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| Books & Authors Recommended and not so recommended reading. |
12-23-2007, 01:25 PM
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#1
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Writer
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Bay Area
Gender: Male
Posts: 38
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Philip Roth
Great writer.
Very easy for me to relate to.
(but maybe that's just me)
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J. M. Kauftheil
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12-23-2007, 01:46 PM
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#2
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Mentor
Join Date: Jun 2003
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,485
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Portnoy's Complain is one of my all-time favorite books. Best line: "I had it once in the bedroom, then later, at dinner, with the rest of my family on the end of a for."
Paraphrase, but you get the gist.
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His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.
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12-23-2007, 02:39 PM
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#3
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Profound Writer
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Chicago
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,257
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"Portnoy's Complaint" is like a more refined Bukowski. Even if the writing sucked, I could like it for that alone.
EDIT: It sounds like I implied the writing in Portnoy's sucked. It doesn't.
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How can you expect a man who's warm to understand a man who's cold?
- Solzhenitsyn "Ivan Denisovich"
Last edited by Edgewise : 12-23-2007 at 07:33 PM.
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12-23-2007, 07:14 PM
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#4
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Writer
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Bay Area
Gender: Male
Posts: 38
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I came across Portnoy when I was, I believe, thirteen.
Fell in love with that book.
I connected with that book in so many ways...
The being Jewish, the mother, the masturbation...
I can open that book to a random page
And just start reading.
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J. M. Kauftheil
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12-23-2007, 08:40 PM
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#5
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Profound Writer
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Glasgow, UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,117
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I've not read Roth - other than Everyman - but I've been extremely tempted to, especially after my pal's reviews. I've bought his first novel, Letting Go, with the intention of reading Roth in order. |
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12-23-2007, 09:11 PM
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#6
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Mentor
Join Date: Jun 2003
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,485
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Me too - any page in that book is like fireworks. And he is like a more refined Bukowski. Apt comparison, though it kind've pains me to link Bukowski's staid style with Roth's crazy ass shit.
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His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.
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12-24-2007, 09:12 AM
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#7
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Prolific Writer
Join Date: Jul 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 470
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I have only read The Plot Against America. It was good but not among my favorites. I will likely read more of his work.
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12-24-2007, 04:16 PM
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#8
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 3,492
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More refined Bukowski...that sounds good. What do you guys mean buy that? Propper grammar and less alcohol induced stream of conscious?
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12-24-2007, 05:23 PM
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#9
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Profound Writer
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Chicago
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,257
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Malone
More refined Bukowski...that sounds good. What do you guys mean buy that? Propper grammar and less alcohol induced stream of conscious?
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The writing itself is less gritty and more fluid than Bukowski, and yet it deals with the same themes of sex and misanthropy (at least in "Portnoy's Complaint"...the only other book of his that I have read is "The Plot Against America".
__________________
How can you expect a man who's warm to understand a man who's cold?
- Solzhenitsyn "Ivan Denisovich"
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01-02-2008, 05:00 PM
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#10
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Addict
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 117
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Writes very well and has - on occasion - conjured up some very good books but, nevertheless, I can't shed the feeling that he is, at least somewhat, overrated... like Updike, he's written too much about the same topics and thus exhausted them, I feel.
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