The Idiot Board Readers Corner - General Discussion

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Chris Ayres "Co-wrote" it, but I think that term is used pretty loosely since Ozzy fully admits he's dyslexic and can barely write.

That isn't mentioned at all.

He actually said he thought Dio was a good singer and a good fit for the band.

He says that the reason he was such a mess on The Osbournes was due to a "one in a billion" medical issue that Doctors couldn't figure out for a long time. I don't think I've seen what he's actually like since the show's been over (other than the WoW commercials), but he says in the book that he's way better now, and even "hams it up a bit" for people that think he's still a drooling, stuttering zombie. Sharon used to be just as much of a drunk as Ozzy himself, but she's talked about in a pretty favourable light in the book. She's referred to as extremely smart and hard-working multiple times, and whenever she wants something, she'll get it.

I hadn't heard about that, but he does say the book is a combination of things he remembers, and things other people have told him. That'll be pretty shitty if half the book is fiction. He also says his Mother only used to care and talk to him about money, and that drove him nuts because he hates talking about it.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

I finally got around to reading RMMB favorite A Confederacy of Dunces, and Woooweee what a read. Hey!

Where to start? First, it's one of my top 3 novels of all time. The tragedy is that Toole apparently took his own life before he could contribute more to the literary world. Second, never in my life have I read more well-crafted and loathsome characters. At every word, I wanted to strangle the delusional Mrs. Levy. The same would be true for protagonist (antagonist?) Ignatius Reilly if it wouldn't deprive the book's universe of future ludicrous antics.

Reilly's journal entries leave you wanting to read his Big Chief tablet ramblings as a whole, no matter their schizophrenic nature. The first 70% of the book is a joy, and once the plot truly begins to move towards conclusiong, it's a downhill sled ride towards the oncoming train that is the resolution.

I'd really like to write more about it, but I'm still processing. However, I will agree with previous musings on this and the old board that Ignatius J. Reilly is one of the best written characters I've ever read.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Yeah, feel free to write more, since I'm kind of curious about your review.

I also read "A Confederacy of Dunces" a few years back after Tucker raved about it, and while I thought it was a very good novel, and legitimately funny, I was confused how anyone could consider it great, let alone one of the best books they had ever read.

Ignatius Reilly is a good character, and the various subplots and minor characters are pretty amusing, but nothing struck me as special about the book. From a pure humor perspective, it was inferior to any number of works by Dave Barry and Douglas Adams, for instance, and from the standpoint of depth and meaning, it's inferior to countless hundreds of books.

What did you like about it so much?

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

When it comes to humor novels, I have a hard time getting involved in a storyline or the major players. The absurdity of the characters in Dunces is obviously what drives the book. It's not so much that I was curious what they would get themselves involved in next, but whether or not karma would ever catch up to them by the resolution (does that make sense?)

I was reading the novel with a mental picture of a very real world New Orleans, which helped to amplify the insane personalities. There were brief moments where I was a little empathetic towards Reilly's plight dealing with the undereducated people that surrounded him, and then felt some satisfaction when he finally received some comeuppance from what was basically his first interaction with a moderately intelligent and self-aware group of people.

Maybe I'm a little coarse and unfeeling, but it's often difficult for a novel to stir any real emotions in me, and when it comes to humorous fiction, the absurd is about all that gets a rise out of me. To give you some context, too, I typically read one novel for every 3-4 nonfiction books, whether the latter is something like Happy Hour is for Amateurs & Practical Guide to Racism or something more along the lines of The Long Tail or Black Swan. I didn't discover novels outside the squeaky clean mainstream of my youth & parents' tastes (think Crichton, Cornwell, Patterson) until the last 4 or so years, so I'm not very worldly in the realm of quality, edgy fiction. Hell, I'm still within the first 30 pages of American Psycho. For some more context, my other favorite novels are Boomsday, Choke and Fight Club. Hopefully that background makes it a little clearer as to why it's one of my favorites, while I can see how other people don't consider it groundbreaking (it's superb writing, but not groundbreaking).

