Well, I'll say something in this "other book" section. I seem to have a thing for heroin addicts lately. The last coupla books (that were neither comic books nor required for class) I read were Requiem For A Dream and Almost Transparent Blue (translated from the original Japanese). I'm also dipping back and forth into "Dictionary Of The Khazars", but that's a very unconventional book.

Next on my list is "Gates Of Fire" by Steven Pressfield.

-Thierry

Heroin addicts? That's a rather odd reading fetish. Was William Burroughs a heroin addict?

you want drug induced sci fi? read Philip K Dick. Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch or Ubik or Flow My Tears the Policeman Said. . . theres a ton of Pk Dick novels that are drug induced. and thats also WHILE reading them sober!

highly good fast reads!

also, he was the guy who wrote the original Blade Runner and the AHHnold movie Total Recall.

I read "We can remember it for you wholesale" by Dick, which was what Total Recall was based on, I believe. Nothing at all like the movie. I always wanted to read "Do androids dream of electric sheep" to see if it was like the movie. Blade Runner may be my favorite sci-fi film.

"Do androids dream of electric sheep?" is nothing like blade runner. . .in the novel for example he is married. PK dick even says he liked the movie better than the novel. basically alot of pk dicks sci fi is hokey, its the ideas and situations AND characterizations that are his high points.

pk dick wrote frantic. . . so he may come off sloppy in some of his novels, though his sloppiness is used to great effect in his sixties novels especially palmer eldritch.

one thing about pk dick. . . he wrote from an average joe perspective, ie alot of his characters are mundane. and another thing he did well was write sci fi novels that put the reader INTO the idea of WHAT IS REAL. Total Recall is a good example of his main ideas in alot of his novels about what is reality. i remember reading palmer eldritch not sure WHAT was real in the novel. . . its almost like a David Lynch movie.

etc

Jesus' Son is a great junkie book. The movie was an admirable adaptation, but Denis Johnson's prose is heartbreakingly beautiful and defies translation. It's short enough that you could probably read it in one sitting. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves words.

-Tom

>>The movie was an admirable adaptation, but Denis Johnson's prose is heartbreakingly beautiful and defies translation.

Well, he's a poet by trade, so that's not surprising. His newest book "The Name of the World" is also well-worth checking out (and it's as short as Jesus' Son), though it has nothing to do with drugs.

If you dig that vicarious junkie lifestyle, you might also want to check out (in addition to the above recommendations) "Like Being Killed" by Ellen Miller. And of course Irvine Welsh's "Trainspotting."

Writing about drugs is really tricky. I've had some experience doing this and you end up trying to convey an experience that really defies words. What the better writers do is just detail the mundane parts of being a junkie as opposed to trying to describe the actual effects. That's what I think ties all of the better books together. I took a particularly blah stab at writing about a bad acid trip and it just seems... hokey.

I find it amazing that someone can bring up heroin books and someone will tie it to sci-fi or fantasy books. Am I the only gamer who never reads sci-fi or fantasy novels?

Forget that, man, I'm re-reading all the Adrenaline Vault reviews. Talk about your classic literature! I'm on the letter "S" now.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

"PK dick even says he liked the movie better than the novel." Was Dick still alive when the movie came out?

"Am I the only gamer who never reads sci-fi or fantasy novels?"

Go hang out in the war historical group on Usenet. Heh.

I dunno -- sci-fi and fantasy seem to be pretty popular with gamers. It's probably all part of that escapist theme that games themselves promote.

>>It's probably all part of that escapist theme that games themselves promote.

Yeah, but you escape into any good novel, whether the setting is a New York crack house or a farm in Wyoming or the legendary fantasly world of Vernagillklempt.

"Yeah, but you escape into any good novel, whether the setting is a New York crack house or a farm in Wyoming or the legendary fantasly world of Vernagillklempt. "

I dunno, Steve, are you proposing we all join the Oprah book club?

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

"Yeah, but you escape into any good novel, whether the setting is a New York crack house or a farm in Wyoming or the legendary fantasly world of Vernagillklempt."

