One of my favorite books of all time. First time reading?
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Here is a great stream of consciousness quote from Herzog about Kinski, the jungle, and God:
Werner Herzog : [On the jungle] Kinski always says it's full of erotic elements. I don't see it so much erotic. I see it more full of obscenity. It's just - Nature here is vile and base. I wouldn't see anything erotical here. I would see fornication and asphyxiation and choking and fighting for survival and... growing and... just rotting away. Of course, there's a lot of misery. But it is the same misery that is all around us. The trees here are in misery, and the birds are in misery. I don't think they - they sing. They just screech in pain. It's an unfinished country. It's still prehistorical. The only thing that is lacking is - is the dinosaurs here. It's like a curse weighing on an entire landscape. And whoever... goes too deep into this has his share of this curse. So we are cursed with what we are doing here. It's a land that God, if he exists has - has created in anger. It's the only land where - where creation is unfinished yet. Taking a close look at - at what's around us there - there is some sort of a harmony. It is the harmony of... overwhelming and collective murder. And we in comparison to the articulate vileness and baseness and obscenity of all this jungle - Uh, we in comparison to that enormous articulation - we only sound and look like badly pronounced and half-finished sentences out of a stupid suburban... novel... a cheap novel. We have to become humble in front of this overwhelming misery and overwhelming fornication... overwhelming growth and overwhelming lack of order. Even the - the stars up here in the - in the sky look like a mess. There is no harmony in the universe. We have to get acquainted to this idea that there is no real harmony as we have conceived it. But when I say this, I say this all full of admiration for the jungle. It is not that I hate it, I love it. I love it very much. But I love it against my better judgment.
Kinski was like Peter Sellers from what i hear really awful people and hard to be around but they were talented as fuck. if what i read about Klaus his own kids could not stand him and didn't even got to his Funeral! if he wrote that in his bio than yeah i believe it. and Sellers was also a really talented guy but his kids also could not stand him and in both cases it's just plain sad i think. anyways
i finished The Last Precinct (2000) by Patrica Cornwell it a good book but it's not one of the best in the series. i'd say 7/10
Some Klaus Kinski stuff
Spoiler: 06-03-2022 01:38 PMRichardXSome people learn that complaining and acting outrageously makes them the center of attention. In my opinion, these antics were mostly an affectation by Kinski for that purpose. No doubt he was an insecure narcissist, but a lot of these tantrums were contrived. Still entertaining. 06-22-2022 08:50 PMratchet41on film yes i agree in real life however i think they wanted to beat his ass and Sellers too and i can't honestly say that i blame them for that either. well i'm reading Blow Fy (2003) the #12 Kay Scarpetta book and as i just posted on my Patrica Cornwell thread she's barely even in it and it's not one of her best either. 07-02-2022 06:38 AMBr!anEveryone said Speaks the Nightbird by McCammon was a good read. Everyone was right. I just finished it and can't wait to start Queen of Bedlam. I order those two to start and have the rest of the series on order from Lividian. :thumbsup:
I'm also reading Mary's Mosaic by Peter Janney. It's a non-fiction account of the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer who was President Kennedy's mistress. Very revealing, well written and informative. 07-02-2022 12:40 PMHunchback JackYep, McCammon’s the real deal, and the Corbett books are some of his best work. Enjoy the rest of the series, Brian.
I’ll be starting on King of Shadows as soon as I finish up my current reads - Johnny Got His Gun and Wolves of the Calla. 07-05-2022 10:59 AMLadyHazmatRecently revisited The Talisman and Black House. I'm half-way through Wizard and Glass, but after five and half books, I needed a break from Frank Muller's narration. Now I'm listening to The Fisherman by John Langan. 07-08-2022 06:04 PMHunchback JackI like Muiler's narration, but it does get a little tiring after a while - his sometimes-over-dramatic tone does not always make for easy listening.
I've also been taking another journey to the Tower, stopping off along the way to read the relevant side novels and stories in the order they were published. Some stories I've listened to, but the main 7 stories I'm reading in print. I'm reading Wolves of the Calla at the moment, which is better than I remembered.
