# *What book are you reading? (part 2)



## editor (Jun 13, 2008)

Following on from this 8,200+ post thread, here's part two!


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## foo (Jun 13, 2008)

Titus Alone. once again. 

i need that fix.


oooh, i'm the first to post.


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## DotCommunist (Jun 13, 2008)

Just finished Porterhouse Blue by tom sharpe.


Going to charity shops tomorrow for more readings


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## bi0boy (Jun 13, 2008)

Just started  Incandescence, the new Greg Egan book


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## maya (Jun 14, 2008)

Dhalgren, Samuel Delaney. (sp?)
People go on and on why this is such a 'classic', but I fail to see why myself... Perhaps it's because I don't like his writing style, but anyway I just find it slow and incredibly dull- Will give it a second chance tomorrow, though...


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## miss_b (Jun 14, 2008)

Bob Torres' 'Making A Killing : The Political Economy Of Animal Rights'. It's very good, and leading me to search out social anarchism books


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## sojourner (Jun 14, 2008)

^ and in total contrast - The Sound of Laughter - Peter Kay's autobiog.  Very funny in parts, have been loling


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## dilute micro (Jun 14, 2008)

War on the Middle Class

still.


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## May Kasahara (Jun 14, 2008)

foo said:


> Titus Alone. once again.
> 
> i need that fix.



That's some quality sadness right there (the book, I mean, not your choice of it...shut up May).

I'm reading Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami. Sacked off The God Of Small Things in the week, on account of it still being total crap.


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## DotCommunist (Jun 14, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> That's some quality sadness right there (the book, I mean, not your choice of it...shut up May).
> 
> I'm reading Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami.* Sacked off The God Of Small Things in the week, on account of it still being total crap.*



*feels smug for having persevered*


But I have to admit if it hadn't been a 'have to read' for the course, I'd have sacked it n all


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## Fictionist (Jun 15, 2008)

Still stuck with Virgil, no huge improvement after Book six. Something to read once and probably return to only if I _have_ to.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 15, 2008)

Nearly finished Micro Trends by Mark Penn (he's a pollster and former campaign strategist for Bill Clinton, notably coining the phrase 'Soccer Mom' as a type of voter). Pretty decent book, lots of food for thought for anyone interested in trends, demographics or how political issues develop and change societies...


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## QueenOfGoths (Jun 15, 2008)

Still on with "The Reapers" at the moment. Not John Connolly at his best but still better than a lot.

Went to the library yesterday and have Dan Simmons "Illium", David Peace's "Tokyo Year Zero" and Frank Tallis' "Vienna Blood" to keep me going


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## Fictionist (Jun 15, 2008)

I've started 'To Be A European Muslim' by Tariq Ramadan, and thus far it has proven to be quite readable and enjoyable. He does manage to cover a lot of material without getting fixated with unnecessary details.


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## Geri (Jun 15, 2008)

I'm reading 'Rebel Hearts - Journey's within the IRA's soul' by Kevin Toolis. Only on chapter two though, which covers his childhood so I can't tell how it's going to go.


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## mrkikiet (Jun 15, 2008)

The Dissertation by R.M.Koster


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## DexterTCN (Jun 15, 2008)

Slash's autobiography.   Amazing so far, and he hasn't even started in GnR yet.

Still haven't seen a redeeming quality, unless I missed one, either.


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## october_lost (Jun 15, 2008)

miss_b said:


> Bob Torres' 'Making A Killing : The Political Economy Of Animal Rights'. It's very good, and leading me to search out social anarchism books



I liked this, I thought his take on PETA and the failings of the AR movement were spot on, but I prefer 'Beast of Burden'.

Just finished Kropotkins - Mutual Aid, having had it on hold for ages.

Now back into the final stages of the amazing Perdido Street Station by China Mieville....


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## Threshers_Flail (Jun 15, 2008)

I was reading The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, but have left it for a while because I got exams, only 5 days now and I can pick it up again!


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## sojourner (Jun 16, 2008)

Blue Diary - Alice Hoffman.  Interesting so far, hopefully going to develop into something much more thought-provoking...has the potential


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## DotCommunist (Jun 16, 2008)

A corker I found in the charity shop: a 1961 published little hardback of 20th century essayists. Huxely/Chestertone/Orwell and a few otrhers. So far have enjoyed Chestertones little essay on cheese.


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## tom_craggs (Jun 16, 2008)

The Subterranean Railway - Christian Wolmar: Thought whilst in London I should read something that gives me a bit more of an understanding and connection with this place. So far pretty fascinating stuff.


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## ChrisC (Jun 16, 2008)

Stardust by Neil Gaiman.


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## Nikkormat (Jun 16, 2008)

Nietzsche's _Thus Spoke Zarathustra_. I've been trying to wade through it, on and off, for a year now.


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## avu9lives (Jun 17, 2008)

Gordon Ramsey

Humble pie

Not a bad autobiography


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## TitanSound (Jun 17, 2008)

Absorbed by Isacc Asimov' Foundation series at the moment, currently on the third saga "Second Foundation"


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## Vintage Paw (Jun 17, 2008)

I've been having a real hard time unwinding enough to read for much more than half an hour at a time since I finished uni. I've been plugging away at the same 3 books for a month now.

I think I might start one of the Brautigans I haven't read yet – they are nice and slim and easy to get through, and hopefully will kickstart my reading brain back into action. I've got loads I want to read over the summer, plus lots I want to read in prep for the Masters.


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## Dirty Martini (Jun 17, 2008)

Finished _The Moro Affair_ and _The Mystery of Majorana_ by Leonardo Sciascia.

Both are investigations of real-life disappearances -- the first the kidnap and assassination of Christian Democrat grandee Aldo Moro by the Brigate Rosse in 1978, the second the disappearance of a top Italian physicist in 1938. Both look closely at how language and documentation about political events simultaneously (look to) obscure the truth and can't help revealing it. Both are brilliant and impeccable because they're written by this author.


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## Blagsta (Jun 17, 2008)

Francis Wheen - Karl Marx


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## dynamicbaddog (Jun 17, 2008)

Beneath the Bleeding - Val Mcdermit


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## Dirty Martini (Jun 17, 2008)

Rereading _Of Love and Hunger_ by Julian Maclaren Ross.


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## maya (Jun 18, 2008)

The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester.
Basically the plot of the Count Of Monte Cristo updated to a science fiction noir setting- With some nice onomatopoetic/typographic touches á la Mayakovsky towards the end...
Still don't know if I _quite_ understood the last page, though- Was there supposed to be some sort of hidden christian symbolism in there?*

 (*...'Jóseph and Moira?' ...'awaiting his rebirth?' )


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## maldwyn (Jun 18, 2008)

I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life Of Allen Ginsburg By Bill Morgan.

Earth Abides By George R. Stewart. A mysterious plague has destroyed the majority of the human race, published 1949


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## october_lost (Jun 18, 2008)

Vintage Paw said:


> I've been having a real hard time unwinding enough to read for much more than half an hour at a time since I finished uni. I've been plugging away at the same 3 books for a month now.


Uni left me educational numb aswell....


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## sojourner (Jun 19, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Blue Diary - Alice Hoffman.  Interesting so far, hopefully going to develop into something much more thought-provoking...has the potential



Hmmm.  Finished this last night, and altogether I think it was just too schmaltzy.  I thought it might have led to darker depths in contrast, but although it touched on that, it didn't go far enough.  Far too sugary.  And worse - there was a fucking Reader's Guide at the end, with questions  


Not sure what's next.  Have Atonement, might start on that.


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## El Jefe (Jun 19, 2008)

Finished Andrew Crumey's Sputnik Caledonia. Started well but in the end was absolutely dreadful. Very very poorly written. I only finished it (at 550 bloody pages) because there was, amongst the teenage prose and the attempts at some kind of morbid drama which always fell flat) the germ of an interesting story, and I wanted to see what happened. But nothing happened, he just fudged it all in some kind of "everything is connected" toss.

Awful


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## Fez909 (Jun 19, 2008)

Louis-Ferdinand Celine - Journey to the End of the Night.

Started OK.  Not far in enough to judge, yet.


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## Dirty Martini (Jun 19, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> Rereading _Of Love and Hunger_ by Julian Maclaren Ross.



This is even better, even funnier, the second time round


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## Fictionist (Jun 19, 2008)

Book of Emaan - Ibn Taymiyah / Dr Muhammad Naim Yasin


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## Scaggs (Jun 20, 2008)

Just finished 'Against a dark background' by Iain M Banks - Not bad
Now I can't make my mind up weather to read 'Feersum Endjinn or Joe Haldeman's 'The Coming' 

Also just finished 'Norwegian Wood' by Haruki Murakami on audiobook.



> Earth Abides By George R. Stewart. A mysterious plague has destroyed the majority of the human race, published 1949


Loved that book!


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## sojourner (Jun 20, 2008)

Got halfway through Atonement by Ian McEwan last night.  Never read any of his before.  He's a bit clunky on marrying landscape to mood, but the story is interesting enough.


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## bluestreak (Jun 20, 2008)

The Social History Of The Late Middle Ages.

it's a bit dry.


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## chico enrico (Jun 20, 2008)

The History of Torture by Daniel P. Mannix.

i love torture. they should bring it back for stuff. not stealing and fornicating with another man's wife though.


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## miss_b (Jun 20, 2008)

chico enrico said:


> The History of Torture by Daniel P. Mannix.
> 
> *i love torture.* they should bring it back for stuff. not stealing and fornicating with another man's wife though.


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## Orang Utan (Jun 20, 2008)

bluestreak said:


> The Social History Of The Late Middle Ages.
> 
> it's a bit dry.



I'm reading Crackers! The Social History of the Ship's Biscuit.
I'm also finding it a bit dry.


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## sojourner (Jun 20, 2008)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm reading Crackers! The Social History of the Ship's Biscuit.
> I'm also finding it a bit dry.



heh

you want some philly on that


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## Structaural (Jun 20, 2008)

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.

It's quite shocking.


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## May Kasahara (Jun 20, 2008)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm reading Crackers! The Social History of the Ship's Biscuit.
> I'm also finding it a bit dry.



For some reason the phrase 'ship's biscuit' sounds rather rude coming from you


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## Orang Utan (Jun 20, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> For some reason the phrase 'ship's biscuit' sounds rather rude coming from you




lovely salty crackers


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## avu9lives (Jun 20, 2008)

The god delusion by Richard Dawkins


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## cfz (Jun 21, 2008)

Hitler: Book 2, Nemesis by Ian Kershaw.

I've nearly finished this chunky biog. My girlfriend is fed up about it though. Whenever she asks me to do anything, I say, 'I'd rather read my book on Hitler.'


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## ChrisC (Jun 21, 2008)

Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton.


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## gentlegreen (Jun 22, 2008)

*Actually bought a holiday book !!111!!!*

I don't usually read books, but I've just recieved my copy of "Le Nez qui Voque" by Canadian author Réjean Ducharme (1967).

Ordered this after being impressed by an abridged version from French Radio which I have on my MP3 player.

Not sure I'll actually read it though - not the language so much as the subject matter .. based around a suicide pact by two teenagers - his books appear to be mostly about the problems of transition from childhood to adulthood.

Maybe learning this very "literary" language will be my incentive to get into the world of books again - though I have to confess to my previous reading being no more sophisticated than Enid Blyton / Agatha Christie / William Gibson ....


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## Dirty Martini (Jun 22, 2008)

_The Council of Egypt_ by Leonardo Sciascia.


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## DotCommunist (Jun 22, 2008)

ChrisC said:


> Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton.



Good stuff, suffers from Hamiltons usual flaw but benefits from his usual skillz, so to speak


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## El Jefe (Jun 22, 2008)

I've just started on Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Don't normally read 'western books', but he wrote the awesome Last Picture Show, and Lonesome Dove got the Pulitzer or something, and it looks really good. 900 fucking pages though 

Excellent so far..


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## agricola (Jun 22, 2008)

Douglas Hurd's surprisingly good biography of Sir Robert Peel.


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## jb78 (Jun 23, 2008)

just started paul auster's 'brooklyn follies'. i've read a couple of his before - 'leviathan' and 'new york trilogies', both really good. i like his slightly out-there, edgy style a lot. 

last thing i read was bill hicks' 'love all the people', a collection of transcripts of his stand-up shows, his letters, ideas, interviews etc. also excellent, but then i'm a huge bill hicks fan.

and i just picked up a couple of murakami books - it was buy one for £3.99 get one free! although there was only a choice of two - 'norwegian wood' and 'hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world'. the only thing i've read of his before was the short-story collection 'blind willow, sleeping woman', which i enjoyed, but i wished i'd started by reading one of his novels first. his style seems to have something in common with paul auster's, maybe?r


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## El Jefe (Jun 23, 2008)

I'm not a big fan at all, but Norwegian Wood is wonderful, absolutely heartbreaking


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## May Kasahara (Jun 23, 2008)

Hard-Boiled Wonderland is my favourite Murakami, of those I've read.


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## sojourner (Jun 23, 2008)

I really enjoyed the McEwan book.  Don't know why, but I wasn't expecting to

Now on Dangerous Parking by Stuart Browne


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## Orang Utan (Jun 23, 2008)

^^^^
very sad book that


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## sojourner (Jun 23, 2008)

Orang Utan said:


> ^^^^
> very sad book that



What, the Browne one?


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## Orang Utan (Jun 23, 2008)

Yes!


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## sojourner (Jun 23, 2008)

Orang Utan said:


> Yes!



Sorry - brain's still foggy 

Well it's started off promisingly, but already sadly cos it says right at the beginning that Stuart Browne is dead


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## Orang Utan (Jun 23, 2008)

A film of it has just come out I think


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## sojourner (Jun 23, 2008)

Orang Utan said:


> A film of it has just come out I think



Yeh, I just had a quick nosey at that.  Fucking Peter Howitt, that streak of piss that used to be in Bread, directed it!


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## october_lost (Jun 23, 2008)

A peoples history of England by AL Morton, been meaning to read it for awhile.


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## DotCommunist (Jun 23, 2008)

Borrowed Satanic Verses to see what all the fuss is about. Not started it yet.


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## Fictionist (Jun 23, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Borrowed Satanic Verses to see what all the fuss is about. Not started it yet.



Let me know what you think of this, its something I've returned to a number of times.

I'm just finishing 'The Islamic Movement - Dynamics of Values, Power and Change' - Sayyid Abul A'La Mawdudi


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## miss_b (Jun 23, 2008)

Just finished 'Gang Leader For A Day' by Sudhir Venkatesh

About to start 'The Kite Runner'


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## sojourner (Jun 25, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Now on Dangerous Parking by Stuart Browne



Finished this last night.  Interesting book, but I can't find hardly anything out about Stuart Browne.  I suspect it may be partly autobiographical (and a Guardian review mentions this briefly), as he died before the book was published, but the book doesn't say why, and I can't find it online.

Anyone know owt?


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## QueenOfGoths (Jun 25, 2008)

"Illium" by Dan Simmons - really enjoying it, he is a very engaging writer


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## May Kasahara (Jun 25, 2008)

Am reading _Genderqueer_, a collection of essays and stories - it's very interesting and thought-provoking.


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## obanite (Jun 25, 2008)

Scaggs said:


> Just finished 'Against a dark background' by Iain M Banks - Not bad
> Now I can't make my mind up weather to read 'Feersum Endjinn or Joe Haldeman's 'The Coming'
> 
> Also just finished 'Norwegian Wood' by Haruki Murakami on audiobook.
> ...



Feersum Endjinn is really, really hard going.


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## obanite (Jun 25, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Good stuff, suffers from Hamiltons usual flaw but benefits from his usual skillz, so to speak



I thought his Commonwealth series was the best he's written by quite a bit.

Just started Dreaming Void by him, not really pulling me in like Pandora Star, yet


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## Structaural (Jun 26, 2008)

obanite said:


> Feersum Endjinn is really, really hard going.



isn't it?, but very inventive. 
I just had to read the Wikipedia entry to get a better idea of what it was about (I read it difficultly when it came out).


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## ChrisC (Jun 26, 2008)

Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton, gripping stuff so far.


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## girasol (Jun 26, 2008)

Stuart: A life backwards (Alexander Masters)

Been meaning to read this for ages (since I watched the dramatization), finally got around to buying it.  Started 2 days ago and, yes, it's a page turner.  Even though I know the end, it's well written, full of humour and insights, so knowing the end isn't spoiling it one bit.


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## Vintage Paw (Jun 26, 2008)

october_lost said:


> Uni left me educational numb aswell....



I _want_ to read, I just can't get my mind in gear. I've got a couple of books to review for the Waterstone's mag, so that forces me to read (not that I have to if I don't want too – I'd hazard a guess that 90% of the books reviewed in there haven't been read first).



Structaural said:


> The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.
> 
> It's quite shocking.



I went to see her speak about it in Manchester a few weeks back – very good stuff, I'd like to read it eventually.



jb78 said:


> just started paul auster's 'brooklyn follies'. i've read a couple of his before - 'leviathan' and 'new york trilogies', both really good. i like his slightly out-there, edgy style a lot.



He may be why I'm finding it hard to read. My dissertation was on him (on the notion of the 'Austerian' and why traditional literary studies cannot adequately define it but an interdisciplinary approach, utilising Bourdieu, can). Yeah, so I had every single book he'd every written open at various points scattered across my desk 



ChrisC said:


> Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton, gripping stuff so far.



I've only read East of Eden and the Night's Dawn Trilogy, but I liked them a lot. Mr Paw has read all the others, and rates them. He's just read the most recent one – reckons it's a good 'un.


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## Structaural (Jun 26, 2008)

I enjoyed Night's Dawn and some of his other books, but I find him quite one-dimensional and formulaic now. I finished Pandora's star but gave up half-way through the second one (and read No Country for Old Men - quite a different style


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## DotCommunist (Jun 26, 2008)

Structaural said:


> I enjoyed Night's Dawn and some of his other books, but I find him quite one-dimensional and formulaic now. I finished Pandora's star but gave up half-way through the second one (and read No Country for Old Men - quite a different style



He writes space opera of the old school. Wildly inventive he isn't but he tells a cracking yarn. In some ways he reminds me of Robert Silverburg, in that the writing feels very masculine.


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## Dirty Martini (Jun 26, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> _The Council of Egypt_ by Leonardo Sciascia.



Finished this. Might be my favourite Sciascia so far. Brilliant.


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## Lea (Jun 26, 2008)

Lady of Conquest by Teresa Medeiros. Historical romance set in medeival times.


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## Fictionist (Jun 26, 2008)

Nothing at the moment, I've run out of ideas as to where to go next.


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## sojourner (Jun 26, 2008)

Iemanja said:


> Stuart: A life backwards (Alexander Masters)
> 
> Been meaning to read this for ages (since I watched the dramatization), finally got around to buying it.  Started 2 days ago and, yes, it's a page turner.  Even though I know the end, it's well written, full of humour and insights, so knowing the end isn't spoiling it one bit.



Excellent book that - one of those books I think everyone should read


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## miss_b (Jun 26, 2008)

Just finished the incredibly tragic Kite Runner and am a third of the way through Julian Barnes' 'Arthur and George'. Thoroughly loved/loving both.


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## DotCommunist (Jun 26, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Nothing at the moment, I've run out of ideas as to where to go next.



Instance of the Fingerpost. Honestly methinks you will like


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## Fictionist (Jun 26, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Instance of the Fingerpost. Honestly methinks you will like



Have read that - quite enjoyable it was too. Any other ideas DC?


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## Gavin Bl (Jun 26, 2008)

'Madame Bovary' by Gustave Flaubert - really tremendous writing, incredibly evocative and powerful in places.


