Kind of beyond The Pale King: newest book thread

[mixed cats]

I'd do it, since I've owned the damn thing for five years now without cracking the spine. Not that I am good at lit discussion or anything.

[elpollodiablo]

Ideally it wouldn't be very lit-y

[mixed cats]

I am good at talking about cats, can it be cat-y

[elpollodiablo]

rowr

[Ignatius]

Are you good at talking about cephalopods?

[jebreject]

I am interested, and one of my meatspace friends might be as well.

[peacocks]

I'd read a book and talk about it, sure. I am in a Recognitions rut again and need another book. I also like talking about things. lit-y, cat-y cephalopod-y, whatever you got.

[elpollodiablo]

Are we FB friends, cocks?

[YojimboMonkey]

I have not read it but I might kind of like to read it but also maybe not, but what the hell I have been meaning to read it and I should give it a shot, also this is an excuse to get back to the library and find out whether I've been excommunicated 'cause of that Diary of a Wimpy Kid book my kid lost or whatever it was.

[peacocks]

Are we FB friends, cocks?

I don't think so!

[peacocks]

I have not read it but I might kind of like to read it but also maybe not, but what the hell I have been meaning to read it and I should give it a shot, also this is an excuse to get back to the library and find out whether I've been excommunicated 'cause of that Diary of a Wimpy Kid book my kid lost or whatever it was.

I saw that movie and it was so great!

[clare]

I'd be kind of interested, though my Pynchon success to date has been a few chapters of Vineland until something more interesting came along...and I'm not sure if I (or in fact the bloke) have a copy of GR...I'll have a look, and then get back to you (and seek you out on fb too)

[Mike24]

I ain't posted here much, or have any of you on facebook, but my lady purchased a real nice edition of GR for me so I'm going to be reading it anyway.  At least let me lurk it, is what i'm saying.

[Nick Ink]

Picked up Magnus Mills' Explorers Of The New Century new for just £3 today - it was reduced because of some tiny little mark on the edge of the pages.

I LOVE Magnus Mills, but I always find it a bit hard to pay 7 or 8 quid for one of his novels when they take about 2 hours to read.

Meanwhile, I'm over halfway through Bulgakov's The Master  & Margarita, an insane and epic tale involving Satan and a monstrous black cat devouring atheist souls in 1930s Moscow and a day in the life of Pontius Pilate.

[peacocks]

Meanwhile, I'm over halfway through Bulgakov's The Master  & Margarita, an insane and epic tale involving Satan and a monstrous black cat devouring atheist souls in 1930s Moscow and a day in the life of Pontius Pilate.

that sounds really cool

[jm]

I've been meaning to read that for like, ten years now. I keep not getting around to it.

[Thermofusion]

Yeah, that description pretty much sells the book to me.

[elpollodiablo]

I've been meaning to read that for like, ten years now. I keep not getting around to it.

Same here.

Also w/r/t naming a big black cat Behemoth

[Nick Ink]

I think there's a good chance you blokes would like it. My version is the Burgin/O'Connor translation, and has some very handy notes at the back to help with some of the contemporary references. I bought mine in a Moscow bookshop last year, and it has a brilliant cover too (but strangely hard to find on google, hence the tiny size):



Apparently, it's required reading in Russian high schools. One of the interesting things about it is that you can really feel Bulgakov being constrained in what he can say and how he can say it by the threat of reprisals. It's as though by forcing his ideas through this funnel of what Stalinist Russia would allow him to say, he's arrived at all these truly bizarre and surreal narratives.

I've been told too that he basically spent his entire life writing and rewriting this book, and some chapters were only really added/finished in the final months before he died. There's something really compelling about someone who devotes such extraordinary time and effort to a single book/artwork.

[DCDave]

I read the one with the really extensive footnotes (endnotes?)

[davy]

Nothing like revisiting your all-time favorite book after 10 years apart...

[jebreject]

I think there's a good chance you blokes would like it. My version is the Burgin/O'Connor translation, and has some very handy notes at the back to help with some of the contemporary references. I bought mine in a Moscow bookshop last year, and it has a brilliant cover too (but strangely hard to find on google, hence the tiny size):



Apparently, it's required reading in Russian high schools. One of the interesting things about it is that you can really feel Bulgakov being constrained in what he can say and how he can say it by the threat of reprisals. It's as though by forcing his ideas through this funnel of what Stalinist Russia would allow him to say, he's arrived at all these truly bizarre and surreal narratives.

I've been told too that he basically spent his entire life writing and rewriting this book, and some chapters were only really added/finished in the final months before he died. There's something really compelling about someone who devotes such extraordinary time and effort to a single book/artwork.

Blake doesn't post here any more, but I'm pretty sure this is his favorite book. I too have been meaning to read it.

[Lucy]

Not positive re: favorite, but its way up there at the very least. It's really interesting...I can recommend.

[milly balgeary]

Ideally it wouldn't be very lit-y

I got the audiobook, but I can't imagine listening to it. Ain't gonna read GR till I'm 45. Now, if I can ever finish Against The Day.

[DCDave]

Stupid Ned Stark:

http://m.io9.com/5807144/the-best-game-of-thrones-internet-meme-yet-stupid-ned-stark/gallery/

Contains spoilers