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inanity.

eclair;304505 [B said:
Jaybe[/B], pig is goood, Yann Martel not so much :p Why do you think Joyce is pretentious?

The way a conversation is supposed to flow is by you asking me a question about something I said. Please tell me why you don't like Martel?

To your question about yourself - I suppose it's more that I find the people who say they love Joyce's writing pretentious, rather than Jim himself. Mainly the ones who claimed to have read, understood and even enjoyed Ulysses. I glaze over during descriptive passages and am not a fan of obscure words so he's not for me.

However I must say that Martel's description of a pear (which took a page and half) I found captivating. A page would have been enough though!
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^ In Life of Pi, Martel shot himself in the foot with the whole 'a story that will make you believe in God' line. When you make a claim like that then you had better come up with something important, instead the story that followed just came across as trying too hard with a heavy handed pseudo-depth which did nothing for me. This is of course just my opinion, and I am looking forward to you setting me straight!

I haven't read Ulysses, but I'm pretty sure it is possible to enjoy it if one is that way inclined. :p
 
eclair said:
^ In Life of Pi, Martel shot himself in the foot with the whole 'a story that will make you believe in God' line. When you make a claim like that then you had better come up with something important, instead the story that followed just came across as trying too hard with a heavy handed pseudo-depth which did nothing for me. This is of course just my opinion, and I am looking forward to you setting me straight!

I haven't read Ulysses, but I'm pretty sure it is possible to enjoy it if one is that way inclined. :p
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The quote is - "This is a novel of such rare and wondrous storytelling that it may, as one character claims, make you believe in God.''

Rather different!

I don't remember having any speculative thoughts about God or no God, while reading Life of Pi, just enjoyment of the storytelling. The last part of book explains Pi's mind wondering up his fantasies. So no pseudo-depth at all, just a journey through hell and what the mind does to avoid reality.

About Ulysses. What do you mean by ''If one is that way inclined?
 
Slap on wrist for me for not typing the entire quote. I'm still not convinced, he wanted to say it but for modesty's sake he brought the 'as one character says'' thing. The character is also him, so there. :p And the tiger wasn't even scary!
I don't remember the book as well as I should, which is another reason for me not being a fan, for such a far out story it just wasn't all that memorable.

Joyce, inclined towards liking descriptive passages and obscure words.

Which other authors do you like?
 
Ok I'll show you mine - if you show me yours.

Most read authors - Sue Townsend, Charles Bukowski, David Nobbs, Enid Blyton, Irvine Welsh, Dan Fante, John Fante, Jackie Collins.

Two or more from - Khaled Hosseini, Yann Martel, Peter S. Beagle, Jack Kerouac.

I'm fed up of this. My favourite book may or may not be amongst those written by the above.

I think it is, but may change my mind when I remember others.

Do any of those writers mean anything to you?
 
^Interesting selection. I bet you buy your cereal in variety packs! :)
I like Bukowski's The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses poetry collection and John Fante's Bandini books are personal favourites. I would like to read Kerouac, but I keep putting it off because I have this stupid notion I need to have first hand experience of American Road Tripping, to really understand the book.

Borges, J.G Ballard, Herman Melville, and George R.R. Martin for me.
 
I rarely eat breakfast cereals. Never buy variety packs.

But with music and books my tastes are varied.

Rather old fashioned tastes in writers you've got there. I've only read a little of Borgess but wasn't impressed although I do love a few Argentinian writers. There's something captivating in their style, apart from the mega boring GG Marquez (well, same continent).

If you like short stories, and by the sound of your choice writers it sounds like it, why don't you try some of Bukowski's? I'll recommend 'Tales of Ordinary Madness' and 'Betting on the Muse' which is a mix of poems and stories. His novels are great. Begin with 'Post Office,' 'Factotem' or 'Ham on Rye.'

The Bandini Quartet are fabulous reads. It was reading those which led to reading his son Dan's books. They are excellent.

'On the Road' is OK. It took me many, many years to get round to reading it. I'd always been interested in the 'Beat' writers, but not their writing, only their lives, so I knew a lot about them all first.

I'm off to Cyprus tomorrow, so if you reply, don't think I'm being rude. I won't have a computer for a week.
 
I do dip into the current writers but invariably always return to the old guard, old fashioned at heart. I am partial to Borges' imagination, and his relationship to literature and writing is fascinating, to me. Short stories, good. Although, there are so many rubbish ones out there, even from usually reliable writers - stand up Mr. Kurt Vonnegut (actually don't, the zombie alarms will go off). So I'm careful in choosing. I'll look up the Bukowski ones, thank you for the recommendations.

The Beats, lol, all that hedonism and artistic integrity to boot, they made it look easy!

Have a good holiday. Halloumi....mmmmm.
 
I don't know if eclair is waiting for my post holiday reply, but he/she/it failed to ask a question so it's difficult to reply.
 
^ Wasn't waiting. I was reading, and eating doughnuts. Did you cure your boredness, Libra?
How was Cyprus, Jaybe?
 
Which type of doughnut do you favour eclair?

Cyprus was a little too Cyprussy. But it made a break from the cold weather here. We hired a car and drove to the Troodos Mountains, bloody sat nav put us on an earth goat trail no more than eighteen inches wide with a sheer thousand foot drop on my side. The sat nav was an Amercan woman who was having a laugh because by the time we were in a state of complete fear and panic - she then said ''lost satelite reception.''

Bloody Yanks!:sad:
 
Jam doughnuts, Jaybe. LOL @ the evil sat nav adventures.
I'm in the process of moving house, so lack of internet, ergo lack of speedy response.
 
Is your old house broken eclair? I couldn't be bothered to move house myself, although I'd like to, well maybe perhaps.
 
Almost. We got out before the roof fell in.
I hate having to find a new place for every belonging, I don't understand where we managed to keep all this crap. I don't even remember how or why we acquired half the things.
 
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