Inspired by some of the talk on new novels and why they suck and whatever, here's a rolling thread for discussion of new literary fiction!
― ksh, Friday, 9 July 2010 17:27 (eight years ago) Permalink
I just got to the top of the library holds list for 'Tinkers' (just won the Pulitzer) - I pick it up today! Sounds good - will report back after I finish bloody Proust.
― franny glass, Friday, 9 July 2010 17:52 (eight years ago) Permalink
this list of upcoming titles might interest some
― oɔsıqɐu (nabisco), Friday, 9 July 2010 19:56 (eight years ago) Permalink
i really want to read that shteyngart novel but it apparently doesn't come out here until september
― thomp, Friday, 9 July 2010 20:21 (eight years ago) Permalink
i keep thinking 'oh, that's coming out soon', and then i check, and remember it's not, here
You Lost Me There by Rosecrans Baldwin
hmmmmmm
― Lamp, Friday, 9 July 2010 22:28 (eight years ago) Permalink
boy this one has all kinds of buzz, it feels like
I'm cleansing my palate after Your Face Tomorrow with nonfiction...it always takes me forever to finish nonfiction books tho
― les yeux sans aerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Friday, 9 July 2010 22:34 (eight years ago) Permalink
oh god, i still have that lying around for after i finish the thirty-eight other things i am reading
― thomp, Friday, 9 July 2010 22:37 (eight years ago) Permalink
its really good dude!!!!! altho i tried reading the "prequel" but it was kinda boring so i read some short stories instead
― Lamp, Friday, 9 July 2010 22:38 (eight years ago) Permalink
today i bought the other two kj parker books and stephen king's new pb. i don't even belong on this thread right now.
― thomp, Friday, 9 July 2010 22:42 (eight years ago) Permalink
haha u ended up buying the other parkers? im still keeping an eye out for them
on topic: i really liked the imperfections by tom rachman.
― Lamp, Friday, 9 July 2010 22:55 (eight years ago) Permalink
d'you want my copies when i'm done? they're only going to go in a box somewhere, otherwise
i am sure i will have THOUGHTS to share about them on the rolling contemporary nerd fiction thread. i will note in passing that one of the characters is now thinking about 'insurgents'
― thomp, Friday, 9 July 2010 23:24 (eight years ago) Permalink
yah def - i can send you some stuff in return, if youd like. either from the nerd fic thread or this one. i have a whole bunch of nyrb publishing things i can send as well.
also i will be in LDN for a little bit this fall (like l8 sept.)
― Lamp, Friday, 9 July 2010 23:30 (eight years ago) Permalink
Current library pile = authors from the New Yorker Top 20 Under 40 list, bits and pieces from that Dalkey ArchiveBest European Fiction 2010, Ann Carson's Autobiography Of Red, and a few recommendations from the other thread (Tom McCarthy's Remainder, Mo Yan's Life & Death...). Had been caught up playing catchup with teen fiction for some freelance pieces - writers like Libba Bray & M.T. Anderson seem to be doing what Shakey wants from fiction, heh. Nothing local's caught my eye lately (I think Eleanor Catton's had some press in the UK?), but I've picked up a few journals.
Anyone read Jennifer Egan's A Visit From The Goon Squad yet?
― etc, Monday, 12 July 2010 03:29 (eight years ago) Permalink
i think there was talk abt it in some other thread?? cant remember where tho
― just sayin, Monday, 12 July 2010 07:48 (eight years ago) Permalink
Bit of chat about a UK one here.
― GamalielRatsey, Monday, 12 July 2010 09:15 (eight years ago) Permalink
(ayo lamp send me your address. tom dot west at gmail dot com)
― thomp, Monday, 12 July 2010 10:28 (eight years ago) Permalink
hey dudes, it's ksh
I need to get back into the habit of reading fiction regularly again, so I've decided to start off by rereading Coetzee's Disgrace. haven't read any Coetzee since high school, I think, but I'm looking forward to revisiting this one
― markers, Sunday, 18 July 2010 04:28 (eight years ago) Permalink
C by Tom McCarthy, anyone?
Also I see from the ILB FAP discussion that Steven Hall comes up in that list, and that was reviewed by Tom McCarthy.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 25 July 2010 19:01 (eight years ago) Permalink
Absolutely. The one book I'm excited by this year. I'm in the crowd that thinks Remainder was a bit special, & this is the proper follow-up, so I've been waiting for it for a bit. Should maybe try to shake a copy from the publishing tree this week.
Never had an impulse to read Steven Hall - he was recommended to me by a couple of people, but I think they were maybe assuming I'd like something a bit meta because I read curious things.