HBJ 07-09-2022 09:09 AMDoctorZaiusAfter finishing "Elevation" - loved it - I have finally gotten around to Later. I have about 40 pages left - a really good read so far. 07-19-2022 07:37 AMSt. Troy 07-20-2022 04:39 AMBr!an 08-20-2022 02:46 PMmaeJust ordered Uzumaki, very excited to start my Junji Ito journey:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqmC0y49AlM 08-20-2022 05:52 PMHeather19I bought a few of his books awhile ago but still haven't started them yet. I should get on that. 08-21-2022 03:50 AMcraigobauJust finished Locklands, the third and final story in the Foundryside trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett.
I’m not a big reader of fantasy stories, by this trilogy was outstanding. Highly recommended. 08-21-2022 10:37 AMmae 08-21-2022 03:44 PMHeather19I have Uzumaki, Gyo, Sensor, and Venus in the Blind. I was thinking of maybe starting with a short story, but I've been dying to read Uzumaki since I discovered it was a book. I saw the movie ages ago and loved it. I also really enjoyed Tomie so that ones on my list to pick up.
I think I need to start a list of books I have and then organize by how much I want to read them. Also I have to get back to reading physical books again instead of my kindle. It's just super convenient to read on that so I usually finish one and then just look for another on it versus looking at my bookshelves. 08-21-2022 03:57 PMmaeI really can't read books electronically, and no matter how many times I've tried audiobooks, my mind just can't concentrate and all I hear is just words. 11-20-2022 03:53 PMWeDealInLeadPretty good November so far:
Cormac McCarthy - No Country for Old Men. Every day is a loss, time is against you, evil will always exist, your pain is indifferent to your suffering. So damned bleak. Why did I love it then?
Tim Powers - Artificial Light. Another ghost story by Powers. I'll have to reread it because he and Gene Wolfe get better and clearer the second time. Maybe I could've waited for an ebook or a collection but handmade letterpress books are my weakness.
Harlan Ellison - Blood's a Rover. The main story is A Boy and His Dog (3.1 people might remember the movie with Don Johnson as the boy) and then the accompanying short stories and screenplays. It's a post-apocalyptic story with killer gangs, telepathic dogs and mutants. Plus it's Ellison so of course there's going to be some acerbic commentary hidden between the lines on how we're all dumb.
I'm reading and having a tough time getting into Fairy Tale by King. No editor is going to tell uncle Steve to trim the fat, he's too big for that. The book is 600 pages, I'm halfway done and if this were anyone else, I'd have tapped our at page 100. The story IS neat. It's not original at all but it's interesting... or it would be if everything wasn't so long-winded. Update: bottom 3 King.
I'm almost done the Liggoti book I started last month. I'm not enjoying it in the strictest sense. The stories aren't always even stories, it's more about the mood and people disassociating from reality and/or self. It's pretty dense stuff and I can't really rush it. Beach reading old Thomas is not. I would suggest Dr. Locrian's Asylum to anyone who likes Karl Edward Wagner's and T.E.D. Klein's Dark Gods novellas. It's pretty much weird story masterclass storytelling with the emphasis on story.
Currently reading Jeff Vandermeer - Annihilation. What a wonderfully weird and unsettling world. I shouldn't have watched the movie first. 11-25-2022 03:34 PMWeDealInLeadThe Last House on Needless Street 11-26-2022 03:35 PMCookLonesome Dove.. Larry McMurtry
Obviously the greatest western to date. 12-05-2022 05:50 AMWeDealInLeadSimon Strantzas - Burnt Black Suns 12-05-2022 11:08 AMHunchback JackI've just finished The Fall of Númenor, a collection of Tolkien's disparate Second Age writings, selected and organized chronologically by Brian Sibley.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Although all the material appears elsewhere across many different works, putting it all in historical order makes for a compelling and enlightening narrative. Sibley meticulously footnotes every editorial decision he makes, annotates the text with quotes from Tolkien's letters, Christopher Tolkien's previous commentary, and his own comments, and treats the original material with the highest respect.
And revisiting Tolkien's rich and majestic prose is always a joy.
Now reading Seventh Decimate, the first in Stephen Donaldson's The Great God's War trilogy. I'm rereading the first two volumes in preparation for the just-released final installment, The Killing God.