Hey, can we have a rolling What Are You Reading thread?

[slunken]

sorry for the giant photos but some of these are really hard to find in a reasonably sized photo

[slunken]

those are all my recent 5 stars

[slunken]

1 is about how much to let go of your past or your family or your family history
2 is about watching a small town disintegrate over the course of a couple of generations
3 is about wiggers buying research chemicals and loving your family

[slunken]

one of my favorite writers of the past couple years died last night

posting this old work of hers because there's a smashing pumpkins reference in it i guess

https://www.surfaces.cx/it-tastes-li...ctoria-aldrich

god bless the internet psychos <3

[D.]

this year i've been reading two at a time - one re-read and one new-to-me

average two a week; i've read a lot.

right now it's Lawd, Today! by Richard Wright and I am really enjoying it so far - no idea where it's going but it's fun getting there

[yo soy el mejor]

I recommend An American Tragedy by Theodor Dreiser to anyone. I kinda miss commuting via train and bus cause that's when I got my best reading done. Need to be a lot more disciplined to do it at home, ya know.

Shadow of the Wind is tight, too. Don't let the name confuse you.

[D.]

It would be easier to just post my GoodReads profile: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/744069-d-b

The Beast in Aisle 34 was fun; the re-reads of Chuck Palahniuk still mostly hold up for a fun ride. Angela's Ashes was fucking way funnier than I remember. Probably my fave new-to-me this year was The Atheist & Other Stories by Seán Mac Mathúna or Light and Power: Stories by Ian MacMillan

[D.]

Originally Posted by yo soy el mejor

I recommend An American Tragedy by Theodor Dreiser to anyone.

I know I need to read TD; I always see that name pop up all the time.

[slunken]

added to list.

[yo soy el mejor]

The first and second time I read it, I would rush to get to it when I could just to get involved with the story again.

If you don't listen to me, listen to Jason from Goodreads:

"Okay folks, only my second 5 star rating in the last 54 novels! Read this book...

Theodore Dreiser’s 900 page tome moves slowly--but inexorably--like constellations at night--slow, but grand and beautiful, and holding all types of matter in the sky. This is not an epic of sweeping proportions. Instead it’s a complex, penetrating and fulfilling investigation of the human condition, a psychological chamber, a ground cave with depths to the devil. It’s the rise and fall of a man. Battle between nature, choice and fate. This is deep, meaningful fiction. The psychology in this book is a crowning achievement of Naturalism. American Tragedy takes potential energy and makes it kinetic.

Read any 5 pages for Chris’sakes.

Dreiser maintains this requiem, not so much like an author removed from the pages, simply recording words on paper, but like someone within the story, just as curious, anticipatory and beguiled as the characters in action. You must read this book in no less than 40-50 page portions, and complete within 2 weeks. Anything less and you risk losing gossamer threads under weighty words and thought--the constellation at night. The story builds. Poisonous. Every paragraph essential to the next, like heartbeat. His diction and syntax reflect the mood and pacing of the story. When characters are crestfallen, the writing is dour; when action is swift, the writing short and speedy; when there’s love, the writing is sussurant and sparkles as might fresh snowflakes at night; when the devil is about, the writing is a dirge."

[mxzombie]

it was a great, engrossing book. i loved it after it was recommended to me.

[mxzombie]

yesterday i was traveling and at two separate points saw people carrying or reading some of my favorite nonfiction books. the design of everyday things by donald norman and 1491 by charles mann.


i recommend the naked ape and the human zoo, both by desmond morris, to pretty much anyone who will hear it.

[D.]

Originally Posted by mxzombie

i recommend the naked ape by desmond morris.

i'm down for any book that deals with aspects of evolution that a dummy like me can understand because i was never taught it growing up

a few years ago, i read a couple that were super easy primers - introducing evolution and one called evolution and the myth of creationism

[slunken]

https://expatpress.com/92nd-street-s...art-eris-mohr/

one full merciless day without her

[yo soy el mejor]

Originally Posted by mxzombie

i recommend the naked ape and the human zoo, both by desmond morris, to pretty much anyone who will hear it.

YOU'RE WELCOME

;]

[mxzombie]

Originally Posted by D.

i'm down for any book that deals with aspects of evolution that a dummy like me can understand because i was never taught it growing up[/i]

it's evolutionary psychology mostly, focusing on human behavior's roots in our evolutionary past. i think about bits and pieces of it all the time.

