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So I just finished all of Chuck's books......What next?
I was never into reading but when I picked up Surivor i couldnt put it down. I was the same way for the rest of Chuck's fiction books. Now i am done reading all of his books and i am faced with a problem, i dont know what to read next. I just started on Clown Girl. What are your favorite book or authors besides Chuck. I am new to the site and I am sure this was all ready a forum but i cant find anything on it.
Right now I'm reading The Stranger, by Albert Camus. I'm only a little ways in, though the book's short anyways, and I already see some major influences on Chuck's work. Whether this book directly influenced, or it influenced people who influenced people, I wouldn't know. But 'The Narrator' is definitely the voice I hear.
When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?
thanks i should be finished clown girl by next week, i think contortionist's handbook is next. are the books that you guys listed hard to find in stores? would i have more luck over amazion? i went to 4 boarders and they didnt have clown girl and there was only one copy at barnes and noble
Unless it's in the discount bin at borders, I get everything online cause its cheaper. But most of the books mentioned should be somewhat easy to find.
When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?
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i remember when i started the cult, there was a thread started about this very line of thought:
"So, you've finished all of Chuck's books in a few weeks, now what? Well, the we're here with the answer: there is a whole page designated to authors Chuck recommends..."
Book Recommendations From Chuck Palahniuk
that was a few years ago and a few more of chuck's books have come out since then. hell, this site turned me to will christopher baer and craig clevenger, among countless others over the years.
you can read, as a taste, one of Baer's first short stories right here on this site
Suffer The Fool
other high notes:
someone above mentioned Houseof Leaves and i second that mind fuck
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
Amy Hempel Anthology
Mark Richard's Ice at the Bottom of the World
Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho and Less Than Zero are both quite incredible
Bright Lights Big City
Cormac Mccarthy has two that i cannot recommend enough: The Road and Blood Meridian
if you find a clinging to Baer's trilogy, then definitely pick up Neuromancer by William Gibson
Steve Erickson is an incredible writer
so was John Fante
a few that have come through the ranks in the past couple of years here are:
Click by Kristopher Young and Angledust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Junot Diaz's Drown
Flannery Oconnor's Wise Blood
two collections that i particularly love are See Through stories by Nelly Reifler
and Stephen Blackburn's The Extinction of Rhinos in Mexico
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
and The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald are both absolutely necessary.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, as mentioned too above
Crash by JG Ballard (since you've read Rant you'll know why)
Tim Obrien's The Things They Carried
[i]In The Cut by Suzanna Moore
The Stranger by Albert Camus is very fucking necessary
5 Mile House by Karen Novak (she's a cultist too and spent a couple of years here, because too many of her students mentioned to her that her themes and even titles reminded them of her work, and she'd never read Chuck at the time, so she came here to see what all the fuss was about--she's a five time novelist and 5Mile is a great place to start with her work)
and i'm about tapped out, but please don't forget Vonnegut. Cat's Cradle seems to be a popular starting point!
on a personal note..
i came here december of oh-three looking for book recommendations. i have not been disappointed.
welcome to the Cult
-kabol
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She fights the immediate urge to release the vibrating metal, the thought of replacing not only a father but also the man she most hates in the world for the man she most loves is no longer as strong. Her momentary resolve is that maybe she is wrong, that she shouldn’t fight the tie of family in campaign for the sins of her heart, that perhaps the love she felt for a lover was not as honest as her hate for her own father ~A Daughter's P R I D E
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i decided on a second reply to answer the second half of your inquiry:
a lot of libraries have very good selections
i was even able to run down Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall a few months back, even here in Central Arkansas
but a lot of the books i look out for are seldom in the local Barnes store or Walden and most of my purchasing has been online
when it comes to new books [or, recent books within the past few years] i buy them new
but older books, like Gatsby or Chandler or Thompson novels, i generally try the used "bins" at Amazon or even eBay first
ordering is just a fact of life nowadays: Craig Clevenger is probably one of the best writers to have emerged this decade, but in most stores you will have to order his two books
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She fights the immediate urge to release the vibrating metal, the thought of replacing not only a father but also the man she most hates in the world for the man she most loves is no longer as strong. Her momentary resolve is that maybe she is wrong, that she shouldn’t fight the tie of family in campaign for the sins of her heart, that perhaps the love she felt for a lover was not as honest as her hate for her own father ~A Daughter's P R I D E
Apathy and Other Small Victories by Paul Neilan. Easily the funniest book I've ever read. And it's on my all time favorites list. Great book.
Will Chris Baer - any of the guy's books. He's an amazing writer. But you'll want to start out with Kiss Me, Judas because it's a triology... Or just buy the Phineas trilogy that has them all in one volume.
Max Barry. Everybody reads Jennifer Government - which I thought was pretty good. But I loved Company.
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson. I pick this book up every so often and I can't put it down once I read that first page. It's amazing. I'm pretty sure I've read that Chuck's read this book more than 500 times or something. There's a reason for that. It's rough and raw and beautiful all at the same time.
Check out these three links - one, two, and three
There are so many more - but you're going to have fun researching all the recommendations that you already have.