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## Dirty Martini (Jun 27, 2008)

_Keep the Aspidistra Flying_


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## Pie 1 (Jun 27, 2008)

Just finished Iain Banks' The Steep Approach to Garbdale.
A bit of a return to form (not hard after the steaming pile of shite that was Dead Air), an enjoyable enough read, but ultimately still rather weak with a very obvious ending.

Now about 150 pages into Franzen's The Corrections (at last) and loving every page of it


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## Gavin Bl (Jun 28, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> _Keep the Aspidistra Flying_



I really need to read this again - I love 'Coming up for Air', even if the end is a bit of a mess, his evocation of childhood and the brooding feeling of the soon to come World War is fantastic.


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## Eva Luna (Jun 29, 2008)

I'm reading this book called 'Laurel Canyon' which I am *really* enjoying.  Its about the canyon   from about the early 60s onwards, taking in Crosby Stills and Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and all those players who lived there; the parties, the touring, the changes on the strip, the groupies, Frank Zappa and his lot, cocaine coming etc etc.  I've read a few music bios like this, but this one is really standing out for me for a few reasons.  Def recommend it.  I also saw a recommendation in it for a book about the link between counterculture, music and drug taking, called 'Waiting for the Man' I think, which is now on its way to me.  Nice.


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## xes (Jun 29, 2008)

I'm about to start reading the Ancient secret of the flower of life.

It looks quite bonkers in a "geometric shapes spinning round inside your soul" kind of a way. So I think I'll enjoy it  

Anyone else read them?


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## Grego Morales (Jun 29, 2008)

_London Fields_ by poor old misunderstood Martin Amis. I think the problem with Amis is that he's actually too talented for his own good, tending to stray towards postmodern flourishes that start to grate after the first few chapters. Hopefully I'll finish it without wanting to throw it across the room...because he can be a funny fucker when he wants to be.


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## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2008)

so how where his anti islamic witterings misunderstood then?


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## QueenOfGoths (Jun 29, 2008)

"Ilium" is still on going and i must be enjoying his writing as I have just ordered The Hyperion Omnibus - and Olympos - from Amazon


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## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2008)

no way near as good as illium&olympos. Worth the time though.


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## madamv (Jun 29, 2008)

The Great and Secret Show - Clive Barker.

A mate has passed me all her old books as she is leaving the country for a couple of years.  I have pulled out a few there which look like a good read...

Bloodtide - Melvin Burgess
Urban Dreams-Rural Realities - Daniel Butler
The Flood  &  Dead Souls  - Ian Rankin
Our Lady of the Forest - David Gutterson.

A few to be getting on with....


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## Dirty Martini (Jun 29, 2008)

Gavin Bl said:


> I really need to read this again - I love 'Coming up for Air', even if the end is a bit of a mess, his evocation of childhood and the brooding feeling of the soon to come World War is fantastic.



_Aspidistra_ was ok -- he's never boring, Orwell -- but this was a bit stiff and unconvincing and repetitive. It's Orwell trying to get something out of his system. _Coming Up For Air_ is a much better novel imo -- tenderer, funnier, better-written.

--

Started and finished _The Rock Pool_ by Cyril Connolly. I was surprised at how good it was. Young English snob with literary pretensions spends the summer in the South of France getting on the nerves of an assorted bunch of painters, composers, spongers and Corsicans. The first time I've ever read a book by a bloke called Cyril.

Now re-reading _Decline and Fall_ by Evelyn Waugh. Still funny.


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## Grego Morales (Jun 29, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> so how where his anti islamic witterings misunderstood then?



Never said they were. But there's more to the man than that rather messy episode.


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## foamy (Jun 29, 2008)

I read 'Notes on an exhibition' by Patrick Gale and was utterly disappointed
then i read 'Blind faith' the latest Ben Elton which was just the same as every other book he's written 

Now I'm reading 'Engleby' by Sebastian Faulks and I'm really enjoying it. The only other book of his I have read is Charlotte Grey but off the back of this I may get hos others off the book shelf and finally get round to reading them too.


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## sojourner (Jun 30, 2008)

Started 'The Boy with No Shoes' by William Horwood.  Got bored rapidly.  So started on a Victoria Wood biog by Neil Brandwood


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## Fictionist (Jun 30, 2008)

Grego Morales said:


> Never said they were. But there's more to the man than that rather messy episode.



The problem is that the effects of that messy episode may linger for along time. It would be good to see him recapture the form of the earlier novels, where there is a marriage of form, substance and style.


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## Fictionist (Jul 1, 2008)

And I have managed to find something to read: 'The Ornament of the World' by Maria Rosa Menocal.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 1, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> *The problem is that the effects of that messy episode may linger for along time.* It would be good to see him recapture the form of the earlier novels, where there is a marriage of form, substance and style.


 

apple, tree etc.


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## Fictionist (Jul 1, 2008)

Perhaps. 

Maybe he should just concentrate on writing a half decent novel?


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## DotCommunist (Jul 1, 2008)

I liked ground beneath her feet, and SV is at turns frustrating and great.


As for the writing a half decent novel thing, thats advice to us all


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## quimcunx (Jul 1, 2008)

Pie 1 said:


> Just finished Iain Banks' The Steep Approach to Garbdale.
> A bit of a return to form (not hard after the steaming pile of shite that was Dead Air), an enjoyable enough read, but ultimately still rather weak with a very obvious ending.



I gave up on Banks after Whit and Song of Stone.  If you think they were good I'll not bother, but if you think they were bad maybe I'll have a look a that one.


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## Fictionist (Jul 1, 2008)

DC - I think that you are confusing Rushdie and Amis?

How are you getting on with 'The Satanic Verses'?


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## DotCommunist (Jul 1, 2008)

So I am


Rusdie keeps sideswiping me with plotting just when I get annoyed by his prose. I recall this similar sense of exasperation and admiration from reading ahrundati roy's 'God Of Small Things'. The purpely prose noodlings hide a fearsome skill with reader-manipulation


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## Dirty Martini (Jul 1, 2008)

_Emilio's Carnival_ (aka _As A Man Grows Older_) by Italo Svevo


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## ChrisC (Jul 1, 2008)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "Ilium" is still on going and i must be enjoying his writing as I have just ordered The Hyperion Omnibus - and Olympos - from Amazon



I have fond memories of The Hyperion Omnibus and The Endymion Omnibus summer last year. Good books those. I can still remember them in detail, when that happens I know they left me with a lasting impression. Enjoy!


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## ChrisC (Jul 1, 2008)

madamv said:


> The Great and Secret Show - Clive Barker.




So how are you getting on? Enjoying it?


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 1, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> So I am
> 
> 
> Rusdie keeps sideswiping me with plotting just when I get annoyed by his prose. I recall this similar sense of exasperation and admiration from reading ahrundati roy's 'God Of Small Things'. The purpely prose noodlings hide a fearsome skill with reader-manipulation



In SV I found that his prose was the least of his problems, there were far deeper problems relating to structure and his attempt to explore more than one story. There are moments when you might find yourself thinking 'Damn, this is actually very good' (particularly the way he handles material which relates to early Islam)......only to find yourself presented with Rushdie taking the text in an entirely different direction. 

Keep at it though - it is worth reading.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 3, 2008)

Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

Started it last night and it's shaping up to be a blinding read


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 3, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> _Emilio's Carnival_ (aka _As A Man Grows Older_) by Italo Svevo



Finished this, it was great. Not as great as _Zeno_, but not much is. Would have made a fine Bunuel film, I reckon.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 3, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
> 
> Started it last night and it's shaping up to be a blinding read



I only got two-thirds of the way through that for a reason I forget, but I liked it a lot.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 3, 2008)

Pierre Menard - Author of the Quixote


----------



## sojourner (Jul 3, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> I only got two-thirds of the way through that for a reason I forget, but I liked it a lot.



Aye - can't wait to get home and start in on it again   Too many books I've picked up lately have been tiresome...seemed alright for 70p and a flickthrough in the charity shop, but utter shite once you start them


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 3, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Aye - can't wait to get home and start in on it again   Too many books I've picked up lately have been tiresome...seemed alright for 70p and a flickthrough in the charity shop, but utter shite once you start them



I know what you mean. Once you read a shite book, it seems to start off a chain of shite books, until a month goes by and you realise you've read just shite. I reckon they can smell the fear and resentment, and search you out.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 3, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> I know what you mean. Once you read a shite book, it seems to start off a chain of shite books, until a month goes by and you realise you've read just shite. I reckon they can smell the fear and resentment, and search you out.



 That's certainly how it's felt lately!!!  With the exception of the Orton Diaries of course.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 3, 2008)

Whilst still wading through Lonesome Dove ( I mean, the west was won QUICKER than it'll take me to finish this) I've also been dipping into The Wu-Tang Manual by The Rza.

Self mythology doesn't get better 

"The ultimate goal of kung fu, the highest level of t'ai chi as an effective martial art, is as an energy rejuvenator. It rejuvenates your blood, your spirit, it's even supposed to rejuvenate your youth. When we applied the spirit of kung fu to our lyrics, we came with the Wu Tang".

There's nearly 250 pages of this stuff


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 3, 2008)

Oh, while still ploughing through Kafka On The Shore I'm also reading Blankets by Craig Thompson, a genius piece of emo graphic novelism. Gorgeous, evocative artwork; brilliant writing that brings all those teenage feelings flooding back.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 3, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Oh, while still ploughing through Kafka On The Shore I'm also reading Blankets by Craig Thompson, a genius piece of emo graphic novelism. Gorgeous, evocative artwork; brilliant writing that brings all those teenage feelings flooding back.



Did you watch that program about Haruki Murakami the other week?


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 3, 2008)

No, I twatting missed it  Stupid baby brain. Did you see it, was it good? I know he wasn't in it, but it sounded quite interesting nonetheless.

Btw Dilli, I reckon you'd _love_ Blankets.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 3, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> No, I twatting missed it  Stupid baby brain. Did you see it, was it good? I know he wasn't in it, but it sounded quite interesting nonetheless.
> 
> Btw Dilli, I reckon you'd _love_ Blankets.



It was really good! He was not interviewed on camera because he doesn't like publicity, but it was really interesting. I will keep an eye out for repeats for you



*goes off to check out blankets*


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 3, 2008)

Still on Satanic Verses, but I reckon I've spotted the reasons it drives fund Muslims to mouth foaming anger.


----------



## xenon (Jul 3, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Oh, while still ploughing through Kafka On The Shore I'm also reading Blankets by Craig Thompson, a genius piece of emo graphic novelism. Gorgeous, evocative artwork; brilliant writing that brings all those teenage feelings flooding back.




Ah Kafka On The Shore. I've got that. It's an audio book (registered blind.. Have to rely on what's available.)  Frequently search torrents for anything that sounds interesting. Just reading / listening to A Brief History of Time ATM. Though I pause it and Wikapedia things as they arise. Just started another Wiliam Gibson book as well. pattern Recognician but not got that far into it yet.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 3, 2008)

If you've got the audio book of Neuromancer, it might be me reading it  

(if it's really old and read by someone who isn't famous  )


----------



## xenon (Jul 3, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> If you've got the audio book of Neuromancer, it might be me reading it
> 
> (if it's really old and read by someone who isn't famous  )




Heh. Cool.


Not got it to hand. But I read it a couple of months ago. Will chekc later.

How did you end up doing that, if you don't mind me asking?


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 3, 2008)

In the bad old days (about 20 years ago) I was involved in a community programme (slightly better than YTS but not much) and spent some time recording audiobooks for the blind. We got shut down and I ended up training as a screenprinter instead..


----------



## xenon (Jul 3, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> In the bad old days (about 20 years ago) I was involved in a community programme (slightly better than YTS but not much) and spent some time recording audiobooks for the blind. We got shut down and I ended up training as a screenprinter instead..




Fair play. The version of Nuromancer I listened to was narrated by an American, for a US audiobook company. The RNIB talking book service, though getting better, largely concentrates on the classics. I'm a bit impatient with ploughing through stuff for the sake of it TBF. Have nagged a bit to see if they can get more contemporary / scifi stuff recorded. usually look there, mininova.org or audible.com.


----------



## xenon (Jul 3, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> In the bad old days (about 20 years ago) I was involved in a community programme (slightly better than YTS but not much) and spent some time recording audiobooks for the blind. We got shut down and I ended up training as a screenprinter instead..




Actually I bet you had to read some right old dross or at least stuff that didn't exactly enthuse you. A good skill being able to narate text. 
</derail>


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 3, 2008)

Luckily, it was the only one I had to do (each one takes ages cos it's really hard not to fuck up at least one line per page)... I also got told off cos I kept wanting to make sound effects noises with my mouth (Whoosh!, Zap!) etc


----------



## xenon (Jul 3, 2008)

Excelent. The El Jefe dramatised version.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 3, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Still on Satanic Verses, but I reckon I've spotted the reasons it drives fund Muslims to mouth foaming anger.



Go on.......


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 3, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Go on.......



Well there was the Mahmoud thing, with the prophet (or businessman as Rushdie calls him) wrestling with Gibreel in the cave, and the 'false' message preceding it where he wrings the 'satanic verses' from gibreel. But what must really get em riled is the idea that the prophet was getting his words delivered via some wierd symbiosis with the changed star of religious stage. That whole bit concerning the prophet and Jahilia (I took that to be Mecca cause of the black stone references-hope I'm not getting that wrong). Not Knowing much about Mohammeds revelations and stuff it's largely guesswork based on what I do know of the muslim faith.

e2a the fantasy elements are great. I still haven't worked out why Gibreel fufills dreams and is haloed, just as the transformation of Chamcha and his escape with the other transformed is still a mystery. Properly hooked now though.)


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 3, 2008)

DC - pm sent.

F
X


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 4, 2008)

Am reading _The Riddle of the Sands_ by Erskine Childers and enjoying it.


----------



## Eva Luna (Jul 4, 2008)

Just about to start (the book ) 'Waiting For The Man - the story of drugs and popular music' by Harry Shapiro.  Anybody read it?


----------



## Lea (Jul 7, 2008)

Killing Me Softly by Nicci French. Not quite sure how to class it. It could be described as a dark romance thriller. Not a typical romance as it includes violent sex.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 8, 2008)

Just about to start _The Yiddish Policemen's Union_ by Michael Chabon


----------



## camouflage (Jul 8, 2008)

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 8, 2008)

Just finished 'Islam in the World' by Malise Ruthven.

Not. Very. Good.


----------



## Diamond (Jul 9, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> Just about to start _The Yiddish Policemen's Union_ by Michael Chabon



Snap

Just finished the Siege of Krishnapur by JG Farrell. A very entertaining satire of a British East India Company cantonment trying to survive a long siege by rebellious sepoys during the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

Highly recommended to all and sundry but particularly those who like Flashman/Sharpe etc... (having said that I haven't read any novels concerning the last two but I reckon Krishnapur would provide a nice contrast to swashbuckling tales of British Imperial derring-do).


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 9, 2008)

Diamond said:


> Snap





Reading it quite slowly. I seem to be reading every sentence twice to see how he does it.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 9, 2008)

Diamond said:


> Snap
> 
> * Just finished the Siege of Krishnapur by JG Farrell.* A very entertaining satire of a British East India Company cantonment trying to survive a long siege by rebellious sepoys during the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
> 
> Highly recommended to all and sundry but particularly those who like Flashman/Sharpe etc... (having said that I haven't read any novels concerning the last two but I reckon Krishnapur would provide a nice contrast to swashbuckling tales of British Imperial derring-do).



Excellent novel - have you read any of his others? They are all very good. It is a while since I read them, may have to get them off the bookshelf again.


----------



## Diamond (Jul 9, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> Reading it quite slowly. I seem to be reading every sentence twice to see how he does it.



Only a few pages in myself, first Chabon novel that I've read too. It's a while since I've read this kind of hard-boiled style, makes me want to dig out some 50s film noir and drink lots of whisky neat.


----------



## Diamond (Jul 9, 2008)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Excellent novel - have you read any of his others? They are all very good. It is a while since I read them, may have to get them off the bookshelf again.



I just found out that it's part of a trilogy. Which one would you recommend more The Singapore Grip or Troubles?


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 9, 2008)

Diamond said:


> I just found out that it's part of a trilogy. Which one would you recommend more The Singapore Grip or Troubles?



Both are excellent but I think that The Singapore Grip leads on more from The Seige of Krishnapur as it concerns the collapse of colonial power


----------



## sojourner (Jul 9, 2008)

Started The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy last night, but had just had the first decent spliffs in about a month so wasn't in the most attentive frame of mind for it

I've never been into crime fiction, but picked it up at the charidee shop cos I knew the name Black Dahlia.  Interesting style of writing so far (or that could have been the weed).  Anyone read owt by him?


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 9, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Started The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy last night, but had just had the first decent spliffs in about a month so wasn't in the most attentive frame of mind for it
> 
> I've never been into crime fiction, but picked it up at the charidee shop cos I knew the name Black Dahlia.  Interesting style of writing so far (or that could have been the weed).  Anyone read owt by him?



Yeah, I've read that one and _The Big Nowhere_. I liked them both; they were more or less the first proper crime fiction I read. I thought _Nowhere_ was the better book though.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 9, 2008)

Diamond said:


> Only a few pages in myself, first Chabon novel that I've read too. It's a while since I've read this kind of hard-boiled style, makes me want to dig out some 50s film noir and drink lots of whisky neat.



Or eat herring in Alaska 

I've read his Kavalier and Clay, but he seems to have ratcheted up the style on this one.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 9, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> Just about to start _The Yiddish Policemen's Union_ by Michael Chabon





I did prefer Kavalier & Klay because of the scale of it, and the characters who I really loved. But YPU is probably better written. Although the ending is odd


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 9, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Interesting style of writing so far (or that could have been the weed)



He's got a singular, very frenetic style borne of copious acquaintance with amphetamines. You couldn't call it elegant ...


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 9, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> I did prefer Kavalier & Klay because of the scale of it, and the characters who I really loved. But YPU is probably better written. Although the ending is odd



I'm enjoying it so far. It is a lot denser and more crafted than K&C, but the jokes are better


----------



## sojourner (Jul 9, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> He's got a singular, very frenetic style borne of copious acquaintance with amphetamines. You couldn't call it elegant ...



Yeeess...sort of a bull charging kind of style   It's not elegant no, but I am always interested in different styles of writing

Cheers - think I might start it from the beginning tonight, and not spliff beforehand!!


----------



## foamy (Jul 9, 2008)

i'm reading a book group book from months back that i bought at the time but have only just got 'round to reading: About The Author by John Colapinto. Really wish I read before and discussed* it with others at book group. 


*by discussed I mean ate cheese and drank wine in the presence of the book


----------



## quimcunx (Jul 9, 2008)

''within the presence of the book''     


Still the bloody selfish gene...   it's so repetitive I keep skipping forward and backwards by mistake.  I seem to be averaging 3 pages a day. It's very annoying.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 9, 2008)

The House of Asterion - Borges


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 10, 2008)

Finished Kafka On The Shore this morning. Hmmm. Bit patchy really - parts of it I liked a lot, but other parts just made me grind my teeth a little bit.

Dunno what to go for next...maybe a Mieville.


----------



## Structaural (Jul 10, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Finished Kafka On The Shore this morning. Hmmm. Bit patchy really - parts of it I liked a lot, but other parts just made me grind my teeth a little bit.
> 
> Dunno what to go for next...maybe a Mieville.



Yeah!


----------



## The Groke (Jul 10, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Finished Kafka On The Shore this morning. Hmmm. Bit patchy really - parts of it I liked a lot, but other parts just made me grind my teeth a little bit.
> 
> Dunno what to go for next...maybe a Mieville.



I really enjoyed KotS, but it still isn't a patch on his best efforts.

Of the Mievilles, Perdido Street Station and The Scar are both ace - start with Perdido if you haven't read any of them.

