The B&B Book Review - The Bear and Badger

ChattinWithChet

I read your story there Aaron. One thing which really helped when writing fiction was cutting down on the words I would use. Not just in an overly descriptive way, but so that every sentence is as brief as possible. Trying to avoid repetition of words, especially in the same sentence, is also a good way to go.

Kow

Currently having a read of Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman. Interesting stuff. I never knew there was a Hubbard - Crowley connection.

FranticPea

My bedside table. I'm about halfway through and loving every last bit. It's bonkers.

Kow

You must refer to it as Book One, in hushed tones. Apparently.

Aaroncupboard

Cheers Chet, I am aiming to go back through and edit still so thats top notch advice. Cheers.

FranticPea

Kow wrote:

You must refer to it as Book One, in hushed tones. Apparently.

Was quite hard to get hold of, and every morning I expect to see shady looking men sat in a car at the end of the road.Â

It's fascinating, I've always wanted to read it. Thouroughly recommended.

ChattinWithChet

Aaroncupboard wrote:

Cheers Chet, I am aiming to go back through and edit still so thats top notch advice. Cheers.

I did enjoy it, and I will read your future parts. Main thing is finding a beat and having a good time!

Rev

tigerswiftly wrote:

Tempy wrote:

Pullman's stuff has always sounded decent enough. Never got around to it, and I feel like I owe it to myself to make up for reading 6 Potter books, although I am young enough to say that I got hooked as a kid, and grew out of it in the end.

Not sure anyone should feel off for reading HP if they started with them as a youngster. Maybe the prose isn't up to much once you're a bit older and can detect such things, but Rowling did a decent enough job with the world fiction. Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy is superb and well worth a read. I hate book snobbery. Fuck you, snobbists. Let people read what they want to read and don't judge them for it.Â Railsea continues to be a delight. Life of Pi next, then

Life of Pi is a good read, short enough so you dont get bogged down and his writing style is easy on the brain..

ChattinWithChet

Going to read Bukowski's Post Office this evening. Short book. Looking forward to eating some raw down and out words.

Tempy

It is good, I liked it. He gets more sex than me though so we aren't on good terms.

davyK

Just finished the Auschwitz Violin - short but not sweet - chilling.

Clearing my half-read Kindle backlog - Getting to the end of Master and Margarita - totally fecked up but very good. Will finish off One Day in September after that - Munich terrorist incident backlash account.

Dark Soldier

I'm reading How To Make Love Like A Porn Star by Jenna Jameson.

There have been no tips as of yet though, just something about her being raped. This is not what I was expecting.

ChattinWithChet

Tempy wrote:

It is good, I liked it. He gets more sex than me though so we aren't on good terms.

Something I just realised: Hunter Thompson pretty much never talks about sexual experiences. I think Steadman talked more about his behaviour than most of his own work - fucking womans in a Nixon mask on cam.

ChattinWithChet

Dark Soldier wrote:

I'm reading How To Make Love Like A Porn Star by Jenna Jameson. There have been no tips as of yet though, just something about her being raped. This is not what I was expecting.

I could use a literary fluffer, lemme tell ya.

Kow

Women throw themselves at Chinaski, the bastard.

ChattinWithChet

Needing to fuck and expressing that desire openly and with drunken artistry is a good move. As long as it doesn't end in vomit. This is my great mistake.

ChattinWithChet

Also excited about reading La Brava by Elmore Leonard. Doesn't need the length and obsessive detail as Ellroy and turns out as enjoyable detective/ noir novels. Ellroy's edited collection of American Noir also looks sweet as hell. Kind of scared to read My Dark Places / The Hilliker Curse. He was a peeping tom, a john, a predator, a sick panty sniffing bastard. And I love him for it.

Brooks

Can never entirely shake the feeling that Bukowski has somehow enabled Objectivists.

ChattinWithChet

In what way?

Brooks

(Misreading of) romantic modern masculine energy, mostly.

