What are we reading?

Started by edison, September 21, 2003, 11:20:03 PM

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Raikus

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, with all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Sunrise

Just finished...



Moving to...



And by the sound of it I had better put Against Interpretation into my queue!

samsong


Neil

it's not the wrench, it's the plumber.

godardian

Quote from: Sunrise on June 29, 2006, 11:26:50 AM
Just finished...



And by the sound of it I had better put Against Interpretation into my queue!

...even if you can find one of the essays in an anthology, take any opportunity you can to read some Sontag, esp. on culture/lit/film.

I LOVE the BFI monograph series. My faves are Marcus on The Manchurian Candidate, Taubin on Taxi Driver, Mulvey on Citizen Kane, and Paglia on The Birds (in some ways the book she was born to write).
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

Sunrise

The Modern Times print was the first I have read in the "regular" BFI Classics series. I have also read Heat and The Thin Red Line from the "modern" series. I have been meaning to read the Taxi Driver print for a long time...just never pulled the trigger. They seem to all be really great (and quick) reads. Thanks for the additional suggestions.

The only Sontag I have read is her essay/review of Persona from 1967. Based on that, and the endorsements from this thread, I will make a point to get to much more of her work.

Ravi


godardian

Both of my texts of the moment are for classes.

For PHI100 (Intro to Philosophy):



...and jumping at my chance to read this for an independent project for HIS112 (U.S. History 1877-Present):

""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

Ravi



I read Running with Scissors (the first part), then I read Magical Thinking (the third part) for some reason.  I think the library I went to didn't have Dry at the time.

polkablues



After reading this, and Lullaby right before that, I'm getting a little frustrated with Chuck Palahniuk.  He's full of these brilliant, bizarre ideas, but he seems incapable of crafting them into a cohesive novel.  Lullaby, especially, felt like a watching a movie where the projector dies in the middle of the second act.

So I move onto this to make myself feel better:
My house, my rules, my coffee

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

Quote from: polkablues on July 09, 2006, 07:02:51 PM


After reading this, and Lullaby right before that, I'm getting a little frustrated with Chuck Palahniuk.  He's full of these brilliant, bizarre ideas, but he seems incapable of crafting them into a cohesive novel.  Lullaby, especially, felt like a watching a movie where the projector dies in the middle of the second act.


In defense of Palahniuk (since I'm clearly his only fan), you chose two of his lesser quality books.  If you'd like to give him another chance, I'd recommend Invisible Monsters or Survivor.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

MacGuffin

Quote from: Walrus on July 09, 2006, 08:45:57 PMIn defense of Palahniuk (since I'm clearly his only fan), you chose two of his lesser quality books.  If you'd like to give him another chance, I'd recommend Invisible Monsters or Survivor.

I thought I was his only fan after budgie left.  :yabbse-undecided:

I'd say go in this order:

Invisible Monsters
Diary
Survivor
Choke
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

polkablues

I'd happily give him another chance, especially now that I have some recommendations.  I enjoy his style, and I think he's an amazing, original thinker, but after I finished both of those books, it left me feeling like the whole was not even close to the sum of the individual parts.  I guess I'll read Invisible Monsters, and then if I'm still not feeling it, I'll move on to someone else for a while.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Neil

I really enjoy chuck as well, but i fortunately read all his books in order they came out, with the exception of "stranger than fiction" and i found that haunted and lullaby were a let down for me...I believe that survivor was my favorite, but yes, i agree with polka on the simple fact of not following through with the great ideas...but regardless chuck p. is a great author...

something i thought was funny: a good friend of mine read lullaby and just quit reading the book with one page left, just thought that was funny.
it's not the wrench, it's the plumber.

matt35mm

Quote from: Neil on July 14, 2006, 04:43:51 PM
something i thought was funny: a good friend of mine read lullaby and just quit reading the book with one page left, just thought that was funny.
I bet your good friend thought it was funny, too.  I bet he or she couldn't wait to brag to everyone within earshot with a pride matched only by Simba's.