Author Topic: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)  (Read 5603 times)

masterofsparks

  • Space Champion!
  • Posts: 3323
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #15 on: December 26, 2007, 05:26:38 PM »
Oh, and I'm glad to see some Lawrence Block love on your list. I love pretty much everything he writes.
I'll probably go into the wee hours.

Purple-Shit

  • Plantar Fasciitis
  • Posts: 9
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #16 on: December 27, 2007, 09:18:07 AM »
Books are for queers.

Skiddy Kid

  • Plantar Fasciitis
  • Posts: 4
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #17 on: December 27, 2007, 04:52:16 PM »
What I'm referring to are these books that get all this high praise and once you try and read them your like huh.


That's fair enough, but your original post had a broader scope.

Fido

  • Space Champion!
  • Posts: 1017
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #18 on: January 01, 2008, 09:30:57 PM »
What I'm referring to are these books that get all this high praise and once you try and read them your like huh.

I remember having this experience a few years back with Don DeLillo's Underworld. After a great intro/first section it became one of the biggest reading chores ever.

Wow, I had the same feeling about Underworld.  It was my first Don DeLillo read, and I can't say I enjoyed it.  I thought there was something wrong with me, with the amount of critical acclaim that DeLillo has garnered.  I think I can honestly say my reaction was one of being "like, huh?"

Fido

  • Space Champion!
  • Posts: 1017
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #19 on: January 01, 2008, 09:32:02 PM »
Books are for queers.

Heh.  I am gay, so I guess books are for me.  Thanks!

Shaggy 2 Grote

  • Space Champion!
  • Posts: 3892
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #20 on: January 01, 2008, 09:53:34 PM »
I don't know anyone who's managed to finish Underworld, but White Noise is pretty great.  My top books of 2007 (no, I haven't read them all but I can't wait to):

The Best of LCD: The Art and Writing of WFMU, edited by Dave the Spazz
Taking Things Seriously: 75 Objects of Unexpected Significance, edited by Joshua Glenn and Carol Hayes
Reading Comics, by Douglas Wolk
The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein
The World Without Us, Alan Weisman
You Don't Love Me Yet, Jonathan Lethem
Novels in Three Lines, Felix Feneon (translated by Luc Sante)
Dream: Reimagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy, Stephen Duncombe
The Red Men, Matthew de Abaitua
What of The Night and Letters From Cuba, Maria Irene Fornes
Oh, good heavens. I didn’t realize. I send my condolences out to the rest of the O’Connor family.

masterofsparks

  • Space Champion!
  • Posts: 3323
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #21 on: January 04, 2008, 08:28:36 PM »
I couldn't make it through White Noise either. The guy could give George Lucas a run in the "wooden dialogue" department.
I'll probably go into the wee hours.

zonny the nun

  • Plantar Fasciitis
  • Posts: 27
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #22 on: January 25, 2008, 05:28:24 PM »
Someone mentioned the new reprint of Everyday Drinking by Kingsley Amis. Just came across this essay on Amis's writings on alcohol in the latest Bookforum: http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/014_05/2055

Rainer

  • Tarsel tunnel syndrome
  • Posts: 401
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #23 on: January 26, 2008, 09:42:53 PM »
Quote
The World Without Us, Alan Weisman

Read this a couple of months ago and enjoyed it immensely. 

I also heeded Buffcoat's recommendation and read -- well, listened to in my car -- "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.  Great book. If nothing more, it slits the throat of The Bell Curve.  Good riddance.

buffcoat

  • Space Champion!
  • Posts: 6213
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #24 on: January 26, 2008, 10:58:26 PM »
Quote
The World Without Us, Alan Weisman

Read this a couple of months ago and enjoyed it immensely. 

I also heeded Buffcoat's recommendation and read -- well, listened to in my car -- "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.  Great book. If nothing more, it slits the throat of The Bell Curve.  Good riddance.


Good on ya, Rilke.  And it does whack Charles Murray's embarrassing old racist garbage pretty good, even if that wasn't the primary reason for writing the book.

In fact, the whole subsection on how people interpret things to be knowable because that's what they want should give Mr. Murray a whole lot to think about.  Not that he will.
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

octopus volcano

  • Plantar Fasciitis
  • Posts: 47
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #25 on: January 28, 2008, 11:05:58 PM »
Ditto on the DeLillo.  I'd enjoyed some of his stuff previously (though I think White Noise is overrated), but I slogged through half of Underworld before I gave up.  It's been sitting on my shelf with a bookmark in it for 10 years. 

Any Martin Amis fans here?

bruce

  • Guest
Re: Top Ten Books of 2007 (my picks)
« Reply #26 on: January 29, 2008, 06:57:54 AM »
I've read Money and Dead Babies years ago Octopus. I tried to read his dad book Anti Death league it has not aged well at all.