/or ... i don't know ... weird and purely sociopathic .... as Nutting's character. She's turns a lot of poetic phrases and licks sunlight and all kinds of strange shit. A beach read if there ever was one. Uh huh. Especially in Florida.
Currently ploughing through I Will Bear Witness (1933 - 1941) by Viktor Klemperer, Jewish academic and diarist of the Nazi years. Incredibly, he survived until the 60's.
Just 50 pages into Michel Houllebecq's "The map and the territory". As I quite liked all his previous books, I also have high expectations on this one. Although I read something like that 'this book fills his friends with enthusiasm and reconciles his enemies'. - I hope not, but we'll see...
Quote from: cr on May 14, 2015, 09:52:03 PM
Just 50 pages into Michel Houllebecq's "The map and the territory". As I quite liked all his previous books, I also have high expectations on this one. Although I read something like that 'this book fills his friends with enthusiasm and reconciles his enemies'. - I hope not, but we'll see...
Hah. It really takes some interesting twists and turns - and at times its very funny. I don't know if it reconciles his enemies, but it did fill me with enthusiasm.
Just finished 'Smoking In Bed: Conversations With Bruce Robinson' by Alistair Owen - some very interesting subject matter in there.
Currently hooked and blown away by the ghostwritten George Jones autobiog ' "I Lived To Tell It All" which is reminding me very much of Mark E Smith's 'Renegade' - these old CnW guys of course can teach any rocker, jazzbo, punk or noise degenerate a thing or two about hardliving for-real art as lifestyle and lifestyle as art.
They say truth is stranger than fiction, I concur wholeheartedly.
Currently reading
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XQ-GNWqJL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Review (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/10988157/In-Plain-Sight-the-Life-and-Lies-of-Jimmy-Savile-by-Dan-Davies-review-compulsive-colourful-and-chilling.html)
In many ways, this is a local book for local people. I imagine few outside UK waters will have even heard of Savile (a man generally accredited w/ inventing the discotheque). I couldn't do a description of him justice if I tried. I'd recommend reading his wiki entry.
He was a Next-Level Predator
Will pick up a copy of that- I'm pretty local....
... met Savile when I was a kid- he was fine with me....
Quote from: cantle on July 11, 2015, 08:42:43 PM
met Savile when I was a kid
Care to elaborate on your meeting?
Not much to say really.... was mid 80s so I would have been 7/8 years old, saw him at a road race where he was running for charity. Asked to have my picture taken with him (everyone watched Jim'll fix it back then), he made a joke or two and that was it, seemed really friendly to be honest.
The only odd thing about it was when the stories broke about him after his death I dug the old photo out, I'd forgotten that he had stood next to me but had also grabbed the hood of my coat as if he had caught me ... thought nothing of it at the time as it was typical for the jocular character he presented at the time but now his choice of pose has a different context....
Thanks for that. Stealing crisps from a kid is unforgivable, though I would suggest your friend be thankful he wasn't raped. It's clear that the man played to his own parameters - though I'm personally unsure where they begin and end. Will we ever?
It's clear I screwed the wiki entry link a few posts above this, here it is now >
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Savile
If anyone else reading this has an anecdote, personal or otherwise - and is happy to share it here, then I'd very much like to hear it. If a mod considers it off topic within the context of this thread, a PM would suffice.
I only know Jimmy Savile from the news. After seeing pictures of him on the net, I say even if I didn't know anything about him, I'd bet that there was something very wrong with him. I'm surprised he was on TV for decades when he actually looked like a pedophile.
As I am quite interested in the topic of 'Senicide' and recently listened to the 'Deathbed' track on the great Uncodified/Wertham - Vindicta I CD, (and earlier the Lapot 'Igneous corrosion' tape), I asked myself if there are any good books on the topic (...whatever you call it...Accabadora, Ubasute, Lapot, Ättestupa...) The only book I found about Accabadora is from Michela Murgia, is this one any good?
Jean Genet's Miracle of the Rose
Quote from: cr on July 26, 2015, 06:12:32 PM
As I am quite interested in the topic of 'Senicide' and recently listened to the 'Deathbed' track on the great Uncodified/Wertham - Vindicta I CD, (and earlier the Lapot 'Igneous corrosion' tape), I asked myself if there are any good books on the topic (...whatever you call it...Accabadora, Ubasute, Lapot, Ättestupa...) The only book I found about Accabadora is from Michela Murgia, is this one any good?
very good. that's the one that started the whole accabadora hype in the media!
English translation looses some of the slang terms, but still entertaining and all true.
Yevgeny Zamyatin - We - neat dystopian novel that accidentally ended up in my hands. For some reason Zamyatin, though being huge influence for Orwell's 1984, Huxley's Brave New World and other dystopian novels, he isn't known that much. NIce
Jean-Paul Sartre - The Wall - I know existentialism is already a joke in around noise/pe scene because of one reason or another, but grabbed this from my sister's bookshelf a week back. Great stories. Maybe I'll try and catch up with the train of noisers, adoring existentialism! That would be cool
Quote from: tiny_tove on July 28, 2015, 12:23:30 AM
Quote from: cr on July 26, 2015, 06:12:32 PM
As I am quite interested in the topic of 'Senicide' and recently listened to the 'Deathbed' track on the great Uncodified/Wertham - Vindicta I CD, (and earlier the Lapot 'Igneous corrosion' tape), I asked myself if there are any good books on the topic (...whatever you call it...Accabadora, Ubasute, Lapot, Ättestupa...) The only book I found about Accabadora is from Michela Murgia, is this one any good?
very good. that's the one that started the whole accabadora hype in the media!
English translation looses some of the slang terms, but still entertaining and all true.
Thanks! I will try to get the German version and hope it was translated well.
Venedikt Yerofeyev: "Moscow-Petushki"
The most alcohol drenched book I ever read!
Recently finished J.G. Ballard's Crash, and Philip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. I enjoyed Flow My Tears much more than Crash. I can see how important Crash must've been to some extent when it was released. But what a redundant book! Like many books, it was twice as long as it could've been. I've never encountered the word "chromium" so much. Despite all the sexuality, I didn't find it erotic at all. I watched the film right afterward, which was pretty accurate, surprisingly, except they replaced the acid trip with Vaughan receiving a tattoo (?), which seemed unnecessarily alt-90's.
Anyway now I'm on a Dick kick (hah) so I started The Man in the High Castle, with Valis next in line.
Recently started "Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People" by Tim Reiterman. Pretty interesting so far.
Quote from: cr on May 14, 2015, 09:52:03 PM
Just 50 pages into Michel Houllebecq's "The map and the territory". As I quite liked all his previous books, I also have high expectations on this one. Although I read something like that 'this book fills his friends with enthusiasm and reconciles his enemies'. - I hope not, but we'll see...
Like TS said, this is a funny book. I have enjoyed all his book, this is maybe a bit "lighter"? Just got his new one in the mail this weekend, will start reading tonight. Irritating the that the company here has switched to a new translator, all his previous books was translated by the same guy. Oh well..
JOHN LYDON: Anger is an energy
^ read it myself some years back- Headpress magazine had a feature on the writer with biog details but...
...didn't Hongkongoolagong say that it (and a lot of other stuff) was written by another prolific writer of the time under a pen name- he named him then deleted it iirc
Quote from: cantle on October 01, 2015, 03:34:19 AM
^ read it myself some years back- Headpress magazine had a feature on the writer with biog details but...
...didn't Hongkongoolagong say that it (and a lot of other stuff) was written by another prolific writer of the time under a pen name- he named him then deleted it iirc
I was talking about 'Simon Whitechapel' and some rather shocking news I was told about who that actually was. Pan Pantziarka always struck me as being an obvious pseudonym too. This discussion has me casting my mind back to the trouble of when Apocalypse Culture II came out in 2000, so much better than the first volume, and regular outlets who sold that sort of thing wouldn't carry it even in censored format. "We decided it wasn't a very nice book" - manager of Forbidden Planet in London to a friend. Underground publishing was exciting back then when you could buy sometimes Peter Sotos books in high street shops. The internet has ruined so much about that as well as clandestine forms of art and music. Some things ought to be difficult to discover.
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on October 01, 2015, 03:47:26 PM
The internet has ruined so much about that as well as clandestine forms of art and music. Some things ought to be difficult to discover.
I'd agree with that too.
I'm confused (which is easily done): was Simon Whitechapel and Aldapuerto and Pantziarka the same person?
Quote from: cantle on October 01, 2015, 05:08:28 PM
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on October 01, 2015, 03:47:26 PM
The internet has ruined so much about that as well as clandestine forms of art and music. Some things ought to be difficult to discover.
I'd agree with that too.
I'm confused (which is easily done): was Simon Whitechapel and Aldapuerto and Pantziarka the same person?
I was told the mildly infamous real name and identity of Whitechapel but have no way of knowing whether that was true. No idea on the others. I notice there is a wikipedia entry for James Shelby Downard which treats him as a real person because there are writings done in that name and one photograph purporting to be this person. It seems clear to me that JSD was a fictitious identity and the writings were a collaborative prank and pooling of imagination. It's like the entry for Stewart Home's supposed birth mother and how James Havoc died in Tokyo.
Still as clear as mud... still not that it matters much the 90s are long past now...
Primal Screamer by Nick Blinko (I'm a slow reader) also guro manga.
Closer by Dennis Cooper
Autoportrait by Edouard Leve'
Peter Brötzmann: We thought we could change the world - Conversations with Gérard Ruoy
Great collection of interviews, photos & art. Great to see that this one is all English and therefore may be spread a little further than the all German publications that had appeared prior. If you're at all interested in Brötzmann's career, his thought processes and the history of his zillion collabs - get this.
The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell. A totally macabre and feverish collection of poems with lines like "... the slow / agonizing clenches making / the last molds of her life in the dark" and "... she dies / a moment, turns blue as coal / the limbs shaking / as the memories rush out of them"
This is a poem about the birth of his daughter, of all things!
Recently finished:
Albert Camus - Resistance Rebellion Death
Adrienne Rich - Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth
Currently reading:
Mario Vargas LLosa - Notes on the Death of Culture
Quote from: Diseased Peasant on November 17, 2015, 04:44:34 AM
Currently reading:
Mario Vargas LLosa - Notes on the Death of Culture
what is it about?
reading boring after effect manual :(
Quote from: tiny_tove on November 17, 2015, 09:50:39 AM
Quote from: Diseased Peasant on November 17, 2015, 04:44:34 AM
Currently reading:
Mario Vargas LLosa - Notes on the Death of Culture
what is it about?
reading boring after effect manual :(
I haven't had as much time as I would like to read so I am still early in the book. But with that being said, so far it has discussed how in the past we have defined culture and art to what it is today. And how art, culture and philosophy are being lost in todays society/civilization. How most people look simply to some simple spectacle to pass the time and not be bored. People don't want to talk of ideas or philosophy, they rather talk of whatever will take their mind off serious thought. They rather leave any serious thought behind. They want only to be entertained and live a life of passive observation in pleasant illusion rather than face reality and take its challenges on. Everything is now just a fad or fashion that quickly passes with no long lasting effect. People look only to the light and disposable things rather than something that ask of them to look at themselves or think. These trends and these fashions are determined by masses who are influenced only by those who are concerned with profits and celebrities and athletes who of little or no intellectual value or insight are given the greatest voice in determining such things. Things that they have no real insight or thought in. In politics today in the way which elections are held and the government is run is all the same. It is more important to the average voter how some one looks, or what sort of entrainment can be gained from them, and any actual talk of policy is lost. Only that they can talk to whatever is currently trending or the current buzz word. The news that is suppose to be leading the way of having an informed public have fallen to all those same flaws.
I am only about 50 pages in but has been an enjoyable read so far and at this point I would recommend it.
My Loose Thread: Dennis Cooper
How To Read Lacan: Slavoj Zizek
War All the Time (Poems 1981-1984): Charles Bukowski
I tried to read The Flowers Of Evil by Charles Baudelaire but found it boring (I like other of his poems though)
Frater Kafyrfos - Diabolic Gnosticism
2/3 od WOLVES AMONG SHEEP is done and it is quite entertaining. Reminds of (course) LORDS OF CHAOS and to some degree LOOKING FOR EUROPE as well, what in my view is a good thing. Good reading (and good looking book) for a fair price.
Quote from: Staalwaart on November 23, 2015, 09:17:18 AM
2/3 od WOLVES AMONG SHEEP is done and it is quite entertaining. Reminds of (course) LORDS OF CHAOS and to some degree LOOKING FOR EUROPE as well, what in my view is a good thing. Good reading (and good looking book) for a fair price.
Done with that one. Was ok to read and had some good passages. Anyway...
Now it is Edgar A. Poe - Complete Works.
About to start Anais Nin's Delta of Venus since a friend recommended it, and then High Life by Matthew Stokoe
Recently: The Gimp by Christopher Nosnibor and So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. Both pretty good.
Currently halfway through the incredible The Visceral Tear by Sue Fox (Oneiros). Intense and genuinely transgressive tome which is an ode to her lifelong masturbatory habits, obsessions with sex offenders and being forced, disappointments with weak men. Honest portrayal of how dangerous female sexuality can get, stream of consciousness prose clearly written while wanking, many contradictions and mysteries. Loving this.
(http://feralhouse.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Discos-Out-Murders-In-510x765.jpg)
Disco's out...Murder's in! (Feral House)
Got this book thinking it would be a quick read I could tackle in a few bored nights before bed, but I was pleasantly surprised to realize it was 4,000 pages long, of violent, weird, crazy, drug addled stories of LA Punk gangs from the old school. This specific book follows LMP, or La Miranda Punks, and is told by Frank "The Shank". But it covers other gang as well like LADS, Pig Children, etc.. I'm just 110 pages in but it's one of the better Punk "lifestyle" books I've read (unlike the corniness of JJ's "The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon").
EDIT: Uploaded the audio-book version of the Cro-Mag book by J. Joseph, read by the goof himself: http://depositfiles.com/files/kxlnhcydq
If you're interested in LA Punk gangs check out FFF's "Ganglife" tape. Stories of FFF were actually part of a book on California published by University of California, you can read it HERE (https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=OxEquyvnUSwC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=ranger+fff&source=bl&ots=l76PrygN-a&sig=RwMwm8AsL8Ucp7yfS4EMvLpJWKE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PiW2U-nSIMfIkwWBsYHQCw&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=ranger%20fff&f=false) (scroll up to page 89 for the whole story from the start).
Ganglife cover art...
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FvpN_OSEhW4/T0aw_lLjkdI/AAAAAAAACWE/tbZWZy73CTM/s400/fff_380x380.jpg)
Music At The Extremes: Essays on Sounds Outside the Mainstream (2015) - Anyone read this? There is an essay by one Andrew Whelan, his essay is called "Power Electronics and Conventionally Transgressive Assembly Work" (wordy enough?) that talks about Nicole 12, IOPS (he quotes an interview I did with Mikko for IOPS), Sutcliffe Jugend, collecting, etc. Collecting is presented next to an actual screenshot of someones "collection" of Hospital Productions mp3's from some p2p network like Soulseek. No joke.
You can read part of his essay on Google Books here is the link (https://books.google.com/books?id=B8DeCQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=music+at+the+extremes+essays&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_2P23kNPJAhWBFh4KHaHtB-0Q6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=music%20at%20the%20extremes%20essays&f=false), (the PE piece is around page 70, though you cant read the whole thing) .
It's pretty drab, long-winded academic stuff. I don't think you can get the idea of our obsessions through indifferent studies on fucking ethnomethodology, semantic theory, or whatever other boredom you can cope with. At times outsider perspectives can make an interesting read but this isn't the case here.
Quote from: RyanWreck on December 11, 2015, 09:25:40 AM
Music At The Extremes: Essays on Sounds Outside the Mainstream (2015) - Anyone read this? There is an essay by one Andrew Whelan, his essay is called "Power Electronics and Conventionally Transgressive Assembly Work" (wordy enough?) that talks about Nicole 12, IOPS (he quotes an interview I did with Mikko for IOPS), Sutcliffe Jugend, collecting, etc. Collecting is presented next to an actual screenshot of someones "collection" of Hospital Productions mp3's from some p2p network like Soulseek. No joke.
You can read part of his essay on Google Books here is the link (https://books.google.com/books?id=B8DeCQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=music+at+the+extremes+essays&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_2P23kNPJAhWBFh4KHaHtB-0Q6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=music%20at%20the%20extremes%20essays&f=false), (the PE piece is around page 70, though you cant read the whole thing) .
It's pretty drab, long-winded academic stuff. I don't think you can get the idea of our obsessions through indifferent studies on fucking ethnomethodology, semantic theory, or whatever other boredom you can cope with. At times outsider perspectives can make an interesting read but this isn't the case here.
Dryness, failure to capture essence...always the way with academic stuff. How is the rest of the book if you've read it? Even more intrigued/afraid to see what some of those other titles will be trying to say.
Quote from: Deadpriest on November 18, 2015, 06:03:54 PM
My Loose Thread: Dennis Cooper
my favorite Cooper book. hits hard where it counts.
Quote from: dragunov_w8 on December 11, 2015, 09:45:23 PM
Quote from: Deadpriest on November 18, 2015, 06:03:54 PM
My Loose Thread: Dennis Cooper
my favorite Cooper book. hits hard where it counts.
Yeah, I loved it, Brilliant vision.
Recently read:
Charles Bukowski - Hollywood
Svetlana Alexievich - Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
Currently reading:
Dorothy Parker - The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker
Recently finished:
Thomas Pynchon - The Crying Of Lot 49
Kōbō Abe - The Box Man
Mark Z. Danielewski - House of Leaves
Loved them all!
Totally addicted to post-modernism, hah.
Pornocracy by Catherine Breillat book original of her film Anatomy of Hell.
Published by Semiotexte as English translation.
Includes afterward by Peter Sotos
I've read a few books recently
My favorite book I read was The Wasp Factory. It was amazing how the story got weirder and weirder as it unfolded. I like these super surreal books which leave what is really happening up to you to guess.
The other book I read is called In The Miso Soup. It was a fascinating look at the psychology of a serial killer in the form of a fiction. It had some moments that were so intense that I lost sleep over them, there were also a lot of psychological mind games.
The other book I read was called The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I did not like this book what so ever, because it was simply depressing and seemed to be designed to throw the reader into existential despair.
One book I read half way through but dropped was called Story Of The Eye. It was a story written by a philosopher, which was supposed to explore transgressive themes. It seemed to play out like a dream, but the book itself was very relaxing to read, it's complete dive into the deep waters of depravity was something which made me feel like the world was lifting off my shoulders.
I'm not sure what to read next. I tried reading the first couple pages of a William S. Burroughs book, but I dropped them because I just didn't become interested enough. I find it hard to read stuff if I'm not all that interested. I'm still looking for something else to read very soon, I don't want to stop reading and get out of the habit and just forget about it altogether.
Quote from: oOoOoOo on February 24, 2016, 07:14:26 PM
The other book I read was called The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I did not like this book what so ever, because it was simply depressing and seemed to be designed to throw the reader into existential despair.
Well, quite. Depression and existential despair was what Kafka did. I wouldn't recommend "The Trial" or "The Castle", then.
I'm reading the Manga Uzumaki (aka curse of the spiral). I had to put it down because it gets really disturbing. I spent a lot of time trying to put together PDF files by compiling them from image files. It took a while, I'm already a little worn out and I can't really handle the horror right now. Really fucking good though, I'm so glad I figured out how to put manga on my ipad.
Recently discovered Pentti Linkola, and have been reading Can Life Prevail, his only book translated to English.
I really appreciate what I've been reading, and have taken up starting to learn Finnish, or Suomi, so I can read more of his material.
Quote from: AMRadioWaveMessage on March 08, 2016, 09:21:14 PMI really appreciate what I've been reading, and have taken up starting to learn Finnish, or Suomi, so I can read more of his material.
Ei voi ku arvostaa!
Recently finished:
The Invention of Morel - Adolfo Bioy Casares
The Solitude of Prime Numbers - Paolo Giordano
Enjoyed both of them.
Currently reading and enjoying:
All of Us - Raymond Carver
Tried some of the audio book for Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. While I was enjoying the parts that were narrative and their inner monolog. The dialog parts were ruining it for me. Maybe I'll go back and give it another chance sometime. But not now.
Quote from: oOoOoOo on February 24, 2016, 07:14:26 PM
I've read a few books recently
My favorite book I read was The Wasp Factory. It was amazing how the story got weirder and weirder as it unfolded. I like these super surreal books which leave what is really happening up to you to guess.
The other book I read is called In The Miso Soup. It was a fascinating look at the psychology of a serial killer in the form of a fiction. It had some moments that were so intense that I lost sleep over them, there were also a lot of psychological mind games.
The other book I read was called The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I did not like this book what so ever, because it was simply depressing and seemed to be designed to throw the reader into existential despair.
One book I read half way through but dropped was called Story Of The Eye. It was a story written by a philosopher, which was supposed to explore transgressive themes. It seemed to play out like a dream, but the book itself was very relaxing to read, it's complete dive into the deep waters of depravity was something which made me feel like the world was lifting off my shoulders.
I'm not sure what to read next. I tried reading the first couple pages of a William S. Burroughs book, but I dropped them because I just didn't become interested enough. I find it hard to read stuff if I'm not all that interested. I'm still looking for something else to read very soon, I don't want to stop reading and get out of the habit and just forget about it altogether.
I hated Metamorphosis. It made me wonder why Bataille would even focus on him in Literature and Evil. Could somebody enlighten me to something great by Kafka?
Quote from: ProzacPatrol on March 19, 2016, 07:06:30 AM
Quote from: oOoOoOo on February 24, 2016, 07:14:26 PM
I've read a few books recently
My favorite book I read was The Wasp Factory. It was amazing how the story got weirder and weirder as it unfolded. I like these super surreal books which leave what is really happening up to you to guess.
The other book I read is called In The Miso Soup. It was a fascinating look at the psychology of a serial killer in the form of a fiction. It had some moments that were so intense that I lost sleep over them, there were also a lot of psychological mind games.
The other book I read was called The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I did not like this book what so ever, because it was simply depressing and seemed to be designed to throw the reader into existential despair.
One book I read half way through but dropped was called Story Of The Eye. It was a story written by a philosopher, which was supposed to explore transgressive themes. It seemed to play out like a dream, but the book itself was very relaxing to read, it's complete dive into the deep waters of depravity was something which made me feel like the world was lifting off my shoulders.
I'm not sure what to read next. I tried reading the first couple pages of a William S. Burroughs book, but I dropped them because I just didn't become interested enough. I find it hard to read stuff if I'm not all that interested. I'm still looking for something else to read very soon, I don't want to stop reading and get out of the habit and just forget about it altogether.
I hated Metamorphosis. It made me wonder why Bataille would even focus on him in Literature and Evil. Could somebody enlighten me to something great by Kafka?
It would probably be easy for me to just say "everything" but if you didn't like Metamorphosis, I can almost guarantee you won't like anything else by him.
The whole point of Kafka is how personal his stories are but they certainly won't appeal to everyone who doesn't want to be dragged into his pit of despair.
It's strange; whenever I read Metamorphosis, it struck me so hard. I identified with it so much. I've certainly had periods where I turned into a complete monster towards others, without necessarily trying to.
So, I really enjoyed the book, because I felt close to the character.
Quote from: Duality on March 19, 2016, 07:18:05 AM
Quote from: ProzacPatrol on March 19, 2016, 07:06:30 AM
Quote from: oOoOoOo on February 24, 2016, 07:14:26 PM
I've read a few books recently
My favorite book I read was The Wasp Factory. It was amazing how the story got weirder and weirder as it unfolded. I like these super surreal books which leave what is really happening up to you to guess.
The other book I read is called In The Miso Soup. It was a fascinating look at the psychology of a serial killer in the form of a fiction. It had some moments that were so intense that I lost sleep over them, there were also a lot of psychological mind games.
The other book I read was called The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I did not like this book what so ever, because it was simply depressing and seemed to be designed to throw the reader into existential despair.
One book I read half way through but dropped was called Story Of The Eye. It was a story written by a philosopher, which was supposed to explore transgressive themes. It seemed to play out like a dream, but the book itself was very relaxing to read, it's complete dive into the deep waters of depravity was something which made me feel like the world was lifting off my shoulders.
I'm not sure what to read next. I tried reading the first couple pages of a William S. Burroughs book, but I dropped them because I just didn't become interested enough. I find it hard to read stuff if I'm not all that interested. I'm still looking for something else to read very soon, I don't want to stop reading and get out of the habit and just forget about it altogether.
I hated Metamorphosis. It made me wonder why Bataille would even focus on him in Literature and Evil. Could somebody enlighten me to something great by Kafka?
It would probably be easy for me to just say "everything" but if you didn't like Metamorphosis, I can almost guarantee you won't like anything else by him.
The whole point of Kafka is how personal his stories are but they certainly won't appeal to everyone who doesn't want to be dragged into his pit of despair.
That's right - if you don't like Metamorphosis, I think there's not much else you could like.
I remember in my late teens, not having any money, I suggested to my Mum what to buy for my birthdays, for x-mas, etc. and there was often a book by Kafka on my wishlist (The Trial, The Castle,...)
The saleswomen always told her that nobody buys these books, because they are so melancholy. My Mum got a bit scared and asked me what's wrong with me, because I like books nobody else likes... Haha, great memories.
I can also recommend the Illustrated Biography/Graphic Novel 'Introducing Kafka' by David Zane Mairowitz und Robert Crumb.
Quote from: cr on March 19, 2016, 06:19:01 PM
The saleswomen always told her that nobody buys these books, because they are so melancholy.
I get asked for it fairly often at work, but that is probably because some the schools in my area have Metamorphosis is on the recommended reading books for AP English. Although I never get asked for any of his other books. I've had some parents come back in/or while still in the store, get annoyed with me recommending Bell Jar off their kids reading list for being far too bleak. She is one of my favorite writers though, so I normally try and sell her books anyways. I once had some one come in with their school list of recommended books and tell me they wanted Hiroshima as a light summer beach read. When I asked if they knew anything about that book they said just that is was short and they always wanted to visit Japan so thought it would be a nice read. She got Adventures of Huckleberry Finn instead.
Anyways, started Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham last night.
Kafka is easily one of the most important writers of this century. To think his work would almost be entirely lost if his friend had followed his wish to burn it, I think it's safe to say literature would not be what we know it to be today if it weren't for his contribution. I personally don't find his work to be depressing, it's more so absurdly funny. His short stories and parables are amazing, and there so short you can just pick it up and quickly read one and go back to whatever you got going on. The metamorphosis was enjoyable but I haven't read it in a long time, it's not my favorite of his but it's cultural impact is unmistakable. I've read the trial and recently listened to half of it at work as an audiobook, a scathing critique of life under the thumb of the buerucrate.
Recently i have been reading Ernst Jungers works, Storm of Steele being his most well known and quite possibly the greatest war memoir ever written. It reads like prose and the descriptions of the beginning of mechanized conflicts are amazing. For Junger war was the precipice that brought on mythic experience. A book so well loved by the third reich he was able to write books critical of them while serving and remain untouched.
I also finished his Aladdin's Problem, an incredible book about a man who seeks to open a necropolis in Turkey to create a sort of Mecca for the dead. A great work of philosophical fiction. It's such s short book I'd be afraid if I say more I'd give to much away.
His style of writing is very intriguing. I just was not very captivated by the story itself. I think I am just not a very emotional person so a lot of literature and poetry is hard for me to get into. I am usually reading psychology or direct philosophical texts. Deep emotional sentimentalism is very hard for me. This is why I listen to noise tapes. I want to feel the adrenaline rush since normal emotions in music is very hard for me to achieve.
Quote from: Johann on March 20, 2016, 04:39:32 AM[...] Ernst Jungers works, Storm of Steele being his most well known and quite possibly the greatest war memoir ever written. It reads like prose and the descriptions of the beginning of mechanized conflicts are amazing. For Junger war was the precipice that brought on mythic experience. A book so well loved by the third reich he was able to write books critical of them while serving and remain untouched.
...Which unfortunately often overshadows the genius of his later work;
Eumeswil in particular.
Telos Press has recently published some of those later works in English.
http://www.telospress.com (http://www.telospress.com)
Eumeswil is a beautiful piece of work, I have been starting then stopping. I heard on Helios is related and no English edition exist. Hopefully telos will find its way to giving it treatment soon...I also want to read on marble cliffs. But again English edition.
I read his glass bees which was a very good. Though kind of simple book by his standards. It follows a disgraced solider trying to find work and finally being offered a job that no man who wasn't already damned would accept. He ends up interviewing for a company that is not unlike Apple or Google. Regarded as implausible at the time (1950s), no one could imagine intelligence in an insect sized robot. Very ahead of his time. He is also regarded as one of the first people to predict a smart phone type device as well.
For those interested, he is mentioned in Albert Hoffmans LSD My Problem Child, Hoffman loved and respected Jungers works as well as his search of knowing in life.
The Black Sun Unveiled by James Pontolillo.
An extremely well researched and dense book about the development of the Black sun symbol and its involvement in the modern National Socialist movement. While it could have used a bit more editing, it still is a very interesting look at how a myth is developed. Pretty impartial as well, so it probably won't alienate its more right-wing readers.
Started, and nearly finished, The Communist Manifesto today. Not because I'm Communist, but because it is an important piece of literature I had always planned to read someday. And plus, I try to be open-minded to different ways of thinking, and philosophies, but obviously, that can be very challenging.
The only Communist I actually like is Slavoj Zizek. That guy is very intelligent, and insightful in so many ways.
Quote from: Johann on March 20, 2016, 04:39:32 AM
Kafka is easily one of the most important writers of this century.
I believe he had a degree of significance in the last one, too.
Quote from: Duality on March 24, 2016, 01:16:12 PM
The Black Sun Unveiled by James Pontolillo.
An extremely well researched and dense book about the development of the Black sun symbol and its involvement in the modern National Socialist movement. While it could have used a bit more editing, it still is a very interesting look at how a myth is developed. Pretty impartial as well, so it probably won't alienate its more right-wing readers.
Reading the chapter on the Order of Nine Angles, The author identifies the founder as David Myatt, though I know he denied it. Does anyone know if there is any actual evidence that Myatt was the founder?
I've been really trying to find something to read, but I usually pick up a book and can't get past a few pages of it without the writing style just totally adverting me. I read the first couple pages of Albert Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, he uses so much jargon I can hardly understand what he's saying.
I tried reading Picture Of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde, I read the first page of that and I couldn't take the writing style.
I read the first two chapters of Notes From Underground, it had lucid moments, but then it would just descend into complete illegibility.
Same thing happened with Call Of Chthulu. I have a few books which I want to read, but if I can't take the writing style and I have to re-read the same paragraph or sentence over and over again to get the meaning, I often feel very little motivation to keep reading book. Catcher In The Rye is one I've wanted to try, as well as I wanted to try Brave New World again, which I did not like because of the writing style when I first picked it up.
I don't know what it is about me and books, I just don't have much luck. Two months ago I read about 3 1/2 books in just one week, because I happened to find a string of books which were easy for me to read which I could understand the writing style. I think that probably comes from just not having much experience in reading, I've never even really tried to get into reading until just recently. I can read stuff like Franz Kafka because I just seem to connect with what he's writing, but I just can't stand how depressed it makes me feel.
Maybe there'd be some sort of paradigm shift in the way my brain thinks from the first time I read Kafka, so the second time I read one of his books it wouldn't be so depressing. Just a thought, but I somehow doubt it. Idk if words and ideas work the same way in when you see hear feel taste or smell something that is unpleasant to you, or if they become less troubling as your mind gets used to the idea.
Quote from: oOoOoOo on April 05, 2016, 05:18:13 PM
Albert Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, he uses so much jargon
Can't say I have ever thought of using the word jargon with anything of Camus. But I am rather a fan of his work, especially his book Resistance Rebellion and Death.
James Salter and Ernest Hemingway come to mind as far as simpler more to the point style of writing if that is what you are going for. I've seen a few others mention it on here recently but I would also recommend Storm of Steel. Maybe try Mark Twain's Dairies of Adam and Eve?
Anyways, haven't had the time I would like to read so stalled on Nightmare Alley. Took a day though to read Lawrence Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of the Mind. Mixed bag of good and bad poems, however the good parts out weigh the bad and I would recommend it.
Quote from: Diseased Peasant on April 05, 2016, 09:04:02 PM
Quote from: oOoOoOo on April 05, 2016, 05:18:13 PM
Albert Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, he uses so much jargon
Can't say I have ever thought of using the word jargon with anything of Camus. But I am rather a fan of his work, especially his book Resistance Rebellion and Death.
James Salter and Ernest Hemingway come to mind as far as simpler more to the point style of writing if that is what you are going for. I've seen a few others mention it on here recently but I would also recommend Storm of Steel. Maybe try Mark Twain's Dairies of Adam and Eve?
Anyways, haven't had the time I would like to read so stalled on Nightmare Alley. Took a day though to read Lawrence Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of the Mind. Mixed bag of good and bad poems, however the good parts out weigh the bad and I would recommend it.
Idk if I'd call the way Camus writes Jargon, maybe that was a poor use of the word. No, I wouldn't say he uses Jargon as far as I noticed, he wasn't referencing words not used by common man, I don't think. No the problem with Camus is sometimes the way he writes a sentence just makes no sense, I think that sums up what I'm trying to say a little better, I hope. Short of giving specific examples I'm not sure what else I could describe about his work, I only read 2 pages.
Quote from: oOoOoOo on April 06, 2016, 12:36:26 AM
Quote from: Diseased Peasant on April 05, 2016, 09:04:02 PM
Quote from: oOoOoOo on April 05, 2016, 05:18:13 PM
Albert Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, he uses so much jargon
Can't say I have ever thought of using the word jargon with anything of Camus. But I am rather a fan of his work, especially his book Resistance Rebellion and Death.
James Salter and Ernest Hemingway come to mind as far as simpler more to the point style of writing if that is what you are going for. I've seen a few others mention it on here recently but I would also recommend Storm of Steel. Maybe try Mark Twain's Dairies of Adam and Eve?
Anyways, haven't had the time I would like to read so stalled on Nightmare Alley. Took a day though to read Lawrence Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of the Mind. Mixed bag of good and bad poems, however the good parts out weigh the bad and I would recommend it.
Idk if I'd call the way Camus writes Jargon, maybe that was a poor use of the word. No, I wouldn't say he uses Jargon as far as I noticed, he wasn't referencing words not used by common man, I don't think. No the problem with Camus is sometimes the way he writes a sentence just makes no sense, I think that sums up what I'm trying to say a little better, I hope. Short of giving specific examples I'm not sure what else I could describe about his work, I only read 2 pages.
To each their own. I've known plenty of people who don't like Camus writings for reasons or another. Just was one I hadn't heard before. Although less confusing then the people who act as if you have to chose between Camus and Sartre.
Quote from: oOoOoOo on April 05, 2016, 05:18:13 PM
Maybe there'd be some sort of paradigm shift in the way my brain thinks from the first time I read Kafka, so the second time I read one of his books it wouldn't be so depressing. Just a thought, but I somehow doubt it. Idk if words and ideas work the same way in when you see hear feel taste or smell something that is unpleasant to you, or if they become less troubling as your mind gets used to the idea.
If you think Kafka is depressing, you should try Thomas Ligotti
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Loving it so far.
Just read The Name of the Wind which was pretty great too.
Noam Chomsky – Chronicles of Dissent
A collection of interviews with Chomsky between 1984 and 1991, focusing on a wide range of American and international issues and a few segments of Chomsky's personal life. Very interesting throughout; one of the topics I didn't know basically anything about was America's aggression in Central America in the 1980s.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke – The Occult Roots of Nazism
A thoroughly researched and mostly impartial book about so-called völkisch movements in Austria, Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels and his theozoology, the Thule Society etc. that all somehow influenced Nazism. (If you're looking for a book about the occult beliefs of Nazi leaders, this is not it though – this is, as the title implies, about the movement's occult roots.) There are plenty of crazy pan-German fantasies in the book, but the most insane ideas were those of Lanz von Liebenfels, I reckon. A very good book.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – The Little Prince
I'm pretty sure I read this as a kid, but since I didn't remember it, I decided to re-read it. I actually didn't like it that much, it was a bit incoherent at times in my view. Nevertheless, it's a heartwrenching book that's well worth reading. I was surprised to learn from the internet that this is one of the best-selling books ever. How such a brutally sad novella can be so popular or considered a children's book is beyond me...
Finally reading Cioran at last ("The Problem With Being Born" and "A Short History Of Decay"). I thought Schopenhauer and Ligotti were mind expanding. This stuff is pure fucking manna.
Quote from: acsenger on April 09, 2016, 10:07:42 AM
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke – The Occult Roots of Nazism
A thoroughly researched and mostly impartial book about so-called völkisch movements in Austria, Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels and his theozoology, the Thule Society etc. that all somehow influenced Nazism. (If you're looking for a book about the occult beliefs of Nazi leaders, this is not it though – this is, as the title implies, about the movement's occult roots.) There are plenty of crazy pan-German fantasies in the book, but the most insane ideas were those of Lanz von Liebenfels, I reckon. A very good book.
Quote
have you read the 'sequel' Black Sun?
Quote from: cantle on April 09, 2016, 10:42:06 PM
have you read the 'sequel' Black Sun?
No, I haven't. I just checked it out on the net. I'm not sure if I'm interested enough in the topic to read another book even if it's not the exact same topic, but I'll keep the book in mind.
Just halfway through 'The Minotauress' by Edward Lee.
Interesting and entertaining read for in between:
'Life never ends well' by Jim Goad
Where does someone find real knowledge? I read these news media articles all the time, it always seems like they're written to entertain people, or toot their horn to their audience. It makes me wonder what sort of alternative sources of information that people have, just short of following their own interests and reading books from the library. I wish that I had the sort of patience to discover information this way, but often times when I pick up a book I can't bring myself to read it unless it doesn't feel like a waste of time.
On a slightly different note, I have been wondering what I should read. I find it hard to just read for the sake of reading, I think when I find a book that is truly interesting to me then I can read it just fine. I find that this is how I am in general. I don't just want to read a book, I want to read a book that makes me feel something different. I want a book that changes the way I look at the world around me. I find that as I mature as a human being, the world starts to appear from different perspectives, I want to expand my mind. This is why I have been thinking about reading philosophy books, but I've been procrastinating.
Louis-Ferdinand Céline - Journey to the End of the Night
Quote from: oOoOoOo on April 12, 2016, 02:03:09 AM
On a slightly different note, I have been wondering what I should read. I find it hard to just read for the sake of reading, I think when I find a book that is truly interesting to me then I can read it just fine. I find that this is how I am in general. I don't just want to read a book, I want to read a book that makes me feel something different. I want a book that changes the way I look at the world around me. I find that as I mature as a human being, the world starts to appear from different perspectives, I want to expand my mind. This is why I have been thinking about reading philosophy books, but I've been procrastinating.
Ever try audiobooks as opposed to reading? The Thief's Journal by Jean Genet? The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares? Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre? The Hotel Years by Joseph Roth?
Quote from: Sturmfieber on April 12, 2016, 04:36:24 AM
Louis-Ferdinand Céline - Journey to the End of the Night
I still need to get around to reading this.
Anyways just finished What the Living do poems of Marie Howe. Next The Great Enigma poems of Thomas Transtromer and Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Quote from: oOoOoOo on April 12, 2016, 02:03:09 AM
On a slightly different note, I have been wondering what I should read. I find it hard to just read for the sake of reading, I think when I find a book that is truly interesting to me then I can read it just fine. I find that this is how I am in general. I don't just want to read a book, I want to read a book that makes me feel something different. I want a book that changes the way I look at the world around me. I find that as I mature as a human being, the world starts to appear from different perspectives, I want to expand my mind. This is why I have been thinking about reading philosophy books, but I've been procrastinating.
Would recommend Sartre, Camus, Kafka, or Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in terms of classic philosophical literature, but it doesn't seem like that has been working for you. On the flipside, I would recommend Philip K. Dick. He is a great gateway to philosophical and metaphysical concepts, but in a package that is highly engaging and easy to read. Valis trilogy is great, Ubik, A Scanner Darkly, etc... he was incredibly prolific, so lots to choose from.
Other great misanthropic/existentialist novels and writers: No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai, Against The Grain by J.K. Huysmans, Woman In The Dunes by Kobo Abe, Mysteries by Knut Hamsun, anything by Dostoyevsky, Thomas Bernhard, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Thomas Ligotti... the list goes on...
reading the second issue of Italian counter cultural magazine Polemos in book format.
Very nice
(http://polemos.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/copertina-vol2media-332x500.jpg)
http://polemos.eu/
Edward Lee & John Pelan: GOON
Don't know really, but are the books from or with E. Lee such entertaining reads despite or because all the exaggerated sex and violence? ;-)
Quote from: vixszanka on April 13, 2016, 07:12:28 AM
Quote from: oOoOoOo on April 12, 2016, 02:03:09 AM
On a slightly different note, I have been wondering what I should read. I find it hard to just read for the sake of reading, I think when I find a book that is truly interesting to me then I can read it just fine. I find that this is how I am in general. I don't just want to read a book, I want to read a book that makes me feel something different. I want a book that changes the way I look at the world around me. I find that as I mature as a human being, the world starts to appear from different perspectives, I want to expand my mind. This is why I have been thinking about reading philosophy books, but I've been procrastinating.
A book by Slavoj Zizek on Lacan would definitely provide you with some new perspectives. And dreams of Amputation by Gary J. Shiply is some pretty intense cyberpunk
Presently making my way through Killer Fiction by G.J. Schaefer.
From the Introductory Essays:
"These procurers pick up a cute runaway, take her out on a fancy yacht into international waters, and believe me, she (or he) don't come back when the party is over.Ain't nobody gonna prove nothing either.Give the girlie a needle to put her out, strap a diver's weight belt around her waist, and over the side in 500 feet of water.Girl? What girl? And the sad thing is the reason the kid is killed is because it ain't worth the risk to let the kid go when you can get 25 to life on unsupported testimony."
Noticed the somewhat high asking prices of this book with online sales.
My girlfriend bought my first edition copy at a secondhand bookstore for $3.95...go figure.
Quote from: theotherjohn on May 06, 2016, 12:17:49 PM
Is it the true first edition that Sondra London self-published, rather than Feral House's edition?
Well, no....my mistake.It's the first printing of the
special edition on Feral House.
Still a great price...was marked down from $7.50.
Have never seen the Media Queen version.
'Snuff: real death and screen media' eds Jackson Kimber et al.
study of snuff from mythological urban myth of extreme poon through cannibal films, 'Snuff' the movie, real death websites.
Dry and academic at times, engaging at others.
Not too badly priced for an academic book, certainly more reasonable than the £50 for the study on torture poon.
Quote from: theotherjohn on May 08, 2016, 07:40:42 PM
Quote from: david lloyd jones on May 08, 2016, 07:18:49 PM
'Snuff: real death and screen media' eds Jackson Kimber et al.
study of snuff from mythological urban myth of extreme porn through cannibal films, 'Snuff' the movie, real death websites.
Dry and academic at times, engaging at others.
Not too badly priced for an academic book, certainly more reasonable than the £50 for the study on torture porn.
Wouldn't mind reading this. I bought the new edition of Killing For Culture when the hardback was finally made available around the same time your read got released, and whilst fairly wide ranging in its study and hardly encyclopedic (although for the time it took to finally be published it really should have been), I couldn't help but wonder how notorious examples like Björk stalker Ricardo López's video diary slipped under the radar - that could have been a chapter in itself.
I have the original volume of KfC- has the 2nd ed. not been that extensively revised then?
Quote from: oOoOoOo on May 17, 2016, 02:04:23 AM
Pessoa, Fernando - The Book of Disquiet (Penguin Classics)
I tried that. Seemed okay at first read but on the second go I just got bored with it. Just too twee for my tastes.