 

Play Their Hearts Out

Did a quick search and didn't see this one, but Play Their Hearts Out by George Dorhman was amazing. It's basically about one writer's experience with an AAU team in southern CA over the course of 8 years. The main focus is on one player, Demetrius Walker, who was ranked as the top 6th grader in his class in 2003, as well as Joe Keller, his AAU coach and complete scumbag. It helps to know a little (or a lot) about major college basketball and the grassroots scene before reading it, but it's less about the game and more about the people involved.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

So after seeing a couple people in this thread talk about R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy I decided to give it a try. I'm still only about half way through the third book but I've been really enjoying them so far. I really like the way he writes his characters in that even the heroes are obviously imperfect (for the most part). I also like the details and depth he has given to the world these books take place in, with the various cultural and political factions. The only thing that bothers me about the books is that it seems to me that Bakker really needs to get laid. The sexual content in these books, while not really vulgar or overly descriptive are still pretty gratuitous.

Since I'm about done with the trilogy, can anyone suggest any good science fiction? This trilogy has been pretty good but I generally prefer Sci-Fi over fantasy and after these three books I could really use some good Sci-Fi.

I'm also thinking of giving Stephen King's Dark Tower series a go, anyone have any comments on those books?

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

I'm a big fan of anything by David Brin, including "The Postman", which had one of the most unjust, awful film adaptations ever, but is a marvelous book. And for old school, of course it's Robert Anson Heinlein. Peter F Hamilton is another nice modern-day writer.

I think it's the greatest, most epic adventure series ever told? Really, I can't say enough great things about it. Books 2, 3, 4, and 7 are all sensational masterpieces, and the other three are very good, if not great.

Imagine "Lord of the Rings" (which I thought was great), only with non-stop excitement, way grittier, realistic, far more intelligent, with vastly superior characters.

 

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Looks like that will be next on my fiction list then. I have a feeling it will be right up my alley.

Ever read the stand? I've been thinking of giving that one a go as well.

 

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I wholeheartedly agree with the recommendation. The first book (The Gunslinger) will always be my favorite though. It was and is honestly so much different than any book I've ever read. I think the rest of the series failed to live up to philosophical and emotional depth and quality set out in it, but it is still an extremely good series on the whole with a perfect ending.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

This book follows second lieutenant Waino Mellas and other Marines of Bravo Company through part of Mellas's first tour in Vietnam and how their perception of brotherhood, glory, race, death and war changes. At the beginning of the novel Bravo Company is ordered to take a hill and establish a firebase which they name Matterhorn. They are then ordered to abandon Matterhorn to head south only to be told to retake it once again after the NVA has established themselves there.

In my opinion this is a great fucking novel and if you are into books that involve the military I think it is a must read. It has been a long time since I have read a book and immediately wanted to start reading it again. The book isn't perfect, but it is close. Marlantes can be a little heavy handed at times, but for the majority of the book he hit me just right. I got dust in my eyes a couple times and by the end I was left emotionally drained and raw.

The strongest part of the novel are the characters. I was completely enthralled by them. Everyone from the alcoholic lieutenant colonel that is at the heart of the absurdity of the orders Mellas and the others must follow to the black radicals that are constantly trying to fight the man are evocative and compelling. Marlantes captures them all and does so wonderfully.

Marlantes was also able to reel me in without having the Marines in combat every other scene. His writing actually seems to be at its best when they are in between combat. The mindset that he conveys in the moments where the characters are left with their own thoughts produces the greatest writing of the book.

I'm not in the military and have certainly never been in combat, so I'm not sure if this book would ring true for someone who has been through what Marlantes is writing about, but Marlantes himself is a highly decorated Marine officer, so I will take his word on what war is like.

Even though I have a BofA in English I suck at writing book reviews, so I will just end it here. Sebastian Junger (one of the director's of Restrepo and the author of WAR) wrote a better review in the New York Times if you want to read more about it.

8 out of 10

 

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I absolutely love this series. My best friend in high school tried to get me to read it junior year and I just couldn't get into it. I tried it again 3 or 4 years ago and couldn't stop, as soon as I finished one book I dropped what I was doing to drive across town to the bookstore. My favorite is Wizard and Glass but I can honestly say that I loved every single book. I even have a few of the graphic novels that are based on the series. My favorite series of all time.

If you like Stephen King you have to read this book, it's amazing.

If you're looking for a post-apocalyptic book that is also pretty epic and has been compared to The Stand, I can't recommend The Passage by Justin Cronin highly enough. I read that book in a few days. I didn't sleep, I hardly ate, I was completely captivated by it.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

I am not a fan of King, but I think The Stand is a great book. I'm not sure where that stands on your sense of perspective.

