ILX Book Club Nominations (Rolling thread)

There is some enthusiasm for a monthly/seasonal group read - don't know how much really.

I can collate about 10 - 12 noms into a first poll, but keep nominating beyond that for any future ones.

Not going to restrict to classics or contemporary, or a 10 page story to a 1000 page brick. The only guide would be that the book should be quite easy to find...fair enough(?) I am making this up as I go along.

I'll post the poll this Saturday.

Jennifer Egan "Goon Squad".

Joan Didion - Play It as It Lays

The privileges - Jonathan dee

Whoops I did that the wrong way round but u know what I mean

I second Goon Squad. and nominate Teju Cole's "Open City" too.

I've just received Open City in the post, so I'm on board with that nomination.

Have finally got hold of Goon Squad so I'll third that.

It's hard to get hold of?

Otherwise I would tick it also.

Yes! I'm glad this is happening.

Since there aren't even 10 noms we'll just go with "Goon Squad" then. But if you all can keep nominating, as I can get a poll for the next one after "Goon Squad"

Can someone who has read it post a reasonable chapter breakdown per week (carve it up in 4 sections max)? I'll then post a 'Group read: Spring 2011' thread.

I'll put in a library request for it this morning - should get in about 3 weeks.

Was going to have a look at doing this today, but there wasn't a copy in the library. The book is separated into two big parts with about five or six parts in each, and it shouldn't be too difficult to separate those into two, I just can't remember where exactly the split should go.

OK thanks - if you can get some numbers great. If not I'll use what you've said and make it over two weeks then (just looked up and its only 300 pages).

what about separating it into the different character perspectives it's written from?

Anyone care to post a brief synopsis? I'd like an idea of whether this'd be my type of thing before I decide to join in - I'm on a roll at the moment and don't want to risk derailing it.

Interview w/Egan in the The Sunday Times today!!

She talks about Proust (took her seven years to read it with a group of friends, that would drive me crazy!) and The Sopranos as the inspirations for Goon Squad and she mentions Middlemarch later on ("if you did it now, they'd call it experimentation").

That's two inspirations I don't like and one that I do. Not encouraging, for me, personally.

I'm afraid Zadie Smith already did a 'George Eliot was the DFW of the C19' screed. But of course one could look back to 1871 and see how far people *did* think Mm was experimental or new - James did, I think, in his great review.

i accidentally read this last night. oops

ismael it starts in manhattan and hops around in time and space; the title isn't glossed anywhere but at some point someone refers to time as a 'goon' that will 'get you'; it's about the music industry, sort of but not really; it's in part a virtuoso demonstration of 'hey look how time's gonna fuck you up', viz. one chapter we're watching a seventeen year old get macked on by a middle-aged man, then we jump back to a chapter focusing on that guy & his kids a little after his divorce, then we jump forward to his last illness

it's kind of chirpy and fun to temper anything possibly unappealing or dark about it: but it's still remarkably good

one of the chapters is written in the form of a powerpoint presentation, i found this remarkably moving

Thanks!

Its ok, you can join in the discussion when it happens :-)

I'm quite glad I didn't pick up Proust at 20, like she had - would have been a failure of epic proportions. Nor is it a book to be read at retirement (like some suggest it is). (Glad I read it in my late twenties, on my own.)

A group setting might be interesting if a few people are planning to re-read the thing, but I won't nominate that :-) xp

I did read the first 1100 pp or so of Proust when I was 21

and the next third when I was, let's see, 30

and the last third I still haven't read, partly cos I was regularly infuriated by the first 2300 pages but partly cos it's longer than other things and I am not good at reading things anyway.

'goon squad' might be a reference to Elvis Costello's song of that name
if it is, this might be made clear in the book
or, then again, it probably isn't.

a friend of mine who's 23 was talking recently about how Proust was her favourite, i couldn't quite process it - she very clearly loves it and has a lot of feelings about it but yes i admit i was thinking, but you are too young for this writer, for heavens' sake i am too young for it (this only based on the conversations i've had with my mother about it, from her recent near-retirement re-reading of the whole lot).

i am excited to read goon squad: i have never ordered a ~fiction~ book from the university library bookstack, this should be an experience.

i'd forgotten that song. i never listen to the second side of armed forces.

