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Last Active 12-23-19 9:27 pm
Joined 09-16-14
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| Uni's 2017 in literature
YEAR END LIST 11/14. I've read a lot of stuff this year. And you? | | 1 |  | Blood Command
Cult Drugs
Thomas Mann - Death in Venice (1912)
I will open up a little something to you that you should have discovered a long time ago if you are writing stories on constant basis. Something this novel is all about, directly and contextually. The way to overcome the writer's block is to write about it. If you can't figure out what to do about it, just channel it into writing about how you can'T figure out what to do with it. Thomas Mann did that in Death in Venice. This is a book by a man with the writer's block, about a man with the writer's block, both of whom are doing their hardest to avoid doing what they need to and/or getting mixed up in all sorts of mischief, while secretely just avoiding facing the real problem he has. It seems to me that that was the primary reason Mann wrote this and all of the additional references to mythology and philosophy were merely thrown in after the novel was finished, as the block was lifted.
8/10 | | 3 |  | Oathbreaker
Eros|Anteros
Stefan Zweig - The Royal Game (1941)
Zweig's particular kind of storytelling is now apparent to me. He writes in ich-form, but makes the protagonist sit and listen to someone else's monologue. This story might be even more striking than Amok, because of its realism. Amok seemed to be more of a slight harsh realism fairytale, but the very fact that the Royal Game's isolation tortures were real makes this way more impactful. You can just sense that crushing feeling of forced solitude. I also noticed that there are two recurring themes in Zweig's work. Torment and obsession. But the two novels deal with them in different ways. The Royal Game focuses of obsession caused by torment, while Amok deals with torment caused by obsession. Nonetheless, the pattern is there.
9/10 | | 4 |  | Moses Sumney
Aromanticism
Heinrich Mann - Professor Unrat (1905)
Considering Heinrich Mann's distaste for German educational system and methods, reading this actually brought smile on my face. This is not just some story about an amoral man positioning himself as a professor, this is Heinrich Mann's personal revenge against the torment that was inflicted upon him as a child. For his own comfort he imagines that all of those ruthless scholars that pretty much ruined his life are deep down just envious animals, waiting to burst out.
8/10 | | 5 |  | Xiu Xiu
Forget
Hermann Hesse - Beneath the Wheel (1906)
The similarities between the lives of Hesse and Mann are uncanny, expect while Mann failed his education, Hesse simply ran away from it. This is not a belitteling of authority like with Mann, this is just a straightforward laying out of facts about how ridiculous the average standards of education were back then and how it can mess up a child's mind.
9/10 | | 6 |  | Wax Fang
Victory Laps
Andre Breton - The Magnetic Fields (1920)
The namegiver to Stephin Merritt's band, of course I couldn't avoid it. Incredibly hard to read, but then again, so is pretty much everything in these hardcore surrealist works.
7/10 | | 7 |  | Trisomie 21
Elegance Never Dies
Boris Vian - Froth on the Daydream (1947)
Incredibly hard to read [2]. This was actually my second attempt.
7/10 | | 8 |  | Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve
The Soft Bounce
Anatole France - Penguin Island (1908)
Satirical reimagination of French history that served as a sort of protest back in the day. Unfortunately nowadays it reads a little clumsily and the overall absurd analogy seems more laughable than laugh inducing. It's still interesting to see the morale of the times soak through each page, but it is more or less a testament of its time and nthing more.
6.5/10 | | 9 |  | Fred Thomas
Changer
Richard K. Morgan - Woken Furies (2005)
At last I got a chance to read the final instalment of Takeshi Kovacs series earlier this year, only to later find out Netflix is doing an adaptation of the first book, Altered Carbon, due till early 2018. What I always loved about Morgan's writing was how intricate and detailed his world was. Besides, he always delved into new directions with each book. The first book, Altered Carbon, was a pure cyberpunk fuckery. The second was more of a grounded space opera (if that makes sense). The third book, however, feels like a flat out war sci-fi.
9/10
also important, read Morgan's Alterd Carbon before Netflix releases the series adaptation | | 10 |  | Kairon IRSE!
