Till TG Gets Here, I'm Reading...
 

Hey y'all.
Lessee... I'm clearing out some stuff I wanted to reread forever, like Thomas Tessier's Phantom and James Herbert's Sepulchre. These two are a couple pf the ones horrorwise I find worth it. Herbert kicks Clive Barker's ass...this is his best book.

Just makin' way for the master. A girl reading Lovecraft on the Metro this morning, she had earplus (music) so I jotted a note on her newspaper: "Thomas Ligotti, the modern-day Lovecraft."

Think I'll score? She did smile in thanks... :)

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

For the time being, I'm reading a solid mystery: The Cabinet of Curiosities. There are definitely disturbing moments (the anonymous madman daintily polishing and sharpening an ancient surgical kit is unnerving), but the purpose is more in the plot. Fun. Probably not in the tastes of many readers here, but very clever nonetheless.

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Right now I'm reading The Gardens of Lucullus by richard Tierney and Glenn Rahman. It's a page-turner indeedy!

After that I have Slime After Slime by Mark McLaughlin and In Matto's Realm by Friedrich Glauser.

After that, I don't know. I might pull out some of my old math books from grad school and pretend I'm taking notes in one of Instructor Carniero's lectures.

After that I'll go to the bookstores and put all of the Ann Coulter books in the comedy section.


"I do this to pass the hours. Only to pass the hours."

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LOL. Coulter is a contemptible banshee. I hope the USA is just going through a phase that we can all look back on in shame in the future (similar to the McCarthy years). I'm not so sure, though, churches are springing up like mushrooms in Ohio.

S.T. Joshi is coming out with a new book: The Angry Right: Why Conservatives Keep Getting It Wrong. This book is due out on September 6th of this year. It would be great if Joshi put his formidable intellect in play as a columnist. We need another H.L. Mencken now more than ever before. But that begs the question: what paper would print it? My guess would be none.

Silent One, it reminds me of the novel Perfume, by I forget who, but the killer ws completely up on all the scents of everything inluding victims.

This Goldman book about John & Yoko pretty scary at times.

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Patrick Suskind! I love that book!

There is going to be a movie:

http://www.parfum.film.de/

Swans, Perfume was written by Peter Süskind. It is one of the best novels I have ever read! (And this is not the first time I've commented on this novel here at TLO.)

The scent of the victim, eh? Have to check it out.

I'm also going through various horror collections I've acquired o'er the ages. I'll be bringing some to Poughkeepsie.

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I forgot about this novel. I loved it at the time I read it. The movie looks promising too - no dark hand of the usual Hollywood Illuminati soiling a great tale. This makes me want to rent Quills.

Cheers!

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Teattro is not getting here ... :(
But anyway I am reading "The Girl With The Golden Eyes" by Balzac...a dreamy novella.This is my first Balzac and surely won´t be the last.
And in my shelf "Bartleby & Co" awaits.

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I just finished Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers by Stephen Harrod Buhner. Absolutely fascinating book. It's a history/recipe book about early forms of beer in ancient cultures around the world and it's tremendous cultural importance. After reading it I brewed a 5 gallon batch of "Heather Ale" from a 800 year old Scotish recipe. It smells divine. Should be ready to drink in about a week.

Currently, I'm reading Rats' Nests a collection of poetry by Japanese poet Hagiwara Sakutaro (1886-1942). He was heavily influenced by Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.

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Due to the hazards of drunken posting, I mentioned Peter Süskind rather than Patrick Süskind as the author of Perfume. Nevertheless, the novel is a must-read.

Until the Teatro hits town, I'll probably dive into a 1950s crime novel by Gil Brewer, Peter Rabe, or Robert Colby. Decisions, decisions....

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I am currently dividing my reading time between The Fall of the Republic and Other Political Satires by Ambrose Bierce and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. (The Dawkins book hasn't been officially published yet. I got an ARC edition on abebooks.com)

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I've been absorbing Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts (thanks to Barry Wood for the recommend on that one) and Dino Buzzati's The Tartar Steppe. Both are very worthwhile reads, and make the wait for TG easier to bear...

currently reading the following:

Weaveworld by Clive Barker

Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn (the guy who founed Adbusters)

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielsomethingerother (you all know the book)

anddddd I think that about wraps it up

I cannot believe Ann Coulter is on good terms with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. So much for the rebellion of the Sixties.

