Finished blood meridian man goddamn

Incredible book man, give us your thoughts before the rot that's core to the human soul sets in

Finished Clockers by Richard Price. Gonna bundle my thoughts with the other books I'm currently busy with rn but I've been juggling some reads.

I have never read something so violent and beautiful.

Ending caught me way off guard.

Baby stuff wasn’t fun as I just had one

Need to read this I have it

Gotta reread this. I read this when I was 18 and it fundamentally altered my brain. I was depressed for a while after reading this tho ngl

kudos on reading it at such a formative age. similarly i had to put it down for a few months 3/4ths through - mainly cus of life s*** but also cus her imagination/idealism 20+ years ago makes current reality even more disappointing

Now I can finally see the movie

very depressing but beautifully written, would not recommend reading if you’re feeling lost in life

Objectively a good book, but not for me. Too episodic for my liking, but I can see myself enjoying a re read of it a lot more than my initial read. Has a very Berserk feel to it, which I would prefer to see visually rather than read.
Solid 3/5

A really powerful novel centred around Northern Italy under the Nazis and particularly the Lebensborn project. Combines fiction and a range of historical documents to tell a deeply personal but also wide reaching story. My one gripe with this was was that the individual story sort of became lost amongst the sheer weight of everything else but I suppose that's sort of the point.

I gulped this down in two sittings and probably would have just immediately read it again if it wasn't so horrific. It tells the story of a Senegalese man fighting in the French army in the First World War, and his descent into madness after his best friend is killed. It is intoxicating, hypnotic and really visceral, I got absolutely lost in it and actually felt quite ill at times. Great book!

500 incredibly dense pages about a miserable Icelandic farmer in the early 20th century. 90% of this book is about sheep, coffee or joining the farming cooperative. It should be the most boring book in the world but it's just incredibly beautiful to see these lives slowly unfold. Every character is richly drawn out, every action has consequences, every ordinary life is somebody's whole world. Bjartur's quest to be an independent man and the affect it has on himself and those around him is one of the most frustrating and heartbreaking things I've read, but it's tempered by little moments of real tenderness. Great book, will stick with me for a long time.

Astonishing piece of non fiction about The Troubles. The focus is on the disappearance of Jean McConville but the entire history of the IRA is weaved through it brilliantly. Had to pick my jaw up off the floor about every 10 pages at both the callousness and incompetence of basically everybody involved, but the ultimate question of how far people are willing to go for an ideal looms large over all of it. One of the best pieces of non fiction I've ever read, recommend to everyone

I also read Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend (fine, pretty good, don't have much to say about it), Horace McCoy's They Shoot Horses Don't They (again, not bad but not a lot to say) and Kristina Gorchevy-Newburry's Between Dog and Wolf (which I reallly enjoyed but now can't remember much of. Good novel about the fall of the Soviet union)

Idk if self help books count lol but im down almost 20 lbs since the end of March working out for 30 minutes 4-5 times a week and following the tips she gives

Finally finished MOBY-DICK. Well worth the effort. Genuinely magical.

Taking a break from fiction with Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem. I try to read at least one of her books every summer; last year was “Miami”— one of her more underrated ones.

I’ve had a classics heavy year: The Savage Detectives, Sound and the Fury, The Waves, Jazz, and now Moby D.

I thought SD was brilliant but 2666 is Bolaño’s true masterpiece in my eyes. One of the most electrifying reading experiences of my entire life. F*** cancer, man. We are missing 22 years of work from him.

Trying to decide which Pynchon to tackle this year; he’s another I try to read on an annual basis. Last year was Mason & Dixon and his new one, Shadow Ticket. M&D is probably a top 5 of all time for me. Still haven’t tried V., Gravity’s Rainbow, Against the Day, Inherent Vice, or Bleeding Edge.

Reading C.P. Cavafy’s collected poems a little bit at a time and savoring my rare copy of Robert Creeley’s collected prose.

Now that I think of it, I have to pull up the transcripts from when Allen Ginsberg taught at I think NYU? Someone made tapes of every session. Genuinely revelatory. The session where he had Gregory Corso guest lecture is priceless.

no point in reading after Moby D*** congrats u beat the game

IN

Thanks y'all for posting. Love hearing what you're reading and your thoughts.

Transit by Anna Seguers

A man loses his identity (literal and existential) in WWII France among refugees fleeing the Nazis. Very much like a Paul Auster thing. The writing rocks and it's surprisingly thriller-y for a book wherein people mostly just wait in one place. Great book, also loved her The Seventh Cross. She was writing these books concurrent with these events happening in Europe as she was living them. Pretty wild to think about.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin

S***TED. Ursula the goat. If instead of Harry Potter this was the young adult wizard fantasy of immense popularity, the world would be a nicer place. Really cool mix of high and low fantasy: wizards do magic, but mostly as a job. They direct the winds to sail boats (or work the oars), or heal sick children. It's funny, scary, and touching. I loved it and will be reading the other 3.

Dr. No by Percival Everett

A mathematician is recruited by a supervillain to steal a concept from Fort Knox. This book made me laugh to myself on the bus like the joker The dialogue is snappy and witty and the characters bounce off each other in fun ways. A lot of times it felt like Mr Everett was writing it just to crack himself up. It's a blast to read. I think it leaves the race stuff mostly uninvestigated and spent a lot of time towards the end running in place, both of which are bummers in an otherwise great book.

Other than that I read Star Wars: Shatterpoint (Mace Windu in Apocalypse Now) which was ok, and I'm reading Endymion, the 3rd Hyperion book. I don't love it, I don't think I'll look too hard for the 4th

I genuinely believe 2666 is the true modern day classic, something people will talk about in a 100 years.

I think easily the best book of the century so far. I am already looking forward to a re read down the road, especially now that I’ve read so many other books by Bolaño

The last time I read these was in middle school. Ending of book three has me in my feels now

I agree. The fifth part of 2666 is an absolute masterpiece.

I’d put 2666 & Infinite Jest as the two best novels of the last 30 years.