Ruination
Andreas Eschbach - The Carpet Makers (2005)
I can't tell if this novel is written unconventionally and therefore I love it, or if it is written clumsily and therefore I hate it. It has no real plot and no main characters. It is just a collection of stories that are meant to open up this world of carpet-making planet (literally), whose inhabitants are raised with one goal in their life: design and sew an enormous and delicate carpet that you will then sell to a royal trader and ship it off to the galactic emperor's castle, and for the money you will be given will your children live their entire lives. I will not tell you anything above that, because the revelation at the end is truly deeply satisfying. Still, the was the book is written is just odd and I often felt disinterested because of the absolute encyclopedically pedantic straightforwardness of the narration. (also, the out-of-nowhere love story at the end just makes no sense)
7/10 | | 11 |  | The Burning Hell
Public Library
Andre Gide - Return from Soviet Union (1936)
A fun read. It really puts things into perspective, when you see an absolute communist take a trip to USSR and try to interact with people there with humour and lighthearted attitude, but come off as condescending and cynical, for which he was also discredited by his own peers. I think that Andre Gide was so sure with communism and so loyal to his ideology that even if he did critique some of the things he encountered on his trip through USSR, it had no effect on anything. To him communism was such an obviously great thing that even if there were flaws, you could still work on them. Unfortunately for him, others took it as a direct hit against the system and started a boycott against Andre Gide. Poor guy, but that's what you get, when you go into communist haven with humour.
7/10
This also reminds me of a lyric from The Burning Hell's Nonfiction:
"When you've got reality who needs to make up stories?" | | 12 |  | Vestfalia's Peace
Loneliness
Clifford D. Simak - Time and Again (1951)
C.D. Simak is by far one of the most imaginative writers out there. With that said, though he does have an imagination, he does not know how to make a cohesive narrative.
6/10 | | 13 |  | Di Derre
Gym
Jo Nesbo - The Thirst (2017)
I don't know, you guys. This has been quite a poor year for poor old Nesbo. First, the Snowman movie turned out ot be shite, then this book turned out to be possibly the weakest in the series. I actually hoped that he'd stop with this whole Harry Hole series altogether after The Police or The Phantom, and focus more on independent novels, but here we are. I don't know. It just kind of lacks any real grip like pretty much anything before did. Before this I could only surmise that the weakest episodes in the series were the first two books, because Jo had no clear vision yet of what exactly he was going for. Now, the weakest link is this, because Jo probably has nothing new to say. It's really a shame. It's not a complete crapbucket, but it is fairly disappointing. Now I hope that we'll get one more book that'll conclude Harry Hole's narrative in a grand and triumphant way, cause this can't be the end. God, I hope it's not.
6/10 | | 14 |  | Circle
Terminal
China Mieville - This Census-Taker (2016)
An interesting idea to tell a story from a perspective of a confused child with troubles correctly connecting the dots and properly recalling events in his life. Unfortunately, the book gets a little dizzying by the end as you're trying to keep up with everything that's been said. Not a new thing for Mieveille, but still. Maybe it was only my problem, as I did read this book not on one sitting, but with constant interruptions and over a longer period of time. Nonetheless, it is still a decent enough read, although by far not the first Mieville book you should read.
6.5/10 | | 15 |  | Bullet Bane
Continental
Artur London - The Confession (1968)
I don't know why I was so into communist writing this year. Even without knowing that Artur London was wrongly accused by the government of fake crimes during Czechoslovak party purge in the 50s, the parallels to a man's transformation from a loyal ideologist to an opponent are quite clear. It is an alter-ego autobiography of a man who was among those accused of made up crimes, because the party needed to be shaken up a little. The book channels through his life as a devout communist, to the paranoia of being watched and observed, to eventually being imprisoned for life and tortured. It's a really grim experience and leaves that uncomfortable, ugly aftertaste you just can't easily shake off.
9/10 | | 16 |  | Incendiary
Thousand Mile Stare
SJ Watson - Before I Go To Sleep (2011)
On one hand, the story of distrust amidst a memory loss is decent and the way of telling that through reaching further and deeper into one's diary is also captivating. But on the other hand, this novel was written so vapidly and time after time I was losing my interest and regaining it again. And like that on repeat. Ugh.
