[net.books] books

G:fantods (03/24/83)

I agree that discussions of sf books should go to
net.sf-lovers.  Thing is, net.sf-lovers is crowded
with people discussing how many purple hairs Yoda had
in his left nostril and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on and so on

This newsgroup is at least about BOOKS, and the beleagured
few who actually READ sf instead of just WATCH "sf" are
driven in here.

We either have to split up net.books into at
least three different groups, or we push the media fans
into net.startrek, the sf books people into net.sf-lovers,
and make it known that net.books is NOT for sf.

If that is unfeasible, try being patient and just
submitting your articles about books.  I will too, and I'll read
yours, and respond to yours.

Right now I want everyone to read Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas
Pynchon and tell me what you think about it.  We have two
GR fans working in this department, probably more, and together
we can "keep the wolve awake!".

I also want to discuss other very odd authors who do
not write sf.  John Fowles comes close a couple of times,
in the original "Magus" (not the rewrite), and in "The Ebony Tower".

Philip Dick is good but has been done to death.

So who else out there has read very odd, strange, haunting novels
that deal with the utter weirdness of our world without
resorting to standard sf themes, or Lovecraftian word-glut.
And lets go a little deeper than John Irving and Vonnegut, who are
to real weirdness what Coors Lite is to beer.

Moving on to a real book:

In the first publication of The Magus, John Fowles had
one of his characters complaining that "there were no more
mysteries to life".  When this happens to a person,
they usually lose interest in everything.  Mystery makes
us go on.

In his rewrite of the novel, Fowles essentially removed all
mystery from it, revealing all, and thus destroying the
work.  Ironic, no?

See you on the net,

Richard Moorman

spirit (04/02/83)

I agree that Gravity's Rainbow is a wonderful book, however it's
been about 6 years since I read it and I can't remember enough
details for any meaningful discussion.

I can strongly recommend The Sot Weed Factor, The Floating Opera,
and Giles Goat Boy by John Barth.  A collection of short stories
by Jean Paul Sartre entitled The Wall is also really out on
that intangible edge of reality that I find so enticing.

Are there any *recent* books of the above mentioned calibre that
anyone can recommend.
                       Sam Hughes

djo (04/06/83)

Knut Hamsun's, Growth of the Soil, is a stunning book.  It moves
slowly and strongly.  Try it.