I thought Iron Council was disapointingly week after the first two and I haven't read any of his non-New Crobuzon/Bas Lag stuff


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 10, 2008)

King Rat is good as an other London tale, but very 'first novely' if that makes sense.


----------



## Structaural (Jul 10, 2008)

Loved 'The Scar'

good interview with him here: http://www.believermag.com/issues/200504/?read=interview_mieville


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 10, 2008)

Structaural said:


> Loved 'The Scar'
> 
> good interview with him here: http://www.believermag.com/issues/200504/?read=interview_mieville



dude if you have some time to kill this ones a very in depth interview. Goes right into his trot politics and all that shebang as well as the books

http://www.depauw.edu/SFs/interviews/mievilleinterview.htm


----------



## Structaural (Jul 10, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> dude if you have some time to kill this ones a very in depth interview. Goes right into his trot politics and all that shebang as well as the books
> 
> http://www.depauw.edu/SFs/interviews/mievilleinterview.htm



Nice one, cheers - yeah plenty of time to kill, my company's going down the pan.


----------



## Structaural (Jul 10, 2008)

Man, that brings back memories  -he mentions the Borrible's - I read all of them when I was about 13 and had just moved to London. Great teenage books.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 10, 2008)

Structaural said:


> Man, that brings back memories  -he mentions the Borrible's - I read all of them when I was about 13 and had just moved to London. Great teenage books.



I keep meaning to pick them up, as I'm after writing an Other London myth for me dissertation likes


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 10, 2008)

I picked up Charles Nichol's 'The Lodger' today, not my usual area of interest but I thought I would give it a try.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 11, 2008)

I'm going to start Perdido Street Station soon, but have picked up a collection of Hazlitt essays for bedtime reading so as not to knacker my weak girlish wrists.


----------



## Rainingstairs (Jul 11, 2008)

Alan Moore's "From Hell" quite extraordinary.
also, a Ray Bradbury collection of short stories that's depressing the fuck out of me and I'm about to stop.
and a Phillip K. Dick reader that's a fun one
and just finished the new Hell boy with the new guy doing Mignola's art...was actually my favorite one so far.


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Jul 11, 2008)

Dark Matter by Greg Iles.  Quite enjoyable, but I'm not sure if it can't quite decide whether it wants to be an enjoyable piece of pap, or something more serious.


----------



## girasol (Jul 11, 2008)

Phillip Pullman, Northern Lights.  I bought it for my son, started reading it with him and haven't put it down since...

I wish his books had been around when I was a young girl, it's great reading it as an adult, I can only imagine how amazing it must be to read it as a 12 year old (for some reason I imagine this to be the best age for reading it )!!!


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 11, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> I'm going to start Perdido Street Station soon, but have picked up a collection of Hazlitt essays for bedtime reading so as not to knacker my weak girlish wrists.



Let me know what you think of the Hazlitt. People like brawlin' Tom Paulin are always banging on about him, but it's just not the sort of thing it would ever occur to me to read...


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 11, 2008)

Iemanja said:


> Phillip Pullman, Northern Lights.  I bought it for my son, started reading it with him and haven't put it down since...
> 
> I wish his books had been around when I was a young girl, it's great reading it as an adult, I can only imagine how amazing it must be to read it as a 12 year old (for some reason I imagine this to be the best age for reading it )!!!



I think thats the age group it's aimed at. Excellent stuff though ennit.


I'm STILL on satanic Verses

'We are the ones you cannot forgive Mahound. Whores and writers'


----------



## sojourner (Jul 11, 2008)

Iemanja said:


> Phillip Pullman, Northern Lights.  I bought it for my son, started reading it with him and haven't put it down since...
> 
> I wish his books had been around when I was a young girl, it's great reading it as an adult, I can only imagine how amazing it must be to read it as a 12 year old (for some reason I imagine this to be the best age for reading it )!!!



  Same.  I bought it for my lass, and it was a couple of years later that I picked up the first book.  Was hooked from that point on.


----------



## Blagsta (Jul 11, 2008)

Antonio Damasio - The Feeling of What Happens


----------



## ringo (Jul 11, 2008)

Hiran Desai - The Inheritance Of Loss


----------



## chooch (Jul 11, 2008)

Just skipped through _The God Delusion_ which was entertaining and knockabout enough.
Now on Primo Levi _If not now, when?_


----------



## sojourner (Jul 12, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Started The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy last night...



This is actually more enjoyable than I thought it would be.  Loads of dialect I'm not used to - 'jacket', 'jolt' etc, and some I am - 'patsy', 'cooze' .  Veers dangerously close to Mickey Spillane but doesn't quite get there - in doing so, it's put a smile on my face


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 12, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Let me know what you think of the Hazlitt. People like brawlin' Tom Paulin are always banging on about him, but it's just not the sort of thing it would ever occur to me to read...



Will do, if I ever get to the essays - am thinking it's perhaps not the best book at bedtime, it's taken me three nights of instantly falling asleep just to get through the intro


----------



## sojourner (Jul 13, 2008)

Just finished The Black Dahlia.  Excellent! Really enjoyed this - much to my surprise.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 14, 2008)

Possessing the Secret of Joy - Alice Walker


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 14, 2008)

Finished Lonesome Dove, all 900 pages of it. In the end, it was quite dull - it was 'epic' without really living up to the scale. And a really wank ending

Robert Elms is about to talk about I Was Dora Suarez, which reminded me I still haven't read it, so I'm going to dig that out


----------



## obanite (Jul 14, 2008)

Been hooked on Iain Banks lately. Just devoured 3 while on holiday:

Look to Windward (average, didn't like the ending really)
Use of Weapons (interesting story)
Against a Dark Background (loved the setting!)

Think the last 2 are my favourite Banks books, Excession was top too 

Now reading 'Empire in Black and Gold', some fantasy thing where everybody seems to be half man, half insect  

E2A: oooh just found this! http://www.culturelist.org/cdr/article.cfm?id=142


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 14, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Robert Elms is about to talk about I Was Dora Suarez, which reminded me I still haven't read it, so I'm going to dig that out



Can't find it 

So reading The Inner Circle, ANOTHER TC Boyle book


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 15, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Can't find it
> 
> So reading The Inner Circle, ANOTHER TC Boyle book



That's the Kinsey one, isn't it? It's good fun, but he does seem to lose interest 2/3rds of the way through.


----------



## Lea (Jul 15, 2008)

Dark of the Moon - Susan Krinard


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 15, 2008)

I've just ordered a copy of 'Moby Dick', after listening to a recent discussion on 'Open Book (Radio 4). Does anyone have any suggestions to make before it arrives?


----------



## Detroit City (Jul 15, 2008)

Beyond the Black Box - The Forensics of Airplane Crashes by George Bibel


----------



## chooch (Jul 16, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> That's the Kinsey one, isn't it? It's good fun, but he does seem to lose interest 2/3rds of the way through.


He should write books 2/3 as long, as should almost everyone else.

Now on Primo Levi - _the drowned and the saved_.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 16, 2008)

Well 'Moby Dick' (Vintage Classics) arrived this morning - I opened up the book and had a quick look inside. Why oh why does it have to have been printed in a very odd looking font - which will probably not help as I tackle this Leviathan.

Wish me luck!


----------



## mentalchik (Jul 16, 2008)

Reading 'On Beauty' - Zadie Smith....................really out of character for me this but am enjoyably suprised !


----------



## sojourner (Jul 16, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Well 'Moby Dick' (Vintage Classics) arrived this morning - I opened up the book and had a quick look inside. Why oh why does it have to have been printed in a very odd looking font - which will probably not help as I tackle this Leviathan.
> 
> Wish me luck!



good luck!

Is it a small font?  I hate that.  It actively puts me off reading a book, cos I know I'll end up with a crippling headache


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 16, 2008)

Yup, it is a small font!!!


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 16, 2008)

*Tc Boyle Spoilers!!!!*



Dirty Martini said:


> That's the Kinsey one, isn't it? It's good fun, but he does seem to lose interest 2/3rds of the way through.



See, you've mentioned this before about Boyle, and this is the first of his I've read since you said it. And you're kind of right 

The awful tension between the protagonists kind of dies off after the first 2/3rds and it's not till that 'attic scene' that it reappears, the rest is really "he did that and we did that". So, still a very good book - he just writes so well - but definitely a problem with the pacing.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 16, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Yup, it is a small font!!!



My copy of it is too, otherwise I coulda let you borrow that


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 16, 2008)

sojourner said:


> My copy of it is too, otherwise I coulda let you borrow that



Thanks Soj, that is a really kind thought. I'll let you know how it goes - I'll probably return to this thread with seriously weakened eyesight.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 16, 2008)

Fictionist, by Friday


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 17, 2008)

I decided it was time to read my copy of The God Delusion. Thoroughly enjoying it so far, and it strikes me that Dawkins' arguing style is a lot less rabid than it's been painted, even by other atheists. I'd read nothing so far that seems unfair or overly harsh.,


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 18, 2008)

Moby Dick is a very slooooooow read.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 19, 2008)

Finally got my copy of Close Range by Annie Proulx back, so re-read Brokeback Mountain (sob) and the Half-Skinned Steer (gulp!) again this morning


----------



## sojourner (Jul 19, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Moby Dick is a very slooooooow read.



  How's the eyesight?


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 19, 2008)

Probably not as good as it was before I started _that_ damn book!

Although I must admit I tend to read at night before I sleep, and reading by lamplight probably doesn't help either.

What are you reading Soj?


----------



## sojourner (Jul 19, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Probably not as good as it was before I started _that_ damn book!
> 
> Although I must admit I tend to read at night before I sleep, and reading by lamplight probably doesn't help either.
> 
> What are you reading Soj?



I read by lamplight too, but a proper reading lamp - blinds me 

As above, also finished the Alice Walker so am half-heartedly picking up The Boy with no Shoes again, but it's self-indulgent woe-is-me wank, and I keep shouting inwardly at the narrator 

I have A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers and The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje lined up - not sure which one I want to start first


----------



## Grego Morales (Jul 19, 2008)

Pavane by Keith Roberts.


----------



## marty21 (Jul 19, 2008)

nicholas nickeby - charles dickens - it's brilliant - really enjoying it


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 22, 2008)

Tim Moore - Spanish Steps


----------



## foamy (Jul 22, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Tim Moore - Spanish Steps



is it good? i really enjoyed his 'Do Not Pass Go'.

this week i've finished About the Author by John Colapinto and read The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett and just started Margaret Atwood's Life Before Man.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 22, 2008)

It is pretty good so far, I'm only a couple of chapters in though. I can fully and heartily recommend Frost On My Moustache, French Revolutions and Continental Drifter though - all books that fascinated while making me snort tea out of my nose on a regular basis


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jul 22, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Moby Dick is a very slooooooow read.



Ain't that the truth. I gave up 

I've just started _A Room of One's Own_. Only finished the first chapter but it's great (obv) so far.

Next on my list is either an Evelyn Waugh novel, Brockmeier's _A Brief History of the Dead_ (which I've been meaning to read for ages), or _Native Son_.

Oh or Stephen Fry's autobiog.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 22, 2008)

sojourner said:


> I have A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers



One of my favourite books ever. Just absolutely blew me away. A lot of people think it tricksy and wanky, and while I can see why they think it, that's an  important part of the book, it's crucial in the overall structure of it.

Read it, stick with it when  you think you might give up. It's worth it, I promise.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 22, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> One of my favourite books ever. Just absolutely blew me away. A lot of people think it tricksy and wanky, and while I can see why they think it, that's an  important part of the book, it's crucial in the overall structure of it.
> 
> Read it, stick with it when  you think you might give up. It's worth it, I promise.



Haven't started it yet, but I did pick it up because it looked incredibly interesting structurally 

May well start it later then


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 22, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Haven't started it yet, but I did pick it up because it looked incredibly interesting structurally
> 
> May well start it later then



Have you got the hardback, the regular paperback or the paperback with an upside down cover on the back (IYSWIM)?

They're all quite different


----------



## sojourner (Jul 22, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Have you got the hardback, the regular paperback or the *paperback with an upside down cover on the back *(IYSWIM)?
> 
> They're all quite different



This one 

What, different in actual content?


----------



## rennie (Jul 22, 2008)

I've just started a book on Libyan short stories. Bring it on!


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 22, 2008)

sojourner said:


> This one
> 
> What, different in actual content?



Yeh, there's a whole extra bit in the back of the one you have, some of which is unrelated to the main book, some of which is about the reactions to the main book, stuff like that. Like I said, it's all very tricksy / po-mo...


----------



## sojourner (Jul 22, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Yeh, there's a whole extra bit in the back of the one you have, some of which is unrelated to the main book, some of which is about the reactions to the main book, stuff like that. Like I said, it's all very tricksy / po-mo...



Oh good, I got the bonus tracks version

I like pomo


----------



## sojourner (Jul 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers



Got halfway through this last night, and it's a blinding read.

I know what you mean Jefe, but I absolutely LOVE what he does with the text - it's very clever but without being Pynchon-like dense.  Had me literally laughing out loud at points, have recognised a lot of situations and feelings from my own life as a parent and a survivor of serious trauma as well, and I'm quite simply loving it  Works on sooo many levels for me


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Got halfway through this last night, and it's a blinding read.
> 
> I know what you mean Jefe, but I absolutely LOVE what he does with the text - it's very clever but without being Pynchon-like dense.  Had me literally laughing out loud at points, have recognised a lot of situations and feelings from my own life as a parent and a survivor of serious trauma as well, and I'm quite simply loving it  Works on sooo many levels for me



Ah, so glad you're enjoying it. Some people - to my immense confusing - seemed to think the middle stretch was boring, which to me seemed to totally miss the point. 

if I were you, I'd read the 30 or 40 pages somewhere private


----------



## sojourner (Jul 23, 2008)

I was laughing at the start when he said 'you don't have to read the preface' etc 

Clever, and consciously and knowingly() clever - brilliant, love it. 

Righty ho - I shall be alone on my couch tonight 


It's one of those books I don't want to finish, and I also thought 'why the FUCK didn't this exist when I was planning my dissertation'.  Christ - I could write a book *about* this book


----------



## KellyDJ (Jul 23, 2008)

About halfway through Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell.  Big thumbs up so far


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> I was laughing at the start when he said 'you don't have to read the preface' etc
> 
> Clever, and consciously and knowingly() clever - brilliant, love it.
> 
> ...



I got half an essay on post-modernism out of it


----------



## sojourner (Jul 23, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> I got half an essay on post-modernism out of it



Only half?  Blimey - you slacker!  There's 1000s of words to be written about that!


----------



## kittyP (Jul 23, 2008)

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

I'm really enjoying reading it but I'm quite a slow reader and its quite heavy going.

Must keep with it.


----------



## damnhippie (Jul 23, 2008)

The Book of Dave by Will Self. it's absorbing but depressing. also it helps if you have a tolerance for phonetically-spelled out dialogue. i don't. 

nice dystopic vision of future london, mind.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Only half?  Blimey - you slacker!  There's 1000s of words to be written about that!



Ah, but it wouldn't have fitted the title..


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> I have A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers and The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje lined up -



Line up the Eggers book in your "donate to oxfam" pile.  Save yourself the bother.  Eggers book re-writes the rules for pretension; please don't believe that the title was meant in an "ironic" way.  After a promising start, it slows down to snails pace and pretty soon stops moving all together.  That guy is so far up his own arse his tongue comes out of his mouth two times....


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 23, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Line up the Eggers book in your "donate to oxfam" pile.  Save yourself the bother.  Eggers book re-writes the rules for pretension; please don't believe that the title was meant in an "ironic" way.  After a promising start, it slows down to snails pace and pretty soon stops moving all together.  That guy is so far up his own arse his tongue comes out of his mouth two times....




 I found it crushingly up itself.


apparently I'm missing the point


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 23, 2008)

Just finished the new Irvine Welsh, Crime.  Return to form for Welsh, after his previous two dissapointments.  The last 20 pages or so drag out the "redemption" theme a little too far, but over all well worth a read.  Just started working with children with sexually harmful behaviour, and a lot of what happens in the book fits in with what I have been told to expect at my induction.....

Reading Ben Eltons Past Mortem.  Elton is always readable, whatever you think of the man himself.  I think I've spotted the killer (I'm about 320 pages in...) and am positive that I have identified the main red herring.  Not his strongest work, so far, but not his weakest.  Abscence of humour is annoying me...

Also did the first 70 pages of the Godfather last night and this morning.  Am enjoying it so far.  Some of the extra details that were missing from the film are really rounding up the story for me.  I've been keeping an open for this book for a while now so am glad I finally got a copy.


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 23, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> I found it crushingly up itself.
> 
> 
> apparently I'm missing the point




I hear that one of his sisters topped herself recently.  Maybe she "got it" and was so heartbroken that she had to end her life.  Or maybe she just realised that she was related to one of the biggest fuckwits in contemporary US lit....


----------



## sojourner (Jul 23, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> I found it crushingly up itself.



I'm finding it refreshingly NOT up itself, compared to lots of other 'clever' stuff I've read


----------



## sojourner (Jul 23, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Line up the Eggers book in your "donate to oxfam" pile.  *Save yourself the bother*.  Eggers book re-writes the rules for pretension; please don't believe that the title was meant in an "ironic" way.  After a promising start, it slows down to snails pace and pretty soon stops moving all together.  That guy is so far up his own arse his tongue comes out of his mouth two times....



Eh up thicko 

Read the facking thread.  I'm already halfway through and loving it


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 23, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Line up the Eggers book in your "donate to oxfam" pile.  Save yourself the bother.  Eggers book re-writes the rules for pretension; please don't believe that the title was meant in an "ironic" way.  After a promising start, it slows down to snails pace and pretty soon stops moving all together.  That guy is so far up his own arse his tongue comes out of his mouth two times....



With all due respect, you're a fool.

Did you finish it, by any chance?


----------



## seeformiles (Jul 23, 2008)

A Spike Milligan biography. Quite an even-handed assessment so far (i.e. comedy genius but prone to being a selfish egotistical bastard too!)


----------



## colbhoy (Jul 23, 2008)

I'm reading The Echoing Green, The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World by Joshua Prager.

It's about the famous home run hit by Scots born Thomson to clinch a best of 3 play-off for the New York Giants to qualify for the World Series.


----------



## Biddlybee (Jul 23, 2008)

kittyP said:


> The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
> 
> I'm really enjoying reading it but I'm quite a slow reader and its quite heavy going.
> 
> Must keep with it.


Ah, that's one I want to add to my list.

I'm _still_ reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay... really enjoying it, but I'm a slow reader, and only read on the bus


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Eh up thicko
> 
> Read the facking thread.  I'm already halfway through and loving it



"Read the facking thread"?  Is that an order?  I think you can kindly fuck off...

Glad your loving it, but do you not see how it could come accross to the rest of us?  Am I thick for not loving it, or just for not having read every post on this thread?  Either way, I don't think these are Mensa approved methods of intelligence testing....


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 23, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> With all due respect, you're a fool.
> 
> Did you finish it, by any chance?



Yes, I finished it, and even got round to the transparently patronising "mistakes we knew we were making".  Seriously, i have never been so bored in my life.  One of those books that you make yourself read because loads of dullards have said it's great.  But you didn't realise they were that thick until you had read the book and by then it was too late.

Again, why is someone who doesn't like Dave Eggers a fool?  I'm not alone on this.  We're not talking one of the literary greats here, but rather a self-important yet self-depricating San-Fransisco "hipster" who thinks that an audition for MTV's "the Real World" will make an amazing and ironic metaphor for... well, for what?  He ends up saying little more in this book than "aren't I clever and wasn't my life hard?"  Piss off, Dave.  If I want a punchy misery memoir, I'll read A Million Little Pieces.  If I want someone to intelectually masturbate in my face, I'll speak to El Jefe....


