Just got both new books from Lynda Barry & Chuck Palahniuk in the mail. read "What It Is" in half a day and was left a little disappointed. don't get me wrong, lynda is a genius and her stuff is always great. this book is no exception and had many fine parts, especially about how kids stop playing and doing things that are so important in life when they "grow up." I just wish there had been many more stories and less of her photo collages. anybody else get this boook yet and have comments on it? i'd like to hear. about 30 pages into "Snuff" and onmigod, this could be one of his best, at least so far. the idea is an aging porn starlet decides to go out with a bang and do 600 guys on film in one day and the story is told from the perspective of Mr 72, Mr 137, Mr 600, and Sheila, the woman who is in charge of keeping the 600 happy until their turn to film. it's absolutely hysterical! Other good new books out there that you are reading?
I just finished Lullaby. It was not my favorite Palahniuk book (Choke is still the best book by him that I've read), but after about page 60 I was hooked. I had a friend that saw Chuck in Lexington before he released Snuff. I really want to read it, that will probably be the next book I pick up after I finish getting all the Akira graphic novels.
http://joblo.com/choke-on-this-poster Choke. I'll be seeing this one. I love survivor, invisible monsters and choke the best. I read the arc of Snuff and enjoyed it...it was pretty good.
a Choke movie... It's been a while since I read the book... But really? The last few chapters maybe. As long as they never make Diary a movie. I could barely get through the book, let alone a movie.
Loved Lynda Barry's "Cruddy", will have to check out her new book...been waiting for her to come out with a new book for SO LONG now. Is it a collection of short stories though, rather than a novel? If so, that's disappointing. I saw Lynda Barry speak with Matt Groenig several years back - Lynda completely stole the show! Everyone was in stiches...she's an amazing woman. I've been pretty disappointed in everything Chuck has written since "Fight Club" - pretty much only liked that and "Survivor". I don't think I've read his last two or three books because I found his writing to be so stale and repetitive.
from what I've read he does have very similar themes in the books, everything you own means nothing, forget everything the main stream thinks about life, owning stuff is dumb. But they also get me thinking. Fight Club of course stands out the most. But then he presents stuff like "Big Brother Singing and Dancing," and he makes you look at thought processes like that at a different angle. But this is also what I get out of the books, I could be way off base, that's the fun of reading.
Invisible Monsters was really awesome, NT. I agree though, I haven't been interested in his last few novels, but I'm interested in reading Snuff. He had a similar themed short story in vice a while back and I'm hoping this new novel is comparable in tone.
I like well constructed prose and detailed stories with tons of depth and layers. For me Salman Rushdie epitomizes these things (he has a new book coming out!). Chuck's writing compares to a Joe Ledbetter painting where it's flat, two-dimensional and any subtext is too obvious to actually be considered subtext. It also annoys me how he tries to create extreme situations or stories - they ultimately feel mundane and unbelievable. Irvine Welsh is probably my favorite Pop Fiction writer. I see similarities in Chuck and Irv, but ultimately I think Irvine succeeds where Chuck fails. Irvine creates wild, outlandish scenes and stories but I find them to be believable. I don't find myself so aware of Irvine's "voice" while I'm reading, where I'm constantly aware of who's writing the words when I'm reading Chuck's stuff. Of course Welsh has some books that I think are terrible and Chuck has some that I think are good, but when I look at their complete bodies of work the good outweighs the bad for Irvine, and the bad outweighs the good for Chuck. Anyway, I guess it's like toys - what some like others will hate.
i agree with you on the Irvine Welsh observations/comparisons. I can't help but think of "Porno" consistently while reading this one and wondered if Chuck was miffed that Welsh had already stolen the title. I thought "Filth" was one of Welsh's best books. i haven't read the last two or three. The thick dialect of his books is something you really have to get into and maybe why you don't hear his voice as readily. Lynda's new book is neither a collection of short stories or a novel. It's actually a how to on finding your inner cephalapod to help you overcome your basic fear of writing. It's a how to on writing essentially, with a spaced out long anecdote on childhood and why we stop doing things we loved as c hildren, such as singing out loud, dancing, art, writing, etc. One of the most moving segments in the story relates how television has a good deal to do with this "turning off" that occurs in most people: "No matter what disappeared from my life.....The TV was always there to take it's place. I quit singing and dancing, but there was singing and dancing on TV. I quit drawing and reading fairy tales, but there were pictures and stories on TV. And when my father left for good....there were dads who stayed. There were loving Moms, there were kids who were tucked into bed at night. I found I could depend upon television. What else in my world was as reliable? And what else could stop my experience of being alive so completely? If your kingdom has gone dark inside, if you are lost, if you have dropped your map and compass, if you are only twelve years old, and there is a light which flickers and speaks in a way that makes you forget these things.....you will go to it. You will go to it and willingly turn to stone. What else can you do?" I just loved this section of the book and it's accompanied by all these really dark drawings in the living room with the glow of the TV, lighting everything eerily. I love when Lynda takes on her dark side, like in "Cruddy." I'm also reading "The Girl on the Fridge" which is an amazing collection of short stories by Etgar Kerat. This book is highly recommended. Quirky, surreal, and oh so short, this guy writes some inventive fiction which just leaves me either laughing out loud or scratching my head in wonderment at just how does he pull it off. Good stuff!
Thanks for the further comments, playdoh! That excerpt is very similar to the talk that she gave when I saw her with Matt G. A little disappointed that it's not a new novel, but perhaps it'll be a good read for me and kick me in the ass to be creative once again. Is it really tailored to writers, or would other creative types find it useful? On a tangent, I tend to stay away from short stories completely, and shorter books in general. When I'm reading something good I absolutely hate coming to the end. I just read a terrific sci-fi series and as I came closer to the end of the last book it felt like part of my life was ending.
I like Palahniuk's books because to me they are simple and they are quick reads. I've never read one of his books thinking that he's trying to make some social commentary. I know people say he's a hack or rip off but for me, he's pure entertainment. When I go for depth I head for Ayn Rand...surrealism Murakami.. Never read Welsh but what would you recommend?
For Welsh I highly recommend reading Transpotting, Glue, and Porno - specifically in that order. They aren't exactly a series, but there are recurring characters that appear in all three. Porno is a follow-up to Trainspotting, but all three books can be read as stand-alone books. A very fun read!
All of those are excellent Welsh novels. Do you read any of Patrick MaCabe? And on the Barry book, I would say that it's not aimed at writers at all. It's aimed at people who used to enjoy something that they no longer do, such as art or writing, because they thought they were no good at it or peer pressure or what have you. I would say it's aimed at people who wish they could write but don't think that they can.
Well, McCabe's most famous would be "The Butcher Boy," an excellent film by the same name is worth checking out based on this novel, but I also enjoyed "The Dead School" and "Breakfast on Pluto," the latter i believe was also made into a film, which i have not seen. another scottish writer i also really like is Alan Warner. he wrote "Morvern Caller," which also was made into a film which i did not like but recommend the book none the less.
Oh, yeah I read Butcher Boy! There's a lot of books that I've read that I don't remember the name of the author... Good book! Maybe I'll check out his others when I run into a dry spell where I don't know what to read next.
Ordered Butcher Boy, Porno and filth from amazon. Thanks for the recommendations. I used to rarely have to time to read but I'd take a book over tv anyday Cheers
Yo' redchicken... is your avatar from the cover of When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris...?
