Chuck Palahniuk Rocks My Socks discussion

I'm the self-professed 2nd biggest Chuck fan ever. My friend Dave wrote him a letter, left it in a Portland bookstore and was sent a package containing fake vomit and other goodness from the man. I guess he gets the #1 spot.

My favorite Chuck novel is Survivor, but I love them all except Diary A Novel.

How about you?

fake puke...that's great. i really liked invisible monsters.

Okay, I read "Haunted" (liked it) and then I read "Lullaby" (really really liked it). So which one should I read next?

Choke, mos def.

Cool, I'm on it like chicken on a bus!
That was the one that I had in mind.

I was at a Chuck reading/signing in Toronto last night and it was a ton of fun. Had to wait 2.5 hours to get my copy of "Rant" signed, but when you're waiting with a few friends it doesn't feel so long.

I just finished Survivor. Now I am onto Haunted. i read the authors note at the end of the book before starting the story named Guts and can fully imagine why so many people fainted at the point of reading "corn and peanuts". Thoroughly disgusting! But such a good story.

I loved Survivor, it was my favorite so far! I just picked up Rant from audible to listen to today at work.

Ok I'm feeling a little let down by Haunted. I'm sure it'll get better. But I feel like chuck acted like an eager 16 year-old, blowing his wad too early with the story Guts and now I'm just flipping pages waiting for him to get it up again. Please tell me I'm going to get off by this book, I can't imagine that Chuck will let me down! ;)

Just got done reading survivor, my first chuck book. i was blown away. it was a great find. i guess i'll go for choke next, unless somebody else has a different recommendation.

awww - do I stand alone in really LIKING Diary? Cause I really really did - I thought he put a lot of care into tying together all of the strings in that one.
I haven't read several of the more recent offerings (i just started law school last year and my fun reading is limited), but lullabye was fantastic, i adored invisible monsters, and how can you go wrong with Fight Club?

you don't stand alone: i loved diary. it had a good story behind it and it was really well written. i'm not exactly sure why people like that one the least out of all of his books... personal preferences?

I just picked up Diary from the library last night, so I will get back to you... I hate to do it, but if I had to pick a least favorite I would say Choke. I still liked it, but not as much as Survivor which I have added to my top ten, (and I read A LOT of books :^)

Invisible Monsters. Didn't like Diary either, but I think he should get kudos anyway for being a male author trying (with general success) to write from the viewpoint of a tortured middle-aged woman. It still got my attention without the usual (let's face it) sex and grime thrown in.

Invisible Monsters was way twisted, especially at the end.

My favorite book is Choke, which I picked up as a whim on audio. I've been hooked ever since.

Although it might not be the popular choice, my favorite is Diary. Admittedly, I haven't read all of his books yet.

My Favorite is Invisible Monsters, I also like Fugitives and Refugees:a walk in portland but I live in portland so I had to read it. Though Diary is not the best, in my opinion Lullaby was the least engaging.

My favorite so far is tough to choose. It's either "Survivor" or "Choke". I haven't read "Diary" or "Rant" yet and am currently working on "Stranger than Fiction". Least Favorite was definitely "Invisible Monsters". It was amusing and all, but compared with his other work, was a bit of a let down for me.

The early Chuck books "IM, FC, C, S" all have the big "A HA" moment to them that I love. Not so much Survivor, but it seems so much like Fight Club to me. The subsequent books, from my view, seem to be an attempt to not be so gimmick based, but more mainstream literature. Consequently, they seem less focused to me. Particularly, "Haunted" was a victim of this. I am in the process of reading "Rant" so we'll see if he can draw it back to something that is not so one-trick-pony and not so all-over-the-place. I will be starting another thread, "Top five Chuck Books."

I agree with Richard, I have been having a really hard time with Rant, I've tried getting through it a couple times now and getting bored and moving on to something else. Not enough focus.

I just picked up the documentary about CP from his website. I am very excited to watch it this weekend!