I've just started Anthony Kiedis's Scar Tissue. I'm not sure how much of it is ghost-written but it seems if anything to not be holding anything back.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

The Stand is great. If you're planning on reading The Dark Tower as well as any other of King's work, read the other works first. The Dark Tower makes multiple references to other works of King's that while not necessary to have read to get the plot, are cool when you recognize them.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

I hadn't read any of King's novels (only his short stories) before reading Dark Tower, and it didn't hurt my enjoyment one bit.

Considering that The Dark Tower makes references to roughly half the books King has written in his career, everything from Tommyknockers to It to The Stand to Eyes of the Dragon to Hearts in Atlantis to Cujo, etc, etc., I think that's a hell of a prerequisite for starting the series.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

My Shit Life So Far by Frankie Boyle

I've always been a fan of Boyle - I think he's one of the best, most original and boundary-pushing comedians in the UK today. He was by far the funniest panel member on Mock the Week and the show has never been the same since he left. So with that in mind, I bought this book to read on the my three hour journey from home to university a few weeks ago.

I say this without hyperbole: This is the funniest book I've ever read. I literally had to stop reading it on the bus because I was laughing so hard that I felt embarrassed. It's billed as an autobiography but his life story is only really told as a framework for him to fit in as many offensive and hilarious jokes possible per page. It's no literary masterpiece, some of the jokes are recycled from his TV appearances and stand-up shows, and a lot of the references might not make sense to anyone who isn't particularly familiar with British pop culture, but it will still make you laugh your ass off. Read it.

(One caveat though: if you're put off by edgy or crude humour, stay the hell away from this book. Boyle is the king of offensive comedy, and he makes George Carlin or Bill Hicks look tame. No segment of society is spared. Common topics include rape, child abuse, high-profile murder or abduction cases, and terminal illnesses. You have been warned.)

 

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I'm a fan of the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. It's about a post-scarcity civilization/empire called the Culture, which is able to offer technological utopia to anyone who joins them. However, for whatever reason many species and civilizations don't want to join them. And since the Culture is non-violent except in self-defense, they have a group called the Special Circumstances division, the purpose of which is to guide the evolution of other civilizations to the point that they accept the Culture of their own free will.

Another really good series is the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. Two different foundations, acting on the theories of a "psychohistorist" named Hari Seldon, attempt to divert the course of history from one in which a galactic dark age lasts 30,000 years to one in which it lasts only 1,000 years. Classic stuff.

 

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Vagabonding by Rolf Potts.

This is a short, highly informative guide to the backpacker-style long term travelling. It tries to impart the spirit of travelling, via Walt Whitman poetry, profiles of people like Jack London, random testimonies and some vague but useful strategies. If you think the idea of travelling the route featured in "The Motorcycle Diaries" is awesome, you would love to trek across places you can't pronounce for weeks, and if the idea of just...wandering across third world countries appeals to you; read this book first.

If that sounds like a hot pile of hippie bullshit, shut up and get back to work.

On War by Carl von Clausewitz.

This is not an easy read. Christ, it's...Prussian. Honestly this isn't an easy book to absorb and I haven't found a whole lot that's redeeming about it. It's certainly a smart book, and after being endlessly quoted, I assumed there was a great deal of substance to it. It's just hard to hack through the wordiness to get to the goods.

Why we do it by Niles Eldridge.

A rebuttal, kind of, to Sex and the Selfish Gene. Basically, he's trying to swing the nature/nurture pendulum back towards nurture. One simple observation sort of justifies his point: if genes were so powerful and all they wanted to do was make babies, there would be a LOT more babies. He tries to tie this up by suggesting that cultures form that facilitate reproduction in varying ways, but he starts to lose it when he uses extreme examples (rape, for example). Still, it's a pretty interesting read, and worth giving some consideration.

 

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Reviews like this just confuse me. "On War" is a well-written, easy to understand book. This isn't like reading Hegel, who uses obscure German idioms and metaphors, and has no interest in being understood by a wider audience. Von Clausewitz wrote in a clear language, for the common man.

As for what's "redeeming" about it, it's the most brilliant, accurate work on warfare ever written, and in my view, surpasses "The Art of War" by a considerable amount.

 

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King himself refers to the series as a cross between Lord of The Rings, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with a dark twist, and it definitely does a great job of creating a dark western fantasy feel, something unlike anything I've ever read before. I finished the sixth book while on vacation in Florida, as soon as I did I hopped in my car and drove to the store for the seventh book, it was just so engaging, really can't recommend it enough.

While I don't think you'll be hurt by not reading the other books, I agree with Aetius that if The Stand, Salem's Lot, etc are already on your list you may as well read them before DT since they are referenced.