At the mo, enjoying the bloodsport reviews of Craig Raine's novel. Sounds awful, but I might read it in a bookshop. Intrigued by the bile it's generated.
― tetrahedron of space (woof), Monday, 26 July 2010 10:09 (eight years ago) Permalink
Almost finished and I can confirm that Tinkers is wonderful.
― franny glass, Monday, 26 July 2010 17:59 (eight years ago) Permalink
tempted to go pick up the Gary Shteyngart tomorrow in store, which I pretty much never do
― markers, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 06:43 (eight years ago) Permalink
^i have it on hold at my library
recently finished 'atmospheric disturbances' which i liked a lot
― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 11:58 (eight years ago) Permalink
Just chatted about C to a decently connected publishing person - acc to him, a few ppl are saying it's a masterpiece, easy best novel of the year, etc. But I don't really trust the insider perspective (especially as McC's properly represented and with a big house this time), so I'm ready to be disappointed.
Think I want to read Atmospheric Disturbances.
― tetrahedron of space (woof), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 14:11 (eight years ago) Permalink
If man's autocracy, his genius, his powers of generation, have all passed to the machine, and if the pulpy, material base for the refined and abstract thoughts and emotions that we read in books has been revealed to us, then how can we understand poetry or prose as the sublime self-expression of autonomous and elevated individuals? Melville's answer is as implicit as his question: we can't, not any more.
wut
― no, you're dead right, it's a macaroon (ledge), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 14:15 (eight years ago) Permalink
also am generally suspicious of anyone who writes about marinetti with breathy enthusiasm.
― no, you're dead right, it's a macaroon (ledge), Tuesday, 27 July 2010 14:26 (eight years ago) Permalink
Booker longlist 2010:
Peter Carey: Parrot and Olivier in America (Faber and Faber)Emma Donoghue: Room (Pan MacMillan - Picador)Helen Dunmore: The Betrayal (Penguin - Fig Tree)Damon Galgut: In a Strange Room (Grove Atlantic - Atlantic Books)Howard Jacobson: The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury)Andrea Levy: The Long Song(Headline Publishing Group - Headline Review) Tom McCarthy: C (Random House - Jonathan Cape)David Mitchell: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet(Hodder & Stoughton - Sceptre)Lisa Moore: February (Random House - Chatto & Windus) Paul Murray: Skippy Dies (Penguin - Hamish Hamilton)Rose Tremain: Trespass (Random House - Chatto & Windus)Christos Tsiolkas: The Slap (Grove Atlantic - Tuskar Rock)Alan Warner: The Stars in the Bright Sky (Random House - Jonathan Cape)
Thoughts? I've only read one of these (The Slap, fucking brilliant) so I feel unqualified to really comment.
― franny glass, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 19:50 (eight years ago) Permalink
Shit--have read none, though I've bought but not yet opened the Paul Murray.
― The great big red thing, for those who like a surprise (James Morrison), Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:00 (eight years ago) Permalink
I've read the Paul Murray. It's enjoyable but it didn't exactly wow me and i'm not sure it really justifies it's length. Kind of surprised to see it on here tbh. Quite refreshing not to see Ian McEwan on there though.
― Number None, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:09 (eight years ago) Permalink
still need to buy & read Solar. so out of the loop u_u
― markers, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:16 (eight years ago) Permalink
you really dont
― max, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:18 (eight years ago) Permalink
is it bad? i've read a bunch of McEwan and the only thing I really wasn't a fan of was Amsterdam
― markers, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:18 (eight years ago) Permalink
by a bunch I mean, like, four of five
he kinda sucks, i think
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:19 (eight years ago) Permalink
Yup
― Number None, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:20 (eight years ago) Permalink
i don't think he sucks at all, but that's not the point. curious to hear max's opinion
― markers, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:25 (eight years ago) Permalink
oh i was just being flippant. i didnt read it. i dont like him, or what he 'stands for.' he comes across like an asshole in interviews. but i met him once and he was vaguely nice.
― max, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:28 (eight years ago) Permalink
oh cool. I think I've seen like one interview with him or something, but that was a long time ago so I don't really remember it. my opinion of him is more or less based on just reading his stuff. we were assigned Atonement in 11th grade or whatever and I read Amsterdam, Cement Garden, and Saturday after that -- all in high school and right after I graduated -- and then I picked up On Chesil Beach when it was released back in 2007. i liked Saturday the best
― markers, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:30 (eight years ago) Permalink
actually not sure if I even read all of Atonement
― markers, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:31 (eight years ago) Permalink
you missed a pretty crucial ending, dumbass
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:32 (eight years ago) Permalink
a "twist" ending
yeah
― max, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:32 (eight years ago) Permalink
youll never know if 'atonement' 'occurs'
hey Que, can you shut the fuck up and leave me alone?
