Happy Brithday Thomas Pynchon

[Quirkafleeg]

70 years today... wherever he is.

Has anyone read much of him? I read the supposedly easy (for him) Crying of Lot 49 a few years ago which was pretty mind-blowing. I keep meaning to attempt Gravity's Rainbow but it sounds pretty hard work.

The obvious comics connection is he's quoted in V for Vendetta.

[Art]

Gravity's Rainbow did me in, I've not tried anything else of his other that and Lot 49 (which was a breeze by comparison).

Always been more of a Burroughs fan. Still, i should give him a shot sometime.

Still, always great to hear about an older literary great outside of the context of "...is dead".

[Richmond Clements]

I'm pretty sure I too once tried to read Gravity's Rainbow, only to be beaten into submission.

[JOE SOAP]

Couldn't get interested in Vineland at all. The only good thing in it was a fella who was a celebrity "defenestrator", which means he made a livin' out of jumping through glass windows for novelty effect.

[Quirkafleeg]

Hmmmm and Vineland is supposed to be another accessible one.

I did read about someone reading GR in one sitting, in bed in a bedsit in Paris, for three days straight consuming only pot noodles... perhaps that's the way to do it.

[JOE SOAP]

The only accesible one is the crying of lot 49, mostly because it's short and can be read in an afternoon.