What are you reading right now?

The Batlord · 09-19-2018, 10:56 AM

Just finished reading Uzumaki, a horror manga in the vein of Lovecraft, and it was delightfully phantasmagorical and bizarre as all weird fiction should be. Basically everyone in a small Japanese town becomes obsessed with spirals. At first that's the entire premise, with little stories about a man so obsessed that he twists himself into one inside a wooden barrel, apotter making warped, twisted pottery embedded with tormented faces; and people turning into snails and ****. And when the narrative really picks up it gets even more bizarre. H.P. would be proud.

What really makes the series pop though is the artist's visual sense. He doesn't do horror like he's trying to imitate movies. He draws unsettling images that haunt your mind with one of the oddest forms of body horror I've seen.

I put this here rather than the anime or comic threads because Exo is the only one on this site I've seen with an Uzumaki avatar and I doubt he reads those.

Mondo Bungle · 09-19-2018, 06:36 PM

I've read all of Uzumaki like 6 times

The movie is a novel effort in visual stimulation but fails as an adaptation, unfortunately.

The Batlord · 09-19-2018, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mondo Bungle

I've read all of Uzumaki like 6 times

The movie is a novel effort in visual stimulation but fails as an adaptation, unfortunately.

Now I'm all about reading Tomie next. Sounds also next level.

Mondo Bungle · 09-19-2018, 07:32 PM

Gyo too

The Batlord · 09-19-2018, 07:40 PM

And the Gyo collection also comes with "The Enigma of Amigara Fault" which also sounds mind melting. I'd love to know there were other manga horror writers who went so far outside the normie tropes. **** reading Tokyo Ghoul.

~~MicShazam~~ · 09-19-2018, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elphenor

I wouldn't start with an essay tbh

you wanna read 1984 first before you go into an Orwell essay on language and jargon you know

I don't really read novels. I got this Camus book because I'm specifically interested in essays and I just happened to stumble across a copy.

The Batlord · 09-19-2018, 10:45 PM

People who don't read fiction are boring.

~~MicShazam~~ · 09-19-2018, 10:49 PM

I read fiction in the shape of comics and there's movies too, but for some reason, novels don't do it for me. I feel like I'm pushing myself to read as if it was a duty.

The Batlord · 09-19-2018, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elphenor

I feel you

because bad fiction is the worst time sink for everyone involved, and I can't be bothered with fantasy and such anymore

but you gotta invest yourself in the classics like Camus because they use fiction in a way that's very allegorical and demonstrates a point

How is this a demonstration of quality? It makes it sound like you might as well just read a ****ing essay.

~~MicShazam~~ · 09-19-2018, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elphenor

I feel you

because bad fiction is the worst time sink for everyone involved, and I can't be bothered with fantasy and such anymore

but you gotta invest yourself in the classics like Camus because they use fiction in a way that's very allegorical and demonstrates a point

Maybe I will get around to that eventually. I do give novels a chance now and then, as I realize the fault is mostly mine. My brother wants me to read some Haruki Murakami and everyone says they're great books, so... maybe eventually. But like you say, they take time. And you don't know if it's really good before you've read 100-200 pages. I just feel like putting my time elsewhere, so I'll probably mostly remain ignorant of great fiction novels. Call me when there's a movie adaptation

09-19-2018, 10:49 PM	#6218 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	I read fiction in the shape of comics and there's movies too, but for some reason, novels don't do it for me. I feel like I'm pushing myself to read as if it was a duty.