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This doesn't surprise me at all. I was a student at UW-Madison - one of those America-hating traitorous liberal campuses on which she loves to projectile vomit her Goebbelsian(?) victim-envy delusional diatribes. The frat boys in Madison would wear tye-dyes and listen to Dead bootlegs on the weekends - sort of their way of saying ... "We're going to own you in the future, but in the mean time we're just having fun playing like we're poor." Hell! I'm surprised the frats didn't hire the Grateful Dead for one of their pledge drives! I'm getting really off-topic here. I'm almost done with Slime After Slime - it's cringe-alicious. I just bought Robert Graves' Goodbye To All That. I'm sure this will cheer me up.

Smooches!

Waffles

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Why do we all know House of Leaves? I know it, mean to read it again one day. Trippy book.

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

Now, that's another one of my all time favorite books. The strangest thing about it is that it's actually three books in one. I have heard that for some people, the book being structured the way it is (with all its footnotes etc), is difficult to read. While going through it the first time I decided to skip reading the (longish) footnotes written by Johnny Truant and concentrate on Zapanos notes (I couldn't concentrate on the narrative of both novels at the same time). Now I'm planning to (re)read the whole book... right before TG get here

I've heard there is a new book by Danielewski coming out this year: Only Revolutions.

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Another book I've forgotten about! I enjoyed this one a lot. I didn't find it hard to read - not a fast read, but not difficult either. I just looked on Amazon. It said something like ... "Stephen King meets David Foster Wallace!" If I had heard that description before getting it, I don't think I would've read it. I've also heard a rumor about a new Pynchon novel coming out in December.

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

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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

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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

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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...

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Well, I read slow(ly), so just finished Herbert's Sepulchre, though I was also getting through Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey. Now I believe it's on to Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. I've lost track of any count of days, weeks regarding TG, but any day I wonder if it'll be here. Almost daunting. You guys will speed right ahead of me, I'm sure.

Heart of Darkness is such an awesome ####ing story. Seriously, it's an amazing piece of literature. I had to read it for my 12th grade AP Lit class, so I got to really study it indepth and hardcore. great stuff.

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Currently re-reading Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah, AOS' Book of Pleasure and From Inferno to Zos Vol. II.

As for TG, I'm not holding my breath until I get an update that it's been printed and posted.

At the moment I am reading:

Mark Samuels - The White Hands
L T C Rolt - Sleep No More

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I finally got around to reading The God of Foulness by Matt Cardin. It reminded me somewhat of Brian Evenson's The Brotherhood of Mutilation; at least as far as the bizarre cult aspect of it is concerned. Nothing "weird" about Evenson's novel, though. I especially liked the "manifestation" sequence in Matt's novella.

I also read The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. The movie comes out on the 15th. I really enjoyed reading most of this one, but it got a little convoluted towards the end. I'm sure they will have to simplify the story for the film. I was surprised at the number of similar themes in this novel and Ellroy's novel L.A. Confidential. I hope The Black Dahlia approaches the quality of that film.

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I've finished The Magus and The Collector both by John Fowles. Both interesting and both creepy in their own way. Now I'm breezing through The Slayer and Other Tales from the Pulps by H. De Vere Stackpoole.

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I'm rereading Charles Stross' Atrocity Archives. It's a really fun novel. I also just pcked up two Thomas Wiloch colections, Screaming In code and Stigmata Junction.

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You know TG is also the common abbreviation for Throbbing Gristle. Though I haven't seen Genesis hereabouts, I did e-mail Peter regarding some Threshold House merchandise. Yes, Coil fans, the DVD will be out by Christmas. And if you beg and start writing petitions, they will release "Silence and Secrecy". I love getting the chance to communicate with various idols.

Books. House of Leaves, The Keep, Dogs of Babel, The Truth (with Jokes), and anything else I happen to own and make time for.

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THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK - View Profile: SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe@@AMEPARAM@@View Profile: SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe</title>@@AMEPARAM@@SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe

I have to know: What happened to the girl reading Lovecraft on the Metro?

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I thought that this was about Throbbing Gristle too! I am enjoying Teatro Grottesco very much.