These are the trhree books on the endtable next to me right now:
Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonegut
Chronicles Volume 1 - Bob Dylan
What's Your Poo Telling You? - by some doctors.

I swear I'm not making that up. But all of our bookshelves are in this room and I assume that my wife chose these 3 books for decorating aesthetics rather than titles. It's a different kind of pretentious.

sayin. used condoms overloaded with spunk work much better than books. they scream "i'm a winner!" to all visitors.

Hahahaha. Well, I have these five scattered around my dorm right now. Not to impress or anything. I've just been reading them on/off and I'm too lazy to put them back:

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Noise/Music: A History by Paul Hegarty
History of Labor in America textbook by some dead dude

hustler and other "speciality" magazine, the marquis' justine, a couple of peter sotos' tomes and serial killers and mass murderers: profiles of the most barbaric criminals.

and they are not so much to "impress" people as much as it is a heads up for my dates on what a night to expect.


how is this book?

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seriously, if you leave them around to make yourself look cool, that is seriously lame.

i thought people weren't allowed into your house unless they arrived in a bodybag.

the only stuff i leave scattered around to impress people is Hannah Montana and Aaron Carter stuff

Everyneurotic - I was actually instant messaging a couple of peoples from here today (1 current, 1 ex-member), and we ended up gassing about "Hustler" - whoulda thunk it?

What's your opinion on Miss Sotos' writing? I personally think that, as powerful as some of his work can be, it all seems to be rather one-dimensional in the end.

I don't leave them out casually scattered around, but they are on a bookshelf, and most people who see a bookshelf tend to see what's on the bookshelf anyways don't they?

American Mischief-This book used to have a jacket cover so people could read the synopsis, but its doesn't anymore, but the title is what grabbed me, the novel itself is just awesome.

Jude The Obscure-Such an awesome book that doesn't get mentioned nearly enough when people namedrop classic novels.

The Possessed-Huge Dostoevsky novel, not sure if its his longest. Also one of the best books I've ever read.

The Purgatorio-Book Two from The Divine Comedy which is great but gets overshadowed by The Inferno

The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories- 30 of the best episodes of the original television series in prose short story form. A must have for TZ lovers such as myself.

it's not important how they get in, as long as they leave in a bodybag.

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so the unofficial theme of the day for boardies old and new is hustler? i'll start the thread in a few.

to tell you the truth, i haven't read any of his books, i've gone through scans of his old pure magazine but even that i haven't really read them thoroughly.

shall investigate properly for a serious discussion in the near future.

now i get what you mean by "dates"

dr kevorkian taught me to be empathic.

leaving anything scattered around the house simply to "show off" is cuntestry at it's finest. anybody that would likely be impressed by such a display is not worth inviting over.

???

random issues of cometbus or maybe the cometbus collection book.

i just bought the snakepit book so maybe i'll leave that around for awhile until i read it.

Glad you're referring to it as The Possessed and not The Demons or The Devils. Shows you probably have the Garnett translation. I have 'em, but the best one is the Garnett. Have a Modern Library hardcover edition. It's blue. Just looked and it only has one copyright date...1936. I'd forgotten. Hmm, might be worth a little. I got it used, but it's in great shape. Someone named Betty Hester used to own it. It's definitely one of his longest, but pretty sure The Brothers Karamazov is the lengthiest.

I think it's great too. The Stavrogin's Confession (At Tihon's) chapter is some messed-up stuff. It was often banned way back when. It's less symbolic and less of an outright undeniable masterpiece than Crime & Punishment, but it is without a doubt a more multi-layered critique of Nihilism.

...

TZ!

we're talking books mate, people who are impressed by books are people you should have around you.

people who leave used condoms around definitely have something wrong with them.

irony: missed.

Well, I agree in effect. That the dude has Finnegan's Wake laying out is especially suspect. Then again, it's not like we all haven't done it before, is it?

Anyway, a lot of the Joycean works (he hee) just scream pretentiousness.

The three I listed (now just two are out) are out for substantive reasons.

The Kierkegaard is on a shelf near the door because I'm still reading it and take it with me sometimes.

Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records of the Sixties was on my bed because I was reading it here and there when I posted. It's the kind of book you can dip in and out of because it's a history of the recording sessions of every song; I've been learning a few new ones on guitar lately and thus also reading about the songs.

And Picasso's Picassos is on a coffee table because it's a very nice coffee table sort of book. I bought it used. It's in perfect condition with the original dust cover. The shop had it priced at $70 and I ended up paying $48.50. Uh-Huh.

i disagree i think if you read books yourself then i don't think it's that impressive to see books at other peoples houses, unless they've got an enormous collection or something. i'd be a bit surprised, and disheartened, if i didn't see books in someone's house.

at least twice then