"Picture of Dorian Gray" is a good book, I think. Wilde's style is completely readable, although sometimes at odds with the rather darker themes he has in this book. I'm a big fan of Wilde's fiction and plays, find his poems a bit dull at times.
If you're looking for things to read, I'd recommend the basics - Schopenhauer's "Studies in Pessimism", Ligotti's "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race", Benatar's "Better Never to Have Been", Perry's "Every Cradle is a Grave" and Cioran's "A Brief History of Decay" and "The Trouble With Being Born". For fiction, read Houellebecq's "Atomised" and "Platform", McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" and anything by Lovecraft and, again, Ligotti especially "My Work is Not Yet Done"). There are others, of course, but here is a full enough outline of what life really is and what we humans really are. And once you've learned, you can't forget or ignore.
Forget the search for any bliss. Reject any notion of value in life. Take off the blinkers, stop listening to the yay-sayers, surrender to the dark side - it is your destiny.
Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on May 17, 2016, 06:54:04 AM
If you're looking for things to read, I'd recommend the basics - Schopenhauer's "Studies in Pessimism", Ligotti's "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race", Benatar's "Better Never to Have Been", Perry's "Every Cradle is a Grave" and Cioran's "A Brief History of Decay" and "The Trouble With Being Born". For fiction, read Houellebecq's "Atomised" and "Platform", McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" and anything by Lovecraft and, again, Ligotti especially "My Work is Not Yet Done"). There are others, of course, but here is a full enough outline of what life really is and what we humans really are. And once you've learned, you can't forget or ignore.
while all the books you recommend are fantastic, I'm sure that if he didn't enjoy something like Notes from the Underground or Kafka, he's probably not going to enjoy Ligotti's bleak prose, or Cioran's unrelenting pessimism
I'd recommend going for something really left-field, like Burrough's cut up stuff or something quite experimental. Maybe just try picking up a random book from the library you've never heard of and reading it.
Quote from: Duality on May 17, 2016, 07:31:19 AMI'm sure that if he didn't enjoy something like Notes from the Underground or Kafka, he's probably not going to enjoy Ligotti's bleak prose, or Cioran's unrelenting pessimism
I'd recommend going for something really left-field, like Burrough's cut up stuff or something quite experimental. Maybe just try picking up a random book from the library you've never heard of and reading it.
You may well be right. On the other hand, both Dostoyevsky and Kafka have particular styles that might put modern readers off. I've read that a few people have found "Crime and Punishment", for example, to be difficult to get through (I certainly thought so, although sticking with it has its benefits), and I don't think I'm the only one who finds Kafka's stuffy, self-centered characters in his books "The Trial" and "The Castle" difficult to get along with (bit easier with the short stories, perhaps).
Burroughs can also be difficult on the first go - I made the mistake of thinking "Nova Express" was a basic science fiction book until I read it. His autobiography is worth reading, though.
Perhaps he should try some Camus if he hasn't already? "The Outsider" is easy to read but has a serious impact.
Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on May 17, 2016, 07:49:20 AM
Quote from: Duality on May 17, 2016, 07:31:19 AMI'm sure that if he didn't enjoy something like Notes from the Underground or Kafka, he's probably not going to enjoy Ligotti's bleak prose, or Cioran's unrelenting pessimism
I'd recommend going for something really left-field, like Burrough's cut up stuff or something quite experimental. Maybe just try picking up a random book from the library you've never heard of and reading it.
You may well be right. On the other hand, both Dostoyevsky and Kafka have particular styles that might put modern readers off. I've read that a few people have found "Crime and Punishment", for example, to be difficult to get through (I certainly thought so, although sticking with it has its benefits), and I don't think I'm the only one who finds Kafka's stuffy, self-centered characters in his books "The Trial" and "The Castle" difficult to get along with (bit easier with the short stories, perhaps).
Burroughs can also be difficult on the first go - I made the mistake of thinking "Nova Express" was a basic science fiction book until I read it. His autobiography is worth reading, though.
Perhaps he should try some Camus if he hasn't already? "The Outsider" is easy to read but has a serious impact.
For sure Dostoyevsky can be off-putting, and I have to admit to never finishing Crime and Punishment as it felt too much like writing a lot of dialogue for the sake of writing a lot, which is probably why I like "Notes" better as its straight to the point and extremely disheartening, which is what I like in fiction.
Burroughs can certainly be difficult but I was just making suggestion to try something a bit strange and maybe he'd kind of hook onto the surrealness of it. I read Naked Lunch first, which isn't his most comprehensible, but I still love it.
Camus seems like a good idea because of his easy style of writing, though I'm not a fan myself. Far too much of the whole "heroic" pessimism or heroic "pessimism" as Ligotti put it.
oOoOoOo, Have you tried Sartre's Nausea? that's a rather easy read and a pretty engrossing book.
Quote from: Duality on May 17, 2016, 08:21:29 AM
Camus seems like a good idea because of his easy style of writing, though I'm not a fan myself. Far too much of the whole "heroic" pessimism or heroic "pessimism" as Ligotti put it.
He did, and he was right, but I have a soft spot for Camus. For one thing, this was someone who was involved in the resistance during the war. Not exactly sitting back, stroking his chin, smoking his pipe and arguing with others over cups of coffee. For another, he saw through a lot of the bullshit of the intellectual left of his time, resulting in his "The Rebel" which saw him arsed out of the comfy armchair movement (much to his disappointment, to be sure).
But in his books "The Outsider" and "The Fall", there's no concession to heroism, no pretense that life isn't what it isn't. "The Fall", in particular, although I like "The Outsider" because any book that ends with "...all that remained was to hope that on that day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration" is okay by me.
"The Plague", granted, a lot more optimistic, but that was an allegory about his own experiences during the resistance. It's a very good book, very strong.
I identified with Absurdism for a while, and still believe his conclusions about existence being "absurd", however wanky that sounds today in English, are sound. His solutions to that, those are his affair. I don't believe in solutions.
Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on May 17, 2016, 06:54:04 AM
Quote from: oOoOoOo on May 17, 2016, 02:04:23 AM
Pessoa, Fernando - The Book of Disquiet (Penguin Classics)
I tried that. Seemed okay at first read but on the second go I just got bored with it. Just too twee for my tastes.
"Picture of Dorian Gray" is a good book, I think. Wilde's style is completely readable, although sometimes at odds with the rather darker themes he has in this book. I'm a big fan of Wilde's fiction and plays, find his poems a bit dull at times.
If you're looking for things to read, I'd recommend the basics - Schopenhauer's "Studies in Pessimism", Ligotti's "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race", Benatar's "Better Never to Have Been", Perry's "Every Cradle is a Grave" and Cioran's "A Brief History of Decay" and "The Trouble With Being Born". For fiction, read Houellebecq's "Atomised" and "Platform", McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" and anything by Lovecraft and, again, Ligotti especially "My Work is Not Yet Done"). There are others, of course, but here is a full enough outline of what life really is and what we humans really are. And once you've learned, you can't forget or ignore.
Forget the search for any bliss. Reject any notion of value in life. Take off the blinkers, stop listening to the yay-sayers, surrender to the dark side - it is your destiny.
Hello. Thank you for your reply to my deleted comment. I had to delete it, because I woke up the next morning feeling embarrassed at how stupid I sounded. I may not have sounded stupid, but I felt terrible, as I often do when I say things.
Thank you for your suggestions. I have been wanting to get The Conspiracy Against The Human Race, but that book is rather expensive. Those other ones sound like solid suggestions, I've actually picked up a book by Cioran from the library called On The Height Of Despair. I dismissed it because it closely resembled my own journal entries. I have the complete Cthulhu mythos and early works of HP Lovecraft on paperback. Blood Meridian, hmm. I'll have to look into that one more and see if I'm sold on the idea of reading it, I don't usually like gangster themed stuff.
As for your comment about search for bliss. I think that it's good enough to simply not feel grim in the wake of every day life. Knowing that I am simply the self awareness and consciousness of a brain, somewhat relieves me and somewhat depresses me. Except, I know in my most lucid moments that there's really nothing to worry about, in this case. I can't change the things outside of my control, but there's also no real purpose to seek a sort of transcendental feeling or knowledge, because what is that? Just a rewiring of the parts of your brain responsible for feeling happy. I'm happy enough knowing when I die I won't feel anything and that I can observe reality, but not have it become an integral part of how I feel.
I recently bought a few books and I have a few more books that I want to get.
Franz Kafka - The Trial
Jorge Luis Borges - Collected Fictions
Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray (Dover Thrift Editions)
Jean Genet - Funeral Rites
Clarice Lispector - The Passion According to G.H. (Emergent Literatures)
Fernando Pessoa - The Book of Disquiet (Penguin Classics)
George Orwell - Animal Farm
Already, I can sort of tell which ones I'm going to read cover to cover and which ones I won't. I'll probably make it through Kafka, because I already read Metamorphosis with little struggle. I will probably make it through Animal Farm, even though I found 1984 boring and am still struggling to make it through that book. I will probably have a difficult time reading basically any of these other books, except I don't know about Oscar Wilde, I just bought that because Morrissey likes it.
I have been wanting to get into the existentialist philosophers. I have a sort of reluctance to read things on my kindle, because I like the feeling of waiting until I get a physical copy. I have been interested in Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus. I know Camus is very readable, I read a tiny bit of the stranger, but not much. I think I recall picking up Schopenhauer and being perplexed by the writing style, same with Nietzsche I think, but I can't remember. It's been interesting me, I hear about these authors a lot.
Other books I have my eye on and may buy:
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings by Marquis De Sade
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everyone and No One (Penguin Classics) by Friedrich Nietzsche
Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Quote from: theotherjohn on May 20, 2016, 11:44:40 AM
You should look into A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole if you want an easy to read, misanthropic novel. Very funny too.
A piece of tragic trivia that may add to the allure of the book is that the author John Kennedy Toole killed himself, in part due to his failure as an author.
Confederacy.. then won the Pulizer Prize for Fiction posthumously. Quite possibly one of the greatest pieces of American fiction, period.
Quote from: oOoOoOo on May 20, 2016, 01:20:20 AMI've actually picked up a book by Cioran from the library called On The Height Of Despair. I dismissed it because it closely resembled my own journal entries
HA! I like that! That one in particular is pretty much a glorified private journal, but he admitted every book he wrote was something of an autobiography.
Quote from: oOoOoOo on May 20, 2016, 01:20:20 AMBlood Meridian, hmm. I'll have to look into that one more and see if I'm sold on the idea of reading it, I don't usually like gangster themed stuff.
Believe me, it's nothing like that. When you've got the time and opportunity, please do give it a go.
I just read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, really enjoyed it. Took a while as I kept feeling I was missing essential clues and lately I've only had time to read before bed so I'd only do a chapter or two. Great read. Watched the movie, trying to imagine how perplexed people must have been after seeing it without reading the book first. Trying to cram everything in must have been a nightmare.
Then I read The Widow which my wife ordered, very easygoing read about a British child abduction. I read it in about a day as I really was hooked and needed to know what happened. Would be a good cottage/vacation read.
Quote from: Peterson on May 17, 2016, 08:10:51 AM
Finally got Sotos' "Special," but it hasn't yet shown up. Disappointingly, not a single review seems to exist online, even from raving fans. Weird, considering most people love to either gloat about their appreciation for his stuff or pat themselves on the back for finishing despite their revulsion. Must be especially good, or especially bad. We'll see...
Special isn't one of my favorites. Special is most similar to Index, but not as good. Though what I have learned is reading any of Sotos' bookd gives deepening context to his oeuvre as a whole. That's why I'm bummed I sold my copy of Proxy and my copy of Predicate. I have most of his work though.
If you are going to have a go at Burroughs, I most emphatically do not recommend any of the more experimental stuff. My first recommendation is and always will be
The Job. Originally conceived as a series of impromptu interviews, Burroughs "found that I had in many cases already answered these questions in various books, articles and short pieces. So instead of paraphrasing or summarizing I inserted the indicated material. The result is interview form presented as a film with fade-outs and flash-back illustrating the answers." In other words ostensibly very dry but occasionally prone to lush and spicy experimentalism. Really shows off WSB's quite superior frame of intellect. Paranoid delusions to the nth interspersed with the most insightful... insights what might be had in the written word. Oldy but goody, one I would guess that has been quoted and requoted over the many years since publication (1969):
QuoteQ: The Beat/Hip axis, notably in such figures as Ginsberg, want to transform the world by Jove and nonviolence. Do you share this interest?
A: Most emphatically no. The people in power will not disappear voluntarily, giving flowers to the cops just isn't going to work. This thinking is fostered by the establishment; they like nothing better than love and nonviolence. The only way I like to see cops given flowers is in a flower pot from a high window.
Thomas Bernhard has been mentioned, by myself among others. For power electronics fans, I would have to recommend
Woodcutters. From wiki:
QuoteThe whole novel is an account of what the narrator sees and hears while sitting on a chair with a glass of champagne in hand and, subsequently, at the table during dinner. Bernhard devastates with the axe of his prose (just like a wood cutter) the world of pretention and intellectual inconsistency, not only related to a certain Viennese scene, but to all that surrounds us
Basically comes off as book-length extended rant. Funny and furious as fuck, just keeps coming and coming, in repetitive hysterium, "I thought in the wing chair". Several quotes I have often thought could readily apply to our little world here, very quotable but hard to isolate a choice nugget. Sentences tend toward longish and utterly compelling, possibly the only book that I have ever read through straight, no stopping, till the very bitter(?) end.
Recently rereading Mikhail Artsybashev's
Breaking Point (1912). Perhaps one of the lesser known Russians of the pessimist tradition. First read when I was fifteen and it made quite the impression-- much like all my favorite writers a reassuring confirmation that in this world there exist others of a similar persuasion. Some wonderful speechifying throughout, particularly this scene at a club in which a particularly dour character declares his intention to kill himself at "a moment when it wouldn't seem particularly dreadful, but at the most ridiculous and futile". I recite verbatim, as I have on several forums in the past:
QuoteLet others live, if they can...I can't. For my part I won't because to me it's simply uninteresting. That's all. To me life is not a tragedy, nor a horror, nor a senseless episode, but merely uninteresting. Nature and beauty are so trivial, one gets so tired of them...love is so petty...humanity—simply foolish. The mysteries of the universe are impenetrable, and even should one fathom them it would be just as dull as before. Everything is as uninteresting as what we know already. In eternity there is nothing either small or large, and therefore even a match is a mystery and a miracle...but we know the match and it is uninteresting. And it's the same with everything. In the same way God would be tedious if we could see him. Why have a God at all? It's superfluous.
....And then I wanted to say good-bye, because I don't think we shall ever meet again...and if we do—it'll be just as boring as ever.
After which he pulls the fucking trigger! Class all the way. This is followed by a rash of suicides, from the character who preaches a gospel of universal annihilation, "Whenever I see a pregnant woman, I feel inclined to kill her..." to the idealistic student who trusts in the future of humanity, "He does not himself know in what, but he believes! Full of grief, full of tormenting agonies he believes without hope!" The only real "survivor" is the old and indifferent doctor, "drunken and decaying, murmuring rubbish to himself, ' I have been dead a long time' - perhaps the only sympathetic, even lovable character, whose only reply to the anguish of those whose pain he strives in vain to relieve is that he does not know.
I've been reading a couple notes from "the book of disquiet" a day, by fernando pessoa. It's amazing. This is more than reading, this is like experiencing your own mind. I've never read an author I relate to so much. His simple story about walking into a cafe and feeling better when he was leaving and someone noticed he wasn't feeling good, after the waiter told he she hopes he feels better. I know that feeling, to have your whole mood changed on a dime because of a random act of kindness from another person. It was beautiful, reading that from someone else. It takes a little while sometimes to grasp what he's saying, but I do get it eventually.
Quote from: oOoOoOo on June 13, 2016, 04:34:48 AM
I see you have Cioran quotes on your tumblr. I love Cioran. I have 3 of his books next to my bed, I pick up and read a random page of On The Heights Of Despair a lot.
I've come to Cioran only recently. A couple of years ago I discovered a documentary on him that raised my eyebrows to put it mildly. I invested a few bucks into a great deal of his bibliography and have been addicted ever since. Technically, I suppose, he is a philosopher, in the broad sense of the word. But he doesn't present any novel system of thought (much less play with the meaning of words as some modern philosophers seem to feel the need to do). I appreciate the fact that he claims he writes the same book all the time, and that it is largely autobiographical. An insomniac ex-pat shuddering in his garret in Paris, rejected nearly every honour the intelligentsia try to heap on him, venting his spleen over and over from his typewriter, dying of Alzheimer's - there's very little not to like.
I particularly love his attack on any form of action. Work, political activity, anything that involves getting off your arse, the usual sort of thing just about everybody takes for granted is the right thing to do, he puts to the blade eloquently and mercilessly. My own sentiments exactly except that I have no words for it, Cioran provides them.
Anyone who hates existence as much as he did, and was able to say so in the way he did, is alright by me.
PS - I read on that bastion of intelligent debate, a YouTube comments section, someone calling Cioran a "poor man's Pessoa". I had a copy of "The Book of Disquiet". My first reading, I thought it was okay. Second reading, nah - too flowery, too delicate, too much grasping for hope, human all too human.
Hmm. That's peculiar you felt that way about Pessoa, he's often seen as being very dark and melancholy, although I agree that he is very flowery in a sense. I see that as beauty though, and I am definitely one who loves melancholic nostalgic beauty, as I'm sure almost anyone is. I admit that before in this thread I said I read Cioran and I felt that I was reading pages of my own diary. There's something very endearing about that though, reading someone else's work who is simply speaking out of their head (that's called prose, right?). I definitely like Pessoa a bit more, because he's able to provoke a bit more emotions of beauty inside of me, but Cioran's pessimism is refreshing too and I enjoy reading what he has to say. I'm often weary of living, I often don't like waking up in the morning because I feel that I'm reminded immediately that I'm awake and that there's truths that invade my conscience until I go to sleep again. I like writing and artwork and literature that seems to sympathize (excuse my upcoming use of nonsense words) telepathically with my mind.
On another note. I am currently reading Nausea by Sartre. It's a very confusing book, I started it yesterday mid day and woke up and read a few more pages. I am now on page 11. It's taken me a while because it's so confusing and disorienting sometimes, because the character is very vague and I often get tired and lose my concentration, having to constantly back track and make sure that I'm understanding everything that's being said.
My reading of Pessoa has lead me to become interested in modernist poets, because Pessoa is apparently a modernist. I read a little bit of a poem of T S Elliot and I am very much sold, I will be ordering his complete poems when I feel I can safely spend some more money on a book.
massive Guido Crepax anthology from fantagraphics of loads of 70's cartoons in the vein of story of o and valentine.
arty erotica to the max.
Finished a second reading of Watchmen graphic novel. My understanding of English has been improved a little bit than years ago, so decided to re-read this. Very good story, excellent writing. Even for someone not familiar with the medium, this will be an enjoyable read, i think.
Quote from: Theodore on June 21, 2016, 02:16:49 AM
Finished a second reading of Watchmen graphic novel. My understanding of English has been improved a little bit than years ago, so decided to re-read this. Very good story, excellent writing. Even for someone not familiar with the medium, this will be an enjoyable read, i think.
Easily the best comic ever in my opinion. I've read it 20+ times and still find nuances I've overlooked each time. Sheer brilliance.
Quote from: yosef666 on June 21, 2016, 07:37:06 AM
Quote from: Theodore on June 21, 2016, 02:16:49 AM
Finished a second reading of Watchmen graphic novel. My understanding of English has been improved a little bit than years ago, so decided to re-read this. Very good story, excellent writing. Even for someone not familiar with the medium, this will be an enjoyable read, i think.
Easily the best comic ever in my opinion. I've read it 20+ times and still find nuances I've overlooked each time. Sheer brilliance.
It's certainly one of the best. So many layers and different interpretations can be taken away from it. Definitely worth many re-reads
Quote from: oOoOoOo on June 14, 2016, 05:04:21 PM
Hmm. That's peculiar you felt that way about Pessoa, he's often seen as being very dark and melancholy, although I agree that he is very flowery in a sense. I see that as beauty though, and I am definitely one who loves melancholic nostalgic beauty, as I'm sure almost anyone is.
Interesting, gonna have to check it out, I have a copy of Disquiet lying around somewhere.
Are you a fan of Roberto Bolaño or Kazuo Ishiguro? They fit that description well.
@Pax Chetyorka I have heard of those but I haven't read them.
@Andrew McIntosh That's also interesting that you say that Cioran was against work (or exerting effort in general?). I'll admit that I've only really read a few of his writings from on the heights of despair, which I guess is his earlier work. His later works such as the temptation to exist, I am still trying to break into. It's one of those writers like Nietzsche who when I read it, it just doesn't seem to really make sense because the writing style is densely worded.
I would love to hear his points of view on actions. I find that our world is incredibly obsessed with things like making money, and having a job and doing things, people seem to blindly laud these things as if they were the be all end all of living. I despise the idea of making a living and I see no glory in working your ass off for some stupid job, just to give back to a society simply for the sake of keeping society afloat. In my opinion, these things don't really enrich your life, money is a necessary EVIL which corrupts and consumes our lives. It's like a curse, because without money you wouldn't be able to really live, but with money you get more freedom and you have to work for it.
But what do you really gain from working and moving your muscles? You may gain knowledge in your field if you're doing something interesting, but what more could you gain from working some dead end job than you could from reading a book, or simply doing anything more invigorating than working at some fucking gas station or super market? Masturbation itself sounds more invigorating than stupid endeavors like that. Most days I think about how much of our lives are committed to work and school and eventually becoming the proverbial cog in machine. That is what a life of work boils down to, is simply giving back to a society you never asked to be born into, simply for the sake of keeping humanity afloat. Why keep humanity afloat? Don't ask me, ask the people who seem to laud work and getting paid as some heroic deed. There's nothing heroic about work, it's as cowardly and stupid as people who worship god. What a farce, this age we live in, where people make up some bullshit purpose for themselves to be alive, it's false and intellectually dishonest.
Life shouldn't be filled with worry, you should forget worries and go to bed with a clear conscience, to forget about the day and transition smoothly into your dreams, and wake up well rested, and go about your day without worries. Work hinders this, ambitions and struggles and deadlines and pressure, these things wear you out and physically age your skin.
that's the truth !
+1
the world turned upside down-radical ideas during the English revolution' by Christopher hill.
hot on the heels of 'bash the rich' the history of class war by Ian bone.
both interesting reading in light of the UK vote to leave eu and a pundit description of the vote as voter vandalism.
thanks for the prior Jamie Gillis / peter sotos book review.
currently reading,
great Britain? the secret destiny of the British and their isles.
picked this up in Atlantis in London, too soon to evaluate, hut given the brexit vote and it's fallout, a non linear approach seemed a non linear way forward/to deconstruct the issues.
Hakan Nesser - Borkmann's Point, crime fiction, typical of its kind i guess. Easy, light, to kill your time before sleep, although at the 3rd and final opening i didn't sleep cause i wanted to finish it [Good thing for the book]. 3 murders with an ax in a small town, and a detective arrives to help the local police to catch the murderer. One thing i don't like in fiction books is the extensive description of the scenery which i find boring. Not the case here. Just the absolutely neccesary, it focuses more on the dialogues and thoughts. Dialogues are quick, sharp, funny at times. Thoughts have a natural flow, like when you are really thinking and not like when you are writing a book.
To compare it with the last similar book i read, Joe Nesbo - The Bat, i think Borkmann's Point is better. I don't even remember a lot of things from The Bat, although i am not sure i will remember Borkmann's Point in the future too !
Conclusion : I wouldn't buy it, but hardly i would buy any book of that kind. -It was a gift, a mother's gift, you know the one where your mom feels the obligation to make you a gift cause it's your birthday, enters the bookstore, tells the employee "Give me a good book for a present" and he makes the choice for her.- But i don't feel i lost my time. It was OK. As for mom's gifts, i think i have to give her links to some distros and tell her "Pick some random tapes from there, next time".
Quote from: Theodore on July 07, 2016, 03:42:25 AM
As for mom's gifts, i think i have to give her links to some distros and tell her "Pick some random tapes from there, next time".
I don't think my mother would ever talk to me again if she heard the music I listen to.
"Here you go son, I got you this cd called "Hammer Of Aryan Terror" I hope you enjoy."
Quote from: Duality on July 07, 2016, 07:58:25 AM
Quote from: Theodore on July 07, 2016, 03:42:25 AM
As for mom's gifts, i think i have to give her links to some distros and tell her "Pick some random tapes from there, next time".
I don't think my mother would ever talk to me again if she heard the music I listen to.
"Here you go son, I got you this cd called "Hammer Of Aryan Terror" I hope you enjoy."
[/quote
yours and lots of mothers!
can't even go visit without checking my t shirt pic!]
I'd probably be the only exception as my mom eventually became an alcoholic cokehead, so she never had much room to talk in regards to my choices and interests even if it included Beheading the Semites.
Dropping The Marble Swarm, I read about 70 pages of it. The narrator of the book just annoys the hell out of me, and the book just makes me sad. It wasn't just that the narrator of the marble swarm was referring to the fact that he's writing the book that he's writing, he just went into these absolutely fucking frivolous digressions that were so boring that I couldn't take it, and his personality was so fucking obnoxious. Not to mention the fact that the book had absolutely senseless torture of innocent cute young boys, which was hard for me to stomach reading. The writing style of everything Dennis Cooper has ever written has always been disorienting and confusing, but man, the narrator of this book is just absolutely lacks any sort of consciousness and actually has a pretty superficial personality. Like jesus, how many times are you going to mention that you're as attractive as a model, and how many times are you going to try to guess what I'm thinking while I'm reading the book? The narrator addresses the person reading the book SO MUCH. I get that some people do that, like Dostoyevsky in notes from underground, but damn. The Marble Swarm was just horrible for me to read.
I still need to pick up the marble swarm. I love Cooper, but now I'm a little worried haha
Currently reading "The War in the West" by James Holland and "KL" by Nikolaus Wachsmann.
In my free time I will probably pick up Le Calvaire by Octave Mirbeau. After completion I will probably transition into Marquis De Sade's Justine.
Right now I am reading a lot of economics and business books. I wont bore you guys with most of the titles they are just typical business course books. One title you guys might find interesting is Investment: A History (Columbia Business School Publishing) By Norton Reamer.
Read about 30 pages of the second half of A Picture of Dorian Grey. I put it down a while ago after I got to page 56, but oh man, this book is so good. It's really a cacophony of emotional and moral dramas unfolding all at once, it's really something special, I love this book.
Jack London's John Barleycorn
Liked it! At times it was like reading about myself, the old drunkard ;-)
almost done with the massive 'Complete' J.G.Ballard. Interesting at least as it is in chronological order, so you get to see his evolution as a writer. But you also see that he revisits certain themes over and over. He really reminds me a lot of Borges, just replace the mate with tea.
Also working on the 'Wizard Book' aka "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs'. An MIT text on AI and computer programming in general. I really love the old school of computer geekdom. It is unabashedly toiling in obscurity, with all the requisite whimsy, hard science and philosophical paradoxes as jokes.
Quote from: calaverasgrande on July 16, 2016, 04:36:59 AM
almost done with the massive 'Complete' J.G.Ballard.
I got a few stories into the second book (ones chosen pretty much at random) but didn't find it dark enough.
Currently I'm reading Notes From The House Of the Dead by Dostoevsky, which I am in love with, I read it before when I was living in a care home, I was really able to join my suffering with his.
I'm also reading this retarded hentai thing which is just fantastic.
Quote from: cr on July 15, 2016, 07:38:02 PM
Jack London's John Barleycorn
Liked it! At times it was like reading about myself, the old drunkard ;-)
also recommended by jack London is' people of the abyss'. this is an almighty headlong immersion in the underclass of 1904 London with photos that raises all sorts or echoes before the fact of current poverty, homelessness, crime, struggle and how the working man is always tucked over-a long way from his might is right reputation. thematically linked is 'down and out' by tony Wilkinson documenting late 1970's London homelessness, still just about with a foot in the London that jack London described. it is actually a book following a series of film reports on national TV at the time on a news magazine programme-' nationwide' harrowing stuff, you can almost smell the suit pies and moths of the homeless whilst scratching at non existent fleas.
I just finished A Picture of Dorian Grey. It's been a long and tedious undertaking for me, but until I finally decided to listen to the book on tape. That is when it started to become very easy for me, listening to a book on tape is almost an effortless exercise for me, where as reading books themselves tire me out. I am hoping that when I get my noise cancelling ear muffs in the mail tomorrow that I'll have more luck with reading, I've also been contemplating getting some sort of stimulant drug like Adderall or something, I may actually have a condition that warrants it. I think if I had some sort of stimulant in me I may even have more motivation, and I think I'd be able to do things like reading books without feeling so utterly distracted by everything. I hate to say it, but I have a sort of naive view that if I start taking drugs to fix my issues, that I'll have somehow compromised my brain or will somehow not be experiencing the world in an authentic way. Although I feel it's reasonable to feel concerned about the side effect of drugs, I suppose now that I'm older I can see that not taking drugs doesn't make you feel any more "normal". What a strange thing, what an inexplicable feeling, to feel "normal" or not normal, or not yourself. That's bizarre. I feel no more normal than when I took Adderall when I was a young boy.
Anyways, I admire Oscar Wilde's work a lot. Maybe next I'll read Gravity's Rainbow. I already received my copy in the mail and I read a little bit of it, I'm certain that I'd rather attempt to tackle it with the comfort and security of my ear muffs, if only so I get some placebo of self confidence from their noise cancellation that I'll feign some sort of attention span. It really is a shame that I get mentally exhausted of reading, I wonder though if it's just because of my inexperience. I'm not a very avid reader, I've only read 5 books in my adult life, including this last one, and I cheated and finished the last 60 pages with an audiobook recording.
Or maybe I'll read a Shakespeare tragedy, or Lolita. I don't know yet.
Mr Peterson, I suspect you are giving Mr oooooo more attention than he merits.
Reading Alan Moore's Bojeffries,
Italian edition sucks, very bad translation, although some stuff is very difficult to translate in our language.
It some sort British Addams/Munsters meets Monty Python.
Some moments are absolutely epic.
Looking for a copy of Crad Kilodney's Lightning Struck My Dick. If anyone has any leads or looking to unload a copy, please let me know.
Recently finished The Hermetic Tradition, and about to continue the Evola streak by beginning Revolt Against the Modern World. Before that was a text book on surrealism/dada, Making Tracks which is the Blondie book, and the Isten zine collection.
Also tons of comic book trash, usually while shitting. Hail Judge Dredd.
I'm reading The Concrete Garden by Ian Macewan and Closer by Dennis Cooper.
Concrete Garden gas the feel of a Perverse Enid Blyton book; love.
Closer has an amazing dream like quality but the prose is not as good as in his later stuff; great.
I'm also very slowly working my way through the complete verse of the (criminally) almost anonymous visionary poet Bejamin DeCesseres; there are not words.
new issue of 'the dark side'. UK horror film mag, with articles on Boris Karloff film posters, the blinds babe from the beyond, SCI fi and the communist menace, monster films (rubber monster variety)
Started to read this one
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41y7SNGNyfL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Quote from: cr on August 21, 2016, 06:39:14 PM
Started to read this one
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41y7SNGNyfL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
You're a genius I'm buying that!!!
It's £2.21 for kindle download on Amazon ATM
Quote from: Deadpriest on August 17, 2016, 11:18:04 PM
I'm reading The Concrete Garden by Ian Macewan and Closer by Dennis Cooper.
Concrete Garden gas the feel of a Perverse Enid Blyton book; love.
Enid blyton is atouchstone writer for UK readers of a certain age so this comparison is provocative but true.
almost 'swallows and amazons'
Quote from: Fluid Fetish on August 17, 2016, 04:49:00 AM
Recently finished The Hermetic Tradition, and about to continue the Evola streak by beginning Revolt Against the Modern World. Before that was a text book on surrealism/dada, Making Tracks which is the Blondie book, and the Isten zine collection.
Very good pick! "Revolt against the Modern World" is understood to be Evola's core work on which his entire output is based. I actually read "Cavalcare la Tigre" before RatmW, which was pretty interesting as the latter is basically the foundation of Evola's contempt for modernism. I definitely recommend reading "The Metaphysics of War" directly after RoatmW, as the essays that are collected there are somewhat of an extention of the main work.
Coincidentally, reading "The Yoga of Power" at the moment and enjoying every page. Evola's eclectic approach to spiritualism is challenging but highly informative, as is always the case. This one may not be too interesting for those who are into his political thoughts, but comes recommended to readers who would like to explore the darker sides of Hinduism and the Left-Hand Path.
how many of the evola readers identify as fascist?
Quote from: david lloyd jones on August 24, 2016, 10:21:17 PM
how many of the evola readers identify as fascist?
Without sarcasm: probably about as many as there are Habermas readers identifying as Communist.
Reading
Dimitris Liantinis - Gemma book. I am at 1 / 3 of it. Philosophy. "Heavy" subjects but surprisingly easy reading without be bad way simple, exactly the opposite. Pleasure !
Writer as a person became very well known here, when many years ago he disappeared to go die his own way by his own terms. Although they knew where he has gone -on a mountain- , police couldn't find him or his body. He had told to a cousin of his where his family will find his remains but made him promise he will keep this secret for some years. Cousin kept his promise and spoke 7 years later. More info about the writer here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitris_Liantinis
Subjects of the book, copy-pasted from a forum online :
Quoteα. Margaret's Question
Deals with the myth of Faust and how one ought to explore questions about the existence of God.
β. v = d * H
Is about the importance of the discovery of the expansion of the universe by Edwin Hubble and about beauty in nature.
γ. Concerning Circe
Gives a novel interpretation of the encounter between Ulysses and Circe in Homer's Odyssey.
δ. Onan and Cain
Starting with the Biblical figures of Onan and Cain, he explores two contrasting world-views: the ancient Greek and the ancient Jewish and assesses their impact on Western civilisation. In parallel, he explores the complementary concepts of Eros and Death.
ε. He who slept with men
Explores the nature of Socratic tragedy.
ζ. Cyclopean
Provides an interpretation of the myth of the Cyclops from the Odyssey and peels away the layers to reveal a set of instructions for how one should live out their lives.
η. The Hellenic Greek
Attempts to assess critically the difference between the quality of the civilization of ancient Greece and the status of modern Greece in the world today.
θ. Δp Δq >= h
Discusses the meaning of Heizenberg's Uncertainty Principle and Schroedinger's Cat thought experiment in relation to what one can truly know.
ι. This is Missolonghi!
Is arguably one of the more poetic chapters. An investigation of the life of the pre-Socratic philosopher Empedocles leads to an analysis of the ancient Greek attitude towards death.
κ. A minor arbiter
Deals with Eros as the Art of Departing
λ. Nekyia
Revisits the descent of Ulysses into the underworld (Nekyia). The nekyias of Aeneias, Jesus, Dante and Freud are then laid out and described in some detail and their common features are identified and analysed.
μ. Helen of Sparta
Deals with the myth of Helen of Troy. This is then used as a basis to talk about beauty in life, reason and nature.
ν. God is dead
Deals with the crisis of western civilization.
ξ. The Ironists
Analyzes the quality of the irony of Socrates, Sophocles, Jesus, Dostoyevsky and C.P. Cavafy. Discusses the true nature of tragedy.
ο. Narcissus
A lyrical journey through the constellations of the night sky. A parallel journey from ignorance and fear to knowledge and delight.
π. Sonne uber Austerlitz
A final statement.
A lecture of his -the only with english subs i could find- with similar subject as in the book - "Philosophical Consideration Of Death" : https://youtu.be/KuglHhTBpks
Quote from: Theodore on August 27, 2016, 04:11:24 AM
More info about the writer here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitris_Liantinis
Interesting, I appreciate that introduction. His notion that ancient Greek culture was influenced by the idea of death is very appealing (regardless of how "true" it is). And the last quote from that Wikipedia article has a nice little antinatalist touch.
Thank for mentioning Dimitris Liantinis! This seems to be a philosopher I could be interested in.
Finished the Albert Fish book and I think it's good for what it is. Nothing new of course, but I particularly liked this paragraph:
"I am a man of passion. You don't know what that means unless you are my kind. At the orphanage they put me just before Garfield was assassinated, there were some older boys that caught a horse in a sloping field. They got the horse up against a fence down at the bottom of the field and tied him up. An old horse. They put kerosene on his tail and lit it and cut the rope. Away went that old horse, bursting through fences to get away from the fire. But the fire went with him. That horse, that's me. That's the man of passion. The fire chases you and catches you and then it's in your blood. And after that, it's the fire that has control and not the man. Blame the fire of passion for what Albert H. Fish has done."
Next is this one, it's been waiting on my shelves for some time now:
(http://www.deathmetal.org/wp-content/uploads/wolves_among_sheep_-_book-700x1026.jpg)
Looking forward to the Fight your own war - book. Ordered it last week and just received the download code for the accompanying tracks.
I live in the general area where Fish conducted his shenanigans. I keep meaning to try and visit the various locations. There simply must be some kind of Albert Fish Tour.
'And here is where he ate the monkey and the pee-wees'.
just picked up 'LA Noir' the facts behind the James Elroy books by a John Bunting- as an Elroy fan this background sounds just dandy
(http://www.tsunamiedizioni.com/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/Dani_Lilker___Me_57977b758df5e.jpg)
very nice
always lliked him, very entertaining....
Quote from: vomitgore on August 24, 2016, 07:50:15 PM
Quote from: Fluid Fetish on August 17, 2016, 04:49:00 AM
Recently finished The Hermetic Tradition, and about to continue the Evola streak by beginning Revolt Against the Modern World. Before that was a text book on surrealism/dada, Making Tracks which is the Blondie book, and the Isten zine collection.
Very good pick! "Revolt against the Modern World" is understood to be Evola's core work on which his entire output is based. I actually read "Cavalcare la Tigre" before RatmW, which was pretty interesting as the latter is basically the foundation of Evola's contempt for modernism. I definitely recommend reading "The Metaphysics of War" directly after RoatmW, as the essays that are collected there are somewhat of an extention of the main work.
Coincidentally, reading "The Yoga of Power" at the moment and enjoying every page. Evola's eclectic approach to spiritualism is challenging but highly informative, as is always the case. This one may not be too interesting for those who are into his political thoughts, but comes recommended to readers who would like to explore the darker sides of Hinduism and the Left-Hand Path.
I was actually planing on reading Ride the Tiger after this but I'll take your advice and go with Metaphysics instead and get to Ride later. Yoga of Power is in the pile as well, I'd definitely agree with you that his approach is challenging but highly rewarding, insightful, and well written therefore I'm interested in every facet of his work. Thanks for the information and recommendations.
Quote from: tiny_tove on August 31, 2016, 12:32:29 AM
(http://www.tsunamiedizioni.com/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/Dani_Lilker___Me_57977b758df5e.jpg)
very nice
always lliked him, very entertaining....
On a related note, have you ever read Kurt Brecht's(frontman of DRI) books?
Notes From The Nest, The 30-Day Diarrhea Diet Plan, See The Loud Feeling, and Whore Stories.
I've only read the first two that I can recall.
They are actually surprisingly good. As they were written around the time that DRI crossed over into mainstream metal popularity from underground hardcore/punk. And at the time Kurt was living in the bushes and trees of Golden Gate park in San Francisco.
I can vaguely recall running into him up around there when I was scoring weed or acid on hippie/skinhead hill or at the park where Haight ends.
It's also kind of illuminating as I always considered the lyrics of DRI not that great, and Kurt actually has a bit more depth than he lets show in his macho metal/hardcore persona.
I didn't know that and will definitely check into it (and suggest them to Tsunami ahah).
Consider that the when I discovered hardcore it was due to two tapes that included sod speak english or die, dri dealing with it, necros, nabat (italy's most famous OI! band), 4 skinss agnostic front, verbal abuse, posion idea, ecc.
so I have a soft spot for them....
DRI disappointed me with crossover and the following records, although their gigs were always impressive....
Yeah DRI and COC were two bands that really lost me when they transitioned over to mainstream metal.
But having been in bands that have toured myself and being a former promoter, I can easily see why a band which is offered the choice of playing a dirty squat with a $5 door and playing a large, clean, well furnished venue with an actual backstage and a $15 door, why some would choose the latter. Musical integrity gets old pretty fast when you are sleeping on floors and eating at soup kitchens.
On another note, I've always found the metalhead biography books kind of better than similar punk/hardcore books. If for no other reason than the metalheads were only ever there for the music. They are under no illusions that they are waging class warfare or changing things. (Black Metal notwithstanding).
The punks have this whole 'we built this perfect scene' thing that is just nauseating to listen to.
I'm actually in a couple books myself since I was part of the late 80's punk/hardcore scene in the Bay Area at Blacklist/Epicenter/Gilman st. I've went to great lengths to elucidate my ideology on the point that idealistic people who want to see change in the world would be better served volunteering at a homeless shelter or drug recovery program. As opposed to 'volunteering' for loud music as if punk rock is a cause.
However they have always managed to obfuscate what I said and make me sound like a drunk idiot.
But I've always butted heads with that whole MRR crew about their anti-drugs and alcohol stance. They are very open minded and positive until they realize you are high as fuck, then you are ruining 'the scene'.
It's also highly ironic that for all the polemics about race, class and gender, when you went into these DIY punk scenes it was 90% white guys watching bands that are 95% white guys. So after all that effort, not much different really than the metal scene.
But I am venting.
from above,
loud music is never a cause and second the call to involvement (whatever that means for you individually)
this is still true for the noise/pe 'scene'.
whatever you listen to or read, it is still only listening or reading, until you decide to act
re:myprior entry, I don't mean starting a band or 'noise' project
Quote from: calaverasgrande on September 02, 2016, 12:12:22 AM
But I've always butted heads with that whole MRR crew about their anti-drugs and alcohol stance. They are very open minded and positive until they realize you are high as fuck, then you are ruining 'the scene'.
I'm really curious what you're talking about here. Granted I was involved in Gilman & MRR much later than you, but I never met ANYONE else at MRR who didn't drink and/or use drugs, with the exception of one person in a 12-step program, and I heard a LOT of shit talked about straight edge and sobriety. Tim Yo certainly wasn't anti-drinking, or any of the old school folks.
as uk follower of post punk h/c, hated mar as joyless and pc.
liked forced exposure, chemical imbalance, your flesh etc.
Quote from: yosef666 on September 02, 2016, 09:58:22 PM
Quote from: calaverasgrande on September 02, 2016, 12:12:22 AM
But I've always butted heads with that whole MRR crew about their anti-drugs and alcohol stance. They are very open minded and positive until they realize you are high as fuck, then you are ruining 'the scene'.
I'm really curious what you're talking about here. Granted I was involved in Gilman & MRR much later than you, but I never met ANYONE else at MRR who didn't drink and/or use drugs, with the exception of one person in a 12-step program, and I heard a LOT of shit talked about straight edge and sobriety. Tim Yo certainly wasn't anti-drinking, or any of the old school folks.
The MRR/Gilman crew in the late 80's and early 90's was a lot more straight edge leaning. Though I do think only Martin Sprouse was explicitly SE. They certainly all were heavy Dischord fans at least.
It was also this kind of cliquishness between the kind of street punk/crusty side of things and the book nerd/having a job punks.
I've always kind of thought it was ironic that some of these folks worshipped music by glue huffing degenerates but wouldn't be caught dead in the same room with any actual glue huffing degenerates.
Clive Barker: The Scarlet Gospels
Pinhead is back. I don't know if Clive Barker has written any Hellraiser related novels or short stories since The Hellbound Heart but at least this is now one. Released already in 2015 but I didn't know about it before seeing it in a bookstore a month ago. I still have 1/4 of the novel to go but I have to say it is packed with action and plenty of gruesome details. What kind of put me off in the beginning was the mundane depiction of hell (they have bureaus and slums etc in hell) but luckily there is plenty of twisted imagination at work so all that is just a minor distraction.
Just started to read a book with all pieces of Sarah Kane. Normally I don't really like (to read) dramas and theatres (except Werner Schwab). But we'll see...