Brooks

Holy shit, those lunatics. They did it. They recorded an audiobook of Infinite Jest.

And the endnotes are going to be DLC lol

Dark Soldier

Dark Soldier wrote:

I'm reading How To Make Love Like A Porn Star by Jenna Jameson. There have been no tips as of yet though, just something about her being raped. This is not what I was expecting.

She writes about her (supposedly) sexy scenes very well.

And 90% of it reads like bullshit.

Good stuff.

ChattinWithChet

Never thought she was aesthetically pleasing, or on the arousing side of throat fucking. Tatum Reed does it these days.

Dark Soldier

Some of the pre crackwhore/fake tits pics of her in the book are rather spiffing, then you turn the page and her face is nearly falling off and her tits are slowly defying gravity as she floats skyward.

ChattinWithChet

Reading Post Office. This made me laugh out loud, a bit uncontrollably:

"I found that the only time to study was before sleeping. I was always too tired to make and eat breakfast, so I would go out and buy a tall 6 pack, put it on the chair beside the bed, rip open a can, take a good pull and then open the scheme sheet. About the time I got to the 3rd can of beer I had to drop the sheet. You could only inject so much. Then I'd drink the rest of the beer, sitting up in bed, staring at the walls. With the last can I'd be asleep. And when I awakened, there was just tie to toilet, bathe, eat and drive back on in.

And you didn't adjust, you simply got more and more tired. I always picked up my 6 pack on the way in, and one morning I was really done. I climbed the staircase (there was no elevator) and put the key in. The door swung open. Somebody had changed all the furniture around, put in a new rug. No, the furniture was new too.

There was a woman on the couch. She looked all right. Young. Good legs. A blonde. "Hello," I said, "care for a beer?" "Hi!" she said. "All right, I'll have one." "I like the way the place is fixed up," I told her. "I did it myself." "But *why*?" "I just felt like it," she said. We each drank at the beer. "You're all right," I said. I put my beercan down and gave her a kiss. I put my hand on one of her knees. It was a nice knee. Then I had another swallow of beer. "Yes," I said, "I really like the way this place looks. It's really going to lift my spirits." "That's nice. My husband likes it too."

"Now why would your husband... What? Your husband? Look, what's this apartment number?" "309." "309? Great Christ! I'm on the wrong floor! I live in 409. My key opened your door." "Sit down, sweety," she said. "No, no..." I picked up the 4 remaining beers. "Why rush right off?" she asked. "Some men are crazy," I said, moving towards the door. "What do you mean?" "I mean, some en are in love with their wives." She laughed. "Don't forget where I'm at." I closed the door and walked up one more flight. Then I opened my door. There was nobody in there. The furniture was old and ripped, the rug almost colorless. Empty beer-cans on the floor. I was in the right place. I took off my clothes, climbed into bed alone and cracked another beer."

Kiltedmoose

Been through a few books over the last month. First up was the beautifully written The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. A great book with a writing style which reminded me of Neal Stephenson's Baroque trilogy.

It was then straight on to Moneyball, a book which had inexplicably passed me by. I'm a huge baseball fan and even after watching the game for the last 16 years, it opened my eyes to and has changed the way I view the game.

Third up was Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke - his third Dave Robicheux novel. I love his descriptive writing and the way he describes the food, atmosphere and scenery in and around New Orleans. A brilliant author and this crime series is fast becoming a favourite of mine.

Finally, I've just started The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. Only 150 pages in, but I like the writing style and his character portrayals.

Lots more in the pile to get through, but I'll let you know once I've finished Â The Art of Fielding.

ChattinWithChet

Post Office is really something. Exciting writer, takes care in every sentence. Makes most every bit of standard prose worthless, space taking shit. I will read Factotum tomorrow.

Unlikely

Based on that excerpt you posted it certainly is really something.

Kow

More Bukowski love. He is the top of the game.

Unlikely

Seriously?Â I've read nothing of his other than what Chet posted, and on that basis I'm not about to look for any more of his stuff.

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