Hey, Books

[tricorne]

I'm reading Euler's Gem - has anybody read it? I'm finding it very engaging, and would love some recommendations for similarly accessible pop math books.

[Courtney]

Hannah, I do not know what that book is, and mostly all I read these days are horrible business books featuring pop psychology, but I am bumping this thread because I approve of math books and maybe someone else can offer you recommendations.

[guedita]

I also can't recommend any math books, but I'm happy to report that I am reading more these days. Almost finished with A Confederacy of Dunces, which has been a riot. And I picked up Zadie Smith's Autograph Man and Louise Erdrich's A Plague of Doves at my favorite bookstore last week, both of which I'm looking forward to.

I've had The Golden Notebook on my nightstand for like a year now, but do not in any way feel compelled to open and start that beast.

[FEELS]

Almost finished with A Confederacy of Dunces, which has been a riot.

Been meaning to read this for forever, heard it's prolly the funniest book.

[RotationSlimWang]

Everyone tells me that Dunces is the funniest book they've ever read.

Like Catch-22 never fucking existed.

[Dogvolta]

I also can't recommend any math books, but I'm happy to report that I am reading more these days. Almost finished with A Confederacy of Dunces, which has been a riot. And I picked up Zadie Smith's Autograph Man and Louise Erdrich's A Plague of Doves at my favorite bookstore last week, both of which I'm looking forward to.

I've had The Golden Notebook on my nightstand for like a year now, but do not in any way feel compelled to open and start that beast.

I thought you read all of Erdrich's work already?

[guedita]

I've never said that, but thank you for assuming.

[zircona1]

Currently I'm reading Gravity's Rainbow for the first time.

I finished this about 2 weeks ago. I don't think I 'got it'. Do you have to read another book to understand everything that went on?

[ods..]

Everyone tells me that Dunces is the funniest book they've ever read.

Like Catch-22 never fucking existed.

You're an idiot. Dunces destroys 22. Wow.

[SoulDischarge]

I also can't recommend any math books, but I'm happy to report that I am reading more these days. Almost finished with A Confederacy of Dunces, which has been a riot. And I picked up Zadie Smith's Autograph Man and Louise Erdrich's A Plague of Doves at my favorite bookstore last week, both of which I'm looking forward to.

I've had The Golden Notebook on my nightstand for like a year now, but do not in any way feel compelled to open and start that beast.

Dunces is definitely at least in the top 5 funniest books I've read, and a contender for #1, but I'll concede Catch-22 as stiff competition. I recently read Zadie Smith's White Teeth and was not impressed. It seemed really tone deaf to how people actually talk and act and would drop and pick up story lines at will to make it's vague not-terribly interesting points about history and family and the past and I'm already yawning. It's an easy read but vastly overrated. I think I read that The Autograph Man was better.

[ods..]

The guy masturbates to fantasies of his dead dog. Gotta be number one for me.

[gam3g3ni3]

Currently I'm on a sci fi kick.


Finished Ready Player One and Enders Game last week. Just picked up The Forever War. Then gonna read Wool when I'm finished with that

[mountmccabe]

I finished this about 2 weeks ago. I don't think I 'got it'. Do you have to read another book to understand everything that went on?

The Pynchon Wiki section on Gravity's Rainbow has a lot to offer such as a character map, summaries and annotations.

If you want more the above site may or may not link to Zak Smith's page-by-page illustrations and they in turn may or may not help you understand anything. There are plenty of academic papers written on the novel.

But I think you only get into (beyond the first few references that help you keep track of the characters and summarize what is going on) that if you love the novel and want more. The novel should be funny/bizarre/interesting/transcendent often enough to be entertaining regardless of your level of involvement with the text.

[bmack86]

This thread reminded me that I need to re-read Catch-22, since it's been at least 10 years.

[algunz]

I need to read Confederacy again. I can't make a fair comparison until I do.

[mountmccabe]

Also Catch-22 is the funniest book I've ever read*. Also I did the last 200 pages straight, feverish**, staying up until 2 AM, unable to stop***. And then I was shaking so much I couldn't sleep.

Has anyone read any other worthwhile Heller? I forget which one I tried after 22 but it was unbearable.



