Subtexty Recs (and finally continuing this meme)
Some non-LJ subtextual analysis recommendations:
For Holmes/Watson fans new and old, there's Decoding the Subtext, which is sorted by story and is an excellent resource especially for the tone of the old stories and also, if you're a new fan, to get a feel of what the books were all about. Also, so much slash going on (it's really not just the ridiculous chemistry that RDJ/Judesie have, I promise).
For K/S Trekkies (though y'all probably know about this already) there's Brittany's awesome AnalyzationCommentary on FF.net (it really bothers me that she uses "analyzation" rather than "analysis". She's incredibly intelligent in all other ways. Am I being dumb? Is that actually a word?) and her companion Youtube series, The Ship's Closet. If any of you are vidders, she's also currently holding a video contest.
Day 13 : A fictional book
So there are two ways I can answer this: A book of fiction, as in a novel, and a book that is fictional, a book that doesn't exist. I'm going to answer both, because I am a smartass.
For a novel I will choose A Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovitch by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn. Kind of my favorite of the Russian literature I've read (although Crime and Punishment was...incredible. That book is so well crafted. I read it all in one sitting and I literally felt as if I were going mad along with Raskolnikov). A Day In The Life is a simple portrait painted of life in a communist prison camp. It barely counts as fiction, as Solzhenitsyn did spend time in such a camp, but the amazing thing about it is that it shows...the simple joys there are, even when everything is horrible. In an environment where he has to fight for enough bread to survive, where his hands are swollen with cold and hostility reigns, Solzhenitsyn still manages to evoke the pure satisfaction of a well-laid brick. He completely and utterly expresses how good hard work can feel, even in the worst of circumstances.
For a fictional book, I choose House of Leaves. "But Penny!" You might interject. "House of Leaves is real, I have seen it on the shelves!" And you're right. There is a novel by Mark Z. Danielewski (brother, by the way, of the musician Poe) called House of Leaves. But that is not the book I'm talking about. The book I'm talking about is the book that book is about, the book written by an old dead man named Zampano, which in turn is written about a documentary that doesn't exist about a house that does.
That book...the novel, and the fictional book both...had more of an effect on my mind than any other work of literature I can remember. The way I described it in the weeks afterwards was that "It picked me up, shook all the thoughts from my pockets and replaced them with nightmare, and put me back down. It took me a while to realize that it hadn't put me down on my head, the world was upside down."
Just thinking about it, I'm disquieted. I can't say I would...recommend it. That's like recommending making yourself really sick just for the beautiful fever dreams. Or recommending setting yourself up for a really bad trip on hallucinogens. I am...glad that I read it. It was a good experience. And if you would like to be terrified, if you would like to be utterly convinced that something you know is invented is real?
Then read House of Leaves.
It's....
...I think it's the only book that I literally cannot admire the writing of, because I can't wrap my head around the idea that one guy, just one person, wrote it. I am so utterly convinced that there is a Johnny out there somewhere, and Mark Z. Danielewski is just the one who found the rag-tag bundle of scrap-paper and manuscript and published it as metafiction. This is true to the point that I can't bring myself to read any of his other books, even if they're just as crazy and brilliant.
For Holmes/Watson fans new and old, there's Decoding the Subtext, which is sorted by story and is an excellent resource especially for the tone of the old stories and also, if you're a new fan, to get a feel of what the books were all about. Also, so much slash going on (it's really not just the ridiculous chemistry that RDJ/Judesie have, I promise).
For K/S Trekkies (though y'all probably know about this already) there's Brittany's awesome AnalyzationCommentary on FF.net (it really bothers me that she uses "analyzation" rather than "analysis". She's incredibly intelligent in all other ways. Am I being dumb? Is that actually a word?) and her companion Youtube series, The Ship's Closet. If any of you are vidders, she's also currently holding a video contest.
Day 13 : A fictional book
So there are two ways I can answer this: A book of fiction, as in a novel, and a book that is fictional, a book that doesn't exist. I'm going to answer both, because I am a smartass.
For a novel I will choose A Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovitch by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn. Kind of my favorite of the Russian literature I've read (although Crime and Punishment was...incredible. That book is so well crafted. I read it all in one sitting and I literally felt as if I were going mad along with Raskolnikov). A Day In The Life is a simple portrait painted of life in a communist prison camp. It barely counts as fiction, as Solzhenitsyn did spend time in such a camp, but the amazing thing about it is that it shows...the simple joys there are, even when everything is horrible. In an environment where he has to fight for enough bread to survive, where his hands are swollen with cold and hostility reigns, Solzhenitsyn still manages to evoke the pure satisfaction of a well-laid brick. He completely and utterly expresses how good hard work can feel, even in the worst of circumstances.
For a fictional book, I choose House of Leaves. "But Penny!" You might interject. "House of Leaves is real, I have seen it on the shelves!" And you're right. There is a novel by Mark Z. Danielewski (brother, by the way, of the musician Poe) called House of Leaves. But that is not the book I'm talking about. The book I'm talking about is the book that book is about, the book written by an old dead man named Zampano, which in turn is written about a documentary that doesn't exist about a house that does.
That book...the novel, and the fictional book both...had more of an effect on my mind than any other work of literature I can remember. The way I described it in the weeks afterwards was that "It picked me up, shook all the thoughts from my pockets and replaced them with nightmare, and put me back down. It took me a while to realize that it hadn't put me down on my head, the world was upside down."
Just thinking about it, I'm disquieted. I can't say I would...recommend it. That's like recommending making yourself really sick just for the beautiful fever dreams. Or recommending setting yourself up for a really bad trip on hallucinogens. I am...glad that I read it. It was a good experience. And if you would like to be terrified, if you would like to be utterly convinced that something you know is invented is real?
Then read House of Leaves.
It's....
...I think it's the only book that I literally cannot admire the writing of, because I can't wrap my head around the idea that one guy, just one person, wrote it. I am so utterly convinced that there is a Johnny out there somewhere, and Mark Z. Danielewski is just the one who found the rag-tag bundle of scrap-paper and manuscript and published it as metafiction. This is true to the point that I can't bring myself to read any of his other books, even if they're just as crazy and brilliant.