cborgman said:

This is the first book I ever read by him. I was 12 and it made a big impact on me. This and Garp are my favest books by him.

Extraña Forma De Vida (Strange Way Of Life) by Enrique Vila-Matas.

Formidable writing and very very funny.

Yin Chih Wen

I'm 1/2 way through this one...


What a GREAT bio

IstenSzek said:

'Snow' is a great book. It's my favourite of his novels.

vivid said:

I've only read "the black book" and "my name is red" by him so far.
"the black book" i found a bit 'too much' and hard to get through,
but "my name is red" was one of the more interesting and better of
any contemporary novels i've read in the past decade.

As always tho, i've now started in a book i did not intend to read
for the time being. it's just a pulp fiction crap mystery/thriller
called "the last supper", about da vinci and conspiracies and all
that stuff. it's a guilty pleasure.

But i'm gonna read "snow" next

HamsterHuey said:

have you read cider house?

it's not as manically wacky as garp or hotel, but it is tremendous.

Harlepolis said:

OMG!!!!! I need to get this.

I go dancing at this club where one of his ex's goes to. Still dancin'!!!!


Why does he look like Jennifer Hudson there!! Werk!
[Edited 5/7/10 7:24am]

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I'm sure it will take you by surprise as well he was a royalty long before he signed his record deal.

Never really paid him that much attention untill I saw that Cockettes documentary

He might've lived a very short life, but it feels he lived 4 lifetimes combined in his 41 years course. You'll enjoy the book.

IstenSzek said:

I loved the Black Book, but I was living in Istanbul at the time and I think that added loads to the experience of reading it.

My Name Is Red, I got bored - but everyone else seems to love it.

His book Istanbul which is a kind of biography of both him and the city is also great.

I can't wait to read Snow again.
[Edited 5/7/10 7:58am]

cborgman said:

Hotel New...had a great imapct on me too - and I even loved the film.

Cider House is brilliant.


This is probably the book that hits me hardest in the best places.


[Edited 5/7/10 8:04am]

vivid said:

i like the hotel movie. it's not perfect, but it's really good.

i don't like the cider movie at all though. so much is cut and crammed in and watered down that i just sit there resenting it. the fact that angel isn't even in it and the rose family saga happens to homer drives me bat shit crazy.

not seeing homer as a parent kind of destroys the experience for me, as it is such an essential part of the book.

if i ever get a chance to direct a film, and someone is dumb enough to give me the required money, i am going to do an hbo miniseries of cider house and do the whole book.
[Edited 5/7/10 8:08am]

cborgman said:

Yup. I didn't like it either. I can't remember why now as I read it so long ago, but I do remember being disappointed.

If I win the lottery tomorrow, I'll fund your miniseries.

vivid said:

you're not the first that has said that. i will have to pick it up.

vivid said:

in fairness, it is an unfilmable book unless you can make the running time at least 4 hours, and cast 3 homer wells (homer to age 16, homer 16-20s, and homer 30s on)

they did the best they could, but it really is a terrible adaptation in that it's only about a third of the book.

it just drives me crazy mostly because not seeing the full arch of homer wells from unadoptable orphan to parent of the strongest kind really minimizes the staggering compassion and depth of the character.

and while i love all of the cast, most of them are really not good choices for those roles. tobey maguire just looks stoned and lost, micheal caine sounds like he is taking dialect classes just off camera to get the accent, charlize is a bit bland, and so on.

the standouts were miss badu and delroy lindo as the roses. they really really REALLY played those roles beautifully.

cborgman said:

Yep. I remember being moved by them but not much else.

cborgman said:

I literally can't wait to read it again, and I've read it several times now. It's one of those rare books that you want to live rather than just read.

cborgman said:

I've read all his books. I love his writing. Cider House is third or fourth.

Have you read The Imaginary Girlfirend?

I stil get angry for myself for missplacing the first edition I had of that.

HamsterHuey said:

Herman, out of curiosity, do you read these books in Dutch or English?


Also, have you read any German authors like Herman Hesse (Sidhartha)?
If so, do you read those in translated dutch or English, or in their native German?


I'm always fascinated by non-native English speakers, especially the Swedish, Dutch, or Finish, because you're English is so subperb that you understand nuances in pros. You 'get' the message even when it is only subtly implied in the language, which even most first year English speaking college students would miss.

TheVoid said:

I've read the early ones in Dutch when I was a young teenager (I started learning English when I was 12), but re-read them all from 1986-ish on.

TheVoid said:

I've read Steppenwolf as a young teenager. Also in Dutch. It was part of a fruitless search. I thought it was a bit too old fashioned.

TheVoid said:

These days, most books I read are in English, most often English/American writers.
Some Spanish writers' translations I rather read in Dutch than English, though. I think sometimes the Dutch language is better suited to read non-English, translated works, just because the English language is overdeveloped into a somewhat too compact, simplified language, while the Dutch language seems to catch nuances I miss otherwise.

Harlepolis said:

I live in the San Francisco Bay area so I saw him at a couple of gay prides. The last time I saw him he was in the parade in a wheelchair. It was bittersweet.

HamsterHuey said:

I loved Steppenwolf but can't remember why now. I've read Siddartha many, many times.