That's true, but in the former examples you escape into a version of our world. In the latter you escape into a world where all the women wear leather and have 38 DD busts and everyone's a hero of sorts.

>>I dunno, Steve, are you proposing we all join the Oprah book club?

Good lord no. I really think you should all read heroin-chic New York scumbag fiction.

"Vernagillklempt"

Is he the guy who played Col. Klink on Hogan's Hereoes.

Steve, thanks for the heads up on Johnson's newest book. After Jesus' Son, I read a novel of his called Already Dead and didn't care for it. It was an epic-length Gothic tale of a small California community, but Johnson couldn't sustain its length or weight. So I wondered if Jesus' Son was a fluke. Glad to hear he's got other stuff in that vein.

And I'm with you 100% on sci-fi and fantasy, Steve. Every now and then I try one, but the whole time I find myself thinking about the other things I could have been reading instead. I suppose I should have another stab at those Tolkein books before the Peter Jackson LOTR comes out next year...

-Tom

I think Tolkien is overrated.

Try the first Black Company novel by Glen Cook. You probably won't like it, but it's written in contemporary language even though it's set in a fantasy world.

Actually, I think my favorite type of novels now are contemporary settings with a fantasy element, like James Blaylock's The Last Coin. I'd call it Magic Realism, but I'm not exactly sure what that label covers.

By the way, if anyone wants to read a terrific book--funny, too clever for its own good at times, sarcastic, oddly touching--try Dave Egger's "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Soon to be a feature film.

"try Dave Egger's 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.'"

My wife is reading that and likes it a lot.

The other book she read that she recommended to me (sorta in the same vein) was by "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris. Really interesting family; his sister Amy Sedaris stars on that bizarre show "Strangers with Candy". They grew up near here in Raleigh, NC and if you think you have a strange and/or weird family, umm.. think again.

One tiny anecdote from the book. David's brother (he calls himself "The Rooster"):

http://www.esquire.com/features/2000/sedaris/000301_mds_roost03.html

---

Quote:

Eventually, my brother fell into the floor-sanding business. It's hard work, but he enjoys the gratification that comes with a well-finished rec room. He thoughtfully named his company Silly P's Hardwood floors. When my father suggested that the word silly might frighten away the upper-tier customers, Paul thought of changing the name to "Silly motherfucking P's Hardwood floors."

---

"I suppose I should have another stab at those Tolkein books before the Peter Jackson LOTR comes out next year..."

I have a friend at work that says the same thing, but he is going to get the unabridged version from Books on Tape (or is it Recorded Books?) and listen to it in the car.

Thierry,

How was Requiem for a Dream? I've never read anything by Hugh Selby, but I've been told he's pretty oppressive. I loved the movie, for which Selby co-wrote the screenplay, so I'm curious about the book.

-Tom

"Try the first Black Company novel by Glen Cook. You probably won't like it, but it's written in contemporary language even though it's set in a fantasy world. "

I liked Cooks books, they are a good alternative to the "general" DnD fantasy. . . i alaways imagined the Cook novels like a cross between The Wild Bunch (or 7 Samurai) meets Tolkiens fellowship . . . or something like that. in fact, i think it was you that reccomended it reading after i heard it was an influence on Myth! was a few years ago from the csipsg group. . .how ironic!

anyway, i haven't kept up much with modern literature. . . the irony doesn't grab me anymore . . . or the general pessimism . . . just too dour imo (im really generalizing sorry!). though i liked some Don Delillo/GG Marquez stuff . . . anyway, i think Dick is great because the characters in his books are down to earth. . .theyre atypical for genre fictions. . . and deep below his novels generally are all about our "modern" consumer world and its everyday realities (at least from the US perspective). he had a mature mind imo. . .though VERY paranoid. its hard to explain his style, cuz he really had a sloppy no revision type of style. i think he roughly wrote like 50 to 60 novels in 25 - 30 years, with a good half of them being very good imo. a "poor mans" sci fi Anton Chekov. . . kind of. . . uhm, i just think hes real good.

