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/lit/ - Literature

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3297942 No.3297942 [Reply] [Original]

So what do you think the best books of 2012 were? I wasn't reading as much this year and what I did read was older books.

>> No.3297979

I didn't read much either, but I do harbour a semi-love-hate sentiment towards The Teleportation Accident.

>> No.3298015

home
telegraph avenue
hologram for the king
nw

>> No.3298026
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3298026

My picks are Sea of Ink by Richard Weihe and The High Life by Jean-Pierre Martinet.

I think I only read five or six that were released this year though.

>> No.3298040

:/ Am I the only one who felt disappointed with this year's literature? 2012 just didn't strike me as a year with good releases. I mostly stuck with the classics or older books.

>> No.3298045

Richard's Yate

>> No.3298074

>>3298040
It seemed pretty great to me, though I haven't read everything I wanted to yet.

A new translation of The Tale of the Heike, the first English release of a work by Mikhail Shishkin, The Book of Monelle, re-translations from NYRB Classics and new releases from Dalkey Archive, Gombrowicz's Diary, more Walser, Satantango, a lot of smaller releases.

That's mostly paying attention to translations though.

>> No.3298132

The Last Policeman by: Ben Winters

I can't fucking put it down (paused for a second only to type this)

>> No.3298169

>>3298015
I loved NW and everything by Zadie, she is so much fun to read (pretty, too) but I always feel self conscious reading her stuff since its pretty pleb-tier, feels bad man.

inb4 pretentious, where do you think we are?

>> No.3298683

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
by
Jonas Jonasson

>> No.3298695

>>3298169

NW was decent, but certainly not good. The first half was horrible, even if the second half was very good. That book wouldn't have gotten released if she wasn't a popular author.

>> No.3298906

>>3298683
I got this for xmas and was a bit iffy. Seemed like Oprah-core. Is it good, then?

>> No.3298914

Umbrella by Self; Satantango by Krasznahorkai and Szirtes; Dear Life by Munro; Care of Wooden Floors by Wiles; Black Vodka by Levy; Pig Iron by Myers; Both Flesh and Not by DFW; The Testament of Mary by Toibin.

The first two are by far the best, though. Umbrella is Self's best novel by a long shot.

>> No.3298917

the man who can't read a book

>> No.3298923

>>3298045
Go to bead Tao.

>> No.3298953

>>3298914
>Satantango by Krasznahorkai
I am interested in this. I see a lot of people complaining about the run-on sentences in Krasznahorkai's work; how annoying is that going to be for a first timer?

Also, is Pig Iron really worth a read? It sounds very pulpy.

>> No.3298959

Satantango - László Krasznahorkai
The Galley Slave - Drago Jancar
Bursts of Light: The Collected Later Poems - William Bronk
Wild Dialectics - Lisa Samuels
Leeches - David Albahari
Marginalia on Casanova: St. Orpheus Breviary I - Miklós Szentkuthy
Every Short Story 1951-2012 - Alasdair Gray
The Snail’s Song - Alta Ifland

>> No.3299063

>>3298953
>I am interested in this. I see a lot of people complaining about the run-on sentences in Krasznahorkai's work; how annoying is that going to be for a first timer?

his syntax is the best feature of his prose. even as someone who has a hard time following authors like faulkner and burroughs, i didn't find satantango that difficult.

>> No.3299069

>>3299063
that is, not difficult to read. it's difficult to analyse, though.

>> No.3299076

>>3298959
>Leeches - David Albahari

sounds cool.

>> No.3299080

>>3297942
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver is definitely my pick for best book of the year.

>> No.3299097

>>3298953
I've read satantango, war&war and The melancholy of resistance. Satantango differs from the two others in that it has shorter sentences, dialogues, more form and structure. My favorite of the three. Translated this year but published in 1985 in Hungary.

>> No.3299102

>>3299063
>>3299097
Thanks.

>>3299069
Difficult to analyse?

>> No.3299150
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3299150

>>3298015
A month ago I would have agreed with NW, but now I'm no so sure. I still enjoyed it.

I thought A Hologram for the King was okay, but I wouldn't put it on any "Best of 2012" lists. But since it's Eggers, it will be.

>> No.3299164

>>3298683
>>3298906
utter crap, got through ~100 pages, quit.

>> No.3299209

>>3299150
I fucking love the covers

>> No.3299213

>>3299209
Same, I wish I had the Less Than Zero one.

>> No.3299285

>>3299150

Those are really good. Is this some new range I should be buying?

>> No.3300149

>>3298914
Are any of Will Selfs other novels worth reading?

also how does this make you feel
http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/1408820145/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0

>> No.3300236

>>3298959
Satantango is the what Bela Tarr's Satantango is based off of, no?

My choice: Telegraph Avenue

Chabon is one of the only contemporary american writers I care for in any real sense.

>> No.3300261

>>3298914
>>3300149

Is the name Will Self an example of Pure Ideology?

>> No.3300313

>>3300149
>Are any of Will Selfs other novels worth reading?

The Book of Dave is about 50% brilliant. Well worth a read for the present day chapters alone.

As for the mixed reception on amazon -- meh. Self's celebrity profile attracts a lot of unqualified readers to his work.

By far the most interesting living British author, if not the best.

>> No.3300390

>>3300236
Not really 'based'; the two worked together on everything, and not much is cut.

>> No.3300483

the only books i've really read this year not counting schoolbooks were the newsflesh trilogy books by mira grant/seanan mcguire.

I'd rate them feed as my favorite, blackout next, and deadline last, but all three were good. The style seemed very fresh and exciting to me when I picked up feed, and i couldn't put it down.

But perhaps that's because i don't get out much, so to speak, in terms of reading.