Showing posts with label bookareala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bookareala. Show all posts

Sunday, April 19

I'd love to hear about Jesus! What's he up to now?

"Joshua's ministry was three years of preaching, sometimes three times a day, and although there were some high and low points, I could never remember the sermons word for word, but here's the gist of almost every sermon I ever heard Joshua give.

You should be nice to people, even creeps.
And if you:
a) believed that Joshua was the Son of God (and)
b) he had come to save you from sin (and)
c) acknowledged the Holy Spirit within you (became as a little child, he would say) (and)
d) didn't blaspheme the Holy Ghost (see c)
then you would:
e) live forever
f) someplace nice
g) probably heaven
However, if you:
h) sinned (and/or)
i) were a hypocrite (and/or)
j) valued things over people (and)
k) didn't do a, b, c, and d,
then you were:
l) fucked"

(Christopher Moore - Lamb: The Gospel According To Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend)

... have a little sense of humour, please...

Sunday, February 8

No Love Lost

Nu mai stiu cand am auzit de el, dar in momentul in care am vazut un Inrock Hors de series cu el mi-am zis imediat ca il vreau... Am reflectat asupra acestui fapt si mi-am zis 'Don't be absurd. Nici macar n-ai citit nici o carte scrisa de el. 15 euro....nooooo' . Asa ca Inrockul respectiv a ramas in raft. La FNAC, mereu vedeam carti de-ale lui. Dar mereu alta carte era prioritara. Mai tarziu, in Romania, cand mi-am facut abonament la biblioteca de la Institut francais, m-am dus direct la H. Si am gasit 'Platforme'.... am luat-o fericita si .... am ajuns sa imi blestem zilele... Michel Houellebecq e un autor mediocru in cele mai bune momente ale lui ... infect, mizerabil, e incapabil sa isi contureze clar personajele, sa te faca sa simpatizezi cu ele, nu poate sa convey emotion nici daca il bati cu parul si scrie cu 5 clisee pe cuvant. Nu il suport. Nici ma-sa nu il suporta... chiar ea a zis...stie femeia ce stie... In schimb, lumea il considera o bomboana de autor. Nenea aia care au facut 1001 books you must read before you die il iubesc la culme... In editia din 2006...top, 3 carti de-ale astuia...Nu tu Mailer, nu tu Coupland, nu tu Eliade... dar TREI carti de-ale astuia... In 2008, stituatia e si mai imputita... cele 3 mizerii raman... dar dispare Trainspotting... Houellebecq has people fooled... adica ..Trainspotting in puii mei...

Bine, recunosc...poate oamenii de fapt stiu ce petarda e Houellebecq iar aia care au facut cartea sunt cu vaca si se cred la balamuc...

But I still hate Houellebecq's sorry French ass...

Friday, August 10

Vacances dans le coma

Lacking any ideas about how the hell I could write about Ben Trotter (creatie, dom’ne, m-a mancat sa dau la jurnalism… admiterea!) si brainstorming in speranta ca voi gasi un pesonaj literar care sa imi placa la fel de mult (tema era: “Realizeaza portretul personajului literar favorit”), mi-a venit idea unui Top 5 in iubitul stil High Fidelity (Long Live Hornby!)… Un top 5 books I’d carry with me everywhere I go + reasons why

1. Rotter’s Club (la pachet cu “A Closed Circle”) – Jonathan Coe
De ce?
Pentru ca e o epopee almost Joyce-iana in care Coe analizeaza duritatea adolescentei,its cruelness and bitterness.
Si o face cu un simt al umorului extrem de sharp.
Pentru ca e aproape imposibil sa nu te indragostesti de personajele lui, de their hopes&dreams.

