I finished If on a winter's night a traveler a few days ago. While satyr doesn't think too highly of the book, I actually enjoyed it immensely, as an amusing romp through various genres and styles; any one of the chapters had the potential to be an amazing book, but they would have been too safe and, ultimately, disposable. One might be attracted to the characters, or setting, or the particular mode of narration used by the author, but ultimately one would finish the book and never think about it again. That isn't Calvino's style: he wants to create a book you keep turning over in your mind long after you've read the last words. I loved it.

Atropos wrote:

I finished If on a winter's night a traveler a few days ago. While satyr doesn't think too highly of the book, I actually enjoyed it immensely, as an amusing romp through various genres and styles; any one of the chapters had the potential to be an amazing book, but they would have been too safe and, ultimately, disposable. One might be attracted to the characters, or setting, or the particular mode of narration used by the author, but ultimately one would finish the book and never think about it again. That isn't Calvino's style: he wants to create a book you keep turning over in your mind long after you've read the last words. I loved it.

For me it didn't hit on all cylinders, but I still thought it was a great idea.   Calvino's writing is pretty experimental; you don't go into an experimental author's canon expecting to like everything you read.  It's enough if it tickles your imagination -- and sometimes you discover something like Invisible Cities.

Oh dearie, I've only read part of one of Anita's book and it was exactly as Yasha described it. Except worse, much worse, which is why I never finished it. I wish I could recall the title but at the same time am almost glad that I cannot, for the life of me, remember.

I think I made it six or seven books in. Sex, even without contributing to the plot, isn't going to run me off, as long as it's either sexy or funny. The books I had read in the series, were pure cheese, but it was a funny cheese, at least.

Some day. Maybe.

Thread made me queue up some Anne Rice on my Kindle, but first (that is, right now) The Lunatic Cafe and Hogfather. I'm not sure I actually read Hogfather before, or if I just remember the tv movie/miniseries. But, it's suitably funny throughout and has a stronger backbone to it than a lot of later Pratchett novels, at least for me.

And, well, no mounds of creamy goodness in the early Anita Blake, just the normal weird gendering obsessions and her refusing a job, taking the job, being awkward with some dude, banging some dude, being awkward about her job, and someone dying. A tried and true formula.

Yasha wrote:

Have you read Night Watch? I swear, that's one of the most beautifully constructed novels I've ever read. I liked it so much that I finished it and then immediately started it again.

I really enjoyed that. Especially because I read it stuck in an airport and needed something really good and it was!

Yasha wrote:

Don't forget the weird hostility towards blondes. What's up with that, seriously?

Oh, seriously.

And, if there was a drinking game for unnecessary French, "ma petite" alone would give you alcohol poisoning in five chapters.

Yasha wrote:

A red blouse with a forest green shirt and blazer for Christmas?????? Like no, my eyes are burning, stop it

And, her guy, just by chance, wore a matching outfit. And she still went out with him!

After much looking, I found the Laurell K. Hamilton book that I tried to read, back in the day. As it turns out it is not an Anita Blake novel but part of another saga and goes by the title of 'A Kiss of Shadows'. It includes a Seal Person Guy that is probably the highlight of the whole thing.
It also includes tentacle porn! Heh. To be fair, the many sex scenes are woven into the plot since Merry, our narrador who at page 2 is already spewing lines like, and I quote, 'I knew I looked hot when Jeremy complimented my clothes', belongs to a Fairy kind that uses sex as magic.
But the first person narrative does not help, it makes many moments unintentionally funny.

Yasha wrote:

DD, I am so sorry. There used to be an amazing recap set of the ABVH books that I think you would enjoy, but it's dead now and even the wayback can't find it all. I'm crushed, actually. It must have died just after I last read it.

I need a moment here... so many amazing cutdowns, gone forever....

Things should last forever on the internet! Except for whatever I posted when I was fifteen.

I've been collecting it up, but refused to read it until it was finished. It's finished now but I got distracted with Holly Black's Lucifer. Which is pretty great. I love the books of hers I've read and the comic is in the same spirit.

Is it set with Daniel or Morpheus out of curiosity?

One of my favorite moment in The Master and Margarita(and it's been way too long since I read it so details are foggy) has got to be when, [Some currency gets changed into dollars which leads to a lot of chaos. And isn't there some sort of ball for the society high rollers that goes completely awry?].
The department of literature was absolutely hilarious, bonus points for the poor fellows whose sole job was to compose epic poetry praising the regime.