----------



## sojourner (Jul 23, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> "Read the facking thread"?  Is that an order?  I think you can kindly fuck off...
> 
> Glad your loving it, but do you not see how it could come accross to the rest of us?  Am I thick for not loving it, or just for not having read every post on this thread?  Either way, I don't think these are Mensa approved methods of intelligence testing....



No, you're thick for not having read the posts made ON THE SAME PAGE that you posted on and quoted from, by ME, about that very same book 

Oh, and I never kindly fuck off.  It's always with a certain amount of shouting, swearing, and perhaps a kicked cat/dog or two 

You didn't like it, that doesn't make you thick. You just didn't like it.  It's written in a style that I really appreciate though, having covered fuckloads of this sort of stuff on my degree, and it's really satisfying for me to read


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 23, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Yes, I finished it, and even got round to the transparently patronising "mistakes we knew we were making".  Seriously, i have never been so bored in my life.  One of those books that you make yourself read because loads of dullards have said it's great.  But you didn't realise they were that thick until you had read the book and by then it was too late.
> 
> Again, why is someone who doesn't like Dave Eggers a fool?  I'm not alone on this.  We're not talking one of the literary greats here, but rather a self-important yet self-depricating San-Fransisco "hipster" who thinks that an audition for MTV's "the Real World" will make an amazing and ironic metaphor for... well, for what?  He ends up saying little more in this book than "aren't I clever and wasn't my life hard?"  Piss off, Dave.  If I want a punchy misery memoir, I'll read A Million Little Pieces.  If I want someone to intelectually masturbate in my face, I'll speak to El Jefe....



Oh dear. 

I'll think I'll leave you to your ranting


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> No, you're thick for not having read the posts made ON THE SAME PAGE that you posted on and quoted from, by ME, about that very same book



Having just got into a 10 page debate with a load of people who didn't read things that I had said causing me to frequently repeat myself, I can state emphatically that I have no idea where you are coming from.  Were they all thick?  No, just responding immediately to whichever part of the post they had chanced upon.....


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 23, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Oh dear.
> 
> I'll think I'll leave you to your ranting



better to leave some opinions than transparently boring and uninsightful 1 line posts

poster 1 -I liked it

Poster 2 - So do I

Poster 3 - I don't

Poster 1 - Well, you're thick.  I did an essay on post modernism, don't you know...


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 23, 2008)

If you like.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 23, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Having just got into a 10 page debate with a load of people who didn't read things that I had said causing me to frequently repeat myself, I can state emphatically that I have no idea where you are coming from.  Were they all thick?  No, just responding immediately to whichever part of the post they had chanced upon.....



Think you need to calm down dear, it's only a book 

You only have to read on a couple of posts after the one you quoted me on, to find more of my posts saying how much I liked the book

Have a fucking minute eh?


----------



## damnhippie (Jul 23, 2008)

/\/\/\ A Million Little Pieces is hardly a memoir 

as you were. rucking, that is.


----------



## marty21 (Jul 24, 2008)

nicholas nickleby - charles dickens


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 24, 2008)

Thoroughly enjoying The God Delusion and can't see why people gave Dawkins a hard time about it. Nothing in it seems unfair or illogical.


----------



## Flashman (Jul 24, 2008)

Badger Kittens book, and Churchill's Bodyguard.


----------



## ringo (Jul 24, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Just finished the new Irvine Welsh, Crime.  Return to form for Welsh, after his previous two dissapointments.  The last 20 pages or so drag out the "redemption" theme a little too far, but over all well worth a read.



About 50 pages in so far. It always takes me a while to get used to his style, especially after reading Booker Prize type novels, so it's only just starting to flow for me.

Glad to hear it's a return to form because so far not much has happened and there has been some really bad writing so far. There was a sentence I read last night I had to reread twice because it was so bad, just a clumsy jumble of mixed metaphors I'd expect from a school child. Still, with Welsh you know it'll soon become so grim you forget about such trivialities.


----------



## bmd (Jul 24, 2008)

Depending on what mood I'm in - 

The Elves of Cintra - Terry Brookes
Hard Work - Polly Toynbee
Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman
We Bought a Zoo - Benjamin Mee
The Dark Knight Returns - Frank Miller
The Watchmen - Alan Moore

I've also just bought The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist but can't be arsed with it atm. And Permanent Midnight (again) by Jerry Stahl.


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 24, 2008)

ringo said:


> About 50 pages in so far. It always takes me a while to get used to his style, especially after reading Booker Prize type novels, so it's only just starting to flow for me.
> 
> Glad to hear it's a return to form because so far not much has happened and there has been some really bad writing so far. There was a sentence I read last night I had to reread twice because it was so bad, just a clumsy jumble of mixed metaphors I'd expect from a school child. Still, with Welsh you know it'll soon become so grim you forget about such trivialities.



Actually, considering the subject matter and the fact that it's a Welsh novel, it's surprisingly restrained.  Still enough fucked up shit for any die-hard Irv fans out there, but just written in a much more sensitive manner.  Marabou Stork Nightmares it aint....

There are too many metaphors and too many long drawn out descriptions of places that I've never heard of.  But it will definately speed up as you get into it.....


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 24, 2008)

damnhippie said:


> /\/\/\ A Million Little Pieces is hardly a memoir
> 
> as you were. rucking, that is.



eggers book is just as fictionalised (more so?), but still falls into that cat....


----------



## Pieface (Jul 24, 2008)

Bob Marleys Dad said:


> I've also just bought The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist but can't be arsed with it atm.



I hated that book.  Just repeats the same thing over and over for ages using annoying examples of put upon rustic types being oppressed by the upper classes while they drink beer and fight amongst themselves.

It was so fucking dull I stopped reading it.  I _suspect _they rise up later on


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 24, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Thoroughly enjoying The God Delusion and can't see why people gave Dawkins a hard time about it. Nothing in it seems unfair or illogical.



The god delusion is a quality book (except for all the evolutionary biology bits, which spoil a good third of it - how come he's so boring when it comes to his specialist subject?) but you can hardly expect people who are fanatically religious not to get a bit upset.  It's kind of what they do.  Looking at it from Dawkins extreme logical pov, then that upset might seem unjustified, but what about religion is justified?


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 24, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> The god delusion is a quality book (except for all the evolutionary biology bits, which spoil a good third of it - how come he's so boring when it comes to his specialist subject?) but you can hardly expect people who are fanatically religious not to get a bit upset.  It's kind of what they do.  Looking at it from Dawkins extreme logical pov, then that upset might seem unjustified, but what about religion is justified?



I was actually referring to a good number of people who are atheist / agnostic but thought Dawkins was heavy-handed or bullying with his arguments ("Darwin's rottweiler" etc). I just don't see it.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 24, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> eggers book is just as fictionalised (more so?), but still falls into that cat....



The difference being Eggers never pretended it was a straight up account, so there was no deceit. A fairly crucial difference, no?


----------



## mrkikiet (Jul 24, 2008)

wheen - how mumbo-jumbo conquered the world


----------



## poului (Jul 24, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Thoroughly enjoying The God Delusion and can't see why people gave Dawkins a hard time about it. Nothing in it seems unfair or illogical.




Because those said detractors are unfair and illogical?


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 24, 2008)

poului said:


> Because those said detractors are unfair and illogical?



But the thing is, people I know completely  in agreement with Dawkins felt he was heavy-handed or overly blunt about it. They're the people I don't get..


----------



## poului (Jul 24, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> But the thing is, people I know completely  in agreement with Dawkins felt he was heavy-handed or overly blunt about it. They're the people I don't get..




Surely it's that they feel guilty for holding such a low opinion of their fellow citizens' beliefs, even when they ought not to?


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 24, 2008)

Perhaps. Lily-livered twats


----------



## poului (Jul 24, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Perhaps. Lily-livered twats



In fairness, it's not very British to be entirely upfront about what you think of stupid opinions.


----------



## Pie 1 (Jul 24, 2008)

Just finished Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. Absolutely loved it -  every page of it. Cracking stuff.

And also Le Carre's The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Pretty near perfect spy story tbh. 

William Boyd's Any Human Heart is next...


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 24, 2008)

poului said:


> In fairness, it's not very British to be entirely upfront about what you think of stupid opinions.



I'd like to think that, in my own small way, I challenge that daily


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 24, 2008)

Pie 1 said:


> Just finished Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. Absolutely loved it -  every page of it. Cracking stuff.



Amazing, isn't it? Heartbreaking in places too. He writes so well about old age, which you don't tend to come across much


----------



## poului (Jul 24, 2008)

*rtfjtyo8y*

Anyway, 'Cooking with Fermat Branca' for me.

It's definitely a grower.


----------



## ringo (Jul 24, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Actually, considering the subject matter and the fact that it's a Welsh novel, it's surprisingly restrained.  Still enough fucked up shit for any die-hard Irv fans out there, but just written in a much more sensitive manner.  Marabou Stork Nightmares it aint....
> 
> There are too many metaphors and too many long drawn out descriptions of places that I've never heard of.  But it will definately speed up as you get into it.....



Good-o, will continue.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 24, 2008)

poului said:


> Anyway, 'Cooking with Fermat Branca' for me.
> 
> It's definitely a grower.



Surely you'd prefer Cooking With Glenn Branca?


----------



## poului (Jul 24, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Surely you'd prefer Cooking With Glenn Branca?




Just goes to show how much I'm uncatered for.


----------



## Pie 1 (Jul 24, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Amazing, isn't it? Heartbreaking in places too. He writes so well about old age, which you don't tend to come across much



Yeah, and really fucking funny too.
I was blown away by parts of it, really. 
The way he wrote Enid & Denise is genius. But then they were all brilliantly written characters tbf.
I was so impressed how thougherly real it all came across - I think the only critisism I have - if any, would be Chip's eastern European jaunt.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 24, 2008)

Pie 1 said:


> Yeah, and really fucking funny too.
> I was blown away by parts of it, really.
> The way he wrote Enid & Denise is genius. But then they were all brilliantly written characters tbf.
> I was so impressed how thougherly real it all came across - I think the only critisism I have - if any, would be Chip's eastern European jaunt.



Yeh, that did seem to jump the shark a bit. Apparently (IIRC etc), Frantzen's father had Alzheimers and had a horrible death (relating to climbing into a boiling hot bath or something) so I think there was a lot of experience and pain behind him writing about the parents.


----------



## cliche guevara (Jul 24, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Thoroughly enjoying The God Delusion and can't see why people gave Dawkins a hard time about it. Nothing in it seems unfair or illogical.



I thoroughly enjoyed it as well, although the first half was a lot more gripping than the second. When he got waffling about memes it lost a bit of pace. I don't think he was overly aggressive either, there was an element of aggression to his style but it was fully justified, and easily outweighed by the opposition.

Currently reading The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson. It's interesting so far, in that it is a work of fiction but takes a lot of influence from his own experience, it's clearly a gateway to his later gonzo style.


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 24, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> The difference being Eggers never pretended it was a straight up account, so there was no deceit. A fairly crucial difference, no?



Acknowledged.  When I read it, I was aware that a fair amount was bullshit, and decided to treat it as a "fictionalised" autobiography, which added greatly to my enjoyment.  I may have been a bit put out if I had found out after i had read the book.....


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 24, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> But the thing is, people I know completely  in agreement with Dawkins felt he was heavy-handed or overly blunt about it. They're the people I don't get..



Long story, but there is a website which has strongly influenced me on a particular matter.  Yet I find the rhetoric used a bit strong.  Wouldn't say that about Dawkins, but I could see how some other people might....


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 24, 2008)

Tell you what, when soj has finished Heartbreaking Work, I'll explain better (i hope) why I think you're wrong about it, I'd like to see what she thinks too..


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 25, 2008)

yay!

My new books have arrived. So for the next few weeks I am reading:

_The Golden Notebook_ by Doris Lessing

_If Not Now, When? _by Primo Levi

_Rilke on Love and other Difficulties: Translations and Considerations _by John J. L. Mood

_Star Maker _by Olaf Stapledon

_Everything is Illuminated_ by Johnathan Safran Foer


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 25, 2008)

Re-reading Reapers Gale by Steven Ericksonn. 

roll on the charity shop scouring tomorrow.


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Jul 25, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Tell you what, when soj has finished Heartbreaking Work, I'll explain better (i hope) why I think you're wrong about it, I'd like to see what she thinks too..



Looking forward to it.  I have to confess to being a bit rusty (read it in 2002) but I'd be interested to hear what is good about it.  I certainly didn't "get" it.  I guess it would be interesting to hear what people do like about it....

NB, the best bits for me where the opening chapters which were quite funny and "intelligent" (in a very "lower sixth" sort of way....).  I remember enjoying the self deprication, but on looking back I guess I no-longer feel that it immunises the author to criticism.  In fact, it didn't when I first read it, but it did make me laugh.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 26, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Looking forward to it.  I have to confess to being a bit rusty (read it in 2002) but I'd be interested to hear what is good about it.  I certainly didn't "get" it.  I guess it would be interesting to hear what people do like about it....
> 
> NB, the best bits for me where the opening chapters which were quite funny and "intelligent" (in a very "lower sixth" sort of way....).  I remember enjoying the self deprication, but on looking back I guess I no-longer feel that it immunises the author to criticism.  In fact, it didn't when I first read it, but it did make me laugh.




Without giving anything away to Soj, my feeling is that if you though the beginning was good  and then it lost it badly, don't you think there might have been some intent with that? Does somebody suddenly become a worse writer midway through a book or is something else going on?


I'll save the rest for when she finishes it

btw - sorry for being a bit abrasive about it, the book means a lot to me (family loss thing) so i'm probably overly protective.You're still wrong, though


----------



## the Magus (Jul 26, 2008)

I'm reading The Divine Comedy. Its great!


----------



## sojourner (Jul 26, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Without giving anything away to Soj, my feeling is that if you though the beginning was good  and then it lost it badly, don't you think there might have been some intent with that? Does somebody suddenly become a worse writer midway through a book or is something else going on?
> 
> 
> I'll save the rest for when she finishes it
> ...


I'm ALMOST finished - had to stop reading midway through Mistakes, cos I was rushing it, but - fuck it - my thoughts so far:

It's like he took every idea about post-modernist literary theory and then turned it into a novel.  It’s self-referential, loaded with cultural references (including cult of celebrity), contains internal monologues, employs irony (with attempts to debunk in what I’ve read so far of Mistakes), shows and tells, stories within a story, multiple genres, refusal to provide closure, denouement – apart from telling of when the Might mag closes – this is pretty much the only ‘comfort’ provided by a traditional denouement. Christ, not even the parents’ death gets denouement – apart from the cremains,  later – won’t spoil that for other readers. 

Memoir as genre (a self-selecting genre) – the first half gets the reader to suspend disbelief, IDENTIFY with certain situations (I did, as a parent, as a survivor of trauma), the second half proves his status as unreliable narrator, shows the reader that they were wrong to suspend disbelief, shows fact can be fiction .  Toph’s out of character speech re Adam Rich (breaking out of ‘character’) – loved the whole Real Worlds satire 

What is the start of the 2nd half to me. The MTV interview – cracked me up. Loved the way he starts breaking down what you thought was ‘true’.  

Love the last words of the main text 

Love how he shows how the story doesn’t HAVE to make sense

Also loved the ‘Begun 1998’ ‘Let go 2000’ – STILL no closure, not giving you that  


Jesus – this probably doesn’t make much sense, but it’s got me buzzing and my ideas are all over the shop.  Like I said, I could write a fucking dissertation on this book

Will finish Mistakes tomorrow and then come back if I have anything more to say - cos err, I realise I've rambled on quite a bit here


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 26, 2008)

Well my thoughts:

He can obviously write beautifully from the off, but as you say he doesn't really give you the emotional punch you're looking for: he evades, plays pomo games etc.

But then, in those closing pages, it's like: Right. So you think I've been avoiding this. Do you? Do you want to REALLY know about it then? How it really fucking felt? Well THIS is how it felot.

and that closing monologue / rant is like a rejection of all the pomo stuff, like he's saying you DO need proper emotional content, proper punch. The end took my breath away.

that's why I get amazed by people who think it's just tricksy: the ending rejects all that, says, OK, the gloves are off. But what have you got for ME?


----------



## sojourner (Jul 26, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> and that closing monologue / rant is like a rejection of all the pomo stuff, like he's saying you DO need proper emotional content, proper punch. The end took my breath away.
> 
> that's why I get amazed by people who think it's just tricksy: the ending rejects all that, says, OK, the gloves are off. But what have you got for ME?




Yep, that got me, the way he just spots what you think you've been so clever in seeing - completely debunks the whole irony thing

Very very clever.  One of the best books I've read in a long while.  Will be thinking about this, and raving about it to mates, for some time to come


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Jul 29, 2008)

Just read a book by Simon Lewis called Bad Traffic about a mainland Chinese cop coming to the UK to find his missing daughter.  Manages that thing which many things fail to do - both be very entertaining and easy to read, and at the same time touch on some important, serious issues (in this instance, people trafficking, exploitation of migrants etc)


----------



## xes (Jul 29, 2008)

The Holographic universe by micheal Talbot.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 29, 2008)

Rereading Close Range again - Annie Proulx


----------



## Roadkill (Jul 29, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Thoroughly enjoying The God Delusion and can't see why people gave Dawkins a hard time about it. Nothing in it seems unfair or illogical.



I agree.  I read it last year, I've dipped into it again a few times since and I've always liked it.  Dawkins is uncompromising, but not really aggressive, and he talks a lot of sense.  He writes very lucidly as well IMO.  In a world where religious matters are perennial bones of contention I think it's a much needed book too, and well deserves to be as popular as it is.

Currently I'm reading pretty much nothing except economic history (Martin Daunton, John Rule, T.S. Ashton, Douglas Hay and Maxine Berg FWIW).  I have just acquired a copy of Peter Rayner's _On and Off the Rails_, though, which I intend making a start on, having recently finished Stephen Poole's similar memoirs of his working life with British Rail.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 31, 2008)

Anyone read "The Religion" by Tim Willcocks? Started it earlier this week and am finding it quite hard to get into.

Will persevere for a while as I find the characters interesting but there is something putting me of the novel a bit and I'm not sure what


----------



## Sunspots (Aug 1, 2008)

I've just finished _Breath_ by Tim Winton.  

Never read any of his books before, but I tore through this one.  A contemplative, coming-of-age novel.  A pleasure to read.  Hopefully I'll get to read _Dirt Music_ at some point too...


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Aug 2, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Without giving anything away to Soj, my feeling is that if you though the beginning was good  and then it lost it badly, don't you think there might have been some intent with that? Does somebody suddenly become a worse writer midway through a book or is something else going on?
> 
> 
> I'll save the rest for when she finishes it
> ...



I certainly "missed the point" of the book and didn't "get" why the style changed so suddenly - no I don't think he's a bad writer, just felt that the direction he took the book was a bit, well, pretentious.

no worries about the rucking, it's what the net is for.  And I'm wrong on many more levels than you could possibly give me credit for


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Aug 2, 2008)

Just finished the godfather (really good, except I would have liked to have read more about michaels education as and transformation to "Don").  Finished the Ben Elton number (entertaining but not out of this world).  I have a choice now between The Count of Monte Cristo (I've read Stephen Frys "the stars tennis balls" and loved it - this looks a bit too long and I know the plot now....), Blindness by Jose Saramago (strongly reccomended by a friend, but it's supposed to be "allegorical" which always throws up warning signs to me) or some easy read thing about SO10, the Scotland Yard undercover thing.  Anyone read either of the first two?


