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Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47014 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
bune wrote:
I need to get my thoughts in order before I post because what I meant was that the first cover made it look like Ready Player One but the blurb I read on Goodreads made it sounds like a coming-of-age novel with some weird gamey back story. And yet I said the first cover was 'better'. Ugh.
I think this all makes sense. That first cover was awesome, and it did suggest a Ready Player One-style story, yet it was ultimately a coming of age story with some weird gamey (I would say nerdy, because it was more about record collecting and comic books) back story.
Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47014 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
washing machine wrote:
durdencommatyler wrote:
I've long struggled with the appeal of Lethem. And I hate that. I really want to get his stuff.
Which books have you picked up so far? Motherless Brooklyn and Gun, with Occasional Music are both pretty quick reads and seem up your alley.
Anything beyond that can sometimes get crushed under its own weight, but I still like the things he writes about. His essay on The Searchers is pretty relatable to anyone who has ever tried multiple times to understand or "like" something on a deep intellectual level in the pop culture world. I'd recommend that one too.
The only other one I tried was Chronic City, and I had to bail about midway through. Just couldn't relate to the characters, though they seemed real enough.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 11:28 pm Posts: 14522 Location: Space City
Both of you should read Gun, with Occasional Music. It's got all the markings of a first novel, so it's definitely not perfect, but it was written by the young Lethem who Older Lethem can't stop exploring in all nearly all of his later fiction and essays, so it has this really pure and genuine thing going for it that is absent in everything else. It's by far the funnest thing he's ever written.
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dimejinky99 wrote:
I could destroy any ai chatbot you put in front of me. Easily.
Both of you should read Gun, with Occasional Music. It's got all the markings of a first novel, so it's definitely not perfect, but it was written by the young Lethem who Older Lethem can't stop exploring in all nearly all of his later fiction and essays, so it has this really pure and genuine thing going for it that is absent in everything else. It's by far the funnest thing he's ever written.
I'm happy to give the guy another shot. I want to like him the way so many of my friends do. When I do pick up another of his, I'll make it Gun.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 11:28 pm Posts: 14522 Location: Space City
Nice. I'd love to read your thoughts on him if for no other reason than to hear what a film guy like you has to say about his ideas and influences regarding film and literature, which he obviously loves.
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dimejinky99 wrote:
I could destroy any ai chatbot you put in front of me. Easily.
Joined: Fri March 22, 2013 7:20 pm Posts: 8574 Location: 41.1716° S, 174.8248° E
Just finished Found it kind of eerie, given recent events, that at towards the end the 'villain' is plotting to blow himself up at a concert using a suicide vest with ball bearings etc at a concert mainly attended by teenage girls
Now I'm reading
_________________ "I really enjoy sandwiches but the other guys are so good at making sandwiches that I don't make them. Now I make sandwiches."
Last edited by Rangi Guy on Fri June 09, 2017 4:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:03 pm Posts: 9359 Location: Washington State
Loved that book, but the library (at the time) only had up to book 2 so I couldn't finish the series. THat was ears ago so I'm going to re-read them all now since I have a new library with interlibrary loans!
Guys, I am not a moderator! I swear to God! Why does everyone think I'm a moderator?
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:48 pm Posts: 47199
bune wrote:
:thumbsup:
Loved that book, but the library (at the time) only had up to book 2 so I couldn't finish the series. THat was ears ago so I'm going to re-read them all now since I have a new library with interlibrary loans!
We should read them together and start our own book club
_________________ Clouuuuds Rolll byyy...BANG BANG BANG BANG
Loved that book, but the library (at the time) only had up to book 2 so I couldn't finish the series. THat was ears ago so I'm going to re-read them all now since I have a new library with interlibrary loans!
We should read them together and start our own book club
Oh shit, we were gonna do that last fall weren't we? Sorry, I totally forgot about that.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 7:41 am Posts: 19718 Location: Cumberland, RI
durdencommatyler wrote:
E.H. Ruddock wrote:
bune wrote:
:thumbsup:
Loved that book, but the library (at the time) only had up to book 2 so I couldn't finish the series. THat was ears ago so I'm going to re-read them all now since I have a new library with interlibrary loans!
We should read them together and start our own book club
Oh shit, we were gonna do that last fall weren't we? Sorry, I totally forgot about that.
Loved that book, but the library (at the time) only had up to book 2 so I couldn't finish the series. THat was ears ago so I'm going to re-read them all now since I have a new library with interlibrary loans!
We should read them together and start our own book club
Oh shit, we were gonna do that last fall weren't we? Sorry, I totally forgot about that.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:03 pm Posts: 9359 Location: Washington State
E.H. Ruddock wrote:
bune wrote:
:thumbsup:
Loved that book, but the library (at the time) only had up to book 2 so I couldn't finish the series. THat was ears ago so I'm going to re-read them all now since I have a new library with interlibrary loans!
We should read them together and start our own book club
*looks at stack of books that is at least a foot and a half tall*
Guys, I am not a moderator! I swear to God! Why does everyone think I'm a moderator?
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 2:48 pm Posts: 47199
bune wrote:
E.H. Ruddock wrote:
bune wrote:
:thumbsup:
Loved that book, but the library (at the time) only had up to book 2 so I couldn't finish the series. THat was ears ago so I'm going to re-read them all now since I have a new library with interlibrary loans!
We should read them together and start our own book club
*looks at stack of books that is at least a foot and a half tall*
Sure. That's what a queue is for, right?
_________________ Clouuuuds Rolll byyy...BANG BANG BANG BANG
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