i wish i had more patience to read these days. I'm so friggin lazy. . . even reading a book of poetry is a work in progress for me! aye, its these games i tell ya!

btw, buy Phanatasy Star Online. . . feed the Sega people. . . its the game Diablo 2 should have been! they need our help!

etc

Mark wrote:
>> That's true, but in the former examples you
escape into a version of our world. In the latter
you escape into a world where all the women wear
leather and have 38 DD busts and everyone's a hero
of sorts. <<

I think that's just a prejudice. Although I guess
it is true for the "Harlequin-type" fantasy novels.
I prefer reading about worlds that are different
from the world I'm living in, I'll let my own
pessimism deal with the real world. I really don't
find fantasy any more fantastic than Jan Guillou
(who of course you know nothing about since he's
swedish), who is the best selling author in Sweden.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that good
authors will always paint a believable world, no
matter the genre.

Mark said: "Heroin addicts? That's a rather odd reading fetish. Was William Burroughs a heroin addict?"

Not really something I did on purpose, either. I read Requiem because I like reading the books before the movie, to see the difference. I read Almost Transparent Blue because I was on a translated-Japanese-book kick, and someone recommended it to me.

I'm pretty sure Burroughs used details of his own life when writing "Junkie."

mtKafka wrote: "you want drug induced sci fi? read Philip K Dick. Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch or Ubik or Flow My Tears the Policeman Said. . . theres a ton of Pk Dick novels that are drug induced. and thats also WHILE reading them sober!"

Already am. Well, I still have yet to read Three Stigmata, but numerous people recommended that to me. Last summer, I read both Flow My Tears and A Scanner Darkly. ASD is a frightening recreation of what DMT can do to you, BTW.

Tom ask: "How was Requiem for a Dream? I've never read anything by Hugh Selby, but I've been told he's pretty oppressive. I loved the movie, for which Selby co-wrote the screenplay, so I'm curious about the book."

Selby up and abandoned such things as punctuation and formatting for Requiem. There, dialogue and description just kinda melded together, without a discernible boundary. It took a while for me to get used to it, but once I got into the groove, I warmed up to it. I borrowed Robert Coffey's copy of the book, and have yet to see the movie (it's screening at Cal in a few weeks), but he says the movie is pretty faithful, with the exception of one scene in the book, yet he couldn't really figure out a way to fit said scene into the movie, the way it was executed.

I don't know enough about your reading tastes, other than you have yet to read all of LOTR, and you shy away from sci-fi and fantasy like Bauman. But Requiem is unconventional in its structure, but in the end, I did think that it'd suck to be an addict of any kind, heroin or not. So maybe I did get the "message" after all.

I read LOTR for the first time, last year. Tolkien has a thing for describing the landscape. That, and it's mostly interesting for how he sets up a lot of what is considered cookie-cutter AD&D-style fantasy convention.

I'm starting to read less sci-fi and fantasy myself, nowadays. I still have faves like PK Dick and Orson Scott Card, but now I'm throwing in stuff like Murakami, Hofstadter, Hunter Thompson, Nabokov, Ellroy, Palahniuk, and whatnot into my reading mix.

Those, and the bajillion comic books I still read.

-Thierry

I hear ya. LOTR can be concidered fairly pedestrian these days, but you have to realize that Tolkein laid the groundwork for what has become modern fantasy. I read the trilogy back when I was 13 (about 12 years ago) and that was after having read a bunch of other 'light' fantasy (ie. the DragonLance books, etc) at the time. I was still very impressed by LOTR and while I have more recent books that I find more innovative and interesting, you have to remember that they likely wouldn't have been written had Tolkein not busted the door open for them.

I really don't think Tolkien was trying to write great literature, so it doesn't bother me that LotR isn't a great piece of writing. It is a well-crafted story and great fun to read, and like you say, it's had enormous influence on the fantasy genre since it became popular.

I have no objective opinion about Tolkien. It was pretty much my seminal, watershed reading experience, in 4th grade, that turned me on to novel reading in general. So I will be in line on Day One for the movie.