----------



## sojourner (Aug 2, 2008)

The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje

saw the film years ago, and picked this up for buttons

so far, so good - liking the way the 'shell shock' of him and Hana is shaping up the text


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 2, 2008)

sojourner said:


> *The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje*
> 
> saw the film years ago, and picked this up for buttons
> 
> so far, so good - liking the way the 'shell shock' of him and Hana is shaping up the text



ooh I didn't know he was the author. He's not a bad poet either. Sweet like crow is a lovely childrens poem by him.


----------



## mentalchik (Aug 2, 2008)

Polity Agent - Neal Asher


----------



## sojourner (Aug 3, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> ooh I didn't know he was the author. He's *not a bad poet *either. Sweet like crow is a lovely childrens poem by him.



the text is very poetic, i'm really enjoying it - love the changes in narrative


----------



## kittyP (Aug 3, 2008)

BiddlyBee said:


> Ah, that's one I want to add to my list.
> 
> I'm _still_ reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay... really enjoying it, but I'm a slow reader, and only read on the bus



I think the Captain wants to borrow it when I am eventually done so if you want it after him?


----------



## chooch (Aug 4, 2008)

Julio Cortazar - _Hopscotch_
Hannah Arendt- _Eichmann in Jerusalem_

Mostly the latter.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 4, 2008)

sojourner said:


> The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
> 
> saw the film years ago, and picked this up for buttons
> 
> so far, so good - liking the way the 'shell shock' of him and Hana is shaping up the text



I read it a few years ago now and loved it.  I avoided the film when it first came out as I had such strong images in my mind of the characters and felt I didn't want those 'disrupted' by the film.

I should watch it now really as the memories have faded a bit


----------



## SpookyFrank (Aug 4, 2008)

Homage to Catalonia. Don't know how I've gone so long without reading this but it's brilliant.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 4, 2008)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I read it a few years ago now and loved it.  I avoided the film when it first came out as I had such strong images in my mind of the characters and felt I didn't want those 'disrupted' by the film.
> 
> I should watch it now really as the memories have faded a bit



heh

i was worried that my memories of the film might interfere with the book, but like you, sufficient time has passed for them not to 

deffo watch the film, i thought it was really well done


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Aug 4, 2008)

Just finished Love, Again by Doris Lessing and it was wonderful. 
At first i found it quite laborious because it's all about one's woman's internal world and the writing is so loaded, but I knew that this author's style is like that and really enjoyed The Golden Notebook (a really rewarding torment of a book). I got pleasantly swept away with this one and really really enjoyed it.

This book made me love books a bit more 

Next I am reading Alas, poor lady by Rachel Ferguson.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 4, 2008)

After watching "Miss Potter" last night, me and Mr Paw are reading all 23 of her Peter Rabbit books to each other, one per night, in bed before we go to sleep.

We're sweet like that.


----------



## quimcunx (Aug 4, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> _If Not Now, When? _by Primo Levi



I read this years and years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. He's writes beautifully about such a difficult subject, without reverting at all to sentimentalism.  I then bought ''If This Is A Man; The Truce'' and left it on the shelf for years as I couldn't face reading about such a depressing subject, finally picking it up a few months ago.  Of course it wasn't.  I loved it too. 

Fabulous writer.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Aug 4, 2008)

Vintage Paw said:


> After watching "Miss Potter" last night, me and Mr Paw are reading all 23 of her Peter Rabbit books to each other, one per night, in bed before we go to sleep.
> 
> We're sweet like that.



awww

pics or it didnt happen


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 4, 2008)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> awww
> 
> pics or it didnt happen



lol 

We have read several books that way.

The ones I can remember:

The Hobbit.
The LotRs trilogy.
Wind in the Willows.
Winnie the Pooh.
A Christmas Carol.
The BFG.

I can't remember any others, but I think there have been some. We tried Don Quixote, but I think it was at a time when we rarely went to bed at the same time, so it never really got off the ground. The book's still up there by the bed though, so perhaps after Beatrix


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Aug 4, 2008)

i have visions of two grown adults snuggling down in their adult pyjamas reading each other childrens books  thats so sweet.
my boy has some great books, i will pass then on to you when he's finished 
you must try the incredible book eating boy but if picture books aren't your thing then The Water Horse is great
or Fantastic Mr Fox. I must admit I only bought him that book because I wanted to read it 

Can we come round for storytime? we'll bring our own hot water bottles


----------



## sojourner (Aug 5, 2008)

Vintage Paw said:


> After watching "Miss Potter" last night, me and Mr Paw are reading all 23 of her Peter Rabbit books to each other, one per night, in bed before we go to sleep.
> 
> We're sweet like that.



heh 


*voms* 




I started Purple Hibiscus last night, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  Fucking great novel - very simply but beautifully written, and capturing extremely well the daughter's oppression

Fab - can't wait to get home to finish it - have about less than a third left


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 5, 2008)

Heh, shifty you can come round whenever you like. Bring cocoa 

soj – misery 

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin ain't all that, btw. And it gets a little annoying when Mr Paw says "do you want to see a picture of Squirrel Nutkin doing x, y or z?" and I have to lean right over because I've already taken my glasses off.

My turn to read tonight


----------



## sojourner (Aug 5, 2008)

^ I used to know Squirrel bloody Nutkin backwards - it was one of my lass's favourite bedtime books and she used to recite it along with me cos she was obsessed with it


----------



## foamy (Aug 5, 2008)

I'm reading 'I fought the law: a riotous romp in search of british democracy' by Dan Kieran (of The Idler) after hearing him reading an excerpt at Latitude.


----------



## tastebud (Aug 5, 2008)

i finished 'What I Loved' by Siri Hustvedt - really fucking liked it in the end. made my eyes water, which is what happens when i get scared/spooked out. couldn't put it down towards the end.. despite not being that impressed initially.

now i'm reading ian banks - forgotten the name. the one with 9/11.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 6, 2008)

I had to put 'Moby Dick' down for a while as there was no way it was going to be my holiday reading. So I picked up 'The Last Cavalier' by Dumas and managed to finish it. 'Tis a very strange book, and I'm not entirely sure it was worth the effort.

So now back to that whale.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 6, 2008)

I just read "Enter the Dragon" by Theo Paphitis 

He of the Dragon's den fame. Read it in two sittings so its not very demanding but I found it reasonably entertaining. The business tips are not that great but the story of his rise from poverty is quite inspiring.


----------



## obanite (Aug 6, 2008)

tastebud said:


> i finished 'What I Loved' by Siri Hustvedt - really fucking liked it in the end. made my eyes water, which is what happens when i get scared/spooked out. couldn't put it down towards the end.. despite not being that impressed initially.
> 
> now i'm reading ian banks - forgotten the name. the one with 9/11.



Dead Air?

Just finished The Wasp Factory by Banks... considering it's his first book I thought it was a pretty good read, quite entertaining 

On ¡Hugo! by Bart Jones now, seems quite pro-Chavez but interesting and the writing style's good.


----------



## Blagsta (Aug 6, 2008)

SpookyFrank said:


> Homage to Catalonia. Don't know how I've gone so long without reading this but it's brilliant.



Have you seen the Ken Loach film Land & Freedom?  Loosley based on Homage to Catalonia.  Worth a watch.  The ending always makes me cry.


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 7, 2008)

I've finally started reading Perdido Street Station, and it's pretty good.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 7, 2008)

Blagsta said:


> Have you seen the Ken Loach film Land & Freedom?  Loosley based on Homage to Catalonia.  Worth a watch.  The ending always makes me cry.



Excellent film. And I have the same reaction for the ending as well. 

Which is unfortunate, because I first watched it in a politics & cinema seminar at university.


----------



## pootle (Aug 7, 2008)

Have just started "Norweigan Wood" by Haruki Murakami.

Lots of people, well just one, has recommended Murakami to me, but OMG! Fecking brilliant, eh?


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 7, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> I've finally started reading Perdido Street Station, and it's pretty good.



Yay


----------



## sojourner (Aug 7, 2008)

Kingsley Amis - Difficulties with Girls


Some very funny lines, some very dodgy lines, but overall a reasonable pisstake of knobheads the world over


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 7, 2008)

pootle said:


> Have just started "Norweigan Wood" by Haruki Murakami.
> 
> Lots of people, well just one, has recommended Murakami to me, but OMG! Fecking brilliant, eh?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 7, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Kingsley Amis - Difficulties with Girls
> 
> 
> Some very funny lines, some very dodgy lines, but overall a reasonable pisstake of knobheads the world over



I have _Lucky Jim_ waiting to be read on my shelf. I got it for 10p.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 7, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have _Lucky Jim_ waiting to be read on my shelf. I got it for 10p.



oo get you - I pai 60p for this, but it _is _a hardback 

Read Lucky Jim years ago - didn't really like it - wasn't as funny as this one


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 7, 2008)

Not sure if this is quite the place but I recently picked up a book called 'The Ornament of the World' by Maria Rosa Menocal, which provides a series of short historical snap shots drawn from material relating to medieval Spain. It covers a period beginning in 786 and ends in 1492, with a very short chapter touching upon Cervantes and the publication of 'Don Quixote' in 1605.

This was a very enjoyable read, which was thought provoking and quite informative. If any of you see this give it a try - just ignore the short nonsensical introduction by Harold Bloom and the 'group reading guide' at the end of the book. Definately the sort of text which opens up new areas of interest to pursue if you wish to know more about a specific place or person.

Back to the whale.


----------



## MarianaLo (Aug 7, 2008)

Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, I've had it for years and was inspired to read it at last after hearing about his death. Great stuff so far, only about 100 pages in.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 7, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Back to the whale.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 7, 2008)

sojourner said:


>



You are very cruel Soj, very cruel!!!


----------



## sojourner (Aug 7, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> You are very cruel Soj, very cruel!!!



eh, no one's forcing ya mate!   if it was me, i'd have chucked it by now 

actually, i never DID get to the end...


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 7, 2008)

sojourner said:


> eh, no one's forcing ya mate!   if it was me, i'd have chucked it by now
> 
> actually, i never DID get to the end...



Once I start a book I _have_ to finish it - no matter the pain or frustration.

Bloody hero I am.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 7, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Once I start a book I _have_ to finish it - no matter the pain or frustration.
> 
> Bloody hero I am.



mug, more like

i used to think like that, then i realised life's too fucking short


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 7, 2008)

sojourner said:


> mug, more like
> 
> i used to think like that, then i realised life's too fucking short



I know, I know, I _know_.

I might have to start thinking about what I'm going to read once I've finished with 'Moby Dick'. Any suggestions?


----------



## sojourner (Aug 7, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> I might have to start thinking about what I'm going to read once I've finished with 'Moby Dick'. Any suggestions?



what have you got lined up?

i tend to buy about 5 books at a time from 2nd hand shops rather than buy something on purpose


----------



## Threshers_Flail (Aug 7, 2008)

I'm reading Grapes of Wrath. Well I was before I got a Wire boxset through the door.


----------



## Iam (Aug 7, 2008)

Just about to start Richard Morgan's new fantasy, _The Steel Remains_.

On past form, should be cracking...


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 8, 2008)

sojourner said:


> what have you got lined up?
> 
> i tend to buy about 5 books at a time from 2nd hand shops rather than buy something on purpose



At the moment I don't have anything lined up, usually the book I am reading will suggest the direction in which I will go next, but after reading 'The Last Cavalier' and 'Moby Dick' it might be a good idea to try something less substantial (at least physically).


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 8, 2008)

Currently re-reading Gene Wolfs severian books. And they do stand a re-read. Here's the great unreliable narrator.


----------



## obanite (Aug 9, 2008)

Reading Graham Greene's _The End of the Affair_. He's not a bad writer is he!


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 11, 2008)

I will be starting 'The Eternal Quest' by Julian Branston tonight.

(Having decided to give the whale some space)


----------



## sojourner (Aug 11, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> (Having decided to give the whale some space)






Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris


quite amusing, but a little boring


----------



## 3rdCuppa (Aug 11, 2008)

Just finished "How to be Idle" by Tom Hodgkinson.

I fancy reading his other books but I can't be bothered anymore.


----------



## Blagsta (Aug 11, 2008)

Victor Serge - Memoirs of a Revolutionary


----------



## obanite (Aug 11, 2008)

Finished Greene, ending was a bit wishy washy. Back to HUGO THE MAN.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 14, 2008)

Geoff Dyer's The Ongoing Moment - an intriguing, rather wacky and askew look at American photography. I like Dyer's style - he obviously has a huge brain but he's not above a few daft jokes either. He has the skill to mix quite personal observations with history and analysis without irritating you. 
Anyone read any of his other books? He seems to be quite the renaissance man, with book about all sorts of things.


----------



## Badgers (Aug 14, 2008)

Nearly finished Marching Powder by Rusty Young
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marching-Powder-Rusty-Young/dp/0330419587

Pretty good read all in all, easy enough despite the subject matter.  
Some good characters and the crazy concept of life in a Bolivian prison is really interesting.


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 14, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Geoff Dyer's The Ongoing Moment - an intriguing, rather wacky and askew look at American photography. I like Dyer's style - he obviously has a huge brain but he's not above a few daft jokes either. He has the skill to mix quite personal observations with history and analysis without irritating you.
> Anyone read any of his other books? He seems to be quite the renaissance man, with book about all sorts of things.



I really liked Anglo-English Attitudes - collected essays. And you're right, he wears his obvious intellect really lightly. In this one he writes on jazz, photography, literature and some more anecdotal stuff. He's wonderful and I need to read more.

I'm reading The Wind In The Willows - it's all I can cope with at the moment


----------



## sojourner (Aug 14, 2008)

^ Which character are you identifying with?


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 14, 2008)

sojourner said:


> ^ Which character are you identifying with?





Badger.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 14, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Badger.



heh

yeh, can see that

although Moley might have made sense too


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 14, 2008)




----------



## poului (Aug 14, 2008)

*edrfirykfh*

Dipping into Brooker's _Dawn of the Dumb_ atm.

Splendid stuff - the PC vs Mac rant has been my favourite so far.


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 14, 2008)

Just finished _Perdido Street Station_, much more impressed with it than I thought I would be at the start. It takes a while to catch fire; not till around the midway mark did I start to really give a shit about the characters and feel like they were more than two dimensional figures. This is also the point at which the action starts to seem real and the creatures become genuinely scary IMO - before then I felt a bit like he was trying too hard with everything.

His writing often lacks subtlety and tends towards the overcooked - a judicious editor could have lost at least 200 pages of repetitive description and the book would have been much the better for it - but overall, once I grasped that I was reading a ripping yarn and not a gloomy _Gormenghast_-style introspective, I thoroughly enjoyed the imaginative reach and many excellent action sequences of this novel.

Boyfriend has been reading _King Rat_ and says it's "very first novel-y"  He's having trouble taking the junglist stylings seriously.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 14, 2008)

Glad you liked it - it's the only fantasy novel I've really enjoyed TBH


----------



## sojourner (Aug 14, 2008)

@ May - I picked up King Rat tother day from 2nd hand shop.  Remember flicking through it years ago - made up to find another copy


----------



## Badgers (Aug 14, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Badger.



Call out 

Bin/Ban


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 14, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Just finished _Perdido Street Station_, much more impressed with it than I thought I would be at the start. It takes a while to catch fire; not till around the midway mark did I start to really give a shit about the characters and feel like they were more than two dimensional figures. This is also the point at which the action starts to seem real and the creatures become genuinely scary IMO - before then I felt a bit like he was trying too hard with everything.
> 
> His writing often lacks subtlety and tends towards the overcooked - a judicious editor could have lost at least 200 pages of repetitive description and the book would have been much the better for it - but overall, once I grasped that I was reading a ripping yarn and not a gloomy _Gormenghast_-style introspective, I thoroughly enjoyed the imaginative reach and many excellent action sequences of this novel.
> 
> Boyfriend has been reading _King Rat_ and says it's "*very first novel-y*"  He's having trouble taking the junglist stylings seriously.



that was my assesment of it too. Still quite good though


----------



## DeadManWalking (Aug 14, 2008)

Just got the new Mark Steel book, 'What's going on?', seems pretty good, I loved 'Reasons to be cheerful' a few years back so have hopes for this.


----------



## Iam (Aug 14, 2008)

Iam said:


> Just about to start Richard Morgan's new fantasy, _The Steel Remains_.
> 
> On past form, should be cracking...



And it didn't disappoint.

Now reading _The Blade Itself_, by Joe Abercrombie.


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 15, 2008)

Just started _Peacemakers_ by Margaret Macmillan, about the 1919 Paris peace conference. Tis good so far.


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 15, 2008)

Donna Tartt - The Little Friend


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 15, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Donna Tartt - The Little Friend



Oh let me know what you think, I found Secret History to be a beautifully observed piece.


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 15, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Oh let me know what you think, I found Secret History to be a beautifully observed piece.



I read that she wrote that almost as an exercise in 'how easy it is to knock off a middlebrow novel' - i get the impression she's a tad, erm, 'haughty'. But it was great.

Barely into The Little Friend, but she can certainly write


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 15, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> I read that she wrote that almost as an exercise in 'how easy it is to knock off a middlebrow novel' - i* get the impression she's a tad, erm, 'haughty*'. But it was great.
> 
> Barely into The Little Friend, but she can certainly write



whatever gave you that impression?


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 15, 2008)

Fair point


----------



## madamv (Aug 15, 2008)

Cobwebs and Cream Teas - a year in the life of a National Trust House   Mary Mackie


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Aug 15, 2008)

A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr, it's fantastically well written and researched and thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing. Read Kingdom Come by JG Ballard which was quite disappointing, interesting theme but lazy writing, plotting and narrative were all very obvious. Also read City by Alessandro Baricco which was a blast, even though i realised half way through that i had read this before despite thinking that i hadn't (if that makes sense?). The tale of a boyhood genius called Gould, his esrtwhile female role model Shatzy Shell, his friends Diesel and Poomerang and Dr Taltomar, some football and boxing related tales and a metaphysical Spaghetti Western novel to boot, recommended.


----------



## tastebud (Aug 16, 2008)

I read the second Persepolis and now I'm reading Strong Motion by Jonathan Franzen - so far so good, so far very much like the Corrections.


----------



## cliche guevara (Aug 16, 2008)

Finally got round to reading Brave New World.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 16, 2008)

cliche guevara said:


> Finally got round to reading Brave New World.



Bout time  

I'm still reading that Joshua Ferris book.  It's dragging...has some good writing then turns to sludge again.  I can see what he's doing, it's just not very interesting


----------



## mrkikiet (Aug 18, 2008)

Little Friend has nothing on Secret History.

I wanted to get the Marr history of Britain but my card was declined in the airport bookshop, the shame.

so i have Pynchon - Vineland and Wolf - Why Globalisation Works


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 18, 2008)

Toll the Hounds by steven erickson. Violent and strange as usual


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Aug 18, 2008)

I am reading Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
Started it this evening and I am devouring it. very good.


----------



## qoidjgf (Aug 18, 2008)

finished Hey Nostradamus by Coupland.
need another book to read now.


----------



## Barking_Mad (Aug 19, 2008)

i've just bought War & Peace for when I finish 'The Devils', by Mr. Dostoevsky......... 1,300 pages of small print. I'll surely die.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 19, 2008)

Barking_Mad said:


> i've just bought War & Peace for when I finish 'The Devils', by Mr. Dostoevsky......... 1,300 pages of small print. I'll surely die.




Which edition did you buy?


----------



## Barking_Mad (Aug 19, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Which edition did you buy?



This one:






It's said to be a good translation.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 19, 2008)

That is far better than the older Penguin Classics edition, and is far more sensibly sized. It is a long read, but worthwhile.


----------



## foamy (Aug 19, 2008)

How To Be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson


----------



## isvicthere? (Aug 19, 2008)

"Oliver Twist" Charles Dickens


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 20, 2008)

Back to the 'Whale'.


