Kevin's Watch

deer of the dawn wrote:Iain Pears's An Instance of the Fingerpost.

First of all, the title. What on earth does that even mean? It says nothing, nothing about the book or the characters!!


It's one of the best books ever.

Heh...I guess I don't visit this thread much....

Umm...on the first, it does say something about the book, though.

Fun instance [and slightly fingerpost-y, in its way] on how I ended up reading this thing---

My wife slammed it down on the bedside table OPEN! Now, she is the sort that worries about damaging the spines of travel magazines on airplanes and folding page corners down in furniture assembly instructions.
So that was a bit of a startle, and I leaned up and over to read the title, and said "Someone's quoting Bacon? I'll take a look at that."

On the second, it's got some interesting stuff going on...but I'm not sure I'd rank it even in the top ten of a list of "Books with Bacon Quotes."

But, in keeping with theme of the thread, there is a book "Possession" by Byatt. Basically Romance Among Those That are the Kind of People That Make Normal People Believe English Lit People Are Pompous Clueless Puffballs.

It's 85% not my thing at all...and the other 15% is "Shit That's EVery Bit as Annoying as Atlas Shrugged [ but for opposite reasons. ]

Yet I keep going back to it.

Sky---I like some Barker, and not other.
I enjoyed Imajica a lot---and then it had an ending that was worse than if you took the end of the Dark Tower series and had it re-written by the guys who wrote the ending of Lost, then used the pages to line a cat's litter box till it was good and ripe.

Not sure Ive read any Barker Ive actually really liked .. but genius analogy LOLS

I generally quite like Barker. Especially the books of The Art. But they can be a bit difficult at times.

--A

Khaliban wrote:Native Son


It will rip out your guts, stomp on them, and put them back crooked.

Sounds painful!!

Vraith wrote:...Fun instance [and slightly fingerpost-y, in its way] on how I ended up reading this thing---

sooo bad!

Vraith wrote:My wife slammed it down on the bedside table OPEN! Now, she is the sort that worries about damaging the spines of travel magazines on airplanes and folding page corners down in furniture assembly instructions.
So that was a bit of a startle...

Hahah!

Yeah, that was core-Antirecommendations-thread, vraith... except I'd like to hear if you've got one for a book that you 100% liked, how you (if you weren't you) might insult it.

Here's a new one!!

The Joy Luck Club is like a wise old auntie who you always want to return to when you just can't get things in your life to work that you really, desperately want to work...
...that is, IF the auntie was going SENILE and began betraying every confidence she was ever trusted with, which is kind of bad, because-- up until now, she has been trusted with ALL the family secrets.
The family secrets of... oh, women in all four families that were closest to yours while you were growing up.
(That includes your own.)

But you keep going back to her anyway, because you're sick of the uselessness of your peers' shallow canned advice and too-easy affirmations.
You need real answers.
For ALL the questions.

So she makes you some tea. (You must drink lots of tea, but that is not a big imposition, because you know this from long and familiar experience.)
And she spins out her tales with mesmerizing artistry... canny proverbs, haunting symbolism, and chilling juxtapositions she drops into place with timing so perfect it's unreal.
Also, she can drop things into your mind expertly, so that you don't even quite know when they got there.

And you stay longer than you intended to, but that is okay, because nobody missed you, and even if they did, they'd never guess that she might just be imparting THE SECRETS OF LIFE to you...
...just telling some stories about days past... and if you tried to explain, in your own words, everyone would say they were pointless irrelevant stories, really, anyway. And from so long ago, too.

This book did not cause me to actually dream in Chinese, however.
Another problem I have with it!

Avatar wrote:I generally quite like Barker. Especially the books of The Art. But they can be a bit difficult at times.

--A

Agreed. Loved the first 3/4 of Great and Secret Show, the last 1/4...let's just say I did not. Everville was good. Will there ever be a book 3?

Barker's last book Scarlet Gospels, however, was rancid.

My favorite are the Abarat novels....where is the next one??

Hmmm, haven't read those, will keep them in mind.

Preferred G.A.S.S (I used to go to a nightclub called that funnily enough) to Everville on the whole, but read them many years apart so might feel differently if I re-read them consecutively.

Didn't know about Scarlet Gospels...see it features Harry D'Amour though, who I always thought was a great character...pity it sounds like it was bad.

--A

Horrim Carabal wrote:

Avatar wrote:I generally quite like Barker. Especially the books of The Art. But they can be a bit difficult at times.

--A

Agreed. Loved the first 3/4 of Great and Secret Show, the last 1/4...let's just say I did not. Everville was good. Will there ever be a book 3?

Barker's last book Scarlet Gospels, however, was rancid.

My favorite are the Abarat novels....where is the next one??

On the first---I liked both of them for different reasons, though both have flaws and slog-portions...enough liking to want the 3rd to happen.

On the second...yes...also hated Galilee and whatever the one about the movie-star-ghost. [[and as I've said elsewhere, the ending of Imajica was so bullshit it ruined anything good about the rest of it]]

I've only read the first Abarat---it was pretty good, I'll likely go back to them when he gets his published a bit further ahead of my reading.
I think my favorite, for no particular reason, was Weaveworld.
Although---I read the omnibus of 1-3 of books of blood...for my money, a freaking outstanding collection of horror short work. Hmm...maybe I need to think of an anti-rec for those. [and someday see if the next 3 volumes stayed good].

Avatar wrote:Hmmm, haven't read those, will keep them in mind.

Preferred G.A.S.S (I used to go to a nightclub called that funnily enough) to Everville on the whole, but read them many years apart so might feel differently if I re-read them consecutively.

Didn't know about Scarlet Gospels...see it features Harry D'Amour though, who I always thought was a great character...pity it sounds like it was bad.

--A

I also love the Harry D'Amour character. He can't save Scarlet Gospels, though. I don't think anything could.

...and if you haven't been introduced to the wonderful Candy Quackenbush, you need to meet her as soon as possible!

Vraith wrote:Although---I read the omnibus of 1-3 of books of blood...for my money, a freaking outstanding collection of horror short work. Hmm...maybe I need to think of an anti-rec for those. [and someday see if the next 3 volumes stayed good].

I'm thinking an anti-rec of stuff in the horror genre could be hilarious... I mean, I'm sure lots of horror works provide ample fodder for saying, "Reasons you MIGHT not want to read it (tm)." while also being brilliant.


Actually, I don't particularly read horror, and yet I find myself unable to look away when someone who I like to read writes horror reviews for indie horror flicks that I will never see... this line from a horror review amused me and literally stuck in my head for a year-and-a-half:

Eve Tushnet wrote:...You want to impose some kind of theme or satirical edge on this cavalcade of wrongness, like, this is women's revenge on unreliable or simply too-vulnerable men, but honestly, when I finished this thing my only thought was, That was Messed. Up.

(but it probably stuck in my head b/c I mentally replay things that I find hilarious. Again. and again. and again.)
Of course, this diverges from the purpose of this thread, because this is not about a favorite book, and it's not even a book...
(Also, not gonna watch that one. *cringe*)

A Man Called ove starts with the grumpiest old Swede you've ever met.

And then he gets mean.

(honestly, though, it's one of my favorite books. I started out hating him on page 1, by page 7 I hated the world instead)

Excellent! And almost 3 years since the last anti recommendation.