The first one is called Blasted, followed by Phaedra's Love, Cleansed, Crave and finally 4.48 Psychosis, which was completed shortly before she committed suicide.
Quote from: cr on September 22, 2016, 06:35:55 PM
Just started to read a book with all pieces of Sarah Kane. Normally I don't really like (to read) dramas and theatres (except Werner Schwab). But we'll see...
The first one is called Blasted, followed by Phaedra's Love, Cleansed, Crave and finally 4.48 Psychosis, which was completed shortly before she committed suicide.
Lmao I did Sarah Kane for my theater art credit college presentation just to troll. I had a slideshow of all the bloodiest shit I could find and most offensive clips ahahaha
Quote from: cr on September 22, 2016, 06:35:55 PM
Just started to read a book with all pieces of Sarah Kane. Normally I don't really like (to read) dramas and theatres (except Werner Schwab). But we'll see...
The first one is called Blasted, followed by Phaedra's Love, Cleansed, Crave and finally 4.48 Psychosis, which was completed shortly before she committed suicide.
obviously different people have different opinions but I think here plays in written form a generally quite good, especially Cleansed.
Quote from: ConcreteMascara on September 23, 2016, 05:12:52 PM
Quote from: cr on September 22, 2016, 06:35:55 PM
Just started to read a book with all pieces of Sarah Kane. Normally I don't really like (to read) dramas and theatres (except Werner Schwab). But we'll see...
The first one is called Blasted, followed by Phaedra's Love, Cleansed, Crave and finally 4.48 Psychosis, which was completed shortly before she committed suicide.
obviously different people have different opinions but I think here plays in written form a generally quite good, especially Cleansed.
That's right, Cleansed is good and I also liked Blasted. The rest I've still to read.
Though it's been many years now, I think I'm still 'infested' by the plays I had to read in school, so it seems they managed to inject a lifelong aversion. All those social dramas which wanted at least to change the world and give you a guilty conscience (if that's the right words)
I think that's also a reason why I'm such a big fan of something like 'Anti-Social Realism', so I must be thankful as well, hehe.
just purchased 'this way madness lies: the asylum and beyond' by mike jay pub by Thames and Hudson.
a lavishly illustrated history of insanity, it's treatment, history, etc with art by the insane held by the royal bethlem hospital in London.
accompanies an exhibition of the newly refurbished bethlem hospital archives.
E.M. Cioran: "The trouble with being born" - for the Xth time.
Eternal favourite. I open any page and find something I can profoundly relate to.
Quote from: david lloyd jones on September 27, 2016, 02:42:11 PM
just purchased 'this way madness lies: the asylum and beyond' by mike jay pub by Thames and Hudson.
a lavishly illustrated history of insanity, it's treatment, history, etc with art by the insane held by the royal bethlem hospital in London.
accompanies an exhibition of the newly refurbished bethlem hospital archives.
just an addition-been to the exhibition in the welcome collection in London.
this free exhibition is worth an hour of your time if in London
just got 'Italian horror cinema' baschieta and hunter EDS unit of Edinburgh press- title says it really and seems good for a film studies book.
also got 'grindhouse' EDS fisher and walker on Bloomsbury press which may be a bit more up its film studies Ares but readable.
"Consumer Guide" by Simon Morris - apparently this forum is home to actual writers rather than just imitation ones like myself. This book is a little bit of cut-up autobiography mixed with opinionated ranting on everything from mainstream rock, to underground music, to directors, authors, fast food, and even small towns and tourist attractions. Everything is so astute, even when I disagree, that I actually teared up on several of the occasions where I laughed out loud while reading alone. So yeah, obviously it's a somewhat nerdy book, of course, but describing things like "puncheable faces" and why movies by Wes Anderson ("he's the Sonic Youth of cinema"), books by Dave Eggers, and The Clash all are completely fucking annoying is both useful and necessary for your friends who need a little wake-up call from their "Dawn of the Dead" state as Morris puts it.
If you have ever enjoyed Sotos books such as Index or Parasite magazine, this is for you, just removed of the abject sexuality, but degrading all the same - this is just scathing criticism of stuff that is mostly really overrated. Fucking top-notch shit that I couldn't really decide was humor or something else.
Best quote: "Bob Marley's music makes me want to impose a death penalty for cannabis use."
^^any idea where that can be picked up? or is it sold out?
"DISCO'S OUT... MURDER'S IN!" (Feral House, 2015)
I swore I already talked anout this book here but I suppose not. Anyway, it's about California punk gangs of the 80's (Vice did a piece on it here (http://www.vice.com/read/unearthing-the-secret-history-of-las-deadliest-punk-rock-gang-666).) These were true gangs, groups of kids that murder and fight constantly. It covers FFF (Fight for Freedom) (http://nazipunk.8k.com/fff.html), Suicidals (groups of hispanic kids took after the Suicidal Tendencies many had already grown up with their brothers in gangs like Varrio Echo X Parque), the Lads, La Mirada Punks (LMD, which is the gang the author was in), Pig Children, BPO, etc. Some of these gangs would later form into other larger more known gangs like Public Enemy Number 1 (PEN1) white gang within the Cali Prison System. Rumor has it they got their name from "Rudimentary Peni." Definitely recommended for anyone interested in gangs and the punk subculture.
Here is a little list and a couple photos from that time: http://ambitiondeficitdisorder.tumblr.com/post/88117552220/suicidals-bpo-lads-came-across-this-article-on (http://ambitiondeficitdisorder.tumblr.com/post/88117552220/suicidals-bpo-lads-came-across-this-article-on)
cheers.
'doors of Valhalla' by Vincent ongkowidjojo-esoteric northern mystery subjects
the Thai occult-pub by timeless, both a pictorial and written enlightenment
"Music at the Extremes: Essays on Sounds Outside the Mainstream": A collection of "academic" writings that range from talking about the Laibach, Bad Brains and race within Punk, Finnish folk Metal and then the one that most stuck out is a treatise titled "Power Electronics and Conventionally Transgressive Assembly Work" by one Andrew Whelan (https://generalassemb.ly/instructors/andrew-whelan/10432) a "career coach for general assembly" (hence the title of his work). It only grabbed my attention because he quoted my interview with Mikko from the Institute Of Paraphilia Studies interview (who he continually refers back to as IPS). You can read the entirety of this particular piece at the Google Books preview HERE (https://books.google.com/books?id=B8DeCQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false). It's basically a thesaurus grab of everything we all already know and is blatantly obvious to anyone who spends a minimal time snooping.
(https://ga-core.s3.amazonaws.com/production/uploads/instructor/image/10432/thumb_AAEAAQAAAAAAAAeuAAAAJGFiNmY4MjMxLTU2OTEtNDk5OC1iZmYxLTNmMjZkZDIzZmY0MA.jpg)
"h-hey guys can i hang out?"
I saw that a while back on Google books somehow, and was a little disturbed that a lot of his opinions literally seemed to come from snooping, at least partially on this forum. I got the feeling also that he spent a lot of time trying to determine which projects were "serious," or not, and if so, what that means, a process in his context that I'd thoroughly classify as "clueless outsider journalism." I wouldn't be surprised if that book contributed to future articles on whomakesthenazis or whatever it's called. I think a lot of folks want to understand "why" these things exist without really approaching any of it. "Problematic," as they say.
He looks like a fucking nonce!
I just finished the Power Electronics book and Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie (it was pretty good but not as exciting as The First Law Trilogy) and I started Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling, I've never read any Harry Potter, but these detective novels are totally addictive. I read the first two earlier this summer and they were hella enjoyable.
The Great War for Civilisation by Robert Fisk
Quote from: GEWALTMONOPOL on December 05, 2016, 09:40:20 PM
He looks like a fucking nonce!
and a homo.
if it is cute, male and has a pulse...
he may even like football
The Dr. Andrew Whelan that authored those papers dissecting PE is an Aussie Sociology lecturer and actually looks like this: http://lha.uow.edu.au/hsi/contacts/UOW059282. (For better or worse, you decide!)
I thought this piece on the legality of certain artworks employed on Noise/PE album covers was interesting from my personal point of view. NZ similarly has very harsh censorship laws - http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2055&context=artspapers
Philip Best - Alien Existence (Infinityland Press)
It would fit into the reassuringly expensive art monograph section of a big bookshop, but the exact size and cover lamination of this weighty book reminded me of vintage 1970s editions of the children's favourite, the Guinness Book Of Records. Opening section 'Come Clean', an extended interview by Martin Bladh, has some autobiographical details and a generally candid, humorous and open tone in response. Yet Bladh's subtly probing and cleverly short questions seem to elicit mild evasions and perhaps somewhat disingenuous answers from Best on occasion.
Second section of text 'Kinsey Dying' is mostly based around a profoundly depressing collage of internet comments sections surrounding the 2009 disappearance and still unsolved death of Neveah Buchanan. Humanity at its worst.
Almost 200 pages of mostly full colour and well printed collages follow, divided into eight chapters. Very similar material to his previous 2010 book for Creation, American Campgrounds. Children, animals, nature, disasters, the increasingly weird and inappropriate artist's signature. He references Ballard as a major influence in the introduction and I can picture a Ballard story where he describes this sort of unwholesome scrapbook, maybe being found at an especially psychotic crime scene. H.R. Giger once created a work called "Ein Fressen für den Psychiater" (a field day for the psychiatrist) and I could certainly imagine this kind of troubling work becoming pathologised just as easily as it could be called art. Amidst the unsettling images sourced from who knows where there is one single photograph (in the section titled Sex Offender Boyfriend) which could be termed 'child erotica'. It is juxtaposed with a page of found text about killing tigers - title, Triumph For The Hunter. Very black humoured indeed.
Outro section of text contains some brief original and cold blooded fiction amidst extremely downbeat collaged and borrowed words - I believe more fiction is on the way next year.
Strange and unique volume, for a limited audience - you'll know if you want this. Production values very high and the publishers should be commended. Feel like I need to take a shower after touching it but that's because of the content.
thanks for the review.
still not entirely convinced this is not a very expensive scrapbook.
whilst I don't see Mr best as old guard having shot his load, not convinced of his current genius either.
still to
"So negative reactions don't bother me. The only exception to this I can recall was the (to my mind) sexist and misogynistic comments that were made when my wife Sarah joined Consumer Electronics. I couldn't believe it! I hated those comments and was glad those idiots had shown their true colours and no longer liked us."
Those negative reactions didn't have anything to do with her gender, she's just shit vocalist and that's it. Puce Mary can pull it off way better.
The comment was made in relation with non-existent sexism that was claimed by the concerned hubby. The fact that CE sucks doesn't mean all female PE does.
Started reading Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama yesterday. About half done now. It's a quick read, very good at giving a true visual of what's going on. A bit hokey in parts (namely the dialogues of the Rama Committee), but other than that it's quite intriguing.
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on December 11, 2016, 10:25:05 PM
Maybe P.M. cancels UK gigs cuz you guys are just that awful (along with your weather)?
not just awful but proud of it!
Quote from: david lloyd jones on December 14, 2016, 03:22:00 PM
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on December 11, 2016, 10:25:05 PM
Maybe P.M. cancels UK gigs cuz you guys are just that awful (along with your weather)?
not just awful but proud of it!
fucking Brits man.
they creep me out
I am reading:
Thirteen Girls by Mikita Brottman: First person fictionalised accounts of the aftermath of various murders. Enjoying it!!
Introducing Slavoj Zizek: does what it says on the tin. Difficult but very interesting.
Solipsist by Victoria Vega: Confessional poetry charting a girl's coming to terms with the psychosis and depression associated with dissociative identity disorder very good I like to spend a day with a poem which here is an absolute pleasure.
Fatty and Bingo Wings sound like a couple of butt fucked Vassar bitches. Lambada beats and coffee table books. What ever next in the downward trajectory of Consumer Electronics?
Quote from: GEWALTMONOPOL on December 31, 2016, 01:52:11 PM
What ever next in the downward trajectory of Consumer Electronics?
My money's on a concept album about Donald Trump's toxic masculinity.
The hallmark of a good one liner is me slapping my knees and I'll let you know I just did that. Well played, sir. I predict further this album to be laden with fat juicy latin beats. Like that co opted track.
As for Puce Mary and her UK adventures. She cancelled UFoI II at possibly the worst time for us but there were health reasons behind it. Just one of those things and we salvaged the situation. Her second cancellation was someone else's event and had nothing to do with us.
UFoI is firmly removed from the usual UK suspects with their typical slap dash mind set and we pride ourselves on that. Anyone with previous bad experience in the UK can rest assured that UFoI is different. PM is alright. She can come back any time she likes.
Kjell Askildsen's latest short story collection "Vennskapets pris".
Reality compressed in Norwegian.
Ingles breakdown here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjell_Askildsen
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjell_Askildsen)
Quote from: RyanWreck on December 02, 2016, 12:07:53 PM
"DISCO'S OUT... MURDER'S IN!" (Feral House, 2015)
I swore I already talked anout this book here but I suppose not. Anyway, it's about California punk gangs of the 80's (Vice did a piece on it here (http://www.vice.com/read/unearthing-the-secret-history-of-las-deadliest-punk-rock-gang-666).) These were true gangs, groups of kids that murder and fight constantly. It covers FFF (Fight for Freedom) (http://nazipunk.8k.com/fff.html), Suicidals (groups of hispanic kids took after the Suicidal Tendencies many had already grown up with their brothers in gangs like Varrio Echo X Parque), the Lads, La Mirada Punks (LMD, which is the gang the author was in), Pig Children, BPO, etc. Some of these gangs would later form into other larger more known gangs like Public Enemy Number 1 (PEN1) white gang within the Cali Prison System. Rumor has it they got their name from "Rudimentary Peni." Definitely recommended for anyone interested in gangs and the punk subculture.
Here is a little list and a couple photos from that time: http://ambitiondeficitdisorder.tumblr.com/post/88117552220/suicidals-bpo-lads-came-across-this-article-on (http://ambitiondeficitdisorder.tumblr.com/post/88117552220/suicidals-bpo-lads-came-across-this-article-on)
Just finished it- really good read.
Quote from: Scat-O-Logy on December 11, 2016, 02:10:55 PM
Those negative reactions didn't have anything to do with her gender, she's just shit vocalist and that's it. Puce Mary can pull it off way better.
I, for one, love the way you pass your opinions as fact and not opinion.
' a fiery and furious people',-a history of violence in Britain, by some Prof or other, pub by penguin.
I have always felt that us Brits are rough and more violence prone than 'proper history' allows.
I believe that our belligerence, captured and focussed allowed us to get our empire.
our loss of empire and current enthralment to xfactor shite(etc) is a sign of our degeneracy and, along with Europe as a whole leads to death, if followed.
come on,fuckers, read books and comment, not e shit comment.
I can hardly think it has been a week in worldwide terms that nobody has found an interesting book.
reading-
Jonathon Rigby 'euro gothic', a companion sequel to 'English gothic'.
an overview of European horror film from silent to now.
'England's hidden reverse' revised reprint of original.
about 25% bigger and with more picks (some originally b&w now colour)
remains an absorbing read.
80 page course booklet on immediate life support that forms the basis of the course I have to attend tomorrow-the sense of responsibility attached to this knowledge is sobering (no pun....)
following on from 'English gothic', Jonathan Rigby attends to the euro gothic tradition in film with 'euro gothic'
book is as in depth as English gothic and way better than the dull title.
covers early silent, post war high gothic, the increasing explicit and wired late 60's 70's, then onto itallo horror 80's style (early).
most horror fans with a sense of history would enjoy this.
Joan Didion Where I Was From, 2003
Sold as an autobiographical memoir, it's more like an essay collection based on the myths and realities of California. As a writer she is as synonymous with California as her most well-known protege Bret Easton Ellis (whose work was so heavily influenced by Didion it becomes almost plagiarism - read any of his work after her classic novel Play It As It Lays to see where he got his whole schtick). Her writing is known for its extreme anxiety, disquieting aspects and the generally downbeat, so her version of California includes apocalyptic and desperate crossings by settlers in the 1800s including the cannibalistic Donner Party, and an almost forgotten 1990s scandal involving a teenage rape gang in the dystopian white aerospace workers' LA suburb Lakewood. It ends with an eerie exchange with her adopted daughter which prefigures the horrific tales of her later memoirs The Year Of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights.
I've read and loved almost everything she's ever published. She's fragile and self-loathing yet was also immensely privileged and certainly a part of a literary elite - no outsider chic, just the full misery of the human condition in high style prose.
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on February 20, 2017, 08:03:54 PM
Joan Didion Where I Was From, 2003
Sold as an autobiographical memoir, it's more like an essay collection based on the myths and realities of California. As a writer she is as synonymous with California as her most well-known protege Bret Easton Ellis (whose work was so heavily influenced by Didion it becomes almost plagiarism - read any of his work after her classic novel Play It As It Lays to see where he got his whole schtick). Her writing is known for its extreme anxiety, disquieting aspects and the generally downbeat, so her version of California includes apocalyptic and desperate crossings by settlers in the 1800s including the cannibalistic Donner Party, and an almost forgotten 1990s scandal involving a teenage rape gang in the dystopian white aerospace workers' LA suburb Lakewood. It ends with an eerie exchange with her adopted daughter which prefigures the horrific tales of her later memoirs The Year Of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights.
I've read and loved almost everything she's ever published. She's fragile and self-loathing yet was also immensely privileged and certainly a part of a literary elite - no outsider chic, just the full misery of the human condition in high style prose.
sorry to drag back to the obvious, but jd shares some characteristics with Ps.your response similar to Ps extremities-from my pov.
Just started to read Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground. Already like the first paragraph.
More than 20 years ago I read Crime and Punishment within four days, after I crashed with my motorbike and therefore had to stay in bed for quite some time. Since then, it's one of my favourite books ever. Never read it again though.
Bunker (ed.) Blood Sacrifices : recommended if you want to read about the ritualised violence, cults, drugs and war.
(https://images.booklooker.de/cover/vlb_isbn/97835/18/42/0072.jpg)
2.000 pages to help me through spring.
Among the latest books were "Diary Of A Madman", the story of Brad "Scarface" Jordan. It was recommended in the HipHop thread here.
Was a good read for a cheap price. Was not that HARD as i did expect it from the description given in the thread but was still very good
entertainment.
Binging on Thomas Bernhard. Strangely addicting. Read Concrete, Woodcutters (my favorite), Wittgenstein's Nephew, now time for Correction!
Quote from: cr on March 12, 2017, 03:43:03 PM
(https://images.booklooker.de/cover/vlb_isbn/97835/18/42/0072.jpg)
2.000 pages to help me through spring.
This will be a pretty disturbing spring! Personally, I have only read "Die Lehre des Zerfalls" and liked it at the time. Still kind of uncertain about which further works of his I could read.
Anything you can get your hands on from Cioran is worth it. Admittedly, some of his books are more interesting than others. But he's got a writing style like no other. What you've read, (in English "A Short History of Decay", although I admit I prefer "Doctrine of Decay") is one of his better books, I think. Read it and heed it. Try "On the Heights of Despair" for his earlier work and "The Trouble of Being Born" for his more "poetic", aphorismic style.
That's true, everything by Cioran is worth it.
I'm just reading the last chapter from the aforementioned book - "Der zersplitterte Fluch". I think these were one of his last writings (ca. 1987), all in aphorismic form. There is not a single page with a quote which isn't worth remembering. Eternal truths.
working through 'kiddiepunk' anthology
the mix of illustration and words works ok
most of the picks work well. not artlessly odd like 'haunted air' or a search on internet with weird and old in the parameters,
but engaging you in their 'world'
words wise, still evaluating, but Sotos disappoints, cooper is ok and Moore and Bauman as unknowns seem best.
Quote from: theotherjohn on December 11, 2016, 03:26:52 PM
Either way, she's definitely doing far better things for women in noise than what William's female partner added to their extremely short lived Whitehouse line up - sheesh, what an embarrassment that was! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40GwOGnJiSk
Never saw this. Thanks!
anyone get reader's block, where you can't read as usual?
Quote from: david lloyd jones on April 05, 2017, 04:17:54 PM
anyone get reader's block, where you can't read as usual?
Only after 10 pints, trying to read the Wetherspoons menu.
Quote from: AXNAAR on April 05, 2017, 06:40:18 PM
Quote from: david lloyd jones on April 05, 2017, 04:17:54 PM
anyone get reader's block, where you can't read as usual?
Only after 10 pints, trying to read the Wetherspoons menu.
frankly, if you are in a Weatherspoon's pub, you deserve it.
hope your legs grow tracksuit bottoms and your top a adinikefootie blend.
Quote from: cr on March 19, 2017, 08:09:59 PM
That's true, everything by Cioran is worth it.
I'm just reading the last chapter from the aforementioned book - "Der zersplitterte Fluch". I think these were one of his last writings (ca. 1987), all in aphorismic form. There is not a single page with a quote which isn't worth remembering. Eternal truths.
Agreed. My favorite is "Tears and Saints". Cioran developing a Nietzschean genealogy of the uses and abuses of mysticism, the body of the saint, "will to power", etc . . .
The young Cioran at his best.
started "The Monkey Wrench Gang" by Edward Abbey last week. Haven't made too much progress yet unfortunately, but enjoying it quite a bit so far. listening to a lot of crust and pv lately, so it's a nice fit for my current mental headspace. it also takes place in an area I just visited last summer on a cross country road trip, so it's fun to know and remember what the places described in the book actually look like.
the little sister by Raymond chandler, which will hopefully get me out of readers' block.
Siddartha Kara, "Sex Trafficking: Inside The Business of Modern Slavery," (Columbia University Press, 2009)
Really compelling but slow read; this book basically attempts to analyze the business of human trafficking (not just sex slaves, either) from an economic as well as social perspective - nice to get a holistic perspective on the issue without total reliance on tragic victim testimonials, etc. More so, the journalistic approach is equally as rigorous as the more essay-like, data-driven sections; the guy actually went around to all these places risking his own life to help or at least talk to some of these people, mostly women. Great read for anyone interested in humanitarian or abjectly bleak subject matter.
Just reading randomly through this nice book:
(http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1487116642l/34308687.jpg)
Looking forward to get the 'ANSWER Me!: All Four Issues' brick.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8BY0TVX0AAgSNY.jpg)
I'm also through the first 60 or so pages of New Juche's Mountainhead, already mentioned in the 'New Juche Whores Of Leith' thread.
This is highly recommended. Get it! Easily available through Amazon.
(https://nearst-uploads.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/47c47095fbfd00cc015f87be84257879f19373fe77/o.jpg)
Finally at the end of this epic, fantastic two volume book. Words fail. Can't recommend it enough. Essential for anyone w/ an interest in Nazism and WW2.
I've learned more from this book than countless others from the like of heavyweights such as Richard J Evans (who quotes him regularly) - and anything I was taught during my school years.
Klemperer died in 1960 (half-Jewish professor of Romance Languages till '33 in a mixed marriage) and if memory serves this was published first in the very late 90's.
still fighting readers block, but glad readers around the world are getting on with it,
would hope the answer me whole reissues en block has extras as will be expensive just to get the rape issue
art sex music- autobiog of cosey fanni tutti, out in p/b from faber and faber.
covers childhood, coum, tg, c&c stripping atc in just under 500pages.
Quote from: david lloyd jones on April 24, 2017, 06:29:51 PM
art sex music- autobiog of cosey fanni tutti, out in p/b from faber and faber.
covers childhood, coum, tg, c&c stripping atc in just under 500pages.
Came here to post just this. Just under 2/3rds of the way through. Gen gets a pretty gnarly exposing throughout which will, hopefully, bring some new perspectives on his sacred cow status.
Quote from: andy vomit on June 05, 2013, 02:16:59 AM
and i downloaded the koran, that should be an interesting read
not yet heard of an alvomiti al americani blowing stuff up since this first posted in 2013, so guess the koran not poison in and of itself.
I'm reading a poorly written fictionalised account of the John Wayne Gacy murders, I'm enjoying it but it isn't worth mentioning it's name or who it's written by or indeed ghost written by I'm just joining in.
Quote from: david lloyd jones on April 24, 2017, 06:29:51 PM
art sex music- autobiog of cosey fanni tutti, out in p/b from faber and faber.
covers childhood, coum, tg, c&c stripping atc in just under 500pages.
Really want to read this - amazon.ca doesn't get it in until May 23rd.
Just finished Japanoise, not bad. A little dry. But fuck it, it's a PHD paper. It was pretty damn cool.
It's available now on Amazon US, and cheap, may have to snatch one tonight...limited edition is currently unavailable. Bummer, as I assume reg'lar edition doesn't have the "explicit images." Ah well, anything talking about "maggoty tampons" is worth my money.
Also, nice to see that what anyone might assume about P-Orridge confirmed. Guess some might say the weird feminization things stems from some kind of guilt...
Quote from: Duncan on April 25, 2017, 02:37:34 PM
Quote from: david lloyd jones on April 24, 2017, 06:29:51 PM
art sex music- autobiog of cosey fanni tutti, out in p/b from faber and faber.
covers childhood, coum, tg, c&c stripping atc in just under 500pages.
Came here to post just this. Just under 2/3rds of the way through. Gen gets a pretty gnarly exposing throughout which will, hopefully, bring some new perspectives on his sacred cow status.
Found a signed copy at one of the shops in Tate London. Haven't started reading yet. Currently reading this :
Drone Theory (by Grégoire Chamayou)
Quote from: Sigil23 on May 03, 2017, 11:31:04 AM
Quote from: Duncan on April 25, 2017, 02:37:34 PM
Quote from: david lloyd jones on April 24, 2017, 06:29:51 PM
art sex music- autobiog of cosey fanni tutti, out in p/b from faber and faber.
covers childhood, coum, tg, c&c stripping atc in just under 500pages.
Came here to post just this. Just under 2/3rds of the way through. Gen gets a pretty gnarly exposing throughout which will, hopefully, bring some new perspectives on his sacred cow status.
Found a signed copy at one of the shops in Tate London. Haven't started reading yet. Currently reading this :
Drone Theory (by Grégoire Chamayou)
signed copies of books always add a magical extra. lucky you to get this
Just finished BLOOD IN, BLOOD OUT - The Violent Empire of the Aryan Brotherhood by John Lee Brook (Headpress)
Book one of the "Blood Trilogy". Interesting read.
I think I will continue immediately with book two - BLOOD+DEATH - The Secret History of Santa Muerte and the Mexican Drug Cartels
cosey's autobiography, amongst a whole lot more (and the best of the book) ,
revenge, dish, cold.
Quote from: david lloyd jones on May 03, 2017, 02:56:30 PM
Quote from: Sigil23 on May 03, 2017, 11:31:04 AM
Quote from: Duncan on April 25, 2017, 02:37:34 PM
Quote from: david lloyd jones on April 24, 2017, 06:29:51 PM
art sex music- autobiog of cosey fanni tutti, out in p/b from faber and faber.
covers childhood, coum, tg, c&c stripping atc in just under 500pages.
Came here to post just this. Just under 2/3rds of the way through. Gen gets a pretty gnarly exposing throughout which will, hopefully, bring some new perspectives on his sacred cow status.
Found a signed copy at one of the shops in Tate London. Haven't started reading yet. Currently reading this :
Drone Theory (by Grégoire Chamayou)
signed copies of books always add a magical extra. lucky you to get this
Personally i don't give a fuck. After reading it will sit in my bookshelves and from the people who visit me every now and then there's no-one who gives a fuck either because they either don't know Cosey or have no interest. It was on top of the stack and then i'm not gonna look if the rest is unsigned. If i ever get to sell it it may make a slight extra, if there are still folks around then with an interest in what Cosey had to say.
Quote from: theotherjohn on May 04, 2017, 10:47:04 AM
I'll happily swap you my unsigned copy for your signed copy if you really don't give a fuck!
Got a mental preview of this comment the moment i clicked the "post" button. ;-)
Quote from: Peterson on May 03, 2017, 03:30:57 AM
Bummer, as I assume reg'lar edition doesn't have the "explicit images."
Wasn't aware this was the different between the editions. Damn. Ordered standard the other day.
Quote from: absurdexposition on May 04, 2017, 10:25:17 PM
Quote from: Peterson on May 03, 2017, 03:30:57 AM
Bummer, as I assume reg'lar edition doesn't have the "explicit images."
Wasn't aware this was the different between the editions. Damn. Ordered standard the other day.
Ehh, don't take my word for it, I only said that 'cause standard ed. didn't have the warning. You never know...
My copy is signed too and I'm probs gonna flow it onto whoever wants to read it next and never read it again myself.
(https://img.ibs.it/images/9788862925792_0_0_300_80.jpg)
Good, technical book about my pre-roman ancestors (these guys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apuani). Sadly I don't think it will ever be translated to english.
satanic panic.pop cultural paranoia in the 1980's.
eds kier la janisse &paul corupe. publ by fab press
Quote from: Peterson on May 04, 2017, 10:53:25 PM
Quote from: absurdexposition on May 04, 2017, 10:25:17 PM
Quote from: Peterson on May 03, 2017, 03:30:57 AM
Bummer, as I assume reg'lar edition doesn't have the "explicit images."
Wasn't aware this was the different between the editions. Damn. Ordered standard the other day.
Ehh, don't take my word for it, I only said that 'cause standard ed. didn't have the warning. You never know...
Received in the mail today. Much bigger than anticipated. Some nice pics.
According to publisher's site there is an "exclusive photographic print" that comes with the limited edition and that appears to be the only thing the regular doesn't have:
"exclusive photographic print, signed and numbered in red envelope, inserted into front of book loose, book inserted into slipcase, wrapped in brown paper, labelled and hand numbered to match inside."
Assuming it is the last photo seen here: https://www.faber.co.uk/shop/signed-limited-editions/9780571328536-art-sex-music.html as the 2nd last one is in the regular edition book.
for me, whatever the limited ed extras, they din't interest at all compared to the story within, but as mentioned before, a signed book is magical.
Ok, so I got finished reading the Tutti book and really enjoyed it. A massive, massive percentage of the content is essentially her side of all the COUM/TG/Personal drama between her and Gen and shines some juicy, gossipy light on the scenes behind the gig cancellations, failed reunions and online bitching etc. Yes, yes we all know that there are 2 or more sides to every story BUT I found it quite easy to side with her accounts of most things having watched P-Orridge fuck about in the lime light for so many years and generally behave like a professional bullshitter. In any case I wasn't expecting such a damning write up of him and it seems like anyone who reads it will have to reconfigure their understanding and impression of what TG is/was in some way.
What do those of us here to have read it think? Do we think there will be some response from Gen? I heard from somebody that the recent COUM retrospective to have taken place in Hull was timed - in some part at least - to preempt the book release. Guess we'll never see those guys work together again now! ha!
I think we ail see them work together again ... if the money is right.
hmmm, maybe!
Quote from: Duncan on May 10, 2017, 12:13:30 AM
Ok, so I got finished reading the Tutti book and really enjoyed it. A massive, massive percentage of the content is essentially her side of all the COUM/TG/Personal drama between her and Gen and shines some juicy, gossipy light on the scenes behind the gig cancellations, failed reunions and online bitching etc. Yes, yes we all know that there are 2 or more sides to every story BUT I found it quite easy to side with her accounts of most things having watched P-Orridge fuck about in the lime light for so many years and generally behave like a professional bullshitter. In any case I wasn't expecting such a damning write up of him and it seems like anyone who reads it will have to reconfigure their understanding and impression of what TG is/was in some way.
What do those of us here to have read it think? Do we think there will be some response from Gen? I heard from somebody that the recent COUM retrospective to have taken place in Hull was timed - in some part at least - to preempt the book release. Guess we'll never see those guys work together again now! ha!
p-orridge gets the treatment.
revenge, dish, cold.
had several sources of feedback at his behaviour over the years, from different contexts, all negative.
adding these to the account in the book, along with my work experiences as a psychiatric nurse, cosey's account is compelling.
the tg legacy, or whatever, doesn't necessarily change, just the actors' contributions.
same for coum.
another view is to accept 'visionary/great' people are not necessarily nice people, but make things happen (which is likely p-orridge's 'genius')seems no coincidence that g-po interested in warhol/factory.
a history of topy would add another layer to this debate re gp-o. a fractured contentious era.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ByYQDCbCcAIRb9K.jpg)
Discovering Scarfolk!!! SOOOOO good!!!
https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Scarfolk-Booby-Brown/dp/0091958482
(https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Scarfolk-Booby-Brown/dp/0091958482)
the shadow of the torturer-gene wolfe
Quote from: dimchab on May 10, 2017, 08:39:53 PM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ByYQDCbCcAIRb9K.jpg)
Discovering Scarfolk!!! SOOOOO good!!!
https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Scarfolk-Booby-Brown/dp/0091958482
(https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Scarfolk-Booby-Brown/dp/0091958482)
yes it is good. seek the website for weekly updated.
'beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics' by rob baker.
essay length bios of various london characters-queens, queers, spivs, spies, overindulgent rockers, criminals, hippies etc.
not major history, but entertaining nevertheless.
after a mention in f&v interview with scatmother, have dug out 'hogg' by samuel r delaney.
this deeply perverse novel is absent from the writers bibliography in his currently available books-sci fi essentially.
delaney was black and a son of an upper class family
published in the 1990's, it is an opus of filth
lazy comparison is sotos crossed with selby jr and i like lazy comparisons cos i am not a reviewer.
Quote from: neolithic cravings on May 10, 2017, 08:53:58 PM
the shadow of the torturer-gene wolfe
Loved this series. Read read.
I'm reading Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan. I'm waiting on new books from Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss and this is an easy little read. I'm reluctant to take on too many fantasy series at the same time but this an easy little read and apparently he's already written the entire series of before publishing any of them.
I also read The Woman In Cabin 10 which is an easy Girl on the Train style book but I really enjoyed it. I like these easy thrillers for summer where I can sit on a deck, crush a few beers and read something not too heavy.
Starting on the Cosy book tomorrow when I finish the Age of Myth.
From the selection of poetry I'm reading at the moment (only reading poetry at the moment and a little non fiction) I am particularly enjoying Oscar Wilde, Carol Rumens, Frances Driscoll, Charles Bukowski and Benjamin Decasseres.
peterson's re edited/rewritten etc mags now called 'mouth'.
yes, sotos raises his head, but this is more than sotos worship, whilst mining similar areas.
as is often so, younger people covering similar ground, do so for their own reasons, not for plagiarism.
granted some photos would make for juicier reading, but the mags themselves make for heavy enjoyment.
massively superior to the juvenilia of wonderland media's initial forays into print.
Heh, thanks David. An ignoble effort that's slowly improving...
The Lost Weekend, Charles Jackson (1944)
Only partly into the early portions of this book, but worth noting after I tried to watch the Billy Wilder film version to no avail - too bland and dulled by the standards of it's time (removes references to homosexuality) and by the excesses of today in comparison. So far, though, the book is a lot bleaker, sleazier, and true-to-life regarding brutal levels of alcoholism, one element the movie did not use is that the main character smashes his face on a staircase railing early on in the book, making him pretty badly (if temporarily) disfigured for the duration. With that, you take a rather different journey via the book rather than the film. Has an impressionistic quality that's very appropriate for themes of addiction and overall it puts shit like Bukowski or Kerouac to shame very easily.
Blueprints for Counter Education.
More of an art object, than a book, produced at the height of hippy counter-culture and student movement.It includes three "charts" to be used as a visual guide. All of the references on these "charts", can be filtered through the thoughts of Herbert Marcuse and Marshall McLuhan.An artefact of the movement that would become increasingly intolerant of any free-speech other than their own.
just bought what may be the first bio post brady's death.
' ian brady: the untold story of the moors murders' by Dr Alan Keighley on robson press.
cc
this is the insight of a lecturer in religion who met, wrote to, and ? befriended brady.
EJAKULAATIO and SLAVES III zines.
Great entertainment and education from first to last page.
Francis Parker Yockey - Selected essays
Good revolutionary literature even if you choose to ignore the pitfalls of erotomania.
Over the last three weekends:
(http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347884991l/832114.jpg)
L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ
issue 185of 'the darkside' mag ofhorror and the fantastic.
been a more enjoyable issue than last one, with interviews re-stephen thrower's fulci book reissue, asia argento intv,godfrey ho chop socky insanity amongst other things.
Print out of a link that someone enough was kind enough to leave on here, to a largish document of an essay about Robert Lax
Which I am treating as my poem for the day!!
The six book hentai/guro manga seriese La Blue Girl by Toshio Maeda.
I will NEVER read this nonsense again,,, Just kidding I definitely will.
I read a bunch of books on my vacation:
The Man in the High Castle (really great, enjoyable read)
The Noise of Time (novel about anxious Shotakovich and his relationship with the Soviet union. Was really enjoyable altgough really short)
Art Sex Music (very much enjoyed but okay we get it. Gen is a piece of shit)
American Gods: I'm about 600 pages in. Living it.
Quote from: holy ghost on August 01, 2017, 03:51:44 PM
The Noise of Time (novel about anxious Shotakovich and his relationship with the Soviet union. Was really enjoyable altgough really short)
thanks for the reminder!
Quote from: theotherjohn on August 09, 2017, 10:51:49 AM
somehow I imagine the hunt will have been more worthwhile than the prize, but nevertheless I'm hoping it lives up to the hype. Shall post my thoughts on it soon.
It was for me...
Quote from: theotherjohn on August 09, 2017, 10:51:49 AM
Finally managed to track down a copy of David Britton's Lord Horror (http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/lhorror.html) for a reasonable price after seeking it out for years - somehow I imagine the hunt will have been more worthwhile than the prize, but nevertheless I'm hoping it lives up to the hype. Shall post my thoughts on it soon.
i preferred the comics to the book
The hunt was more fun- a slight sense of anticlimax on reading the book. Like David I find that the comics are more fun.
Pierre Guyotat - Eden eden eden
One of those books which seem cool when you hear of it but once you get it you really cant get into it. Its a lot of sex, theres lots of murder but that is it, basically. There are no characters, there is no real place, no story, nothing with which you could make any sort of emotional connection to the things happening in the book. As such, I find myself struggling to go through it. For me it ends up being 'He puts penis in the boys butt and grabs the boys arms and then he spurts jissom (the translation knows only one word for sperm, jissom)' and so forth. Also, the translator uses only single word for single thing, like I mentioned in the parenthesis, making it even more of a bore to read. I am not completely sidelining him as an author but when I get around to it, I think I'll read some of his later material.
Hubert Selby - Last Exit To Brooklyn
On other hand, this is the kind of book I find very hard to put down. Extremely well written stories of violence, sex, degeneration. Life in brooklyn at the outskirts of society and all that entails with it. Pages packed with every sort of loser you can imagine and their dismal lives that revolve around drugs, sex and violence. His writing technique is fucking excellent and makes it a joy to read.
Jean Genet - Thieve's Journal
I think I need to get the Madonna of Flowers because this one feels much too meandering to my tastes. Lots of descriptions of criminal in Genets worshipping matter but then nothing much happens. Genet wanders around the europe, thieving and begging yet despite that, there isn't much anything interesting happening in his life. Lot's of flowery descriptions of things but those do little to help. I had much higher hopes for this work. I still admire his philosophy and his approach to life in its complete blasphemy. I just wish that he would done better job at evoking it in this writing of his.
Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian
Book that I will probably re-read until I die. Nearly perfect novel. There isn't much to say that hasn't been said about it yet. Anyone into reading fiction should read this one.
Quote from: F_c_O on August 14, 2017, 07:28:42 PM
Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian
Book that I will probably re-read until I die. Nearly perfect novel. There isn't much to say that hasn't been said about it yet. Anyone into reading fiction should read this one.
Been meaning to get more into McCarthy for years but never seem to find his books in the used shops (other than The Road).
"The Demon" by Hubert Selby Jr is very good from what little I remember. As is "The Room" (very violent). I use to have a very early, beat-up paperback of "The Demon". I wish I had kept it.
I'm currently reading Barker's "The Hellbound Heart".
Quote from: absurdexposition on August 14, 2017, 07:39:09 PM
Quote from: F_c_O on August 14, 2017, 07:28:42 PM
Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian
Book that I will probably re-read until I die. Nearly perfect novel. There isn't much to say that hasn't been said about it yet. Anyone into reading fiction should read this one.
Been meaning to get more into McCarthy for years but never seem to find his books in the used shops (other than The Road).
Personally looking to read Outer Dark by him next. Saddly, its one of his less popular books so for hardcover you have to give your arm, leg and sign a 30 year slave contract. Sigh.
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on August 15, 2017, 04:54:39 AM
"The Demon" by Hubert Selby Jr is very good from what little I remember. As is "The Room" (very violent). I use to have a very early, beat-up paperback of "The Demon". I wish I had kept it.
I'm currently reading Barker's "The Hellbound Heart".
I am definetly going to read more selby in future. Currently my to buy list has other books on it but The Demon and The Room are on must read list.
Quote from: F_c_O on August 15, 2017, 04:22:30 PM
Quote from: absurdexposition on August 14, 2017, 07:39:09 PM
Quote from: F_c_O on August 14, 2017, 07:28:42 PM
Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian
Book that I will probably re-read until I die. Nearly perfect novel. There isn't much to say that hasn't been said about it yet. Anyone into reading fiction should read this one.
Been meaning to get more into McCarthy for years but never seem to find his books in the used shops (other than The Road).
Personally looking to read Outer Dark by him next. Saddly, its one of his less popular books so for hardcover you have to give your arm, leg and sign a 30 year slave contract. Sigh.
Incidentally I saw that one (in paperback) while on tour, but didn't pick it up.
Thoughts on Selby. Sorry about the formatting, cut and pasted from a pdf of my o/p book Consumer Guide.
LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN (1964) – episodic and picaresque
horror stories of interlinked doomed NYC
characters with a style influenced by Miller and
Joyce which finds its own new and unique voice.
Everyone remembers the horrors of party girl
Tralala's chapter but Harry the uptight union man
and his secret life is the devastating tour de
force for me.
THE ROOM (1971) – extremely bleak and harrowing
novel about a man with few redeeming features
railing against the injustice of being locked in
a police cell, and when you realise how unpleasant
a person the narrator is after spending some time
in his head it becomes a book that addresses the
human condition and the nature of sin or evil.
Amazing piece of work but not something you'd want
to revisit often.
THE DEMON (1976) – a tale of sex addiction which
really didn't do much for me and included some
uncharacteristic nods towards populist and mainstream
writing. Maybe I'll try it again sometime
but for now I'd say this is the only one worth
avoiding.
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (1978) – back on track with a
magnificently written and I think for the first time
explicitly Christian novel documenting human
frailty when it comes to addiction to opiates. The
lost love is almost unbearably poignant. Marion's
turning tricks now? Oh God no. Great subplot with
the hospitalisation of the mum who's too fond of
mother's little helpers, a brilliant and accurate
evocation of developing psychosis, and a clear and
brutal view of the abuses of which institutional
psychiatry is capable.
THE WILLOW TREE (1998) – this is my favourite
Selby novel and one which seems to have been
ignored most unjustly. A tale of extremely raw
human suffering, with an old Holocaust survivor
trying to look after some troubled street kids
and reliving his own loss and pain, and wondering
how we survive the pain of this world. This is
very much rooted in Christian ideals. I'm not a
Christian myself but appreciate the great art that
the religion has inspired, from El Greco's paintings
to T.S. Eliot's poetry. I don't think I've
ever wept harder at anything else I've read. Very
highly recommended. And a very kind book.
WAITING PERIOD (2002) – and he ended his career
with a completely unexpected and uncharacteristic
comic novel of dark mischief and malevolence which
was like a cross between Muriel Spark's Memento
Mori and American Psycho. Extremely amusing book
and a thoroughly bizarre thing for him to suddenly
come out with. What a writer. What an oeuvre.
Tend to read non-fiction pretty much most of the time. Just finished "A Line In The Sand" by James Barr which basically reiterates, with a lot more detail from declassified documents, how the french and english played underhand games against each other, constantly seeking revenge and in the process completely fucked up the middle east
kathy acker, 'blood and guts in high school' now reissued as a penguin modern classic.
just bought .
read on original publication, will see if holds up.
