As do I. I believe I'll get Tropic of Capricorn next, since it's supposed to be a sequel. Until then, I'm going to start on "Ironweed," by William Kennedy.

^You've two of my favourite writers in your sig.

Bukowski. What can one say about him, really? Not a pleasent person, that is for sure. But then again, what artist usually is? He was an amazing writer, and even better poet. I've only recently gotten into him, but I'm glad I did.

Quite a few actually (look at say, Sonic Youth for instance) though I don't discount somebody's art just for being an asshole (unless I know them, then it gets harder to separate their art from their bad acts). I love Bukowski too. I think it's largely a myth though that all artists are difficult people, and all too often the myth is used by jerks to make themselves feel superior since they obviously must be geniuses to be such dicks.

Yes, but because of that, the myth is usually not so much of a myth as it is a stereotype, the difference being that while myths may have no basis on anything, stereotypes are usually backed up with plenty of examples.

I don't think Bukowski was that terrible of a guy. He had his problems, was very honest, and liked his booze and women, but he realised all this, so doesn't that counteract all of that? He just wasn't as bad as most people make out. I found great pleasure in his Selected Letters* books, and I'm not a saddist. He was quite the gentle creature at times, too.

*As I do his poetry and his novels. But the Letters are very raw and stripped back to the bone.

Saturday's Child by Ray Banks.

Didn't say he was a bad guy, just not very pleasant, that's all :)

The original manuscript of Alice Underground with Carrol's illustrations etc etc, sick stuff. I mean, not THE original, a reproduction...

Getting ready for spring training!!!

I was about to ask where you got that :)

dostoyevsky's short stories

I've got that at home, it's next on the list :)

he he...it's really amazing, btw.
next: Robert Sabuda's pop up version of alice.

Right now I'm reading Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy) and Imperial Life in the Emerald City (Rajiv Chandrasekaran)

Cormac McCarthy is always great; The Road is the greatest book I've read in a long while.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Just started this:

this would have been a great coincidence except that you posted this 10 days ago-- i just picked up blood meridian, which i had started & temporarily stopped reading (2 years), and i'm about to give it a go (again).

i'm also just started nietzsche's daybreak, a good edition



anyway that is that

British Sign Language books.. I'm practising my BSL on lines from Star Trek.

Ooh, I'm not familiar with that - where does that feature in his chronology?

I'm stuck at a particularly mind blowing (even by my standards) chapter of this:

I've never read Capote, although I hear he's good.

Right now I am reading:

Prelude to Foundation - Isaac Asimov

Stan Barstow - A Kind of Loving

This. It defeated me a year ago, but I've decided that I'm going to power through it this time. I've yet to start...

i'm saving that for my bus ride up to nyc when move there. i can't wait to read it!.

i just finished the minutemen double nickels on a dime 33 1/3 book. it's really good i thought.

next up is the neil young harvest one. i can't wait to read that!

I read about 150 pages of it last year but after that I just bogged down with class work and Steinbeck and never got a chance to finish it. I'm still just halfway through Portrait of the Artist as well.

yeah i got through 50 pages but i had other stuff to do. ulysses is something you read when you have a lot of time on your hands.

I'd throw East of Eden into that category too. I hated it the entire time I was reading it because of how wordy and drawn out it was, but afterwards I count it among my top 10 favorite books.

yeah, i'm like that too. the idiot was like that. it took me 3 different reads to finish it, but whne i did it became one of my favorite novels.

Come to think of it, the only large volume reading that I didn't get bogged down on at all was when I read all the Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy stuff and that clocks in at well over 1,000 pages. Still, quite possibly the funniest stuff every written at times.

yeah i haven't read that yet. my friend has and said it was good. i try to read a book in just one setting but sometimes i put it down for a few weeks and pick it back up for some reason. i bet a lot of people do that though.

When I was ready really heavily, I'd have 3 books going at one time and try to read at least a chapter a day in each.

I can't recommend the Hitchhiker's series enough. It just takes some time to find all the parts. Walden books usually has the trilogy for $20 but there's another book and short story after those. I think the complete volume can be had in paperback for around $30. If you like totally irrelevant and senseless humor that isn't that lowbrow, you should enjoy it thoroughly.

[quote=Sonic Youth 37]When I was ready really heavily, I'd have 3 books going at one time and try to read at least a chapter a day in each.

I can't recommend the Hitchhiker's series enough. It just takes some time to find all the parts. Walden books usually has the trilogy for $20 but there's another book and short story after those. I think the complete volume can be had in paperback for around $30. If you like totally irrelevant and senseless humor that isn't that lowbrow, you should enjoy it thoroughly.[/quote

i can only read music books or some history books when i'm reading a few books at once. when reading a novel, i have to just pay attention to that one novel. i think that's why i put down a novel for awhile because i find another one and i try to read them both but i have to pick and chose in the end.

i'll check it out. when i move i'll have plenty of time to read whatever books i decide to read, but that may well be one of them.

The 13 1/2 Lives Of Captain Bluebear

I'm just finishing up the China Mieville collection of stories called Looking for Jake. Quite a bit more horror material than his well known Fantasy-SF novels, but equally well written.

I've been drifting back to my Portable Beat Reader.



Reminding myself how much I dig Burroughs.

I've always loved that pic of Jack and Bill.