Cloud Atlas and Life of Pi and House of Leaves

[manvstrees]

are all the same thing to me. that's ok, right?

[manvstrees]

i mean are any of these actually very good or can i just lump them together for no reason and continue on
just checking

edit: also what am i forgetting here....there are probably 2 or 3 other books that fall in this nonsense category i made up

[a-10 warthog champion]

*

[a-10 warthog champion]

i didnt mind reading cloud atlas

[HUMANIMAL]

i guess i can see some structural similarities between house of leaves and cloud atlas, but i don't see how life of pi fits in at all

[Jerry Lundegaard]

ban manvstrees

[manvstrees]

was something offensive

[quilty]

the first two are probably the same thing and the third thing is probably as bad but different,

why do you ask who would care about this

the real answer is tao lin wrote all of them

[nibelheim]

i started a hol thread a while ago because a friend with normally quite good taste in fiction (loves pychon, gaddis, dfw, etc) recommended i read it

i still havent read it and am not sure i ever will

[manvstrees]

oh no one should care about this

[ahungbunny]

I've heard from reputable sources that House of Leaves can get pretty frightening. I'm still planning on reading it at some point.

[Jerry Lundegaard]

i was just doing the beyerstein.

House of Leaves was fun and I couldn't get into Life of Pi to spite the generally favorable reviews I have heard. I do not see how they are much similar. I am unfamiliar with Cloud Atlas.

[HUMANIMAL]

i started a hol thread a while ago because a friend with normally quite good taste in fiction (loves pychon, gaddis, dfw, etc) recommended i read it

i still havent read it and am not sure i ever will

i also love pynchon and dfw (haven't read any gaddis, i will remedy that soon), and i liked house of leaves

it was really gimmicky, but the gimmicks worked for the most part.

[deep space]

I think Cloud Atlas and Life of Pi had hype around them about the same time and everyone told me I should read them but when they described them I couldn't have been less interested. Descriptions of House of Leaves intrigued me more but I was ultimately disappointed.

[HUMANIMAL]

I've heard from reputable sources that House of Leaves can get pretty frightening. I'm still planning on reading it at some point.

some parts had me feeling very, very claustrophobic

i remember almost feeling chased in one part where a group of characters are being chased, just from the format of the words on the page

like i said, gimmicky, but cool

[quilty]

the list of books you should read before any of these books is literally endless

[deep space]

Why do I get angry when I overhear people telling each other they must read Fifty Shades of Grey?

[quilty]

you must be quick to anger

[manvstrees]

i finally started 2666 and it was like hey finally a good book again
even though i'm also reading book of disquiet, unvanquished, and a few other things i can't get emotionally invested in at all

[quilty]

those three things all sound good to read, good job

[HUMANIMAL]

i finally started 2666 and it was like hey finally a good book again
even though i'm also reading book of disquiet, unvanquished, and a few other things i can't get emotionally invested in at all

i was like this with the savage detectives, i've yet to start 2666. i feel like that's one i need a few days off from work from to just invest all my time in.

[fester]

of the three I've only read cloud atlas and I liked it well enough. it's gimmicky but each story is pretty good

another super gimmicky book I liked was Use of Weapons by Iain Banks. It alternates chapters between the beginning and the end of the story and they meet in the middle at the end of the book. I generally hate gimmicks in writing though.

[badhat]

Why do I get angry when I overhear people telling each other they must read Fifty Shades of Grey?

everything i know about fifty shades of grey i know from this skit

and i think thats plenty

[Jerry Lundegaard]

wait what was the gimmick in life of pi?

[manvstrees]

i need to read more Ishiguro

[nibelheim]

2666 is a great novel

[manvstrees]

also never finished the cities of the red night trilogy

[quilty]

This is the only book from this year that I can fully endorse.

[HUMANIMAL]

wait what was the gimmick in life of pi?

there really wasn't a gimmick, which is why i didn't think it fit in with cloud atlas and house of leaves

[Automatic]

I really liked House of Leaves, but it's certainly gimmicky. Haven't read the other two.