William Vollmann and Thomas Pynchon News

[Slite]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I'd pay twice what they sold for to have all his work.

I'm hoping he'll win the Nobel Prize (in this order of preference):

1) Joyce Carol Oates
2) Mario Vargas Llosa
3) Thomas Pynchon
4) Carlos Fuentes
5) Haruki Murakami
6) William Vollmann


Don

Sorry, won't happen... To be even considered for the Nobel prize you need to be such an obscure author that noone has bought a copy of your books, until the Royal Swedish Academy anounces your name and suddenly your booksales soar astronomicaly.

[drmathprog]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

William Vollmann's newest novel, "Imperiam," is now available from Books On Board. Their price is $43.62.

Amazon's price is $29.70.

That's about a $14.00 difference, Bubba!


Don

Sony's site offers it in ePub format for $55.00. No Pynchon, though. I don't see Imperiam on Books on Board.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by drmathprog

Sony's site offers it in ePub format for $55.00. No Pynchon, though. I don't see Imperiam on Books on Board.

I made a mistake with the title. It's "Imperial." It's still listed.

There are frequent misspellings of Vollmann's name: It's "Vollmann."

Don

[Willie Aames]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I don't see it there, either, but I clearly remember seeing it as "Coming in August." (I'll search around today to see if I can (re)locate that listing.)

However, Diesel books has it listed in these file formats: Mobi, Palm, Adobe, Microsoft Reader.

Unfortunatley, the price is very expensive.


Don

Anyone found "Inherent Vice" in Epub anywhere else than Diesel (or anything else compatible with the 505)?

$27 is a bit steep when I've already purchased the hardcover.

[Abecedary]

Originally Posted by Willie Aames

Anyone found "Inherent Vice" in Epub anywhere else than Diesel (or anything else compatible with the 505)?

$27 is a bit steep when I've already purchased the hardcover.

Do we even know if the Diesel version is an ePub as opposed to a PDF? Otherwise, no, I haven't found one yet (and I've been checking around every week or so). I've only found one ebook version of it so far (I think at fictionwise), and it was 20 or 25 bucks, IIRC. Hopefully there'll be an e-version soon.

In the meantime, I'm re-attempting Infinite Jest (third time starting it). That should keep me busy for a month or two. So far it seems to read much easier when you don't have to deal with a 7lb brick in your hands.

[Willie Aames]

Originally Posted by Abecedary

In the meantime, I'm re-attempting Infinite Jest (third time starting it). That should keep me busy for a month or two. So far it seems to read much easier when you don't have to deal with a 7lb brick in your hands.

Slight sidetrack here - How does infinite jest read on the 505 (endnotes specifically)? I'm thinking about picking it up from Shortcovers.

[Abecedary]

Originally Posted by Willie Aames

Slight sidetrack here - How does infinite jest read on the 505 (endnotes specifically)? I'm thinking about picking it up from Shortcovers.

Crap! I wish I would've checked shortcovers. I ended up getting it from Amazon on the iPod touch, then decrypted, converted, etc. I've had a hell of a time untangling calibre's semi-sloppy ePub conversion, as well as fixing various other text issues (slightly screwy things in the original mobi file--nothing terrible, but mildly annoying when you come across them and know they shouldn't be like that).

As to your question—reading it on the 505 is far easier than reading the paper tome, IMHO. The endnotes aren't too bad, but can occasionally take 5-10 secs for the new page to load. Generally, once it's loaded a particular endnote section, it will reload a bit quicker on subsequent visits. All in all, though, it probably takes about the same amount of time as fumbling around with multiple bookmarks and flipping back-and-forth through the book. I think an ebook reader is definitely the way to try to deal with this book.