----------



## Lea (Aug 20, 2008)

Lord of the Deep by Dawn Thompson


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 20, 2008)

Motherless Brooklyn - It's fooking ace


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 20, 2008)

jeff_leigh said:


> Motherless Brooklyn - It's fooking ace



Stunning, isn't it?


----------



## goldenecitrone (Aug 20, 2008)

I just read Zorba the Greek whilst on holiday in the Greek Islands. Excellent book.


----------



## snackhead (Aug 20, 2008)

Just started Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff. It's making me laugh which isn't an easy job at the mo.


----------



## ivebeenhigh (Aug 21, 2008)

snuff - chuck palahniuk

started the evening, sort of book that will be read by tomorrrow.  if feels like he phoned this one in from the beach or something...


----------



## Rollem (Aug 21, 2008)

do androids dream of electric sheep? - philip k dick

tried to read this at uni, but didnt finish it, so will try again


----------



## ViolentPanda (Aug 21, 2008)

"Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth and Art" by Lewis Hyde.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 21, 2008)

Fannie Flagg - Standing in the Rainbow


I love Fannie. No smut please   Her books would be twee, if it weren't for the humour.  They're full of great observations about times a-changing, the narration is wonderfully warm and small-town (minus the nastiness), plus there's loads in this book about gospel and sacred harp music/groups (genuine groups too)


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Aug 21, 2008)

never heard of fannie, might give her a go myself. she sounds most welcoming.

finished Moon Tiger and was another book I was sorry to close. Really really good book. 
Now I can't decide if I should read The Piano Teacher or Memories, Dreams, Reflections by CG Jung 
decisions, decisions.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 22, 2008)

Rollem said:


> do androids dream of electric sheep? - philip k dick
> 
> tried to read this at uni, but didnt finish it, so will try again



It is an interesting book - in some ways far superior to the film it inspired.


----------



## G. Fieendish (Aug 22, 2008)

Space is a Funny Place by Colin Pillager...
 It deals with the treatment of space exploration by cartoonists, & is a limited edition of 2000...


----------



## rogue_lettuce (Aug 23, 2008)

Stone Age Economics (http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=...GH56xY&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result)

Seems alright so far, but only on the first chapter.


----------



## harpo (Aug 23, 2008)

Just finished Brighton Rock by Graham Greene.  Characters are fantastic, totally 3 dimensional, and the drama is gripping.  You have to hate and pity Pinky and Rose in equal measures, and love and pity Ida.  I'd sell my soul to be able to write like him, the only modern writer who comes near is Jake Arnott.

Have started the Sound of Laughter, the biography of Peter Kay.  It's funny but not insightful, pretty much like a script from one of his standups.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Aug 23, 2008)

A book about the Freikorps.


----------



## ChrisC (Aug 23, 2008)

I'm well and truly sorry Peter F. Hamilton but Pandora's Star will have to wait. I have just got Everville by Clive Barker. Sorry Pete but there is no competition on the books of the art.


----------



## Aldebaran (Aug 24, 2008)

Michel de Montaigne "Sur des vers de Virgile".
Very amusing. 

salaam.


----------



## Eva Luna (Aug 25, 2008)

'Haight Ashbury.' by somebody or other.


----------



## obanite (Aug 25, 2008)

Read _Black Ships_ by Jo Graham, her first book. Historical fiction set in the classical Mediterranean, really great story, recommend it.

Currently wading into Tad Williams' _Otherland_, it's been alright but I get the feeling I'm going to get bored of it... yet another William Gibson rip off


----------



## chooch (Aug 25, 2008)

John Gray _Straw Dogs_. Appears to be badly argued shit, and his grasp of some of the science is, at first glance, laughable.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 25, 2008)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> never heard of fannie, might give her a go myself. she sounds most welcoming.



Oh you should really give her a go.  She wrote Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (have you seen the film?), and I would also recommend Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! 

She writes so intimately - it's almost like being read to, in a strange way


----------



## Pie 1 (Aug 26, 2008)

Just started Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn.
Me like


----------



## chooch (Aug 27, 2008)

Jonathan Franzen - _how to be alone_. Likeable, so far.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 27, 2008)

Jeremy Dyson - Never Trust a Rabbit


----------



## quimcunx (Aug 27, 2008)

Around The World In Eighty Days - Jules Vernes.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 27, 2008)

Doris Lessing – The Golden Notebook

And bedtime reading is Roald Dahl – Matilda


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 27, 2008)

gave up on the Donna Tartt- booorrinnngg..

So i'm reading yet another TC Boyle novel, Friend Of The Earth. Very good so far


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 27, 2008)

I thought The Little Friend was really weird. I didn't find it boring, and it was a quick and easy read, but the ending was, well, odd. I got to the end of the last chapter and had to go back and re-read it. It ended too abruptly and I thought that surely there must have been another chapter left ...

The Secret History was by far the better of the two, but I did still like The Little Friend.


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 27, 2008)

To be honest, one way or another I'm pretty listless and lacking focus at the moment, so it might just be the wrong time to read it...


----------



## maya (Aug 27, 2008)

quimcunx said:


> Around The World In Eighty Days - Jules Vernes.


Great choice- I love Verne!  That whole 19th century, gentleman's adventure story- "scientist saves the day and keeps his calm through fantastic and improbable dangers" shtick always does the trick, IMO... He sure could spin a good yarn... 
And he really deserves new and better english translations than the ones currently available, i think... ! Come on translators, it's time now...


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 27, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> To be honest, one way or another I'm pretty listless and lacking focus at the moment, so it might just be the wrong time to read it...



Ugh, if I'm feeling like that it doesn't matter what I start to read – chances are I won't finish it.


----------



## Bakunin (Aug 27, 2008)

The Spinetinglers Anthology 2008.

An anthology of dark fiction short stories, all from new and unknown writers (makes a change from most publishers these days) it's got a broad selection of new and original horror and dark fantasy writing, including a short story from my good self.

The website (www.spinetinglers.co.uk) also has a monthly short story competition in which five writers are published every month, the top story winning £50 and automatic inclusion in the next annual Anthology. I won the December 2006 competition and was paid my prize promptly, and the Anthology for this year has just come out.

You can get it on Amazon and, no, I'm not being paid for plugging it and I do have the Editor's permission to post about it here. I didn't want to start a new thread on it in case it was regarded as being spam.


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 27, 2008)

Cool, thanks for that Bakunin, looks interesting!


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 29, 2008)

I am reading Matthew Riley's adventure thriller "The Six Sacred Stones" which is .....utter utter tosh.

Badly written - much use of italics and exclamation marks e.g. "with Wizard hanging _from his belt_!" - ludicrous plotlines and stereotypical characters it is the literary equivilent of a Steven Segal film. But I love it 

His first novel was quite fun - an exciting action-movie of a book - but from then on his novels have got more ludicrous and less well written but, yep. I have read them all. And am happy that I am contributing to his percentage of paperback earnings for having the balls to actually write this stuff and get it published!

It is perfect when you need to retreat from the world for a few hours and you don't want to have to think or question or engage your brain in anything more troublesome than turning over the next page


----------



## bluestreak (Aug 29, 2008)

Heh, I read Pratchett for those moments QoG!  Just finished reading Joseph Heller's _God Knows_, which is absolutely superb and highly recommended.  His David is a thoroughly likeable anti-hero, his God an enigmatic voice of inexplicable commands.  Great read.

About to begin _Look To Windward_ by Iain M Banks.  Never read any of his sci-fi before (although dipped into _The Bridge_ and was disappointed.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 29, 2008)

Well 'Moby Dick' finally has a sense of flow with the narrative, which is very welcome. And after this it will be 'Covering Islam' by Edward Said.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 29, 2008)

bluestreak said:


> Heh, I read Pratchett for those moments QoG!  Just finished reading Joseph Heller's _God Knows_, which is absolutely superb and highly recommended.  His David is a thoroughly likeable anti-hero, his God an enigmatic voice of inexplicable commands.  Great read.
> 
> About to begin _Look To Windward_ by Iain M Banks.  Never read any of his sci-fi before (although dipped into _The Bridge_ and was disappointed.




Look to windward is pretty good, if you enjoy it I'd then reccomend Inversions and Consider Phlebas


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 29, 2008)

bluestreak said:


> Heh, I read Pratchett for those moments QoG!  Just finished reading Joseph Heller's _God Knows_, which is absolutely superb and highly recommended.  His David is a thoroughly likeable anti-hero, his God an enigmatic voice of inexplicable commands.  Great read.
> 
> About to begin _Look To Windward_ by Iain M Banks.  Never read any of his sci-fi before (although dipped into _The Bridge_ and was disappointed.





DotCommunist said:


> Look to windward is pretty good, if you enjoy it I'd then reccomend Inversions and Consider Phlebas



I really enjoyed Inversions and also The Algebraist, though I gather that is not as well received as some of his other work.

I must read some more when my current 'mindless fiction'  mind-set has gone


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 29, 2008)

QueenOfGoths said:


> It is perfect when you need to retreat from the world for a few hours and you don't want to have to think or question or engage your brain in anything more troublesome than turning over the next page



Ahh, the Jilly Cooper experience


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 1, 2008)

Has anyone else read Said's 'Covering Islam' - I've been reading it and wouldn't mind discussing some aspects the text which I found extremely irritating.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 1, 2008)

Michael Chabon's Summerland. Bought it in a hurry without realising it was a kid's book, but I trust Chabon to write a good one so hopefully it won't disappoint. First few pages are fine


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 1, 2008)

I've stalled - all I can read at the mo is shitty film mags and tinternet


----------



## Knut (Sep 3, 2008)

Jill - Philip Larkin


----------



## yield (Sep 3, 2008)

Just finished Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson. I'm afraid he's turning into Robert Jordan, page filling with meandering tangents. 

At his best he's awesome... The Chain of Dogs in Deadhouse Gates is some of the best fantasy I've ever read IMHO.

Now on The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod. Near future science fiction grim and engrossing. Only a hundred pages in and <I can't spoil nothing> I hope we don't turn out like that. 



Fictionist said:


> Has anyone else read Said's 'Covering Islam' - I've been reading it and wouldn't mind discussing some aspects the text which I found extremely irritating.



I've only read Orientalism and that was for Anthropology many years ago. Was Covering Islam any good? May have to get a copy.



QueenOfGoths said:


> I really enjoyed Inversions and also The Algebraist, though I gather that is not as well received as some of his other work.
> 
> I must read some more when my current 'mindless fiction'  mind-set has gone



Banks' Sci-Fi is great. My favourites are Consider Phlebas, Use of Weapons and Player of Games, in that order. 

How much would I like the Culture to become reality.


----------



## trevhagl (Sep 3, 2008)

Raiders by Razor Smith is good but i'm having trouble coping with the small type (dodgy eyes)


----------



## Lea (Sep 3, 2008)

Out of Sight by Cherry Adair


----------



## sojourner (Sep 3, 2008)

Re-reading All Quiet on the Western Front - last read it about 14ish years ago.  Still quality


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 3, 2008)

yield said:


> Just finished Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson. I'm afraid he's turning into Robert Jordan, page filling with meandering tangents.
> 
> At his best he's awesome... The Chain of Dogs in Deadhouse Gates is some of the best fantasy I've ever read IMHO.




Did we read a diifferent book? Toll the Hounds was fucking awesome. Oh and those aren't meandering tangents. He's setting it up for the finale, the big battle the END. And there is an end to the arcs coming, thats something he and co-creator Ian Esselmont always had planned.

I'm re-reading a copy of Memories of Ice and waiting till september when Ian Esselmonts second Malazan book comes out in trade paperback (return of the crimson guard)


----------



## yield (Sep 3, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Did we read a diifferent book? Toll the Hounds was fucking awesome. Oh and those aren't meandering tangents. He's setting it up for the finale, the big battle the END. And there is an end to the arcs coming, thats something he and co-creator Ian Esselmont always had planned.
> 
> I'm re-reading a copy of Memories of Ice and waiting till september when Ian Esselmonts second Malazan book comes out in trade paperback (return of the crimson guard)



I hope you're right DC. There are a lot of annoying characters who've lasted while many of my favourites have been bumped off... 



Spoiler: Plot



Please kill Cutter/Crokus. He's a complete fifth wheel since Apsalar left. Traveller/Dassem Ultor is plain boring. Karsa is much less fun now than in House of Chains. I got to admit I like Nimander and the other children of Rake. As for Hood choosing to die!  Some Jaghut master plan.



Toll the Hounds really lacked a lot of the fire which the earlier books had in abundance. Maybe I'm asking too much.

Yes no doubt I'll get Return of the Crimson Guard.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 3, 2008)

Cutter is a tiresome cunt I'll give ye that


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 3, 2008)

Penguin Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature - just arrived today and it looks pretty interesting, really looking forward to reading this.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 3, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Penguin Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature - just arrived today and it looks pretty interesting, really looking forward to reading this.



I sense a common thread in your reading choices fictionist


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 3, 2008)

At the moment DC I think I seeking excuses to have time away from 'Moby Dick' - which I still haven't finished!

I was so bored with it the other night that I read 'King Lear' instead.


----------



## madamv (Sep 3, 2008)

J-Pod - Douglas Coupland     love, love, loving it!

Before that I read The sleeping Doll - Jeffrey Deaver.  He is my fave crime writer.   A great quickie ...


----------



## madamv (Sep 4, 2008)

Finished it now.  Really great read...

Now reading - How to be Idle - Tom Hodgkinson.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 4, 2008)

Just received David Simon's "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" and am trying to decide between that and Dan Simmons' "A Winter Haunting". Or "The Ressurectionist" by James Bradley

Though I am supposed to be learning lines for "Richard III" so train-reading may have to wait for a few days


----------



## Blagsta (Sep 4, 2008)

David Harvey - A Brief History of Neo-Liberalism

Very interesting and very readable so far!


----------



## jeff_leigh (Sep 5, 2008)

Count of Monte Cristo - Had this on my to read list for years


----------



## Iam (Sep 5, 2008)

The 3rd of Joe Abercrombie's _The First Law_ series, The Last Argument of Kings.

Best new fantasy I've read in a while.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 5, 2008)

The Virago Book of Witches - edited by Shahrukh Husain

It's actually quite interesting - a collection of folk tales about witches from around the world.  The intro's a bit heavy on the old 'men nicked all their ideas from matriarchy and then oppressed women' theme, but I guess if you've never come across that idea before, it's intriguing


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 5, 2008)

jeff_leigh said:


> Count of Monte Cristo - Had this on my to read list for years


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 5, 2008)

Recently I've read:

_The Yiddish Policemen's Union_ by Michael Chabon, which I enjoyed, despite it being implausibly polished and fine in the way of clever American novels.

_Imperium_ by Ryszard Kapuscinski, which is his trip through a disintegrating Soviet Union in 1990/91 and which lacks the freshness and insight of his other books.

_Candido_ by Leonard Sciascia, which is better than almost anyone else manages, but is about his tenth best book.

Now I'm reading _Christ Stopped at Eboli_ by Carlo Levi, which is boring me to drink and early nights.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

JG Ballard - The Crystal World 

I've had this on my shelves for about 4 years now   Shaping up well


----------



## foo (Sep 6, 2008)

after being blown away by The Road, i am going through Cormac McCarthy's books and i've just started The Orchard Keeper. 

i've read The Crossing. anyone recommend another? or are they all brilliant?


----------



## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

foo said:


> after being blown away by The Road, i am going through Cormac McCarthy's books and i've just started The Orchard Keeper.
> 
> i've read The Crossing. anyone recommend another? or are they all brilliant?



My fave is All the Pretty Horses.  Just wonderful.  Touched my inner cowboy


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 6, 2008)

foo said:


> i've read The Crossing. anyone recommend another? or are they all brilliant?



The Crossing is the middle of his border trilogy, so you definitely need to read the other two.

Blood Meridien is wonderful but really really horrible.


----------



## foo (Sep 6, 2008)

sojourner said:


> My fave is All the Pretty Horses.  Just wonderful.  Touched my inner cowboy



ok cheers soj  that'll be the next one then. he's a fuckin genius isn't he. i'm totally awed.


----------



## foo (Sep 6, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> The Crossing is the middle of his border trilogy, so you definitely need to read the other two.



oh yes, i realised that a bit late. i did that with Pat Barker's trilogy too...and got confused  i'll go backwards. cheers Jeff.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 6, 2008)

Doesn't matter if you read All The Pretty  Horses after The Crossing, but you do need to have read them both before Cities Of The Plain.


----------



## foo (Sep 6, 2008)

ok, gotcha. thanks. i bought Cities of the Plain, but i'll do as you suggest. god he's stunning.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 6, 2008)

There's a really good Geoff Dyer essay in Anglo-English Attitudes about McCarthy that was really really interesting


----------



## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

foo said:


> ok cheers soj  that'll be the next one then. he's a fuckin genius isn't he. i'm totally awed.



I do love how powerful he can make the story, using what appears to be quite sparse text


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 6, 2008)

jeff_leigh said:


> Count of Monte Cristo - Had this on my to read list for years



The journey begins.......


----------



## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> The journey begins.......



so you gave up on the whale eh?


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 6, 2008)

No, still struggling through with the occasional diversion to other texts ('King Lear' , 'Islam & The West' and 'Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature').

It is the most frustrating text that I have ever had to re-read.

What about you Soj?


----------



## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> It is the most frustrating text that I have ever had to re-read.
> 
> What about you Soj?



well, as posted by dilly on the other thread, 

"As Doris Lessing says:


Quote:
There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag — and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty — and vice versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you.
Introduction (1971)  "

I'm currently reading a JG Ballard book that i've tried to read twice before and got nowhere with 

today, it started to be an interesting read


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 6, 2008)

I don't think I've read any Ballard - what would you start with?


----------



## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> I don't think I've read any Ballard - what would you start with?



i haven't read them all so couldn't recommend a starting point

all i can say is that i've read Crash - which blew my mind, and Cocaine Nights, which was ace


----------



## sojourner (Sep 10, 2008)

John Peel, by Mick Wall

who only ever met him about 3 times, but hey, why let that stop you writing a biog? 

meh - it's alright, easy reading of a night in bed


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 10, 2008)

Just finished a Huxely essay where he has the sheer gall to mock Swift (who is worth 10 of Alduos). Hot on the heels of his jew-bashing essay on motion pictures and Jazz. What an arse the man was.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 10, 2008)

sojourner said:


> John Peel, by Mick Wall
> 
> who only ever met him about 3 times, but hey, why let that stop you writing a biog?


Yes, who doe that Peter Ackroyd think he writing an exhaustive biography of Dickens? He never even met him!


----------



## Vintage Paw (Sep 10, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> There's a really good Geoff Dyer essay in Anglo-English Attitudes about McCarthy that was really really interesting



I like Dyer. I've got 2 of his books, _The Ongoing Moment_, about photography, and _But Beautiful_ about jazz music. Ashamed to say I've only read part of the first and none of the second, yet.

I'm reading _Naive. Super_. It's great. In a weird way. It's, well, naive. It's incredibly simple, too simple, perhaps, and yet it's refreshingly different. I've been PMing Dilly about it all afternoon coz I reckon he'd really like it. It's a good quick read too.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 10, 2008)

Vintage Paw said:


> I'm reading _Naive. Super_. It's great. In a weird way. It's, well, naive. It's incredibly simple, too simple, perhaps, and yet it's refreshingly different. I've been PMing Dilly about it all afternoon coz I reckon he'd really like it. It's a good quick read too.



It is the naivety that reminds you of me, isn't it?


