Flicking through...

James Kelman - A Disaffection
Chuck Palahnuik - Choke
Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita

Thanks. I'll just get the regular. I almost bought Naked Lunch, but it was the restored text version and I wasn't sure about it. Instead, I got Coraline and 3 hours of reading.


I just started this

Also reading The Fellowship of the Ring and Trainspotting

I'm almost done with Walker Percy's The Moviegoers. I don't know if I like it. It's so subtle it's frustrating. I think I miss things because I stop paying attention during really boring parts, when I know he likes to embed the secrets of the universe in those boring parts.

I have the restored text version. What's the difference?

I have no idea. I didn't buy Junky because it listed and editor. I'm wary about buying books when I'm not sure how they've been tampered with.

[Dumas by far one of my all time favorite authors from the "classics"]

I'm reading The New York Trilogy for the first time

I've read parts of City of Glass. It was pretty awesome, but I don't think I could stick with it for a whole book, much less a trilogy.

I took my 40% off one book at Border coupon and they actually had a copy of Finnegans Wake, so I bought that. I'll get to it in a week or so. I've been looking for a copy for a while but none of the bookstores used or otherwise have it except for the antiquarian bookstore with a hardcover in a glass case.:confused:

I want to own it, but I feel like there would be little value in reading it. Maybe picking it up and looking at random pages here and there, if you feel like emulating a dream, but I mean...I dunno. I think it was a failed experiment, as far as practicality goes.

I can't remember the name of it (I've lent my copy to my brother) but I like the second story the best, the one which starts with all of the detectives named after colours. That should be turned into a Hitchcock-esque thriller.

I'm trying to write a couple of short-stories (well, they're not so much short-stories as much as memories of mine from my early teens, mainly involving other people, which I think make interesting observations about people's mindset at that age). I'm trying to read a lot of short-stories, to get an idea of what the good ones do right (and, I guess, the bad ones do wrong). Anyway can anyone recommend an interesting short-story writer and a collection of his/her work that is worth getting?

Over the last few months I've read:

The Complete Short Stories of Truman Capote (some of them miss but A Mink Of One's Own, Miriam, A Tree OF Night and One Christmas are as good as it gets).
Short Cuts by Raymond Carver.
The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe (with extra stories) by Carson McCullers.
A big compilation of Hemmingway's.
Stephen King's Night Shift (amazing how many 20-page stories of his have been turned into films, even franchines - and The Last Rung On The Ladder, a non-horror one, is really moving).
.... and that's it.

T.C. Boyle writes some really great contemporary short stories. But they are "funny," so if you're a serious writer you'll get less out of them. The other person I was going to recommend is Raymond Carver, but try his "Cathedral" too.

Andre Dubus is, in my opinion, the best short story writer who ever lived. Read "A Father's Story," "The Curse," and "The Fat Girl." I can't stress his brilliance enough.

Also, it might be worth your time to check out some authors who aren't middle-class white males. Jhumpa Lahiri, Sandra Cicernos, etc. It's easy to overlook writers who are harder to relate to, but they're invaluable.

The rule of thumb is, you need to read 1000 short stories before you can write a good one. Just read fucking everything. It was Stephen King who said that you can learn as much from bad writing as from good. Ironic.

I finished Lolita last night. Great read. Totally different from what I was expecting and I really enjoyed the writing style.

Now, I have another Borders coupon. What book should I buy? I was thinking NY Trilogy (if they have if, they haven't the last few times I've been in there)

My to read list (for reference, if you're going to recommend):
2 other Salinger books
SlaughterHouse 5
The Castle of Otranto
Finnegans Wake (I don't have Dubliners, but it's only $4.95, so it hardly justifies the use of coupon)
Atlas Shrugged

Oh hey, Slaughter House 5 is the next in my queue!

SY37, I have the restored text version of Naked Lunch and it's a great read. Also, if this is the version of Junky you saw...



Then I would recommend picking that up as well. It's referred to as the definitive version for a reason. It even has the original title of the novel, instead of the alternative "Junkie". If not, seek this one out. It shouldn't be too hard to find.

Now Reading:

Yeah, it's that version. I passed up a different version of Naked Lunch used today. Twas $6 versus about $11 for the restored new. The two copies were a bit too battered and stained for my liking.

Picked up Dubliners ($5 new) and The Stranger ($5 used) today.

I bought this and also Porno the sequel to Trainspotting this week.

I just finished Trainspotting and the Fellowship of the Ring

Now reading:
The Two Towers (2 chapters in)
Dubliners (I've only read the 1st story so far)
The Stranger (I've read the first Part. I'm supposed to be reading it in French, but for the sake of keeping up/ahead, I'm reading it in English right now, but I'll read the French before the exam.)