F&V spring 2017 zine, nice extensive interviews with Caligula031, Sick Seed, Scatmother, etc
Quote from: absurdexposition on September 01, 2017, 09:35:35 PM
F&V spring 2017 zine, nice extensive interviews with Caligula031, Sick Seed, Scatmother, etc
Where did you get this and where can I get this?
For the record, I've been reading a lot of Ann Rule lately. I can't really defend this choice especially as I used to rail against people who read for escapist reasons and now, well, it looks I'm doing the same. If literature were a meal, Ann Rule is a bag of Gummi bears. But if you want to know why Dr. Debi Green burned her house down in Prairie Village, Kansas, killing two of her kids in the process, I guess I'm your man.
I recently finished reading Peter Vronsky's "Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters" and that was terrific. A grisly, grim, no holds barred dive into the minds of some of the great killers of the modern age. Some known, some lesser known.
I also recommend "The Other Hollywood" by Legs McNeil. A great, sleazy ride though the porn business.
Quote from: slugbait on September 15, 2017, 03:46:12 PM
Quote from: absurdexposition on September 01, 2017, 09:35:35 PM
F&V spring 2017 zine, nice extensive interviews with Caligula031, Sick Seed, Scatmother, etc
Where did you get this and where can I get this?
It was sent out for free with orders from F&V and other distributors.
Started to read Fridtjof Nansen's "Farthest North". This one's waiting on my shelves for some years, but I think now the time is right.
The last weeks I was mostly reading through Bardo Methodology #1 & 2 and The Sinister Flame IV & V zines. Absolutely great and in-depth inteviews and articles. Keeping my mind occupied for a while...
'the thai occult-sak yant' publ timeless france.
count myself fortunate to have this as bulk of the ptinting pulped over copyright issue.
focusses on thai magical tatooing with theory, history, interviews and pictures in good proportion.
the second book on thai occult in a series, apparently.
re reading 'reel wild cinema' a reprint of an australian film fanzine from thegolden age of video.
I just finished The Girls by Emma Cline, it's a fictionalized reenactment of the Manson Family murders but from the perspective of a 14 year old girl hanging around the ranch and then her later 60 year old self. I don't know if I loved it, but it was an easy fast read and it was pretty interesting.
I am reading the Nietzsche Reader,
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Very comfy book, enjoying it a lot
Quote from: theotherjohn on October 28, 2017, 09:55:05 AM
Just ordered a copy of this book which has recently been reprinted by Spurl Editions (http://spurleditions.com/):
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51fQsKBz5QL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Anyone who's into sadism, fetishism, travel, cannibalism, zombies, alcoholism, insane asylums, the surreal or the esoteric needs to look into this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Seabrook
When I first saw the bondage hood photos that Man Ray's assistant Jacques-André Boiffard chose for Bataille's Documents magazine in 1930, it totally scorched my mind - up there with seeing Pierre Molinier's work for the first time. It's a pity that the still-untranslated Michel Leiris companion essay on Seabrook's mask fetishism wasn't included with this book.
Are there any books out there compiling all the most scandalous surrealist photography of this time? L'Amour Fou has a few select things, but I know Man Ray and his ilk photographed more filth than the usual Taschen books would have you believe. Undercover Surrealism isn't too bad, but I want more. For anyone who happens to own it, does "La Subversion des Images: Surrealisme, Photographie, Film" offer a better selection?
Thanks a lot for introduction! Will try to get the Undercover surrealism and the Seabrook book. And I'm also interested in books about compiling 'the most scandalous surrealist photography'. So also awaiting your recommendations.
Cheers!
On a big pulp kick lately.
The Complete Richard Allen- I had a couple volumes as a teenaged bootboy, but was recently gifted the entire series. Rape, racial violence, and even a Satanic orgy. Pure thrills.
The Lotus Crew- Written by Stewart Meyer, a protege of William Burroughs, here you have some grimy NYC heroin pulp. Not well written at all but right up my alley.
Quote from: F82123 on October 29, 2017, 08:21:26 PM
On a big pulp kick lately.
The Complete Richard Allen- I had a couple volumes as a teenaged bootboy, but was recently gifted the entire series. Rape, racial violence, and even a Satanic orgy. Pure thrills.
The Lotus Crew- Written by Stewart Meyer, a protege of William Burroughs, here you have some grimy NYC heroin pulp. Not well written at all but right up my alley.
richard allen books, always appreciated.
not just the skinhead 'chronicles' but all the exploito stuff.
also his work as richard allen, that includes rare manson biog
he once boasted he could write a book on a week, which he did. it was published, it was rubbish.
reading 'the hunt for the sixties ripper' by robin jarossi, about the series of unsolved killings in west london in early sixties- called 'jack the stripper', he killed and seemingly stopped.
book highlights social and cultural issues of the day in britain, esp, west london, a terminus for drugs, prostitution, worthles grind at the time.
Quote from: david lloyd jones on November 05, 2017, 05:04:50 PM
Quote from: F82123 on October 29, 2017, 08:21:26 PM
On a big pulp kick lately.
The Complete Richard Allen- I had a couple volumes as a teenaged bootboy, but was recently gifted the entire series. Rape, racial violence, and even a Satanic orgy. Pure thrills.
richard allen books, always appreciated.
not just the skinhead 'chronicles' but all the exploito stuff.
also his work as richard allen, that includes rare manson biog
he once boasted he could write a book on a week, which he did. it was published, it was rubbish.
He must have been one of the worst pulp writers ever - makes Guy N Smith look like Jane Austen. Especially love the 'Punk Rock' book from '77 when he was in terminal alcoholic decline wherein he envisaged a punk band singing a song called Brighton Puffcake. His books under other names eg James Moffat 'The Girl From H.A.R.D' (terrible 'saucy' spy literature) are just as bad. Love his work and also the craziness he unwittingly inspired in the form of Stewart Home's superb early work. |
"Mountainhead," New Juche (Nine-Banded Books)
Great little memoir of so-called "transgressive" writing that has its own unique and lyrical voice, certainly a gift for voice, imagery, and similies, but owes a lot at some points to mid-period Sotos and Burroughs' "Yage Letters." Very obsessive, detailed prose that while at times really self-indulgent, is also astute, funny, endearing, and exciting. A whole lot of excellent one-liners a reader could contextmize with to their own perverse ends. Will expand this into a "serious" review ASAP.
Quote from: HongKongGoolagong on November 05, 2017, 10:36:04 PM
Quote from: david lloyd jones on November 05, 2017, 05:04:50 PM
Quote from: F82123 on October 29, 2017, 08:21:26 PM
On a big pulp kick lately.
The Complete Richard Allen- I had a couple volumes as a teenaged bootboy, but was recently gifted the entire series. Rape, racial violence, and even a Satanic orgy. Pure thrills.
richard allen books, always appreciated.
not just the skinhead 'chronicles' but all the exploito stuff.
also his work as richard allen, that includes rare manson biog
he once boasted he could write a book on a week, which he did. it was published, it was rubbish.
He must have been one of the worst pulp writers ever - makes Guy N Smith look like Jane Austen. Especially love the 'Punk Rock' book from '77 when he was in terminal alcoholic decline wherein he envisaged a punk band singing a song called Brighton Puffcake. His books under other names eg James Moffat 'The Girl From H.A.R.D' (terrible 'saucy' spy literature) are just as bad. Love his work and also the craziness he unwittingly inspired in the form of Stewart Home's superb early work. |
I'm making my way through the volumes I hadn't read before. I can't add much to your assessment here, pretty spot on. And I couldn't agree more about early Stewart Home, everything up through Come Before Christ and Murder Love is mandatory.
"You exist- purely and simply- to provide a filth drain, a septic tank into which the rest of us can excrete our own torrential malice and cruelty, our lust for vengeance, our dark unspoken fantasies of violence and greed. Your pain is essential to the smooth functioning of civilization. But do not flatter yourselves. Your individual crimes- no matter how shocking- have no meaning whatsoever. All that is required is that you be here, innocent or guilty, good and bad alike. You are a pot to be shat in- that and nothing more. Understand that. And know that I understand it too. And as you lie weeping in your cells I want you to reflect on this: that just by being here you are doing excellent service- a good job- for the society you so despise."
"Beyond that any white person that fucked a nigger, especially without a condom, deserves to die; and even more especially so if that white person was a woman or a faggot."
A couple choice rants from the warden of Green River Prison in the novel, GREEN RIVER RISING, by Tim Willocks
Yesterday I received the massive The Devil's Cradle:The Story of Finnish Black Metal - book.
(https://www.svartrecords.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/DC-kansi-nettiin.png)
Heavy hardcover, over 500 pages. Featuring Beherit, Impaled Nazarene, Barathrum, Archgoat, Azazel, Diaboli, Darkwoods My Betrothed, Horna, Warloghe, Behexen, Clandestine Blaze, Satanic Warmaster, Ride for Revenge, Goatmoon, ... and many more.
Also got the NEUESACHLICKEIT 0 book today.
So I'll definitely have some great stuff to read in the next couple weeks.
Quote from: cr on November 17, 2017, 06:57:40 PM
Yesterday I received the massive The Devil's Cradle:The Story of Finnish Black Metal - book.
Heavy hardcover, over 500 pages. Featuring Beherit, Impaled Nazarene, Barathrum, Archgoat, Azazel, Diaboli, Darkwoods My Betrothed, Horna, Warloghe, Behexen, Clandestine Blaze, Satanic Warmaster, Ride for Revenge, Goatmoon, ... and many more.
How does it look, content-wise? Would like to order but after being disappointed with the high school level writing of Wolves Among Sheep I'm wary to drop that kind of money again.
Quote from: absurdexposition on November 17, 2017, 08:57:13 PM
Quote from: cr on November 17, 2017, 06:57:40 PM
Yesterday I received the massive The Devil's Cradle:The Story of Finnish Black Metal - book.
Heavy hardcover, over 500 pages. Featuring Beherit, Impaled Nazarene, Barathrum, Archgoat, Azazel, Diaboli, Darkwoods My Betrothed, Horna, Warloghe, Behexen, Clandestine Blaze, Satanic Warmaster, Ride for Revenge, Goatmoon, ... and many more.
How does it look, content-wise? Would like to order but after being disappointed with the high school level writing of Wolves Among Sheep I'm wary to drop that kind of money again.
Well, I only browsed through it, but as it's based on interviews with the bands included, I don't think there is much high school level writing. The few things I read are very promising - and some chapters are very long. For example, Beherit and Impaled Nazarene, both over 40 pages.
Quote from: cr on November 17, 2017, 09:27:19 PM
Quote from: absurdexposition on November 17, 2017, 08:57:13 PM
Quote from: cr on November 17, 2017, 06:57:40 PM
Yesterday I received the massive The Devil's Cradle:The Story of Finnish Black Metal - book.
Heavy hardcover, over 500 pages. Featuring Beherit, Impaled Nazarene, Barathrum, Archgoat, Azazel, Diaboli, Darkwoods My Betrothed, Horna, Warloghe, Behexen, Clandestine Blaze, Satanic Warmaster, Ride for Revenge, Goatmoon, ... and many more.
How does it look, content-wise? Would like to order but after being disappointed with the high school level writing of Wolves Among Sheep I'm wary to drop that kind of money again.
Well, I only browsed through it, but as it's based on interviews with the bands included, I don't think there is much high school level writing. The few things I read are very promising - and some chapters are very long. For example, Beherit and Impaled Nazarene, both over 40 pages.
Nice. Thanks.
I read Dune in high school, loved it but never followed up with the rest of the series which I have always regretted. I started the first book last week and holy fuck I am loving it. Can't wait to read the rest of the series when I'm done.
Got the Answer Me Compendium, very excited.
re-reading 'black metal, evolution of the cult' by dayal patterson, after recent re listening to black metal discs bought ten plus years ago.
Reading The Plague by Albert Camus.
My patience for reading is shocking, I used to inhale books but now find myself losing interest quite often. But I usually find Camus and Sartre and the like keep me interested cos of the setting and characters- usually miserable people living lonely ascetic lives in some isolated town. Grey seaside towns and depressing Algerian villages somehow seem like an enjoyable setting for me. Anyhow this is perhaps only the third book of this year I can see myself reading start to finish, and those who have read The Stranger know what kind of thing to expect but with perhaps more defined narrative rather than two or three integral events strung together with minute detail.
"The Plague" is Camus at his more optimistic. That part of his absurdism that says it's better to get on with things even though you hate doing them because doing good is still a good thing to do. "The Stranger" for me is preferable because it's more individualist and pessimist. "The Fall" is similar although less bitter and more poetic.
Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on November 27, 2017, 01:15:07 PM
"The Plague" is Camus at his more optimistic. That part of his absurdism that says it's better to get on with things even though you hate doing them because doing good is still a good thing to do. "The Stranger" for me is preferable because it's more individualist and pessimist. "The Fall" is similar although less bitter and more poetic.
It's interesting to look at things from both perspectives I think. On a side note, I particularly enjoyed a part early on in The Plague in which Cottard comments on "a case making quite a stir in Algiers where an office clerk shot and killed an Algerian on a beach"
Quote from: theotherjohn on October 28, 2017, 09:55:05 AM
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51fQsKBz5QL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Damn, thanks again for recommendation. Been reading through the first 50 pages, very good and interesting, and the cover is the best and most beautiful book cover I ever own.
Quote from: cr on December 03, 2017, 05:12:09 PM
Quote from: theotherjohn on October 28, 2017, 09:55:05 AM
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51fQsKBz5QL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Damn, thanks again for recommendation. Been reading through the first 50 pages, very good and interesting, and the cover is the best and most beautiful book cover I ever own.
just ordered myself-the us eition as cover far superior.
sex and surrealism always a winner.
Quote from: holy ghost on November 25, 2017, 01:31:00 AM
I read Dune in high school, loved it but never followed up with the rest of the series which I have always regretted. I started the first book last week and holy fuck I am loving it. Can't wait to read the rest of the series when I'm done.
Just finished re-reading the original books the other day. Quality dips in a few places but I still love the whole thing. Shame he never got to finish it. I don't even hate his son's stuff quite as much as some (haven't read all of them but a few that I did were readable enough, if not especially 'good') but what I've read of his take on the ending doesn't feel right so I'm not going to bother with it. Two 500 page books by writers that put a much greater emphasis upon action (blatantly aiming for the books to be adapted to TV/film) in place of what was almost definitely going to be a single 400-500 page book seems daft.
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on November 15, 2017, 08:41:20 PM
"You exist- purely and simply- to provide a filth drain, a septic tank into which the rest of us can excrete our own torrential malice and cruelty, our lust for vengeance, our dark unspoken fantasies of violence and greed. Your pain is essential to the smooth functioning of civilization. But do not flatter yourselves. Your individual crimes- no matter how shocking- have no meaning whatsoever. All that is required is that you be here, innocent or guilty, good and bad alike. You are a pot to be shat in- that and nothing more. Understand that. And know that I understand it too. And as you lie weeping in your cells I want you to reflect on this: that just by being here you are doing excellent service- a good job- for the society you so despise."
Very... ligotti-esque. But with slightly adjusted narrator perspective ("you" as in "you but not me,
suckers!") such as might more snugly fit with more pe-oriented vantage, if one will.
Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on February 07, 2018, 04:57:49 PM
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on November 15, 2017, 08:41:20 PM
"You exist- purely and simply- to provide a filth drain, a septic tank into which the rest of us can excrete our own torrential malice and cruelty, our lust for vengeance, our dark unspoken fantasies of violence and greed. Your pain is essential to the smooth functioning of civilization. But do not flatter yourselves. Your individual crimes- no matter how shocking- have no meaning whatsoever. All that is required is that you be here, innocent or guilty, good and bad alike. You are a pot to be shat in- that and nothing more. Understand that. And know that I understand it too. And as you lie weeping in your cells I want you to reflect on this: that just by being here you are doing excellent service- a good job- for the society you so despise."
Very... ligotti-esque. But with slightly adjusted narrator perspective ("you" as in "you but not me, suckers!") such as might more snugly fit with more pe-oriented vantage, if one will.
...or am I missing the potential metaphorical read a la Kafka
In The Penal Colony? Either way, great quote.
Just completed "final solution" by David Cesarini. Honestly I thought Martin Gilbert's "Holocaust" was the definitive one volume history but this could rival it. Two main tenets of the book, one to claim that the Nazis didn't really have a plan and made it up as they went along. Not sure I fully agree and the author had an annoying tendency to over emphasize this point. The other tenet is to debunk the idea the holocaust was kind of sex free. He details the prevalence of rape throughout the holocaust, the selling of sex as a means of survival and the exploitation of sex on all sides. Certainly it shows racial purity claims only went so far.
It's a bit of a slog, 800 pages in paperwork but worth it in the end.
While the novel Mountainhead was something of an adventure story meets anthropological study (I think the description said "exotic travelogue"), in that more stylistic flourishes and influences were present, New Juche's Stupid Baby is more like a straightforward romance-and-adventure tale, if even possible from this type of author. Showing less of his influences than ever, and instead opting for a fairly unadulterated and simple life-period portrait. Here it works very well, in the sense that any more experimental tendencies would've rendered the narrative oblique and disjointed. I hope to see a whole lot more of this more simplistic, stand-alone approach from New Juche, but nothing can compare to the longer works, especially Mountainhead - that one basically fulfills many overlapping areas which I found lots of my favorite authors to lack, especially those comparable, even Sotos. There is just enough balance here between transgressive idiosyncrasy, arty experimentalism and allusiveness/indebtedness, and basic literary skill to develop something that is at once, and equally, a personal confession, an actual story, and a thematic work of art. While Stupid Baby certainly upholds the combination, it's not a shining beacon of glory as Mountainhead was - but hopefully just as much an indication of what's in store. I really hadn't ever read something that had quite this much of what I want, all at once, before I found New Juche. Thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Best for publishing, if this is even a remote indication of what's to come for Amphetamine Sulphate, I'm hooked.
Edit: Gabi Losoncy's Second Person was great, too. Seems to use certain philosophy as a touchstone but isn't really referential enough to go down that road into academic pedantry. Description says "a self-help book from hell," but I didn't see much negativity to it. Some brutal honesty and stumbling neuroses, sure, but that's what any good, truthful writing has to it. Overall it seems to be an attempt at partially explaining her outlook on life/way of doing things in life, and second to that, sort of an attempt to dissect what the mental and social environment for us "millenials" is (I'm assuming Ms. Losoncy and I are relatively close in age) and how we're more or less products of that, even if we're not consistently looking down at smartphones and guzzling IPAs like the great majority of said age bracket. In that, it's sort of a respectable and worthwhile text - it's honest without being ridden with insecurity and confident without being narcissistic. What I've said still doesn't quite nail it, though. I felt I could relate even if I saw little "help" in it beyond often agreeing with Losoncy. Not exactly sure how or who to recommend this.
I am reading the collected Mumin comics by Tove Jansson this week. Between a half and an entire album per evening. Accompanied by various drinks (tonight: Highland Park Viking Pride) and various albums (yesterday the Prurient/Wolf Eyes collaboration, today some Merzbow) it is an excellent way to calm down after a late evening shift.
Also, if anyone wonders why "progressives" ever got where they are, Jansson's humor and style are excellent clues. It wasn't always about multi-million dollar think tanks, communism chic and head-up-your-ass identity political bigotry for psychopaths and sycophants. Once upon a time you could belong in that camp and be a pretty clever, and even sympathetic, person. This to such a degree that even the comics you drew showed it. Obviously none of that matters any more except as historical curiosity, but then again those may quite possibly be the only things that matter anymore.
Reading this (A PERSONAL HISTORY OF MORAL DECAY):
Bradley Smith has been described by the Los Angeles Times as an "anarchist libertarian" and by the Anti-Defamation League as one of the most dangerous "extremists" in America. In A Personal History of Moral Decay, he emerges as a simple writer struggling to find "right relationship" in a world where the political and the personal converge, without resolution, through the coruscating prism of human experience. Threaded over decades and spanning continents, Smith's episodic memoir unspools in bright layers of crisp, laconic prose to confide and illuminate the adventures, the moral failures, the fleeting epiphanies, and the interpersonal bonds that haunt and animate a life. Let this be your introduction to one of the most distinctive, if overlooked, voices in American literature. (that's a blurb I no writed it)
same publisher as New Juche and the Answer Me compendium innit
I enjoyed reading Journeys in the Kali Yuga - A Pilgrimage from Esoteric India to Pagan Europe
from Aki Cederberg.
Very interesting, I like those kind of "spiritual" journeys, trying to find some living traditions in other regions of the world and then connect and compare them with your own old traditions and ancestors. And find out, that you can connect with the foreign spiritual world, but that it can never be your own.
Sorry, my English skills are not good enough to describe it any better. Read the book then I think you know what I mean.
Holocaust - A New History by Laurence Rees
After the exhaustive 800+ page book Final Solution this new book seems positively simple at half the length. It is also a lighter read, comprising of an overall history of the Holocaust with a lot of dialogue from various participants based on Rees 25+ years of writing on this topic.I would dispute the term "new history" as there wasn't anything new but he did manage a seamless interweaving of oral history mixed with chronological storytelling.
Next up is a biography of Himmler
Just finished the Cosey memoir. Very enjoyable, certainly provides a different perspective on things....
Started The Dispossessed after it's been on my list for a hundred million years. Feeling like a total sci-fi poser atm.
Quote from: cantle on March 19, 2018, 11:17:21 PM
Just finished the Cosey memoir. Very enjoyable, certainly provides a different perspective on things....
Just started this, as I recently finished "Englands Hidden Reverse" and got both at the same time.
Just finished John Nathan's Mishima biography yesterday and starting a reread of Confessions of a Mask. Anyone else seen there's a new Mishima translation out next month, "Frolic of the Beasts"?
Quote from: Kayandah on March 06, 2018, 05:00:10 PM
Next up is a biography of Himmler
Author title details, if you would please.
I would love a good book on Reinhard Heydrich. I always considered him the ultimate nazi; boy did he excel at his job.
Peter Longerich
He also did a biography of Goebbels.
Not found a good one on Heydrich, one I read seemed intent of telling us how much of a monster he was every page
Quote from: ONE on April 07, 2018, 11:27:36 PM
Quote from: Kayandah on March 06, 2018, 05:00:10 PM
Next up is a biography of Himmler
Author title details, if you would please.
I would love a good book on Reinhard Heydrich. I always considered him the ultimate nazi; boy did he excel at his job.
Grazie. I'll check those out.
RE: Heydrich. It always bothered me when documentary narrators would wax lyrical at how he would often weep after playing his violin (as if, somehow, it validated his entire professional career).
Recently I've read Mountainhead by New Juche. How the hell did he get so good having published so little?
And I'm binging on Michel Houellebecq at this time: I'd only read Atomised and Platform before this. The Map & The Territory I found excellent, and quite an unusual tangent considering his regular preoccupations; different, but recommended. Submission however, is for me, his best work to date, and a return to the hilarious misanthropic cynicism I've come to know and love. I wonder (in light of Merkel's disastrous and truly thoughtless abandonment of German border control and the world of shit she left Greece and Italy in) whether this book will later be described as prescient ...? There is genius in Houellebecq: not one of his sentences is overwrought or forced.
At the moment I'm reading "The Theater and Its Double" by Antonin Artaud. I decided to read it because a lot of artist, especially in PE/industrial scene seems to be inspired by him. It's quite interesting book but I must say that somehow I found other people interpretations of his ideas more interesting than actual Artaud's text.
I'm reading mostly short stories atm discovered this wicedsick horror writer Thomas Ligoti, gothic as shit bro!!
Quote from: Deadpriest on April 24, 2018, 11:41:40 AM
I'm reading mostly short stories atm discovered this wicedsick horror writer Thomas Ligoti, gothic as shit bro!!
Nic Pizzolatto has admited the first season of True Detective was heavily based on Ligotti's works.
Just finished VALIS by Phil Dick. Is there a better explanation than that of the exegesis/cosmogony/authorship trilateral? It seems frustratingly pointless. Really interesting insight into the depths of mad existentialism, however. Mind of madness beats the narrative structure into stasis. Dick's equilibrium is all off as soon as he begins to explain things.
Starting Mountainhead now. Enjoying the down syndrome faggotry. Good chuckle. Should be rancid.
To read: Cat's Cradle, Cyclonopedia
Quote from: Cherub on April 25, 2018, 12:40:20 PM
Just finished VALIS by Phil Dick. Is there a better explanation than that of the exegesis/cosmogony/authorship trilateral? It seems frustratingly pointless. Really interesting insight into the depths of mad existentialism, however. Mind of madness beats the narrative structure into stasis. Dick's equilibrium is all off as soon as he begins to explain things.
Starting Mountainhead now. Enjoying the down syndrome faggotry. Good chuckle. Should be rancid.
To read: Cat's Cradle, Cyclonopedia
Re VALIS, dont know if there's a better explanation but I feel like futility and pointless are prinary themes in all of PKD's work.
If you're looking for something slightly more sane from the Dick I'd say skip The Divine Invasion and read the Transmigration of Timothy Archer. That one was way better than I expected.
I started The Expanse series and this shit is simple and like crack, I can't stop reading them. It's like Game of Thrones in space and it's no surprise that one of the guys writing it is George RR Martins assistant. I mean it's nothing like GOT but it's simple and easy to read and you don't have to think too much about it
Too Far From Home: Selected Writings of Paul Bowles, ed. Daniel Halperin (Ecco, 1993)
More well-known for his music in some circles (including having some of his recordings put out under erroneous credit to Brion Gysin!), Paul Bowles was one of those expatriate authors to live a more traveled and decadent life before it was fashionable, influencing Burroughs and the Beat era - but being far superior in every way, literary and lifestyle, through and through; Burroughs couldn't do under the influence of heroin what this guy did with just a little hash. This collection contains a novella, some fiction stories, novel excerpts, some non-fiction, and an interview. So far I've only read the short stories and started the novella (published posthumously), but I really can say without hyperbole this guy's work is much better than the great majority of so-called "transgressive" authors, with a couple exceptions. Gorgeous imagery, razor-sharp subtlety and wit, a sort of magical lyricism, and of course extremely brutal and often sudden violence. You can get his reading "A Hundred Camels in the Courtyard" or his music "The Pool K III" from Dom America to accompany this fine tome or instead pair it with anything by Amph, Organum, or maybe even Randy Greif and you'll do just fine.
The I-5 Killer- Ann Rule
Just Finished The Vory by Galeotti and Russian organised crime- definately recommend it.
I'm heavily into fantasy novels lately. Currently reading the third book of the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. That man's a genius. Love his books.
Quote from: Yohe on May 09, 2018, 08:14:53 PM
I'm heavily into fantasy novels lately. Currently reading the third book of the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. That man's a genius. Love his books.
Haven't read those but the Stormlight Archive is so fucking great. Eagerly awaiting #3 to arrive in paperback this fall.
Currently reading The Looming tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, my wife picked it up for me on a whim and I'm loving it.
Just finished book 1 of The Expanse, it's a pretty easy read but very entertaining. I inhaled it in a week which is pretty good for me considering how little time I have to sit and read.
finished gene wolfe's briah cycle recently
mind blowing
also got through 2666 which i loved and will read again
Currently, I'm reading The Sluts by Dennis Cooper, someone recommended it to me. It's fantastic, and hilarious in the worst way, which is what I like.
Quote from: Force Neurotic on May 07, 2018, 10:56:16 PM
Too Far From Home: Selected Writings of Paul Bowles, ed. Daniel Halperin (Ecco, 1993)
More well-known for his music in some circles (including having some of his recordings put out under erroneous credit to Brion Gysin!), Paul Bowles was one of those expatriate authors to live a more traveled and decadent life before it was fashionable, influencing Burroughs and the Beat era - but being far superior in every way, literary and lifestyle, through and through; Burroughs couldn't do under the influence of heroin what this guy did with just a little hash. This collection contains a novella, some fiction stories, novel excerpts, some non-fiction, and an interview. So far I've only read the short stories and started the novella (published posthumously), but I really can say without hyperbole this guy's work is much better than the great majority of so-called "transgressive" authors, with a couple exceptions. Gorgeous imagery, razor-sharp subtlety and wit, a sort of magical lyricism, and of course extremely brutal and often sudden violence. You can get his reading "A Hundred Camels in the Courtyard" or his music "The Pool K III" from Dom America to accompany this fine tome or instead pair it with anything by Amph, Organum, or maybe even Randy Greif and you'll do just fine.
A superb and accomplished scribe, thanks for the reminder.
Bought some books the last week, already browsed through some pages here and there. Looking forward to read them with more focus:
Ernst Jünger: In Stahlgewittern (Storm of Steel)
Reinhard Falter: Ludwig Klages
Franz Wegener: Alfred Schuler - Der letzte deutsche Katharer
Ernst von Salomon: Die Geächteten (The Outlaws)
Georg Trakl: Complete Poems
Leonora Carrington: The house of fear; and The Hearing Trumpet
...and also an art book with some of her paintings called Surrealism, Alchemy and Art by Susan L. Aberth
A History of Violence by Oscar Martinez
Not keen on the title which misleads, but this is an excellent collection of articles he wrote about the goings on in Central America, namely El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. My readings on the drug trade in Mexico indicated that its seriously messed up in Central america, this book provides an honest portrayal as he interviews narcos, corrupt politicians, policemen and the poor people who suffer. Obviously when things are this endemically corrupt there are no solutions.
I'm reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari and really enjoying it. Basically tracing the history of human evolution, he's got a great writing style and the book is genuinely interesting.
Finally finished "America's War for the Greater Middle East" by Andrew J. Bacevich and now started something entirely different, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Quote from: Kim V on July 02, 2018, 08:01:49 PM
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
chapter 10 is one of the greatest moments in american literature.
Philip Best "Captagon" (Amphetamine Sulphate, 2017)
Loose but still coherent semi-narrative piece that seems to follow a somewhat "post-apocalyptic" scenario with references to lots of real-world crime cases, news stories, etc. Originally I was focused on how the style reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut, Kathy Acker and Hubert Selby Jr., but mostly I'm amazed with how the entire concept/technique reminds me of Henry Darger – a really unique mix of violence and vulnerability with an almost-defined worldview (of sorts), should remind anyone who was ever a teen or adolescent of their formative years. This is pretty much my first experience with Best's fiction. So far, I like it. I'm hesitant to get too collegiate about things, but I think there's some mockery of consumerism and capitalism, or at least the hyperactive pace of the modern world going on here – like Genocide Organ/Grey Wolves under the influence of some experimental psychedelic/stimulant.
Simon Morris "Creepshots" (Amphetamine Sulphate, 2017)
Although I really enjoyed Comsumer Guide, this might be my favorite work by the author so far. He'd probably find the idea pretty lame, but this would make good spoken-word recordings; the convergence of influences, sources, and subjects could serve as engaging listening as well as the incredibly moving reading as it is. I'm fairly sure I read a draft of this prior to publication, which had some sections I'm sad to have noticed were left out. The fairly "dystopian" sections dealing with government-funded arts programs juxtaposed with the problem of homelessness seems to be continued from the aforementioned CG and is something I hope he continues to do; any cursory news search could yield plenty of source material. What I like is that some sections are dispassionate, others full of despair, and yet the text seems to end on something of a "high note" or at least a sense of closure. The sign-off at the end among other parts made me laugh out loud. Excellent stuff with few available comparisons. Has this sort of quick, efficient quality which I feel reflects both the "medicated" honesty of the author as well as the increasingly-tiny (and narcissistic) attention span of people in general, "Millenials" or otherwise. Very gifted writer.
Simon Morris "Civil War" (Amphetamine Sulphate, 2018)
I'm certainly no fan of GNR, but I still find the analysis going on here pretty clever: before I even opened the book, I remebered this quote, something along the lines of "When people say Axl Rose is a screaming two-year-old, they're right," and of course I'm pretty sure the article or interview that's from is referenced here. I suppose I can relate because I have similar self-aware obsessions with certain other so-called artists whom many would see as unworthy of whatever insane praise I might heap on them, and it's not like you don't realize they're a crazy loser. Anyway, this book also seems to be about a certain kind of romantic experience I can really relate to, the phrase "playground psychotics" (to borrow from Frank Zappa) came to mind. I've had many of these, where the intensity and trouble you've gotten yourself (and the other person) into is only slowly revealed. Probably why I love Hitchcock films. Morris is one of two or three writers whose words have made me nauseous because I could relate too much.
Duncan Harrison "Something Approaching Zero" (self-published, 2018?)
Really good, honest, somewhat "existential" and sort of bluntly efficient and cynical/pessimistic deconstruction stuff which manages not to be a downer tract in a whiny voice – rather the opposite. Pretty Neizschean, if I must say, with a dark humor that's somehow not at all bitter. I could see Amphetamine Sulphate publishing work from this author as it'd fit in quite well (seriously, please do). Has a very easygoing style that suggests the author is capable of either coherent philosophical/psychological analysis or great prose fiction equally. Brings to mind some of Bret Easton Ellis' classier moments if I had to squeeze out a comparison.
Quote from: Force Neurotic on July 10, 2018, 09:41:09 PM
Philip Best "Captagon" (Amphetamine Sulphate, 2017)
Simon Morris "Creepshots" (Amphetamine Sulphate, 2017)
There we some great parts in both of these, especially in Captagon. Haven't finished the entire Amphetamine Sulphate batch yet but the reprint of Alex Binnie's 'Scum' is by far my favourite of the lot so far.
In the middle of JG Ballard's 'High Rise' at the moment.
Clark Ashton Smith - The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies (Penguin Classics)
I wasn't aware that Smith had been granted a Penguin Classics edition, so finding one was a pleasant surprise. I've read most of the man's fiction, but in all honesty the level of concentration has been a bit on and off, so now I'm being a bit more focused (reading in shorter sessions, not aiming to finish the whole book quickly, as I am otherwise wont to do with almost all books). Two hundred pages in, it gives about the same impression as it did last time I read him. Since CAS's stories were originally butchered by pulp mag editors, much care has gone into restoring them to his original versions (as written or intended). This has restored some of the original allures of his writing - the abstract parts, the massive use of archaic and/or unusual English and many repetitive, strangely meditative passages. On the other hand, it makes the writing a wee bit unwieldy and at worst high-schoolish - Smith could probably have done with a good editor, with whom he could have collaborated, while he was still alive. None of this takes away from the fundamental fact that Smith was an excellent visionary, almost on par with his friend Lovecraft, and that his writings are great Sci-Fi/horror as well as - at times - great literature.
Quote from: Yrjö-Koskinen on July 29, 2018, 12:02:25 PM
Clark Ashton Smith - The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies (Penguin Classics)
Since CAS's stories were originally butchered by pulp mag editors, much care has gone into restoring them to his original versions (as written or intended). This has restored some of the original allures of his writing - the abstract parts, the massive use of archaic and/or unusual English and many repetitive, strangely meditative passages.
Thanks for the reminder. From the handful of stories I've read, I find his work along with Henry James' and Algernon Blackwood's to be like a sort of linguistic maze. Can be pretty maddening but has these sort of sublime moments. I think some would argue their respective writing styles are indicative of some mental illness, but, meh, not the point. Or is it?
Rodrigo Rey Rosa "Dust On Her Tongue (Translated by Paul Bowles)" (City Lights, 1989) Translations into English are almost always pretty iffy, but in this case, both spoke each other's language fluently, so there were good results. RRR eventually became the heir to Bowles' legal and physical estate, so that should tell you something. That said, Bowles' translations read as faithful to my non-bilingual ears, in that the straightforwardness seems to reflect RRR's speaking style rather than Bowles' prose style (as many of his other translations do, unfortunately). Here, the nebulousness benefits these stories greatly, though - Rosa clearly had a lot of talent before ever even putting any words down, and Bowles' influence is evident. A ton of observation and other influences boil down into stories that few authors match in terms of creating atmosphere and "trapping" the reader. There is an excellent unreliable narrator piece about a Guatemalan ethnomusicologist with maybe one of the better endings in any short story I've read. I really love this kind of fiction, where violence, weirdness and horror are handled as smoothly as descriptions of landscapes, action, or internal monologue. Regarding Bowles and Rosa, I reluctantly admit this could be a case of the student outclassing the teacher; it's that good. If Bowles is one of the best, and he is, so is Rodrigo Rey Rosa.
Jason Williamson "Slabs from Paradise," (Amphetamine Sulphate, 2017) One of my favorites from the inaugural batch as soon as the first piece was over. A departure from other work on said imprint – a collection of portrait-type short stories, almost short enough to be vignettes. Snapshots, or more like selfies, given the themes in this book. Williamson has an observant, quick mind and a working person's gift for creating stories; that is making something from nothing, characters and all. The bleakness here is pretty lived-in grimy and the sense of self-delusion throughout really hits home at many points. Excellent references to Whitney Houston and Adidas Sambas. I used to read a lot of bullshit like Irvine Welsh and JW here just puts all of that to shame. I think "Mad Carol" is my favorite but it's hard to say. Hope we'll see a longer collection of his work from someone at some point.
Matthew Bower & Samantha Davies "Talisman Angelical" (Amphetamine Sulphate, 2017) This title I was least enthusiastic about of all, given I'm not the biggest Skullflower (et al) fan. I realize that's pretty short sighted, though, and all the more from reading it. Going against my expectations, this book was surprisingly coherent and visual despite the obvious role drugged states of all manner play in creation of this type of thing. While it definitely is "this type of thing," it's well-written, with a variety of references that reminded me of Nabokov or Borges, of all authors. This is in some ways what I'd expected Mike IX Williams' writing to be like (it wasn't), and I mean that as a compliment. Surprisingly easy to picture certain descriptions of demonic hallucinations, which I think is saying something. I also see the inverse potential in some of Arvo Pärt's music, which perhaps also says something.
Alex Binnie "Scum" (Amphetamine Sulphate, 2018) Strange that such a talented writer (who was apparently also involved to some extent in a certain seminal PE/industrial outfit) basically left that all behind to devote his life to tattooing. That said, I assume the author was pretty young at the time, which is apparent at times despite his intelligence and coherence. What I mean is that the book is basically structured around repeating one point; to me it's a sort of extended prose poem. What I especially like about it, however, is that I find the message agreeable and see each paragraph as a potential final or second-to-last paragraph in a larger fiction piece. I read this and kept thinking, "what else could this guy have written?" Probably nothing, actually. This should definitely appeal to fans of Ligotti, Houellebecq, and so on.
I'm re-reading Lambs to the Slaughter about Hissing Sid Cooke & his merry gang after seeing it listed on the back of Ingratitude.
I've got a book on Robert Black out for delivery today, I think, along with another on him and another on S.Cooke on the way.
I can recommend Josef Winkler, and West does a great job of translating him. I would start with Natura Morta, maybe his best book that is available in English. Like Graveyard of Bitter Oranges, also set in Italy.
Peter Sotos "Ingratitude" (Nine Banded Books, 2018)
What can I say? Less revealing than the capitulation that I feel has built through his recent work might suggest, but still has the unexpected and enlightening lucid detail amidst tangents which characterize his style. I have to say I don't feel the latter sections felt especially conclusive – much more finesse towards the end of "Desistance" and at the end of "Mine.'' This new book also includes confirmation of a long-held theory outside the main text; take note of whom is now in possession of the clippings - "what you kept is now missing." I genuinely thought this book wouldn't happen, in other words. Let me put it this way: this book has a retrospective tone for a reason, more so than any previous.
Martin Bladh "Marty Page" (Amphetamine Sulphate, 2018)
"Body horror" is probably the most accurate description but for all the references including a Cronenberg acknowlegement, I see a strong early Dennis Cooper influence – along with some surprising and sometimes moving observational and descriptive flourishes. I find some of the pop culture references sort of funny ("favorite album: Joy Division, closer" recalls "I told him about so-called 'death metal' bands such as Napalm Death, Carcass, Morbid Angel, Immolation, and Samael, but he only seemed politely interested." ). Not familiar with Bladh's other writing, so interesting to read work by someone I'd primarily regard as a visual and sound artist. I think I need to explore more of his world to fully understand but I enjoyed my time here.
Gary Mundy "Specialist Fabricator" (Amphetamine Sulphate, 2018)
This book somehow was completely unlike what I'd imagined it being – much more intimate than what I feel Ramleh and Kleistwahr's music conveys. Very confessional with some sections I might assume are, well, fabrications. Some really poingnant moments are dulled by what I feel is experimentation not backed by confidence in technique – switching between monologue and dialogue while wondering aloud in-text about the process, etc. I enjoyed this for the "serves you right for your expectations" factor but otherwise felt the format required more meat to play with the reader as Mundy intends to here. Made me more curious about what other writing Mundy might do than anything.
New Juche "The Spider's House" (self-published, 2017)
Full disclosure: missed out on this as I'm sure many others did, but friend was kind enough to scan and email for me. Frustratingly short but I'd imagine worthy of the presentation and edition – probably some of his finest photography and writing. In knowledge of his other work, certain things are better intuited when reading. Context is key to understanding. Much is revealed in this tantalizingly brief elegy for a now-passed friend. What is implied about said friend now-gone is put in a highly libertine light when juxtaposed with particularly the latter photographs and the fact that all are black and white. Possibly the greatest living writer? I can't begin tell you how much I am looking forward to Bosun.
New Juche "Bosun" (Kiddiepunk, 2018)
Whereas his earlier pieces seemed to focus on the sensous description of physical features, occasionally lending itself to lyrical tangents on location and archictecture, the ratio is reversed in Bosun. Previous iterations carried a detail for physicality perhaps unworkable when expanded to city-level. Like Bowles, Conrad, and Sinclair before him, New Juche evokes place, atmosphere, and consequence through language which both clarifies and imposes. Language which reflects a powerful scope of observation and considerations, though always "against conversation," to borrow the author's own words. Previously, those words focused on relating experience to the reader, always succeeding. Now, however, his magic is strong enough to transplant the reader to the desired place. Noticeably absent are the descriptions of his usual adventures, exchanged for imaginative and mindful descriptions of observations of local color while enjoying local flavor. Near the closing paragraphs which come all too soon is one of his funniest moments. Fans of his vice may be disappointed indeed but fans of his lyricism will swoon. More, please.
Matt Shaw- Sick B*stards, Sicker B*stards and Rotting Dead F*cks
Peter Sotos-Ingratitude
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on August 31, 2018, 08:49:32 PM
I'm re-reading Lambs to the Slaughter about Hissing Sid Cooke & his merry gang after seeing it listed on the back of Ingratitude.
I've got a book on Robert Black out for delivery today, I think, along with another on him and another on S.Cooke on the way.
are either the books you have about Robert Black written by CL Swinney? I seen his book about Black on Amazon and was thinking about picking it up after listening to a couple different podcasts with the author about some of his other books
No, I haven't picked up the Swinney book. The books I have on Black are: Fear the Stranger; The Face of Evil; Murder of Childhood and Well Done, Boys. If you need authors, let me know. I haven't read Face/Evil yet & remember M.O.C. being the most interesting.
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on October 18, 2018, 01:00:01 AM
No, I haven't picked up the Swinney book. The books I have on Black are: Fear the Stranger; The Face of Evil; Murder of Childhood and Well Done, Boys. If you need authors, let me know. I haven't read Face/Evil yet & remember M.O.C. being the most interesting.
yes, please give the authors
FEAR THE STRANGER- Hector Clark; FACE OF EVIL- Giles & Clark; M.O.C.- Tim Tate (& a co-author); WELL DONE, BOYS- Robert Church
I was on vacation and re-read Pet Sematary, Cujo and Christine by Stephen King. I read them as a kid and loved SK back in my teens and probably read everything he wrote in the 70's and 80's, really enjoyed these ones a lot. Not as "scary" as I remember and his reliance on old nostalgia in his characters inner monologues can wear a bit thin at times yet these books held up a lot better than I thought they would. I want to tackle The Stand again.