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 10, 2008)

yield said:


> I hope you're right DC. There are a lot of annoying characters who've lasted while many of my favourites have been bumped off...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Having done with memories of ice re-read, 



Spoiler: plot



Hood didn't choose to die, he was cut down by Dragnipur, and the realm in the sword is not quite death. Memories of Ice states that the cart the souls are chained to is the heart of Kurald Galain, and also where the chief assault from the Realm of Chaos is coming from. Remember, in Memories of Ice the Fallen God is infecting Burn and is a manifestation of the attack coming from Chaos. Ganoes Paran formalises the gods place in the Deck of Dragons , in an attempt to control it. We then had the Chained Gods failed gambit with the Tiste Edur as seen in Midnight Tides and Reapers Gale.

The assault from the realm of Chaos in TTH seems to be a feint with the Keylk stuff, (seems like a trick from Poliel imo, and she has allied with the Chained God in Bonehunters).

The main assault seems to be an attack on the gate/wagon in Dragnipur. Hood is marching legions of the dead to war, personaly. Thats the reason the Trygalle Guild were denied accsess to hoods warren. They were massing for war.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 11, 2008)

Finished Summerlands by Chabon. Did enjoy it, but I'm not a good judge of whether books ostensibly written for kids are any cop or not. It was a bit of a mess, really, but it flew by, had a tremendous inventiveness and I'm glad I read it.

Nothing else in the flat - among the dozens of books that remain unread - appeals to me right now


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Yes, who doe that Peter Ackroyd think he writing an exhaustive biography of Dickens? He never even met him!



oh shut it, it's allowed with someone who's been bloody dead for over a hundred years, not with someone who's not been gone that long!

I'm only reading it cos it's about John Peel - can't stand biogs usually


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 11, 2008)

Hi-Fidelity.

It is terrible! Terrible!!


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 11, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Hi-Fidelity.
> 
> It is terrible! Terrible!!



fail.


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 11, 2008)

You liked it then?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 11, 2008)

sojourner said:


> oh shut it, it's allowed with someone who's been bloody dead for over a hundred years, not with someone who's not been gone that long!
> 
> I'm only reading it cos it's about John Peel - can't stand biogs usually



I don't think I have ever read a biography of anybody.

*thinks*


----------



## Vintage Paw (Sep 11, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> It is the naivety that reminds you of me, isn't it?



No. The super.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 11, 2008)

Vintage Paw said:


> No. The super.



yay!


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 11, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Hi-Fidelity.
> 
> It is terrible! Terrible!!


I liked it - the rest of his stuff is dreadful though


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 11, 2008)

Which of his other books would you advise me to read?


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 11, 2008)

Don't bother, if you don't like High Fidelity - I thought it was a very clever analysis of the male music fan's psyche.
The rest is trite crap.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Hi-Fidelity.
> 
> It is terrible! Terrible!!



I read it years ago and really liked it tbh


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Don't bother, if you don't like High Fidelity - I thought it was a very clever analysis of the *male* music fan's psyche.
> The rest is trite crap.



uh uh - female too.  I spotted loads of stuff that I did myself, from sorting music in different ways to making compilations for people


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 12, 2008)

It's toss. And I think the analysis of the male music fan's psyche is an entirely bogus one.

I'm reading The Final Solution by Michael Chabon - a very short, so far very intriguing book with pictures by the mighty Jay Ryan from Bird Machine


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 12, 2008)

Finished _Christ Stopped at Eboli_, just about.

Now _Great Jones Street_ by Don DeLillo, but it's already annoying.



El Jefe said:


> Nothing else in the flat - among the dozens of books that remain unread - appeals to me right now



Sciascia, Sciascia, for pity's sake


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 12, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> It's toss. And I think the analysis of the male music fan's psyche is an entirely bogus one.
> 
> I'm reading The Final Solution by Michael Chabon - a very short, so far very intriguing book with pictures by the mighty Jay Ryan from Bird Machine



So you agree with me Mr Jefe?


----------



## cyberfairy (Sep 12, 2008)

The Well Of Loneliness By Radcliffe Hall-giving good dreams but not as interesting to read.
Adored The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale-a true Victorian child murder story


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2008)

cyberfairy said:


> The Well Of Loneliness By Radcliffe Hall-giving good dreams but not as interesting to read.



i remember reading that during a trip to cornwall for the eclipse 

made a big impression on me, and reading around it made it even more interesting   all those outdated scientific theories about gayness


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 12, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> Sciascia, Sciascia, for pity's sake



He's on my Amazon wishlist, but I'm currently totally fucking broke, which is why I'm upturning piles of old books seeing what i haven't read yet.


----------



## cyberfairy (Sep 12, 2008)

sojourner said:


> i remember reading that during a trip to cornwall for the eclipse
> 
> made a big impression on me, and reading around it made it even more interesting   all those outdated scientific theories about gayness



It's horrific but also interesting-got Radcliffe Hall's autobiography to read next which might shed some light. I still can't have any empathy or sympathy with a lesbian called StephenIn my head it's all 'touch me Stephen' and that is not lesbian erotica. It's a Stephen.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2008)

cyberfairy said:


> I still can't have any empathy or sympathy with a lesbian called Stephen



why?


----------



## cyberfairy (Sep 12, 2008)

sojourner said:


> why?



It's just the awful name, the outdated way that every male mannerism is welded onto a female with no grey areas but just what appears to be a bloke in a dress, no sensitivity into the female pysche-tis as black and white viewpoint of the sexes as of most books of the era but with a Frankensteinian change of sexes to be blamed to the parents for wanting a boy. Not quite finished it yet and am enjoying it a lot to be fair-guess it is a product of its time and must be commended. I cried when Rafterie died...I hate the weakness as well of Stephen, the obsessing over crappy Angela


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2008)

cyberfairy said:


> It's just the awful name, the outdated way that every male mannerism is welded onto a female with no grey areas but just what appears to be a bloke in a dress, no sensitivity into the female pysche-tis as black and white viewpoint of the sexes as of most books of the era but with a Frankensteinian change of sexes to be blamed to the parents for wanting a boy. Not quite finished it yet and am enjoying it a lot to be fair-guess it is a product of its time and must be commended. I cried when Rafterie died...I hate the weakness as well of Stephen, the obsessing over crappy Angela



no, absolutely not a bloke in a dress

she was describing what it feels like to be butch (if you're into sport ;D).  this is semi-autobiographical. yes, she does use the scientific explanations - but they mostly come from when she's reading her dad's book about her.  

definitely a product of its time


----------



## cyberfairy (Sep 12, 2008)

sojourner said:


> no, absolutely not a bloke in a dress
> 
> she was describing what it feels like to be butch (if you're into sport ;D).  this is semi-autobiographical. yes, she does use the scientific explanations - but they mostly come from when she's reading her dad's book about her.
> 
> definitely a product of its time



Well, I haven't got to that bit yet but as a girl who had a girlfriend or two (and hates sport!) found it so far an exercise in What Makes A Lesbian And Her Traits. But you are right as to the the era. I blame Sarah Waters-I want authentic lesbianism with dildos but without the the boring censorship of the actual era.


----------



## DexterTCN (Sep 13, 2008)

Gordan Ramsey -  Humble Pie 

is very good his dad sounds like a complete ass


----------



## snackhead (Sep 13, 2008)

Just starting Paul Weller:the Changing Man


----------



## quimcunx (Sep 14, 2008)

Yeah, so a few months ago I said on here I was reading The Selfish Gene.  On the tube at brixton that night, I closed my book and then noticed the guy next to me seemed to find me/it very amusing.  Blah blah.  Wondered if it was someone on here realised that they must be sitting beside me.  

Was it someone on here?

otherwise I'm currently reading Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking.


----------



## the button (Sep 14, 2008)

Jonathan Bate's biography of John Clare. It's everything a good biography should be -- social & political history, family stuff, loads about Clare's poetry. It's taking me ages to read, but it one of those I'll be a bit sorry when I finish it.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 14, 2008)

Making Babies, by Anne Enright. It's alright, bit wanky but sporadically interesting.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 14, 2008)

China Meiville's UnLunDun

Mixing it with Secret Anexe which is this cool war-diary thing from goebbels to woolf.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 15, 2008)

Finished _Great Jones Street_. He's a funny one, DeLillo -- great shining witty surface, brilliant dialogue, never much of a story, and really flimsy sociology. Without doubt he's very entertaining, but I think he wants to be known as a novelist of ideas, and he doesn't have any ideas, just words.

Now it's _The Bridge over the Drina_ by Ivo Andrić.


----------



## Roadkill (Sep 15, 2008)

thanks to various recommendations of it on here, I'm reading Geoffrey Pearson's _Hooligan: A History of Respectable Fears_, and very good it is too.

I'm also re-reading _Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and their Journey_ by Isabel Fonseca.  I still think it's brilliant.


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 15, 2008)

Back to the w.h.i.t.e w.h.a.l.e


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 15, 2008)

Hard work Fictionist?

I'm LOVING UnLunDun. The ab-city scape is both charming and strange, and the narrative is wickedly inventive


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Sep 15, 2008)

i picked up Peter Hoeg's latest book called the Quiet Girl about some bloke who can hear the harmonic resonance of people. quite intriguing so far and certainly hold out some high hopes cos i loved miss smilla's feeling for snow. also ploughing thru stephen pinker's the stuff of thought which is very very interesting indeed.

got one more chapter of nina to finish, some more of disability right and wrong by tom shakespeare which is extremely thought-provoking and ulysses still stares at me from beside the bed but i can't invest the time........


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 15, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Hard work Fictionist?
> 
> QUOTE]
> 
> 'Tis undoubtedly the most tedious work that I have ever read - but I WILL finish it.


----------



## chooch (Sep 16, 2008)

Dirty Martini said:


> Finished _Great Jones Street_. He's a funny one, DeLillo -- great shining witty surface, brilliant dialogue, never much of a story, and really flimsy sociology. Without doubt he's very entertaining, but I think he wants to be known as a novelist of ideas, and he doesn't have any ideas, just words.


Spot on. Great words though. _Holds a dazzling mirror to contemporary vacuity_ or something. 

Nothing to read here, except _The Corrections_, which is too long to start without vigour.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 16, 2008)

chooch said:


> Nothing to read here, except _The Corrections_, which is too long to start without vigour.



Ah, it's a smooth old read, and worth it.


I just finished The Final Solution by Michael Chabon. Lovely little book (novella? - 125 pages..) which I thoroughly enjoyed even though I only worked out a key fact about the main character embarrasingly late in proceedings. Almost want to go back and read it again now...


----------



## Detroit City (Sep 16, 2008)

_War and Peace_ by Tolstoy...up to page 233.  Excellent read.


----------



## Leica (Sep 16, 2008)

I hated the Corrections.

Reading the Mythologikon Syntipa (aka the Seven Wise Masters), an old Persian book of stories.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 16, 2008)

Detroit City said:


> _War and Peace_ by Tolstoy...up to page 233.  Excellent read.




had a crack at that but it was this penguin version with absurdly small text. I was squinting to read the fucker in broad daylight. Balls to that


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 16, 2008)

Leica said:


> I hated the Corrections.
> 
> Reading the Mythologikon Syntipa (aka the Seven Wise Masters), an old Persian book of stories.



That sounds interesting! Is it a modern text or something older?


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 16, 2008)

Will Self - Feeding Frenzy. always fun to dip into


----------



## Leica (Sep 16, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> That sounds interesting! Is it a modern text or something older?




It's a 19th century translation from the Persian. Not in english though.
Just something I found among some stuff I kept in boxes until recently.

It's a great little book, like a shorter and less glamorous sibling of 1001 Nights.


----------



## obanite (Sep 16, 2008)

Just finished _If This Is A Man / The Truce_ by Primo Levi. Found it inspirational, the guy is such a good writer, through the harrowing horror of the camps to the sometimes funny, sometimes sad stuck-in-limbo of the trip home. Everyone should read it I reckon...

Also still slowly working my way through _Otherland_ by Tad Williams, it's alright but no Neuromancer 

_Master And Margherita_ next, looking forward to it, haven't read it since 2nd year of uni


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Sep 17, 2008)

I'm reading a book about the Hundred Years War. I realize that before now, I didn't know that much about it, aside from Joan of Arc.


Jaysus christ! It's no wonder the french hate the english so much. I also didn't realize that scottish armies fought alongside the french. That helps explain a lot, also.


----------



## quimcunx (Sep 17, 2008)

obanite said:


> Just finished _If This Is A Man / The Truce_ by Primo Levi. Found it inspirational, the guy is such a good writer, through the harrowing horror of the camps to the sometimes funny, sometimes sad stuck-in-limbo of the trip home. Everyone should read it I reckon...



Innit.  I put off reading it for years, despite enjoying If Not Now, When, fearing it would make me miserable.  But it never is depressing.  His writing is never self-pitying.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 17, 2008)

Johnny Canuck2 said:


> I'm reading a book about the Hundred Years War. I realize that before now, I didn't know that much about it, aside from Joan of Arc.
> 
> 
> Jaysus christ! It's no wonder the french hate the english so much. I also didn't realize that scottish armies fought alongside the french. That helps explain a lot, also.




had ye never heard of the auld alliance before dude?


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Sep 17, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> had ye never heard of the auld alliance before dude?



No.

They don't teach us that much detailed european history, same as they likely don't teach you about the exploits of Simon Fraser, Martin Frobisher or Louis Riel.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 17, 2008)

finished the enright. load of self-indulgent wank really, like reading the guardian family section stretched out over 200 pages. i feel the need for some fast, gripping crime fiction now.


----------



## Badgers (Sep 17, 2008)

Just bulked up my collection of books about London


----------



## foamy (Sep 17, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> finished the enright. load of self-indulgent wank really, like reading the guardian family section stretched out over 200 pages. i feel the need for some fast, gripping crime fiction now.



was that 'the gathering'? i really didnt see what all the hype was about with that.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 17, 2008)

no, it was 'making babies'. bleh. i'm not inspired to read any of her fiction, that's for sure.


----------



## foamy (Sep 17, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> no, it was 'making babies'. bleh. i'm not inspired to read any of her fiction, that's for sure.



you are a wise lady


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 17, 2008)

Gore Vidal's Point To Point Navigation. It's ace, but you have to turn on your bitchiness radar to get all the little digs he's making..


----------



## ringo (Sep 17, 2008)

Just finished  French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour De France by Tim Moore, an Urban recommendation. Loved it and passed it on to another cycling mate.

Now onto The Evolution Man (Or, How I Ate My Father), by Roy Lewis. Great and very funny fiction written in 1960 about a family of early homids learning to use fire/become civilised/develop technology etc.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 17, 2008)

Toast - Nigel Slater

Had me barking laughing last night, and some really  and  bits too

Loving how to entwine your entire life around food in all its variations


----------



## foamy (Sep 17, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Toast - Nigel Slater
> 
> Had me barking laughing last night, and some really  and  bits too
> 
> Loving how to entwine your entire life around food in all its variations



it's a great book, isn't it? i read it a few weeks ago when i was staying in uni halls. after some of the chapters i really couldn't bear to eat the mass catered food provided for us


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 17, 2008)

I am reading a book about film theory and philosophy, a book about existential psychology and _The Starmaker_ by Olaf Stapledon.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 17, 2008)

foamy said:


> it's a great book, isn't it? i read it a few weeks ago when i was staying in uni halls. after some of the chapters i really couldn't bear to eat the mass catered food provided for us



brilliant

first page had me laughing - about how he never had butter without black bits in it 

and the parmesan cheese - 'daddy, this cheese smells like sick'


----------



## ringo (Sep 18, 2008)

Just seen a second hand copy of Toast in a shop near my office, might have to grab it tomorrow.

Now reading Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton. Supposed to be a minor classic of 20th century literature but I'd never heard of it. Drunk bloke gets a bit morose and sits in pubs in pre-war London watching people spout rubbish while wishing he had the guts to go out and have a real life, from what I've read so far. Hope it's as funny as JB Priestly reckons in the intro 'cos otherwise it might both bore me and put me off my pint and I want neither.

I bought it because when I opened it randomly he was going through Haywards Heath on the train to Brighton and began to feel unwell. Having grown up in Haywards Heath I know exactly what he meant. Last time I took the littlun there we got off the train and she complained "Daddy, this place smells".


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 18, 2008)

Russell Brand - My Booky Wook


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 18, 2008)

sojourner said:


> brilliant
> 
> first page had me laughing - about how he never had butter without black bits in it
> 
> and the parmesan cheese - 'daddy, this cheese smells like sick'



It's a fantastic book. Bits of it were very moving. It's weird that after such a revealing memoir, he's so cagey about his personal life now.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 18, 2008)

ringo said:


> Now reading Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton. Supposed to be a minor classic of 20th century literature but I'd never heard of it. Drunk bloke gets a bit morose and sits in pubs in pre-war London watching people spout rubbish while wishing he had the guts to go out and have a real life, from what I've read so far. Hope it's as funny as JB Priestly reckons in the intro 'cos otherwise it might both bore me and put me off my pint and I want neither.
> 
> I bought it because when I opened it randomly he was going through Haywards Heath on the train to Brighton and began to feel unwell. Having grown up in Haywards Heath I know exactly what he meant. Last time I took the littlun there we got off the train and she complained "Daddy, this place smells".



Patrick Hamilton's pretty much my favourite English novelist, but _Hangover Square_, despite being the book he had to write, is not really representative of his work in terms of humour. For really vicious and brilliantly funny black humour, you want _Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky_, _The Gorse Trilogy_, or _Slaves of Solitude_.


----------



## rennie (Sep 18, 2008)

I am reading the Aeneid by Virgil.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 18, 2008)

rennie said:


> I am reading the Aeneid by Virgil.



Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 18, 2008)

rennie said:


> I am reading the Aeneid by Virgil.



In Latin or through which translation?


----------



## IC3D (Sep 19, 2008)

Heart of Darkness, but I'm looking for apocalypse now bits a bit to much to enjoy it in its own right


----------



## chooch (Sep 19, 2008)

Dirty Martini;8055620[I said:
			
		

> Hangover Square[/I], despite being the book he had to write, is not really representative of his work in terms of humour. For really vicious and brilliantly funny black humour, you want _Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky_, _The Gorse Trilogy_, or _Slaves of Solitude_.


Ah, but _Hangover square_ is great for its capturing of gin palace daytime drunk, and 30W-lightbulb hotel noises. _Slaves of Solitude_ does maybe edge it for containing the most brilliantly realised unbearable character - Mr Thwaites. Gorse I ain't so sold on, despite moments, and excellent Brighton and Reading shabbiness. Still, essential, for a particular kind of claustrophobic desperation. I can see the mass-produced stained glass around the draughty door and smell the mildewy social limits. 

Now reading _The Corrections_. Nowt else here, for now.


----------



## rennie (Sep 19, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> In Latin or through which translation?



Seeing as my Latin goes as far as Cogito ergo sum, I am reading it in English. Translated by WF Jackson Knight and published as a Penguin Classic.


----------



## ringo (Sep 19, 2008)

Cheers Dirty Martini and Chooch, will check those.

It was only when reading the cover notes that I realised that Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky was the inspiration for the fancy dress theme at Bestival this year - 20,000 freaks under the sea.


----------



## Pie 1 (Sep 22, 2008)

Read The Outsider for the first time yesterday.
Incredible.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 22, 2008)

Return of the Crimson Guard. sans fifty pages


----------



## marty21 (Sep 22, 2008)

king rat - china mieville - enjoying it, although the london he describes reminds me of christopher fowler's london


----------



## d.a.s.h (Sep 22, 2008)

Just finished 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy. Bleak stuff but very hard to put down.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 22, 2008)

just started 'a fine dark line' by joe lansdale  more east texas goodness.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 22, 2008)

Margaret Attwood - The blind assassin

Was a bit tired when I started it yesterday, and ended up getting out of bed for a pen and paper so I could write down the family relations cos I kept getting it confused


----------



## Mungy (Sep 22, 2008)

I'm reading Lord of the Rings again. and I am reading Belgarath the Sorcerer to my little un.


