it'll be interesting to see how the new Danielewski book is (both content and structure wise). He set the standard bar pretty high for himself

Re: Till TG Gets Here, I'm Reading...
 

Between work, TLO administration and family, I am not currently reading anything. I must admit that I have fallen into a regimen of blind automation of late. I have several volumes in reserve, if I could just find the time and energy to dedicate. My mind is turning to mush, I fear.

House of Leaves sounds quite interesting. While searching for information on the book, I found the author's web site, House of Leaves. I found it puzzling that his forum based web site has approximately 20 times the membership and posting totals as TLO. Being a relatively new author, it must indicate a much broader popularity base.

Re: Till TG Gets Here, I'm Reading...
 

Well, when one finds his book in Borders... That's where I bought mine a few years ago. I too had no real difficulty readsing it, and all of it straight through. It might be fun to buy some copies of one or two of Tom's titles and place them on the Horror shelf at Borders or B&N. (Toss out some other guys to make space.) Then we could see how many people have come up to the counter to purchase the books only to be met with, "Hmm, we can't find this in the computer."

Re: Till TG Gets Here, I'm Reading...
 

Strangely enough, Borders will have some Ligotti in their computer. I actually bought TNF from Borders and have seen Shadow at the Bottom of the World there.

I enjoyed HoL alot. I read it from cover to cover in a week, which is quite unusual for me. It leaves many obscure and semi-loose ends while taunting you that there is something more to it, a hidden message if only you could only decode it. And indeed there are lots of hidden messages if one looks closely enough. Combine the puzzle aspect with the fact that his sister is a semi-famous musician who released an album that is also related to the book and I can see why there is so much forum traffic there.

I am currently reading Erich Remarque's "Floatsam", a masterfully written tale about homeless immigrants during WW2. One of the evils of high school book lists is that a guy writes one epic novel, in his case "All Quiet On The Western Front", and we somehow come away imagining that this is the author's sole titanic work.

Also working on Charles Wright's latest collection of poems, "Scar Tissue". Puzzling guy.

Re: Till TG Gets Here, I'm Reading...
 

I took time out from Dawkin's God Delusion to read a short novel, The Deadly Percheron by John Franklin Bardin. This is one of the oddest novels I have ever read. Although I would not go so far as to recommend it - it was more than a little convoluted and hardly believable - I found some of it strangely compelling. The first and last chapters are very memorable. The chapters in between ended like psychological cliffhangers. This book is part of the series of novels being published by Millipede Press (the publisher of the upcoming Topor novel, The Tenant) I had already read three of them and liked them so I thought I would try another one. It was ultimately a worthwhile read. Jonathan Lethem is writing the introduction for this edition. I bet that is going to be interesting.

Here are a couple of blurbs that lured me in:

"The opening chapter defies description. Imagine one of those 1930s screwball comedies with the crazy situations, but substitute malevolence for humor." -Karl Edward Wagner

"There is a visionary lucidity about Bardin's nightmares that makes his surrealist logic both convincing and disturbing." -Julian Symons


If you want to view all of the Millipede Press novels at Amazon.com, here is the link:

Over the years I have occasionally seen "Noctuary"
and "The Nightmare Factory" at Borders or B & N,
but not often enough. TL fares far better at libraries than at corporate bookstores. I did purchase my copy of "Shadow At The Bottom of the World" from Borders.

Currently reading:

The Haunting of Cashens Gap - Harry Price & R S Lambert

Midnight Tales - William Fryer Harvey

Re: Till TG Gets Here, I'm Reading...
 

I recently finished the last two novels in the forthcoming Millipede Press line. They can all be classified as psychological thrillers.

Here Comes a Candle by Frederic Brown was written in 1948 and it is very much a novel of its time. A young numbers runner is trying to break into the rackets, but he has a deep-seated phobia that complicates things. So you have gangsters and psychoanalysis, two of Hollywood's favorite subjects back in the 40s. The most entertaining thing about this novel for me was the interesting narrative structure that Brown used. The origin of the protagonist's phobia was written as a radio play. A crime was written as a sportscast, with the announcer giving a blow by blow of the event. Brown also uses theatrical and film direction as narrative devices. An interesting approach that I have never encountered before.

The Face That Must Die by Ramsey Campbell is mostly written in the first person from the perspective of a delusional paranoid . He sees the world as unclean and he is doing something about it. Campbell creates a twisted but believable mindset for his villain. This novel was Poppy Z. Brite's choice for inclusion in Horror Another 100 Best Books. S.T. Joshi also admires this novel. It is works like this that prompted him to describe Campbell as a "poet of urban squalor and decay." I really enjoyed it.

My favorites starting at the top:

The Tenant by Roland Topor
Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg
The Face That Must Die by Ramsey Campbell
Some of Your Blood by Theodore Sturgeon
The Deadly Percheron by John Franklin Bardin
Here Comes a Candle by Frederic Brown

Re: Till TG Gets Here, I'm Reading...
 

well, I finished reading House of Leaves by MZD. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although the ending didn't thrill me that much. The extraneous materials (the appendices and whatnot) didn't interest me that much. The Whalestoe Letters were somewhat interesting, though. Having perused the HoL forum, it's interesting to see all the cryptography and other weird things people have been able to extrapolate from the text.

I also just finished Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn, he's the founder of Adbusters. Pretty inspirational book. It really makes you despise American culture and Consumer Capitalism and all its filthy doings. This book needs to be read by a lot of college kids and teenagers.

now I need something else to read...