old yellow bricks
7 November 2008 22:32![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chrryblssmninjaInteresting thought on changing media in this Vulture post:
It bears remembering that a book, no matter how long and complicated, doesn't require you to read it all in one go, nor does it force you to watch commercials. In this respect, other media are becoming more booklike, not the other way around. TiVo, Netflix, and iTunes enable you to consume what you want, when you want it, in or out of sequence. Take a break if you like — but only if you like. Watch a whole season of Lost in a weekend — or every morning on the subway. A longer, more intense experience — whether it's a ten-show Mad Men block or a 100-song iPod playlist — at least gives you the option to stretch. And nothing does it better than a big, multifaceted novel. Take a year to read it, or one stormy weekend (well, several — we're hoping for a long, cold winter).
That was in a post about what's supposedly 2008's Book to Mention in Casual Conversation: 2666, by Robert Bolaño.
It comes in two very pretty editions; one whole and one divided into three volumes for easier transport. Because the thing's almost 900 pages long.
to taste: Robert Bolaño and the Exhausting 5 Page Sentence!
Read it for Bolaño’s obvious improvisational delight in keeping the sentence afloat, phrase by phrase — a skill the critic James Wood once compared to “someone punting a leaf.”
The sentence is alright, not as annoying as I've seen in other novels, but too many commas make my mind wander. I need periodic periods to tie me down.
I don't think I'll read it, but it looks pretty.
It bears remembering that a book, no matter how long and complicated, doesn't require you to read it all in one go, nor does it force you to watch commercials. In this respect, other media are becoming more booklike, not the other way around. TiVo, Netflix, and iTunes enable you to consume what you want, when you want it, in or out of sequence. Take a break if you like — but only if you like. Watch a whole season of Lost in a weekend — or every morning on the subway. A longer, more intense experience — whether it's a ten-show Mad Men block or a 100-song iPod playlist — at least gives you the option to stretch. And nothing does it better than a big, multifaceted novel. Take a year to read it, or one stormy weekend (well, several — we're hoping for a long, cold winter).
That was in a post about what's supposedly 2008's Book to Mention in Casual Conversation: 2666, by Robert Bolaño.
It comes in two very pretty editions; one whole and one divided into three volumes for easier transport. Because the thing's almost 900 pages long.
to taste: Robert Bolaño and the Exhausting 5 Page Sentence!
Read it for Bolaño’s obvious improvisational delight in keeping the sentence afloat, phrase by phrase — a skill the critic James Wood once compared to “someone punting a leaf.”
The sentence is alright, not as annoying as I've seen in other novels, but too many commas make my mind wander. I need periodic periods to tie me down.
I don't think I'll read it, but it looks pretty.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
2008-11-08 12:49 (UTC)This one, from the opening section of 2666, is 2,247 words long (thanks, intern!)
LOOOL poor intern
and hah. I did that once. not count, but write... well, and not *that* long. it was only half a page to sum up to whole of the apologies by plato in one sentence. my philosophy teacher did not approve. I actually checked if I had closed all half-sentences aso. pblth to her. it was awesome.
no subject
2008-11-08 19:47 (UTC)PBLTH TO HER YES
no subject
2008-11-09 09:37 (UTC)no subject
2008-11-09 09:44 (UTC)