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just stumbled upon this wonderfully entitled thread and hope it's not dead yet...
i can wholeheartedly endorse john waters wise advice.
as for book/author suggestions - alexander trocchi is a safe bet for anyone who enjoys the writings of the beat generation even if trocchi is only loosely associated with it. Besides the terrific YOUNG ADAM (yes, there is an adaptation with ewan mcgregor and a rather ambiguous scene in it with his character spilling a bowl of custard on his girlfriend) , he also wrote a devastating autobiographical account AND some excellent erotica published by the ever-horny olympia press; so it's definitely an IFM-reading recommendation: 'helen & desire' and it's exotic sequel: 'the carnal days of helen seferis'...
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It's old fashioned and completely daggy, and these days politically incorrect, but I recommend Huck Finn. (Actually, I think the language should stand because half the story is about the boy's realisations about people being people, regardless of race, and I think history should be left alone, especially if it's useful and teaches us something about the past and the now). It's a rollicking good read, with some truly whip-cracking moments of writerly genius, and the pace just fits the Big River, to a T. The disclaimer by Mark Twain at the start is also a bit of a giggle. But Gala, I highly recommend the mole book. You would dig it, pardon the pun. And you cracked me up with your description of "the fucking furniture". Thanks for reminding me how much I love your brain and it's particular slant on the English language. xx
I like it. I like it a lot. I like it a lot and then sometimes not.
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I like Mark Twain as well, and quite a bit of old boy's club lit, though Hemingway is more likely to have me rolling my eyes than charmed into his macho vision of inflexible fishing poles and paint, bravely peeling off spanish walls, unafraid of death.
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(Self made tycoon and independant financial advisor to the stars)
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Gene Genet, a little Chomsky, a few Milan Kundera, some Jeanette Winterson, maybe a little Hemmingway but maybe not, Hunter S Thompson, Simone de Beauvoir... and extra love for Dubravka Ugresic.
But there are no universals, what is so telling of a bookshelf is what it shows of you, of your loves and strange interests and unfortunate last minute airport purchases. It's you, you can not fake it.
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I think probably the biggest and most impressive book collection goes to Jon Stewart.
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(Self made tycoon and independant financial advisor to the stars)
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Lady_Grey - i totally agree on the Jeanette Winterson front. i totally jizz myself i see any of her work on a bookshelf (lamely, i have everything but her most recent, and all of them signed. i met her once, and almost cried. lame fan-lady moment...)
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If you guys read and liked Sexing the Cherry (the only Winterson book I've read, but I loved it so much), I highly recommend Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus, in addition to Madeleine is Sleeping (Sarah Shun-lien Bynum) and Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. Seriously.
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i have a copy of Geek Love - started it and just couldn't get into it. one of my closest friends borrowed my copy, and loathed it, while a colleague (in my 9-5 job) lists it as one of her favourites as well. it seems to polarise people.
i'd say 'written on the body' or 'oranges are not the only fruit' would be my favourite winterson novel - oranges, because it is quite similar to my own childhood, and 'written on the body' for the sexiness of the gender ambiguity, the incredible sex, and the invocation of love, lust, and heartbreak. love it.
i've been meaning to read some Angela Carter for years. i'll have to get on it.
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I am in awe Emily, I may have felt a little fangirlsish flutter at the thought of so much signing and book having and meeting in person. Amaze.
I haven't read your suggestions Viva, but I will... and will report back with my thoughts on this Geek Love, a little polarising may be brilliant for book group.
x
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I read, "Lighthousekeeping" but never got the rhythm, so it took too long to read and I cam away unimpressed. I guess I should read, "Oranges".
I was tearing through the Sarah Waters novels at the same time and preferred Sarah's style much better.
"Chacun prépare sa propre mort."
French saying.
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oh my god, I sometimes forget that not everyone can roll with crazy mutant children and amputee-ism and stuff! I've always had a bit of a fascination with the morose, the grotesque, and the ethically challenging - Geek Love would of course be polarising, it's a horrible story! But I just loved it, I love to be shocked.
Lady Grey, I just want to say I'm happy to see you round here!
Guys, I have been on a serious porn-and-feminist-scifi kick - as in, I dropped like $200 on dirt cheap books which arrived in drips and drabs, one package at a time. 14 packages later I am practically rolling in new porn (doin' it for daddy, the marketplace), extra copies of old favorites (vox, under the rooftops of paris) and a nice stack of lady-SF.
"feminist scifi" seems to constitute any science fiction stories about gender and sexuality, or about worlds ruled by woman, planets with genderless societies, actual feminist messages, etc. Pretty much most sci-fi written by women qualifies as well. So far I've read "The Handmaid's Tale" by Atwood which was okay, and then took a break to read this intense book about Sudanese refugees, and now I'm reading Califia's Daughters, which is about a post-war world in which one of the mad viruses released by the war targeting the male genetic code for generations. The result is a land where men are scarce, valuable, and guarded - they do no hard labor and take no risks. Everyone seems to get along so far, I'll keep you guys posted.
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oh my god, I sometimes forget that not everyone can roll with crazy mutant children and amputee-ism and stuff! I've always had a bit of a fascination with the morose, the grotesque, and the ethically challenging
Oh my goodness. You need to read We So Seldom Look on Love by Barbara Gowdy. One of the most beautiful/grotesque/honest/dark/light looks at love I have ever encountered and probably one of my favorite collections of short stories of all time.
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yeah, Geek Love didn't gross me out, but my interest in the morose is less of the visceral. ie, i like Updike, and Philip Larkin. maybe i just need to read more of it. too many things to read! not enough time.
Lady Grey - meeting Winterson was one of my Life-Highlights. that, and when i met Richard Holmes, who wrote 'Shelley; the pursuit' - probably the most important, comprehensive biography of P.B. Shelley, and a book which revolutionised how i viewed the second gen. romantics. i met him at a work-related function, my BIG boss made me go and speak to him, and i stammered like a child. he looked baffled as to why a pierced, bright hair coloured 20 something year old was amazingly excited to meet him.
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I don't keep my book self organized just bunch of books in no order.
Here is my list of books I have read enjoyed recently...
the last samurai by helen dewitt which everyone thought when I was reading it was that damn tom cruise movie.
The heart is a lonely hunter by Carson Mccullers
the collected short stories of Carson Mccullers
I have really fallen hard for Carson Mccullers. I have no idea why no one reads her
PS. Doesn't Cobain kinda looks like Mccullers?
Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others.
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