― markers, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:33 (eight years ago) Permalink
you follow me into every fucking thread, and at this point it's more or less harassment
hey, just saying. Atonement has a twist ending and if you didn't read the whole thing, you missed something crucial.
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:35 (eight years ago) Permalink
i'm not fucking kidding about the harassment, dude. i never did anything to you as far as I remember, but you make it a point to make my posting experience here way less enjoyable everyday. i understand you don't like me, and i don't care about that or if you actually still think i'm a sock, but you need to just leave me alone
― markers, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:36 (eight years ago) Permalink
**SPOILER ALERT**
Part four
The fourth section, titled "London 1999", is written from Briony's perspective. She is a successful novelist at the age of 77 and dying of vascular dementia.
It is revealed that Briony is the author of the preceding sections of the novel. Although Cecilia and Robbie are reunited in Briony's novel, they were not in reality. Robbie Turner died of septicemia caused by his injury on the beaches of Dunkirk and Cecilia was killed by the bomb that destroyed the gas and water mains above Balham Underground station. The truth is that Cecilia and Robbie never saw each other again after their half-hour meeting. Although the detail concerning Lola's marriage to Paul Marshall is true, Briony never visited Cecilia to make amends.
Briony explains why she decided to change real events and unite Cecilia and Robbie in her novel, although it was not her intention in her many previous drafts. She did not see what purpose it would serve if she told the readers the pitiless truth. She reasons that they could not draw any sense of hope or satisfaction from it. But above all, she wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia their happiness by being together. Since they could not have the time together they so much longed for in reality, Briony wanted to give it to them at least in her novel.
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:36 (eight years ago) Permalink
sorry i called you a dumbass dude. i hardly post anymore, so i don't know what you mean about following you into threads. but i will leave this one, ok?
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:41 (eight years ago) Permalink
it's ok. there are a million times where you've showed up and attacked me for what I thought was pretty innocuous stuff -- all I'm asking you to do is to back off it
― markers, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 00:44 (eight years ago) Permalink
I thought C was ok, really good in parts, but Satin Island I could not manage.
(iirc what I read of Satin Island has bits on cargo cults and… maybe Schrödinger's Cat? If not something similar - like the 2 most absolutely played-out ideasy things you could possibly drop into literary fiction. Maybe it was ironic/intentionally crass? idk, didn't finish. Vaguely intended to start an ILB thread on other similar oooh-that's-deep science/philosophy/anth/etc bits that get repeatedly shoved into lit fiction, but haven't been round enough lately.)
― woof, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 15:22 (five months ago) Permalink
you should start that thread!
― imago, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 15:44 (five months ago) Permalink
ILB can always do with more threads from you woof!
Reckon if we did a poll of this on here the lists would somewhat look similar...with more Pynchon and Darnielle and I would be the sole voter for Hilbig or Winkler. Best left alone.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 17:04 (five months ago) Permalink
I'll get round to it!
Omissions keep striking me, just in terms of big books ppl talk(ed) about a lot - no Lethem, no David Mitchell. Maybe just vote splitting for them tho'?
I like it as a list though. For all that I can argue, dissent or pick, it feels like something run up by people who've been through the same arguments as me/one over the last 20 years - the territory is understood, the fights are smaller, ie I/one have/has become the mediocre establishment.
We should run a follow-up to Klaata's books of the noughties in a couple of years' time.
― woof, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 21:19 (five months ago) Permalink
Never Let Me Go is a half-arsed book, and what's Franzen doing on any sort of serious list like this?
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Wednesday, 19 September 2018 01:58 (five months ago) Permalink
List needed to meet statutory minimum requirement of authors named Jonathan.
― faculty w1fe (silby), Wednesday, 19 September 2018 02:00 (five months ago) Permalink
That Albert Murray inclusion is mental, given everything in it is from the 20th Century. Could just as easily include anything else old that has been reprinted in the last 18 years.
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Wednesday, 19 September 2018 03:41 (five months ago) Permalink
Long, interesting profile of Deborah Eisenberg in The NY Times on the occasion of her new collection:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/magazine/deborah-eisenberg-chronicler-of-american-insanity.html
― o. nate, Friday, 28 September 2018 13:41 (four months ago) Permalink
Very appealing, in an unusual way, the deep delving into wayward selves and the world outside, the course of political decline and awareness of, the struggles, avoidance (wonder if she ever writes about the opposite of that avoidance, obsession with politics onscreen). Very thoughtful and deft writing, although he makes a bit much of her age (c'mon, 72).