6/10 | | 17 |  | Dispatch
America, Location 12
Henri Barbusse - Under Fire (1916)
Now this was a really disturbing read. Barbusse was one of those authors who believed that the best way of transmitting the horrors of war was not to sugarcoat them into any nice words. Therefore if there was a scene of someone burning, he will tell you with medical precision exactly what happens to the guy in flames. If someone gets shot a couple of time, he will describe just what an open shotwound looks like. If some unlucky bastard gets into a gassed area, Barbusse will be happy to let you know on two to three pages just how fucking unbearable the guy's sufferings were and what exactly it looked like when he starts vomiting out his intestants.
7.5/10 | | 18 |  | Count to Altek
She Will Fly With You Forever
Sully Prudhomme - Stances et poemes (1865)
To be fully honest, I didn't read this as a book, I just scraped off all of the poems in vaguely chronological order off of internet in various translations to all sorts of languages I know. Still a nice read. I actually just wanted to know who this guy was, since he did beat Lev Tolstoy at Nobel Prize for Literature back in the day. He's actually really good.
7.5/10 | |
Papa Universe
12.28.17 | should i add some descriptions? | cylinder
12.28.17 | damn you are quite the renaissance man
yeah descriptions would be cool | TheCharmingMan
12.28.17 | descriptions [2]
also i finally got around to reading Lolita but other than that it's just been fantasy literature (dragonlance, narnia, lovecraft) | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | None of these are renaissance.
I'm trying to master German language and some teachers suggested that I should just binge through classic German literature. So I grabbed a regular school literary curriculum and made myself a playlist out of that. I think I'll read some Arnold Zweig and more of Gunter Grass (cause the Tin Drum was fantastic). | neekafat
12.28.17 | I used to read :/ | AnimalsAsSummit
12.28.17 | i think by renaissance man he means you have a wide variety of tastes | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | oh... | cylinder
12.28.17 | ^ yep
also how conversant you are about all kinds of art. 'twas a compliment | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | descriptions incoming | dbizzles
12.28.17 | Dope, looking forward to them.
I've read like crazy this year. 53 books according to GoodReads, though 28 of them were small volumes of manga from the 70's (Lone Wolf and Cub) and several were TPB's for comics or graphic novels. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | I kinda dialed back on reading this year. I used to have a system, in which I'll read a short story or a novel on weekends and something enormous during the week, but the life goes on and time is of no avail and I had to reduce my readings to work documents and approximately 20 short literary blurbs above. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | should I also put in some ratings? | dbizzles
12.28.17 | Yes. | dbizzles
12.28.17 | BTW, best thing I read all year was Jerusalem by Alan Moore. It's a whopper, but it was fantastic. Maybe I'll make a list too. Probably not lol. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | is that a comic book? | dbizzles
12.28.17 | Nope, it's a big ass book. | dbizzles
12.28.17 | Here's something I wrote about it on a blog if you're curious.