I haven't listened to it in ages, but actually - it's very good isn't it?

I don't agree that Proust is for the old, or the mature. I think it's just a load of incredibly protracted whining and self-promotion, with some half-decent insights into life along the way and for all I know, possibly, in the French some fine writing (possibly not reasonable to judge it by the 'style' of an old English translation); literally the most self-indulgent thing ever written until "Jordan", "Coleen Rooney" or whoever came along with book deals.

...and a lot of good jokes, swift character sketches, and bizarre (to us) ideas about sexuality. I loved it thoroughly, and I read it at twenty-seven.

...and a lot of beautiful scenes, powerful descriptions, and little essays on all sorts of things and and...etc etc. I actually do love the writing (as translated by the Penguin committee, could quite get on with Moncrieff) and reading every comma and running out of breath in my head.

I think I will have to shake hands w/the people who hate it, and go our separate ways.

Late 20s - early 30s is ideal. I can't wait to re-read it. Maybe later in the year. I may tell myself that till my retirement age (I think you should give it a first read at an age before retirement; re-reading at retirement.)

a friend of mine who's 23 was talking recently about how Proust was her favourite, i couldn't quite process it - she very clearly loves it

I overheard a couple of 15-ish year old girls in the library (this is my version of Lex's girls on the bus, btw). One was saying to the other how much she hated Proust.

I think its been discussed elsewhere on ILB how perhaps some literature can't be taught in school - you need certain kinds of experiences in life that teach you. And the narrator in Proust is taught all sorts of things throughout.

my nominations:

blood meridian -- mccarthy
ada -- nabokov
vanity fair -- thackeray
mansfield park -- austen
let us now praise famous men -- agee and evans

Thanks. Will c+p for a summer poll sometime.

(just above I should correct that I could not quite get on w/Moncrieff)

Is everyone hunting 'Goon Squad' ok? Should have a copy in a fortnight - can put up a thread on 1st May.

It's out in paperback in the uk, so it should be easy to pick up relatively cheaply via the usual places - £7.42 on Book Depository for example.

Amazon being left way behind at £7.43

the egan book is going to be april's new yorker book club pick, incidentally. i think this usually means there'll be a q & a with the author and some other stuff. maybe everyone could compile their theories.

i dun gone bought it

i may have accidentally given my copy away. tactical error

estimated delivery: april 2.

I'll participate in a book discussion if we do it. I just finished that Egan book, incidentally. Not sure what I want to read next. I had a few ideas but none of them are available at my library :(

I've been meaning to check out Franzen's The Corrections for ages now just to see if it lives up to the hype. My library network has about 200 copies and they all seem to be checked out. There are a few copies of Freedom, though. Is that worth reading?

Have the Egan coming to me in the post at the moment

Speaking of which, James, did those books I sent get to you?

I suspect that I will not get round to acquiring or reading this book in anything like time.

I am slow at many things.

They haven't arrived yet, but stuff from the UK has been a bit slow the last couple of months, so I wouldn't worry

I've been awaiting Goon Squad but I've just taken a glance at my desk and there it is already. It must've arrived last week without me registering. So I'm good to go.

Goon Squad just won the Morning News Tournament of Books: http://www.themorningnews.org/tob/

AND now they've arrived! Thanks, Gamaliel--am enjoying the madness of Rampo!

Holding the paperback in my hands. I have ordered my local library's copy.

Looking through it now shall we do this in two weeks:

Week one (1st- 7th May) - Part A and Part A to B (page 1-136)

Week two (8th - 15th May) - Part B 137 - 336 (end).

If anyone has any objections let me know. Otherwise I think we'll go for that on 1st May.

