Tell Gareth what book to buy?

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apparently santa is taking all his books to the ghetto as well, and bypassing london town again.

so, tell me one book i should buy. notthese though, because i've already, like, read them

― gareth, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Read John Ashberry and tell me why the fuck he won two national book awards . Or read isms and enjoy nutty art theory .

― anthony, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

going by your list there Don DeLillo "White Noise" and you missed Mason & Dixon (no Gravity's Rainbow, but way better than V and Vineland)

― Alan Trewartha, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

fuct and fiction by me, via www.hungrypublishing.com...or just send em lots of money, and you won't even have to read it!

― Geoff, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Geoff
You are being a bit of a whore today arent ya
Anyhow read it its grate !

― anthonyeaston, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

...Described by Semper Magazine as "one of Australia’s best young writers"...

Are you young Geoff? I always imagined you to be, like, 38 or something.

― toraneko, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If This is a Man by Primo Levi.

Great stuff.

― Ronan, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

read something by a woman! Angela Carter is always good - a "Nights At The Circus" or a "Wise Children" maybe?

― katie, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Bret Easton Ellis' Glamorama.

― David, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

katie, i know, i'm quite embarrassed (although Nicola Barker was in there)

― gareth, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

toraneko - i'm 26. not sure if i should be insulted or impressed. will harumph anyway, and yeah i'm voting, for the greens and the commies first.

― Geoff, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Um, I don't know either. Be impressed, I think you are wise. I half suspect you are a girl though so maybe you won't be impressed by that.

Sometimes I think I only vote because I do not want to pay the $50 fine - it's probably $55 with GST now. I will vote Green too. If I still lived in Hobart I could vote for Dr Bob Brown himself and that might make me proud - I think he rocks.

― toraneko, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Read the Oscar Wilde fairy tales. They're sugary and rich and just lovely.

― Maria, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Guiness Book of Hit Singles. Your friends will never speak to you again.

― Graham, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

toraneko makes geoff laugh at 3am...thank you, but if you go to http://home.iprimus.com.au/laurapalmer/ you will see my gender has unfortunatley been defined...

re the book, try warboy or house of leaves.

― Geoff, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i second 'if this is a man' by primo levi. remember i suggested pelevin......so my judgement is tight as fukk

― ambrose, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You should read "a gun for sale" by Graham Greene. I read it one Christmas in a chair by the fire, listening to Modest Mouse (I can only listen to them when I'm reading). Or read something by my all time favourite writer Knut Hamsun (I haven't mentioned him before, honest)...or Haruki Murakami (I recommend "South of the Border, West of the Sun). Also, "Thirst for Love" by Yukio Mishima. After next month, some of us ILe folks may have novels for you to read.

― james, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"The hero with a thouosand faces"-Joseph Campbell
"A rabbit omnibus"-John Updike
"Cold snap"-Thom Jones
"Dog soldiers"-Robert Stone

― Michael Bourke, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I will repeat it until the day I die- The Age Of Wire & String by Ben Marcus, it is fantastic.

Also just come into my mind: Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker and The Unfortunates by B.S. Johnson. And Ask The Dust by John Fante.

― emil.y, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If you liked Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, you should check out Sillitoe's collection of short stories, Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. Also, now that you've gotten through Moby Dick and Gravity's Rainbow, I'd say it's about time to take on Ulysses.

― Justyn Dillingham, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

collected fiction of broges is worth a look as is the new pj o'rourke ceo of the sofa

― Geoff, Monday, 5 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

1974 by David Peace. It's all Ossett and Wakey stuff. If ever there was a book written for you! (Can't actually vouch for it being any good yet as I've only just started it, but has lots of minutiae of West Yorkshire)

― Simeon (Simeon), Monday, 25 August 2003 09:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Stop reading that 'quality' shit. Get stuck into some forgotten genre garage-sale ppbks. "Good books are all alike, shitty ones are..."

― dave q, Monday, 25 August 2003 09:38 (twenty-two years ago)

hey dave, which are the 'forgotten genres'?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 25 August 2003 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Umm...novelisations of 70s 'skateboard' films? Richard Allen?

― dave q, Monday, 25 August 2003 09:56 (twenty-two years ago)

ok.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 25 August 2003 10:05 (twenty-two years ago)

M*A*S*H novs

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 25 August 2003 10:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Definitely, Luke Rhinehart "The Dice Man"

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Monday, 25 August 2003 11:11 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah! Garage sale (or "church fete" oh shush, gareth) genre fiction is best ! I am reading The Magic Circle: it has Jesus and the Spear of Destiny and the Boers, and vision quests and a young Hitler and Caligula and Kaspar Hauser and I'm only on page 176!!!

― rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 25 August 2003 12:19 (twenty-two years ago)

If anyonew finds a copy of Martin Caidin's "Deathmate" at a garage sale I will pay top ££££ for it

― dave q, Monday, 25 August 2003 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

To you Dave, One dollar

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 25 August 2003 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

(positively extravagent, seeing as you can get most of his other books for one cent.)

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 25 August 2003 12:47 (twenty-two years ago)

hey gareth, u gotta rock this one

Death and the Penguin by Andrei Kurkov. Its like a mixture of Bulgakov and Calvino. like, droll, spare prose, descriptive with no frivolous adjectives. simple, and touching, and pretty funny.

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:15 (twenty-two years ago)

actually forget the bulgakov thing. the premise is vaguely surreal, but the rest is firmly rooted in reality.

