Best Book In This Box of (Unread) Books I Bought From Borders

Miss Lonelyhearts & Day of The Locust!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day of the Locust is incredible but ... Wilde

One vote for Master and Margarita. But you have to like Russian lit.

Pinter complete or death in Venice.

Actually this all looks good.

Apart from Nick Hornby obv.

Was always skeptical about Sterling's Gold. I think Roger would fuss and deliberate and self-censor to the point that he'd lose himself.

I'd recommend Master and Margarita, Dorian Gray, and Day of the Locust - whichever one you haven't already read.

Has to be Pinter, but I suspect the Mishima is probably the best thing. Miss Lonelyhearts is great.

Miss Lonelyhearts & Day of The Locust: Two Novels by Nathanael West (Intro by Jonathan Lethem)

two of my all-time favourites.

Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters

these are pretty cool. sanford meisner used to use them in his acting classes.

voting Dorian obv

but which one?

Nick Hornby.

hahahahahahahaha no

Nathanael West or Mishima or Wilde. voting Mishima.

Re the Pinter, was it like "The Caretaker" was a single (b/w "The Dumb Waiter") that you liked so much you went back and bought the Best Of...?

Master and Margarita, easily.

voted "master and margarita". well, either that, or the don felder book.

also, your misrendering of the book's title is a winner!

"The Master and Margarita: My Life with Jimmy Buffet (1979-1987)"

The Hunger of Memory is more relevant, I think, than it ever has been: the education of a gay Hispanic man.

Hahaha xp

The Master and Margarita is a good one

So the Roger Sterling book is nothing but quotes from the show? Good job, Grove Press.

Has to be Felder.

^^^ what Don said to Glenn on learning about leaks to the press.

Re the Pinter, was it like "The Caretaker" was a single (b/w "The Dumb Waiter") that you liked so much you went back and bought the Best Of...?

― mahb, Tuesday, June 21, 2016 7:47 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No, it was actually that the Theatre section was 90% off at the end, and I didn't look hard enough at the contents of the anthology to see the duplication.

The Hunger of Memory is more relevant, I think, than it ever has been: the education of a gay Hispanic man.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, June 21, 2016 8:14 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's a neat backstory behind this purchase: One of my (Community) College Lit. Professor's did his doctoral thesis on THoM not long after it was published. During the process, he and Rodriguez became friends, and would have dinner or lunch together any time he was in town. So that's how I became aware of the book.

nice haul! dorian gray takes it, but the nathaniel west set is close. once upon a time i would have said crash, but i doubt i'd have the stomach for it these days.

all the A level shit (Mother Courage, Harold ... Pinter) is worthless. Dorian's book is properly amazing. i should have read/studied stuff like that at 17 instead of Bertolt Brecht which taught me sod all.

the Lorca stuff is ok though.

pressure...building up...inside skull...

never understood why so many ppl love Master & Margarita so much, felt like the humor in it was really strained and found the Pilate flashback totally boring and pedestrian

it has a cat

The West book is great, just skip the introduction (Lethem is an idiot whose own work is trash). Imperial Bedrooms isn't one of Ellis's best, but it's not as dire as you'd expect a sequel to Less Than Zero to be. I don't think I've ever actually finished a Ballard novel, though I might have made it all the way through The Concrete Island. (Crash is one of the few movies I've ever walked out of, too.) I would be interested to read that Mamet book.

Lethem is an idiot whose own work is trash

this is unduly harsh, altho dude has def calcified and become p insufferable post-whatever that fake noir with the tourette's syndrome guy was

i usually skip introductions to novels tbh

death in venice is great, but miss lonelyhearts/locust would be one of my desert island books

Read:
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (which gets my vote)
Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
Miss Lonelyhearts & Day of The Locust: Two Novels by Nathanael West (Intro by Jonathan Lethem)

Have always kind of meant to read:
33 Revolutions Per Minute by Dorian Lynsey
Death In Venice and Seven Other Stories by Thomas Mann

Might be fun:
Produce Your Own Damn Movie! by Lloyd Kaufman
My Year of Flops by Nathan Rabin

