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comment by AnSionnachRua

I spent most of February reading Gravity's Rainbow. I had to because I started it in January and kept reading lighter books instead - it's one of those books you don't really want to read at the end of the day. It was interesting, but I don't feel at all enticed to read more of Pynchon's work. That kind of overwhelming style makes me go "hmm" but not much else; it's just not my cup of tea. I was surprised by how funny parts of it were, though.

I read The Shallows, parts of which make you think "shit, this perfectly describes my behaviour". I was expecting him to talk more about reward-system hijacking and addiction and so on; I was pleasantly surprised when he discussed it more from the angle of memory and attention span, particularly with reference to reading deeply. I've tried to reduce my internet usage since. A bit.

I also read the first Harry Potter book... In Italian! This is the first time I've read a book in a language other than English or Irish. And I understood what was going on, even if I had to consult the dictionary a lot; it was reading, as opposed to decipherment. Okay, it's for eight year olds, but I'm fairly chuffed with myself.

Right now I'm about a third of the way through Moby-Dick, which I really didn't expect to be so funny (especially the earlier sections) and the dreaded cetology section was all of ten pages long.

But I was still slogged enough by it to start reading Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch, part of the Locke Lamora books. I don't read a lot of fantasy but I read the first two of them years ago and they have a warm place in my heart. I especially like that it basically takes place in magical Venice instead of the usual fantasy worlds.

I also read a book about octopuses, but it was only okay.





do  ·  2192 days ago  ·  link  ·  

No way, I was just about to start this. I finished Infinite Jest just over a year ago, so I finally felt ready again to try and tackle something of similar scope. Glad to hear it's at least similar in the "having funny parts" department!

tacocat  ·  2193 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I bought The Crying of Lot 49. When I wanted to check out Pynchon. I'm similarly frustrated to you by David Foster Wallace. The dude seemed more in love with proving he had a perfect SAT verbal than being an effective communicator

liberalkansan  ·  2124 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Have you thought about reading some of his nonfiction? I enjoyed Infinite Jest, but I believe DFW's essays were a lot more accessible than his fiction.

tacocat  ·  2124 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I was talking about his nonfiction

user-inactivated  ·  2193 days ago  ·  link  ·  

if you just want nonstop funny <150 pages, crying of lot 49 is where you should land