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:17 (twenty-two years ago)

1974 (or Nineteen Seventy Four) is actually very explicitly violent, So avoid it if you're squeamish. Yorkshire Noir though!

― Simeon (Simeon), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Edwidge Danticat: Krik? Krak!

― cybele (cybele), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

"...He sat stubbornly, endlessly waiting for the ninth ninth wave. Some of the other boys would get excited, mistake a big hump for the ninth ninth, but never Hank. He always knew when it would come; he never took a smaller wave; he always waited for the big one. They all believed that every ninth wave was bigger than the preceding eight, and every subsequent ninth wave was bigger than the one before it, until the biggest wave of all was the ninth ninth.

Mike wasn't sure if the system was accurate, but he did know that there was always one wave a day that was bigger than the rest. The other waves might be big and sometimes they were really huge and you might get excited and think that one of them was the ninth ninth. But not Hank. He always knew when to wait. He always got the biggest wave of the day."

Eugene Burdick, The Ninth Wave OOP

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

emily, i was thinking of getting road to los angeles, rather than ask the dust. perhaps i should get both

nathanael west, i have never read! but i'd like to read day of the locust.

periodically, i think of mencken, yet still have never read

and, pynchon, i have read, but not Vineland. im not sure im ready for another pynchon just yet though

― terry lennox. (gareth), Thursday, 8 September 2005 11:02 (twenty years ago)

and, other John Fante books, than the 2 i mentioned?

― terry lennox. (gareth), Thursday, 8 September 2005 11:03 (twenty years ago)

luc sante

nathanael west

― cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 8 September 2005 11:08 (twenty years ago)

john hawkes - second skin. i feel like you would like this book?

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Thursday, 8 September 2005 13:02 (twenty years ago)

Gareth, I second recommendations for Fante and Hawkes, among this recent batch (and have copies of Ask The Dust and Second Skin available for loan if you want), but not so much West.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 8 September 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

I'm reading Road To Los Angeles now. It's really good, Bandini seems much more a figure of humour than in Ask The Dust or Wait Until Spring. What did Gareth get?

I REALLY need to read Vineland, I guess.

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 October 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

i got day of the locust (as part of a west antology), which i liked, wasnt sure about the other stuff though

im reading vineland RIGHT NOW, i am on page 217, as it happens

― terry lennox. (gareth), Thursday, 13 October 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

Definitely read Vineland.

― wmlynch (wlynch), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

Is it a NorCal book?

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

did you read miss lonelyhearts?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

Fans of Luc Sante, David Maurer et al -- look here!

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

yea, i read miss lonelyhearts, that one was good, but i'm in a more...angelino mood, at the moment

― terry lennox. (gareth), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

have you read the big con by david maurer? it's not angeleno at all, ok, but it must be read

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:19 (twenty years ago)

I'm guessing you've read Ham On Rye?

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:19 (twenty years ago)

This is excellent, but not fiction and heavily weighted on the film industry, although it gives a really vivid picture of 1940s LA. All of Otto Friedrich's other books are great, too.

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

Alasdair Gray - Unlikely Stories Mostly.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

"What Makes Sammy Run?"

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

Raymond Carver also too obvious?

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:23 (twenty years ago)

This strain of literature is a perennial for me...actually, it is practically all I read.

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:23 (twenty years ago)

jus in case you haven't, gareth, be sure to read play it as it lays.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:44 (twenty years ago)

oh man, read what makes sammy run STAT!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

others you may have missed:

because i was flesh - edward dahlberg

desperate characters - paula fox

(or her memoir: borrowed finery)

now and on earth - jim thompson (not one of his crime novels. depressing and strage semi-autobiographical novel about ww2-era california and a writer on the verge...)

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 13 October 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

Vineland's set on the north coast, Mendocino county if I remember correctly.

― wmlynch (wlynch), Thursday, 13 October 2005 22:32 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

1974: "the brilliantly unsentimental homecoming of the gifted, alienated northern son, to a terrifyingly accurate portrayal of an insular, tribal community"

1977: "the Silver Jubilee, foul weather, punk and reggae sounds, this is the harrowing but engrossing tale of a journalist and a policeman who are sucked into the devastating spiral of despair caused by the crimes of the Yorkshire Ripper"

1980: "Uncomfortable, disturbing, chilling reading, in a fragmented, fractured style. Hieronymous Bosch meets James Ellroy somewhere off the M62"

1983: "Set in Yorkshire throughout the seventies and eighties, Peace balances the case of the Yorkshire Ripper with the theme of police corruption"

― calderdale in the 70s (gareth), Saturday, 24 December 2005 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

i'm just...not sure

― calderdale in the 70s (gareth), Saturday, 24 December 2005 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

and...

1984: "Great Britain. 1984. The miners' strike. It is the closest Britain has come to civil war in fifty years, setting the government against the people"

― calderdale in the 70s (gareth), Saturday, 24 December 2005 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

i recently started gb84, but i don't think i'm going to finish it. there's interesting stuff in it from a historical/sociological perspectivie, probably, but as a book it's just not very good.

― lauren (laurenp), Saturday, 24 December 2005 18:05 (nineteen years ago)

yea, i worry about 'social-realism' type books sometimes. you know, zola:/

― calderdale in the 70s (gareth), Saturday, 24 December 2005 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

say more about why you hate zola

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Saturday, 24 December 2005 21:10 (nineteen years ago)

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