Comments on: Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. ~P.J. O’Rourke http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/ \"...a somewhat popular blogger\" Sat, 18 Feb 2012 02:17:02 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Binkyboy http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35332 Binkyboy Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:53:09 +0000 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35332 <p>Thanks Dennis, I’ll pick up the version you mentioned!</p> Thanks Dennis, I’ll pick up the version you mentioned!

]]> By: chuckzak http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35324 chuckzak Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:47:49 +0000 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35324 <p><em>one of my favorites in post-Lovecraftian horror, Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.</em></p> <p>Mine too. Unnerving in the weirdest and driest way.</p> one of my favorites in post-Lovecraftian horror, Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.

Mine too. Unnerving in the weirdest and driest way.

]]> By: DennisSGMM http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35287 DennisSGMM Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:06:45 +0000 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35287 <p>Pynchon. I bought a copy of “V” at a quick serve in South Texas back in the late Sixties. I carried it, along with Rudolph Wurlitzer’s completely overlooked and just as estimable “Nog” with me to Vietnam. Both books made what happened to me there seem explicable.</p> Pynchon. I bought a copy of “V” at a quick serve in South Texas back in the late Sixties. I carried it, along with Rudolph Wurlitzer’s completely overlooked and just as estimable “Nog” with me to Vietnam. Both books made what happened to me there seem explicable.

]]> By: TomHilton http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35285 TomHilton Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:39:09 +0000 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35285 <p>Second that. It was my introduction to Borges (at 14), I’ve read it maybe a dozen times over, and it’s still my favorite collection. </p> <p>And…another Pynchon novel? Maybe the universe doesn’t suck so much after all.</p> Second that. It was my introduction to Borges (at 14), I’ve read it maybe a dozen times over, and it’s still my favorite collection.

And…another Pynchon novel? Maybe the universe doesn’t suck so much after all.

]]> By: DennisSGMM http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35279 DennisSGMM Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:04:09 +0000 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35279 <p>“Funes the Memorious” and “The Garden of Forking Paths” were sufficient to enshrine Borges in the first rank of short story writers. By writing “The Aleph” and so many other remarkable pieces, many informed with wry self-deprecation, he made possible the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and perhaps even that of Haruki Murakami.</p> “Funes the Memorious” and “The Garden of Forking Paths” were sufficient to enshrine Borges in the first rank of short story writers. By writing “The Aleph” and so many other remarkable pieces, many informed with wry self-deprecation, he made possible the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and perhaps even that of Haruki Murakami.

]]> By: TheDarkAvenger http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35277 TheDarkAvenger Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:14:04 +0000 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35277 <p>and Funes the Memorious along with one of my favorites in post-Lovecraftian horror, Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.</p> <p>Here’s the beginning of <a href="http://www.phinnweb.org/links/literature/borges/aleph.html" rel="nofollow">The Aleph</a>:</p> <blockquote><p> O God! I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a King of infinite space…<br /> Hamlet, II, 2</p> <p> But they will teach us that Eternity is the Standing still of the Present Time, a Nunc-stans (as the schools call it); which neither they, nor any else understand, no more than they would a Hic-stans for an Infinite greatness of Place.<br /> Leviathan, IV, 46 </p> <p>On the burning February morning Beatriz Viterbo died, after braving an agony that never for a single moment gave way to self-pity or fear, I noticed that the sidewalk billboards around Constitution Plaza were advertising some new brand or other of American cigarettes. The fact pained me, for I realised that the wide and ceaseless universe was already slipping away from her and that this slight change was the first of an endless series. The universe may change but not me, I thought with a certain sad vanity. I knew that at times my fruitless devotion had annoyed her; now that she was dead, I could devote myself to her memory, without hope but also without humiliation.</p></blockquote> and Funes the Memorious along with one of my favorites in post-Lovecraftian horror, Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.

Here’s the beginning of The Aleph:

O God! I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a King of infinite space…
Hamlet, II, 2

But they will teach us that Eternity is the Standing still of the Present Time, a Nunc-stans (as the schools call it); which neither they, nor any else understand, no more than they would a Hic-stans for an Infinite greatness of Place.
Leviathan, IV, 46

On the burning February morning Beatriz Viterbo died, after braving an agony that never for a single moment gave way to self-pity or fear, I noticed that the sidewalk billboards around Constitution Plaza were advertising some new brand or other of American cigarettes. The fact pained me, for I realised that the wide and ceaseless universe was already slipping away from her and that this slight change was the first of an endless series. The universe may change but not me, I thought with a certain sad vanity. I knew that at times my fruitless devotion had annoyed her; now that she was dead, I could devote myself to her memory, without hope but also without humiliation.

]]> By: DennisSGMM http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35268 DennisSGMM Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:02:16 +0000 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35268 <p><em>Labyrinths</em> is perhaps the best introduction to Borges. It includes “The Library of Babel.” I would recommend the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Labyrinths-Selected-Writings-Directions-Paperbook/dp/0811200124#capbody" rel="nofollow">New Directions Paperback version </a> for Irby and Yates’ sublime translation. If you’re literate in Spanish, <em>Ficciones</em> also features the story as originally written. It’s available from both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.</p> Labyrinths is perhaps the best introduction to Borges. It includes “The Library of Babel.” I would recommend the New Directions Paperback version for Irby and Yates’ sublime translation. If you’re literate in Spanish, Ficciones also features the story as originally written. It’s available from both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

]]> By: DesertRat http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35267 DesertRat Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:56:18 +0000 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35267 <p>Hey, now. Some of us oldsters can remember when P J O Rourke was funny, interesting in relevant…</p> <p>Of course that ended sometime during Reagan’s first term, which kind of proves your point.</p> <p>Sigh. OK. Pretend I wrote nothing. Carry on.</p> Hey, now. Some of us oldsters can remember when P J O Rourke was funny, interesting in relevant…

Of course that ended sometime during Reagan’s first term, which kind of proves your point.

Sigh. OK. Pretend I wrote nothing. Carry on.

]]> By: SteveM http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35265 SteveM Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:32:34 +0000 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35265 <p>I’m looking forward to the Atwood, but it’s a sequel to <i>Oryx and Crake,</i> which was creepy and brilliant, and I hope it lives up to its predecessor.</p> <p>Hey, you know what’s surprisingly good? <a href="http://www.amazon.com/End-Jews-Novel-Adam-Mansbach/dp/0385520425/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245861008&sr=1-2" rel="nofollow">This,</a> which I’d never heard of until I picked it up (and then devoured it). Really Roth/Chabon/Shteyngart good, despite a title that leads you to think it’s not even remotely the kind of book it is. Go to a bookstore and try a page or two.</p> I’m looking forward to the Atwood, but it’s a sequel to Oryx and Crake, which was creepy and brilliant, and I hope it lives up to its predecessor.

Hey, you know what’s surprisingly good? This, which I’d never heard of until I picked it up (and then devoured it). Really Roth/Chabon/Shteyngart good, despite a title that leads you to think it’s not even remotely the kind of book it is. Go to a bookstore and try a page or two.

]]> By: DennisSGMM http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35261 DennisSGMM Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:00:57 +0000 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/always-read-something-that-will-make-you-look-good-if-you-die-in-the-middle-of-it-pj-orourke/#comment-35261 <p>Ah, El Hacedor. Writers are why I don’t watch television. Borges has been a source of delight and a tutor in the art of short story writing for me for more than forty years. Thank you for invoking his name.</p> Ah, El Hacedor. Writers are why I don’t watch television. Borges has been a source of delight and a tutor in the art of short story writing for me for more than forty years. Thank you for invoking his name.

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