I now have a half a mind to actually read my Laurell K. Hamilton book. It may be overt porn for the most part but it has Seal People and tentacles, it should at least be amusing even if probably unintentionally so.

And speaking of porn, I just read the thus far published volumes of Captive Prince by C.S Pacat. I went into it expecting steamy gay porn but was very pleasantly surprised. While it does show its manga influences (the author has herself admitted that Ai no Kusabi and Berserk were two major influences), it goes beyond the seme/uke cliché and manages to build a very interesting relationship between the two main characters. The fact that the relationship develops slowly enough to be believable and the way a potentially very porny premise- in which a betrayed prince literally becomes the sex slave of a prince from a rival nation, complete with hidden identity and all- is explored to actually explore the characters took me quite by surprise. Add to that a well thought out plot full of intrigue and political scheming.
I normally do not read this kind of literature but it kept me engaged from start to finish and very eager to read the soon to be published final volume.

Last edited by Nocturnalux (01-08-2016 09:59:02 PM)

I'm currently reading Life of Pi. It's not the kind of novel I would ever read, it seemed like one of those hokey spiritual inspiring stories. I hang out in the library during my breaks at work rather than the teacher lounge (to avoid socializing, of course) and one day I found the book sitting on the couch where I normally hang out. I picked it up, leafed through it and got hooked. It's quirky and humorous and I look forward to reading it every day when I have a free class. I have not checked it out of the library. and, not knowing if the book will still be there for me to read on any given day is part of the appeal for me somehow.

I finished reading Humans of New York: Stories. If you're a fan of Brandon's work, it's worth a purchase. It's gorgeous and well-designed, a great coffee-table book and a nice conversation starter. It can make you smile and also bring tears to your eyes.

Finally, The Drawing of the Three, the second book in the Gunslinger series by Stephen King. I got audio books of the whole series and the reader is really good. I've been wanting to reread the series for a while but don't really have the time, so an audio book was the next best thing. It's great seeing all the foreshadowing and in-depth world-building all the way from the start (for example, I don't think they pick up the Billy Bumbler until book 3, but the species is mentioned in book 1). Not only that but MAN is there some grade A level homoerotic tension between Eddie and Roland.

Nocturnalux wrote:

And speaking of porn, I just read the thus far published volumes of Captive Prince by C.S Pacat. I went into it expecting steamy gay porn but was very pleasantly surprised. While it does show its manga influences (the author has herself admitted that Ai no Kusabi and Berserk were two major influences), it goes beyond the seme/uke cliché and manages to build a very interesting relationship between the two main characters. The fact that the relationship develops slowly enough to be believable and the way a potentially very porny premise- in which a betrayed prince literally becomes the sex slave of a prince from a rival nation, complete with hidden identity and all- is explored to actually explore the characters took me quite by surprise. Add to that a well thought out plot full of intrigue and political scheming.

OoooooOOOOOoooooooh

*reaches for credit card*

Hmm.  Are all books about loss -- books where the experience and tragedy of loss are at the center -- sorrow porn?

To me, calling something porn means it uses visceral reactions to give you feelings it didn't earn, rather than have those feelings emerge from the story.  Sex porn makes you horny (if it does) mostly using body parts and their interactions, not through its richly observed sexuality.  Horror porn scares you by relying on jump scares and gore rather than by, say, developing a really uncanny setting.  And sorrow porn makes you cry by presenting situations that would make anyone cry, without using plot or character development to give the sadness meaning or nuance.

If you like that definition of porn, I guess whether The Fault in Our Stars is sorrow porn depends on whether you think Hazel and Augustus fail to transcend being kids with cancer (a situation that would make anyone sad), or whether you think they come into their own as full and rich characters who you're sad for because you care about them, because the book has earned your empathy.  Myself, I think it's in between -- it's a young-adult novel, not The Brothers Karamazov -- but closer to the latter.  (I acknowledge that sending the protagonist to the Holocaust museum is a point against my theory.)  If you want to see sorrow porn, go watch the first episode of Kotoura-san, then come back and compare that to the book you read.

(Disclaimer: I do not think there is anything wrong with any of the kinds of porn I described above!  I think there's an important place for it.  I just don't think it's Good Literature, which is the way The Fault in Our Stars is usually presented.)