Started Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon

This is my fourth Pynchon book and I’m very excited to read this one after hearing so much about it

It’s been a weird couple of months for me and reading. I’ve been working on Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon I am about 135 pages into the ww2 banana epic. It’s my first exposure to Pynchon. I’d read Ulysses by James Joyce earlier this year. Personally, Ulysses was easier to follow than GR. I am thoroughly enjoying it though and plan to finish it by year’s end. I respect the writing it’s just hard to follow at times especially some of those Roger Mexico & Jessica Swanlake episodes, amongst a myriad of other things.

I’d started and finished my second reread of Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut which was far more poignant this time around for me, in regards to ‘bad chemicals’.

I’d also started & finished Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl which was striking, informative and inspiring. I’d highly recommend it.

Finished A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess. I love this book. Every time I read it I find something new at which to marvel.

Will continue Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. Sometimes I have no idea what's going on but it's an enjoyable ride so far.

Will finish Adjustment Day, by Chuck Palahniuk. I haven't read a book that has gone off the rails so dramatically before. The first half has promise and introduces an interesting concept. The second half becomes a jumble mess that finds the concept boiled down to a miasmic soup of nonsense. I know the second half of Palahniuk's oeuvre tends to be very love it or hate it (with a seemingly greater amount of hate) but I don't understand how this can be seen as much more than a disastrous failure. I still have a little under a hundred pages to go but nothing short of a miracle can turn this into a coherent story.

Will start Neuromancer, by William Gibson.

I finished Desiring the Kingdom, by James K.A. Smith. It’s a work of theology centered on the role of culture and habits. It was okay.

I started Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman. I’m listening to this in audiobook. It’s fine, but there are quite a bit of similarities to American Gods. Are all Gaiman books this similar?

I also started Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon.

Finished Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy and Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.

I really enjoyed Blood Meridian, if only for the fantastical descriptions of the environment, that though arguably repetitive never became mundane. The Judge truly became what I had heard about his character; the ending was very impactful. The Judge's monologues are the best part of the book and if you pay attention to only one thing it should be them. I was surprised that the violence, though gratuitous was not as bad as I had been led to expect (besides a few scenes).

I was rather disappointed by Heart of Darkness. I read Lord Jim about a year ago and was suggested this book by a friend, but found that it paled in comparison to my previous experience of Conrad. Perhaps I thought this because HoD's writing was slightly more stark and bare than LJ's, which I really enjoyed for it's prose.

Starting Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. I read Crying of Lot 49 a year ago, and though I enjoyed it, it wasn't one of my favorite books. Thus far I am enjoying Gravity's Rainbow much more; though I am confused at times the writing is phenomenal and it is able to keep my interest for longer than any other book I've read. Can't wait to continue reading.

Finished: All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy. What an absolutely magnificent book. I love when McCarthy exercises a little restraint with the violence and focuses on other things. His voice is as Cormac-ly as ever, always entrancing, and the way he talks about horses makes me want to become a cowboy and drink black coffee on the empty plains and do honest things by the campfire and learn the truth of what is in the world.

Started: Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. Oh boy. Not the easiest read so far, but I'm really enjoying it. Parts of it remind me of a much more coherent Naked Lunch, with actual characters and a story line (apparently). Hey Thomas, what's up with the character names? But I do enjoy the absurdity: Banana breakfasts and boners and bombs going off while Roger and Jessica are in love. Indeed, "Fuck the war."

Finished The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan.

Will read A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess.

Will start Adjustment Day, by Chuck Palahniuk and Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon.

Finished Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. Took me forever to get into the book, and Vonnegut is my favorite author. 3/5.

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Currently wanting to tackle the Jack Ryan series chronologically, so I'm starting with Without Remorse, by Tom Clancy

Also reading a chapter a day of Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. Like most, I don't get it, but I can't stop reading.

Gravity's Rainbow, By Thomas Pynchon

Going to begin my journey in the world of Sir Thomas Pynchon!

Fiction-wise, I took a jump on a 5 dollar kindle sale and picked up Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon after having read and enjoyed Lot 49 and Inherent Vice. I'm only like 20 pages in and enjoy the prose and am baffled by the plot. But I'm glad I had another intro to Pynchon before jumping into this. It's gonna take my a while especially because I'm also reading...

The Iron Wall, by Avi Shlaim an account of Israel's foreign policy with the Arab world. Jumped in after hearing a recommendation from ol Noam Chomsky and it being one of my historical blind spots decided to give it a try. About 100 pages in and really enjoying the clear prose and primary source work, without much judgmental material that's not supported by evidence. It attempts to clear up and dispel popular narratives, but does so in a way that doesn't feel as ideological in other ways. It's a conflict that's impossible to handle without passing some sort of judgment, consciously or otherwise, but it strikes as good a balance as I think it could.

I've gotten myself neck deep in it. Don't do this, my friends. In descending order of commitment I am currently reading (and NOT FINISHING):

• Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon
• Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett
• Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle, by Vladimir Nabokov
• Ulysses, by James Joyce
• White Noise, by Don DeLillo

And those are just the ones on my desk. (I have more on my computer.) Plus I just ordered five more books (including three McCarthys and The Master and Margarita). I have a problem.

I'm about 100 pages through Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon but I'm really struggling with it. I'm not sure if I'll keep going or not. It's just so rambly

Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. I've been a devout Pynchon guy for a long time (it's not the best novel I've ever read but The Crying of Lot 49 is easily my favorite novel) and haven't managed to taste the rainbow. I'm farther into it than I've ever been and feeling really good about my progress.

Just finished The At of Fielding by Chad Harbach Starting Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

Started Gladstone, by Roy Jenkins and am continuing the long hard slog through Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon- for my general sanity, I'm also about to finish my re-read of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series with Mostly Harmless, by Douglas Adams heading to it's conclusion

Finished Last Bus to Wisdom, by Ivan Doig.

It's essentially a buddy story of misadventure: an 11 year old kid from Montana and his "great uncle" Herman, a German immigrant, travel across the US on the "dog bus," encountering a wide variety of characters. It's fun, readable, and heart-warming.

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Still working through Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. Complex.