[mxzombie]

Originally Posted by yo soy el mejor

YOU'RE WELCOME

;]

[slunken]

haha

[SuckSuckStyle]

Recently read my name is red by orhan pamuk- hella good. The only thing i could compare it to would be the name of the rose- but different. It’s been a while since a book has made me put it down and just sit with it before i could continue. there were some things I didn’t like about it but it was intentional and added to its brilliance and made me like it even more. It was a wild ride.

Just finished Mustang by Michel Peissel. I’m currently in nepal getting ready to make a second pilgrimage to Mustang so i felt like it was finally time to read it. Good information on the kingdom of Lo.

Currently reading the secret teachings of all ages by Manly P Hall. Ive read quite a few of his others and regularly listen to his lectures so again, felt it was finally time to take on his ‘big book’. He has a very pragmatic approach to esoteric studies that i find refreshing.

Have Murakmi’s killing commendatore on deck when i need a break from Hall.


The past year or so I haven’t been able to read much as books are hard to find where i live. It’s been wonderful to fall back into it recently.

[slunken]

manly p hall fucks hard

[slunken]

just finished james ellroy's black dahlia

gonna go submerge into more darker realms with "indie-lit right-wing propaganda" lol hahahahahha

[SuckSuckStyle]

Originally Posted by slunken

just finished james ellroy's black dahlia

Oooh ima check this out

Love me some murder porn

[SuckSuckStyle]

Originally Posted by slunken

manly p hall fucks hard

AND HOW

[slunken]

trying to finish up Autumn Christian's (yes that's her real name) short story collection "Ecstatic Inferno" and just started James Nulick's "Lazy Eyes" collection of shorts

I kind of hate short story collections because I want to marinate on the stories like I do a full-length novel

[slunken]

Originally Posted by SuckSuckStyle

AND HOW

his little essay on the tarot probably changed my life toward the occult

[SuckSuckStyle]

Originally Posted by slunken

his little essay on the tarot probably changed my life toward the occult

Fuck yeah!
It’s on my list now. I’d already been dabbling for a long time but never found a resource i resonated with until i got hooked into him. For me it was “Man: grand symbol of the mysteries”. After the first chapter i knew I’d found someone who knows what they’re talking about without trying to sell you their gospel/story/ego.

He was a household name growing up but i never paid much attention bc its not cool to like things your parents like. Then one day i was like “Ooooohhhhhh!!!!! This is what’s up”. Whenever i go to my parents house it’s like a Manly library. Dad’s got shitloads, but he won’t let me take them out of the house bc a lot are out of print/early editions. So then i try to find them online:
“hey dad you know that Manly book is like $8k on amazon?”
“Well I’ll be! Who woulda thought!”

There are tons of his lectures on YouTube and Apple Music (I’m guessing Spotify also?)- so many topics to choose from. He’s a great orator and does a great job of making things understandable. Complex thoughts, simply explained in under 2 hours. I like putting them on when I’m doing household chore stuff.

[SuckSuckStyle]

Originally Posted by slunken

I kind of hate short story collections because I want to marinate on the stories like I do a full-length novel

Yar.

Short stories make me anxious. I want to fall into stories but knowing they’re going to end soon makes me hold back. Like a summertime lover.

[slunken]

Oh that's cool you're dad's into that sort of stuff. I've only listened to one of his lectures but I used it as a tool to fall asleep. I mostly know him from his writings on the Tarot. I thought it was really interesting how he put forth the idea that it is NOT a tool for divination or occult practice, but more of a daily meditation to be used to ruminate about one's life and maybe what direction to go.

If I recall he was one the first dudes to actually try to get to the bottom of where the Tarot came from, historically.

Originally Posted by SuckSuckStyle

Yar.

Short stories make me anxious. I want to fall into stories but knowing they’re going to end soon makes me hold back. Like a summertime lover.

Yea with short story collections - like, i like to read books - so it's hard not to just plow through each story like they are chapters in a book. Difficult to retain the information that way. I'm trying to be better about it and bounce between a few different collections and savor the stories.

[slunken]

burned through this in two days. really enjoyed it.

bought it months (over a year?) ago. been loving the idea of a personal library and letting your books find you.

[yo soy el mejor]

two new books came in the mail today:





my michael pollan book must be missing the cover jacket because my book has just a hard black cover with the initials MP.