God Emperor of Dune - I have been moving through these in chronological order, I loved the first three, this one was actually pretty great - Definitely intend to get the original six done but might not make my goal of the end of 2018. Don't know if I intend to continue with the Brian Herbert ones.
As Serious As Your Life - really cool reprint of a free jazz book from the 70's. Hit a lot of different suspects than the usual "Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor" books I've read. I enjoyed it and the photography was stellar - a lot of the really iconic free jazz pics were taken by her.
Black Klansman - saw this for $10 and picked it up - this was an average read. I get the feeling the movie would be way better. It suffers from really poor editing, there's a lot of repetition in his descriptions of what's happening and the plot seems almost uninteresting. I'm still very interested in seeing the movie after reading the story but honestly this was like 170 pages and felt way to long.
Currently reading Lethal White by Robert Galbraithe aka JK Rowling. I fuckin' love these books and this one seems great so far. Haven't done the Harry Potter thing but these books are hella fun.
Quote from: holy ghost on October 26, 2018, 12:50:40 AM
I want to tackle The Stand again.
Did that last summer and enjoyed it even more than back in the early 90s when I read it for the first time. Early King is brilliant, imo.
currently reading adolf hitler: the ultimate avatar by miguel serrano. an arcane work to put it mildly, but essential if you are into the esoteric and occult side of (neo-)nazism. a more sober, academic work about fascism called the birth of fascist ideology by zeev sternhell is also recommended reading, if you are interested in the complex history of early fascism. also i finally got to read brave new world - total classic! other novels i read recently includes kongens fald by johannes v. jensen - a danish masterpiece, one of the best books i ever read, very, very dark. also read some of the collected short stories of d.h. lawrence - again, totally recommended, they deal a lot with male supremacy, but in an interesting, non-stupid way.
Quote from: holy ghost on October 26, 2018, 12:50:40 AM
I was on vacation and re-read Pet Sematary, Cujo and Christine by Stephen King. I read them as a kid and loved SK back in my teens and probably read everything he wrote in the 70's and 80's, really enjoyed these ones a lot. Not as "scary" as I remember and his reliance on old nostalgia in his characters inner monologues can wear a bit thin at times yet these books held up a lot better than I thought they would. I want to tackle The Stand again.
I was a huge Stephen King fan as a kid. Christine (The ending in particular) and Needful Things were the ones that stood out to me as some of the hardest of his early works. The Stand is his magnus opus. Book is on another level.
ReflexionLynette Fromme
I follow ATWA on facebook and when I saw this book for a sale I had a slight inkling that I would never actually receive it- but I had to try especially with the cheesey art. I went into this with my only knowledge of Manson being from reading Helter Skelter- I hadn't seen any documentaries or movies. I wasn't sure if I should post this in the true crime thread or here- which gives you an idea of the content- its really clean. I thought it was really great- it dosn't make you 'like' the characters but it sure made me want to go to the desert and overall gave me a very positive vibe(which is obviously the idea- to paint the whole thing white) I really got the idea from readin this that they were all having fun- and didn't really have any way to get away from it. I was really interested in reading about the dune buggies and outlaw bikers- but this does not come in until after page 300! anyway the last pages of the book are great.
Was there another thing (I don't remember what form of media) that was based around the family and dune buggies specifically?
Quote from: Strangecross on November 18, 2018, 06:30:55 AMWas there another thing (I don't remember what form of media) that was based around the family and dune buggies specifically?
Maybe "Revolution Blues" by Neil Young?
"...I see bloody fountains
And ten million dune buggies coming down the mountains..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uopmr4sBNM4
I forgot about this song, but I believe what I was thinking of is "The Family' by Ed Sanders
Now I am wonder how ' Squeaky: the life and times of Lynette Fromme' compares to Reflexion....
Reflexion does not go past the arrrests during their desert excursion.
Quote from: Strangecross on November 18, 2018, 06:30:55 AM
Was there another thing (I don't remember what form of media) that was based around the family and dune buggies specifically?
Best Manson book I've read is John Gilmores Garbage People aka Manson http://www.amokbooks.com/titles/manson.
Things I've read recently (seems as good a first post as any, happy to be here)
Essential Acker (a Dennis Cooper curated selection of Kathy Acker writings)
Vile Days: The Village Voice Art Columns (a collection of Gary Indiana's art criticism from the 1980s)
Brian Evenson-Father of Lies (been obsessed with his writing lately)
Dennis Cooper-Wrong (one of the few Cooper novels I hadn't read yet)
Ryu Murakami-Piercing
Maggie Nelson-The Art of Cruelty (great book that examines cruelty and brutality within contemporary art, cinema, and fiction)
and for trendy novelists, I just read Otessa Mosfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation and was shocked, I loved it. She's the real deal. She actually reminds me a bit of Bret Ellis in her ability to weave transgressive stories our of a very clear and easy to read literary style.
Just finished Timothy Snyders "The Road to Unfreedom" and now started "The Strange Death of Europe" by Douglas Murray
trying to get through "adolf hitler: the ultimate avatar" by miguel serrano.. extremely strange book, recommended for anyone into seriously freakish stuff!
Great recommendations from Adam. Also read and loved the Moshfegh book. I read her other novel, Eileen, and it was definitely building to My Year... There's a dollar fifty patreon fee to hear her and BEE in conversation. Worth it.
I listened to it! It was fantastic. I've listened to everyone of his podcast eps since he had Kanye on on the first one. But I loved his and Otessa's conversation and was happy to hear about their personal connection after she reviewed Lunar Park or whatever. I like that he's having other novelists and writers on. The one with Bruce Wagner, one of the most under appreciated of all postmodernist novelists, was amazing when he was still on podcastone.
Just finished Explore Everything by Bradley L. Garrett last night. A sort of hybrid memoir-manifesto on the more organized, intense side of urban exploration. Although each chapter goes way beyond it's point by having too much academia and political jargon woven into it, all points made are totally agreeable - health, safety and security regulations have run amok in modern society (and if a bunch of relative amateurs can easily circumvent them, how much good do they really do?). Lots of photos of folks sitting up places high enough to give you vertigo and low enough underground to make you claustrophobic. But still not enough photos! Inspiring and exciting book. You won't see me scaling cranes atop a skyscraper in the rain anytime soon, though.
Reading Days of Rage - America's Radical Underground, The FBI and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Ciolwnce by Brian Burrough and it's a fucking doozy - I'm trying to envision the frequency of bombings in America and how commonplace it was throughout the 70's. It's a solid read halfway through and I'm giving it a preemptive thumbs up. Definitely worth picking up.
Just picked up Oathbringer by Brian Sanderson and I'm pretty excited to start this, although I feel like I've really forgotten a lot of what's happened in the first two books in the Way of Kings series. I definitely thought the first two were amazing the best fantasy I've read in years.
Robert Black: The True Story of a Child Rapist and Serial Killer - C.L. Swinney
still need to grab those other Black books mentioned in this thread
If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children - Gregg Olsen & Rebecca Morris
this case is extremely fascinating to me.
Quote from: DSOL on January 09, 2019, 06:24:20 PM
If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children - Gregg Olsen & Rebecca Morris
this case is extremely fascinating to me.
Likewise, thanks for the tip. Had been reading/listening to a lot of stuff online but didn't know this book existed.
Been reading a good amount of Patricia Highsmith's short stories and she's great. No wonder her and Paul Bowles were mutual fans of the each other's work.
Quote from: Force Neurotic on January 09, 2019, 08:11:01 PM
Quote from: DSOL on January 09, 2019, 06:24:20 PM
If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children - Gregg Olsen & Rebecca Morris
this case is extremely fascinating to me.
Likewise, thanks for the tip. Had been reading/listening to a lot of stuff online but didn't know this book existed.
Been reading a good amount of Patricia Highsmith's short stories and she's great. No wonder her and Paul Bowles were mutual fans of the each other's work.
I don't know if you have already, but check out the "Cold" podcast, it's a podcast completed devoted to the case (Susan Powell), there are 9 episodes right now, and they over an hour or so each and they are pretty in depth -
its basically follows the case from the very beginning of their relationship, through the marriage and now (as far as I gotten with it), her disappearance. they seem to come out with a new one about every 2 weeks, so I'm been sitting on a couple of episodes to binge listen and most likely will start from the beginning again, once the podcast finishes
Anyone here familiar with the life and works (I think he didn't write any books by himself...?) of U.G. Krishnamurti? Saw his name mentioned in various interviews, e.g. from Ulex Xane, or in Thomas Ligotti's Conspiracy against the Human Race. He seems to be a very interesting charakter and I'd like to find out more about his "ego-death". Many nice quotes to be found on the net, but I'd like to know more. Is there something existing like a biography in bookform? All of the books I found are something like interviews with him, are they any good?
Cheers for your comments and recommendations!
Prurient interview in the latest issue of Noise Receptor is incredible.
Quote from: absurdexposition on January 20, 2019, 11:41:57 PM
Prurient interview in the latest issue of Noise Receptor is incredible.
Yeah - Dom went all out with that interview. He already had the list of questions from me for a few months already, so clearly he had put huge amount of thought into what he wanted to say in response. What is in there is pretty much how the Skype conversation went down, other than being polished and slightly edited and streamlined once the text was transcribed.
Houellebcq's Submission. Waiting on my shelves for at least three years, I started reading today and then quickly made it through the first 90 pages and now looking forward for reading the rest of it.
Already any comments about the new book, Serotonin?
"Lou Reed: A Life," Anthony DeCurtis (Little, Brown & Co., 2017)
More in-depth look at what an unstable prick he was. But man, was he the best. Seems like it was written for high-school age kids. But some really funny anecdotes.
About 100 pages in. Crazy that there has never been a book about Swans before this. Some great stories and a lot of insight into Gira's life and working process.
(https://target.scene7.com/is/image/Target/GUEST_eab159c2-e953-45a8-8ebd-9c3017d018ab?wid=488&hei=488&fmt=pjpeg)
Houellebecq just keeps getting better and Submission was his strongest yet. Really wild how prescient he is about world events (Bali resort attack when Platform came out, Charlie Hebdo with Submission etc.). Really looking forward to Serotonin but English translation doesn't come till Fall.
Read a book called "The old King in his Exile" by Austrian author Arno Geiger. It's the autobiographical story about his father August suffering from Alzheimer disease and the slow but sure decay of his mind and memories. Many times while reading I was both in tears and roaring laughter. Not many books are able to do this.
I'm reading the 33 1/3 on Trout Mask Replica I found in a used bookstore and also reading Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer which is so different than the Netflix movie - I wish I had read the book first!!! Not sure if they're going to do the next two books as movies but I'm definitely going to get to them before watching the adaptation.
Just finished The Stand by Stephen King - what a great read.
I'm also casually skimming Trapped In A Scene - the book about UK hardcore and it's pretty cool. I definitely into these oral histories on music.
I'm reading Red Sparrow - saw the move last year and it was pretty great, Book is 100x better. And there's three of them!
I had started Oathbringer - I really liked the last two books but I got pretty tired of it pretty quickly and set it down after 80 pages. Maybe if I'm like at a cottage it might be cool but I guess I'm starting to get tired of this wizards and ghouls shit.
Quote from: cr on February 09, 2019, 08:45:22 PM
Houellebcq's Submission. Waiting on my shelves for at least three years, I started reading today and then quickly made it through the first 90 pages and now looking forward for reading the rest of it.
Already any comments about the new book, Serotonin?
Started Serotonin a while ago, guess i read half of it until i got distracted by other new books i bought. I have a strong feeling of "déjà-lu" with this book and the fact that i put it away before completing it says something in itself. But it's classic Houellebcq and there's some great writing in it. Phrases that start at the top of the page and end somewhere just past the middle. But i should read it completely before judging on it.
Spectrum Compendium. Working my way through it all slowly, a very interesting read about what was going on back then.
On the nightstand are Mishima's Spring Snow and le Guin's Always Coming Home. Both incredible. My ability to read a book for more than 30 minutes is pitiful. I was a much better reader before iPhones and pads.
Quote from: holy ghost on March 26, 2019, 02:37:14 AM
I'm reading Red Sparrow - saw the move last year and it was pretty great, Book is 100x better. And there's three of them!
I had started Oathbringer - I really liked the last two books but I got pretty tired of it pretty quickly and set it down after 80 pages. Maybe if I'm like at a cottage it might be cool but I guess I'm starting to get tired of this wizards and ghouls shit.
Been reading Gene Wolfe lately and have needed a fantasy recommendation...might go with this since i kinda live in a cottage, which is much better for morale than 'plywood shack'
Quote from: PuddysJacket on April 08, 2019, 03:03:54 AMBeen reading Gene Wolfe lately and have needed a fantasy recommendation...might go with this since i kinda live in a cottage, which is much better for morale than 'plywood shack'
I really enjoyed the first two in this Sanderson series. This one just seemed kind of flat. Like holy fuck dude it's a book about furry singing mutants and bad weather. How could it possibly take 10 1500 page books?
Lmaooooo
I just read Red Sparrow which was EXCELLENT - enjoyable, lots of awesome spy shit. Very fun. Can't wait to read the other two books in the series.
I am reading Authority by Jeff Vandermeer, I really liked Annihilation, and I'm really liking this one. These books have pretty mixed reviews but I'm really into it.
I also just got the Goblin "Seven Notes In Red" in the mail and I'm really excited to start in on that. 600 pages of Goblin!!
Also I just bought Robert Crumb - Complete Weirdo Comics anthology and I'm really enjoying that. I don't know much about these kind of comics but I want to get more into this kind of UG comics stuff. I bought his Book of Genesis before and a book about his art exhibit but I'd be down to hear more suggestions, Crumb or otherwise.... Speigelman? I loved Maus and I'd love to get more of his stuff....
Quote from: holy ghost on April 19, 2019, 04:31:24 AM
Also I just bought Robert Crumb - Complete Weirdo Comics anthology and I'm really enjoying that. I don't know much about these kind of comics but I want to get more into this kind of UG comics stuff. I bought his Book of Genesis before and a book about his art exhibit but I'd be down to hear more suggestions, Crumb or otherwise.... Speigelman? I loved Maus and I'd love to get more of his stuff....
Highly recommend Mark Beyer. Depressive surrealist comix. His comic 'Agony' was recently reissued by NYRB but he has some other collections that are oop. He did a fantastic collaboration with Alan Moore called 'The Bowing Machine' that I'd recommend too. Spiegelman is a champion of his.
Love Crumb to death. There's a Dan Clowes book you might dig/love called Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron...really remarkable, dark, hallucinatory, funny book. Read it going on 17-18ish yrs ago now, and its still up there with anything in my mind, comics, lit, or otherwise.
Fans of R. Crumb should also check out The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton, as well as his other work.
^ just added to my list, thanks
just finished The Phantom Blooper, the sequel to The Short Timers - the book Fuill Metal Jacket was based on. It's out of print but the PDF is available on slsk. Hands down the most underrated writer I've ever read.
It's based on actual newsweek reports of an American defector falling in with the Viet Cong. Unbelievably fucking great read.
Quote from: Force Neurotic on May 06, 2019, 10:04:59 PM
Fans of R. Crumb should also check out The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton, as well as his other work.
I have or had? a few comics of Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comics, they were ace.
I am re-reading the American chapter in Fight Your Own War.
Clive Barker Imajica. Third time reading it and everytime it hits me so hard and the emotions never change for me. Clive is my favorite author he has such an imagination. I like his work more when we broke out of just writing Horror. His fantasy writing is some of my favorite.
Halfway through the approx 2000 pages of Peter F. Hamilton's Void trilogy. Great science fiction. Half of the chapters are dreams of old days in some mystical reality and those parts are sometimes even better than the events in the distant future.
Cioran - The evil demiurge
Read this several times already, but today I started from the last page and it immediately punched me in the stomach.
" We are all deep in a hell each moment of which is a miracle."
Just finished Acceptance - last book in the Southern Reach trilogy. I liked the series a lot. It was pretty fucking weird. Authority was my least favorite and Annihilation/ Acceptance were much more interesting but I get all three were relevant to tie everything together. I mean did it really tie everything together? I have no idea.
Also reading Goblin - Seven Notes in Red
Next up I have Ligotti "Songs of a Dead Dreamer", Ballard "The Crystal World" and Charles Burns Black Hole graphic novel.
I try to keep up with new developments in science and recently read this paper published in the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
"Similar mechanisms of traumatic rectal injuries in patients who had anal sex with animals to those who were butt-fisted by human sexual partner" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28763709/#fft)
From the abstract-
QuoteAmong zoophiles, the mode of harm occurs through blood-engorged, interlocked penis that causes tissue lacerations upon retraction from an anus. In people experimenting with fisting, repetitive stretching within anal canal and of external sphincter causes the internal injuries. The mode of physical stimulation explains the extent of injuries in fisters vs. zoophiles: in fisting, the pressure applied by hand is controllable proximally around and within anal sphincter, while penetration by the animal penis is unpredictable and occurs within the proximal anal canal.
Started Ligotti's Songs of a Dead Dreamer and holy shit I have missed out by not getting into this guy sooner! Loving this book so far.
Animalia by Jean Baptiste Del Amo. Remarkable book-brutally detailed narrative following a family pig farm from the 1890s, through WW1, jumping forward into the 1980s where it has become a full on industrial farm. Vivid imagery of slaughter, WW1 surgical reconstruction, animal husbandry, mutilation and desecration...we follow characters through life and into death, following the progression of putrefaction of their corpse while the living linger. Imagery is sure to serve as an inspiration.
It's been long enough that I've seen those Lord of the Rings movies and I can re-read LOTR without thinking of Elijah Wood and that awful Sam Gamgee. I'm halfway through Fellowship now and loving it. Last time I read it was probably 10 years ago.
Are there any good books about Runes? I mean not the esoteric Hokus Pokus - Runes - your way to female empowerment or whatever type of books. Can't describe it any better, but I think y'all know what I mean.
Thanks!
Quote from: cr on July 14, 2019, 12:23:54 PM
Are there any good books about Runes? I mean not the esoteric Hokus Pokus - Runes - your way to female empowerment or whatever type of books. Can't describe it any better, but I think y'all know what I mean.
Thanks!
Jan Fries - Helrunar
Freya Aswynn - Leaves of Yggdrasil
Edred Thorsen - Futhark
Were the standard ones in the 90s.
Also worth reading The Edda to get an idea of the deities and culture and general awesome crazy shit that this area stems from.
I would also recommend "Gods Of The Blood" by Mattias Gardell on the history of some of the shitter exponents of this stuff. But I accept that won't be to everyone's taste on this forum.
Quote from: holy ghost on June 07, 2019, 02:33:09 PM
Started Ligotti's Songs of a Dead Dreamer and holy shit I have missed out by not getting into this guy sooner! Loving this book so far.
I actually just finished this book a week or so ago. I had never heard of him before reading it. I really enjoyed it (though I like his follow-up collection,
Grimscribe, a bit more (I would highly recommend it). I also just purchased his nonfiction book
The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, and look forward to reading it.
Right now I am reading Haruki Murakami's
Kafka on the Shore, and the Discorses of Epictetus.
Quote from: eraciator on July 14, 2019, 03:56:08 PM
Quote from: cr on July 14, 2019, 12:23:54 PM
Are there any good books about Runes? I mean not the esoteric Hokus Pokus - Runes - your way to female empowerment or whatever type of books. Can't describe it any better, but I think y'all know what I mean.
Thanks!
Jan Fries - Helrunar
Freya Aswynn - Leaves of Yggdrasil
Edred Thorsen - Futhark
+
Thomas Karlsson - Uthark
Quote from: vomitgore on July 22, 2019, 09:48:18 PM
Quote from: eraciator on July 14, 2019, 03:56:08 PM
Quote from: cr on July 14, 2019, 12:23:54 PM
Are there any good books about Runes? I mean not the esoteric Hokus Pokus - Runes - your way to female empowerment or whatever type of books. Can't describe it any better, but I think y'all know what I mean.
Thanks!
Jan Fries - Helrunar
Freya Aswynn - Leaves of Yggdrasil
Edred Thorsen - Futhark
+
Thomas Karlsson - Uthark
Thanks all. Will try to get most of them. Only had the Leaves of Yggdrasil book before.
Finished The Monk (1796) by Matthew Lewis, it stood out to me for several reasons, figured it was worth mentioning.
A Gothic novel from the end of the 18th century, usurped by classics of the genre like Dracula and Frankenstein, but entirely unique and surprisingly depraved for the time period. Everything from murder, rape, incest, Satanism, and necrophilia...Lewis was certainly a sick fuck, for the time period at least.
A real stand-out for me in the cannon of Gothic literature, definitely worth a read.
Quote from: Frataxin on August 03, 2019, 07:24:54 PM
Finished The Monk (1796) by Matthew Lewis, it stood out to me for several reasons, figured it was worth mentioning.
A Gothic novel from the end of the 18th century, usurped by classics of the genre like Dracula and Frankenstein, but entirely unique and surprisingly depraved for the time period. Everything from murder, rape, incest, Satanism, and necrophilia...Lewis was certainly a sick fuck, for the time period at least.
A real stand-out for me in the cannon of Gothic literature, definitely worth a read.
Though I am not too big a fan of Gothic literature, I had really wanted to read this one ever since Amazon sent it to me on my recommended list. I will definitely have to make a point of reading it.
Mountainhead...i read The Consumer 20ish yrs ago and in the back of my head, was always kinda expecting to stumble into another writer inspired by it.
Oddly enough, the Dennis Cooper blurb on the back of The Consumer is what led me to Cooper's work, and Cooper's blog is what led me to Mountainhead...which feels like the narrator from one of Gira's stories has just grown older, more cerebral, more philosophical.
Some of the best writing I've sat with in a while.
Quote from: PuddysJacket on September 05, 2019, 07:24:40 PM
Mountainhead...
Some of the best writing I've sat with in a while.
Definitely one of my favourites of the past few years. I read his latest, Bosun, last week - it's another beast entirely but equally as enjoyable. His first title for Amphetamine Sulphate was also good, looking forward to the next in the coming months.
Quote from: Frataxin on August 03, 2019, 07:24:54 PM
Finished The Monk (1796) by Matthew Lewis, it stood out to me for several reasons, figured it was worth mentioning.
A Gothic novel from the end of the 18th century, usurped by classics of the genre like Dracula and Frankenstein, but entirely unique and surprisingly depraved for the time period. Everything from murder, rape, incest, Satanism, and necrophilia...Lewis was certainly a sick fuck, for the time period at least.
A real stand-out for me in the cannon of Gothic literature, definitely worth a read.
One of my favorite books ever, have read it a handful of times through-out my life. Have you read
"Melmoth, The Wanderer"? If you enjoy Lewis' work you would certainly enjoy ol' Melmoth.
As for what I am currently reading, the
"The Best of Skate Fate" Zine collection. Just an old skateboarding zine from the heyday's from Gary Scott ("Skate") Davis, the devil locked master of the boneless one.
Ordered
"KIDDIEPUNK Collected 2011-2015", patiently awaiting. Anyone else have it? Did you enjoy it? I namely got it for
"Home" and
"Teenage Satanists".
I really only enjoyed Sotos and Salerno's material in the Kiddiepunk collection, which was a bit of a bummer since I already had Home, but Teenage Satanists was enjoyable, although I've yet to have a fortuitous encounter with Cooper (his contribution was a very unremarkable introduction to his work [maybe his material is more a sort of Bonus Features for those who had already read the Marble Swarm?], and a later reading of My Loose Thread knocked Cooper's name & Closer considerably further down my to-read list).
Currently, I'm working through Jacques Derrida's Of Grammatology and Reading Derrida's Of Grammatology which has contributions by numerous scholars elaborating on certain themes and rhetorical devices Derrida uses. Very punishing, but very rewarding.
Quote from: RyanWreck on September 07, 2019, 01:10:28 AM
One of my favorite books ever, have read it a handful of times through-out my life. Have you read "Melmoth, The Wanderer"? If you enjoy Lewis' work you would certainly enjoy ol' Melmoth.
Both of these are really enjoyable. I distinctly remember especially enjoying Melmoth the Wanderer.
Currently reading "The Talisman" by Stephen King and Peter Straub. It's okay. I wanted something not too involved.
I just read Chaos: Charles Manson, The CIA and the Secret History of the 60's by Tom O'Neill. It was fucking great. Totally discredits Helter Skelter as a totally biased trash heap. Was great. Everyone interested in Manson should read this book.
I also read Macbeth by Jo Nesbo. It was also great. I read it at a cottage and it was totally fun, totally convoluted, and ridiculous.
Currently reading:
Archeofuturism by Guillame Faye: Some really insightful thoughts in here, especially considering the book was written in 1998. Some predictions were right, some others were wrong but nevertheless it's worth reading. But his reflections on technolgy related matters are definitely the weakes point of the book.
The three impostors by Arthur Machen: Definitely a small masterpiece by one of the best author in the weird/fantastic literature.
Quote from: holy ghost on September 10, 2019, 04:25:57 AM
Quote from: RyanWreck on September 07, 2019, 01:10:28 AM
One of my favorite books ever, have read it a handful of times through-out my life. Have you read "Melmoth, The Wanderer"? If you enjoy Lewis' work you would certainly enjoy ol' Melmoth.
Both of these are really enjoyable. I distinctly remember especially enjoying Melmoth the Wanderer.
Have you seen the movie version of
"The Monk" with Vincent Cassel? Usually I'm not a huge fan of modern directors taking on classic Gothic materials (i.e. the joke that was the 1992 Bram Stoker's
"Dracula") , but they did
"The Monk" exceptionally well.
I just started reading "A Wile Sheep Chase" by Haruki Murakami today. I just began reading his novels this summer, and have enjoyed all that I have read so far. Anyone else like his books?
Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare by Michael A. Hoffman.
I'll Be Gone In the Dark Michelle McNamara
Cocaine Nights JG Ballard
Kings County Distillery Guide to Urban Moonshining David Haskell (This is for my job, but still a great read)
Started Derrida's Writing and Difference (with Sarah Wood's reading guide in conjunction) after finishing Of Grammatology. I'll probably be staying away from fiction for a while until the new Lazslo Krasznohorkai and the new batch (or at least New Juche) from Amphetamine Sulphate comes out.
Quote from: simulacrum on September 20, 2019, 08:30:48 PM
Started Derrida's Writing and Difference (with Sarah Wood's reading guide in conjunction) after finishing Of Grammatology. I'll probably be staying away from fiction for a while until the new Lazslo Krasznohorkai and the new batch (or at least New Juche) from Amphetamine Sulphate comes out.
check out the big brain on brad! ;)
JK... where do you think I should start on Derrida? - always wanted to dig in but its a bit intimidating.
Quote from: nowirehangers on September 17, 2019, 07:04:32 PM
I'll Be Gone In the Dark Michelle McNamara
got this on my "to read" shelf is it good, it came out before they caught him right?
haha if my brain was worth a shit I wouldn't have needed to spend the sheer amount of time on it that I did and need to read a companion guide and watch loads of videos/lectures on the material.
Derrida is intimidating, but with (A LOT) of patience and a lot of time spent really closely and carefully reading, it'll come together. If you won't be able to make that sort of investment into a book then I wouldn't bother. I tried reading his Gift of Death maybe two years back and quit halfway through when I realized I couldn't even tell what the fuck he was writing about.
If you are VERY interested and passionate about writing/reading/language, I'd say give Of Grammatology a shot. It's his most well-known book, and so there are far more study resources and materials like podcasts, youtube videos, etc. that could help you along. But be warned: If you're not at least roughly familiar with Heidegger, structuralism/post-structuralism, semiotics, and so on, it will make it that much harder to understand.
With all that said, it was personally worth the sheer amount of work it was to get through it.
But as for further Derrida recs, I'm not familiar with his other works.
Quote from: RyanWreck on September 07, 2019, 01:10:28 AM
One of my favorite books ever, have read it a handful of times through-out my life. Have you read "Melmoth, The Wanderer"? If you enjoy Lewis' work you would certainly enjoy ol' Melmoth.
Haven't read Melmoth, although I've heard good things about it. Definitely will check it out.
Finishing up
Philosophy In The Boudoir by de Sade. Really enjoyable. Straddles the line between political commentary, smut, and absurdist humor.
THE TENANT by Roland Topor (you might know the Polanski movie). Great book about paranoia
Recent reads:
VERNON SUBUTEX by Virginie Despentes (also BAISE MOI)- satirical portrait of modern France, style quiet reminiscent of Houellebecq
TALES OF THE PECULIAR by Ransom Riggs; folkish fantasy- clean and easily digestible
I just finished 2 graphic novels yesterday, been on a big kick lately.
HITLER
Written & illustrated by Shigeru Mizuki. Published by Drawn & Quarterly, 2015.
A very brilliant piece of work that caught my eye at the Drawn & Quarterly bookstore here in Montreal. It follows Hitler from the time he was a young boy, right up until his death. The most interesting aspect of this novel is that it is from the perspective of a Japanese citizen who actually saw combat in WWII, and not some 40 year old dude from the western world who wasn't even born when the war took place. I read in what I believe was the preface, that a lot of people's perspective on the war (and other important historical events) differ greatly from region to region. It seems so obvious, and in hindsight it is, but being a kid who was born in the 90s in the Americas, its easy for me to forget that sometimes. Anyways, what sets this adise from most other things I have read about Hitler is that Mizuki absolutely does not shy away from showing how human Hitler was. It seems like all I hear and read is how evil and non-human and other worldly he was, and I think that is an issue which almost reads like an alleviation of accountability; even an excuse: " ~this man was pure evil, he wasn't even human, he was a monster ~" And to me that is just not what I am interested in reading. Mizuki shows time and time again Hitler's emotions. His fucking whiny moods, his infantile ways, his most personal feelings and not only through the writing, but in the art as well.
Speaking of which, the art is very fascinating. Black and white -thank god- and follows a very specific style: insane amounts of detail in the background, the buildings, the nazi flags and the towns, the statues, the cars, the large groups of people, etc, while COMPLETELY contrasting it with the most childish looking people and characters that take up the foreground. Very well done. Mizuki was brilliant. Excited to start his massive 5 volume magnum opus- A history of Japan spanning from the early 1900's right up until just before the turn of the century.
GREEN RIVER KILLER: A TRUE DETECTIVE STORY
Written by Jeff Jensen, illustrated by Jonathan Case. Published by Dark Horse, 2011.
Let me start with a confession. I tried to read this thing while listening to a very particular album, and I think we all know which one I am talking about. Needless to say, it wasn't working out. I don't think I even made it to The First Whore before I turned that shit off. It was way too fucking cheesy of a moment and I couldn't follow through. I felt a slight wave of embarrassment sitting in the bookstore as I took my headphones out and stuffed them back in my pocket for even thinking that it would be an option. So I sat there and read the book in one sitting. Jeff Jensen is the author, but he also happens to be the son of the lead investigator who was directly responsible for putting Ridgeway away for life. This was written with inside knowledge that the lead investigator only shared with his son for the sake of this novel, and so in turn, it's more of a testament to the investigation, Jensen's father, and not really an insight into Gary himself. Sure, we see aspects of the mass murderer's character bleed into the story, like when interviews are being conducted; but that is kind of inevitable. This reads similarly to how it feels to watch a solid biopic on law enforcement catching a killer... Not that surprising I know, but it is a pretty good read. I was a fan of how it jumped back and forth from 2 story lines; one taking place in the 80's and the other taking place in the early 00's when they had him trotting around town trying to find the bodies he claimed they never found.
The art, all handled by Jonathan Case is great. Also black and white, and thankfully no shading here. Nothing against shading at all, but just not for this. I like this style. All outline with pitch black fill in. No bullshit. One of the first scenes is Gary standing over the very first child he ever tried to kill, after leading him into the woods. The look on the poor kids face is seared in my brain already. The drool, the blood and spit, the confusion and freckles and the look of absolute confusion and betrayal on the kids stupid fucking mug; I won't forget it. Very well drawn. This could have been a very corny book, and at times it does seem like that is the case, but overall I fuck with it.
Both recommended!
That green river killer book/graphic novel sounds awesome.
Currently reading Little Boy Blue by Ed Bunker, great read so far. Equal parts sad and funny. It's about a boy going through the juvenile detention system in 1940s California.
I have a few on the go.
AUDINT - Unsound:Undead
"Tracing the the potential of sound, infrasound, and ultrasound to access anomalous zones of transmission between the realms of the living and the dead. "
A comprehensive gathering of short essays, some fictional, some based on facts I just read one about a notorious prison camp in Syria that uses silence as a form of torture for its prisoners.
Very much recommended - https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/audint-unsoundundead (https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/audint-unsoundundead)
Also reading Folklore in Oxfordshire which is exactly what it says on the cover, very well researched so far.
Just finished James Herbert - ASH which was easy on the brain and cost me 50p from a charity shop. Apparently it shocked / offended a few people with its themes (spoilers include hitler, royal family etc) but its typical Herbert and his last completed novel before he died.
Alchemist of the Avant-Garde: The Case of Marcel Duchamp.
The Kremlins Candidate - the first Red Sparrow novel was pretty good. Lots of cool spy shit happening, some tantalizing sexy bits and a good ending. A good cottage read for sure. The second one was okay and the third one is so fucking stupid I'm having a hard time reading it. Truly this dude is fucking phoning it in. I'm actually bored of the lurid descriptions of lusty sex and sweaty heaving bosoms. I'm about 80 pages away and I need to see this thing to it's conclusion but what a disappointment.
Update: it was even worse than I could have anticipated. And not even the ending, just the whole book. Actually the entire series except for the first one.
Just started "I'll Be Gone In The Dark" by Michelle McNamara about the search for the Golden State Killer. Apparently it's supposed to be great.
Quote from: holy ghost on October 19, 2019, 06:07:01 PM
Just started "I'll Be Gone In The Dark" by Michelle McNamara about the search for the Golden State Killer. Apparently it's supposed to be great.
It's an utter piece of useless trash that clearly suffers from the xanax, fentanyl and adderall which was found in her system when she died.
Quote from: Force Neurotic on October 21, 2019, 11:04:02 PM
Quote from: holy ghost on October 19, 2019, 06:07:01 PM
Just started "I'll Be Gone In The Dark" by Michelle McNamara about the search for the Golden State Killer. Apparently it's supposed to be great.
It's an utter piece of useless trash that clearly suffers from the xanax, fentanyl and adderall which was found in her system when she died.
Wow, I'm really enjoying it after about 50 pages. You seem to feel really strongly about this book?
Has anyone gotten into New Juche's latest yet? I'll be picking it up soon
Did a fair amount of searching the forums with no success, and if a new thread is needed I could start one but -
I'm looking for some recommendations on the subject of sound. Particularly theory, approach, etc... not so much composition or formality.
I have been recommended In Search of a Concrete Music by Pierre Schaeffer which seems like a good starting point, but am wondering if anyone else has some books on this subject they find compelling. Another loose example: I was gifted awhile ago the first Arcana book by John Zorn...
Thanks in advance
Quote from: Neanderthal on October 26, 2019, 08:35:16 PMI'm looking for some recommendations on the subject of sound.
Maybe not
quite what you're after but The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross is a fantastic book on 20th Century Music - more detailing the sociopolitical conditions a lot of the artist lived under and how their work was viewed at the time, than about their approach but I friggin' love this book and I'll hype it up any chance I get.
I'd also suggest Forces In Motion by Graeme Lock about Anthony Braxton - he talks a lot about his compositional processes, as well as acting as a sort of tour diary of his 1985 Europe tour. He also eats at McDonalds every friggin' day as he spent all his money on records. It's a great read and just reissued/updated so you don't have to pay big bucks for a Da Capo 1st edition.....
Quote from: KillToForget on October 22, 2019, 04:45:56 PM
Has anyone gotten into New Juche's latest yet? I'll be picking it up soon
Which book? From what publisher?
Quote from: yosef666 on October 26, 2019, 09:04:38 PM
Quote from: KillToForget on October 22, 2019, 04:45:56 PM
Has anyone gotten into New Juche's latest yet? I'll be picking it up soon
Which book? From what publisher?
Phillip Best just published a new title from N.J. entitled "The Devils".
Not too long ago I read an earlier book by an author Best is publishing. He's an ex-porn actor* & the book* was half-ass Dennis Cooper. Just awful. Can't remember his name (or his porn name) nor the name of the book.
*Christopher Zeischegg aka Danny Wylde; "The Wolves that live in skin and Space"
Quote from: holy ghost on October 22, 2019, 01:40:35 AM
Quote from: Force Neurotic on October 21, 2019, 11:04:02 PM
Quote from: holy ghost on October 19, 2019, 06:07:01 PM
Just started "I'll Be Gone In The Dark" by Michelle McNamara about the search for the Golden State Killer. Apparently it's supposed to be great.
It's an utter piece of useless trash that clearly suffers from the xanax, fentanyl and adderall which was found in her system when she died.
Wow, I'm really enjoying it after about 50 pages. You seem to feel really strongly about this book?
Still wondering about this super hot take - I just finished it today and really enjoyed it. I would definitely be interested in watching the HBO series when it comes out as well - my only gripe is that they didn't really discuss anything about the capture/who GSK actually was, I had to go to frickin' Wikipedia for that. I guess "innocent until proven guilty" or whatever....
If I recall correctly, the book was published before the capture?
Quote from: KillToForget on October 29, 2019, 08:53:48 PM
If I recall correctly, the book was published before the capture?
Yes - and also the author died before it was even finished.
Quote from: Neanderthal on October 26, 2019, 08:35:16 PM
Did a fair amount of searching the forums with no success, and if a new thread is needed I could start one but -
I'm looking for some recommendations on the subject of sound.
Probably your best bet here http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=1883.0
Sound By Artists is fantastic, the list of recommended recordings at the end is worth it alone.
Quote from: Duncan on October 29, 2019, 10:03:55 PM
Probably your best bet here http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=1883.0
Whoa, thanks! Don't know how I missed it.
Quote from: Force Neurotic on October 21, 2019, 11:04:02 PM
Quote from: holy ghost on October 19, 2019, 06:07:01 PM
Just started "I'll Be Gone In The Dark" by Michelle McNamara about the search for the Golden State Killer. Apparently it's supposed to be great.
It's an utter piece of useless trash that clearly suffers from the xanax, fentanyl and adderall which was found in her system when she died.
Totally agree, it should never have been published in the state it was. It read more like a collection of articles put together than a coherent book
Quote from: Neanderthal on October 26, 2019, 08:35:16 PM
Did a fair amount of searching the forums with no success, and if a new thread is needed I could start one but -
I'm looking for some recommendations on the subject of sound. Particularly theory, approach, etc... not so much composition or formality.
I have been recommended In Search of a Concrete Music by Pierre Schaeffer which seems like a good starting point, but am wondering if anyone else has some books on this subject they find compelling. Another loose example: I was gifted awhile ago the first Arcana book by John Zorn...
Thanks in advance
High Static Dead Lines: Sonic Spectres and the Object Hereafter by Kristen Gallerneaux
Might be up your alley, might not be...I'm eagerly awaiting my copy. More a history/collection of....sonic oddities than anything I guess. Radio pills that can be swallowed so that a doctor can tune in, emf phones that talk to the dead, fax machines used to decode the *language* of hurricanes, etc
Coming up on the last story in the collected Breece D'J Pancake. Heartbreaking and incredible southern gothic. The heir apparent to Flannery O'Connor. If you're a fan of hers, he's an absolute must.
I just read The Inconvenient Indian - really solid read about a really dark subject. The author approached it with a lot of humour and optimism but wow man as a Canadian facing no hardships it's hard to not feel shitty after reading this.
Just started Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Seems trashy and fun. I like trashy and fun.
I also started The Forgotten Island by David Sodergren. And I put it down after 20 pages. Cool cover but wow this writing is fucking TRASH. I mean fuck dude I bet my fucking dog has could write a better book.
JAKA'S STORY
I am reading an "Hoke Moseley Omnibus", 4 detective novels by Charles Willeford. One of my favorite writers. Excellent writer who does not spare the brutality in his "pulp" fiction.
I finally finished up the Goblin "Seven Notes In Red" book - pretty good. A LOT of info I didn't need and I skimmed over quite a bit. Authoritative and well done to be sure but that doesn't always make for an easy read. Going to save the "biographies" for another time.
I was reading Heart Shaped Box and put it down. Just not that great. Would love to find some contemporary horror fiction worth reading, this was just kind of dull and after 50 pages I wasn't really feeling it.
Started The Dead Zone by Stephen King - I have read most of his books (up until about 1995 or so) and somehow bypassed this one.
Quote from: holy ghost on November 09, 2019, 09:29:26 PM
I finally finished up the Goblin "Seven Notes In Red" book - pretty good. A LOT of info I didn't need and I skimmed over quite a bit. Authoritative and well done to be sure but that doesn't always make for an easy read. Going to save the "biographies" for another time.
I've been meaning to give that a read myself. My girlfriend picked it up in anticipation of their latest tour that's already passed through our town. It definitely struck me as being thick for a band book
Right now reading Swans - Sacrifice and Transcendence by Nick Soulsby while repeatedly listening to new Swans - Leaving Meaning. I'm enjoying both very much. Easy, as I'm a total Swans fan, all eras and incarnations. No excuse.
And also just started Charles Bronson - Loonyology book.
Quote from: cr on November 16, 2019, 04:12:39 PM
And also just started Charles Bronson - Loonyology book.
"Fucking loonies... they're great, mate, but... well... they're fucking loonies, aren't they?"
I am about to finish BRONSON, the autobiography, incredible.
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on October 26, 2019, 09:11:48 PM
Quote from: yosef666 on October 26, 2019, 09:04:38 PM
Quote from: KillToForget on October 22, 2019, 04:45:56 PM
Has anyone gotten into New Juche's latest yet? I'll be picking it up soon
Which book? From what publisher?
Phillip Best just published a new title from N.J. entitled "The Devils".
Not too long ago I read an earlier book by an author Best is publishing. He's an ex-porn actor* & the book* was half-ass Dennis Cooper. Just awful. Can't remember his name (or his porn name) nor the name of the book.
*Christopher Zeischegg aka Danny Wylde; "The Wolves that live in skin and Space"
Sucks to hear about Zeischegg. I've been looking forward to his Magician coming out through AS. Seems ambitious at the very least since it's a novel, art book, and a film. With that said, though, I'm not expecting it to be this generation's Genet, or to be, like, REALLY impressed with the writing. But it definitely seems interesting. Steak Mtn made a cool cover for the novel as well.
Just got a nice stack from Infinity Land-Heliogabalus, or The Crowned Anarchist by Antonin Artaud, and their Coil tribute book. Both are really impressively laid out.
Recently finished Baron Wenkheim's Homecoming by Laszlo Krasznahorkai and Earth is Best by Peter O'Leary. The former was absolutely crushing,highest recommendation. The latter is a volume of poetry about the fungal kingdom, beautiful stuff.
Currently reading Lee M. Hollander's translation of The Poetic Edda. He tries to recapture the context and spirit of the texts, but the language can be a slog to get through at times. Over all, a good and engaging text that demands close attention to detail.
Anyone have recommendations for other translations or interpretations of this text?
I'd read the first four books in Joe Abercrombie's First Law series and really enjoyed them and started the fifth - The Heroes - a few days ago. Great funny writing with every character an unreliable shitbag. I see he's started a new series 30 years in the future and I really want to finish off these books and the short story collection and dive into that next year.
Also I read My Friend Dahmer and it was also really great. I loved Trashed and I see he's doing a graphic novel on Kent State next year.
Fanzine themed evenings here, as of late. Special Interests #11 arrived a few days ago, so I've been reading it along with #1 of Dungeon Synth zine Rotstock (and, for some reason I cannot explain, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book far more hilarious and intelligent when you're 15 or so). To top things off, I've been perusing Shocktilt #2, which has inspired a few music purchases.
Additionally, my work situation has changed so that audiobooks are now essential to even exist. Along with various The Great Courses (Indian History, Christian/Islamic/Jewish Mysticism and a long course on Bach), I'm heavily into old AD&D novels now. Mindless Fantasy, with tolerable levels of woke.