Couldn't sound less appealing:
Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis (hardback)
Paul Simon: A Life by Marc Eliot (hardback)
Heaven and Hell: My Life In The Eagles (1974-2001) by Don Felder

the Felder book is better than Spoon River Anthology.

gotta prop for N West

Super disgusted w myself that the Felder is the only one of these I've read

Own the bulgakov bc I've been 'close to reading it' for abt 15 years

Need to read dayo locust for sure

Felder book was great btw

w/the master and margarita it depends on the translation, i think the mirra ginsburg one which has probably been the most widely read isn't considered to be especially great, whereas the burgin/o'connor one is i believe considered to be pretty superior? i can't speak to the other ones (glenny most notable.)

I've got the Glenny translation and not read it yet.

felder def influenced by brecht

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oIH8bNsRpU

Don't sleep on Pinter, Brecht, Mann, West, prob several others by authors I usually dig (haven't read The Sailor etc. yet, for inst). Also, really enjoyed the Felder, as I said last year on A Good Day In Hell, one of the very many Eagles threads on ILM:

Also I picked up Felder's hefty Between Heaven and Hell in the library, and read the whole thing that afternoon, which never happens. Gist: his father comes off as a self-made, self-righteous, self-torturing workaholic and skinflint, and Don follows suit during his Eagles years, with infinitely more bucks and perks than blue collar Dad ever had, of course. Furthermore, Dr. Phil, he somewhat recreates his own defiant-dependent teen relationship with Dad, now played by Henley and Frey.
When he finally gets his ass fired, after having papers served in the studio, he actually calls back, all crying---"Try to seek some higher ground in this, Fingers," Frey counsels, and the ex-Mrs. Felder fervently seconds.
So he does, with this book of excellent anecdotes (also careful references to ongoing litigation), from early years in Florida---girlfriend accuses him of stepping out with blondes, who turn out to be pre-facial hair, though tressed-for-success Gregg and Duane)[;"Tommy" Petty is his guitar student; Stephen Stills is "the funniest kid I ever met," passing through town while running away from military school, back to his parents (though every kid I knew back then who was sent to military school, was sent for a good reason); Bernie Leadon is his local connection to the budding West Coast folk-country rock scene.
Also lots of good stuff about "The Gods," as everybody who worked with and for the Eagles supposedly called Henley and Frey; also supposedly, many of these--even the Gods themselves, individually---called Felder up to trade the latest atrocity stories.
But I also get, in terms of more perhaps unintended reveals, that the Gods were trying to keep their associates' and their own assholes-with-money tendencies somewhat in line, at least for the sake of making even more money (by keeping up the musical standards, for instance). Nevertheless, Felder and I are somewhat respectful of, for instance, Joe Walsh's working out his frustrations on whole floors of hotels (and he lasted longer than any non-God in the line-up, I think, so maybe the mayhem helped).

never understood why so many ppl love Master & Margarita so much

gun-toting satanic cat, plus women fly around and who never wear clothes, plus it's great

don't sleep on Sarah Ruhl!

Mishima, Ballard or Mann ftw. Voted Yukio.

all the A level shit (Mother Courage, Harold ... Pinter) is worthless. Dorian's book is properly amazing. i should have read/studied stuff like that at 17 instead of Bertolt Brecht which taught me sod all.

― piscesx, Tuesday, 21 June 2016 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

His poetry is great btw.

You mean BB? Yes.

Coke Spoon River Anthology: My Life in etc., etc.

Master & Margarita is rad in part because of how many ways you can approach it - tragic story of political terror and repression, Bulgakov getting revenge on his literary enemies, retelling of the Pilate story, freewheeling comic adventures around Moscow, supernatural fantasy, etc - and have it still be compelling no matter what.

Personally I think the Pilate stuff is really interesting - he appears sympathetic but is also a cold-hearted and conniving politician who is happy to arrange the murder and framing of his enemies.

^^^

Not a big Eagles fan but dow's post totally makes me want to read that book.

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