I might have mentioned my love of books in previous years, but the board is up so early this year, I think MAYBE we have a decent chance at a Fest Book Club? who would be up for picking a book (or two, we got time), and then comparing notes at or before Fest. There's always time to hang out in between bands, or at the venues waiting, we could discuss the latest greatest literature.

Right now I'm reading "Absurdistan" by Gary Shteyngart

I spent the past month reading Harry Potter, after years of insistence from my wife and friends. Got through the first 4 books. It's fun, I'll probably finish the next 3 before the movie comes out. But that's not really the kind of thing I'd wanna do a club for.

my favorite authors-

Michael Chabon
Dave Eggers
Philip Roth
Roberto Bolano
Thomas Pynchon

I also really liked a couple books by TC Boyle, Jonathan Lethem, Kurt Vonnegut, John Barth, Vladmir Nabokov, Don DeLillo, Cormac McCarthy, Tom Robbins, Avarind Adiga, Junot Diaz, "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison, "Kiss Of The Spider Woman"

I have not read anything by the following authors, but I am interested in them - Adam Levin, Joshua Ferris, Jonathan Safran Foer, John Updike, Paul Auster, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, Denis Johnson, James Joyce, Hermann Hesse, Hunter S Thompson, Norman Mailer, Salman Rushdie, Jonathan Franzen... and the list goes on.





I hate Chuck Palahniuk.

It would also be rad to do some sort of anthology, like Granta or McSweeny's.

Do graphic novels count? I tore through Watchmen not too long ago, may be better than the movie. Thinkin' of hitting up Kick-Ass next...

I love graphic novels, and I'm always looking for more good ones. I feel like there's a TON of serious literature with pictures out there, but that the book/comic industry still doesn't know how to categorize and promote them properly. Seems they only really pay attention when there is a movie, unless you're talking about Maus, Blankets, or Black Hole.

I liked Kick-Ass, but I wouldn't really consider it anything serious. Haven't seen the movie. Watchmen, even though it has super heroes, definitely serious literature, and I feel like you can't really grasp how intricate it is until you've read it at least 3 or 4 times.

I read The Handmaid's Tale by Atwood and didn't think much of it. I like her poetry more than her prose. But that's just me.

A Fest Book Club is the best idea I have ever heard. If there's anything I like as much as the Fest, it's talking about books
I am totally down with getting nerdy over books during Fest.

It's hard for me to narrow down what I like so I'll just go with what I dislike:
Hipster lit, chick lit, Twilight, most best-sellers…

I think Dickens can be very funny.
I love Cormac McCarthy's use of language, although his characters usually aren't that lively and his plots tend to drag. Didn't like Blood Meridian, although I think Last Pale Light in the West by Ben Nichols is a killer album.
I love the Harry Potter series. I am awestruck by Rowling's ability to construct characters that are so real I feel like I could run into them in England.
Disliking chick lit does not mean I don't like books written specifically for a female audience. I just think they're not always super healthy for women and espouse values I disagree with.
I read Gone With the Wind about a month ago and loved it. Except I didn't know it ended that way and will probably look into intensive therapy to work through that.
I love me some Ray Bradbury.

For graphic novels: Big fan of what Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale have made together.

Well, I finished Absurdistan. Thinking of either started another Harry Potter book, or maybe a Joshua Ferris book, or the one Michael Chabon book I haven't read. I'm open to other suggestions.

You should read Kazuo Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go'. Best book I've read in a long, long time.

I'm a big reader, and I think a Fest Book Club is a fantastic idea.

Been really into graphic novels lately. Currently reading Grant Morrison's 'The Invisibles' series. Have recently read Joe Casey's 'I Kill Giants', the Scott Pilgrim series, as well as getting caught up on Vertigo's 'Fables' and 'Scalped' series.

I've heard Ishiguru recommended before, I'll have to look more into that.

I read the first volume or two of Invisibles, and I felt lukewarm about it, but I like a lot of other stuff Morrison has written.

Fables is one of my favorite series. I used to spend well over $100 on comics every month, and now I'm down to almost nothing, but I still buy every new volume of Fables.

Speaking of Japanese authors- one of my high school English teachers lived in Japan for 10 years so we read a few Japanese novels.

It was a while ago, so I don't remember if I was super stoked over the books or what we got out of them. We read Kokoro by Natsume Soseki and it was a killer revelation of how different U.S. and Japanese cultures are.
I'm hesitant to recommend it because I don't really remember it, but if you're into foreign literature it couldn't hurt to get your hands on an inexpensive copy.

We also read The Doctor's Wife by Sawako Ariyoshi, which was a trip.

Anyone care to recommend a book where lots of exciting things happen? The last couple I've read were steady, "thinky" books, and now I'm kind of looking for sword-fights, kidnappings, pirates, beheadings, etc...

"Gentlemen Of The Road" is one of the books I'm leaning towards next. It's about a couple of Jewish swordfighters in SW Russia, around the year 950. Not a typo, 50 years before 1000.


I do like foreign literature, but I'm always wary of translations. It's probably better with more recent authors, like the Bolano I've read is amazing, but Camus and Dostoevsky can be hit or miss, depending on which translations you get. Nabokov is a safe bet, because he was fluent in Russian, English, French, and probably more languages.

I'm also considering some Thomas Mann, don't think I've ever read any German lit.

I like stuff like Avarind Adiga and Junot Diaz because they grew up in other cultures, but they write in English.

I really need to read more fiction. I work as a journalist and find myself drawn to non-fiction mostly.

I'm pretty much the same, mostly I end up reading non-fiction. Currently I'm reading Hunter S Thompson's The Great Shark Hunt and a book about zombie films.
Last fiction book I read was Kill Your Friends, best way to describe it would be American Psycho in England.

I read too much to make up for the amount of douchebags who haven't finished a book in their lives (or maybe because I love reading, maybe). Right now I'm reading the farewell party by Milan Kundera, it's not as good as Unbearable Lightness of Being, but it's pretty good.

I'm currently reading World War Z and there's lots of excellent description and zombie fights.
It's written as a collection of interviews with people after the zombie apocalypse... sound silly but it's incredibly well-written.

speaking of Zombies did anyone read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, is it actually worth getting?