foolscongress Posted January 24, 2005 Posted January 24, 2005 yeah, fool's progress was great...but when i tried to grab it as a hotmail email addy, something like 67 other fans had already gotten there before me, sooo...foolscongress. if you enjoyed that, you might try 'a soldier of the great war', by mark helprin. a totally different kind of story, but with a similarly keen eye for the beauty of the natural world and of women. some great climbing scenes too. anyone read 'all the pretty horses' or cormac mccarthy's other works? IMO, one of the great american novelists of the 20th century. i taught it to my students this year and they went fucking crazy for it. Quote
Ireneo_Funes Posted January 24, 2005 Posted January 24, 2005 I'm reading "The Corrections" right now and enjoying it. It's pretty funny, like Martin Amis or early Pynchon. Â I wouldn't have picked it up at all if my sis hadn't recommended it to me. I guess my snob sensor went off when I heard that it was an Oprah's Book Club pick. Quote
rbw1966 Posted January 24, 2005 Posted January 24, 2005 The corrections is indeed a funny book. I heard an interview with Franzen on Fresh Air and he came off sounding like a super pompous prick. He went so far as to say that he was disappointed that Oprah picked his book because he wanted to appeal to a more high-brow crowd. I enjoyed it nonetheless. Â Ever read "Infinite Jest"? Its sort of a similar style. Â I love martin amis's stuff. Quote
Ireneo_Funes Posted January 24, 2005 Posted January 24, 2005 I read some interviews with Franzen that did make him sound like a jackass, including one where he said that he was afraid that having "the corrections" picked by Oprah would mean that men wouldn't read it. And then his lame apology afterwards that only made him seem more of an ass. Â But the funny thing is, as far as this reader is concerned at least, he was right. I'm guilty of looking down my nose at the Oprah's Book Club selections, having seen plenty of dreck there, so getting chosen by the OBC isn't exactly a mark of distinction. It's more like a warning to keep away. So I understand what he was concerned about, but he seemed to express it in the worst possible way... Â I haven't read Infinite Jest yet, but my sister recommended it to me in the same breath as The Corrections, so it might be next on the list. Quote
ChrisT Posted January 24, 2005 Posted January 24, 2005 I've read some really good OW book club selections including "House of Sand & Fog" and I trust her picks. This from a self-proclaimed reading material snob. Quote
Ireneo_Funes Posted January 24, 2005 Posted January 24, 2005 Well, I won't be so quick to dismiss a book with her sticker on it in the future. Quote
ChrisT Posted January 24, 2005 Posted January 24, 2005 SHe should be lauded for encouraging America's couch potatoes to read and for lining Franzen's pockets with $$$$$. Lately, however, the emphasis is on classics such as Anna Karenina and the Good Earth. Quote
layton Posted January 24, 2005 Author Posted January 24, 2005 didn't the Corretions end oprah's book club? Quote
Dru Posted January 24, 2005 Posted January 24, 2005 Forget the Da Vinci Code but if you ever get a chance to watch "Da Vinci's Inquest" on CBC its a pretty good TV show starring Nicholas Campbell as a Vancouver coroner. Quote
jmace Posted January 25, 2005 Posted January 25, 2005 Davinci code sucks ass, canadian tv sucks ass, they should just ban it. Â I think the books most of yu should read and maybe you forgot about are, pick your own adventure books, you decide how te adventure takes place. Now thats sophisticated reading Quote
AlpineK Posted January 25, 2005 Posted January 25, 2005 Davinci code sucks ass, canadian tv sucks ass, they should just ban it. I think the books most of yu should read and maybe you forgot about are, pick your own adventure books, you decide how te adventure takes place. Now thats sophisticated reading  Sophisticated....try stuck up.  I saw this program on Canadian TV. I only saw a few minutes of it, but it's quite possibly the best TV program of all time. Trailer Park Boys Quote
jmace Posted January 26, 2005 Posted January 26, 2005 I stand corrected, trailer park boys is fuckin great, I didnt even think it was canadian, oh and I menat to say davincis inqeust sucks ass Quote
Jedi Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 That's what nice about being simple minded, I liked the book. Ah...the educated sound like a very tortured lot indeed. I tried a Stephen Hawkings book once but kept falling asleep and became weary of thumbing through my dictionary. Just grabbed The Dark Tower V, VI and VII (70 hrs on CD) and look forward to them on my next tent bound outting. More mindless fun. Quote
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