Comments on: Poolside Book Review: Against the Day

By: Mr. Mumbles

Mr. Mumbles — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

1) your blog does not render in IE 6, which work makes me use.

2) Pynchon is purposefully obtuse and i can’t understand how anyone would want to read him yet alone enjoy his writings.

3) ludivine sagnier (sp?) is hot.

By: shawn

shawn — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

1) I know, but I don’t particularly care. For me to get this theme (or any theme, for that matter) to render properly in IE6 (I believe it looks fine in IE7), I would have to manually resize the picture in the Jim J. Bullock square, rather than use a max-width: 100% in my CSS, which is the CSS that IE6 doesn’t recognize. That’s way too much work for this dumbass blog. So basically, I apologise for any inconvenience that your shitty out-of-date browser might be causing, but I have no intention of using some bullshit hack just to please the IE6 crowd.

2) Don’t badmouth the TRP. And Pynchon is far from obtuse. Finnegan’s Wake, now that’s fucking obtuse. And Pynchon, when he’s on his game, is an absolute joy to read. I can’t understand why people can’t understand just how awesome the TRP is.

3) Yes, yes she is.

By: Mr. Fumbles

Mr. Fumbles — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Look, I like to be all lit-pretense as the next guy, but name a book i, or someone who doesn’t enjoy flaying himself for fun, could read. And Lot 49 doesn’t count.

Obtuse is not the right word. how about obscurantic? is that even a word?

help me, shawn. i have been reading nothing but female authors lately because by and large, male authors suck right now.

By: shawn

shawn — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Christ man, at least have the decency to turn to the classic Greek tragedies before you taint your brain with female authors. Well, I suppose I shouldn't say that, considering I was about to start reading Ann Radcliffe's The Italian before I got Colin MacInnes' City of Spades from Amazon today. I love it when free super saver shipping gets to my apartment as quickly at 2nd day air would. Amazon Prime can kiss my ass. Addressing your Pynchon problem: Vineland is perfectly accessible and I don't believe Mason & Dixon was all that tough a read. And honestly, Against the Day wasn't anything close to obtuse or confusing. It was just boring and filled with aimless meandering. Now if you're looking for a book that will get you away the hysterical literature you've been reading, I'd suggest the book I suggest to everyone when they ask me what they should be reading: Invitation to a Beheading, by Vladimir Nabokov.

By: Mr. Crumbles

Mr. Crumbles — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

…..but then again, all these stories seem to be about shoes and men and sex and living in Manhattan…..

I’ll check out yr Nabakov recommendation. And I’ll stick my nose in Vineland and Mason and Dixon next time i’m at the bookstore, but if i see so much as one wandering, meandering digression or a sudden unexplained POV change designed specifically to confuse the reader, i’m calling the cops.

I feared you were about to spring a Delillo on me, for which i would have had to suspend your Ludivine posting rights.

By: shawn

shawn — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve read more DeLillo than I’d care to admit, but I will say that I enjoyed the prologue to Underworld and White Noise. However, I’m willing to conceed that DeLillo is probably the most overrated of all the so-called “post-modern” American authors. Well, Philip Roth is probably up there too. God, how I hate Philip Roth.