Barth...I agree unfortunately. Late seventies, packed auditorium (UofMd).Barth was reading from a work in progress (Letters). I tuned up in the parking lot with some excellent Colombian. What a reading, my laughter was at least 80/20 in favor to the bespectacled man on stage. Now I strum thru my copy in vain for laughs. I blame it on the soporific indica that now dominates

Finished The Devil All the Time quickly. It had great pacing and promising scenarios, but nothing surprising or meaningful happens. Still a fun, twisted read.

Also finished Slade House. Mixed on this. Good horror is so rare and in certain parts of the book (particularly the first 2/3) it does get genuinely mind-bending/scary, but it nosedives in the final third with a huge exposition/backstory dump that kills all the momentum. The ending was lame too, but you can say the same about The Shining.


I'm honestly curious: Are you referring to the absurd, overwhelming brutality of it all? Or how fast his "friends" and wife turn on him in a kind of deadpan way? Or is it the leap of logic that God demands, the hand-waving? I've never heard anyone say this about Job (except for the crying hysterically part, obv).

What parts are funny? And why specifically, Baltimore, the KJV?

Maybe my sense of humor is off in this case. I've also never understood Hitchcock's claim that Psycho is really a comedy. Any help there?

I said KJV because that's what's considered to be in "the literary canon", the best-written English version with lots of famous phrases coming from it. I also specified because if there's actually humor the translation could affect that a lot.

Related: When I read The Part About the Critics from Bolano's 2666 the first time, I laughed hysterically at parts. On a re-read not so much and it came across as more poignant.

When it comes to Biblical drama, quality is Job #1.

Finished The Glass Rainbow by James Lee Burke. The book tails off at the end and I got the feeling Burke bit off more than he could chew with regard to plot complication. I enjoy the Robi series, but Burke seems to be running out of energy or running on empty. Regardless, it was good entertainment.

Beyond The Betrayal.

Recovery from sex addiction

I'm putting off the Murakami temporarily to read Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson, who recently died. I've always heard how great these stories were but never got around to it before now. It's very dark to say the least, lots of drug and alcohol abuse and general debauchery. Very original voice for sure.

picked up Paglia's Free Women Free Men: Sex Gender Feminism. Let's see. She's an entertaining writer, at least.

I too picked up Jesus' Son for the same reason. Barry Hannah's Bats Out of Hell comes to mind after reading a few stories. Also the early Richard Ford short story collection Rock Falls as well as Raymond Carver

I finished Drums Along the Mohawk by Walter D. Edmonds. Historical fiction set during the American Revolution in upstate New York. I'm not a fan of Edmonds' style, and I think the book ends up being fairly repetitive (muster, march, burn house down, rebuild -- rinse / repeat). But the true-to-life details of frontier life and the social dynamics of the period kept me interested.

I had a similar experience with The Sot-Weed Factor. I thought it was a marvellous and wonderfully funny novel when I read it but coming back to it twenty years later I found it more tedious than clever. And funny rape wasn't funny any more ...

But, about Funhouse, "Night-Sea Journey" still seems to me a tour de force. Even if the rest of the book has become pretty much stale dated.

I just finished A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews. This is on par with American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis for one of the most shocking/offensive books I've read. It's the kind of book where if you're reading it in public, you hope nobody is looking over your shoulder seeing what you're reading.

I recently read Forever War by Joe Haldeman. It's supposed to be thinly veiled commentary on Vietnam through a sci fi story. Regardless, I thought the story was amazing and the main character very interesting to follow. It concerns a war between humans a an alien race called (by humans) Taurans. Because of the nature of space travel and time dilation, the war goes over a thousand years with the protagonist having only 3 or 4 encounters with the aliens. Within the book is a really moving love story and a strong anti-war feel. It's great.

Forever War's one of my favorites. I love the theme about the main character going from everyman soldier to outcast just by virtue of continuing to survive and exist, the world around him having evolved so much each time he returns. So much heart and introspection for a military scifi book.

Figured I'd give another one of Richard Adams' novels a try: The Plague Dogs. Instead of an Animal vs. Animal story as in Watership Down (which I loved), this one has Animal vs. Man. Our bleeding hearts follow a pair of dogs who escape from a research facility and wander the English countryside. The novel is very good when it focuses on Rowf and Snitter, but I had no love for any human characters, who were mostly caricatures. And as the novel wears on, human POVs become more prevalent, so instead of paying attention to our sympathetic heroes we're following a bunch of people we don't care about. Powell, for instance, could've been a great way to introduce and resolve the moral dilemma of animal testing, but Adams mishandled his character. The ending is pretty awful, as well -- numerous out-of-place references to Greek mythology, authorial intrusions, and a couple of revelations that could've been foreshadowed better. I liked the book overall, but several aspects of it might've been improved.

The book i hate the most is American Psycho (and movie i hate the most remains less than zero). Now I will have to read this to see if it can be more disturbing...

I just read Killing Patton and a few old michael connelly novels pre-lincoln lawyer at the pool. Also reading the leftovers by perrotte after watching hbo series. Enjoyed all.

American Psycho (the book) is utter drek

Thank You, Jeeves. *

* Title of book I'm rereading now.

What's a good novel that's about or at least heavily involves breaking out of prison?

The Count of Monte Cristo.

This is a great novel, not just a good one.

I tried reading Cory Doctorow's Walkaway about future cool hacker-type people trying to remake society, hated it. Pol Pot had nothing on these idiots. Glorifies communism/socialism in particularly muddle-headed ways. I was disgusting and bored.

I read an excellent history of Rome called SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus) by Mary Beard. She covers a lot of territory from foundation legends -- and points out how strange those stories are compared to other origin stories -- up until the end of the reign of Commodus. Once in a while I felt she could've spent more time on a topic (Punic Wars and Marius & Sulla, especially), but it's only a single volume, and overall her account is balanced and insightful. I like her treatment of post-Augustan emperors, as she focuses not on the degeneracy of Claudius and Caligula and company, but on how the Empire administered itself in spite of them. Definitely recommend this as an introduction to or refresher on the Roman Repulic and early Empire.

I might check that out. She's presented a few history documentaries that I've watched. Wrt Roman History I'd recommend Adrian Goldsworthy's books.

She's also pretty active on social media, and if you don't already listen to it, she's a regular on the bbc's In Our Time radio/podcast which is well worth checking out.

In the same area I'd recommend Tom Holland's books on both Rome and on Thermopylae.

Might be my fav book ever. So good.