Fave Books / Currently Reading

[effecT]

Is Žižek's stuff on David Lynch worth reading?  To the degree that I'm interested at all, that has seemed like it would be a good way in.

He has a big section on Lynch's films in "The Pervert's Guide to Cinema". You can test the waters there. I personally liked his psychonanlysis of Blue Velvet and Lost Highway in that, if that counts for anything.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I liked his little pamphlet-sized book on Lynch.

effecT, I am a playwright:
http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=jason+grote

[yesno]

I've already noted on this board that Zizek looks like Home Improvement's Richard Karn.

You should also be aware that Googling for "Zizek looks like" is great.

Slavoj Žižek looks like a man in the final throes of radiation sickness doing the birdy dance
Zizek looks like central casting's pick for the role of Eastern European Intellectual
Zizek looks like an immense human Droopy Dawg,
Žižek looks like a fun read,
Zizek looks like some kind of alien prophet
Zizek looks like a big Russian bear but speaks as an authority on post-structuralism
If this is what Zizek looks like on his wedding day, the mind boggles at the thought of him first thing in the morning

[dudep]

Half-poststructuralist, part party-machine: Zizek Urban Beats Club.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Finished Our Man in Havana. Awesome, quick read. Now I'm bouncing between comic books, Earth: The Book (which is nowhere near as funny as America: The Book), and reading Pride and Prejudice on my phone. Trying to decide between Tearing Down The Wall of Sound and James Miller's Examined Lives, both of which I have out from the library. Anyone else hear Miller on Benjamen Walker's WFMU show? Good stuff.

[buffcoat]

Anybody else read the Harrison Dextrose books?  They're kind of fun in a trippy way.

[amazingjourney]

Currently reading Robert Caro's LBJ biographies. Tom's and several caller's Nixonland references makes me want to check that out at some point soon.

[dave from knoxville]

150 pages (and about 15 pages of footnotes) into Infinite Jest. Heavens, it's good. It's nearly indescribably complex, but I will take a shot at it in the next few days. I recall fighting through the filmography of James Incandenza as an excruciating chore, but it hits me as much funnier this time.

[amazingjourney]

DFK, have you read the piece that Jonathan Franzen did on Wallace this week.

It's part travelogue/part history of the novel/part dealing with the loss of a friend. I really enjoyed it.

Apparently the New Yorker is trying to be cute... you can read the full article here:

http://www.facebook.com/newyorker?sk=app_199738353381002, but only if you "like" the New Yorker on fb.

[amazingjourney]

Also, have you considered making a bootleg audiobook of Infinite Jest? DFK Reads DFW, if you will?

I think your soothing drawl could really make the book a lot more accessible.

[Rick in Salt Lake]

Finished Our Man in Havana. Awesome, quick read.

I recently checked "The Human Factor" from out from the library. My entire exposure to Greene is from "The Third Man" so I picked that book because, while in college, I briefly dated a woman who loved the book...

[Rick in Salt Lake]

I'm reading the short story collection, The Best of Saki (aka H. H. Munro). Very funny stuff. My bet is if you're a FOT, you will love this.

Ohmyfuckingod, isn't Reginald about the funniest character ever?

You're probably right. I would venture to guess FoTs would love this as well. And in the event you read Saki and don't find Reginald awesome don't worry. The storry will be over shortly. Munro took the phrase "short story" very litterally...

[Rick in Salt Lake]

150 pages (and about 15 pages of footnotes) into Infinite Jest. Heavens, it's good. It's nearly indescribably complex, but I will take a shot at it in the next few days. I recall fighting through the filmography of James Incandenza as an excruciating chore, but it hits me as much funnier this time.

I've had this clunky hardcover of "Infinite Jest" sitting on a table for some time. I'm thinking of cracking it on my birthday and rea, like, four pages a day. I figure by my next birthday I should complete it. Would you recomend reading it this way or is it better to do the Bataan death march through it?

[adamfromohio]

150 pages (and about 15 pages of footnotes) into Infinite Jest. Heavens, it's good. It's nearly indescribably complex, but I will take a shot at it in the next few days. I recall fighting through the filmography of James Incandenza as an excruciating chore, but it hits me as much funnier this time.

I've had this clunky hardcover of "Infinite Jest" sitting on a table for some time. I'm thinking of cracking it on my birthday and rea, like, four pages a day. I figure by my next birthday I should complete it. Would you recomend reading it this way or is it better to do the Bataan death march through it?

I believe Infinite Jest to be a totally rewarding task.  If you're intimidated by the # of pages (and if you're not, you're inhuman), maybe try cracking it in the middle and working your way through that way.  It doesn't have a clear beginning/end, so you can easily get by reading it from the middle and working your way back to the starting point.

And also, don't read the footnotes that look overlong.  Most of the footnotes are rewarding, but not essential. Think of them as the "for fans only" section of the book.

[Rick in Salt Lake]

No, I don't have a problem with the number of pages. I'm just wondering if reading it in small chunks is a good way to read the book. That method worked quite well when I read "Gravity's Rainbow", not so much when I read "Finnegans Wake"...