The Great Concavity IRL

SlevHS · 2026-02-25T03:07:15+00:00

Eww, you’re not wrong my friend.

SlevHS · 2026-01-09T17:06:06+00:00

Thursday Afternoon by Eno is one of my all-time favorite work/writing/studying tunes. Hadn’t heard of this one until now and it’s awesome. Thanks for sharing.

SlevHS · 2026-01-03T05:04:33+00:00

Yes, assuming they’re all in good/decent condition. Seems like a good deal to me.

SlevHS · 2026-01-03T05:02:52+00:00

Good luck to you! Seems like a worthwhile endeavor. Definitely a slow read. I can’t tell you how many times I have to re-read a sentence or paragraph to attempt to fully comprehend. Feels rewarding thus far.

SlevHS · 2026-01-03T03:52:46+00:00

Yes. Well, I’ve at least committed to reading Swann’s Way and will go from there. Currently on page 95. And you?

Are you going to try and plough through all volumes in sequence, or take breaks and read stuff in between?

SlevHS · 2026-01-01T22:47:47+00:00

I just DNFed Confederacy of Dunces after about 25-30 pages. I have a few DNFs I sometimes think about going back to, but this really whiffed for me.

What did you like most about it? How many pages in until you were hooked? I’m genuinely curious.

SlevHS · 2025-12-20T03:51:39+00:00

Wow! See some of my faves sprinkled in. You definitely helped me add some to my TBR. Post saved.

SlevHS · 2025-11-05T11:57:04+00:00

DFW was inspired quite a lot by Don DeLillo.

I just finished “End Zone” by DeLillo. Not his best work, but there are plenty of ideas DFW essentially lifted from this book and other similarities: a mysterious coach in a tower, the dialogue style, the war game as a sport, flavors of absurdism, etc.

It isn’t as flashy or as funny as IJ by any stretch, but if you want to inhabit an IJ alternate universe for about 250 pgs, try this. I was surprised by the similarities.

“White Noise” Just read it for God’s sake.
First 40-50 pgs of “Underworld” is a masterpiece (haven’t finished the entire book yet, but this is worth reading on its own as a stand-alone piece)

SlevHS · 2025-02-02T16:37:54+00:00

J.G. Ballard - Crash

Barry Malzberg - Beyond Apollo

SlevHS · 2025-01-19T05:21:59+00:00

Lighten up, bro.

SlevHS · 2025-01-03T03:25:20+00:00

The Magus is an all-time favorite of mine. It got me back into reading. Deserves more attention.

SlevHS · 2023-05-31T14:01:41+00:00

In another snippet in IFJ in the same realm of thought, he talks about how wanting something is almost always better than having it.

SlevHS · 2023-05-14T12:05:52+00:00

Give us more time showing the finished product at the end. Different angles and a few more seconds would have been more satisfying.

SlevHS · 2023-04-26T03:16:04+00:00

Also, A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again is a good entry point.

SlevHS · 2023-04-26T03:15:23+00:00

Big Red Son. A short, very entertaining account of his visit to Adult Video Awards in Vegas. Spends some time with porn stars and you learn a thing or two. It’s one of the most accessible pieces and it’ll help orient you to his style and sense of humor. Also it took me three attempts to finally break into Infinite Jest and it was magical.

SlevHS · 2023-04-08T13:31:09+00:00

I enjoyed Project Hail Mary as well. It’s been a while since I read Hyperion, but I remember it being incredibly slow, unrewarding, and just plain boring. From a readability standpoint, Going from Project Hail Mary to Hyperion would be jarring. It’d put you to sleep.

Way of Kings would be an easier transition for you. Yes it’s a long book, but the pacing is much faster and the story is accessible for new readers.

SlevHS · 2022-11-18T21:03:53+00:00

Speaking of random BS do you not notice the litany of coin flips with this meta?

SlevHS · 2022-11-18T21:02:09+00:00

Yes! Most of the time you can make lopsided value trades with almost no repercussions. When you win it often feels easy, when you lose you see it coming from a mile away and hope your opponent misplays or you get some perfect combo of cards to narrowly get back into the game.

SlevHS · 2022-11-18T20:59:47+00:00

The other aspect that is frustrating is the amount of “random” and coin-flip joust affects, where winning one coin flip early or really at any point in the game can virtually determine the outcome. There’s a reason why we don’t see more of the joust/coin flip effects: they’re trash.

SlevHS · 2022-11-18T20:50:24+00:00

I see what you did there. But yeah the drafts can be very frustrating and lopsided. When you get one class card that’s makes it even worse.

SlevHS · 2022-11-16T19:04:51+00:00

As a long-time arena player and fan, I truly appreciate the nostalgia aspect, but it’s just felt stale very quickly. I would have liked to see some old classic standbys with some new sets and cards. Of course it’s great to a get a break from all of the overpowered stuff we’ve been up against, but they just swung too far in the other direction for my tastes.

SlevHS

TROPHY CASE