Just started the PKD Valis trilogy and excited to work my way through it. Even with all of the theological babble, I'm intrigued and enjoying the first book. I've read others say that the second title is even better.
Art sex music / Cosey Fanni Tutti
still in the beginning, not out of her childhood years yet. writing style is a bit annoying, but i'll probably get used to it.
Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies / Geofrrey West
very interesting book, the author is trying to come up with a general theory on growth and scaling, meaning that all "complex adaptive systems" such as living organisms, cities and companies all follow similar rules when it comes to growth and lifespan. weird way of looking at the world.
Straw dogs : thoughts on humans and other animals / John Gray
pessimistic filosophy, john gray dissects modern secular humanism and christianity and shows how both are to blame for our problems with the economy and ecology. very compelling book, kind of like linkola without the naturalism.
The atrocity exhibition / J. G. Ballard ; preface by William Burroughs
classic ballard, a book i've read years and years ago and didn't really understand back then. i'm planning on reading all of his books, i've read maybe 5-6 before so i have many to look forward to. one of the most important writers of the 20th century IMO.
The Vory: Russia's super mafia / Mark Galeotti
interesting if a bit shallow look into the weird subculture of the vory, russias sadly defunct criminal subculture. lots of fucked up crime stories if you're into that sort of thing.
Totuudenetsijät : esoteerinen henkisyys Akseli Gallen-Kallelan, Pekka Halosen ja Hugo Simbergin taiteessa / Nina Kokkinen.
finnish book about esoteric themes in the paintings of gallen-kallela, pekka halosen and hugo simberg. interesting if a bit dry, most likely aimed at art historians.
Neil Whitehead - Hans Staden's True History: An Account of Cannibal Captivity in Brazil
Translation of, and commentary on a German traders capture, imprisonment, and escape from a cannibalism practicing tribe in Brazil. Gruesome and harrowing stuff. Whitehead was a brilliant anthropologist deeply interested in what he called 'the poetics of violence' looking at how ritualized violence coded cultural resistance to outside groups. Sadly he passed away unexpectedly in 2012. He had an industrial band too, 'Blood Jewel', though I think their music only exists on myspace.
https://www.dukeupress.edu/books/browse/by-series/series-detail?IdNumber=2880285
Highly recommend this series. Of what I have read, all are soundly researched and embody Whitehead's vision of "a need to better comprehend the role of those who actually do the work of violence - torturers, assassins, terrorists - as much as the role of those who suffer the consequences".
Quote from: host body on January 13, 2020, 04:59:00 PM
The atrocity exhibition / J. G. Ballard ; preface by William Burroughs
classic ballard, a book i've read years and years ago and didn't really understand back then. i'm planning on reading all of his books, i've read maybe 5-6 before so i have many to look forward to. one of the most important writers of the 20th century IMO.
I've read Crash & High Rise years ago, just started The Crystal World and planning on making a real effort to read his major works this year. Looking for other authors who evoke this sort of "dystopian / post apocalyptic/ isolationist / weird / hallucinatory" feel as Ballard. Does not need to be "sci-fi" per say. I'm trying to identify the essence I'm trying to describe, somewhere between A Scanner Darkly by PKD and The Wasp Factory by Banks. Any suggestions welcome as well as Ballard books maybe off my radar?
Read Concrete Island to go with Crash and High Rise- they make for a loose thematic trilogy
Quote from: holy ghost on March 04, 2020, 04:00:51 AM
Quote from: host body on January 13, 2020, 04:59:00 PM
The atrocity exhibition / J. G. Ballard ; preface by William Burroughs
classic ballard, a book i've read years and years ago and didn't really understand back then. i'm planning on reading all of his books, i've read maybe 5-6 before so i have many to look forward to. one of the most important writers of the 20th century IMO.
I've read Crash & High Rise years ago, just started The Crystal World and planning on making a real effort to read his major works this year. Looking for other authors who evoke this sort of "dystopian / post apocalyptic/ isolationist / weird / hallucinatory" feel as Ballard. Does not need to be "sci-fi" per say. I'm trying to identify the essence I'm trying to describe, somewhere between A Scanner Darkly by PKD and The Wasp Factory by Banks. Any suggestions welcome as well as Ballard books maybe off my radar?
I get what you mean and I'm always on the lookout for books with that feel. I'll think of some and post them later today.
Finished Ballad's Drowned World a week or two ago and it's definitely one of the best things I've read in recent years. High Rise is good, too. Recently picked up The Terminal Beach while on vacation, as well as Kingdom Come with which I'm looking forward to taking the dive into latter-day Ballard.
For latter- day Ballard I really liked Cocaine Nights
Quote from: cantle on March 04, 2020, 04:25:14 AM
Read Concrete Island to go with Crash and High Rise- they make for a loose thematic trilogy
This is my plan - I'm going to re-read Crash and High Rise as well since it's been at least 20 years and do the "best short stories" at the same time. I'd really like to read the book of collected interviews as well.
I also started "The Witcher" series. I read the first book last week and kind of loved it. I loved the show too. I'll be ping-ponging between both authors this year.
Reliving my early twenties the last couple of weeks, with an all-American read fest:
Charles Bukowski - Women
Charles Bukowski - Tales of Ordinary Madness
William S. Burroughs - Junky
Jack Kerouac - On the Road
James Mason - Siege
I'm literally offending both the American 50's Establishment, and the American 2020's Establishment. That is I would be if I lived in America and anyone cared about my reading habits. Nevertheless, I'm fucking edgy and it feels good to be off the Fantasy/Sci-Fi dreck and back to somewhat real stuff. I will burn through the rest of Bukowski's prose bibliography (he loved alcohol in a similar way as I do, except I'm nowhere near as addicted, and don't really care for his sexual exploits), and then possibly start mucking about with Burroughs' cut up BS. There may be some other beat generation writer I should revisit/discover, but I'm not sure. Even while not being one for PC, I am still very much uncomfortable with the whole gay child rape stuff going on with Burroughs and Ginsberg both in life and in their output. The latter also writes like a turd - James Mason is unironically a more clever and entertaining writer than Ginsberg.
The Philosophical Reactionaries
(https://i.imgur.com/trtcNzk.png)
fortunately i am a retarded brainlet so it's not really sinking in, checkmate lefties
Quote from: Yrjö-Koskinen on March 12, 2020, 11:25:52 PM
Reliving my early twenties the last couple of weeks, with an all-American read fest:
Charles Bukowski - Women
Charles Bukowski - Tales of Ordinary Madness
William S. Burroughs - Junky
Jack Kerouac - On the Road
James Mason - Siege
I'm literally offending both the American 50's Establishment, and the American 2020's Establishment. That is I would be if I lived in America and anyone cared about my reading habits. Nevertheless, I'm fucking edgy and it feels good to be off the Fantasy/Sci-Fi dreck and back to somewhat real stuff. I will burn through the rest of Bukowski's prose bibliography (he loved alcohol in a similar way as I do, except I'm nowhere near as addicted, and don't really care for his sexual exploits), and then possibly start mucking about with Burroughs' cut up BS. There may be some other beat generation writer I should revisit/discover, but I'm not sure. Even while not being one for PC, I am still very much uncomfortable with the whole gay child rape stuff going on with Burroughs and Ginsberg both in life and in their output. The latter also writes like a turd - James Mason is unironically a more clever and entertaining writer than Ginsberg.
A compilation of Gary Snyder's essays have been translated to Finnish. He was a poet and an essayist and has deep ecology themes in his writings that really resonate with me. A less dark Linkola wouldn't be far off. He wasn't a central character in the beat movement but he was friends with kerouac and the gang and is considered a member of the movement.
Quote from: host body on March 14, 2020, 11:50:26 AM
A compilation of Gary Snyder's essays have been translated to Finnish. He was a poet and an essayist and has deep ecology themes in his writings that really resonate with me. A less dark Linkola wouldn't be far off. He wasn't a central character in the beat movement but he was friends with kerouac and the gang and is considered a member of the movement.
Snyder was also inspiration for the Japhy Ryder character in Kerouac's
Dharma Bums. I like his essays and his poems are from the more tolerable end of the beat movement stuff. I guess I'd recommend
Turtle Island most. It has both poems and (a few) essays.
Charles Bukowski - Factotum
Charles Bukowski - Post Office
Cleared two more today, and I kind of wish I'd gone for the audiobook instead and savored the experience a bit more. I can't pace myself when reading, unfortunately. Regardless, I feel like I'm home. It's been almost twenty years since I read Bukowski and made an ass out of myself on numerous occasions by half-unconsciously imitating his mode of drinking (at least I interpreted things in that way at the time; it is far more likely that my genetic and social predisposition for alcohol made me enjoy his writing at a time when life was pretty wet).
As a side activity I read a couple of online texts about him written in the past few years, and realized that literary criticism these days is, perhaps unsurprisingly, boring, phony, schematic and possibly drawn from some pool of unthinking repetition. These two texts concern the same book, even while they are written seven years apart. It is clear that author #2 read author #1 - or were educated in the same sectarian environment.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/on-drinking-bukowski-book-release-date-alcohol-hemingway-dylan-thomas-a8829511.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/books/review/charles-bukowski-on-drinking.html
This is pretty much the same shit written twice, with a different (stupid) take. These people are mongoloids. Regarding the New York Times review, it is obvious that for a person to write that "although Bukowski revels in being a down-and-out, he always has the upper hand", he can't have read even the major novels, let alone the short stories and poems. Bukowski and/or his alter ego is constantly beaten up, beset by sexual impotence caused by our blamed on alcohol, as well as prone to behavior towards women that isn't "macho" by any standard, but embarrassing and drunken, and very explicitly written out to be perceived as such. The Independent bullshit is perhaps even worse - Bukowski's writing may have been "misogynist" in the sense that he didn't like most women (which makes sense, since most women are terrible), but anyone who reads him without a gender studies degree up the rectum would notice that he is far more hostile and dehumanizing towards men. The examples in the review - Bukowski writing negative things about a female author talking - can be easily counterbalanced by his constant attacks on almost all male writers he ever encountered, in case you feel that equality is important. And a whole paragraph concerning the hip idea that drunk driving is morally reprehensible..? Shiver me timbers, hot take... The snug stupidity is unlimited in both these pieces, and these disgusting current year snobs pretending to pass judgment on someone like Bukowski is literally like Tommy Robinson reviewing Nasr's The Study Quran. It's like, in a certain reality you may have a point, but unfortunately you're a terrible person and your views are too limited to be of import here. And that is an unfair comparison - to Robinson.
Judst finished No return: urban alienation, petty crime, racism, drug dealing, identity crisis, jihadism; a lot to recommend in it.
Cracking into Blood Meridian after years of people telling me to check out Cormac McCarthy. Nigh 100 pages in and finding it to be thoroughly good shit.
Reading T.E.D. Klein's "The Ceremonies". Killer horror in the vein of Stephen King. Slow burn Lovecraftian rural Jersey Children of the Corn vibes homaging a lot of obscure horror authors-Arthur Machen actually fills a role in the plot.
Downard's "Carnivals of Life and Death" on the docket, paranoiac coming of age by the guy who wrote King/Kill 33.
Junky - it was.... okay. I didn't love it. Interesting book for sure and I'll perhaps go re-read Naked Lunch but didn't blow me away.
Bourne & The Strange Bird - I loved both of these. Especially Bourne. I really liked the Southern Reach trilogy but these were just excellent. Dead Astronauts in my to-read pile.
Blood of Elves - these Witcher books are okay, definitely a fun cottage read but not a whole lot of substance. I am planning to keep going with them, I have read The Last Wish recently and need to backtrack for Sword of Destiny.
High Rise, Crash & The Best Short Fiction of J. G. Ballard. I read these when I was younger but gave them a re-read. Really enjoyed both, especially High Rise. Just started Concrete Island as well as casually reading a book of interviews.
Quote from: holy ghost on May 18, 2020, 07:06:37 PM
Junky - it was.... okay. I didn't love it. Interesting book for sure and I'll perhaps go re-read Naked Lunch but didn't blow me away.
Next on my Burroughs list whenever I get around to obtaining a copy. Naked Lunch is a dense and wild ride.
Last night I started Inverted World by Christopher Priest. Too early to comment on it, but intriguing sci-fi so far.
Looking for something new to dive-deep into these days. It is hard to find truly transgressive material these days, and I often find myself easily bored.
I read an eclectic mix of occult, history, economics and finance, psychology, and philosophy.
If anyone happens to know something truly obscure and original in any of these fields, I would greatly appreciate the suggestion.
I am looking for inspiration to create new things with.
Christopher Gray - The Acid Diaries
Reading this on the recommendation of Erik Davis. Cover art is truly awful and the subtitle is dumb, but the book itself is very good. Older dude starts to take acid again in his 60s after his life collapses. The book is a diary of his trips and self reflections. Goes head on into mortality in meaning in a very honest way.
Quote from: Eigen Bast on June 10, 2020, 12:41:13 AM
Christopher Gray - The Acid Diaries
Reading this on the recommendation of Erik Davis. Cover art is truly awful and the subtitle is dumb, but the book itself is very good. Older dude starts to take acid again in his 60s after his life collapses. The book is a diary of his trips and self reflections. Goes head on into mortality in meaning in a very honest way.
Member of the Situationist International also.
I am reading the Andrea Dworkin anthology Last Days At Hot Slit that Semiotext put out recently. It's good.
Quote from: theotherjohn on June 08, 2020, 11:37:53 PM
Nassim Nicholas Taleb released a new book a few months ago which potentially ticks all your boxes: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2001/2001.10488.pdf
Thank you for your suggestion.
I shall check it out.
lol what the fuck is that fat tails book
looking at any random page feels like drowning in syrup
i mostly just do crosswords and sudokus (or watch movies) when i should be reading but i've been going through john olson's Life is a Rip Off and downloading everything i can off blogs and whatnot, and also been checking out a similarly formatted book about library music called Unusual Sounds and doing the same
i did just start vernor vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep which i'm enjoying. was recently a bit disappointed by the Broken Earth trilogy even if i appreciated it's themes and the general metaphor. and i have Dhalgren eyeballing me from the shelf. i also want to re-read hilary mantel's first two cromwell books before starting the third one because i've sort of forgotten them tbh
the last book that blew my socks off was Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming. the last book i hated was murakami's Norwegian Wood...my first and probably last murakami...just really dull
I just started:
-Discipline and Punish by Foucault
-Life for Sale by Yukio Mishima
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on June 11, 2020, 10:59:50 PM
I just started:
-Discipline and Punish by Foucault
-Life for Sale by Yukio Mishima
"Discipline and Punish" is a very interesting book. Among other things, I find fascinating his reflection on the concept of panopticon. Foucault is a great writer.
Now I'm reading "The Kindly Ones" by Jonathan Littell.
Quote from: FatalMorgana on June 18, 2020, 09:33:01 PM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on June 11, 2020, 10:59:50 PM
I just started:
-Discipline and Punish by Foucault
-Life for Sale by Yukio Mishima
"Discipline and Punish" is a very interesting book. Among other things, I find fascinating his reflection on the concept of panopticon. Foucault is a great writer.
Now I'm reading "The Kindly Ones" by Jonathan Littell.
It's my first time reading Foucault, and it is certainly interesting. Easier to read/understand than Heidegger! I am realizing that he's not my favorite philosopher, but still important to understand.
Started The Terror by Dan Simmons. Had it on the shelf forever and been meaning to read it. I really enjoyed Hyperion but his writing style has definitely evolved. Quite dense, I'm about 100 pages in so far and he's great at building up tension. Kind of Lovecraft-ish in a lot of ways. Into it.
Quote from: holy ghost on June 20, 2020, 12:45:06 AM
Started The Terror by Dan Simmons. Had it on the shelf forever and been meaning to read it. I really enjoyed Hyperion but his writing style has definitely evolved. Quite dense, I'm about 100 pages in so far and he's great at building up tension. Kind of Lovecraft-ish in a lot of ways. Into it.
I remember liking Song of Kali when I read it a decade ago. I gifted Hyperion to my mom a few years ago, I should reclaim it and give it a shot.
Quote from: holy ghost on June 20, 2020, 12:45:06 AM
Started The Terror by Dan Simmons. Had it on the shelf forever and been meaning to read it. I really enjoyed Hyperion but his writing style has definitely evolved. Quite dense, I'm about 100 pages in so far and he's great at building up tension. Kind of Lovecraft-ish in a lot of ways. Into it.
The TV series based on this was very good as well!
Can somebody recommend a fairly recent, hard(-ish) SF space opera series? No humanoid aliens, no present-day politics rendered in a futuristic setting, no sentimental life lessons pushed down the reader's throat.
Alastair Reynolds was the latest author in the genre I really got excited about, but even that was a long time ago. Recently gave John Varley and Peter F. Hamilton a try, but those didn't really work for me (although Hamilton was pretty close).
I've read most of the classics, Asimov, Clarke, Brin, Niven, Herbert etc. That's why I was after something more recent/contemporary.
*** *** ***
I'm currently about halfway through Cosey's Art Sex Music. It's based on her diaries, so it has a slightly tedious sense of "well then we did this, and then this happened, and then I said such and such, and then something else happened". So far very little actual commentary. Biggest surprise is what a selfish, useless and helpless manbaby it makes Genesis out to be.
Finished The Terror - took a while to really get sucked in but hands down one of the best books I've ever read. Got a few new others from him on the pile.
Started Siberian Education, did 150 pages and put it down. Sanctimonious and poorly edited. I love the idea of the Russian criminal underworld but.... blah blah blah.....
Going to tackle a couple of the Hogarth Shakespeare - read Macbeth by Jo Nesbo last year, really liked it. Will try Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood next.
Just finished Tricky's autobiography Hell Is Round the Corner. An interesting, if not super memorable read. It follows the same formula as these books usually do: a chapter about childhood, first musical influences, first attempts at creating music, then success, followed by the inevitable substance abuse and financial troubles. Told with great candidness and absolutely no self pity. Even though the book opens eith his mother's suicide when he was 4, and, heartbreakingly, ends with the suicide of his own daughter.
I'm currently reading Jonathan Ames' Extra Man. It's completely different from The Alcoholic and You Were Never Really Here, two of his works I've previously enjoyed the most (and those two are equally different from each other).
The Extra Man seems to be in the same continuum of Ames' debut short story collection I Pass Like Night, but it has a more gentle and humorous feel. I guess "cosy" would be a term some would use, despite the seediness of some of the plot elements. The story is pretty simple: an uptight and repressed former teacher moves from New Jersey to New York in order to experiment with cross-dressing and femdom, while his older roommate works as an "extra man", that is, a male escort for fabulously wealthy old Manhattan widows. I'm certainly enjoying it.
Just started "Intermediary Spaces" about/from Éliane Radigue & Julia Eckhardt - contains a long-form interview and career overview of the artist. It's in english and french simultaneously. Only read the introduction so far but should be a great read.
I'm a sucker for Radigue's work - so there's always more to find out and explore.
https://www.lespressesdureel.com/EN/ouvrage.php?id=7465&menu=2
Just finished Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood's retelling of The Tempest. I am not particularly knowledgeable about Shakespere but I'm trying to work my way through the Hogarth Shakespere Project. Read Macbeth last year and really liked it. I've picked up a few others I'm going to try and get to this year.
Currently reading Song of Kali by Dan Simmons.
Quote from: Atrophist on July 12, 2020, 12:56:27 AM
Can somebody recommend a fairly recent, hard(-ish) SF space opera series? No humanoid aliens, no present-day politics rendered in a futuristic setting, no sentimental life lessons pushed down the reader's throat.
Alastair Reynolds was the latest author in the genre I really got excited about, but even that was a long time ago. Recently gave John Varley and Peter F. Hamilton a try, but those didn't really work for me (although Hamilton was pretty close).
I've read most of the classics, Asimov, Clarke, Brin, Niven, Herbert etc. That's why I was after something more recent/contemporary.
My friend recommended The Expanse series is great, gritty used future setting and lots of political shenanigans. I've only seen part of the TV show, and while it was ok it didn't quite grab me.
Then there's Stephen Baxter and his Xeelee sequence series, similar to Reynolds in scope but has even more books I think. I haven't read all of them but Baxter is a competent writer and the science is both legit and highly imaginative.
Quote from: host body on July 29, 2020, 03:22:55 PM
My friend recommended The Expanse series is great, gritty used future setting and lots of political shenanigans. I've only seen part of the TV show, and while it was ok it didn't quite grab me.
Thanks! I saw a couple of episodes of the show, it seemed okay if not great. Eventually it was relegated to the back burner and then forgotten. Perhaps I'll give the books a go. I certainly have had others suggest them too.
QuoteThen there's Stephen Baxter and his Xeelee sequence series, similar to Reynolds in scope but has even more books I think. I haven't read all of them but Baxter is a competent writer and the science is both legit and highly imaginative.
I tried
Raft, which I understand was the first published Xeelee novel, but apparently chronologically the events it describes take place millions of years into the future? I have to admit that I abandoned that one, the idea of a small group of humans trapped in a different universe with different physical laws was fascinating, but simply being dropped into the middle of it with no backgroup whatsoever was rather overwhelming.
Having looked into it later, most of Baxter's readers seem to think
Timelike Infinity is the best starting point. I've been a bit hesitant to take the plunge, because humanity succesfully waging a war against a Kardashev IV (!) civilization, traveling back in time to within minutes of the Big Bang, etc. seem like stuff that is almost impossible to pull off well. But perhaps if "wave 2" of the corona hits and we are all quarantined again?
Just picked up Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation by David Novak today. I'll post a short review when I'm done with it.
Btw if you go to the website for the book, you're supposed to be able to read it online for free. However I at least couldn't get the link to work.
http://www.japanoise.com/book/
I just finished Celine's Journey to the Edge of the Night, and am beginning Misery by Stephen King.
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on July 30, 2020, 06:41:07 PMand am beginning Misery by Stephen King.
This book scared the ever living shit out of me when I read it at 12 or so. I think my favourite Stephen King book.
Quote from: holy ghost on July 31, 2020, 04:34:21 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on July 30, 2020, 06:41:07 PMand am beginning Misery by Stephen King.
This book scared the ever living shit out of me when I read it at 12 or so. I think my favourite Stephen King book.
I like it a lot so far (so far it seems to be one of his better novels), though I think my perspective on the book has been altered a bit by the second season of Castle Rock.
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on July 31, 2020, 05:15:23 AM
Quote from: holy ghost on July 31, 2020, 04:34:21 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on July 30, 2020, 06:41:07 PMand am beginning Misery by Stephen King.
This book scared the ever living shit out of me when I read it at 12 or so. I think my favourite Stephen King book.
I like it a lot so far (so far it seems to be one of his better novels), though I think my perspective on the book has been altered a bit by the second season of Castle Rock.
Holy shit Lizzy Caplan really fucking stunk up that role. That accent will haunt me beyond the grave (and not in the good way!!). Terrible!!
I binge read Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson while on vacation
AST week. I really like the Stormlight Archive series and I'd been waiting for a chance to take in all 1300 pages in a quick timeframe. I enjoyed it, although the paperback took so friggin' long to be released I think I sort of forgot some plot twists of the last two book.
Currently reading Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Jony Warrick.
Quote from: holy ghost on August 14, 2020, 04:21:45 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on July 31, 2020, 05:15:23 AM
Quote from: holy ghost on July 31, 2020, 04:34:21 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on July 30, 2020, 06:41:07 PMand am beginning Misery by Stephen King.
This book scared the ever living shit out of me when I read it at 12 or so. I think my favourite Stephen King book.
I like it a lot so far (so far it seems to be one of his better novels), though I think my perspective on the book has been altered a bit by the second season of Castle Rock.
Holy shit Lizzy Caplan really fucking stunk up that role. That accent will haunt me beyond the grave (and not in the good way!!). Terrible!!
No way, I thought she was great in the role! It's been a long time since I have seen the movie version of
Misery, but I really need to watch it again.
Now reading:
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on August 14, 2020, 07:06:18 PM]No way, I thought she was great in the role! It's been a long time since I have seen the movie version of Misery, but I really need to watch it again.
Now reading: 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
To each their own my friend! I don't think she's a particularly great actress at the best of times but I felt like the accent was way off and she was overacting at the best of times. I don't love the plot/mashup of the series to behind with so I'm biased - I also rarely appreciate Stephen King on the big screen. More often than not the movies are more miss than hit due to the fact that his books mostly rely on the inner monologue to drive the book and this is always hard to recreate on the big screen.....
Quote from: holy ghost on August 15, 2020, 05:10:45 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on August 14, 2020, 07:06:18 PM]No way, I thought she was great in the role! It's been a long time since I have seen the movie version of Misery, but I really need to watch it again.
Now reading: 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
To each their own my friend! I don't think she's a particularly great actress at the best of times but I felt like the accent was way off and she was overacting at the best of times. I don't love the plot/mashup of the series to behind with so I'm biased - I also rarely appreciate Stephen King on the big screen. More often than not the movies are more miss than hit due to the fact that his books mostly rely on the inner monologue to drive the book and this is always hard to recreate on the big screen.....
I think that the majority of movies based on Stephen King's books are just not that great, and that the exceptions (
The Shining,
Stand By Me) are good thanks to either the skill of the filmmaker or a willingness to make the movie really long. I think that in addition to the emphasis on the internal dialogue in the books, the reason that the movies are rarely good is because King's ideas are often really close to being absurd - it is really easy to leave them sounding funny (like the
Pet Semetary movies did).
Totally agree - look at Different Seasons. The Shawshank Redemption was a great film, Apt Pupil was a GREAT King story (really one of his best IMO) but that movie adaptation was awful.
I see 'The Stand' as almost a prophecy of sorts, in all seriousness.
Quote from: holy ghost on August 15, 2020, 10:00:54 PM
Totally agree - look at Different Seasons. The Shawshank Redemption was a great film, Apt Pupil was a GREAT King story (really one of his best IMO) but that movie adaptation was awful.
I think that King's best stories have always been his realistic (or at least non-supernatural) stories. Until I read
Misery,
Apt Pupil was my favorite of his works as well (never saw the movie though, but the trailer certainly did not look great).
And to continue on the realistic King trend, I am going to read
Roadwork next. I hadn't heard of that one until about a month ago, but it sounds interesting enough.
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 15, 2020, 10:22:45 PM
I see 'The Stand' as almost a prophecy of sorts, in all seriousness.
In what way? That a disease will be the ultimate death of humanity, that people will fracture into tribes of good and bad?
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on August 16, 2020, 06:49:48 PM
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 15, 2020, 10:22:45 PM
I see 'The Stand' as almost a prophecy of sorts, in all seriousness.
In what way? That a disease will be the ultimate death of humanity, that people will fracture into tribes of good and bad?
Yeah, it's just honestly superb writing.
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I sometimes feel that creative writers may have insight into the collective unconsciousness of events.
Maybe the events of The Stand won't occur at all, but if there were a next form of a global disease that wiped out most people, I definitely see people creating new societies.
Honestly, I'm just obsessed with some of the characters in that story. Right up there with H.P. Lovecraft.
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on August 16, 2020, 06:48:30 PM
Quote from: holy ghost on August 15, 2020, 10:00:54 PM
Totally agree - look at Different Seasons. The Shawshank Redemption was a great film, Apt Pupil was a GREAT King story (really one of his best IMO) but that movie adaptation was awful.
I think that King's best stories have always been his realistic (or at least non-supernatural) stories. Until I read Misery, Apt Pupil was my favorite of his works as well (never saw the movie though, but the trailer certainly did not look great).
And to continue on the realistic King trend, I am going to read Roadwork next. I hadn't heard of that one until about a month ago, but it sounds interesting enough.
Have never read Roadwork either - please let me know what you think!
I agree on the supernatural take. Look at The Long Walk, Different Seasons, The Stand & Misery as some of his best. Even "subtle" spooky shit like The Dead Zone or Carrie play out better than others.
I also really like a lot of his short fiction - Night Shift is a great collection. I'd rank "I Know What You Need" and especially "Quitters, Inc" are among his best.
I will say the only King book I was unable to finish was The Talisman. Two guys should not be allowed to write a book together.
My basement flooded about a decade ago and I lost a lot of books that were in storage right when we bought out house, I've spent the last few years scouring used bookstores to rebuild my collection. Been a very fun game as vintage King has some of the best graphic design and the new editions just look so lousy!
Was away for most of July and finally got around to reading Tom O'Neil's book Chaos on the Manson murders and involvement of US intelligence. Was not able to put it down. Highest recommendations if these sorts of things interest you. Also happily tore through a collection of early PKD stories (Minority Report and others.)
Quote from: holy ghost on August 17, 2020, 04:41:01 PM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on August 16, 2020, 06:48:30 PM
Quote from: holy ghost on August 15, 2020, 10:00:54 PM
Totally agree - look at Different Seasons. The Shawshank Redemption was a great film, Apt Pupil was a GREAT King story (really one of his best IMO) but that movie adaptation was awful.
I think that King's best stories have always been his realistic (or at least non-supernatural) stories. Until I read Misery, Apt Pupil was my favorite of his works as well (never saw the movie though, but the trailer certainly did not look great).
And to continue on the realistic King trend, I am going to read Roadwork next. I hadn't heard of that one until about a month ago, but it sounds interesting enough.
Have never read Roadwork either - please let me know what you think!
I agree on the supernatural take. Look at The Long Walk, Different Seasons, The Stand & Misery as some of his best. Even "subtle" spooky shit like The Dead Zone or Carrie play out better than others.
I also really like a lot of his short fiction - Night Shift is a great collection. I'd rank "I Know What You Need" and especially "Quitters, Inc" are among his best.
I will say the only King book I was unable to finish was The Talisman. Two guys should not be allowed to write a book together.
My basement flooded about a decade ago and I lost a lot of books that were in storage right when we bought out house, I've spent the last few years scouring used bookstores to rebuild my collection. Been a very fun game as vintage King has some of the best graphic design and the new editions just look so lousy!
Night Shift was a great one, and I remember really liking
Skeleton Crew as well (though it has been a while since I read both).
I think the quality of the new editions really depend on the publisher - the Scribner editions have some really nice simple/clean cover designs.
I will let you know how
Roadwork is!
Quote from: theworldisawarfilm on August 17, 2020, 05:32:22 PM
Was away for most of July and finally got around to reading Tom O'Neil's book Chaos on the Manson murders and involvement of US intelligence. Was not able to put it down. Highest recommendations if these sorts of things interest you. Also happily tore through a collection of early PKD stories (Minority Report and others.)
Hell yeah Chaos was so great - read it last year and looooooved it!!
Just finished Ottessa Moshfegh's McGlue. It's a novella from 2014, first thing she's published. I've loved the black-heartedness and bitchiness of her later work. This one was a bit meh though, an alcoholic sailor in during the 19th Century may or may not have stabbed his gay lover to death during a blackout. Very well written, but totally predictable. Try Her Eileen instead if you're interested.
Currently re-reading Gibsons Bridge trilogy and it's as good as I remember it being. It pretty much nails the cultural zeitgeist we live in now, the controlled chaos internet has brought to our lives. I also like how Gibson isn't that interested in describing how everything he's made up works, he's not trying to write hard SF where the often convoluted scientific concepts are on the forefront and the prose comes second. On the Bridge trilogy he's all about world building and setting a mood. What's important is how advanced technology affects the average person, you and me, and in my opinion he nails it. I can really relate to the main characters, living on the fringes of a high tech society, both benefiting from the technical advances and suffering from the inequality they bring. Brilliant stuff, highly recommended and I'd say the best science fiction of the 90s.
There's really only 3 scifi writers I find worth reading nowadays: Gibson, Dick and Ballard.
Quote from: host body on August 21, 2020, 10:37:24 AM
Gibson, Dick and Ballard.
I consider myself fan of sci-fi. When I start to really think when I have last time read sci-fi, it often turns out that it has been Ballard. Even re-reading. Or just re-reading some dystopian classics, which always seems a bit different than when being read decade(s) earlier.
Been reading tons of books, but mostly in Finnish, which makes it slightly odd to talk about them in international forum.
This year, I have been reading a lot of poetry, essay collections and a bit of fiction by contemporary Finnish female authors. At first this may seem quite odd move to make, but there are actually included some of the absolute best book(s) I have read in years.
Why is that an odd move to make?
While I obviously cannot speak for anyone else, young Finnish female writers are for the most part intolerable: entitled, narcissistic, obsessed with sex and body image. These are some of the most pampered, overprivileged human beings to ever inhabit the planet, yet they insist on turning their works into litanies of victimhood.
This a generalisation, of course, and there are exceptions. Imo the most notable is the amazing Maarit Verronen. Not that she is especially young anymore.
Yes, this is the thing. When in current moment, the "fresh" and "thoughtful" is pretty much synonym for extreme conformism of current ideals. Take small country, it's even smaller cultural cliques, and if you want to be in and involved... Get publishing contract and slice of publicity. It can not happen unless conformity is on such a unhealthy level one is suitable for contemporary publishing industry.
That said, there was campaigns trying to guilt male readers, putting some sort of online challenges about "you absolutely have to read books of female authors"... and I thought, well, I have not been challenged, but I have. Bought new books, from actual store. Read reviews from literature journals, to pick up things that seem relatively interesting.
Some stuff I privately recommended to many friends, to get - buy or try to loan from library. Some appreciated the advice greatly, so maybe some are actually worth to write in public.
A lot of these criticisms make very little sense when they end with sentiments like 'but then I actually read some of this work and it was among the best I've read in years and I recommended it to my friends'. It sounds to me precisely why the discourse suggesting people ought to seek out work from different groups exists.
I have a lot of reading to catch up on....
England's Hidden Reverse and Kraftwerk Publikation, both gifted to me by a friend.
Noise Receptor Journal 1 recently received which I havn't started yet.
A few new zines including Black Dog Zine Issue 1 (https://www.blackdogzine.co.uk/) and Rituals and Declarations Issue 3 (https://ritualsdeclarations.bigcartel.com/). Plenty of interesting folk lore / horror / historical zines coming out lately, and mostly high "book" quality with some decent levels of research included.
Quote from: Atrophist on August 21, 2020, 04:36:02 PM
While I obviously cannot speak for anyone else, young Finnish female writers are for the most part intolerable: entitled, narcissistic, obsessed with sex and body image. These are some of the most pampered, overprivileged human beings to ever inhabit the planet, yet they insist on turning their works into litanies of victimhood.
This a generalisation, of course, and there are exceptions. Imo the most notable is the amazing Maarit Verronen. Not that she is especially young anymore.
I have zero knowledge or care for female writers, but I hate that argument about victimhood. I hate victim culture, but that's not what I'm talking about.
It becomes a polarizing cop-out from actually answering the question, by attempting to move the goal post. In truth, all of these social identities and barriers put up are pure mirage. A king would look down on all peasants, condescendingly.
It matters not, what your politics or whatever else are, say national identity or whatever else.
These are all bogus and bullshit categories foisted-on people to keep people from wanting MORE.
And people get trapped in these dumb categories, and that becomes their own mental enslavement from desiring or wanting MORE.
And there's nothing wrong with wanting free or more from a world that is fundamentally cruel or erred at its core. It's actually the most sensible and honest thing to do.
And I probably agree with the point you're trying to make. But imagine being a poor peasant working a dirt-poor farm, and someone beneath you says, "What's the problem? You're so privileged, look at all that wonderful privilege you have." They may have food and clothes and better-off than those around them, but they're basically suggested to not ask deeper questions and clamor for more. And social media works mainly the same way. In reality, that's all they know. They were never TOLD that life could be more. That's my point.
You can't say "this" or "that", of course you can, but you'll effectively get banned. Because that's an effective way to control a narrative.
And if you don't care about that, then great. And I don't.
But I digress.
But of course I agree with the point you're getting at. My commentary wasn't in a socio-political sense, just in terms of linguistics and logic.
As for female writers, I only like Ayn Rand, because she kind of indirectly created Anton LaVey, who kind of indirectly inspired Noise, through Boyd Rice.
But I'm sure other female writers out there are ok.
I'm not really talking about female authors as such. I mean a fairly small subset of female authors, ones that come recommended by trendy leftists literature journals, or critics in mainstream newspapers. Their formula is, as was mentioned above, "transgression" that is actually completely safe and predictable. And yes, I actually have given more than a few of these a try. The result is almost always an embarrassing mess. The publishing industry is actually, imo, exploiting these women by heaping praise on them too early, which leaves them in a state of arrested development. And next year a new 'fresh, courageous female voice" will emerge. Also I bet it won't be enough anymore just to be a woman, at least not much longer. You'll have be a transgender Romani dwarf, or something.
Regarding female writers in general, they have a few advantages over men, imo. When it comes to understanding interpersonal relationships and people's motivations for behaving the way they so, the average man will always lose 0-6 to the average woman.
Quote from: Duncan on August 22, 2020, 01:51:17 PM
A lot of these criticisms make very little sense when they end with sentiments like 'but then I actually read some of this work and it was among the best I've read in years and I recommended it to my friends'. It sounds to me precisely why the discourse suggesting people ought to seek out work from different groups exists.
Context of the campaign / suggestion was this: Over here, it appears that the normal man does not
read books really. And only times when they do, it is the best selling book of some sort of manly adventure. Usually from of the top selling male author who will have book out strategically for christmas or father's day. Haha. Some people are upset, that it goes like this, and think that such men should start to read more female authors instead. I tend to think.. why? It would seem better to be concerned that people do not read books at all or the category of reading is merely entertainment. People who actually read bookS, probably have always read books by female authors.
My choice was based on content, not on gender (although gender most certainly has effect on the content). And this content is what made them good. I would rather see some other category promoted in context of literature, than gender or race. Like suggesting one can read also other things than
nordic detective stories. If one has ultimately goal of somehow promote idea of books that enlighten and give new perspectives, it doesn't need to be by "woman". Just some book with actual substance. When the notion of "woman author" is the only substance, then you can expect things to turn lame.
One completely different topic in recent reading was to discover local poet. I was walking in the forest, on remote paths, but still "near the city" so to say, there was found plastic bag, with "finder can keep" text written on black marker. Inside the bag, there was poetry book by local author. Properly published, professional book. Author had signed greetings to the finder. While walking around that area of city, I found also 2nd copy of book that was dropped to be found. I'm sure there was more, but just scattered around to be found.
Book was not anything that amazing. Just contemporary poetry book. Male author. Few decent pieces, but generally I was not impressed by the content of book, but I was impressed by the sort of guerrilla tactics of distribution!
One Finnish author once concluded that what is this Black Metal garbage trying to say it is "underground". They are in festivals, on tv, selling endless amount of albums and merch, in stores and mailorders and being streamed everywhere. It is popular culture. If you want to see underground, check out Finnish poetry!
And that is of course true in some ways. In one hand, there are countless people who have no idea of "black metal" even exists, but everybody knows that poetry exists. However, in terms of could you get readers for your stuff, or would anyone pay you for the poetry book... This argument about poetry being total underground becomes true. Yet being in total underground, may be just fine. Still endless possibilities even if you don't get into "TV" or "festivals".
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 22, 2020, 07:51:36 PM
As for female writers, I only like Ayn Rand, because she kind of indirectly created Anton LaVey, who kind of indirectly inspired Noise, through Boyd Rice.
You should probably read more.
I downloaded a bunch of comic books on my tablet, to read while commuting. It's the best thing ever, I can get like a dozen comics with me. Pretty much has made me stop buying comics, so maybe not the best thing ever.
Quote from: host body on August 27, 2020, 01:12:26 PM
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 22, 2020, 07:51:36 PM
As for female writers, I only like Ayn Rand, because she kind of indirectly created Anton LaVey, who kind of indirectly inspired Noise, through Boyd Rice.
You should probably read more.
I downloaded a bunch of comic books on my tablet, to read while commuting. It's the best thing ever, I can get like a dozen comics with me. Pretty much has made me stop buying comics, so maybe not the best thing ever.
I would, if one stood out to me.
My reading habits have changed over the years.
I don't really read books these days, unless it's truly unique.
I mostly just devour entire Wikipedia pages in an encyclopedic fashion if I want to learn about a particular topic.
I asked for recommendations for scifi/space opera earlier in this thread. Now I've found pretty much exactly what I was looking for: Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time.
According to reviews this is supposed to belong to a subgenre called biopunk, but there's nothing radically new here that, for example, David Brin, Vernor Vinge or Alaistair Reynolds haven't already done. (In fact the narrative contains a not so subtle nod towards Brin).
In the distant future, a terraforning project goes terribly wrong: two shuttles are supposed to land on an Earth-like exoplanet, one full of primates, the other full of lesser Earth flora and fauna. They also carry a nanovirus that is supposed to speed up evolution on the new planet. Well, monkey shuttle gets damaged, burns up in the atmosphere. The nanovirus begins work on spiders, ants and beetles instead.
Thousands or years later, another ship with the last remaining survivors of a destroyed Earth show up. What will the evolved descendants of apes and the evolved deacendants of spiders make of each other?
A funny detail is the spiders' society's version of feminism, or "male spiders rights" movement. Which is a little more serious than the primate equivalent. Because after all, as hard as life may have been for women in the past, at least it was never considered standard procedure to kill and eat them after mating ...
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 27, 2020, 07:03:49 PM
I don't really read books these days, unless it's truly unique.
I mostly just devour entire Wikipedia pages in an encyclopedic fashion if I want to learn about a particular topic.
Honestly what do you think you can bring to a discussion about books, then? Did you read the wikipedia page for "literature"?
I can recommend the following authors to get acquainted with "female literature" (I personally don't think gender has anything to do with whether an author is good): Flannery O'Connors novellas, Margaret Atwood's Oryx & Crake, a great, nihilistic cyberpunk book or Cosey Fanni Tutti's biography. That should get you started and maybe realise that women aren't really that different from men as far as writing books go.
Quote from: host body on August 28, 2020, 03:32:41 PM
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 27, 2020, 07:03:49 PM
I don't really read books these days, unless it's truly unique.
I mostly just devour entire Wikipedia pages in an encyclopedic fashion if I want to learn about a particular topic.
Honestly what do you think you can bring to a discussion about books, then? Did you read the wikipedia page for "literature"?
I can recommend the following authors to get acquainted with "female literature" (I personally don't think gender has anything to do with whether an author is good): Flannery O'Connors novellas, Margaret Atwood's Oryx & Crake, a great, nihilistic cyberpunk book or Cosey Fanni Tutti's biography. That should get you started and maybe realise that women aren't really that different from men as far as writing books go.
Respond with a better attitude if you want a better response. Not with a stupid baity response.
Subject is READING.
Get a more interesting life if you are personally motivated by personal one-ups on a web forum based-in Finland.
LMAO.
And Idgaf, but women and men are different. Sorry, but you very rarely will ever encounter a female Leonardo da Vinci in the human species.
Fact.
For what's it's worth, I've probably read more books than you, not it means anything. I said, that unless a book is truly unique, and I'm talking some Georges Bataille shit, or Antonin Artaud, or even my favorite blue-blooded maniac, Le Marquis De Sade, then I won't personally bother reading anything less than stellar. ESPECIALLY if it's some dumb incentive to personally participate in the cultural milieu of our times.
I am not, right nor left. I have no interest in those things.
I am a breed unto myself, who has had the grave displeasure of being born into a regular society, with regular 'folk.'
My lineage is nothing at all similar to the pedigree of the common man, but I am more or less an unwilling participant in the common man's society.
And I try very, very hard for that NOT to be the case.
I'm not gonna read something just to
challenge my reptile brain notions of what is 'proper,' literature.
I quite like my reptile brain.
And I hope to fucking GOD a reptile cavernous species comes out of the Earth to feast on this badstardized species known as humanity.
Quote from: Atrophist on August 28, 2020, 02:54:49 AM
I asked for recommendations for scifi/space opera earlier in this thread. Now I've found pretty much exactly what I was looking for: Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time.
According to reviews this is supposed to belong to a subgenre called biopunk, but there's nothing radically new here that, for example, David Brin, Vernor Vinge or Alaistair Reynolds haven't already done. (In fact the narrative contains a not so subtle nod towards Brin).