I read Diary though and loved it I know it got some bad feedback early in the discussion. I have a lot of artists for friends and maybe that's why I received more personal enjoyment from Diary than some of the other readers.

Choke and Survivor are AMAZING!

I have read Fight Club and Rant as well. I need to know what would be a good one to start next. I want to pick up Snuf but I haven't really heard too many good things.

I loved Snuff, it's a lot to take in; I listened to the audio book and I felt dirty out in public listening to it... lol. They gym, work, etc.

I didn't care for Rant for the same reason a lot of people might not like Snuff. It made me uncomfortable, all the bodily function talk, but I think that was just me. I'm not a huge porn person either, but it doesn't bother me, I know enough about it that I still found the book interesting.

Diary gets bad billing too, and I loved that one! Check that one out too.

They are both goodreads!

Oh yeah, and Survivor.. by far my favorite Chuck book!!!!

I'm very interested in seeing the movie, even though i haven't read the book yet.
To my taste, i thought Rant was a weak offering. And the patented Palahniuk twist fell totally flat here. I did not care about time travel, and i was unmoved overall.
I have higher hopes for SNUFF. We shall see!

My favorite was by far Choke. I also really liked Diary, but I think part of it was how interesting it was to see Palahniuk's wry voice coming from a female character. A close second to Choke is Fight Club, which is definitely where it all started for me.

I think that the two books that are in the running for first place are Rant and Invisible Monsters, with Survivor coming in second place.

I've read them all and Choke is my favorite. I am re-reading Lullaby right now and then probably on to Invisible Monsters again.

Cassie wrote: "I've read them all and Choke is my favorite. I am re-reading Lullaby right now and then probably on to Invisible Monsters again.
"

Ah, see, Lullaby is next on my list.

ahhh I hated Diary. it was such a drag to get through.



I love Haunted a lot though. probably my favorite. I've read all of his books besides Lullaby and I'm right now on Stranger Than Fiction - kind of not the best... but it's nonfiction. what can you expect!?



I can't wait for PYGMY. Mhhhhmmmmmmm. :D

and sometrhing I wanna comment about - a lot of people LOVELOVELOVE Invisible Monsters. Why? it was good... just not worth all the fuss.

Jo wrote: "Yeah i think his writing is great. I have lulluby to read next is it a good one?"

Lullaby is GREAT! Second only to Survivor and Choke for sheer greatness and twisted plot lines. My favorite Chuck characters still live in Invisible Monsters though!


And the book with the best character NAMES? Rant. Shot Dunyun? Tina Something? Echo Lawrence? Brilliant.

My Chuck experience so far (in order of favorite down):

1. Fight Club
2. Survivor
3. Rant
4. Haunted

So far Chuck Palahniuk seems to me like the Nas of authors, bursting onto the scene with a brilliant release, then putting out subsequent material which is good, but can't quite match that first work of greatness.

My Chuck experience so far (in order of favorite down):

1. Fight Club
2. Survivor
3. Rant
4. Haunted

So far Chuck Palahniuk seems to me like the Nas of authors, bursting onto the scene with a brilliant release, then putting out subsequent material which is good, but can't quite match that first work of greatness.

Ali wrote: "Ok I'm feeling a little let down by Haunted. I'm sure it'll get better. But I feel like chuck acted like an eager 16 year-old, blowing his wad too early with the story Guts and now I'm just flippin..."

the book has its ups and downs, i am just about finished, and it seems like every 3rd story really hits the mark. i agree with you about opening with Guts, there is no real coming back from a start like that. hey, they can't all be magic

I love all of his books equally. But for some odd reason I liked Lullabye and Rant the most and I want to read his two new ones from a while ago that I never read. I hope to read them someday.

Well, there's a perfectly reasonable explaination for that... Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey was awesome.

I Loved Diary after Invisable Monsters it's my favorite.
It's almost more subtle than the others if you think about it. It take awhile to get going but in the end every mundane detail that was mentioned all snaps into place i loved it