What are you currently reading?

[Florestan]

[vers la flamme]

Ben Lerner's 10:04, after having read his other two over the past month. Very meta, a book about books about books kind of thing, and I believe the protagonist is a fictionalized version of the author (name unchanged, as opposed to the other two books). I like it better than The Topeka School and not as much as Leaving the Atocha Station. Lerner is a very, very skilled writer, and there are some poetic passages of extreme pathos throughout.

[Iota]

Ben Lerner's 10:04, after having read his other two over the past month. Very meta, a book about books about books kind of thing, and I believe the protagonist is a fictionalized version of the author (name unchanged, as opposed to the other two books). I like it better than The Topeka School and not as much as Leaving the Atocha Station. Lerner is a very, very skilled writer, and there are some poetic passages of extreme pathos throughout.

The Topeka School arrived the other day and am about halfway through it. I thought the opening section was brilliant (perhaps the best section of either book so far, for me), was very impressed by the following sections where his mother and father then write as themselves, and enjoying as ever his flair for detailed and engaging character portrayal, but like you it hasn't quite knocked me back as much as Leaving the Atocha Station thus far.
10:04 is also awaiting and will definitely get around to it at some point.

[AnotherSpin]

Been looking at Houellebecq's books in the shops in Russian translations for years, but never read them. Finally reading, in English translation.

[Mandryka]

Been looking at Houellebecq's books in the shops in Russian translations for years, but never read them. Finally reading, in English translation.

The best one by far IMO is Extension du domaine de la lutte.

[AnotherSpin]

The best one by far IMO is Extension du domaine de la lutte.

Thank you. I read somewhere that his debut wasn't very good. But with your opinion, I'll give it a try.

[AnotherSpin]

Tried to read The Unconsoled and stopped after a hundred or so pages. It's written impeccably, but I have a hard time immersing myself in someone else's nightmare. Reminds me of Nabokov, whom I read with passion decades ago, but won't read again. Because of the time gap, the comparison can only be accurate in my imagination.

[Mandryka]

Thank you. I read somewhere that his debut wasn't very good. But with your opinion, I'll give it a try.

Yes I am totally convinced that it is his best novel! The rest are marred by a uniformly dull style (at least in French), sexist and racist ideas, sexual vulgarity and one sided pessimism.

I was also a bit disillusioned when I found that in real life he enjoys extravagant luxury. He relishes fashionable society. The image of a hermit living austerely in some god forsaken dump in Belgium is entirely fabricated for the media. As is his somewhat bizarre surname.

(That being said I remember there were some vivid scenes of sadistic and sexual school bullying  in the one you're reading. I bet Houellebecq gets off on that sort of thing.)

[Florestan]

I was also a bit disillusioned when I found that in real life he enjoys extravagant luxury. He relishes fashionable society.

Well, most French writers, including the greatest ones, have been like that. It's in their blood and culture. And it's not at all a bad thing. A Parisian man about town makes for a more informed writer with a wider horizon than a hermit living austerely in some god forsaken dump in Belgium. 

The image of a hermit living austerely in some god forsaken dump in Belgium is entirely fabricated for the media. As is his somewhat bizarre surname.

Actually, his bizarre surname is that of his paternal grandmother. 

[AnotherSpin]

Yes I am totally convinced that it is his best novel! The rest are marred by a uniformly dull style (at least in French), sexist and racist ideas, sexual vulgarity and one sided pessimism.

I was also a bit disillusioned when I found that in real life he enjoys extravagant luxury. He relishes fashionable society. The image of a hermit living austerely in some god forsaken dump in Belgium is entirely fabricated for the media. As is his somewhat bizarre surname.

(That being said I remember there were some vivid scenes of sadistic and sexual school bullying  in the one you're reading. I bet Houellebecq gets off on that sort of thing.)

Sounds as exciting package: "sexist and racist ideas, sexual vulgarity and one-sided pessimism."

Seriously, should we judge authors by the ideas they express? Or require them to live up to what they write? Is it possible in a first place? Ideas or beliefs come and go, it's a vapour.

I'll try the debut book as next one from Houellebecq.