I'll also post the poll thread for the next book group on the 1st, so get a few more noms in.

Sounds good!

pulitzer prize winner!

windup girl by paolo bacigalupi:

Starred Review. Noted short story writer Bacigalupi (Pump Six and Other Stories) proves equally adept at novel length in this grim but beautifully written tale of Bangkok struggling for survival in a post-oil era of rising sea levels and out-of-control mutation. Capt. Jaidee Rojjanasukchai of the Thai Environment Ministry fights desperately to protect his beloved nation from foreign influences. Factory manager Anderson Lake covertly searches for new and useful mutations for a hated Western agribusiness. Aging Chinese immigrant Tan Hock Seng lives by his wits while looking for one last score. Emiko, the titular despised but impossibly seductive product of Japanese genetic engineering, works in a brothel until she accidentally triggers a civil war. This complex, literate and intensely felt tale, which recalls both William Gibson and Ian McDonald at their very best, will garner Bacigalupi significant critical attention and is clearly one of the finest science fiction novels of the year

China Mieville - Emabassy Town

Ada was a mistake I feel. If I'm going to invest in a novel, I'd rather stick to things likely to be good.

How about a bit of Ballard? I'd quite fancy The Drowned World, Crash or High Rise.

I'm reading High Rise for the first time!

Would it work? Ballard's one of more pedestalised authors round these parts; not sure if that'd make him a better or worse choice.

I'll chose Crash out of that lot, if that's ok, wouldn't want the Ballard vote split.

Reading some Ballard could prove to be interesting. Love Ballard, but ppl have written a lot of shit about him, and with his recent death the question of whether this stacks up or not will be worth asking.

Okay, I'll nominate Crash then. Might as well tackle the big one. I did a big study of his short stories at school, but I think Empire of the Sun is the only novel I've read.

you're hoping people will write less shit on ilx? personally in hoping for MORE. love Ballard, haven't read Crash, good choice for me. I'm actually beginning to enjoy Ada but that's a different thread and another country.

I have higher expectations from ilx to writter BETTER SHIT, yes :-)

Tempted to nom The Word for World is Forest since a) pretty sure Crash won't do much for me; ii) I love Le Guin but The Dispossessed is kinda arid; 3) I haven't read it. I know the Dispossessed is well respected tho, maybe it would be good to find out what others think of it.

i would nominate 'zone one', seeing as how i just ordered it, again

f u, 'Home Delivery Network'

For Le Guin beginners I'd suggest 'Left Hand of Darkness' or 'The Lathe of Heaven'. 'The Word for World is Forest' is good but a bit dated

The Left Hand of Darkness boasts some of the most sexually tense episodes I've read in a novel.

I'll put Left hand of Darkness as the Le Guin choice.

4 titles so far...leave it for a couple of days then I'll post a poll so get your choice in.

How about more of this?

Laszlo Krasznahorkai - Satantango
Pound - The Cantos

the cantos, yes

I'd join in for Cantos

In for a penny, in for a Pound.

lol really

the problems is we'd need to read Hugh Kenner or somebody side by side

sadly, i have terrell's book of annotations

yes. are there any worthy online concordances/keys?

xpost - hah - the second volume of terrell's companion is on google books, actually, which covers the pisan cantos onwards, though i think that edition doesn't have the drafts and fragments, or the ones that were circulating at the time were difft., or something

as per huge-american-poem thread, this works for me. Happy to start whenever. I was planning mid-May, but sooner better?

Happy to start a thread Mon 14th for a lifetime two weeks?

Two weeks feels like it might be a rush - maybe someone who half-knows their way around could think up a sensible schedule or structure - but maybe book club format won't quite work for it? Seems like short-ish contemp fiction does best - this could end up a bit Ada.

Yeah agreed - I'll try and get a copy of this and do some lol research and see what I can do to split.

But if someone does this ahead of me then that would be preferable.

