What are you reading

[Jordan]

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.

[HongKongGoolagong]

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.

[m.]

"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.

[JoeTheStache]

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. 

[ConcreteMascara]

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.



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.

[Baglady]

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.

[Baglady]

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.

[Jordan]

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

I AM BEAUTIFUL MONSTER: Poetry, Prose, and Provocation of Francis Picabia

and a few other things.

[simulacrum]

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.

[redswordwhiteplough]

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.

This is a good read indeed.


At the moment I'm reading

[vorago]

C.G Jung, Red book/liber novus (readers edition, which is much more cheaper than previous 120 eur editions)

[Martin]

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.

[Jordan]

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.

[yosef666]

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.

[ConcreteMascara]

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