With Jerusalem, bat-shit crazy genius, Alan Moore, finally has an outlet for a theme he has only been able to touch upon with previous works (e.g. From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) ranging from psycho-geography, spacetime, the fourth dimension, supernaturalism, and the affect of fiction on the real world. The novel is separated into 3 sections with the opening set of chapters focusing on the lives and events of different people in North Hampton, England. Moore goes on to explore different ideas and mediums for literature taking the reader on a wild and diverse ride through the Burroughs of North Hampton on multiple planes before culminating the story into a beautifully gift-wrapped ending. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | so he writes books now too? | dbizzles
12.28.17 | He said he's stepping away from comics since the completion of Providence, because he feels he's done all he can/wants to do there (among other reasons). As far as I know, he only has one other full book and it was published 20 years ago. Been meaning to read it since I enjoyed Jerusalem so much. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | I actually never read even the comic books. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | quite finished | hal1ax
12.28.17 | 20 books a year is pretty good man. think i only finished like 12-13 this past year | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | 20 books a year is below my usual standard. | dbizzles
12.28.17 | Btw, is this a ranking? | hal1ax
12.28.17 | jesus. i read mostly philosophy and some of that stuff you just can't speed through... took me like 1.5-2 months to read and quasi-comprehend one Hegel book haha | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | dbiz: no | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | Hegel is one of those things I want to avoid as if it were a plague. | hal1ax
12.28.17 | haha yea... not a fun read tbh. | dbizzles
12.28.17 | Oh, duh. I didn't see your ratings; obviously not ranked lol. | neekafat
12.28.17 | You never read Watchmen? | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | nope. I always deemed comic books to be supstitudes for lack of imagination, both on author's side and on the reader's. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | doesn't mean there aren't good ones (I, for one, love Blacksad) | neekafat
12.28.17 | Yeah okay well before you go on being a pretentious cow, read Watchmen then come back. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | I might. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | It just seemed to me that the author couldn't properly write something on a page, so they needed a help of a visualisation. | dbizzles
12.28.17 | Damn, dude. I disagree hard.
The collaboration between authors, artists, and letterers/colorers presents an interesting challenge and dynamic that is almost non-existent with traditional literature. Imagine what it takes for the author to convey to the illustrator what they want in a given frame for how they visualize it and also how great of an outlet that is for them to have. It's definitely apples and oranges though and I won't sit here and say all comics are good or anything. I pretty much avoid any of the standard superhero fare, but Vertigo and Image imprints have so much to offer outside of that realm. I have a bookcase filled with trade paperbacks. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | As I said, there can be good ones. And at the end of the day, I suppose the distinction is just like with movies. Sometimes you can't transmit things with words, you just have to show it. It simply always seemed to me that with books you need to prove your linguistic worth and show that you indeed are capable of making your readers understand by a sheer force of a word. I have come across a multitude of great stories in comic books, but I have never come across a well written, realistic dialogue in comic books. They strip you of the richness of language and instead present you with a visual supstitude of what could have been a wonderfully written sentence. I guess I just grew up believing that understanding and imagining what the author meant was better than have it be chewed up in front of you, so that you didn't have to stretch your imagination. | dbizzles
12.28.17 | I'll agree that dialogue can often take a backseat, but there are many exceptions to this; but as far as linguistic merit, that's definitely all over the place in the world of comics with some authors doing their best to limit its place (basically all superhero comics) and others making it a priority (Moore, Gaiman, Morrison, etc).
I can also see the argument of a comic lowering the need for imagination, but as you touched on, they are much more like film in that regard and as a result sometimes we get iconic characters that take on the same appearance for everyone as opposed to everyone having their own visualization, for better or worse. My favorite part about reading a book is building that visual in my head, so I know what you mean, but, again, its a completely different medium. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | I think it's actually better for everyone to have their own personal idea of what a character looks like. And I know this might sound a little pretentious and childish, but I believe we need to identify with "our heroes" in every way possible. If you read a book, where the main character is a do-good goodie sweetheart, you probably have your own idea of what he might look like. The same goes for setting.
also,
"My favorite part about reading a book is building that visual in my head, so I know what you mean, but, again, its a completely different medium."
What exactly is it you don't understand? | bgillesp
12.28.17 | Hesse wrote Siddhartha right? Is this one any similar? I loved that book | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | yes, he did
yes and no. Siddhartha is more of a meditative read, whereas Beneath the Wheel is more of his recollection of youth and how it was ruined by authoritarian educational system. there are quite visible traits of Hesse's signature storytelling in both books, although I have a feeling they might have been lost in translation. he is a very delicate sentence structurer. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | Hesse's Beneath the Wheel is more similar to Heinrich Mann's Professor Unrat | dbizzles
12.28.17 | 'What exactly is it you don't understand?'