I can't stand most other fantasy stuff though. It all just seems derivative of him. I just started reading George Martin's "Game of Thrones" on Brett Todd's recommendation, so we'll see if Todd knows what the heck he's talking about.

Other than that, my reading taste is all over the map. Comic books up the wazoo, like my compadre Scoot at CGW. I have a big hard-on (literally!) for Murakami. If you guys haven't read "Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" and "The Wind Up Bird Chronicle", put down your mouse now and go get 'em. I also was a major James Ellroy fanboy, but he hasn't done a new novel in awhile now. I think his next novel is based on Duke Nukem Forever.

Hey Jeff, do you have an archived list of all your Greenspeak columns? I want to refer to some old ones.

Thanks,

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

Wumpus,

arrgh. I wish. It's actually one of the things I hate most about Gamespot, that they never put them up there (mine and the other CGW columnists). I've been trying to figure out how to get 'em online. Right now 99% of 'em just exist as MS Word files. And I suppose Ziff legally "owns" them. But I do want them to be online. If Ziff-Davis ever gets its act together and makes a new site, they can go there.

Jeff,

If you can get permission from Gamespot, I'd be happy to host them for you. I don't mean on MY web site! I mean on a custom URL of your choice.. like http://www.greenspeak.com or something. Do you have a personal page anywhere? That would work too.

I really enjoy the greenspeak columns and I'd like to re-read them. If Gamespot won't post them, you should see if they'll let you post them with the proper copyright and so forth.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

"I also was a major James Ellroy fanboy, but he hasn't done a new novel in awhile now. I think his next novel is based on Duke Nukem Forever. "

James Ellroy doing a Duke Nukem Forever novel wtf is up with that? not thats its going to be bad but thats a far cry from what i'd expect from him!!! video game novels . . . odd

next thing youll see Don Delillo doing Simcity in novel form. . . with garbage and all

etc

The Greenspeak guy said:

"I also was a major James Ellroy fanboy, but he hasn't done a new novel in awhile now. I think his next novel is based on Duke Nukem Forever."

It's been six years between novels. But his next one, "The Cold Six Thousand", is scheduled for May. It'll be the sequel to American Tabloid. He's moved on from "LA Quarter" to "Underworld USA Trilogy."

-Thierry (do not ask why I'm up this late)

I should have known that Thierry would know what Ellroy was up to. "Encyclopedia Scooteropolis" strikes again. Okay, I'm buying that book the day it comes out. He is a writing god.

And of course I was kidding about the Duke Nukem thing. I don't really have to say that out loud, do I?

(wumpus I'll email you about my column stuff.)

Hi Jeff,

We met I think two years ago at E3 in the line for the Eidos party that ultimately none of us ever got into, then the next day at the Interplay booth. You never returned my emails! Typical editor!

Anyway, I also like the Greenspeak column - I hope they can get archived.

Did you ever work mention of that line for the Eidos party into a column...I recall you saying you had an idea for it, but I don't remember reading about it. What a fiasco that night was...

Jeff, let us know what you think of Game of Thrones. I'm reading the third book in that series right now (three more yet to be published), and enjoying it for the most part. This guy is not afraid to f--k up his main characters. You'll be surprised a few times I bet.

The cringe-inducing (and surprisingly frequent) sex scenes notwithstanding (do you think it's safe to say that a line like "she covered herself before her nipples could betray her" was not written by a woman?), it's a fun read. I feel the same way you do about all most of that other fantasy drek clogging the aisles at B&N.

Interesting thread here...do you think that NOT doing drugs would take away from any of the appreciation of these books?

At the risk of sounding square, which I am, I never felt I needed chemical enhancement to enjoy life, but some of these books sound cool and I'd like to look into a few of them. But will I be totally lost?

And good point that Tom makes about having to pick and choose the reading material when there's so much other stuff out there. There is just too much stuff. What a terrible thing to have a big reading list and know that there's no way you'll get them all before you croak, or that by the time you do, that list will double in size!

>>Interesting thread here...do you think that NOT doing drugs would take away from any of the appreciation of these books?