Building a new poll as for the ILX summer group as I have the time:

Laszlo Krasznahorkai - Satantango (really pushing this I know! Or we could do Melancholy of Resistance)
Proust - Swann's Way

Anything anyone wants to explore in a group?

Any new titles around?

If there is no enthusiasm that's of course fine, won't post a poll - happy to do as above, keep reading the board and pick on a title where there could be a lot of interest like lol Cantos. (I did watch the discussion on the Murakami and Foster Wallace but people were going ahead anyway)

Maybe a Melville but I'll let someone else nominate

ive never got around to getting involved in one of these but now ive got time. when does it get underway?

i nominate philip roth 'the human stain' (as ive got it and im eager to read some roth for the first time) although i guess a lot of folks here have already read it

I'll get that in.

Well hope to poll something the end of this week...hope to start 2nd or 3rd week of July (allows everyone time to get a copy fo the bk)

i think we should read noted english author martin amises LIONEL ASBO

shouldn't you finish what you started before starting PROUST instead??

Just watching Amis being interviewed on LIONEL ASBO now and it would make for a (politely putting it) solid thread!! Would be too British tho'.

j. - You mean I shd start the Cantos? yes, but I'll 'finish' it by the time we get onto anything new.

I have just bought a copy of LIONEL ASBO: STATE OF ENGLAND by literary enfant terrible martin amis.

I don't think its britishness is a problem, but it isn't out in the US till August.

Have never read an Amis, certainly don't plan to start with that one.

tbh wld much rather read a Fizzles-esque thread on LIONEL ASBO than read LIONEL ASBO itself

i find it hard to explain or justify my fascination.

oh i totes understand yr fascination, the signs are v v promising that this cld be one of the most disastrous novs ever written by a 'major' author (if amis still counts as such)

I would oblige but I lack fizzles' vim and wit. Also I know what I am getting into, the puzzling elements of Capital's badness were/are part of the fun.

oh i totes understand yr fascination, the signs are v v promising that this cld be one of the most disastrous novs ever written by a 'major' author (if amis still counts as such)

― Ward Fowler, Thursday, June 14, 2012 9:26 AM (43 seconds ago)

Happy with Krasznahorkai - got out Melancholy of Resistance last year, but failed to get round to reading it, stupidly.

Also happy with Lionel Asbo, cos I'm also fascinated by it, him, and feel have some sort of investment in present day SoN novels after f'ing Capital. Have read Swann's Way, wd read again, I guess.

Guess Spurious wd be a good one to tackle, even tho I haven't even got round to being arsed to think about reading it yet.

That's what I thought, about the disastrousness, but then I started to think total lunatic detachment from reality might make it… idk what, 'quite something', a lump of weirdness rather than badness. First look makes me think it might be better than Yellow Dog, at least. The reviews are in a funny place - not many flat-out haters, but a few people suggesting it's a bit dull, a bit flat.

Amis' best is his memoir Experience. The Rachel Papers is fine and Money is ok but overrated.

I think this is the only Amis novel I'd want to read.

I don't think its britishness is a problem, but it isn't out in the US till August.

Could be our Spring novel then...but maybe the outcome is too excitingly car crash (Ballard to thread) to actually go through with.

Read plenty of Amis when he was good. Don't have any desire to read this one.

Wouldn't be surprised if any Ballard similarity was intentional.

I am going to put up a poll for this mid-week. If there are no more noms, it shall consist of the following items:

Laszlo Krasznahorkai - Satantango (from above)
Marin Amis - Lionel Asbo
Karl Ove Knausgaard - A Death in my Family: My Struggle Vol.1 (instead of Marcel, its of a similar length but the other vols are yet to be translated)

+ Cantos of course

Zadie Smith? Not that it wd necessarily be my choice, but then I'd probably read my choices anyway.

Oh yeah, knew I'd forgotten one.

I get the feeling that watching ILX ripping into Lionel Asbo will be considerably more enjoyable than actually reading it.

If Amis wins I'm blowing this place sky-high.