2666 struck me as being like Magnolia - while technically I guess it all sorta fits together, really it's a bunch of pretty disconnected stories, some of which are better than others. It has its moments but I don't get the hype.

i tried reading savage detectives, but couldn't get into it

currently reading the first tycoon: the epic life of cornelius vanderbilt and liking it a lot

it very much is a bunch of disconnected stories. he originally intended to publish it as five separate novels so his kids and wife would get more money from royalties after he was dead. but his kids decided it worked better to release as one volume.

the first section of savage detectives is far and away the weakest part of the book. it's in one narrative voice and it's one of a teenager with a pretty limited worldview who seems to only enjoy making lists of authors and poets. once you get past that, the second section of the book is shorter pieces narrated by various characters (who are almost universally more interesting than the first kid) that have something or other to do with arturo belano (roberto bolano) and ulises lima, and their search for the "poems" of this mysterious woman.

I'd give it another 100 pages or so. I'm 26% in (Kindle as mentioned above), and am really starting to enjoy the book. Early on, he kinda throws a lot of stuff at you from unexplained acronyms to seemingly random characters, unnecessary abbreviations, and self indulgent word choice and sentence structure. However it DOES get better pretty quickly as the begins to tie little pieces of the chaos together, bit by bit.

The whole tennis thing is really not that important in and of itself, but is more a setting wherein the author can convey the stresses put upon a group of young (sometimes) driven kids and and explain motivation and personality types. It really works well so far, though it certainly didn't have to be tennis - it could have been any sport or even some elite prep school with a couple tweaks.

Give it a little more time. The writing style grows on you (though his excessive use of 'like', often times in very awkward, conversationally non-fluid syntax, continues to be borderline obnoxious).

how does the kindle handle typesetting of the footnotes in infinite jest?

just like normal kindle footnotes?

I'm not sure if I know what you mean. The footnotes are numbered as they would be in standard print, and to read one, you scroll down, cursor over it, and the 'link finger' pops up. One click and it takes you to a 'position' (as there are no page numbers), towards the end of the book.

It's pretty nice really.

yeah that sounds the same as how kindle handles normal footnotes (or at least footnotes in books that i have)

i thought infinite jest might be different since the footnotes play such a big part

Maybe I should start reading the footnotes

Thanks to everyone in this thread that recommened American Gods. I'm 170 pages into it and can't put it down, excellent fiction. I also read the Nikki Sixx book and my Kindle should be waiting at my house tomorrow when I get home from work. Next up Kafka on the Shore...

for everyone that liked The Name of the Wind, the 2nd book comes out tomorrow

I'm super pumped for it

Holy **** that's awesome. Thank you. I stopped following his blog a while back so I had no idea.

Well that just made my day.

Just wanted to say

that I thought thread title was "best boobs"

Yep, it is awesome. Also, A Dance with Dragons (George Martin 5th book in Song of Ice and Fire) has an OFFICIAL release scheduled for July 12th. yesssssss

So I'm 30% through, and certainly enjoying the book, but I can't quite figure out how to use this site. Any tips?

I'm a bit hesitant to dive too far in as I really don't want to inadvertently read spoilers.

yeah plenty of time to reread the series before July

60% of the way through The Wise Man's Fear and really liking it

Anyone read the "original scrolls" version of On The Road?

thoughts on how it holds vs the published?

thanks

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Original-...9866607&sr=8-3

On one hand this excites me cause I love this series, but on the other hand I know I am going to read it in 2 days, and then am going to have to wait another 5 years for the next book which tempers my excitement some.

Also, I have a feeling the 5th book is going to be super heavy on the Taragyen princess (forgot her name), which has been the least interesting storyline for me so far.

Dany. but who knows, maybe the 5th book is where the 2 continents/storylines link up.

that book needed to be edited more, not less

lol wp, wp.

It's still damned cool though.

I liked her stories.

And I assume 5th book is about her, the north and the fire priestess thing.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, it's not fiction but nevertheless, published in 2003:

"A Short History Of Neraly Everything by Bill Bryson"

I LOVE this book.

A better thread title might be which books written in the last ten years will be in print in 50. I'm not bothered reading new books, the canon is there and proven and I'm never near a watercooler. I'll get around to these novelties when I'm ancient and they've had a continuous readership. Maugham anyone? Excuse my intrusion if there's a best books thread

I was going to call you Nagasawa, but given that Norwegian Wood isn't 50 years old yet I guess you'd miss out on the reference.