Sunday, October 26, 2008

And all the sweet serenity of books

I'm reading Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs right now. I was supposed to be reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, but I couldn't read it. It was too powerful. The grainy image of a man falling from the Twin Towers on 9/11 was just too much, right now.

So it will have to wait until another time. Because it was a very interesting book, and the main character, Oskar, is fascinating. I don't recommend it to the faint of heart or...whatever it is I am right now. Stressed out? Depressed by the fall? Angry at the world in general? All of the above? Probably.

Klosterman has some interesting views on pop culture in the 90s. I'm not even halfway yet, but I think I like where Cocoa Puffs is going, though I have some issues with Klosterman's use of the word “fucking”. I'm not against it as such, but I see no need for throwing it into a text just for the fucking sake of it *grin*

What are you people reading right now, and what do you think about what you're reading?

My plan for the coming week is to write. Maybe not finish but at least start two separate texts, one to post as part of the second fall deadline for my creative writing class, and the second to bring to said class' meeting at Storvik outside Gävle in early November.

6 comments:

Jesper Bylund said...

I'm reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, its pretty poorly written but effectively kills all arguments I've come across as to why anyone should believe in god. The book is meant to reprogram religious people into atheists, so it's kind of wasted on me but an interesting read. Also re-reading Tai Pan, brilliant book with great characters but a bit thick even for me.

Steelwheels said...

I'm planning to read Klosterman, have been for a while now, but other books keep distracting me - novels I bought years ago and still haven't got around to read yet.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a terrific and powerful read through and through.

I am currently reading Stephen King and Peter Straub's Black House, the follow-up to The Talisman. It has so far failed to engage me.

EGE said...

I'm re-reading an old standby: The Egg and I, by Betty MacDonald. I read it when my brain gets tied in knots and I can't tell if what I'm writing is any good anymore. She loosens all the knots for me, and reminds me how it's supposed to go.

beardonaut said...

jesper: I've been meaning to read The God Delusion for some time, but like you, it would be pretty much wasted on me. And there's so much else to read.

steelwheels: Yes, that is a problem, the distractions of other books. I suffer from the same problem. I haven't read King, except On Writing, in years and years. I still hold The Bachman Books (The Long Walk, Rage, The Running Man and one other that I can't remember) as his best stuff.

ege: Sounds like a good read.

Martin said...

Hey, a few of my reading tips there. Thank you for listening. And make sure to pick up "Extremly loud..." again sometime, it's truly worth it.

beardonaut said...

Listening was the whole point of asking for pointers. And I will, it seems like a spectacular book.