In the distant future, a terraforning project goes terribly wrong: two shuttles are supposed to land on an Earth-like exoplanet, one full of primates, the other full of lesser Earth flora and fauna. They also carry a nanovirus that is supposed to speed up evolution on the new planet. Well, monkey shuttle gets damaged, burns up in the atmosphere. The nanovirus begins work on spiders, ants and beetles instead.
Thousands or years later, another ship with the last remaining survivors of a destroyed Earth show up. What will the evolved descendants of apes and the evolved deacendants of spiders make of each other?
A funny detail is the spiders' society's version of feminism, or "male spiders rights" movement. Which is a little more serious than the primate equivalent. Because after all, as hard as life may have been for women in the past, at least it was never considered standard procedure to kill and eat them after mating ...
That last part is a fascinating idea. Black widows are definitely feminists. Female hyenas too.
Humans are impossibly stupid and self-centered, they are merely just one speck in evolution and cosmology.
There is nothing unique to humans, that isn't also seen in other animals.
Bonnobos are also a pacifist hippie species of ape.
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 28, 2020, 07:20:29 PM
Humans are impossibly stupid and self-centered, they are merely just one speck in evolution and cosmology.
There is nothing unique to humans, that isn't also seen in other animals.
Hmmmm.. evolution... well i guess animals use tools and language...and you could argue Mars landers and the LHC are 'merely' tools but its been said that evolution by natural selection is no longer appropriate to humans... your own criticism in part shows the survival of no longer the fittest in your opinion. I guess war is also a fairly human trait. I'm also not sure if other animals genetically modify plants and animals for their use? I'm think of wheat... et al.
As for wikipedia, its not always a reliable source, but what i've found a benefit of recent technology is print on demand such that you can get texts which are out of print or of a niche nature by the likes of Amazon.
And to be picky, there is a line of thought that goes without humans there wouldn't be (a theory) of evolution or cosmology.
Quote from: JLIAT on August 28, 2020, 09:00:03 PM
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 28, 2020, 07:20:29 PM
Humans are impossibly stupid and self-centered, they are merely just one speck in evolution and cosmology.
There is nothing unique to humans, that isn't also seen in other animals.
Hmmmm.. evolution... well i guess animals use tools and language...and you could argue Mars landers and the LHC are 'merely' tools but its been said that evolution by natural selection is no longer appropriate to humans... your own criticism in part shows the survival of no longer the fittest in your opinion. I guess war is also a fairly human trait. I'm also not sure if other animals genetically modify plants and animals for their use? I'm think of wheat... et al.
As for wikipedia, its not always a reliable source, but what i've found a benefit of recent technology is print on demand such that you can get texts which are out of print or of a niche nature by the likes of Amazon.
And to be picky, there is a line of thought that goes without humans there wouldn't be (a theory) of evolution or cosmology.
Don't be picky, because you are an inquisitive person, and you actively take an interest in 'far-out' things, which makes me respect you.
And Nature itself, when She gets pissed by the lack of proper breeding habits among humans, may take it upon herself to release hurricanes, volcanoes, tsunamis, pathogens, and whatever else to rectify the situation.
It would be arrogant to presume human knowledge as the pinnacle of knowledge.
Quote from: JLIAT on August 28, 2020, 09:00:03 PM
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 28, 2020, 07:20:29 PM
Humans are impossibly stupid and self-centered, they are merely just one speck in evolution and cosmology.
There is nothing unique to humans, that isn't also seen in other animals.
Hmmmm.. evolution... well i guess animals use tools and language...and you could argue Mars landers and the LHC are 'merely' tools but its been said that evolution by natural selection is no longer appropriate to humans... your own criticism in part shows the survival of no longer the fittest in your opinion. I guess war is also a fairly human trait. I'm also not sure if other animals genetically modify plants and animals for their use? I'm think of wheat... et al.
I always find it a bit goofy when "social darwinists" and others try to justify things like greed, brutality, exploitation etc. by saying, "it's just evolution" or human nature or whtever. They will often describe evocative narratives of apex predators such as tigers or sharks or whatever, and contrast them favourably with herd animals.
This is utterly comical because the history of the human race is basically nothing but a success story of cooperation over competition. In family units, extended families, tribes, nations etc. And even of inter-apecies cooperation. Domestication may be a bum deal for some individual livestock animals, but from the pov of the entire species, it's a jackpot.
QuoteAnd to be picky, there is a line of thought that goes without humans there wouldn't be (a theory) of evolution or cosmology.
But surely the reality these theories attempt to describe would be the same, whether there were people to attempt to understand it or not? Or do you disagree?
Quote from: Atrophist on August 28, 2020, 10:44:29 PM
Quote from: JLIAT on August 28, 2020, 09:00:03 PM
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 28, 2020, 07:20:29 PM
Humans are impossibly stupid and self-centered, they are merely just one speck in evolution and cosmology.
There is nothing unique to humans, that isn't also seen in other animals.
Hmmmm.. evolution... well i guess animals use tools and language...and you could argue Mars landers and the LHC are 'merely' tools but its been said that evolution by natural selection is no longer appropriate to humans... your own criticism in part shows the survival of no longer the fittest in your opinion. I guess war is also a fairly human trait. I'm also not sure if other animals genetically modify plants and animals for their use? I'm think of wheat... et al.
I always find it a bit goofy when "social darwinists" and others try to justify things like greed, brutality, exploitation etc. by saying, "it's just evolution" or human nature or whtever. They will often describe evocative narratives of apex predators such as tigers or sharks or whatever, and contrast them favourably with herd animals.
This is utterly comical because the history of the human race is basically nothing but a success story of cooperation over competition. In family units, extended families, tribes, nations etc. And even of inter-apecies cooperation. Domestication may be a bum deal for some individual livestock animals, but from the pov of the entire species, it's a jackpot.
QuoteAnd to be picky, there is a line of thought that goes without humans there wouldn't be (a theory) of evolution or cosmology.
But surely the reality these theories attempt to describe would be the same, whether there were people to attempt to understand it or not? Or do you disagree?
If you even cared about your species, why in the literal hell would you breed weak, defective, and diseased stock?
You don't understand genetics.
The reason "survival of the fittest" faded-out is because most diseases of the 21-century are a direct CAUSE of domestication.
To spell it out for you, most people are killing themselves, and at the very least, they are being born with congenital infertility diseases.
That's why.
Quote from: AnonMessAgeSage on August 28, 2020, 10:58:59 PM
If you even cared about your species, why in the literal hell would you breed weak, defective, and diseased stock?
I didn't say anything about breeding though. If you mean livestock, people actually don't do that.
If you mean humans, we have no central authority controlling their reproduction. This may horrify some folks here, but I don't think it would be a bad thing, necessarily, if we did. But we don't.
And no, I'm not an expert on genetics. I do know something about the subject however.
Can there just be one dedicated thread for this stupid bullshit and kept out of the regular ADULT threads?
Most of us are not interested if reading this....
Quote from: holy ghost on August 29, 2020, 05:37:51 AM
Can there just be one dedicated thread for this stupid bullshit and kept out of the regular ADULT threads?
Most of us are not interested if reading this....
Yes, please!
As I really liked the 3 previous books from Matias Faldbakken - has anyone read The Hills already and can give a short review? Would be great, but I think I will buy it anyway.
Started Peter Pomerantsev's This Is Not Propaganda. Fake news, hate speech, populism, social media, you know the drill. Putin bad and so on.
His previous previous Nothing Is True And Everything Is Possible is anong the non-fiction books that have impressed me the most (and I think some crappy nu-metal band named an album after it, which is hilarious because I simply cannot picture the members of Enter Shikari actually reading it). I have less high hopes about this one, but we'll see.
Quote from: holy ghost on August 29, 2020, 05:37:51 AM
Can there just be one dedicated thread for this stupid bullshit and kept out of the regular ADULT threads?
Most of us are not interested if reading this....
You cannot possibly mean that you think it is okay to simply list the books we read here, but any discussion of the books or the topics they deal with should be
verboten?
I just finished Stephen King's Roadwork. I said I would post a brief review: A blue-collar man's rather mundane life is upended when he learns that the construction of a new highway will require the demolition of both his home and place of work. While he initially drags his feet in moving, his mental health begins to deteriorate. He buys guns, and explosives. As the timeline for moving gets closer, his life collapses around him, and he slowly but surely moves closer to an inescapable end. Overall, the story was enjoyable, though far from the best of King's realistic fiction.
Now reading: The Hellbound Heard by Clive Barker.
Quote from: Atrophist on September 01, 2020, 12:08:04 AM
Quote from: holy ghost on August 29, 2020, 05:37:51 AM
Can there just be one dedicated thread for this stupid bullshit and kept out of the regular ADULT threads?
Most of us are not interested if reading this....
You cannot possibly mean that you think it is okay to simply list the books we read here, but any discussion of the books or the topics they deal with should be verboten?
Well, that's a pretty huge leap from my post asking certain posters who just blather on endlessly from derailing yet another nice thread, but sure, go off....
It was a question. If I misinterpreted something, I would like it very much if you could take the time to explain what you meant.
Prophet by Image Comics, very good comic book in the vein of Incal. Both funny, gory and surprisingly evocative for an american comic book. The scale huge, both in time and in distance and the world has a nice decayed feel to it. Highly recommended for fans of weirder scifi comics like Incal and Metabarons.
Currently: Frank Sinatra in a Blender by Matthew McBride, standard modern noir, an easy read and something i think i needed after a run of not great books.
Also masochistically flipping through a huge stack of academic books i am in process of selling. Michel de Certau's The Practice of Daily Life, and most of the Bourdieu books i have are giving me that siren call again, so i need to just remove all this shit immediately before i keep it all for another ten years.
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
Burned through "Invisibility: A Manifesto by Audrey Szasz in a day or so, was an interesting fun little read.
On to The Magician from the same Amphetamine Sulphate order, I read about 80 pages yesterday and was pretty into it from the get go.
Also just read Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick, interesting backstory of how ISIS evolved almost in tandem with Al-Quada and evolved into what they are now. Probably a little too "American heavy" in terms of sources but I think that's the sort of thing to be expected.
About to order Kent State by Derf Backderf, I really loved Trashed and My Friend Dahmer and I'm really interested in this one.
The Magician on Amphetamine Sulphate. Very odd. Not 100% sure I really loved the last half of the book. I really enjoyed the first half. I didn't dislike it, but it was very anti-climactic and just sort of.... ended?
Reading Mutations by Sam McPheeters now. I read a couple chapters last night and really enjoyed it so far. He's a very funny writer and I'd be keen to read his fiction work.
Also about to start Kent State. Loved Backderf's other comics and I'm really looking forward to this one.
Just reading Mars by Fritz Zorn
Short, but not so good description here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(Zorn_book) (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(Zorn_book))
The Magician was strange. It went from brutal snuff film noir to like, suburban coming of age. End felt like something from Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
Quote from: holy ghost on September 18, 2020, 08:27:20 PM
Reading Mutations by Sam McPheeters now. I read a couple chapters last night and really enjoyed it so far. He's a very funny writer and I'd be keen to read his fiction work.
Got a spare, new and unread copy of this if anyone's interested. UK based. Open to offers. Message me here, cheers.
Quote from: Eigen Bast on September 20, 2020, 12:59:41 AM
The Magician was strange. It went from brutal snuff film noir to like, suburban coming of age. End felt like something from Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
Sabrina The Teenage Witch was a little more satanic and evil than the "climactic scene" of The Magician.
I didn't dislike it, it was a fast read and didn't involve too much of my time but it really changed gears about halfway through. I'd read more of his work, but yeah, it went from sort of a hallucinatory Ballardian story to..... not even sure what tbqh.
Read Harper: A Collection of Horrors, by Gunnar Njalsson. Came highly recommended, but was heavily let down. Not terrible, but rushed and amateurish. A passable Ligotti ripoff, but nothing more than that.
Mutations was good, even when I find myself totally disagreeing with him a lot.
Reading the short story compilation "There is a Graveyard that Dwells in Man" put together by David Tibet. Pretty fun English horror. Most of it dances around either decadent purple prose or the hyper-wordiness of Manchen. Setting the mood for autumn. Also working through "Black Abbot, White Magic" by Frater Acher-a thorough history of Johannes Trismethius.
Quote from: holy ghost on September 20, 2020, 06:13:09 PM
Quote from: Eigen Bast on September 20, 2020, 12:59:41 AM
The Magician was strange. It went from brutal snuff film noir to like, suburban coming of age. End felt like something from Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
Sabrina The Teenage Witch was a little more satanic and evil than the "climactic scene" of The Magician.
I didn't dislike it, it was a fast read and didn't involve too much of my time but it really changed gears about halfway through. I'd read more of his work, but yeah, it went from sort of a hallucinatory Ballardian story to..... not even sure what tbqh.
I was very meh on The Magician, but the short film and an essay he wrote about it put it into a better context for me.
currently trudging through a combination of the Nag Hammadi Library and a couple supplementary theological texts on the self-imposed curriculum level, and finally reading Lovecraft for the first time on the more pleasurable end. tis the season.
Quote from: Obetavá.Protivník on September 24, 2020, 10:17:56 PM
currently trudging through a combination of the Nag Hammadi Library and a couple supplementary theological texts on the self-imposed curriculum level, and finally reading Lovecraft for the first time on the more pleasurable end. tis the season.
Which Lovecraft are you reading? He has a lot of great stories.
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on September 25, 2020, 03:02:37 AM
Quote from: Obetavá.Protivník on September 24, 2020, 10:17:56 PM
currently trudging through a combination of the Nag Hammadi Library and a couple supplementary theological texts on the self-imposed curriculum level, and finally reading Lovecraft for the first time on the more pleasurable end. tis the season.
Which Lovecraft are you reading? He has a lot of great stories.
it's an anthology, just wrapped up "The Outsider" then onto the very short "The Music of Erich Zann" and "Reanimator". i'm not much of a fiction person, but his writing style is ace. luxurious horror.
Quote from: Obetavá.Protivník on September 25, 2020, 08:17:12 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on September 25, 2020, 03:02:37 AM
Quote from: Obetavá.Protivník on September 24, 2020, 10:17:56 PM
currently trudging through a combination of the Nag Hammadi Library and a couple supplementary theological texts on the self-imposed curriculum level, and finally reading Lovecraft for the first time on the more pleasurable end. tis the season.
Which Lovecraft are you reading? He has a lot of great stories.
it's an anthology, just wrapped up "The Outsider" then onto the very short "The Music of Erich Zann" and "Reanimator". i'm not much of a fiction person, but his writing style is ace. luxurious horror.
Cool. I think I read "The Music of Erich Zann" some years ago, but am not sure about the others. I really should get back into his writing, as it has been a while.
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on September 25, 2020, 06:43:00 PM
Quote from: Obetavá.Protivník on September 25, 2020, 08:17:12 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on September 25, 2020, 03:02:37 AM
Quote from: Obetavá.Protivník on September 24, 2020, 10:17:56 PM
currently trudging through a combination of the Nag Hammadi Library and a couple supplementary theological texts on the self-imposed curriculum level, and finally reading Lovecraft for the first time on the more pleasurable end. tis the season.
Which Lovecraft are you reading? He has a lot of great stories.
it's an anthology, just wrapped up "The Outsider" then onto the very short "The Music of Erich Zann" and "Reanimator". i'm not much of a fiction person, but his writing style is ace. luxurious horror.
Cool. I think I read "The Music of Erich Zann" some years ago
Quoteand the frantic playing had become a blind, mechanical, unrecognisable orgy that no pen could even suggest
I just started Clive Barker's Books of Blood. I have only read the introductory story, but I already enjoy it more that the other books of his that I have read.
Finally got Ted Chiang's Exhalation, was on the waiting list at the library for ages. SF doesn't get any better than Chiang's previous short stories, so looking forward to this a lot.
Quote from: Atrophist on September 27, 2020, 04:37:35 AM
Finally got Ted Chiang's Exhalation, was on the waiting list at the library for ages. SF doesn't get any better than Chiang's previous short stories, so looking forward to this a lot.
This is absolutely glorious. As good as sci-fi gets. A couple of mediocre (by Chiang's standards) stories, but that pales into insignificance when compared with just how insanely good the best stories are. The title story, as well "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", "Omphalos" and "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom" are the highlights.
I also read
Wounds, by
Nathan Ballingrud, another short novella and short story collection. Horror rather than sci-fi. All the stories take place in an alternate timeline where Hells exists, and it is possible to travel in and out of it, and bring out artifacts and even rescue the Damned out of Hell back into our world. One sort of YA themed story which seems strangely out of place, other than that this is incredibly good. I immediately ordered Ballingrud's previous story collection,
North American Lake Monsters.
Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer. I really enjoyed the Southern Reach trilogy, loved Bourne and The Strange Bird and was really excited to tuck into this but..... what the fuck? It feels like he really phoned this one in. Was not a huge fan.
Kent State by Derf Backderf - did I mention this already? It was fucking GREAT. Dude knows how to make a comic really shine, writing, art, presentation. A+++++++
Currently reading The Witcher #2 - fourth one in the series for me with the two collections. Planning on enjoying something light and uncomplicated.
Richard Gavin - Grotesquerie
One of my favourite contemporary weird fiction writers. Disturbing without being over the top.
Just read the Hijokaidan book, not bad and definitely worth a read but for me it needed an editor; the quality of writing was uneven and the interjection of personal opinion needed to be directed better. Takes a long time to get going.
Quote from: Nolan on October 24, 2020, 03:26:44 PM
Just read the Hijokaidan book, not bad and definitely worth a read but for me it needed an editor; the quality of writing was uneven and the interjection of personal opinion needed to be directed better. Takes a long time to get going.
I haven't read it yet, but I find this to be a very common problem with a good number of "underground" music books that have come out in the past few years. It's a bummer.
"Ride the Tiger" of Julius Evola. I read it one time through already, to underline the most significant parts. Reading it a second time to understand it properly. Intense book, for sure son of its time, anachronistic and visionary at the same time, but absolutely fascinating and imbued of a deep mysticism and a rigorous philosophical and analytical character.
Quote from: absurdexposition on October 24, 2020, 04:30:31 PM
Quote from: Nolan on October 24, 2020, 03:26:44 PM
Just read the Hijokaidan book, not bad and definitely worth a read but for me it needed an editor; the quality of writing was uneven and the interjection of personal opinion needed to be directed better. Takes a long time to get going.
I haven't read it yet, but I find this to be a very common problem with a good number of "underground" music books that have come out in the past few years. It's a bummer.
I finished it last night, I enjoyed it given the subject matter, but the writing lacked clarity, it definitely dragged on and needed editing. I definitely think the scope was a little narrow, Junko is only mentioned five pages before the end!! IMO I think the book would have been MUCH more interesting had it covered Hijokaidan up to the present day and skipped a lot of what was covered, particularly the descriptions of EVERY SHOW they played prior to releasing an LP. However, the title tells you exactly what the scope of the book actually is so "you get what you pay for" as they say.
I honestly wanted to go back and re-read Japanoise which was a much more cohesive and interesting read after this.
Pity to hear about the Hijokaidan book. As much as I love Hijokaidan, I think I'll give the book a skip and stick with the G-Modern essays (should still be available somewhere online ... I was nerdy enough to print them out a few years back and stuff them into the 30th anniversary box).
Currently hopping between
Alexander & Ann Shulgin - TIHKAL (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TiHKAL) and
Nick Davies - Dark Heart (https://www.nickdavies.net/books/dark-heart-the-shocking-truth-about-hidden-britain-1998/). I reckon a lot of people here would like the Nick Davies one ... blurb:
QuoteOn a rainy autumn evening in a fairground near the centre of Nottingham, Nick Davies noticed two young boys, no more than twelve years old, and realised that while all around them people were preparing for fun, these two were setting out with grim determination to do something very different. They were trying to sell their bodies. Davies befriended the boys and discovered that they were part of a network of children who were selling themselves on the streets of the city, running a nightly gauntlet of dangers – pimps, punters, the Vice Squad, disease, drugs – and yet, most mysteriously, they could not be stopped. They seemed to be drawn towards their own destruction.
This experience propelled Davies into a journey of discovery, following the trail of human destruction as the politics of neoliberalism released a wave of poverty over the lives of millions of men, women and children in the United Kingdom. He found other boys and girls selling themselves for sex on the streets of cities across the country and began to see that their motive for doing this was not simply that they were poor and wanted money but that they had been deeply damaged by the experience of growing up in the chaos of the newly impoverished communities and broken families.
He set out to follow the trail of damage – emotional, physical, social, spiritual – which had been left by the flood of poverty. It led him deep into the new slums and ghettoes of the UK's green and pleasant land, into crack houses and brothels and illegal gambling dens as well as into the homes of ordinary families who were suddenly sinking into debt and despair. He befriended street gangs and their victims, rough sleepers and drug dealers as well as the social workers and teachers and doctors who were struggling to deal with the problems which the new poverty was inflicting on those it struck.
Dark Heart not only tells the tales of the men, women and children who Davies found living in this hidden Britain but also traces the cruel and complacent policies which had manufactured poverty on a scale and of a kind which once had appeared to have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
That Nick Davies book is great.
I think people here might enjoy Chav Solidarity by D Hunter too - abject memoir from the UK:
Two days after I ran away from home that first time, after spending the first night sleeping underneath a tree at the top of the Forest Rec, I tried to rob a man in a wheelchair. I saw him moving through the park alone, and it was dark so I thought I could handle it. I raced up behind him holding a small knife and before I could hold it to him he'd swung his wheel chair and slapped me to the ground. I don't really remember what words were spoken, but he managed to have his hands around my neck pretty tightly pretty quickly. He made it clear that I was going to suck him off or he was going to kill me then and there. I have no idea if he was someone capable of that, as I was a couple of years away from being able to make that judgement. I found his dick inside my mouth, and he moved my head up and down until he came inside. Once he had emptied himself he lifted my head up and drove it against his forehead. The next thing I knew I saw him on the floor, his wheel chair a good five feet away and three kids, a little older than me kicking the crap out of him. I watched this from the floor for a couple of minutes, before one of the kids turned around and walked over to me. She offered her hand and helped me up, and as she did so indicated the man on the floor. I think she must have said it, but maybe she didn't, either way it was enough for me to understand that I should give the man a few healthy kicks.
Just started I await the Devil's coming by Mary MacLane. I like the first few pages, so I will probably go on.
Got this as a christmas present, diving in presently. There is a BBC podcast of him reading parts of this book which I enjoyed.
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake - How fungi shapes our world, our mind and our future.
Been on a wrestling autobiography kick. Just finished "Sabu: Scars, Silence, and Superglue" by Sabu and Kenny Casanova, and "New Jack" by New Jack and Norman. Neither are particularly well-written (probably because both men have suffered their fair share of concussions), but they are packed with great stories from the glory days of ECW.
Quote from: Soloman Tump on January 05, 2021, 03:18:24 PM
Got this as a christmas present, diving in presently. There is a BBC podcast of him reading parts of this book which I enjoyed.
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake - How fungi shapes our world, our mind and our future.
My wife picked this up a few days ago. Looking forward to reading it also. Tenuous connection to this forum: Morphogenesis are named after the work of Rupert Sheldrake, Merlin Sheldrake's father.
Quote from: eraciator on November 13, 2020, 11:04:23 PM
That Nick Davies book is great.
I think people here might enjoy Chav Solidarity by D Hunter too - abject memoir from the UK
Forgot to say thanks for this recommendation! Will check this out for sure.
I'm currently reading
Mark O'Connell - To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death. Really enjoying it so far. He had another book last year,
Notes from an Apocalypse, which sounds great also. Covers all things End Times ... doomsday cults, survivalists, space colonists, etc.
I finally read Noise/Music by Paul Hegerty. VERY academic, kind of dull, incredibly small typeface but overall fairly enjoyable. I enjoyed the Merzbow/Japan chapters a lot. Overall it was not my jam.
I also read Lovecraft Country over the holidays. I enjoyed the show, thought they did a great job on the series and the book was very different and also great. I will definitely read my by Matt Ruff.
I found a used copy of Love Goes to Buildings On Fire by Will Hermes. Blazed through it, really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the formatting and all the talk of Talking Heads. Very much an enjoyable read.
Currently reading Red Country by Joe Abercrombie. #6 in the First Law series and they've all been great. I plan to finish off the short story collection and the new series he wrote this year as well.
https://shop.ditto-london.com/products/skinhead-an-archive-2020
my copy just arrived this morning. excited to crack into it.
I have the old edition. It is quite unusual, as it attempts to cover all sorts of skinhead things. Therefore it may be "too much" for almost everybody. Some will be freaked out by extensive bonehead presence. Ton of nazi skin stuff there, but if you didn't have problem with THAT, then you might have when gay skins take over and you got that stuff, explicitly presented... ! Haha!
Unusually good skinhead book. Not sure how much new edition is revised?
Jukka Siikala - Spanielit
Siikala is an amazing painter and this was his first published novel. I got it with my latest haul from Sarvilevyt, and the extract in the back cover got me interested. It was about this main character fantasizing about death and murder while waiting in the grill line, and then picking up few girls to after party with him. The extract leaves open what the scenario leads up to, but it made me think about the case in Finland 2007 when a teenager picked up girls to an after party and killed them with a crossbow. I thought that maybe the book is about something similar to that case.
Basically the story follows the life of an anonymous male protagonist and captures the feeling of alienation and meaninglessness with occasional wallowing in self pity, jerking off and sex and violence fantasies towards the people he interacts with. Some familiar places can be spotted like the old movie theater in Helsinki and some insights are really easy to relate to. Depressing short book (68 pages) and recommendable for Finns! (as it's only in Finnish).
+ Also reading the graphic novel Scalped. Violent crime drama set in Indian reservation. Artwork and colors are great! The first two trades were promising but the jumping back and forth in timeline was annoying. Hopefully it's not like this all the way through...
Quote from: Manhog_84 on January 24, 2021, 03:17:20 PM
Jukka Siikala - Spanielit
To my amazement it's not available in the Helsinki library system. Looks like I'll have to buy this too.
Quote from: Manhog_84 on January 24, 2021, 03:17:20 PM
Jukka Siikala - Spanielit
Siikala is an amazing painter and this was his first published novel. I got it with my latest haul from Sarvilevyt, and the extract in the back cover got me interested. It was about this main character fantasizing about death and murder while waiting in the grill line, and then picking up few girls to after party with him. The extract leaves open what the scenario leads up to, but it made me think about the case in Finland 2007 when a teenager picked up girls to an after party and killed them with a crossbow. I thought that maybe the book is about something similar to that case.
Basically the story follows the life of an anonymous male protagonist and captures the feeling of alienation and meaninglessness with occasional wallowing in self pity, jerking off and sex and violence fantasies towards the people he interacts with. Some familiar places can be spotted like the old movie theater in Helsinki and some insights are really easy to relate to. Depressing short book (68 pages) and recommendable for Finns! (as it's only in Finnish).
+ Also reading the graphic novel Scalped. Violent crime drama set in Indian reservation. Artwork and colors are great! The first two trades were promising but the jumping back and forth in timeline was annoying. Hopefully it's not like this all the way through...
It's a shame it is only in Finnish. It sounds interesting.
Red Country by Joe Abercrombie - I loved this book. The First Law trilogy was great, the subsequent books were really fun but Best Served Cold dragged on just a touch, but this one was just great. Totally excellent from start to finish. Can best be described as a deranged western set in a Conan/GoT type universe. Probably the best one I've read in the series.
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff - Very Philip K Dick-ish, a fast and fun read, I REALLY liked this one.
Blue Light of the Screen by Claire Cronin - I have never read anything quite like this. Billed as a "creative-critical memoir" it's a hallucinatory journey, I don't know if I love it, but I definitely enjoyed it. Would definitely read more from her in the future.
Aimé Césaire's Solar Throat Slashed The Unexpurgated 1948 Edition and perusing the recently published The Complete Poetry of Aimé Cesairé. He was like a cousin to Artaud, a little after him, but coming from a Carribean and African tradition. These works are an immediate grasp on your nerves, they hold weight and force, hotness, leaving a fierce harsh taste. You will not find an immediate violence or explicitness like de Sade or Bataille, but a deeper violence. This is like the African Bruegel the Elder, hot and fierce cosmic violence, dream and soul violence, boiling blood violence. These newer translations are of great importance, since Césaire became a politician later in life he edited some of the blasphemy and ferocity out of his works and cut some of the poems from Solar Throat Slashed. Anyway, whatever you feel about his politics these works are inspiring and exciting stuff. If you like Artaud's poetry this is definitely up your alley.
Danish Porno / Dansk Porn. Massive essay on the golden age of Danish smut.
I read The Tower of Swallows (The Witcher #4) and I have enjoyed these Witcher books in the past but this one was a bit of a slog. I think I need to take a year between this one and the last in the series.
Currently reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - my wife absolutely loved it and convinced me to read it (a pandemic book during the pandemic? Get the fuck outta here....) and it's GREAT. I'm really enjoying it. She's a fantastic writer. I'll probably read her next one this summer.
I have Free Jazz in Japan and Annihilating Noise lined up after for some exciting fun after.
Manhunter: The Story Of The Swedish Occultist And Serial Killer Thurneman. I bought this on a whim from Anja Offensive and so far, I'm pleasantly surprised. True crime/serial killer nonfiction hasn't been of much interest to me for a while now but the story of this maniac is very compelling to me. The setting of pre-WWII Sweden as well as the occult angle comes together quite well to keep me engaged.
Wrapped up The Two Antichrists by Peter Grey. I'd have to say he's the best current, active occult writer. This book looks at the relation of Parsons and L Ron Hubbard from a new angle than previously explored (namely that they both proclaimed themselves antichrist after engaging with Crowley) and includes some unpublished pieces by parsons. I appreciate Grey being willing to explore the esoteric roots of dianetics/scientology deeper than anyone I've seen prior, and I like how he characterizes antichrist as more of a subset of ideas and goals than an actual singular being (to be AN antichrist versus to be THE antichrist).
Currently reading the Zazen Sounds occult writing compilation Ajna put out...mostly good. Layout is great, though I get pretty fatigued by the 5th essay talking about the kali yuga and breakdown of traditional europe culture.
I received the latest New Juche, "The Worm", the other day and am very excited to dive in. Just paging through it it looks like a culmination of his prior ideas, not to mention it's just a massive tome. Shipping was absurd but when you handle it it makes sense. Some beautiful photo work in there.
George Orwell - Down and Out in Paris and London.
Quite different from 1984 and Animal Farm. Not just in the narrative but in the language as well. I enjoy it. Needed this easier read after reading Empire of the Senseless (Acker).
Substance by Peter Hook, extremely funny memoir of 80s rock and roll excess lived by a bunch of morons from working class Manchester. New Order to be exact. They lost millions and millions of pounds due to being, well, idiots who didn't know anything about anything except playing in a band and using all of the drugs they could get their hands on.
https://greatfon.com/v/punkstoo
For natives but lots of value here
Short stories or vignettes about all the awful things commie rockers and the like commit.
truecrime, exploitation & contemporary vibe. would recomend to others
Prisoner Of Love - Jean Genet
"Starting in 1970, Jean Genet—petty thief, prostitute, modernist master—spent two years in the Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. Always an outcast himself, Genet was drawn to this displaced people, an attraction that was to prove as complicated for him as it was enduring. Prisoner of Love, written some ten years later, when many of the men Genet had known had been killed, and he himself was dying, is a beautifully observed description of that time and those men as well as a reaffirmation of the author's commitment not only to the Palestinian revolution but to rebellion itself."
82189: Confessions of a Prison Bitch
"We are left with what might be described as an outsider memoir, or simply a document. Unrefined and unfinished, 82189 was written by a man – posthumously assigned the pen-name "Henry Bellows" – who died while serving a life sentence for rape, and who spent most his life in penal confinement. Whatever literary aspiration may have motivated Bellows' late-life confessional writing, his text now invites interest for such insight that it may offer (or conceal) regarding the formative experiences and criminal exploits of a repeat sex offender who was also rape victim. In telling his story, Bellows embeds a coldly observed account of carceral culture and the grim reality of sexual violence and abjection behind prison walls."
Dugin "Liberalism 2.0" - rereading again & again. Utterly definitive critique of our times.
http://www.4pt.su/en/content/liberalism-20 (http://www.4pt.su/en/content/liberalism-20)
Jukka Siikala's Seksnobyl is an art/photo book. It has just 3 pages of text to give you the context. Strong story that leaving you in a weird situation to feel horny, sick, disgust on the same time. To wish never be there, cause ... what if you couldnt hold yourself and participated ? You never know ... Artwork amplifies your feelings. You are in the list. Do you jump into the pit / do you enter the cabin ? If you deny, will be a way back ? - This would be great story for a movie. - IOPS , ofcource.
Quote from: Theodore on December 10, 2021, 03:03:12 AM
Jukka Siikala's Seksnobyl is an art/photo book. It has just 3 pages of text to give you the context. Strong story that leaving you in a weird situation to feel horny, sick, disgust on the same time. To wish never be there, cause ... what if you couldnt hold yourself and participated ? You never know ... Artwork amplifies your feelings. You are in the list. Do you jump into the pit / do you enter the cabin ? If you deny, will be a way back ? - This would be great story for a movie. - IOPS , ofcource.
Very cinematic indeed. As I was reading this, visuals of murky covert canoe trip followed by redneck incest espionage plays out in my head. Maybe Jukka should do a short film of this? Is this story even true? Doesn't matter I suppose. 10/10 magazine. Anxious for more!
Always The Horizon - Murdoch Murdoch
https://murdoch-murdoch.net/html/mm-ath.html
Quote from: no_baizuo_allowed on December 06, 2021, 07:02:44 AM
Dugin "Liberalism 2.0" - rereading again & again. Utterly definitive critique of our times.
http://www.4pt.su/en/content/liberalism-20 (http://www.4pt.su/en/content/liberalism-20)
Looks interesting. Book marked for reading later when I have the time.
Just ordered "Against The Modern World: Traditionalism And The Secret Intellectual History Of The Twentieth Century" by Mark Sedgwick. Looks like a good history lesson about the rise and continuing influence of traditional/perennial thinkers (ala Guenon, Frithjof, Evola, et al) in theology, philosophy, and contemporary politics.
Quite many books read, but seems pointless to write about Finnish language ones on international forum.
English written books, this is going right now, and quite good. Not finished yet, but half way through and nice anecdotes here and there, some stories of early label challenges etc. There is funny store of SORE THROAT discgrace to the corpse of sid LP recordings, where Earache have studio budget of 1000GBP to record week in studio. What band did was spend 200 pounds to record whole album in day, and then in hopes to keeping 800,- for themselves. Plan failed when Digby shows up into studio at end of week to discover nobody is recording anything. He pays studio 200, takes masters and leaves, not intending to give rest of budget to the "band". Hah.. Not that much of Sore Throat in this book. It mentions already by Indestroy LP (saw throat), members could not stand eachother to the point that they could not be in studio at the same time. I guess rest of Sore Throat guys have been expressing little dislike towards Hammy during the years.
https://cultneverdies.myshopify.com/products/peaceville-life
Quote from: HateSermon on December 22, 2021, 04:14:50 AM
Quote from: Theodore on December 10, 2021, 03:03:12 AM
Jukka Siikala's Seksnobyl is an art/photo book. It has just 3 pages of text to give you the context. Strong story that leaving you in a weird situation to feel horny, sick, disgust on the same time. To wish never be there, cause ... what if you couldnt hold yourself and participated ? You never know ... Artwork amplifies your feelings. You are in the list. Do you jump into the pit / do you enter the cabin ? If you deny, will be a way back ? - This would be great story for a movie. - IOPS , ofcource.
Very cinematic indeed. As I was reading this, visuals of murky covert canoe trip followed by redneck incest espionage plays out in my head. Maybe Jukka should do a short film of this? Is this story even true? Doesn't matter I suppose. 10/10 magazine. Anxious for more!
There will be more issues for Siikala photo works. He has some exciting new stuff done for next issue(s)!
Also related is that SPANIELIT book, debut novel of Siikala 2nd printing is now available. nhfastore sells it as usual. If someone wants to buy some other dealer, you'll request them to stock it. Good news is that ENGLISH VERSION of the book should be available within month. Keep eye on Infinity Land Press ( https://www.infinitylandpress.com )
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on February 09, 2022, 10:43:39 AM
Quote from: HateSermon on December 22, 2021, 04:14:50 AM
Quote from: Theodore on December 10, 2021, 03:03:12 AM
Jukka Siikala's Seksnobyl is an art/photo book. It has just 3 pages of text to give you the context. Strong story that leaving you in a weird situation to feel horny, sick, disgust on the same time. To wish never be there, cause ... what if you couldnt hold yourself and participated ? You never know ... Artwork amplifies your feelings. You are in the list. Do you jump into the pit / do you enter the cabin ? If you deny, will be a way back ? - This would be great story for a movie. - IOPS , ofcource.
Very cinematic indeed. As I was reading this, visuals of murky covert canoe trip followed by redneck incest espionage plays out in my head. Maybe Jukka should do a short film of this? Is this story even true? Doesn't matter I suppose. 10/10 magazine. Anxious for more!
There will be more issues for Siikala photo works. He has some exciting new stuff done for next issue(s)!
Also related is that SPANIELIT book, debut novel of Siikala 2nd printing is now available. nhfastore sells it as usual. If someone wants to buy some other dealer, you'll request them to stock it. Good news is that ENGLISH VERSION of the book should be available within month. Keep eye on Infinity Land Press ( https://www.infinitylandpress.com )
Excellent news for both. Hopefully Infinity Land Press will also do another run of his art book.
Speaking of Siikala, looks like Adam Lehrer just did an interview with him via the Safety Propaganda newsletter. I haven't read it yet but looking forward to diving into it tomorrow.
Link:
https://safetypropaganda.substack.com/p/safety-propagandist-11-jukka-siikala
any recommendations for books on punk, specifically hardcore? histories, interview transcripts, essays on different scenes, anything really
Quote from: washinblood on March 08, 2022, 10:39:27 PM
any recommendations for books on punk, specifically hardcore? histories, interview transcripts, essays on different scenes, anything really
I enjoyed this one: https://feralhouse.com/discos-out-murders-in/
Quote from: cantle on March 09, 2022, 12:12:41 AM
Quote from: washinblood on March 08, 2022, 10:39:27 PM
any recommendations for books on punk, specifically hardcore? histories, interview transcripts, essays on different scenes, anything really
I enjoyed this one: https://feralhouse.com/discos-out-murders-in/
'Disco's Out, Murders In' is a good read. 80s LA punk scene is the backdrop but it's more about the violent lives of the author and his friends. Some jaw dropping moments.
'American Hardcore' would be the gold standard for an overview on the subject, covering all key moments and regional scenes, very comprehensive and written by someone 'who was there'.
'Lexicon Devil', on Darby Crash, is also very good and gives an overview of how the LA scene developed as well as documenting his sad and bizarre life. Lots of funny stories and cool info.
'The Prodigal Rogerson' is a short book of 'tragic, hilarious and possibly apocryphal' stories about Roger Rogerson of Circle Jerks. Short, fun to read and should be easy to find for cheap.
'Get in the Van' is a good read, its Rollins' Black Flag-era journals.
'We Owe You Nothing', Punk Planet collected interviews, has a wide range of opinion spanning from Frank Kozik to Donna Dresch to film makers and activists. Lots of information but a bit dry to read.
'Story of H8000 Hardcore' is a massive 600+ page book with a focus on Belgium, recommended to anyone with interest in 90s metallic hardcore and its roots.
'Touch & Go: Complete Hardcore Punk Zine' is self explanatory.
'Armed with Anger' focuses on UKHC and underground punk in the 90s.
'Our Band Could Your Life' covers some first wave USHC and its outgrowth on labels like SST and Dischord.
'Burning Fight' on various bands and styles in 90s USHC.
'Please Kill Me', oral history of NYC punk and CBGBs scene.
'Dance of Days' on DC HC.
I haven't read 'Mutations' by Sam McPheeters yet but I'm curious to. Essays on different bands, styles and scenes I believe.
There are a lot of memoirs from people like John Doe, Alice Bag, Gregg Turner, Nancy Barille.... John Joseph and Harley Flanagan both have books. Too many people to list really.
Just finished the Sotos and Maunz book, I think it's the best Sotos in a very long time.
I am really obsessed at the moment with the dark fantasy works of Karl Edward Wagner and postmodern apocalyptic fiction of László Krasznahorkai.
I read Siikala's Spaniels a few weeks ago, and I thought it was great. Whereas the recent "Human Porridge" cassette was the soundtrack to his porn-noir aesthetic, this was the storyline. Across a loose series of episodes of an unnamed narrarator's life, Siikala weaves between anti-social fantasy and a slavish submissiveness to social expectations and norms. From what I understand, this is his first attempt at writing something substantial, and it is a fantastic start. His visual art is great, but I think he might be an even better author. I hope he writes more.
I am currently finishing up Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, which is wonderful for completely different reasons. Every city is the same as any other, except that every city is actualy many different cities!
I´m currently reading Yukio Mishima´s "Music". His books are always (at least for what I read from him) masterpieces and this doesn´t seem to differ, finely written with a deep focus on the characters' personalities and their psyche. There´s always a spiritual element behind the Mishima´s narrative, due to the evident personal involvement with his writings.
Quote from: AdamLehrerImageMaker on March 09, 2022, 11:08:36 PM
postmodern apocalyptic fiction of László Krasznahorkai.
man, looks really promising. i'll have to read something, do you recommend any book specifically? seems to be like a mix of j.g. ballard and dostoevsky
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on April 28, 2022, 06:39:46 PM
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on April 28, 2022, 06:39:46 PM
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
edgelord patron saint, hah. nah just kidding, he was a great writer.
Quote from: host body on April 28, 2022, 07:32:05 PM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on April 28, 2022, 06:39:46 PM
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on April 28, 2022, 06:39:46 PM
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
edgelord patron saint, hah. nah just kidding, he was a great writer.
Haha--I think I like this one the best of what I have read by him. I still have not made it to "Sun and Steel"... yet...
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on April 29, 2022, 03:59:48 AM
Quote from: host body on April 28, 2022, 07:32:05 PM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on April 28, 2022, 06:39:46 PM
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on April 28, 2022, 06:39:46 PM
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
edgelord patron saint, hah. nah just kidding, he was a great writer.
Haha--I think I like this one the best of what I have read by him. I still have not made it to "Sun and Steel"... yet...
he wasn't a nobel winner for nothing. brilliant writer and an equally fascinating character.
He didn't win a Nobel Prize.
Quote from: theotherjohn on April 29, 2022, 02:35:22 PM
He didn't win a Nobel Prize.
right, only on the shortlist for one. my mistake.
Reading Spaniels by Jukka Siikala and listening to Sadistic Bliss I & II CD. Fits well together.
Not worth a topic on it's own, but do you also read books sometimes, which were somehow 'enhanced' by the sounds you listened to while reading?
Do you like reading and listening to music at the same time at all?
I myself don't do it very often. I prefer to immerse in a book or in the noise. Everything else is mostly distracting one thing from the other. Sorry for bad English description
But sometimes it just fits well and enhances the experience of reading or listening, if you're in the right mood.
It's definitely easier to scroll through some art book, while listening, than to read some kind of story, esp. when it's not in your mother tongue. As said, I somehow like both, when it 'enhances' the expierience. And blahblah...
Quote from: cr on April 30, 2022, 05:25:58 PM
Do you like reading and listening to music at the same time at all?
No, I keep them separate always. But sometimes (not too often) I like to put on music as a background sound for reading to fill silence or drown some unwanted sounds. I was just reading Kurt Vonnegut's Timequake the other day with Secret Apex in the background and they went well together. Mind, Secret Apex is detailed and rewarding deep listening stuff, but it works to me this way as well.
