Just Pre-Ordered My Own Copy of Inherent Vice!

From Amazon.

Due for release in October, I believe? I'm working for guy who did his Master's thesis on Pynchon and he was surprised to discover that I, his home-improvement contractor, was reading V.
I'm going to pre-order IV soon!

They're stating an August 4th release with shipping estimate of August 10th.

Yeah, your're correct. I actually took the time and looked it up after I posted. I'm looking forward to it, but I need to finish V. first. IV will probably be his last, you know...

Publication date: TUESDAY, AUGUST 4th, 1970 L.A. TIMES: "Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares."" _or was it 2009?

Get ready for the LSD Investigations (Location, Surveillance, Detection).

Did I say that out loud?

I won't tell anyone.

An interesting calendrical coincidence, I must say; but knowing Pynchon...

Another Coincidence:

"Back then it was always sandals, bottom half of a flower-print bikini, faded Country Joe and the Fish T-shirt.

*AUGUST 4th,, 1968 - Newport Pop Festival (Country Joe and the Fish ), Costa Mesa, California"

"It was Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane who first said: "If you can remember anything about the sixties, you weren't really there."

*AUGUST 4th, 1968 - Newport Pop Festival (Jefferson Airplane), Costa Mesa, California"

Both Country Joe and the Fish & Jefferson Airplane performed at the 1968 - Newport Pop Festival on.............. AUGUST 4TH.

Is it ironic or coincidence that they were both mentioned in Inherent Vice's Penguin Press Notes?

When you read Inherent Vice make sure you have some kick-ask Vietnamese weed, because you'll need it.

This is getting better all the time.

"And it's one two three what are we fighting for..."
Don't ask.

IV's cover is going to clash with Mason & Dixons'.

Chum.

Yes, I'd have to agree. Inherent Vice's cover is quite different from Pynchon's other bookcovers.

"Inherent Vice" photo essay @ Amazon

.

The cover art for the major works was all over the place, it seems to me.

...which prompts me to consider how a Japanese translation of Gravity's Rainbow would fare with a reading audience not accustomed to American idioms, especially as used by Pynchon. But this discussion is for another day, I suppose.

Just got my own copy of IV yesterday and am now on chapter 4. So far, it's a good romp and a great summer read. Neat to see that (as of this minute) there are 91 LibraryThing users that have the book in hand.

I got mine on Tuesday, not expecting to see it out yet and so forth.

This will probably be the first novel I will have finished and then immediately re-read. I'm on Ch. 16, and I'm lovin' it. Doc has become one of my favorite literary characters, and unlike some of the other Pynchon novels, this one should find an entirely new audience.

Just finished IV last night. Never thought I'd ever do a whole Pynchon book in less than a week! It was a good and wild ride with a whole lot of characters, jokes, songs, memories to grin at. Not like V. or Gravity's Rainbow, where you go "Wow!" as you close the cover right after finishing, but, rather, "Well, that was sure fun!"

Dougls

"In the end, only kindness matters."

Yep, it sure was fun! I actually laughed out loud a few times, an unusual reaction for me. I'm thinking of re-reading Mason & Dixon, may even start it tonight, since I told a friend I would lend him IV after I finished it. He was born in '74, so he might be lacking the proper "context" in which to fully enjoy this novel. He may have never even heard of Zappa.

anyone else find it sadly mediocre?

It sounds a lot like The Big Lebowski

Hey man! the only thing "like" the Big Lebowski is Doc smokes weed and there's a missing person, that's it.

Like all of Pynchon's novels, they have many layers. As to those layers, Pynchon refuses to spoon feed the reader. If your engagement in reading Inherent Vice is as passive as staring at the TV, you'll miss those layers behind the surface story.

As to SEEing those deeper layers, I'll just say a few words to point you in the right direction:

"the map is not the territory, the word is not the thing"

remember Gummo Marx? remember John Garfield?

And what exatcly is the Inherent Vice of Pynchon's "Inherent Vice"? Ask Thomas Jefferson!

Active engagement in reading. Yep, that's what those Twilight readers must be doing instead of passively watching some drivel like The Sopranos

Since I haven't read Inherent Vice, I'll not raise to your cheap debating tactics.

Pynchon had his own opinions about the Tube. May I suggest reading his underrated epic Vineland

"Lebowski" has its layers as well, since it was written and directed by those Oscar-lauded hacks Los Bros Coen. It's not like its some Kevin Costner-helmed postapocalyptic epic about mailmen. The BFI series has a wonderful critical analysis of "Lebowski." It's worth picking up and reading. It's not even that long.

"cheap debating tactics"?

Read the book, man!

Here's a quote form Korzybski: “There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking.”