* Which does not include Dunces.
** For clarity I did not actually have a fever.
*** Even when it turned awful ruining everything.

[TomAz]

I'm reading Euler's Gem - has anybody read it? I'm finding it very engaging, and would love some recommendations for similarly accessible pop math books.

[lehorne]

there is a Heller sequel to Catch 22 I purchased years ago but is getting dust on the book shelf unopened for whatever reason. Received the Stanislaw Lem books today and had been reading chapters of Richard Burton's '1001 Arabian Nights' translation while awaiting them. Just a reminder of how crazy and dignified Arabs are.

[bmack86]

The sequel to Catch 22 (Closing Time) isn't as good as Catch 22 by a long shot, but it's very readable at least.

[SoulDischarge]

I read about half of Gold As Gold by Heller and was so disinterested, I gave up.

[roberto73]

I just finished Donald Ray Pollock's The Devil All the Time, which was, frankly, fucking astonishing. Imagine a cross between Flannery O'Connor and Cormac McCarthy in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio and West Virginia. Ugly people doing brutal, ugly things in spare, muscular – yet oddly beautiful – prose. It's narrative as a blunt weapon. I'll be reading this one again.

[hippityhip]

Currently I'm on a sci fi kick.


Finished Ready Player One and Enders Game last week. Just picked up The Forever War. Then gonna read Wool when I'm finished with that

The Forever War is really good. My next read is A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.

[Zafocaine]

Also Catch-22 is the funniest book I've ever read*. Also I did the last 200 pages straight, feverish**, staying up until 2 AM, unable to stop***. And then I was shaking so much I couldn't sleep.

Has anyone read any other worthwhile Heller? I forget which one I tried after 22 but it was unbearable.



* Which does not include Dunces.
** For clarity I did not actually have a fever.
*** Even when it turned awful ruining everything.

Catch 22 is the funniest book I've had the joy of reading. I remember laughing abruptly when reading one of Stephen King's Dark Tower books when Roland called aspirin astin. That was as funny as reading got until I picked up Catch 22. I could only read a few pages at a time before putting the book down and going about my day with a smile. That's delightful reading.

Also read his autobiography, which was interesting. Always wanted to try reading another of his books though.

[lehorne]

Ijon Tichy is trying to leave the planet while reflecting on his use of an advancing youth machine which made him around nine years old: “To my great horror I discovered in moments of leisure from palace duties I felt an irresistible urge to play tag”.

[bmack86]

Today I started what is referred to as Samuel Beckett's trilogy of novels: Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnameable. I read part 1 of Molloy in a single sprint, which is definitely how it was intended (It's an 85 page paragraph.) Anyone familiar with Beckett via his plays (Waiting for Godot) would be walking on familiar ground here, as it is a constant fight to reach a final point that is constantly eluding the character. There is a depth to the character that is never developed in Godot, however, and I can't wait to see how it grows in the second half of the novel and the next two, which apparently loosely connect the same character in an increasingly loose, non-narrative existential dive into human despair.

Not easy reading whatsoever, but if you like well-written, insane adventures into truly disturbed and confused people, I'd recommend it just based on the start.

[JorgeC]

If you like "YA" twilight-ish trash (and i do, btw), i'd recomment Beautiful Creatures. I finished it while on vacation. Easy read (obvs) and the main difference that i liked between this and Hunger Games/Twilight series is that the main character is boy. It's like a bad teen movie, full of high school drama, small town prejudice and nosey neighbors, but with witches and stuff. It's even got an abstinence-only message. Woohoo!

For $7 or so at Target, i went ahead and bought the 2nd book (Beautiful Darkness) to see how Ethan and Lena's "forbidden love" progresses.

[guedita]

I'm reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler right now for a class. It's fun.

I picked this up at a bookstore I wandered into on Valencia yesterday.

[guedita]

I finished The Big Sleep and, though I'm not well versed in crime fiction by any means, found it precise and engaging and I look forward to devouring the rest of Chandler's Marlowe series.

But now I'm reading Octavia Butler's trilogy, Lillith's Brood (Xenogenesis) Anyone interested in sci fi and intergalactic extraterrestrial genetic engineering would be wise to check it out.

[amyzzz]

genital engineering?

[guedita]

Ha, oops...genetic. But, also...