De ce la pachet cu "A Closed Circle ?"
Pentru ca iti arata cum s-au maturizat personajele din "Rotter’s Club", cum s-au naruit their hopes&dreams si ce cruel e viata in general (nu numai adolescenta)

2. Boys In The Band – David Brun-Lambert
De ce?
(Unii ar zice “pentru ca it’s about Libertines!”. Da, de asta mi-am luat-o.
Ma simt nevoita sa fac o mini-recenzie. Cartea se bazeaza pe the Libertines story, the friendship dintre Carl si Pete. Este scrisa sub forma unei fake autobiography scrisa din punctul de vedere al lui Carl. In carte, numele persoanelor, ale melodiilor, ale formatiilor etc sunt pastrate ca in realitate. Dar naratorul si autorul nu se confunda… adica sunt diferiti… adica sentimentele si gandurile lui Carl cel din carte sunt aparute din imaginatia autorului. )
Pentru ca povestea Libertines, poveste pe care e bazata cartea, e doar un pretext folosit de autor pentru a analiza sentimen
tele unui om care isi pierde un prieten si ajunge sa se simta inutil.
Pentru ca iti da un sentiment imens de hopelessness. La finalul cartii, Carl se muta intr-un apartament in Montmatre, de pe geamul caruia vede in fiecare zi o fata.
He ends up falling in love with her and whenever he listens to music (a song in particular – something from Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, I can’t remember which one right now) he thinks of her. However one day, the girl disappears (history repeated?) and Carl decides never to listen to music (or make music) till he finds her (although he knows nothing about this girl)… I just had to tell the ending and spoil it…

Nota: a NU se citi cu Libertines ca fundal sonor…


3. Naked Lunch – William Burroughs
De ce?
Pentru umorul negru tipic Burroughs.
Pentru imaginile s&m duse la extrema in asa fel incat par doar hilare.
Pentru satira acida adusa societatii moderne.
Pentru faptul ca e controversial si azi.
Pentru Interzone

Nota : a se citi cu Klaxons( si ale lor lumi imaginare influentate de Burroughs ) ca fundal sonor.


4. 99 Francs/14,99 Euro/6,20 Euro edition Folio/9,99 £ /19,9 Lei/etc – Frederic Beigbeder
De ce ?
Pentru cinismul specific lumii post-moderne.
Pentru umorul negru, situatiile absurdo-hialre si replicile dementiale (« Connaissez-vous la différence entre les riches et les pauvres ? Les pauvres vendent de la drogue pour s’acheter des
Nike alors que les riches vendent des Nike pour s’acheter de la drogue. »).
Pentru kitschul asumat.
Pentru critica dura adusa lumii publicitare.


5. Kingdom Come – J.G. Ballard

De ce?
Pentru felul in care Ballard iti construieste o societate perfecta creata de consumerism (aici un orasel de la periferia Londrei) pentru ca mai apoi sa o tear to pieces si sa iti arate ce rotten it it. Si o face incet, fara graba, calm.
Pentru realismul crud al cosmarului climatizat.
Pentru faprul ca nu uita nici o clipa sa analizeze trairile persoanjului principal.

Nota : si va mai intrebati de ce zic Klaxons ca au facut o formatie inspirati fiind de opera lui Ballard…


Saturday, July 21

I'm so quote-able....

Here is what Bican did after reading my blog...

agree on the whole Bon Jovi thingy... yes, Kate Nash is very nice... and, yes, Nancy's right most of the time... you will accept the fact that you're in a band... well... soon enough... we'll talk about that ethno thingy... and I thought you dated Wendy... Pheonix o sug... *coughs*... Editors, you say? what you like them now?.... oh, and I who thought you digged yr own hole... silly me...


In alta ordine de idei... I love Ballard and Hornby and Borroughs (the three writers I am currently reading books by), however... There are 6 characters who die in teh last Harry Potter and I wanna know who... and one is NOT harry... there, spoiling the surprise... so, today I'll be busy reading the last book... Ma inclin cu respect, in iau iaurtelul cu visine si ma duc in pat unde ma asteapta Harry...

Wednesday, June 6

Arsenal v. Stoke City

"What are you thinking about?" she asks.
At this point I lie. I wasn't thinking about Martine Amis or Gerard Depardieu or the Labour Party at all. But then, obsessives have no choice; they have to lie on occasions like this. If we told the truth every time, then we would be unable to maintain relationships with anyone from the real world. We would be left to rot with our Arsenal programmes or our collection of original blue-label Stax records or our King Charles spaniels, and our two-minute daydreams would become longer and longer until we lost our jobs and stopped bathing and shaving and eating, and we would lie on the floor in our own filth rewinding the video again and again in an attempt to memorise by heart the whole of the commentary, including David Pleat's expert analysis, for the night of 26th of May 1989. (you think I had to look the date up? Ha!). The truth is this: for alarmingly large chunks of an average day, I am a moron.
(
Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch)

Don't know why, but I somehow know what he's talking about...

