Metanet's Book Club: READ THOMAS PYNCHON'S INHERENT VICE

[lord_day]

After two long flights, I have finished the book.

[noops]

Man we should totally put the left behind series on there, man. For serious.

All joking aside, it's fairly decent, I was surprised. Though, seeing how it's ultra religious, I'm guessing that that'd be out of the question.

On topic: The only book I've read by neil Gaiman is Neverwhere, which was very good. I'll check if my library has this one. If not, looks like I'd have to sit this one out.

[Rhekatou]

Ooh ooh sign me up ;)
I'll be more active on this in the summer +_+

[unoriginal name]

I finished it last night!

[squibbles]

I finished reading it for the second time about 15 minutes ago.

So when do we do the discussion?

[unoriginal name]

So! What did people think? It's July 2nd, after all. I thought it was okay. I chuckled a fair few times, which is quite rare for me. Usually I get all serious reading books, even funny ones. Of course, what else I've read by Pratchett has made me laugh as well, so that's hardly surprising. Good Omens isn't the sort of book I usually read anymore, but it was a nice piece of light fiction. It's the sort of book I'd read on a long plane flight.

So overall I'd give it a lukewarm recommendation! What do you guys think?

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

OH SHIT RIGHT
Gah, I'm too busy for this right now. I have 12-hour workdays, and my brother's in town.

[a happy song]

I haven't even started reading this yet. Been sat on my desk since it arrived. I'll pick it up when I'm home next week, but I'll probably miss the discussion. I'll try better next round!

[SlappyMcGee]

I'm also extremely lukewarm about the book. Let me get my notes set up and I'll edit this.

[squibbles]

I really quite liked the book, but at the same time, I had to read through it a second time to grasp what was going on properly. I found there were just too many characters. :/

Did anyone else think this, or was it just me?
(Also I still don't understand what happened when Azriphale "Stepped into the circle")

[lord_day]

I haven't read anything by Gaiman before, but I am a big Pratchett fan. You can instantly pick out the moments from the book that came from Pratchett. If you are a fan of Gaiman, it would be interesting to know if the same is true for him.

I enjoyed the book, because it had it's cute moments. It can be slightly confusing, because it has moments in which the reader needs to infer what is going on, because it isn't directly stated. I also think the book contained many jokes that would only be funny or understood by someone who lived in England. But perhaps I am mistaken there.

[SlappyMcGee]

I haven't read anything by Gaiman before, but I am a big Pratchett fan. You can instantly pick out the moments from the book that came from Pratchett. If you are a fan of Gaiman, it would be interesting to know if the same is true for him.

I enjoyed the book, because it had it's cute moments. It can be slightly confusing, because it has moments in which the reader needs to infer what is going on, because it isn't directly stated. I also think the book contained many jokes that would only be funny or understood by someone who lived in England. But perhaps I am mistaken there.

The parts that are Gaiman-y are way better. :D

[unoriginal name]

(Also I still don't understand what happened when Azriphale "Stepped into the circle")

If memory serves me, it's playing on the whole God being represented by a beam of light thing.

[LittleViking]

Fun little book, I'd say. I really liked the style that I assume was Gaiman's. I think I'm going to find some more of his works to read after this.

[a happy song]

Fun little book, I'd say. I really liked the style that I assume was Gaiman's. I think I'm going to find some more of his works to read after this.

I'd really recommend his collection of short Stories 'Smoke and Mirrors'. It's a perfect introduction to his style, and each story is absolutely memorable and brilliantly unique. The foreword by Gaiman is a really good read too, offers a little insight into his process and neat little 'extra'.

Also the Sandman series (graphic novels). Really, I've not read anything by him that's not been superb!

[squibbles]

how are we going to decide the next book? Will it be suggestions taken in turn?

If so, I'd suggest The Outsider (Known as "The Stranger" in the U.S, I believe), by Albert Camus.

[unoriginal name]

If so, I'd suggest The Outsider (Known as "The Stranger" in the U.S, I believe), by Albert Camus.

I'd be up for that, but I do have a few suggestions of my own. The Dead Father, by Donald Barthelme, Landscape in Concrete, by Jakov Lind, and Amerika, by Franz Kafka. The latter two I've been considering for a good month without getting around to actually reading, and I recently picked up a collection of Barthelme's short stories, which I'm absolutely loving.

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

Also the Sandman series (graphic novels). Really, I've not read anything by him that's not been superb!

I've only found that a portion of the Sandman series was actually high quality. The rest seemed like filler to me for some reason. Maybe I just had to be in the right mood for them or something, but I remember reading through each issue and only finding a handful of amazing ones that spiced up the series.

[SlappyMcGee]

Also the Sandman series (graphic novels). Really, I've not read anything by him that's not been superb!

I've only found that a portion of the Sandman series was actually high quality. The rest seemed like filler to me for some reason. Maybe I just had to be in the right mood for them or something, but I remember reading through each issue and only finding a handful of amazing ones that spiced up the series.

The same way I feel, although I passionately love Gaiman otherwise.

[Communist]

Count me in this club.

I've got to say, Good Omens would have to be my all time favourite book- I just love the subject, at the fact this book was written by two people- and believe me, that's hard to do.

As for Gaiman, I can recommend American Gods, as the darker book, and Anansi boys, as a comedy.

[SlappyMcGee]

I know that at least me and gloomp are reading Thomas Pynchon's new book Inherent Vice, and I encourage you to join and participate in discussions. Pynchon books tend to run long, so I won't put a timetable on this one.

[unoriginal name]

Oh, cool. Right now I'm reading at a rate of about 20 pages a day, to finish it before my favorite literary site publishes a review. If any of you feel intimidated, quite reasonable considering Pynchon's previous work, let me tell you I'm finding this a very easy, approachable read. I withhold further judgment until I'm finished (about halfway through right now.)

[unoriginal name]

Finished! :D