The Song Fight Bulletin Board

so i just read you shall know our velocity!. i pretty much thought it was the best book i've ever read. as soon as the library gets a heartbreaking work... back, i'm checking it out.

anyone else read anything by eggers? (i'm sure someone has)

what do you think?

I've read A Heartbreaking Work... it was good, but not the best book I've ever read. The only Eggers book I've read.

I was unmoved by 'A Heartbreaking Work ...' it was not as clever as it thought it was. As a result I haven't read anything else by him ...

(Heather, is your new avatar your scan? Cool)

Yep, that's our baby girl! We got one of those super cool 4D ultrasounds!

Yeah, the title of the book is a little misleading, it was neither heartbreaking nor genius, but I guess I would agree with stagering.

well, it's hard to live up to a title like that. i still want to give it a shot. i would definitely recommend you shall know our velocity! though. great book.

don't know the first thing about eggers, but heather's avatar is awesome.
so cute.
-bill

I read the literary mag <i>McSweeney's</i>, which Eggers is editor of.

I read McSweeney's.. Which is either ingenius or just.. un-genius. Recently picked up "Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans", which is basically just a collection of McSweeney's' tidbits.

I read A Heartbreaking Work... a couple years ago; thought it was a pretty awesome book; but not awesome enough to live up to its title, of course. Then last year I read And You Shall Know Our Velocity; which was way better, but since I kind of knew what to expect, it didn't have the impact on me that it seemed to have on my friends. At the time I was working in a bookstore, and started recommending it to everybody.
I wouldn't discourage you from picking up A Heartbreaking Work.. but I'll tell you right now, Velocity was much, much better.

If you really like Eggers you should check out "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer. Kind of the same writing style as Eggers, but I liked this book a lot more. He has a new one out too, but the name escapes me. When I get some money I'll definitely pick it up.

So far Created in Darkness... is really fun, but I haven't read too much of it, yet.

i just finished a.h.w.o.s.g. and i don't understand what you guys don't like about it. whatever. to each their own. i think eggers rules.

there was no reason for me to include the rolly eyes guy in this post.

YSKOV is such a great book.. definitely one of the all time best. Please don't name a song after it... I've one!

Read his short stories as well.. the ones that are 2 pages long are the best. When I first read them, it was cos I saw a book of them for only 2 quid and I bought it on an impulse. The style blew me away. He's such a good writer.

I'm reading his Mc Sweeney's compilations now.. the best of the short stories from his magazine. His site is great entertainment.

yeah, how we are hungry is a pretty great book too. the story "after i was thrown in the river and before i drowned" is just a great story. i guess i prefer the longer, more developed stuff of his.

Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius-

My favorite book of all time. Though I can't say it's a completely objective opinion. People often told me to write a book about my life and my story. Then this book came out and it seems someone already had, who was a BRILLIANT writer. His insight was spot on. One of these days I'm going to have a drink with him. You see I lost my mother when I was 22 back in 1994 and somewhat lost my father too (to the mental hospital) which left Me 22, my sister 18, brother 16 to watch and raise our baby sister who was 6 at the time. We also found ourselves in The East Bay of the SF Bay area. So I completely related to the Dave and Toph dynamic, and since that book I often refer to my sister as Toph. Since I read that book it has not stopped traveling between friends who borrow it and love it.

You Shall Know Our Velocity is also Genius! I wish he would write more novels, he's about the best there is.

glennny wrote:You Shall Know Our Velocity is also Genius! I wish he would write more novels, he's about the best there is.

I guess you haven't heard?

WOW! Thanks man! I actually heard he was working on a book about the lost boys of the Sudan , which it looks like this is. I was in Borders I guess 2 weekends ago and there was nothing new in the Eggars section.

Thanks again, I'm getting it today (if they have it).

The new Modest Mouse album title is like an Eggers' short story title. It's gonna remind me of him forever:

'We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank'


Is 'What Is The What' good? I'd only be able to import it ($30 + postage, and it's a heavy-lookin' book!) and I'm not 100% I'd like it, even though it's by him...

Recommended?

ddd wrote:Is 'What Is The What' good? I'd only be able to import it ($30 + postage, and it's a heavy-lookin' book!) and I'm not 100% I'd like it, even though it's by him...

Recommended?

I haven't read it yet. Looking forward to it, but probably won't get a chance until summer. And I got it for $15 on amazon. Weird.

I picked it up shortly after I realised it existed. I haven't had a chance to read it yet. My wife immediately took it over, she's most of the way through it. (I'm reading the latest Christopher Moore). She says it's fantastic! She also says that it doesn't have as much of his voice as his previous works, but this is the best story he's told. I'm very excited to dive into it.

ddd wrote: Is 'What Is The What' good? I'd only be able to import it ($30 + postage, and it's a heavy-lookin' book!) and I'm not 100% I'd like it, even though it's by him...

Recommended?

I'm only a little over 100 pages into it, but I love it. It's long--nearly 500 pages, but it's very easy reading. It's not designed to have his voice so much as the voice the of the person upon whose life it is based, but there are plenty Eggersisms that will have you wanting to dog-ear pages for later reference (or to steal and put into songs!).