Everybody thinks their whole life should be at least as much fun as masturbation - Tender Branson
Man i do not agree with the WCB stuff at all. He's fine but i dont see it as something to go HOLY Shit! about.
my reccomendations:
- Albert Camus-The Stranger
- Hunter S Thompson- Rum Diary
- Katharine Dunn- Geek Love (very much in the spirit of palahniuk, but taking it a step further)
- Kurt Vonnegut- Breakfast with champions, Cats Cradle, Dead Eye Dick (dead eye dick is very palahniuk esq in my opinion).
I havent read Jesus's son yet (looking for it at the used bookstores in pgh and coming up short) so i cant reccomend that one.
Honestly just go through the forums here man, thousands upon thousands of books are mentioned.
Jkabol im stealing your suggestion list and using it for my self your taste seem to be close to mine yet more advanced.
cool, phleg
it all came later on, i started reading much later than most people
all these kids running around here reading everything they can get their mits on, i started by attempting to up my comprehension through reading star wars novels and alien race wars and anything preditor, ANYTHING i could align interest with, and then went on to thomas harris's lector trilogy. (i could not believe i was capable of reading such a feat.) i saw the fight club movie and, at the time was huge into after viewing a great movie reading the book, couldnt believe fc was a fucking book first so read it and got survivor and and came here not long after learning about search engines and got some killer recommendations. that whole list above, i read them post joining the cult, most--pretty much all--of them that first year. most were recommended by chuck collected via his author recommend page his essays several interviews and his Q&A sessions
i'm not an advanced reader, but i am just getting warmed up =)
-kabol
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She fights the immediate urge to release the vibrating metal, the thought of replacing not only a father but also the man she most hates in the world for the man she most loves is no longer as strong. Her momentary resolve is that maybe she is wrong, that she shouldn’t fight the tie of family in campaign for the sins of her heart, that perhaps the love she felt for a lover was not as honest as her hate for her own father ~A Daughter's P R I D E
I honestly didnt start reading until i got into college(2003) i found guts in playboy and went "hey this is really honest and strange" so i did some research and from the moment i put down choke i read a book a week all through college.
I still feel intimidated by books that are over 800 pages though. I am hesitant about investing my self that much into something that may dissapoint me.
I guess there isn't anything new I can say here, but i'll try.
Will Christopher Baer (POE TRILLOGY),because, well, I'm Devin. How could I not say his name? He has a very gritty kind of feel. The pull I have twords the main 'anti- hero,' Phineas Poe, is stronger then any other book I've ever read. A very real character, and please, don't just look at the plot synopsis and shrug it off. The plot might be uninviting but the character detail, the use of dialog, and power struggles in Chris's work are intense. Utterly. JKable already posted a link to one of his shorts hosted upon this site, check that out.
Craig Clevenger. (Recomend DERMAPHORIA before THE HANDBOOK, but i'm a minority there.) I don't know if I really have to tell you how good this man is, considering he is teaching a workshop here starting April.
Steven Erickson, (RUBICON BEACH, TOURS OF THE BLACK CLOCK, DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS) but that might be a little too much, I mean, If you JUST got into reading. I sometimes can't fallow Erickson, or connect all the characters. If you read House of leaves and want to be mind fucked again, go with some Erickson. The beauty and believability in his apocalyptic worlds are astonishing.
Theres this guy - Named Joe Meno. (HAIRSTYLES OF THE DAMNED, THE BOY DETECTIVE FAILS) He has written a lot of stuff that I dig, got into shortly after my Chuck Palahniuk binge. Depends on what your into on what you should read of his. Mainly, nothing out of this world, nothing really mind blowing, or chuck-esqe surprising. but some solid reads non-the-less!
Another Joe, or rather, Joey I would recommend is Joey Goebel. Very Funny man. His book Torture The Artist will break your heart, and as for his other one I can't say I was a fan of it, but I'm in the minority there so maybe you should check it out.
Man, that's about all I have in me. enough to hold you over for a little while there, too.
im not sure how much you like short stories. but if you like them, there are a lot of authors that have similar styles to the way that chuck writes.
amy hempel- the collected stories
denis johnson-jesus' son
ernest hemingway-the complete short stories
thom jones-the pugilist at rest, cold snap, and sonny liston was a friend of mine
raymond carver- where im calling from
bret easton ellis- the informers
id also check out stephen graham jones' website. hes got some of his short stories on there which are a good introduction to him and his style. i would get the phinneas poe trilogy by will christopher baer. if youre not sure about him check out the links to his stories. craig clevengers books are amazing too. i also prefer dermaphoria but contortionists handbook is also incredible.
i loved house of leaves but its a lot to handle. you might want to start off with some thing a little lighter. but what do i know. if youre interested then go for it. and if you like that then read the raw shark text by steven hall.
i really think the best place to look is right here on the website. go to the interview section and just read the interviews. thats how i started finding out about a lot of these authors. read the interviews, pick the authors youd want to hang out with, and then read their books. worked for me anyway.
I think Cold Snap by Thom Jones was the best book of short stories I ever read. Cant say enough good things about it.
Dark past, bright future, living abroad, well read. You're like the reincarnation of James Dean, hopefully with better driving skills ( Tomstrong on me, best compliment I ever got! )
I think Cold Snap by Thom Jones was the best book of short stories I ever read. Cant say enough good things about it.
I've been looking for a good book of short stories so I think I'll give that a try. I liked Jesus' Son, but I couldn't really connect with it at all, and I sort of hated No one belongs here more than you.
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Joined: 2008-02-21
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