It depends largely on the goal, my mood, and what's happening around me. Sometimes when my neighborhood is very loud I'll put on an album I'm very familiar with (something ambient, maybe, or with not a ton of movements) at a low volume to kinda add noise to my space that's comparatively less disruptive...I'll also put on like foreign language sports (like low action sports) to create ambient banter...sometimes I'll do the same when listening to just have something else happening, I'm not great purest since I don't do headphones normally so I figure my listening experience is always going to be slightly different.
Quote from: cr on April 30, 2022, 05:25:58 PM
Reading Spaniels by Jukka Siikala and listening to Sadistic Bliss I & II CD. Fits well together.
Not worth a topic on it's own, but do you also read books sometimes, which were somehow 'enhanced' by the sounds you listened to while reading?
Do you like reading and listening to music at the same time at all?
I myself don't do it very often. I prefer to immerse in a book or in the noise. Everything else is mostly distracting one thing from the other. Sorry for bad English description
But sometimes it just fits well and enhances the experience of reading or listening, if you're in the right mood.
Vomir and Thomas Bernhard - a match made in heaven! Both rely heavily on repetition and a sense of nothingness that offers plenty of variation and complexity once you have really established a connection. Probably anything driven by shrill 80ies PE type feedback also goes well with smut literature heh.
Quote from: cr on April 30, 2022, 05:25:58 PM
Do you like reading and listening to music at the same time at all?
....
Typically not. Practically never when reading fiction, sometimes when reading non-fiction.
I like reading biographies of musicians, bands, composers etc. I've tried listening to the artist's music at the same time, and even that feels a bit awkward.
Anyway, I'm currently reading
A Sunken Land Begins To Rise Again by M. John Harrison. I have a difficult relationship with this writer. I love the
way he writes, but not so much
what he writes. This one has the standard themes of psychogeography, a sort of unseen reality lurking beneath the surface, and the vagueness of memory and identity. This combined with a storyline of green half-human, half-fish fetuses appearing in toilet bowls all over England, for some reason. I'll keep reading stop see what, if anything, Harrison does with the story.
I'm reading:
I just re-read an ass load of Artaud for a podcast appearance I had to do, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artauds-body-without-organs-with-adam-lehrer/id1551596773?i=1000570088759
Also, Otessa Mosfegh's Lapvona. I am shocked by how good she is, given how thoroughly she's been absorbed into the otherwise dismal New Yorker-backed mainstream of the literary industry. Her writing is repulsive at times and deeply weird, and likely wouldn't get published by the companies that back her had they been written by a white guy. More power to her though, I always like when something real sneaks into the mainstream.
Other recent things:
Peter Handke's A Sorrow Beyond Dreams
Buddy Giovani's Life in Cracktown (spectacular trash filmmaker and writer, did this work as both a series of short stories and an equally interesting film)
Randall Phillip's Extermination Zone
art criticism by Bart Cassiman
Quote from: AdamLehrerImageMaker on July 27, 2022, 08:39:58 PM
Also, Otessa Mosfegh's Lapvona. I am shocked by how good she is, given how thoroughly she's been absorbed into the otherwise dismal New Yorker-backed mainstream of the literary industry. Her writing is repulsive at times and deeply weird, and likely wouldn't get published by the companies that back her had they been written by a white guy. More power to her though, I always like when something real sneaks into the mainstream.
I absolutely love her writing. Wasn't even aware that she had a new novel out. I wonder if the film adaptation of
My Year of Rest and Relaxation is still in the works. Not that I'm expecting much.
I am currently finishing up de Sade's The 120 Days of Sodom, and am enjoying every page.
It sounds like that project has been shelved for the moment, but she's co-adapting Eileen with her husband for a film that will be directed by William Olroyd, who directed one feature: the spectacularly erotic and Hitchcockian Lady Macbeth (no direct connection to Shakespeare, just an exploration of the Lady Macbeth archetype of cold cruel calculating bitch)
Quote from: Atrophist on July 27, 2022, 10:36:28 PM
Quote from: AdamLehrerImageMaker on July 27, 2022, 08:39:58 PM
Also, Otessa Mosfegh's Lapvona. I am shocked by how good she is, given how thoroughly she's been absorbed into the otherwise dismal New Yorker-backed mainstream of the literary industry. Her writing is repulsive at times and deeply weird, and likely wouldn't get published by the companies that back her had they been written by a white guy. More power to her though, I always like when something real sneaks into the mainstream.
I absolutely love her writing. Wasn't even aware that she had a new novel out. I wonder if the film adaptation of My Year of Rest and Relaxation is still in the works. Not that I'm expecting much.
CHAOS!!
Just finished a biography of king Louie XIV, which was a long but really good read. The Hitler biography by Ian Kershaw is up next.
Quote from: Electro Surgeon on July 31, 2022, 01:05:22 AM
CHAOS!!
Assuming you are talking about the book by Tom O'Neill? I just finished this. I'm still on the fence. Overall I liked it but it got a bit long winded and didn't keep me as engaged as I had hoped.
Just audiobooked a pile of George Orwell. Down and Out in Paris and London, The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia. The difference between Orwell and 99% of anything even remotely resembling a leftist in 2022 is mind boggling; it's like Carl Schmidt versus a doped up skinhead gang banger. He is certainly not right about everything, he is often very naive, but even at his worst he is always honest, nuanced and more or less a decent human being. Highly recommended to anyone, be ye of the far left or the far right, who likes the British, clever arguments and nice people.
I finish Rooster Fighter manga vol. 1 and it was an insane reading. WTF ^_^
Does anyone here already read it?
And who reads manga?
I'm just about to finish reading 'The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying' by Sogyal Rinpoche. The book was recommendation from a friend. Interesting read indeed for anyone into spirituality of any kind. For native finnish speaker there was a need for vocabulary on the side at times as I picked english version of the book. At least very good exercise for the vocabulary if I didn't reach enlightenment yet. Definitely not a quick read and I had to renew my loan from local library couple of times to get through. Maybe get yourself a copy or borrow it from your friend for longer period if you want to deep dive into it?
Blood Meridian is on my list to read! I've been trying to get out of a rut of only reading non fiction. Currently I am finishing "I See Satan Fall Like Lightning" by Rene Girard, then will try to read something by Thomas Ligotti. I don't know where to start but a friend of mine has been bugging me for years to get into him.
Quote from: Fairisfoul1137 on January 17, 2023, 03:42:23 AM
then will try to read something by Thomas Ligotti. I don't know where to start but a friend of mine has been bugging me for years to get into him.
The Penguin Classics collection of his short stories is pretty strong.
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on January 17, 2023, 04:26:17 AM
Quote from: Fairisfoul1137 on January 17, 2023, 03:42:23 AM
then will try to read something by Thomas Ligotti. I don't know where to start but a friend of mine has been bugging me for years to get into him.
The Penguin Classics collection of his short stories is pretty strong.
Great, thank you! I'll look for that at the library!
Quote from: Fairisfoul1137 on January 23, 2023, 12:48:18 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on January 17, 2023, 04:26:17 AM
Quote from: Fairisfoul1137 on January 17, 2023, 03:42:23 AM
then will try to read something by Thomas Ligotti. I don't know where to start but a friend of mine has been bugging me for years to get into him.
The Penguin Classics collection of his short stories is pretty strong.
Great, thank you! I'll look for that at the library!
His nonfiction book,
The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, is also definitely worth reading, but perhaps not as interesting as his stories (at least not to me, I really should reread it though...)
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on January 23, 2023, 02:27:59 AM
Quote from: Fairisfoul1137 on January 23, 2023, 12:48:18 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on January 17, 2023, 04:26:17 AM
Quote from: Fairisfoul1137 on January 17, 2023, 03:42:23 AM
then will try to read something by Thomas Ligotti. I don't know where to start but a friend of mine has been bugging me for years to get into him.
The Penguin Classics collection of his short stories is pretty strong.
Great, thank you! I'll look for that at the library!
His nonfiction book, The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, is also definitely worth reading, but perhaps not as interesting as his stories (at least not to me, I really should reread it though...)
That is the one book my friend was less than enthusiastic about! I might save that for after I've gotten a better feel for the rest of his work. The general premise didn't strike me as that compelling though, but I'm picky with my misanthropy haha
I'm definitely hoping to get my hands on Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel. I've heard it's harder to find but I've read some really great analysis of it and have to find out for myself now.
Quote from: Fairisfoul1137 on January 23, 2023, 04:57:36 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on January 23, 2023, 02:27:59 AM
Quote from: Fairisfoul1137 on January 23, 2023, 12:48:18 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on January 17, 2023, 04:26:17 AM
Quote from: Fairisfoul1137 on January 17, 2023, 03:42:23 AM
then will try to read something by Thomas Ligotti. I don't know where to start but a friend of mine has been bugging me for years to get into him.
The Penguin Classics collection of his short stories is pretty strong.
Great, thank you! I'll look for that at the library!
His nonfiction book, The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, is also definitely worth reading, but perhaps not as interesting as his stories (at least not to me, I really should reread it though...)
That is the one book my friend was less than enthusiastic about! I might save that for after I've gotten a better feel for the rest of his work. The general premise didn't strike me as that compelling though, but I'm picky with my misanthropy haha
It was definitely not as compelling as his fiction, which has some points of great creativity and writing. From what I remember, a good portion of the book was just summarizing the arguments of other misanthropes---who, honestly, sounded a bit more interesting in and of themselves.
Finally got started on Who Killed Mister Moonlight by David J. Haskings. Been almost hesitant to read it, due to it coming do heavily recommended.
Almost finished Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Great history book and interesting read, particularly the parts dealing with his chaotic childhood, Mongol military tactics and his influence to this day.
Just started A History of Russia by Riasanovsky although it's a little boring at times...
Quote from: Obsidian_Lord on January 26, 2023, 01:14:56 AM
Just started A History of Russia by Riasanovsky although it's a little boring at times...
If you want/try to understand today's Russia through the lense of its history, but also prefer more "living" texts, I'd recommend you to read "The Russian Idea" by Nicolai Berdyaev. It's been a while since the book has been written, but anyway, it's great for deeper understanding of current(?) realities of internal and foreign affairs of Russia..
I've really been taken by Christopher Buehlman's work. I'm not an avid reader, but when I find something I like, I kind of focus on that one author and work through their catalog. Since last year I've been delving into Buehlman's work which is an eclectic mix of historical fiction, horror, sometimes fantasy, and always an element of supernatural.
Between Two Fires was my first book and it takes place in France during the 14th-century plague. The tale of a disgraced knight who happens across a little girl and decides to protect and guide her through a harrowing journey. Demons from hell have found an absence in God and disruption among the angel's so they decide to wreak havoc on man. There are some very vivid and horrific scenes that unfold, especially when they arrive from the French countryside into the city of Paris.
I think my favorite book so far was his take on fantasy with The Blacktongue Thief. I'm not often one for fantasy novels, but this was so easy to read and a world well developed without the usual overwhelming and tedious world-building. The main character, a thief with some magical abilities, ends up on the wrong end of a battle with a warrior/knight and they team up on a quest. There is an excellent chapter in which they seek the assistance from a witch known as "Dead Legs" in her upside-down castle and the use of magic throughout the book is really fun.
All of the books have been entertaining so far and I really like the author's writing style. I just hope we get some sequels to these titles in the near future! I think there is a prequel already in the works for Blacktongue Thief.
Read:
Between Two Fires
Those Across The River
The Blacktongue Thief
The Necromancer's House
Up Next:
The Lesser Dead
The Suicide Motor Club
Just read Audrey Szasz - Destroy Everything You Touch. - Short but really good!
"Tears Of A Komsomol Girl" is next, looking forward to it.
Quote from: cr on January 28, 2023, 07:19:01 PM
Just read Audrey Szasz - Destroy Everything You Touch. - Short but really good!
"Tears Of A Komsomol Girl" is next, looking forward to it.
I really wanted to order
Destroy Everything You Touch, but it is some steep shipping for such a small book!
Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present by Chris Gosden
An interesting (a bit academic sometimes) account, from an anthopological and archeological point of view, of the history of magic (often compared to science and religion).
The Shadow of the Gloomy East: A Moral History of the Russian People by Ferdinand Ossendowski
Tales, legends and myths from early 20th century Russia, before the rise of the communist regime.
Hyperion saga by Dan Simmons
A classic of modern sci-fi. I've gone through the first book which some sort of Canterbury Tales in space (every characater tells his story).
Quote from: BlackCavendish on April 04, 2023, 07:14:49 PM
Hyperion saga by Dan Simmons
A classic of modern sci-fi. I've gone through the first book which some sort of Canterbury Tales in space (every characater tells his story).
Takes a major nosedive after the second book. First one is a classic, second one okay, the 3rd and 4th ones forgettable. Simmons can be a very frustrating author that way — he has more ideas than ability to carey them out.
Quote from: Atrophist on April 10, 2023, 06:41:37 PM
Quote from: BlackCavendish on April 04, 2023, 07:14:49 PM
Hyperion saga by Dan Simmons
A classic of modern sci-fi. I've gone through the first book which some sort of Canterbury Tales in space (every characater tells his story).
Takes a major nosedive after the second book. First one is a classic, second one okay, the 3rd and 4th ones forgettable. Simmons can be a very frustrating author that way — he has more ideas than ability to carey them out.
Yeah, already got this feedback from a friend. Halfway through the second book and it seems that sometimes he just likes the idea of writing for the sake of writing.
Declining quality is a recurring "problem" in all modern fantasy/sci-fi sagas (Frank Herbert's Dune could be a valid example).
Quote from: BlackCavendish on April 11, 2023, 03:31:12 PM
Quote from: Atrophist on April 10, 2023, 06:41:37 PM
Quote from: BlackCavendish on April 04, 2023, 07:14:49 PM
Hyperion saga by Dan Simmons
A classic of modern sci-fi. I've gone through the first book which some sort of Canterbury Tales in space (every characater tells his story).
Takes a major nosedive after the second book. First one is a classic, second one okay, the 3rd and 4th ones forgettable. Simmons can be a very frustrating author that way — he has more ideas than ability to carey them out.
Yeah, already got this feedback from a friend. Halfway through the second book and it seems that sometimes he just like the idea of writing for the sake of writing.
Declining quality is a recurring "problem" in all modern fantasy/sci-fi sagas (Frank Herbert's Dune could be a valid example).
Asimov's Foundation completely dries up halfway through the second book as well.
Gary Allen: None Dare Call It Conspiracy
slowly reading this, it´s in pdf, and have to read from phone screen
Quote from: BlackCavendish on April 11, 2023, 03:31:12 PM
Yeah, already got this feedback from a friend. Halfway through the second book and it seems that sometimes he just likes the idea of writing for the sake of writing.
Declining quality is a recurring "problem" in all modern fantasy/sci-fi sagas (Frank Herbert's Dune could be a valid example).
Are you familiar with the Welsh author Alastair Reynolds and his Inhibitor Trilogy?
https://revelationspace.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Inhibitor_trilogy
Dark Gothic Space opera, not hard scifi by any means, but Reynolds being an astronomer means he can insert some scientific cred into the proceedings. Each novel is better than the previous one, imo.
Reynolds is a very prolific author and in recent years the quality of his output has began to wobble a little. Up until
The House for Suns (2008) everything he wrote was great. After that, by all means proceed but with caution.
Mishima "Thirst for Love" great portrait of the Japanese post-war society painted around the weird feelings of the main character Etsuko. Beautiful and elegant as all the Mishima books I read, just quite difficult in some parts for me as I'm not reading it in my native language.
Quote from: Atrophist on April 15, 2023, 11:54:19 PM
Are you familiar with the Welsh author Alastair Reynolds and his Inhibitor Trilogy?
https://revelationspace.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Inhibitor_trilogy
Dark Gothic Space opera, not hard scifi by any means, but Reynolds being an astronomer means he can insert some scientific cred into the proceedings. Each novel is better than the previous one, imo.
Reynolds is a very prolific author and in recent years the quality of his output has began to wobble a little. Up until The House for Suns (2008) everything he wrote was great. After that, by all means proceed but with caution.
Never head of him but I see now his first 3 books have been pubished in italian. Gotta look for them, thanks for the tip.
I'm not a nerd science, so no big deal if the book lacks scientific details. For example I like Jack Vance just because he is good at telling stories.
On the other side I have very fond memories of Hal Clement's "Mission of Gravity" which instead was classic hard sci-fi.
Quote from: BlackCavendish on April 16, 2023, 05:51:22 PM
On the other side I have very fond memories of Hal Clement's "Mission of Gravity" which instead was classic hard sci-fi.
Hmmm I found that this is available at my local library system, put a hold on it. Thanks for the suggestion!
Blindsight by Peter Watts is probably the best science fiction novel published this millennium. There's been quite a bit of debate whether it constitutes hard sci-fi or not. But it does explore more ideas in one book than most authors would in an entire multibook series, such as virtual reality and transhumanism, the nature of consciousness, exobiology, and .... erm, vampires. No, really. I'd recommend it to anyone in our milieu.
Quote"I brought her flowers one dusky Tuesday evening when the light was perfect. I pointed out the irony of that romantic old tradition— the severed genitalia of another species, offered as a precopulatory bribe—and then I recited my story just as we were about to fuck.
To this day, I still don't know what went wrong."
― Peter Watts, Blindsight
Quote from: Atrophist on April 17, 2023, 06:00:37 PM
Hmmm I found that this is available at my local library system, put a hold on it. Thanks for the suggestion!
According to wiki: The story is "noteworthy not only as an impressive piece of planet-building, but as the first SF novel built on actual observational data involving another possible solar system", making it an early and often-praised example of macrocosmic worldbuilding hard science fiction.
Been years since I read it but I remember it had that classic "sense of wonder" tipical of the sci-fi novels of the '50s/'60s
Quote from: Atrophist on April 17, 2023, 06:00:37 PM
transhumanism
This is a topic i'm very interested in. Recently I stumbled across some russian sci-fi authors (recently reprinted in italian), especially Aleksandr Bogdanov, and through him I started looking into the Russian Cosmism that partially deals with the above mentioned topic (from the perspective of an early 20th century scientist)... Received today this one:
The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Fedorov and His Followers by George M. Young
Sounds promising.
I enjoy rock biographies, even if the bands in question aren't even my cup of tea.
Recently I leafed through Good Pop, Bad Pop, by Jarvis Cocker. Not really a biography as such, it's just him emptying out an old closet full of junk and telling a pretty inane story about each item. The whole concept in pretty contrived and to be honest the guy's writing isn't that interesting. I doubt that I'll finish it. If I was a huge Pulp fan I'd probably feel different.
Next is Hit So Hard, by Patty Schemel, the former drummer of Hole. Another band I don't really have much time for. But hopefully there'll be some juicy gossip about Courtney Love and generally some heroin-fueled grunge stupidity/misery.
Two at the moment:
Meinander, Henrik - Suomi 1944
Ortega Y Gasset, Jose - The Revolt of the Masses
Meinander's book offers an pretty fantastic overall view to the year 1944 in Finland. Meinander handles many different aspects of this significant war year in Finland, like mental state of the nation, culture, homefront, foreign and domestic policies etc. One could view this book as an companion piece to the classic wartime diary Synkkä Yksinpuhelu, written by Olavi Paavolainen .
Recently finished the entire of Harry Stephen Keeler's 'The Marceau Case" quadrilogy. The first two are spectacular. Mainstream pulp mystery novels written in the mid 30s which are more experimental than most 50s avant garde literature. Two entire novels without conventional third person narrative but rather presented as a dossier of newspaper clippings, telegrams, letters, photographs, short stories, advertising flyers, pages and pages of 'chinese' jokes, etc etc. If you google it you will quickly learn the 'spoiler' that it's about the 'flying strangler-baby' case, one of Keeler's most famously ridiculous murder setups, but the 2nd novel, "X Jones - Of Scotland Yard" presents an entirely different solution to the same murder, perfectly fitting the evidence in the first book but completely contradicting it. That 2nd book is the most thrillingly insane thing I've ever read, and the twist ending might be the most audaciously ridiculous in all literature.
the final 2 books in the series are more 'conventional' Keeler novels and only partly touch upon the Marceau case, sort of offering another 2 possible solutions / further preposterous details but nowhere near as deranged as the first two. Also lots of Keeler's ahead of his time anti-racism which of course he expresses by doing things like having a black/native american character who admires hitler
just finished the latest Victor Pelevin book 'A Trip To Eleusis', the last in trilogy, previous two are 'Transhumanism inc.' and 'KGBT+'. to characterize it as cyberpunk is note really correct, but it's the closest, add harsh social satire, thriller, reflections on the ideas of buddhism and metaphysics in general, offbeat fantasy and elements of hardcore naughtiness. unfortunately none of these three are translated. however if you are into psy-fi and culturally/historically dense weird whatever, try the few translated books, there are some in other languages than english as well. Pelevin is considered to be the greatest living russian writer by many and is smart enough not to live there. he was missing for years until journalists found him in Thailand, then he moved again. as with many other languages, there are untranslatable things in these texts, mostly the cultural context, idioms, slogans and obviously the ethymological puns. you might miss a joke or ten, but it is worth to read anyway. books are widely available, but the reviews can be misleading, you can't nail what is it about in a few sentences. my own favorite is Chapaev and Pustota, titles are listed below in recommended order for english readers. have fun!
- The Life of Insects
- Omon Ra
- Buddha's Little Finger [originally Chapaev and Pustota]
- The Yellow Arrow
- SNUFF
- Babylon or Homo Zapiens in another publication [originally called Generation P, there is a movie as well by the same name, recommended]
- A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories [a collection of shorts]
- Empire V [it has a sequel Batman & Apollo, i'm not sure is it in english already or not]
- iPhuck 10 [not sure about english translation]
- The Sacred Book of the Werewolf
- The Hall of the Singing Caryatids
- Helmet of Horror
Been trying to get back into the habit of reading more actively this year, instead of spending time online and what have you. Results vary but I'm hoping to reach couple dozen books by the end of the year.
Currently reading Yukio Mishima's Temple of Dawn. So far it hasn't grabbed me like either of the previous two Sea of Fertility books. The writing is beautiful as ever but so far it just sort of meanders with the travels and spiritual questions and such, without a clear heading like the elegance and dreaminess of Spring Snow or youthful virility of Runaway Horses. We'll see if it picks up later on.
Another one I'm chipping away at is Leena Krohn's Mathematical Creatures... collection of short stories. Part of the "Finlandia-challenge", I've been pleasantly surprised by this. Somewhere in the realm of scifi/spefi etc. but doesn't fall into any clear style. Very high-flying topics around existence, being, and such, but stories themselves are fun and don't feel needlessly dense. Don't think a comprehensive English translation exists but few stories have been translated to some collections.
I've stopped and started reading a few things this year, but the handful of things I've been picking at the last few months are:
Ferdinand Ulrich- Homo Abyssus: The Drama of the Question of Being
Costin Vlad Alamariu- Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy
Nanne Tepper- Happy Hunting Grounds
As well as various papers/journals i have laying around since I can't stand looking at a screen to read. A lot of it has been personal research for releases I'm working on but it's still extremely rewarding to get through them (especially the Ulrich book) outside of that
Mostly been reading Finnish written stuff, so seems little odd to talk about them in English. Currently reading essay book titled "Hajonneen maailman käyttöohje", which translates something like "manual for broken world". Many times when you got idealistic people, they see that society or world, could be fixed. That just as if we do X or Y, we will turn the direction.
In this book author feels very differently. He may be die hard deep green, but instead of focusing on delusions that climate change would be avoided with certain measures, or that balance of nature could be restored, he has other ideas. While he has been blamed to be given up, or pessimistic, he argues exactly opposite. He is critical towards this faith about better future or that past conditions are being restored. Instead, like the title says, it is manual for the broken world. How to navigate in new conditions, new environments, etc.
In these times, when you got both pessimism and panic, that everything is fucked, everything is going down the drain - and then you have almost religious faith as if paradise could be restored on earth if we just try. In this book, angle is that what if the absolute best man can do, is adaptation to live within slow catastrophe.
Essays do not really provide preaching political solutions etc, but simply it may be personal observations how something broken, is not completely useless. How many idealistic and idyllic forms are not really what is to be desired.
Bottom line being that it is easy to declare end of the world, but more difficult if you realize it is not ending, just have to learn to cope to live within destruction and ruin.
I got few more essays to read to finish the book. Very varied topics, some more interesting than others. There is nothing "tough" in it. The post apocalyptic element may be as little as old forest being cut down by machines that gives him grief, yet in those vast empty slots, soon mushrooms flourish. We tend to value "elegant" and aesthetically pleasing, yet from perspective of other life, even the slices of city wastelands may be flourishing life and bio-diversity. It is just not seen in such way as untouched old forest.
Quote from: Fields on October 17, 2023, 02:07:30 PMBeen trying to get back into the habit of reading more actively this year, instead of spending time online and what have you. Results vary but I'm hoping to reach couple dozen books by the end of the year.
Currently reading Yukio Mishima's Temple of Dawn. So far it hasn't grabbed me like either of the previous two Sea of Fertility books. The writing is beautiful as ever but so far it just sort of meanders with the travels and spiritual questions and such, without a clear heading like the elegance and dreaminess of Spring Snow or youthful virility of Runaway Horses. We'll see if it picks up later on.
Another one I'm chipping away at is Leena Krohn's Mathematical Creatures... collection of short stories. Part of the "Finlandia-challenge", I've been pleasantly surprised by this. Somewhere in the realm of scifi/spefi etc. but doesn't fall into any clear style. Very high-flying topics around existence, being, and such, but stories themselves are fun and don't feel needlessly dense. Don't think a comprehensive English translation exists but few stories have been translated to some collections.
I think
Temple of Dawn was the weakest of the series, at least from my first read-through (
The Decay of the Angel being my favorite. However, it does give some interesting glimpses into why/how Honda is motivated in his obsession, which sets up his character for the final book quite well.
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on October 19, 2023, 10:03:59 AMMostly been reading Finnish written stuff, so seems little odd to talk about them in English. Currently reading essay book titled "Hajonneen maailman käyttöohje", which translates something like "manual for broken world". Many times when you got idealistic people, they see that society or world, could be fixed. That just as if we do X or Y, we will turn the direction.
In this book author feels very differently. He may be die hard deep green, but instead of focusing on delusions that climate change would be avoided with certain measures, or that balance of nature could be restored, he has other ideas. While he has been blamed to be given up, or pessimistic, he argues exactly opposite. He is critical towards this faith about better future or that past conditions are being restored. Instead, like the title says, it is manual for the broken world. How to navigate in new conditions, new environments, etc.
In these times, when you got both pessimism and panic, that everything is fucked, everything is going down the drain - and then you have almost religious faith as if paradise could be restored on earth if we just try. In this book, angle is that what if the absolute best man can do, is adaptation to live within slow catastrophe.
Essays do not really provide preaching political solutions etc, but simply it may be personal observations how something broken, is not completely useless. How many idealistic and idyllic forms are not really what is to be desired.
Bottom line being that it is easy to declare end of the world, but more difficult if you realize it is not ending, just have to learn to cope to live within destruction and ruin.
I got few more essays to read to finish the book. Very varied topics, some more interesting than others. There is nothing "tough" in it. The post apocalyptic element may be as little as old forest being cut down by machines that gives him grief, yet in those vast empty slots, soon mushrooms flourish. We tend to value "elegant" and aesthetically pleasing, yet from perspective of other life, even the slices of city wastelands may be flourishing life and bio-diversity. It is just not seen in such way as untouched old forest.
This sounds very interesting. I assume that there is no translation to English? What is the name of the author?
This seems closely related to something that I am working on personally, actually.
I assume that you have read about Speer's "theory of ruin value"? It's just a short passage in his autobiography, but it becomes very interesting when you begin to think about it in an environmental perspective.
Annie Jacobsen's AREA 51 "an uncensored history of america's top secret military base"
interesting stuff, but sometimes feeling it goes a bit too much to unnecessary details - but surely the writer wanted to make it juicier. soon finishing with this. i have another one from the same writer waiting: Operation Paperclip "The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America" (interesting enough!)
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on October 19, 2023, 06:26:28 PMThis sounds very interesting. I assume that there is no translation to English? What is the name of the author?
This seems closely related to something that I am working on personally, actually.
I assume that you have read about Speer's "theory of ruin value"? It's just a short passage in his autobiography, but it becomes very interesting when you begin to think about it in an environmental perspective.
Author is Ville-Juhani Sutinen. Not that much of Finnish literature gets translated and I would suspect every country has authors who deal with somewhat similar matters, although this one has a lot of kind of new'ish, somewhat fresh ideas and perspective. It is also in many ways Finland related. Depending on essays, it covers things like innovations in "artificial meat", companies that make vegetable "meats", Finnish style flea markets, recycling and excessive consumerist mania they theoretically oppose - in reality perhaps even advocate. Essays are wide variety of subjects, from fertility treatments when trying to have kid, into mushroom harvesting. Each topic may sound somewhat "uninteresting", but thing is that like in industrial noise releases, the
topic itself is sort of like word you could get over with, and look into actual substance. Essays about collecting mushrooms or trying to have baby, are not really about that. Really good writing. Ville-Juhani Sutinen been known for couple decades and won awards and quite present in public too. I doubt people would know his name when being asked, but they might have heard or read his works without being really caring who he is. Recently he was in long interview at YLE radio show and being asked if he is pessimist and given up, due talking about accepting the broken world? He said not at all! Quite opposite. Endless amount of people have either angst or delusional hopes, that what can be done after _____. Add whatever scenario at the blank space. It's like people living entire life waiting "capitalism to collapse, and then..", "immigrant crisis to turn civil war, and then.." etc. Always sort of excuses that make one postpone actions and lifestyle changes. Instead of utopia (or dystopia) he'd discuss what can be done in the broken world. Where things are no more what they used to be, but it is still the only thing we got and situation one has to cope with. Analogies are good for a lot of things in life, and for many it is probably simply something very normal put into good writing.
This has very little in common with Speer. The ruin value, similarly spoken by bunch of other people of such direction (Francis Parker Yockey etc) had idea that even when the civilization, without doubt and without exception, eventually collapses, the next species or next generations of people would see the ruins of civilization as if gods walked on earth before them. Noble idea of course. What we have now, is like the population that is not gods walking earth, more like some sort of horse of anti-midas type of characters. Things they touch, doesn't turn into gold, but garbage. And in feverish mania they want to touch everything.
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on October 23, 2023, 11:15:42 AMQuote from: Balor/SS1535 on October 19, 2023, 06:26:28 PMThis sounds very interesting. I assume that there is no translation to English? What is the name of the author?
This seems closely related to something that I am working on personally, actually.
I assume that you have read about Speer's "theory of ruin value"? It's just a short passage in his autobiography, but it becomes very interesting when you begin to think about it in an environmental perspective.
Author is Ville-Juhani Sutinen. Not that much of Finnish literature gets translated and I would suspect every country has authors who deal with somewhat similar matters, although this one has a lot of kind of new'ish, somewhat fresh ideas and perspective. It is also in many ways Finland related. Depending on essays, it covers things like innovations in "artificial meat", companies that make vegetable "meats", Finnish style flea markets, recycling and excessive consumerist mania they theoretically oppose - in reality perhaps even advocate. Essays are wide variety of subjects, from fertility treatments when trying to have kid, into mushroom harvesting. Each topic may sound somewhat "uninteresting", but thing is that like in industrial noise releases, the topic itself is sort of like word you could get over with, and look into actual substance. Essays about collecting mushrooms or trying to have baby, are not really about that. Really good writing. Ville-Juhani Sutinen been known for couple decades and won awards and quite present in public too. I doubt people would know his name when being asked, but they might have heard or read his works without being really caring who he is. Recently he was in long interview at YLE radio show and being asked if he is pessimist and given up, due talking about accepting the broken world? He said not at all! Quite opposite. Endless amount of people have either angst or delusional hopes, that what can be done after _____. Add whatever scenario at the blank space. It's like people living entire life waiting "capitalism to collapse, and then..", "immigrant crisis to turn civil war, and then.." etc. Always sort of excuses that make one postpone actions and lifestyle changes. Instead of utopia (or dystopia) he'd discuss what can be done in the broken world. Where things are no more what they used to be, but it is still the only thing we got and situation one has to cope with. Analogies are good for a lot of things in life, and for many it is probably simply something very normal put into good writing.
This has very little in common with Speer. The ruin value, similarly spoken by bunch of other people of such direction (Francis Parker Yockey etc) had idea that even when the civilization, without doubt and without exception, eventually collapses, the next species or next generations of people would see the ruins of civilization as if gods walked on earth before them. Noble idea of course. What we have now, is like the population that is not gods walking earth, more like some sort of horse of anti-midas type of characters. Things they touch, doesn't turn into gold, but garbage. And in feverish mania they want to touch everything.
All of his essays sound really interesting, especially given what you say about his general conceptual orientation towards a strange "new normal" in some ways. Hopefully some of his work will eventually filter out to the rest of the world through translation. (Or maybe I just need to learn Finnish already...)
Yes, it's definitely very different from Speer himself, but I have realized that his theory has survived in some weird ways among some environmentalists (or at least geologists thinking about environmental issues). What some are doing now is trading the "great ruins of a civilization" for trash/plastic and then envisioning how they will be preserved and perceived as ruins in the distant future. Apparently the sum total of human civilization in the future of Speer's imagining will have more in common with microplastic dust than Roman antiquity---according to them, at least. It's not necessarily pessimistic either, but carrying Speer's theory to the end, it leaves one feeling as though nothing produced in modernity had much value in the first place!
Quote from: holy ghost on January 26, 2021, 04:43:14 PMRed Country by Joe Abercrombie - I loved this book. The First Law trilogy was great, the subsequent books were really fun but Best Served Cold dragged on just a touch, but this one was just great. Totally excellent from start to finish. Can best be described as a deranged western set in a Conan/GoT type universe. Probably the best one I've read in the series.
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff - Very Philip K Dick-ish, a fast and fun read, I REALLY liked this one.
Blue Light of the Screen by Claire Cronin - I have never read anything quite like this. Billed as a "creative-critical memoir" it's a hallucinatory journey, I don't know if I love it, but I definitely enjoyed it. Would definitely read more from her in the future.
I have to confess that I keep an eye on what holy ghost posts in this thread. It seems that we have a lot of similar interests what comes to books.
Been reading a lot of fiction this year. Developed a solid reading routine and it's been great. Just finished Piranesi by Susanna Clarke a couple of nights ago. It was a refreshingly original and mysterious novel. Lots of statues, liminal spaces and a contemplative main character.
V13 - Emmanuel Carrère
Just started reading this... It is a detailed account of the trial of the terrorists responsible for the attacks of November 13, 2015 (Bataclan and company).
I just went through the first chapters, all dedicated to the victims' depositions.
Structure seems similar to that of Murakami's "Underground", who did a similar work with the survivors of the Tokyo subway attack.
I like Carrère's style of writing, but we'll see if the book keep up to its premises in terms of content and analysis of the event.
"The Invention of The Jewish People" by Shlomo Sand.
Got this out of interest based on the strength of Arthur Koestler's argument in his book "The Thirteenth Tribe".
Both highly compelling arguments.
Quote from: Une Rose on February 03, 2022, 05:00:26 AMQuote from: no_baizuo_allowed on December 06, 2021, 07:02:44 AMDugin "Liberalism 2.0" - rereading again & again. Utterly definitive critique of our times.
http://www.4pt.su/en/content/liberalism-20 (http://www.4pt.su/en/content/liberalism-20)
Looks interesting. Book marked for reading later when I have the time.
Just ordered "Against The Modern World: Traditionalism And The Secret Intellectual History Of The Twentieth Century" by Mark Sedgwick. Looks like a good history lesson about the rise and continuing influence of traditional/perennial thinkers (ala Guenon, Frithjof, Evola, et al) in theology, philosophy, and contemporary politics.
Dugin's works have been referred to by some anons online lately as "Third Worldist Slavic Apeman Drivel", kek
Ministry of Foolishness #1
Noise comedy zine? A short story detailing a woman's erotic journey of self-discovery while toying with an MS-20 makes up the meat of it. There's also fun aphorisms, spot-the-difference, jokes, readers letters of getting caught making noise... not sure if these are written from scratch or just replaced the sex with noise, but either way it works well. Some genuine "Laugh-Out-Loud" moments. And it appears the foolishness has now spread to Instagram where they host an equally hilarious meme page: https://www.instagram.com/ministryoffoolishness/
Quote from: Hakaristi on January 30, 2024, 04:08:11 AMMinistry of Foolishness #1
Noise comedy zine? A short story detailing a woman's erotic journey of self-discovery while toying with an MS-20 makes up the meat of it. There's also fun aphorisms, spot-the-difference, jokes, readers letters of getting caught making noise... not sure if these are written from scratch or just replaced the sex with noise, but either way it works well. Some genuine "Laugh-Out-Loud" moments. And it appears the foolishness has now spread to Instagram where they host an equally hilarious meme page: https://www.instagram.com/ministryoffoolishness/
Zine and the MS-20 story is hilarious.
Instagram normally doesn't interest me that much, but the Ministry page is worth it alone, the absolute best what can be found there! Thank you to whoever is doing this!
wu ming 2 - La Q di complotto.
In depth study on Q Anon from Italian left wing perspective. very interesting since it takes the occasion to touch many conspiracy theories I didn't even know on including internet-created ilnesses (morgellon), satanic panic, reptilians, as well as the good olf blood accusations and witchcraft. I don't always agree with his view point on specific topic due to ideological differences and it doesn't touch some topics that are missing,but it's an excellent book for everyone who is amazed on how mass hysteria can make people believe the dumbest things. A thing I appreciated is that despite the communist background the author does also nail several left wing obsessions, especially during the covid crisis, yet it does not mention the fact that many politicians of the most affected areas in Italy (Bergamo) were happily inviting people to party during the first stage of the crisis.
Enforcer, by Caesar Campbell
Autobiographical account by one of Australia's most known outlaw bikers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_%22Caesar%22_Campbell
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon.
The title is pretty self-explanatory, it's a book about detectives who investigate murders in Baltimore. The writer later worked on the very popular TV show The Wire (which I haven't seen).
This one's a bit of a mixed bag for me. It's interesting enough on its own, but the "tough guy" writing lets it down. It's almost like the guy wants to write how detectives in Hollywood movies talk. It gets downright embarrassing at times. Also, some parts are far more interesting than others, which in a non-fiction book can't be helped, I guess.
Next some fiction: Apple in the Dark, by Clarice Lispector.
I got flu few days ago, i have some sick days. Been reading some small books here and there but right now i got a 1952 copy finnish language copy of Tacitus' Germania.
Carlos Videla's Italian edition of Blood memory, a book that helps interpreting Miguel Serrano's peculiar philosophy.
Got a copy of Magnus Mills' The Forensic Records Society and got started on it right away.
A group of men meet at the back room of their local pub every Monday at 8pm, on the dot. Everyone must bring three 7' singles, and they take turns playing them and listening in silence. No commentary or criticism is allowed -- the point is to listen, drink your pint, and then go home. If anyone is late, they aren't allowed in.
However, the strict rules of the society begin to irritate some members, and soon other rival record societies spring up: the Confessional Records Society, the Perceptive Records Society and the New Forensic Records Society.
Mills writes quite short novels, seemingly mild and mundane descriptions of ordinary British life -- but there is always a sense of absurdity and of things being somehow off-kilter. There is also always a very subtle sense of menace under the surface. This sinister streak in the narrative will usually begin to come to surface as the story progresses, and completely take over by the end.
I'm enjoying this, but it's not the best thing he's ever written. Anyone interested, I suggest you start with The Restraint of Beasts.
Supersex - the story of Gabriel Pontello's porn photonovel, that was part of my education as well of inspiration of Rocco Siffredi
Neutron Gun Reloaded....collection of Gerry Reith's writings by 9BB. Phenomenal group of stories/fables/writings. Dude was a true outsider and there is a palpable fervor in his prose that is hard to find. Highly recommended
Varg Vikernes' bio in 3 chapters. The black metal years states same topics of his on line stuff. The childhood part is very entertaining. Looking forward to read the prison years.
Bought it as a used book last week, as it seems to be very hard to find nowadays - but right now I'm starting to read Giorgio Manganelli - From Hell (in German)
Looking forward to dive deeper into it.
Quote from: goldameir on January 26, 2023, 09:56:34 PMQuote from: Obsidian_Lord on January 26, 2023, 01:14:56 AMJust started A History of Russia by Riasanovsky although it's a little boring at times...
If you want/try to understand today's Russia through the lense of its history, but also prefer more "living" texts, I'd recommend you to read "The Russian Idea" by Nicolai Berdyaev. It's been a while since the book has been written, but anyway, it's great for deeper understanding of current(?) realities of internal and foreign affairs of Russia..
Thanks. I'dd add that to the list.
Currently finished reading:
Revolution 1989 Fall of the Soviet Empire by V. Sebestyen. Great book.
Currently reading Bhagavad-gita commentated by Swami Prabhupada. Always wanted to read in to Hinduism, someone said the Gita the way to start..
Currently i'm reading Eumeswil by Ernst Jünger, Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte and Ride the Tiger by Julius Evola.
Quote from: Commander15 on April 03, 2024, 10:54:40 PMCurrently i'm reading Eumeswil by Ernst Jünger, Kaputtby Curzio Malaparte and Ride the Tiger by Julius Evola.
Kaputt was good, but very strange. Definitely an interesting combination of reporting, self-aggrandizement, and hyperbole!
Got about 20 pages left of The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway, next on my docket is Seize the Day by Saul Bellow. I have been pretty unfocused with my reading this year but Kathy Acker's My Mother: Demonology was enrapturing and would highly, HIGHLY recommend for fans of Bataille and Henry Miller
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on April 03, 2024, 11:06:58 PMQuote from: Commander15 on April 03, 2024, 10:54:40 PMCurrently i'm reading Eumeswil by Ernst Jünger, Kaputtby Curzio Malaparte and Ride the Tiger by Julius Evola.
Kaputt was good, but very strange. Definitely an interesting combination of reporting, self-aggrandizement, and hyperbole!
I agree! At times it felt almost like a grotesque fever dream where you couldn't discern the fact from the fiction, i.e. hundreds of frozen horses on the Lake Ladoga, the Jassy pogrom or the Naples bombing scene at the end. There is an strong melancholic undercurrent present in this book that i interpret as an Malaparte's personal sorrow for Europe's state of decline and horrors of WWII.
Quote from: Commander15 on April 04, 2024, 12:48:37 AMQuote from: Balor/SS1535 on April 03, 2024, 11:06:58 PMQuote from: Commander15 on April 03, 2024, 10:54:40 PMCurrently i'm reading Eumeswil by Ernst Jünger, Kaputtby Curzio Malaparte and Ride the Tiger by Julius Evola.
Kaputt was good, but very strange. Definitely an interesting combination of reporting, self-aggrandizement, and hyperbole!
I agree! At times it felt almost like a grotesque fever dream where you couldn't discern the fact from the fiction, i.e. hundreds of frozen horses on the Lake Ladoga, the Jassy pogrom or the Naples bombing scene at the end. There is an strong melancholic undercurrent present in this book that i interpret as an Malaparte's personal sorrow for Europe's state of decline and horrors of WWII.
There was the sorrow, definitely---but it felt, at times, like there was a bit of glee for himself as well? Especially in some of the sections most directly dealing with Nazi genocide, where he tries to paint himself as a hero despite doing nothing in reality (as far as I understand, at least). I would need to reread to be more specific, it's been a few years now.
He reminded me of Celine a bit too, now that I think of it more.
Just finished Wilhelm Reich e il segreto dei dischi volanti, which is about Reich's latest years and his "war" against UFOs.
Currently reading David Ulansey's The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World (I'm halfway through and so far is good), next in line is the recently translated (at least in italian) Memoria de la Sangre, Miguel Serrano y la renovación del mito heroico, a book about Miguel Serrano written by his personal assistant Carlos Videla.
Exhibition by Kevin Cousins. I'm only a little less than half finished so far. I can't recommend it. It has plenty of errors and overall, it's not very well written.