So i've been thinking... - Page 2

rawb · #26 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

the 'questions' in the first post focus on coupland's earlier work which was more about the historical emptiness and disallusionment of being in your 20's and 30's in the 90s. you can pull crazy questions about our perception of individuality as a species, but when you get down to brass tacks it was just 2 or 3 books about kids with trust funds who have never had to deal with any real difficulty other than low self esteem.

i really like coupland but i think even he cringes when he reads some of his earlier stuff, i think it's important work in defining a generation but to really base some kind of philisophical point on it imho is weak.

if you want to get down to some perception stuff but dont want to break out the heavy reading id reccomend tim allen's first book, it's suprisingly good.

sidekick · #27 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

tim allen wrote a book? and it's good? or was this sarcastic...i hope it wasn't sarcastic, because that would be cool!

i'll admit i have not read Generation X, so i cannot comment on the kids with low-self esteem and trust funds thing...but Life After God i have read, and that has some pretty cool stuff to think about in there.

Max if you haven't read Plato's Republic i want you to read it. you can borrow my copy of it, just ignore the highlighter and notes i made. i think you would have some interseting things to say about it.

rawb · #28 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

i think it's called 'dont stand to close to a naked man' and it's a autobiography, half him coming to terms with a lot of his issues. a lot of it is him trying to apply books like 'zen and the art of motorcycle maintence' and 'the celestine prophecy' to his life. it's done in a way that's really easy to read and funny, but also endearing.

tim's done a lot of stuff, been to jail, been hooked on drugs, so there's a lot of meat in there.

yeah i thought it would be funny and stupid but i was really impressed. i loaned it to a buddy and he said it changed his life (he was a hippy so take that with a grain of salt).

i put a disclaimer here that i havent read it since i was 16 or 17.

Goat · #29 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

All of couplands novels i've found weak patches throughout. Never long or so weak as to make me cringe, but weak non the less.
The ending of microsurfs was a let down after such a drawn out book, but the transition from no life to a life was really well done; not obvious but not so subtle as to take a lot of effort.
Where as life after god was the exact opposite, too patchy in the middle and a stronger ending.
Hey Nostradamus and All families Are Psychotic are by far his best.

ya, that'd be great Jake.
I'll check that out Rawb.

sidekick · #30 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

^i'm going to go out and find that now. i never knew he was hooked on drugs or went to jail....he was oh-so-wholesome in Home Improvement.

i have that book "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintanance" sitting next to me on my 'books to read' shelf. have you read it?

rawb · #31 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

i like microserfs ending :....(

microserfs and girlfriend in a coma are my favorites.

the former because it's a great story based on being a geek, which i can identify with completely.

the latter because it's based in north van, and i love reading about feral animals in the save on foods i shopped in as a kid.

actually i havent read his last 4 or so books, i got halfway done miss wyoming and got sidetracked. i think i own them though.

rawb · #32 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sidekick

^i'm going to go out and find that now. i never knew he was hooked on drugs or went to jail....he was oh-so-wholesome in Home Improvement.

i have that book "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintanance" sitting next to me on my 'books to read' shelf. have you read it?

i havent read it all the way through, but it's not required reading for the Allen book, he takes a lot of the main points and contextualizes them to his life which ended up making me understand the zen book better when i (half) read it.

right now im really worried that i remembered the allen book wrong and you guys are going to lynch me because it sucks.

sidekick · #33 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

Quote:

Originally Posted by rawb

right now im really worried that i remembered the book wrong and you guys are going to lynch me because it sucks.

haha don't sweat it. even if i don't receive gigantic philosophical enlightenment from the book, i'll probably get an entertaining read, so either way i haven't lost anything.

rawb · #34 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

except a good lynching.

sidekick · #35 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

we can always arrange that later.

Goat · #36 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad ending. Just not so strong as his others, things could of been tied together nicer.
I felt the same way with Miss Wyoming and Generation X. I read 5 pages and decided i couldn't handle something that loosely put together.
Also *thanks for this one jake* something you might want to check out, i forget the author but it's called the Pornographers Poem.
i've read about 100 pages but it's been great so far.

sidekick · #37 (**permalink**) Jun 15, 04

Michael Turner, from vancouver.

have you got the train tracks yet? i'm sure you have. me and my friend walked along those tracks, it was cool :)