Uhh... what? I said I do understand. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | oh dammit yeah, I misread. sorry | dbizzles
12.28.17 | lol k, I hoped so. I wasn't trying to be confrontational or anything. | Papa Universe
12.28.17 | I thought that maybe I didn't make my point clear and instead came off negatively..
heh | dbizzles
12.29.17 | Nah, I get you. I read comics and books about 50/50. There are things both do and do not do for me. | TheGreatQ
12.29.17 | I’m choking on pretentiousness. | ScuroFantasma
12.29.17 | Nice list man, going to try and check some of those German ones out of curiosity but they're likely beyond my level.
| Papa Universe
12.29.17 | They're actually quite easy.
You can check with no difficulty these: 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 18, 20 | ScuroFantasma
12.29.17 | Alright cheers, I'll give some a shot | Tunaboy45
12.29.17 | favourite book I read this year would have to be Norewgian Wood, Crime and Punishment or The Master and Margarita | Egarran
12.29.17 | Ahh, after the Last Jedi discussion, this is like finding an elite oasis in the desert.
I didn't read many books this year, but the biggest surprise was Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. First of all, it didn't have anything to do with the Iron Maiden song, which was disappointing, and secondly it was basically about sex.
Underneath the Man from Mars' attempts to grok human culture, there's a positive narrative of having lots of sex with different people. Didn't see that coming in a book from 1961. | Papa Universe
12.29.17 | @Tuna: ooh, those are good. Can't say that Norwegian Wood is my favourite Murakami, but it is still a damn good one.
@Egarran: Man, I love Heinlein. But more his time travel stuff. | Tunaboy45
12.29.17 | As of now it's my only Murakami, one of my resolutions for this year is do delve deeper into his works. I thought NW was beautiful so I'm excited to see what I think of his other novels. | Mort.
12.29.17 | my lit list was better
Jk cool list. I just started reading penguin island by anatole france | ScuroFantasma
12.29.17 | All You Zombies is a good Heinlein one, reading that for the first time 3ish years ago blew my mind a little bit, though I read it again not too long ago and it lost a lot of its initial punch.
A Midsummer Night's Dream was probably the best thing I've read for the first time this year. Such a fun (and funny) story all round. | Mort.
12.29.17 | Oh shit i only just realised penguin island is on here, nice. Read the gods will have blood if you want more anatole france, i think its fantastic | Papa Universe
12.29.17 | @Tuna: If I may suggest: Sputnik Sweetheart (heh), 1Q84 and Kafka on the Shore.
@Mort: And? | Papa Universe
12.29.17 | The Gods Will Have Blood it is then. | Tunaboy45
12.29.17 | I was thinking Kafka next, 1Q84 seems to be a quite a polarising one but that makes me want to read it more | Egarran
12.29.17 | Don't you think Murakami is too shallow? He's a good writer, but there's not a lot of substance in his books. | Egarran
12.29.17 | I also read Lights Out in Wonderland by DBC Pierre.
It starts out fantastic with our narrator describing the ills of our consumer society. But then it becomes kind of bleak and filled with many strange characters. Still, I would recommend it.
Also everyone above 30 needs to read Welcome to Scarfolk by Richard Littler. | Tunaboy45
12.29.17 | Scarfolk is fascinating, especially for someone who comes from an industrial town in the north | zakalwe
12.29.17 | I wish I did....said no one ever. | Tunaboy45
12.29.17 | But you're missing out on so much! The smog, the football hooligans, the shorter life expectancy. | zakalwe
12.29.17 | The spirt is second to none though tbh. Real deal salt of the earth. | Tunaboy45
12.29.17 | Can't argue with that, people joke about the north and south divide (and possibly hyperbolise it) but there's some truth to it | zakalwe
12.29.17 | Nah. Warmer personalities, more genuine on a larger scale but there’s definitely a lot of that in the South. Just avoid London like the plague. Bunch of cunts. | Tunaboy45
12.29.17 | I've met lovely people from the south, there's cunts everywhere you just have to avoid putting your knob in them
wait what were we talking about again | Papa Universe
12.29.17 | I'm from deep south and I'm a cunt and everyone there is a cunt. Your point is invalid. | Tunaboy45
12.29.17 | I'm quite the bellend sometimes but only if I'm surrounded by cunts | zakalwe
12.29.17 | That should be the sputnikmusic tagline |
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