[quote="discovolante"][quote="h2orowe"][quote="discovolante"]Love is a Dog From Hell- Charles Bukowski

I'm also writing a book of poetry. Does that count?[/quote]
Oh snapes. PM me some of your poetry, or post it or somet'ing, please.[/quote]

http://artfagmcgee.deviantart.com

Though now I'm writing that book as well as a novel, which is sounding as fantastically insane as the book Blank described above. Should be interesting.[/quote]
Waiter and Detritus were pretty good. I plan on writing quite a bit of poetry this Summer, I just need to work on it a bit. I'll post some sometime, maybe. I'm really self conscious about my poetic writing. I have confidence in my other writing, but my poetic writing is like.. it's not good enough yet, in my mind. However, I plan on changing that soon enough with PRACTICEPRACTICEPRACTICE.

i have a love/hate relationship with poetry, leaning moderately towards the hate side.

but besides that, i am now reading The Bourne Identity. VERY different from the movie, i think i like the book a little better, though i liked the movie quite a bit

READ "A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ."

Canticle is up there with one of the most unpleasant words in the English language.

Yet it's still a good one, too.

Just finished Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Really good book.

[quote="Biscuit Hammer"]Just finished Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Really good book.[/quote]

Oh yeah, I had to read Flowers for Algernon in eighth grade, and that's a fucking awesome/sad story and it really brings truth to the "ignorance is bliss" statement.

For those who don't know, I pity your soul, but this book is about a retarded guy (I think his I.Q. was only like 68... He was slower than a mouse when it came to solving mazes and stuff) who undergoes some kind of surgery to boost his I.Q. Well, he becomes a genius--he always wanted to feel smart and accepted, by the way--but as a genius, he notices how people used to treat him, and he realizes just exactly how mean to him they've always been, but when he was retarded it was all a barrel of laughs and it was all a good time to him. So, he's a genius, but as a genius, he's incredibly unhappy because he can't connect to anyone. First, because he was retarded, and now because he's too smart and people upset him because he thinks they're too slow, iirc.

Ultimately, he chooses to undo the surgery so he can become a blissful retard. As for this Algernon business, Algernon happened to be the rat who he tried to beat when it came to solving mazes and there comes to be a point in the book where he's making the decision whether or not to remain a genius or revert back into the retarded guy, and he compares himself to Algernon. It's really touching, especially if you've ever felt like you can't connect to other people due to differences in intellect or interests.

There was a Simpson's episode with the same theme--the one where Dr. Hibbert realizes his thumb had been covering up a crayon stuck in Homer's brain... Needless to say, at the end of the episode, Homer sticks the crayon back up his nose and into his brain, reducing him to the lovable drunk we all know.

that's pretty much how the book goes, the second half is a decent bit different from what you said, but that's all good, cause you said you haven't read the book in a while, but i'm not going to spoil it, i'm fairly anti-spoilers

[quote="Biscuit Hammer"]that's pretty much how the book goes, the second half is a decent bit different from what you said, but that's all good, cause you said you haven't read the book in a while, but i'm not going to spoil it, i'm fairly anti-spoilers[/quote]

Ah, sorry about that. Anyway, it's still a good book and people should read it.

There's also a movie based on the book. It's called "Charly" --He's the main character in the book, btw.

Finished reading a while ago "Flight" by Sherman Alexie (He's not really a good novelist although this one was actually pretty good, kind of like quantum leap. he's an amazing short story writer though) and TC Boyles Short story collection (Tooth and Claw). Man, I've been reading a lot of TC Boyle Lately and I must say, he's really ignorant (in the quiet racist way) and I just can't read more of his writing anymore. Tried reading some Kurt Von but its just trash to me. I'm pretty much more into prose. Gonna read some Rhita Dove poetry and "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie next. Good stuff.

If anyone wants an amazing read, read the short story collection by Sherman Alexie "The Toughest Indian In The World". So what if it's about indians they're damn good stories. Full-out Hillarity and dept in every one. Spoiler: Sex and Butt sex.

House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski. Great book. The way it's written is kinda confusing, but I guess it matches with how the characters are feeling.

[quote="gekigangar3"]Finished reading a while ago "Flight" by Sherman Alexie

>>just finished that myself, easy fast read, didnt waste my time, but nothing special

Kurt Von but its just trash to me. I'm pretty much more into prose.

>>have you [i]finished[/i] any of his books? if so, i dont care you if you dont like him, but i know at least for me, it took a little while to get into him, but now i LOVE him..[/quote]

[quote="AWPJudy"][quote="gekigangar3"]Finished reading a while ago "Flight" by Sherman Alexie

>>just finished that myself, easy fast read, didnt waste my time, but nothing special

Kurt Von but its just trash to me. I'm pretty much more into prose.

>>have you [i]finished[/i] any of his books? if so, i dont care you if you dont like him, but i know at least for me, it took a little while to get into him, but now i LOVE him..[/quote][/quote]

Yes. Read slaughter house 5 and cat's cradle. Kurt's better than most but, again, I have different taste, that's all.

Do you have anything you can recommend that I haven't read to get me into him?

edit: and perhaps calling his work trash was too harsh. I really like his work but I've just been reading so much good stuff lately that Kurt just came at the wrong time.

Perhaps Timequake then. It's a story about how everyone is forced to relive ten years of their lives in a major deja vu kinda thing, they have to redo everything, relive everything, etc.

After the timequake is over, everyone flips out when free will sets in again, and a ton of people just fall over onto streets and get ran over by cars and trucks and stuff.


Pretty interesting.

Yeah, everyone should read Breakfast of Champions. And for further Vonnegut, read Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons. That's the title of one book.

I think Flowers for Algernon is a bit stupid. No offense. Algernon is the mouse, right?

And as for poetry. Yeah, I'm done with poetry.

reading
Christopher Hitchens -- [i]God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything[/i]

[url]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ugU2xQfOIh8[/url]

Hitchens and Dawkins, ::swoon::