[Mookalafalas]

Tried to read The Unconsoled and stopped after a hundred or so pages. It's written impeccably, but I have a hard time immersing myself in someone else's nightmare. Reminds me of Nabokov, whom I read with passion decades ago, but won't read again. Because of the time gap, the comparison can only be accurate in my imagination.

  I'm surprised to hear you compare it to Nabokov. I thought of Kafka, all the way through (especially The Castle and The Trial). I finished it, but needn't have. An interesting experiment, but almost certainly my least favorite of his novels.

[Mandryka]

Sounds as exciting package: "sexist and racist ideas, sexual vulgarity and one-sided pessimism."

Seriously, should we judge authors by the ideas they express? Or require them to live up to what they write? Is it possible in a first place? Ideas or beliefs come and go, it's a vapour.

I'll try the debut book as next one from Houellebecq.

The fabulous things about Donaine de la lutte are

1. The animal stories (you'll see what I mean.)
2. The anti-hero, a typical Houelbecqian loser whose life is a nothing --  emptiness, the primal void -- is a really sympathetic character.

Re ideas, Houellbecq's later stuff are replete with anxiety about Muslims taking  France over, and changing its culture with authoritarian Shariah ideas. And sweet and passive French women being brainwashed by ideas which suggest that they can be more in control of their own lives.

On the positive side he is responsible for a memorable sex scene with one woman and two dogs (in Sérotonine)  and a phrase in Soumission which tickled my fancy for some reason -- it may be untranslatable -- someone is praised for being a femme pot au feu.  I tried to read Anéantir but gave up half way through -- style is too samey and there are a lot of words.

[AnotherSpin]

I'm surprised to hear you compare it to Nabokov. I thought of Kafka, all the way through (especially The Castle and The Trial). I finished it, but needn't have. An interesting experiment, but almost certainly my least favorite of his novels.

The connection seemed obvious as soon as I started reading. Similar refinement of the language. In terms of content, with books such as Invitation to a Beheading and some others.

[Florestan]

Does anyone know a good biography of Mozart? I mean, one that dispells the Romantic nonsense about his life, personality and music without replacing it with post-modernist nonsense. Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

[Iota]

Very interested to read the comments about The Unconsoled. I found myself lured in by the way things never seem to reach a conclusion, found a sort of truth to it, though in quite hyperbolic form in the novel, and was bowled over by the way Ishiguro kept the plate spinning. I remember finding the protagonist, Ryder, a sympathetic character too, and felt engaged with his plight. But it's  well over ten years since I've read it, and responses can change, nonetheless I look forward to diving back in when time permits (one thing it isn't, is short ..).

[AnotherSpin]

Very interested to read the comments about The Unconsoled. I found myself lured in by the way things never seem to reach a conclusion, found a sort of truth to it, though in quite hyperbolic form in the novel, and was bowled over by the way Ishiguro kept the plate spinning. I remember finding the protagonist, Ryder, a sympathetic character too, and felt engaged with his plight. But it's  well over ten years since I've read it, and responses can change, nonetheless I look forward to diving back in when time permits (one thing it isn't, is short ..).

Even though I have stopped reading, which is extremely rare in my case, I may try to return to the book after a while. Maybe after Ishiguro's other books. The Inconsoled's nightmarish plot is discouraging, but along with that there is quite a lot of appeal in the book.

[AnotherSpin]

[vers la flamme]

The Topeka School arrived the other day and am about halfway through it. I thought the opening section was brilliant (perhaps the best section of either book so far, for me), was very impressed by the following sections where his mother and father then write as themselves, and enjoying as ever his flair for detailed and engaging character portrayal, but like you it hasn't quite knocked me back as much as Leaving the Atocha Station thus far.
10:04 is also awaiting and will definitely get around to it at some point.

I thought 10:04 might be the best of the three, or at least the themes Lerner explored in that book hit the closest to home for me. All three were great, and I'm happy to have discovered a great living writer.

Re: Houellebecq, I think I'm going to try and find something of his at the bookstore today.

[AnotherSpin]

[..]
Re: Houellebecq, I think I'm going to try and find something of his at the bookstore today.

If you choose The Elementary Particles (Atomised), it would be interesting to hear your opinion.

[AnotherSpin]