Nah, as most aren't about the actual experience of taking drugs (which as I've found is particularly difficult to articulate) but of the stuff that happens around the periphery of drug use, which I find interesting. But it's not for everyone; it's usually quite ugly.

I have no real intention of shooting up heroin in the near future, but the motivations behind addiction, in general, are interesting as well.

>>Jeff, let us know what you think of Game of Thrones....The cringe-inducing (and surprisingly frequent) sex scenes notwithstanding (do you think it's safe to say that a line like "she covered herself before her nipples could betray her" was not written by a woman?), it's a fun read. I feel the same way you do about all most of that other fantasy drek clogging the aisles at B&N.

Well, I read a massive chunk of it yesterday, in my day off from computer gaming, and so far, so good. However, I have hit those sex scenes already and...yeeesh! Keep your erect nipples out of my high fantasy novels--please!!

>>Nah, as most aren't about the actual experience of taking drugs (which as I've found is particularly difficult to articulate) but of the stuff that happens around the periphery of drug use, which I find interesting. But it's not for everyone; it's usually quite ugly. >>

Yeah, Steve's right (as usual). Trainspotting is another good example of that. Actually, one of the best drug books I've ever read is the compendium of Lester Bangs' writing, "Psychedelic Reactions and Carbeurator Dung". It's mainly a compendium of his rock music criticism, but he wrote it all in such a messed up state (one article is a review of a Tangerine Dream concert he went to after drinking a bottle of Nyquil) that it does an amazing (and often hilarious) job of evoking the hazy "innocent" days of 70s recreational drug use. Ah, those were the days. Bauman, quit bogarting that bong...

>>Lester Bangs' writing, "Psychedelic Reactions and Carbeurator Dung".

Ah yes, a terrific book. Bangs was really funny. What was one article called, "James Taylor Marked For Death" or something like that? Good, good stuff...

And everyone should read Dave Egger's "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius", if for no other reason then to read the foreword, which ends with him saying, "And here's a picture of stapler." And then there's a picture of a stapler. He also details how much money he made for the book (but leaves out the $4 million they sold the movie rights for).

I gotta read that Egger's book. Keep hearing great things about it.

My favorite first line of any review ever comes from that Lester Bangs book. It's a review of a James Taylor record, who he has eviscerated numerous times previously (like in that article Steve mentions). In THIS review, he goes on to say that he actually caught himself, in a moment of weakness, LIKING a James Taylor record.
So his opening line for the review is:

"Today I am a pud."

I've always wanted to steal that for a CGW review.

That essay Bangs wrote about Astral Weeks is one of the greatest pieces of critical writing I've ever read. What's strange about Bangs is that he can be both hilarious and crushingly sad, often in the same sentence. He's one of the few writers that can get away with being autobiographical in reviews, but that's because he was a genius. Like in that "Unfinished Notes on PiL's Metal Box" or whatever it's called. He says something about Metal Box being a sonic representation of his emotional state, which is a terrifying thought if you've ever heard that record.

Has anyone read the Bangs biography, Let it Blurt? It's pretty good, and there's some uncollected writings in it. I've heard that the author is putting together another, more complete collection of Bangs' writing.

I was planning to jump in on the drug book discussion, but now I just want to talk about Bangs. I'll just say this: Under the Volcano features some great descriptions of the life of an alcoholic.

Lester Bangs' on Astral Weeks

In regards to books mentioned above:

Dave Eggers' book is pretty good. It starts to drag at about the half-way mark, but the first half is great. And he admits that himself in the intro, so I'm not being original. I really like his new journal, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. There was a Denis Johnson play in one of the recent issues. There's a website as well.

McSweeney's

I took a drive down to LA this weekend, and listened to David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day as a book on tape. The story about the guitar teacher ("Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities" I think is the title) is really funny. So is the one about seeing American movies in France.

I also picked up the first Harry Potter book on tape, just to feel more in tune with the world. The saleswoman looked at me strangely when I brought the two books to the counter. I just said "I'm a school teacher" as if it explained everything.