Monday, May 28

Audioshelf...

I had this carefully planned order of the books I want to read and still haven't... they had a number assigned and I had to read them in the order... 1 2 3 4 5s dance to the b.e.a.t... *must note that most are in French as I bought them here...*

1. Bukowski's 'women'... started it, but just as soon as my Modest Mouse obsession passed so did the desire to read this writer... and the French version is not helping me...

2. Orwell's 'animal farm'... finnished it last night... great book...

3.Apollinaire 'Amorurile unui print'... You know that song from Of Montreal "Art Snob Solution?"... If you don't, then listen to it... it mentions Apollinaire, so, naturally, I wanted to read this guy's work...

4. Burroughs 'Soft Machine'... or how the French put it "La machine molle"... I love burroughs too much for this book to linger around for too long... I give it a week...

5. Vian 'L'automne a Pekin'... god, i really want to read it... it's been in my room for 10 months... and I always forget I have it...

6. Ballard 'Kingdom come'... did not retain the french translation of the name... and please, guess who got me into this writter...

7.Pynchon 'v'... there are two books by Pynchon that one can find in Romania and France... this one and 'the crying of lot 49'... the latter is fab...

8.Truman Capote's 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'... i must read it... it also happens to be in english, so...

9.Kundera 'L'art du roman'... always wanted to read Kundera... so just picked a book randomly from a bookstore...

10. Hornby 'Fever Pitch'... one of the Hornby books I did not read... just started it...

11.Ballard 'Millenium People'... english... the rest is just like no. 6

12.Beigbeder 'Vacances dans le coma'... it's just lying there... and it's so sort

13.Garcia Marquez '100 ans de solitude'... yes, I know... i am lame...

14.Coe 'Testament a l'anglaise'... original 'What A Carve Up!'...he happens to me my fave writter... read all his books... except this one... however, it's this huge thingy... written in small font... and the prospect of reading something like that in french does not brigthen my day...

15.Nothomb 'les catilinaires'... the only book by Nothomb i did not read... loved the other ones... so i am eager to see how thid one is...

anyho'... I never do things how I've planned...so... I say screw this list... Hornby's gonna be off it by tuesday and Burroughs and Ballard are in danger...

Tuesday, May 1

From Atlantis To Interzone

A muri de rusine este un gest specific indienilor Kwakiult si americanilor; ceilalti spun pur si simplu 'Zut alors' sau 'Son cosas de la vida', 'Allah mi-a tras-o, Atotputernicul'.

William Borroughs - Pranzul dezgolit

Saturday, March 3

Scream And Shout....

"Ils sont venus jusqu'à ma porte me questionner sur notre odyssée. Des écrivains, des journalistes, des cinéastes, des documentaristes ou plus simplement des fans. Maintenant que notre aventure est terminée, disent-il, peut-etre pouvons-nous la raconter, l'édudier, comme on le ferait d'un instant historique? Car c'est bien de cela qu'il s'agit. Nous appartenons à l'histoire. A leur fichu patrimoine du rock, à leur conneries de mythes, de jeunesse crucifiée et de héros brulés.

A présent je dois vivre avec ce sentiment étrange: avoir contribué à créer quelque chose de plus grand que moi. Avoir réalisé un reve, perdu un ami - un peu de mon ame et de mes illusions aussi.
Désormais plus personne n'a besoin de moi. Je dois me résigner à cette idée."

David Brun-Lambert - Boys In The Band


Sunday, February 25

Panic On The Streets Of Birmingham

Does narrative serve any purpose? I wonder about that. I wonder if all experience can really be distilled to a few extraordinary moments, perhaps six or seven of them vouchsafed to us in a lifetime, and any attempt to trace connection between them is futile. And I wonder if there are some moments in life not only 'worth purchasing with words', but so replete with emotion that they become stretched, timeless, like the moment when Inger and Emil sat on that bench in the rose garden and smiled at the camera, or when Inger's mother raised the Venetian blind to the very top of her high sitting-room window, or when Malcom openedup his jeweller's box and asked my sister to marry him. If he ever did.

*
....my clearest memory is of the light we saw there, that painter's sky, greyblue like Marie's eyes and like her grandsons' eyes, the colour of a pain that won't go away...


(Ben Trotter)
Jonathan Coe - Rotter's Club