Never heard of it...tell me more!

The thing that made me want to start reading it was:
“I am glad to have the book as a companion on my own dark quest.” —Tom Waits

Then there's also:
“The English language has given birth to some great works of unbounded vision and imagination, and here is another one. Is it fantasy? I couldn’t care less. It’s a very sophisticated and subtle exploration of the decadent, the primitive and the mythical. Many books are said to be like nothing else, and aren’t, but Brian Catling’s really is.” —Philip Pullman, The Guardian

“One of the most original works of visionary fiction since Peake or Carpentier. . . . For all its page-turning story, it is a poet’s novel, a serious piece of writing.”—Michael Moorcock, The Guardian

“Catling’s novel reads like a long-lost classic of Decadent or Symbolist literature, with that same sense of timelessness. It’s peculiar, wildly imaginative, unafraid to transgress and get lost, and is unlike anything I’ve ever read.” —Jeff VanderMeer, author of The Southern Reach Trilogy

“Brian Catling is simply a genius. His writing is so extraordinary it hurts, it makes me realize how little imagination I have.” —Terry Gilliam

“A phosphorescent masterpiece. . . . Easily the current century’s first landmark work of fantasy. . . . A brilliant and sustained piece of invention which establishes a benchmark not just for imaginative writing but for the human imagination in itself. . . . Read this book, and marvel.” –Alan Moore, author of Watchmen and V for Vendetta

picked up player piano...haven't read a vonnegut in forever

Wrapped up 2666 for the third time today--I don't know how much sense this makes, but it felt like a smaller book this time. Not shorter, because it certainly wasn't, but smaller; I was able to pay more attention to intimate moments, the very small changes and conflicts, and the various converging storylines. Still highly recommended.

I feel irresistibly drawn to reading The Savage Detectives again (which would also be for the 3rd time, and the first since 2012), but I am going to try and put some other stuff in between. A few short story collections should be nice. I think I'm going to bounce back-and-forth between:



and

I'm reading 'The End of the End of the World' by Franzen. It's an essays collection. I like it so far. But the guy needs to shut up about birds. I just don't care, Jon.

Currently reading The Green Mile on my neverending quest to eventually read every Stephen King book.

Only about 150 pages in, but so far it's a definite improvement over Insomnia and Rose Madder, both of which I struggled with at times. Not that they were bad, per se, but this one just feels much more compulsively readable, with a stronger plot and more engaging characters. I'm already sucked into the story at this early stage (I've never seen the movie, so it's all new to me), and I adore the setting -- nice change of pace from King's usual small-town Maine set-up.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/serie ... ephen-king

The guy writing these articles posted on another forum I used to visit. I've read a few of his books as well and he's pretty good. Well other than promising me book three of his Explorer series back in March of 2016...but that's neither here nor there.

Looks like I've already passed where he stopped, but I'm gonna read through these anyway. Thanks!

The Beastie Boys book

How is it?

Great. But I only read a little at a time, it's easy to put down for a while then pick up later and get back into it. I just love hearing how it all came together for them

Nice. I'm looking forward to reading it.

I wish I had cabbaged on it when Amazon had it for $19 before Christmas.

i think i'm going to spend my barnes and noble gift card on moonglow and something else around $10

Thank you for having my wife and me at your dinner party.

i kinda want to reread the corrections now

Franzen ponders if his birdwatching is a passion or obsession, or both. We are standing near the hulking skeleton of a blue whale on display and it’s starting to get chilly. “The birds are leaving us,” he says. “Something in my character makes me sympathize with threatened things, the same way that people don’t read novels like the way they used to.

“It makes me want to advocate for literature. And birds in trouble makes me want to advocate for them. I love them. The two things I love most are novels and birds, and they’re both in trouble, and I want to advocate for both of them.”

Franzen grapples with his tripod, curses as it refuses to buckle to his will before it finally relents. He walks back to his car, which is partially filled with tennis balls. He says enjoys going on court but can give away easy points. “I get distracted when I see a bird and the ball just goes past me,” he says.

Thank you for having my wife and me at your dinner party.

Another former New York resident, Donald Trump, has expressed concern for birds only in relation to their demise in the blades of wind turbines. “They kill so many birds,” the president said in August. “You look underneath some of those windmills, it’s like a killing field.”

This stance – wind turbines obliterate a fraction of the birds killed by the drilling and mining operations of fossil fuels, an industry Trump supports – has enraged bird aficionados almost as much as the Trump administration’s lifting of a ban on lead ammunition, which causes eagles to be poisoned.

“It’s like there’s not a lot of room for facts in his head, but that seems to be a fact that got in there,” Franzen says, shrugging. “You know, it’s always such a word salad with him.”