Topic: Nintendo Life Book Club

Kafka's great. I need to read The Castle at some point. I'm currently reading The Idiot by Dostoyevsky.

@moomin
I had a mini Russian greats phase a couple of years ago. Mainly short stories, but also Dead Souls. Which is a lot funnier than the Joy Division song!

I think suffering is almost a necessity to capital-G Great literature (or at least to my personal canon) and the Russians have an unfair advantage in that regard; I don't think at any point in history they "had it easy" lol.

Dead Souls was also great. I should reread it, or at least skim through it some more.

I've noticed there's a lot of laughter in The Idiot. For Prince Myshkin it's a sincere laughter but for those around him it's (usually) a laughter at the expense of others or a laughter borne from nervousness/cynicism.

@moomin Sounds like something I'd read. I haven't read many Russian authors.

They have a very rich literary tradition

Currently reading Wheel of Time Crown of Swords the rest of this month and probably January too.

that and planning on reading the Dune Butlerian Jihad prequel trilogy

Read about 80% of Infinite Jest in high school/my early 20s but I was mostly reading it because I thought that was what smart people did (I was an annoying *****). But rereading it ten years later and with more experience I think I can appreciate it a lot more while also seeing its weaknesses, like sometimes the humor is a little too (for lack of a better word) "quirky" and some subplots (Remy and the quadruple-agent spy for example) feel like they don't go anywhere or are just plain boring to read through.

I do enjoy the worldbuilding though. Like if you're gonna write an 1100-page ubernovel it definitely helps to get sucked into its world. The idea of subsidized time is a kneeslapper, almost all the Enfield Academy kids are likeable in different ways, and some of the meditations on addiction and depression are incisive. Pleasure itself being framed as a kind of addiction is certainly as relevant in the 2020s as it was in the 90s.

@moomin
Reading your thoughts on Infinite Jest has reminded me to give Gravity's Rainbow another try. Got about a fifth of the way through it, put it down for a bit and was then hopeless lost as to what it was about. Think that's part of it, but - my god! - it's mad.

I’m currently reading Dragon Teeth

@Rambler Lmao I'm the same here, got about 20% into it and liked it but then I realized I lost the plot and probably missed some important plot point (I think there was an underground ring of Jewish spies or something?)

Oh no. Just found out my AAS membership gets me 30% off their books. Somebody take my wallet from me before I get put outdoors.

I'm on pace to finish Infinite Jest (1100 pages) in under three weeks which I certainly wasn't expecting. Having literally nothing better to do than stay in bed and read helps I suppose.

I finished Infinite Jest and am now moving on to the Foundation Pit by Andrei Platonov. 51 books for the year to go.

The Foundation Pit was great. Incredibly rich in metaphor and biblical allusion and the NYRB print includes extensive footnotes for historical/cultural context and a thoughtful afterword. I'll need to check out more Soviet literature. I'll be reading McCarthy's the Road next. 50 books to go!

@moomin -Not heard or the Foundation Pit - will have to look out for it

It's one of the several banned Soviet books rediscovered after the glasnost era

Definitely get the New York Review of Books edition too.

The Master & Margarita is my favourite Soviet era book although I've not ready that many to be honest. I think I picked it up after hearing Patti Smith (or was it The Rolling Stones but I'm not a huge fan of them so maybe not) were inspired by the book for one of their songs.

Whilst it is a satire about the godless modern life with interplay about good and evil, freedom in an unfree world and all that I however just liked it had a talking cat with a tommy gun in it!