― dow, Friday, 28 September 2018 16:38 (four months ago) Permalink
I don't want to say "relationship goals" but uh…relationship goals
― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Friday, 28 September 2018 16:59 (four months ago) Permalink
some interesting-looking things shortlisted for the Goldsmith's Fiction Prize this year:
Kudos by Rachel Cusk (Faber)Murmur by Will Eaves (CB Editions)In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne (Headline)The Cemetery in Barnes by Gabriel Josipovici (Carcanet)Crudo by Olivia Laing (Faber)The Long Take by Robin Robertson (Picador)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2018/sep/26/novel-senses-of-new-the-2018-goldsmiths-prize-for-fiction-shortlist
― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Friday, 28 September 2018 17:05 (four months ago) Permalink
I'm interested in Murmer. I was interested in The Cemetery in Barnes too but I read a preview of it and that put me off slightly.
― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Friday, 28 September 2018 17:06 (four months ago) Permalink
I want to read Rachel Cusk but every time I pick up Outline I recoil anew at the inexplicable choice of Optima as a body font. Not to like shit on Zapf but it looks all wrong.
― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Friday, 28 September 2018 17:07 (four months ago) Permalink
actually, more than slightly. it struck me as being quite artificially "refined" in a similar way to the dreaded Ishiguro. xpost
― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Friday, 28 September 2018 17:11 (four months ago) Permalink
i liked Murmur - a James Morrison recommendation. Just started Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (2016), which 20 pages in is really excellent. Tho i’m aware that the almost algorithmic arbitrary strangeness of the youngest thomas the tank engine board books might seem excellent after forbidden line by paul stanbridge (2016). in that list great to see dewitt (obv) & maggie nelson. also - cosign woof on satin island, which no matter how much tolerance you may be able to gen up by framing it in intentional cheapness (there’s a little wiggle room for that reading) was crap. Goon Squad, yes. i know it got mixed reviews from people on here, but i liked it. and i liked against the day, big messy and fun.
― Fizzles, Friday, 28 September 2018 18:50 (four months ago) Permalink
oh and i do want to read cusk after that review in the lrb.
― Fizzles, Friday, 28 September 2018 18:52 (four months ago) Permalink
josipovici i really react against in what is possibly an unfair way. i’ve only read everything passes and a bit of goldberg:variations. the first was quite striking in some respects - broken prose incantation (ie kind of looks like a poem on the page but isn’t). but it also seemed pompous - that is to say its manner suggested a high level of importance which was in the end it seemed to me as much if not more tonal than in terms of the subject matter. i wrote a little about it here. goldberg i couldn’t get on with at all. it seemed supremely and unjustifiably satisfied with its own cleverness. my response if it were a person would be “yes i suppose you are but the problem is i don’t like you very much”. i realise this is not good lit crit and i would like to break down exactly how that response is constituted in the text. but it will do for now.
― Fizzles, Friday, 28 September 2018 18:59 (four months ago) Permalink
I like it.
― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Friday, 28 September 2018 19:31 (four months ago) Permalink
jeez i loved satin island wtf
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Saturday, 29 September 2018 00:49 (four months ago) Permalink
really hated goon squad though especially the heavily footnoted chapter from the perspective of the bitter journalist who assaults someone. just a bunch of lazily-written short stories arbitrarily bent into each other
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Saturday, 29 September 2018 00:51 (four months ago) Permalink
i guess i can see how satin island could be a little overweighted with cliché "deep" anthropological ideas but idk the writing was so good, i got pretty caught up in it
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Saturday, 29 September 2018 00:53 (four months ago) Permalink
wow i hate most of the books on this vulture list lol
the line of beauty yes absolutely but the goldfinch uuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Saturday, 29 September 2018 00:54 (four months ago) Permalink
lol 1q84 i love lists that are just like "here are a bunch of books that came out in the past twenty years that had some kind of buzz around them but not necessarily any inherent value"
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Saturday, 29 September 2018 00:55 (four months ago) Permalink
i agree that the goldfinch and 1q84 suck however I'm reading the last samurai thanks to that list and it's great
― na (NA), Saturday, 29 September 2018 01:48 (four months ago) Permalink
I should clearly be recommending that book in more threads, more often.
― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Saturday, 29 September 2018 02:12 (four months ago) Permalink
the last samurai does rule
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Saturday, 29 September 2018 02:34 (four months ago) Permalink
MURMUR is wonderful, he repeats
The Long Take by Robin Robertson: this is interesting but not deserving of the praise it gets, and I say this as a devotee of the film noir movies it revels in. It's a novel in verse, but if ever there was some poetry that was just obviously prose with regular line breaks put in, it's this.
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Saturday, 29 September 2018 08:53 (four months ago) Permalink
Murmur is phenomenal, I read it in one sitting on the beach but I keep casting my mind back to it. It's full of narrative tricks but they're only ever enhancing rather than undercutting the big thematic stuff and its (substantial) emotional heft.
― Matt DC, Saturday, 29 September 2018 11:53 (four months ago) Permalink
I absolutely loved In Our Mad & Furious City as well, but a coming-of-age London novel full of grime music and racial/religious tensions was never not going to appeal to me, but the potential to have done something utterly cringeworthy and try-hard was vast and he manages to avoid all that entirely.
― Matt DC, Saturday, 29 September 2018 11:56 (four months ago) Permalink
There is lots of good stuff in that Vulture list but plenty of eyeroll moments as well.
The inclusion of Mary Gaitskell's Veronica in there made me genuinely happy but everyone concerned should be embarrassed to appear in a list alongside Capital.
― Matt DC, Saturday, 29 September 2018 12:01 (four months ago) Permalink
Just ordered Murmer on the back of those mentions.
― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Saturday, 29 September 2018 14:46 (four months ago) Permalink
or off the back?
― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Saturday, 29 September 2018 14:47 (four months ago) Permalink
I think it's "off the back"?
I realized that Edward St Aubyn wasn't on that list either which is, imo, another pretty bad omission for such an anglophile list.
I came across a copy of Dunbar, his entry in the Hogarth Shakespeare Series, "updating" King Lear which I'm looking forward to reading. Will also stan for Helen Dewitt's Lightning Rods. Did anyone read the collection of short stories she published earlier in the year?
― Federico Boswarlos, Tuesday, 2 October 2018 16:23 (four months ago) Permalink
Yes! Pick 'em up. It'll make you believe in yourself.
― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Tuesday, 2 October 2018 16:31 (four months ago) Permalink
Jesus christ, Murmur destroyed me. I read much of the last sections with my eyes itching with tears.
There's swathes of it I didn't understand but I'll get some thoughts together once I've pulled myself together!
― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Monday, 8 October 2018 21:30 (four months ago) Permalink
his best books came out in the '90s
― Number None, Monday, 8 October 2018 21:45 (four months ago) Permalink
Mallarme's The Book has had its first complete translation!
http://exactchange.com/shop/mallarme-the-book/
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 8 October 2018 22:01 (four months ago) Permalink
a friend of mine wrote a very well received (apparently radical) translation of (some of) Mallermé's poem's xyz. could be of interest to you:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/15/stephane-mallarme-poems-in-verse-review
― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Monday, 8 October 2018 22:11 (four months ago) Permalink
Thanks!
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 8 October 2018 22:23 (four months ago) Permalink
― Number None, Monday, October 8, 2018 10:45 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Controversial! I think Mother's Milk and At Last were the best of the Patrick Melrose books.
― Federico Boswarlos, Tuesday, 9 October 2018 16:54 (four months ago) Permalink
it's controversial to think those are the best ones.
― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 17:35 (four months ago) Permalink
xyzzz and jed, thanks for both Mallarmé recs!
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 17:39 (four months ago) Permalink
Lol, no it's not but it does seem like his reputation and recent popularity (fwiw) over the last 5-6 years hinge more on his recent work.
― Federico Boswarlos, Tuesday, 9 October 2018 19:05 (four months ago) Permalink
seems like a good list https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/pa5b7m/best-books-2018-poetry-short-stories
― flopson, Thursday, 15 November 2018 21:46 (three months ago) Permalink
maybe i just want to read The Incendiaries
― flopson, Thursday, 15 November 2018 21:48 (three months ago) Permalink
That intro paragraph is pretty self-congratulatory given the list features only American writers. (Although, tbf, one of them lives part of the time in Canada)
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Friday, 16 November 2018 01:04 (three months ago) Permalink
Not sure where to put this so
This is my favourite thing on Twitter today. It’s beautiful! pic.twitter.com/BbUCgI8H5e— Bethany Black (@BeffernieBlack) February 10, 2019
― Norm’s Superego (silby), Monday, 11 February 2019 01:05 (one week ago) Permalink
Lol
― Only a Factory URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 11 February 2019 01:37 (one week ago) Permalink
:D
― imago, Monday, 11 February 2019 07:14 (one week ago) Permalink