Yeah, that's sort of what I mean by it being a wankfest. Dante's bleak allegories I agree with; his fantastical visions of redemption by the Christian God I find quite insipid. Perhaps I'm a masochist or somesuch, but his terse grip on the allegory just flies way off into a big Christian wank over the notion of paradise.

Well throughout the poem it was a big Christian wank wasn't it? Sinners being pwned. Pagans being limbo'd. That's basically the gist of it.

Fair point. I've always been an old testament man meself, so maybe that explains it. I've always liked the God that's confusing, weird and gruellingly spiteful.

I've always loved the romanticism of that fire-and-brimstone, Norriseqsue old testament God myself. There was no messing with old testament God. He commanded his chosen people to wander the desert for near 50 years! There'd be no crucifying that God.

P.S.
I love you Jesus

Yeah, well, I've gotta big up my man JC.

But it's all about my man Job as well. That's my nigga right there.

The OT God was a total git wasn't he. Sort of reminded me of a bearded Norman Tebbit.

joy division's unknown pleasures 33 1/3 book. i also bought the velvet underground and nico one too.

Currently I am reading Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein.

Bao Ninh - The Sorrow Of War

I recently bought a handful of victorian novels from an antique shop here in Liverpool- at the moment I'm reading one of them, "Christie's Old Organ", which is about a boy called Christopher who befriends an old organ grinder. The writing, as you can expect from a victorian author, is unconciously poetic and full of those flourishing polysyllabic adjectives which give me a huge intellectual boner.

That's an awesome book if you keep in mind the cultural impact it had. It was hugely influential on the anarcho-communist side of the hippie movement, and Kesey and the like were really into it. Also the stuff about the First Lady's astrologer influencing presidential politics was incredibly prescient since Ron and Nancy actually did that two decades later!

I see lots and lots of parallelism between the book and current events as well. Especially between the Fosterites and Scientologists.

Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson

I've really wanted to enjoy this book , but in both attempts of a few months ago and a few years ago , I havent been able to get what it's about .

for about the tenth time

What it's about is a social critique of American politics disguised as a science fiction novel. It's odd because Heinlein was a bit right wing, but this book is a blue-print for why an anrcho-socialist society is a good idea. That said, the writing can be a bit juvenile at times, as juvenile SF was where Heinlein was coming from in terms of marketing and audience.

I never got much further than when Jill "kidnapped" Valentine and brought him to Ben's apartment . I assumed that he made Ben a total pig on purpose to illustrate something , that or it was an example of the juvenile style of writing . Everything that was going on was like that for me - what was deliberate and what was nothing .

I suppose I really dont know enough about American politics, especially of the times back then , to really grasp it . What is an anarcho-socialist society ? Why was it needed then ?
Ha, thanks for replying though , I've wanted to ask someone about it for a long while !