----------



## maya (Sep 22, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Margaret Attwood - The blind assassin
> 
> Was a bit tired when I started it yesterday, and ended up getting out of bed for a pen and paper so I could write down the family relations cos I kept getting it confused


Yeah, it's quite complex, innit?
I had to read the first pages over and over, before being able to move on... Really confusing cast of characters which is hard to remember at first because everyone are seen from the narrator's POV (iirc)?
But it gets easier as the plot(?) moves on... very slowly. 

I hated the book at first, really didn't like it at all... Then halfway through, I didn't really know what I thought... Then at the last third I'd changed completely and _loved_ it- and at the ending, I cried and wanted to read it again... 

Is it just me, or does this apply to nearly all of Atwood's books? It takes some time to warm to her style... It's not a way of writing that I'd usually enjoy, but she wins me over each time- no idea why.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 22, 2008)

maya said:


> Yeah, it's *quite complex*, innit?
> I had to read the first pages over and over, before being able to move on... Really confusing cast of characters which is hard to remember at first because everyone are seen from the narrator's POV (iirc)?
> But it gets easier as the plot(?) moves on... very slowly.
> 
> ...



at least it's not just me! felt like a right twerp having to write it all down, but it was driving me nuts not being able to keep a handle on who was who etc...thought it was v important to the whole laura chase suicide to know exactly where people were in the equation.

oh no, I am liking it, lots.  but then, I've loved everything else I've read by her.  Think the worst to get into was Surfacing - even though it was really small, it was dense as fuck.


----------



## maya (Sep 22, 2008)

sojourner said:


> at least it's not just me! felt like a right twerp having to write it all down, but it was driving me nuts not being able to keep a handle on who was who etc...thought it was v important to the whole laura chase suicide to know exactly where people were in the equation.


Yeah... The who's who takes some brain-wrinkling...

That said, the main character is one of the most memorable literary heroines I've encountered in a long time... Exactly because she's so flawed, and therefore inifinitely more human and (at least for me) likeable. 

If you haven't finished TBA yet, you're in for a treat- The twist at the ending changes everything!


----------



## Bakunin (Sep 22, 2008)

Michael Collins - Tim Pat Coogan.

This is probably the best biography of the Irish guerilla leader, freedom fighter and politician that's available at the moment. It's certainly a detailed read and gives a good account of what Collins was like as a person instead of merely some dry list of his considerable achievements in advancing the Irish cause.

Definitely recommended for anyone with an interest in Irish history and The Troubles in particular.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 22, 2008)

maya said:


> Yeah... The who's who takes some brain-wrinkling...
> 
> That said, the main character is one of the most memorable literary heroines I've encountered in a long time... Exactly because she's so flawed, and therefore inifinitely more human and (at least for me) likeable.
> 
> *If you haven't finished TBA *yet, you're in for a treat- The twist at the ending changes everything!



Nah, have only just started it!  So hush, laydee  

Have already had some thoughts about who is the actual mother of Aimee, but I might be barking up the wrong tree with the whole idea of that.  Will let you know when I've finished the book!


----------



## Leica (Sep 22, 2008)

maya said:


> Is it just me, or does this apply to nearly all of Atwood's books? It takes some time to warm to her style... It's not a way of writing that I'd usually enjoy, but she wins me over each time- no idea why.



It was the opposite for me. I was liking the Robber Bride at first, then two thirds in I started hating it, and by the time I got to the ending I had completely lost interest.

I _wanted _to like Atwood, because I really like the film version of the Handmaid's Tale -- but the RB put me off her books forever.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 22, 2008)

marty21 said:


> king rat - china mieville - enjoying it, although the london he describes reminds me of christopher fowler's london



that's sat on my shelf waiting for me to get round to it


----------



## sojourner (Sep 22, 2008)

Leica said:


> It I _wanted _to like Atwood, because I really like the film version of the Handmaid's Tale -- but the RB put me off her books forever.



That's a real shame, because she has written some excellent novels


----------



## Leica (Sep 22, 2008)

sojourner said:


> That's a real shame, because she has written some excellent novels



which ones? I might give her a second chance at some point.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 22, 2008)

sojourner said:


> that's sat on my shelf waiting for me to get round to it



Perdido Street Station is the better novel imo.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 23, 2008)

Leica said:


> which ones? I might give her a second chance at some point.



Alias Grace, Surfacing, Life Before Man, The Edible Woman, and of course, The Handmaid's Tale...these are the ones I've read and really enjoyed


----------



## marty21 (Sep 23, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Perdido Street Station is the better novel imo.



it is a great novel - also read the sequel recently, the iron council, which i really enjoyed

just started

Homocide: A year on the streets - David Simon

based on his experiences with the Baltimore Homocide squad in the 90s - from which came "the wire"


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 23, 2008)

I am reading _Existential Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy_ by William Barrett. It is a bit out of date, but I suppose that is to be expected.

Marty - tell me how you find _Homicide: A Year on the Streets_. I have heard it is quite good, it is on my list.


----------



## marty21 (Sep 23, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I am reading _Existential Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy_ by William Barrett. It is a bit out of date, but I suppose that is to be expected.
> 
> Marty - tell me how you find _Homicide: A Year on the Streets_. I have heard it is quite good, it is on my list.



will report back, only bought it this morning on the way to work, about 20 pages in so far


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 23, 2008)

Sorry for lol'ing at your typo marty, but  at Homocide.


----------



## maya (Sep 23, 2008)

Leica said:


> It was the opposite for me. I was liking the Robber Bride at first, then two thirds in I started hating it, and by the time I got to the ending I had completely lost interest.
> 
> I _wanted _to like Atwood, because I really like the film version of the Handmaid's Tale -- but the RB put me off her books forever.


Don't let that book put you off! 
'The Robber Bride' _was_ pretty much all shite IMO, one of her few bad books (or, come to think of it, perhaps the only one?), 
and _not_ representative for her output in general... Please give her a second chance, only (for god's sake) with a different book! 
Of course no authors are for everyone, but I'm pretty convinced you'd like her other books better, because... well, because they're _so_ much better, for one thing.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 23, 2008)

Spent a few quid at lunchtime - got the new David Thompson brick, Have You Seen.

Also, Michael Chabon's A Model World and Junot Diaz's Drown, short story collections by two brilliant writers


----------



## christonabike (Sep 23, 2008)

Just bought David Peace's Tokyo Year Zero, 1980, and 1983 (read the first two in the quartet)

Also got The Road cos Jeffe recommended it, it's a comedy right? Good for a holiday?


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 23, 2008)

christonabike said:


> Also got The Road cos Jeffe recommended it, it's a comedy right? Good for a holiday?



Yep. Imagine a cross between Viz, Terry Pratchett and those Wilt books 

But in a post-apocalyptic setting.


----------



## kained&able (Sep 23, 2008)

I'm reading the slash autobiography.

dave


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 23, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Spent a few quid at lunchtime - got the new David Thompson brick, Have You Seen.
> 
> Also, Michael Chabon's A Model World and Junot Diaz's Drown, short story collections by two brilliant writers



I have read a few stories from _Drown_, and they are rather good.


----------



## Leica (Sep 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Alias Grace, Surfacing, Life Before Man, The Edible Woman, and of course, The Handmaid's Tale...these are the ones I've read and really enjoyed



Thanks


----------



## Leica (Sep 23, 2008)

maya said:


> Don't let that book put you off!
> 'The Robber Bride' _was_ pretty much all shite IMO, one of her few bad books (or, come to think of it, perhaps the only one?),
> and _not_ representative for her output in general...



I'm _so_ relieved that I'm not alone in disliking the RB
The premise was already rather shaky from the start
it made me progressively angrier
and the ending felt so wrong


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 23, 2008)

Is The Blind Assassin good?


----------



## sojourner (Sep 24, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Is The Blind Assassin good?



Well, _I'm_ enjoying it, but that doesn't mean that _you_ would 

Certainly gets the old braincells working, and is written really well, I think.


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 24, 2008)

Prospect magazine.


----------



## Annierak (Sep 24, 2008)

Pies and prejudice by Stuart Maconie which i'm lovin so far


----------



## Scarlette (Sep 24, 2008)

I'm reading Sons and Lovers for work. Only time I've ever read Lawrence was reading out the rude bits of Lady Chatterley's Lover on a beach in France with friends. But it's rather good. Really good actually. I think it is the A-level girls' enthusiasm carrying me on though. Today we spent the whole hour arguing about why the Morels' marriage was so shit. Sample quote: 'yeah, well maybe if she didn't nag he wouldn't have to drink so much!' 'Pah! He doesn't appreciate her raising all those kids on the pittance he earns.' 'Oh WHATEVER!' (I think that last bit was me  )

It was brill.


----------



## Lea (Sep 25, 2008)

Just finished Faefever by Karen Marie Moning. Book 3 out of 5 in the Fever series.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 29, 2008)

maya said:


> If you haven't finished TBA yet, you're in for a treat- The twist at the ending changes everything!



Well, I finished it last night, but tbh, had already worked it out fairly early on.  Still a cracking read though - she writes so well.  Not fancy-arsed, not pretentious, just very appealing and absorbing

Anyhoo - I then started on Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières. Got it cos i remember a few mates reading it at Uni, but I never did that module.  They liked it so I thought what the hey.  Only read the first few pages, but am already liking it

Much less stuffy than I thought it would be


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 29, 2008)

I am rereading _The Revolution of Everyday Life_ by Raoul Vanigem.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 29, 2008)

Ian McEwan - On Chesil Beach
Max Brooks - World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War


----------



## sojourner (Sep 29, 2008)

Have you read much McEwan OU?

I read Atonement the other week, and really liked it.  Not sure why, but I've always kind of avoided his stuff, thinking it was shite


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 29, 2008)

"Absolution Gap" - Alastair Reynolds. It's been sitting on my bookshelf looking accusatory for about a year or so and finally got round to picking it up. Glad I did as it is, as always with Alastair Reynolds, excellent.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 29, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I am rereading _The Revolution of Everyday Life_ by Raoul Vanigem.



You seem to be reading a lot of revolutionary tomes of late, young sir

*peers over glasses*  What are you up to, eh?


----------



## d.a.s.h (Sep 29, 2008)

Just finished _The Economic Naturalist_ by Robert H Frank. Frank uses everyday examples to introduce ideas like cost-benefit analysis, opportunity cost, and the tragedy of the commons. Bits of it made for interesting reading, but somehow wasn't particularly satisfied by it overall.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 29, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Have you read much McEwan OU?
> 
> I read Atonement the other week, and really liked it.  Not sure why, but I've always kind of avoided his stuff, thinking it was shite



Yes - not as keen on his later stuff with posh people having problems in big houses, but love his early poisonous work. He's still a great writer though, so I always read him.


----------



## d.a.s.h (Sep 29, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Yes - not as keen on his later stuff with posh people having problems in big houses, .



 That's quite a good summing up of _Saturday_.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 29, 2008)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "Absolution Gap" - Alastair Reynolds. It's been sitting on my bookshelf looking accusatory for about a year or so and finally got round to picking it up. Glad I did as it is, as always with Alastair Reynolds, excellent.



Not my fave of his, but still v.good. 

I'm still on Young Stalin. He was a right shag-hound aparently


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 29, 2008)

d.a.s.h said:


> That's quite a good summing up of _Saturday_.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 29, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Yes - not as keen on his later stuff with posh people having problems in big houses, but love his early poisonous work. He's still a great writer though, so I always read him.



I ordered a couple of his off amazon at the weekend - First Love, Last Rites is one of them.  Can't remember t'other.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 29, 2008)

I have never been that impressed by Ian McEwan.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 29, 2008)

sojourner said:


> I ordered a couple of his off amazon at the weekend - First Love, Last Rites is one of them.  Can't remember t'other.



Yes, it's the short stories I like the most


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 29, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have never been that impressed by Ian McEwan.



Well, check out his short stories. The Cement Garden too. Worlds apart from his later work.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 29, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Well, check out his short stories. The *Cement Garden *too. Worlds apart from his later work.



Ah!  That's the name of the other one I fancied


----------



## seeformiles (Sep 29, 2008)

Just finished reading "The Vorpal Blade" by Colin Forbes - probably the worst book I've ever read but oddly compelling since you want to see how bad it can get. I wasn't disappointed.

Currently reading Roger McGough's autobiography "Said and Done" - gently humourous stuff.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 29, 2008)

Drown by Junot Diaz - it's ace.


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 29, 2008)

Still reading bloody Moby Dick.

Sloooooooooow.


----------



## ChrisC (Sep 29, 2008)

K-PAX by Gene Brewer.


----------



## silver (Sep 29, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Have you read much McEwan OU?
> 
> I read Atonement the other week, and really liked it.  Not sure why, but I've always kind of avoided his stuff, thinking it was shite



I loved Saturday & Enduring Love by him, but haven't rated anything else much, I gave up on Chesil Beach, it bored me to death


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 29, 2008)

_Saturday_ is awful.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 29, 2008)

ChrisC said:


> K-PAX by Gene Brewer.




give as a review when your done, the film was quite good


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Sep 29, 2008)

The Alcoholic -  Jonathan Ames (Author), Dean Haspiel (Illustrator) 
(word boys...esp d. haspiel )


----------



## dottie2008 (Sep 29, 2008)

MightyAphrodite said:


> The Alcoholic -  Jonathan Ames (Author), Dean Haspiel (Illustrator)
> (word boys...esp d. haspiel )



It's not released 'til tomorrow. Are you from the future?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 29, 2008)

sojourner said:


> You seem to be reading a lot of revolutionary tomes of late, young sir
> 
> *peers over glasses*  What are you up to, eh?


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Sep 29, 2008)

dottie2008 said:


> It's not released 'til tomorrow. Are you from the future?



yes i am.


----------



## avu9lives (Sep 30, 2008)

OMG 

Just read Bez,s autobiography
Freaky dancin me and the mondays.

Definatley one of the great rock biography's ever 

Cant believe he's still alive 

His life story reads like that of a man who stole the world sold it bought it back on the cheap,and then left it on the back seat of a written-off jeep somewere in the caribbean....  (nme)

A must read in my book


----------



## Badgers (Oct 1, 2008)

Good deal for a nice pressie


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 1, 2008)

Greil Marcus - Mystery Train.

he's hardly a fun read, but his history of Staggerlee / Stack'O'Lee and how it relates to Sly Stone is great, as is his short account of the importance (and yet the self-destruction) contained with the Elvis '68 Comeback Special


----------



## sojourner (Oct 1, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Greil Marcus - Mystery Train.
> 
> he's hardly a fun read, but his history of Staggerlee / Stack'O'Lee and how it relates to Sly Stone is great, as is his short account of the importance (and yet the self-destruction) contained with the Elvis '68 Comeback Special



sounds great


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 1, 2008)

sojourner said:


> sounds great



ah, don't get your hopes up. He's a smart guy, but jesus does he want you to know it


----------



## sojourner (Oct 1, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> ah, don't get your hopes up. He's a smart guy, but jesus does he want you to know it



ah fuck it, i'm an arrogant bastard myself, i quite enjoy it in others


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 1, 2008)

Actually, I'm wrong. I'm judging Marcus by his later stuff, a lot of which is unreadable, IMO

But this is fantastic stuff...

"... Those sides.. catch a world of risk, will, passion and natural nobility; something worth searching out within the America of mastery and easy splendor that may be Elvis' last word. The first thing Elvis had to learn to transcend, after all, was the failure and obscurity he was born to; he had to find some way to set himself apart, to escape the limits that could well have given his story a very different ending. The ambition and genius that took him out and brought him back is there in that first music - that, and much more."


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 1, 2008)

Last weekend, I was with a baby who stood like Elvis. Now that was sublime.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Oct 1, 2008)

Wake Up, Sir! - Jonathan Ames

(dinos superb illustration skills,which ive loved for ages, have turned me onto a fascinating author, which is always nice......)


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 1, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Last weekend, I was with a baby who stood like Elvis. Now that was sublime.



It's the nappies


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 3, 2008)

Just started 'Midnight's Children'.


----------



## Blagsta (Oct 3, 2008)

Chris Stewart - Driving Over Lemons


----------



## moonsi til (Oct 3, 2008)

Just about to go to bed and start 'Brick Lane' by Monica Ali.


----------



## seeformiles (Oct 7, 2008)

"Felidae"  by Akif Pirincci  - a very fine book!


----------



## Pie 1 (Oct 7, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> _Saturday_ is awful.



It's not, y'know - but I can see how you can think that if you can't get over the protagonist & his life. 
It a highly impressive piece of writing once your past that.

Another good one of his earlier books is The Innocent.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 7, 2008)

Appetite by Nigel Slater

I think I love Nigel.  I only ever skimmed his Observer stuff years ago, didn't realise quite how much I thought the same as him about food.  Fucking brilliant book


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 7, 2008)

Pie 1 said:


> It's not, y'know - but I can see how you can think that if you can't get over the protagonist & his life.
> It a highly impressive piece of writing once your past that.



I couldn't stand Saturday and didn't get past about 30-40 pages. I've liked a lot of McEwen stuff, which is why I was so shocked this was SO bad. It was like school creative writing: 

"See how careful and methodical he is. That's cos he's a surgeon."


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 7, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Appetite by Nigel Slater
> 
> I think I love Nigel.  I only ever skimmed his Observer stuff years ago, didn't realise quite how much I thought the same as him about food.  Fucking brilliant book



That's where I got that sausage gravy mash recipe. It's also a great book to get you to be creative instead of just following recipes blindly.


----------



## May Kasahara (Oct 7, 2008)

Donald Westlake - What's So Funny?


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 7, 2008)

David Keenan - England's Hidden Reverse. Again 

hadn't listened to as much of the music involved when I first read it, so I've gone back to it. It's great


----------



## rollinder (Oct 7, 2008)

fac461 Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album -  Matthew Robertson /Tony Wilson


----------



## Rollem (Oct 7, 2008)

the reluctant fundamentalist - cant remember who its by i've just started reading it....


----------



## sojourner (Oct 7, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> That's where I got that *sausage gravy mash* recipe. It's also a great book to get you to be creative instead of just following recipes blindly.



 I thought it might be   When i read it I thought about you  

for a lot of it, I was thinking of 'teaching grannies to suck eggs', but then I realised that that way of thinking only came to me gradually, over the years, and how great it must be to read something like that before the years of slog.  Actually, that's bollocks - I think the years of slog need to be gone through.  You can read all you like but there's nowt like tasting and experimenting

the simplicity of good food - he really does know his shit about that 


I've edited this post about 5 times now cos it's got me all 'oooooo'


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 7, 2008)

_Sex and Drugs and Rock N Roll - the Life of Ian Dury _by Richard Balls. 

Started it yesterday, on page 70 today. Its brilliant.


----------



## mentalchik (Oct 7, 2008)

Use Of Weapons - Iain M Banks and The Nano Flower - Peter F Hamilton


----------



## chooch (Oct 8, 2008)

Leonardo Sciascia - _The Wine Dark Sea_


----------



## TitanSound (Oct 8, 2008)

The Seven Days of Peter Crumb by Jonny Glynn


----------



## ChrisC (Oct 8, 2008)

Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter. Excellent stuff if you liked the Xeelee series.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 8, 2008)

My bookywook by russell brand

a humorous turn of phrase but essentially vacuous.

might give it up and finish of that Stalin bio


----------



## Rollem (Oct 8, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> My bookywook by russell brand
> 
> a humorous turn of phrase but essentially vacuous.
> 
> might give it up and finish of that Stalin bio


i foudn my bookywooky a bit annoying in the end


----------



## dodgepot (Oct 9, 2008)

girls aloud - dreams that glitter 
and after that it will be the road by cormac mccarthy


----------



## sojourner (Oct 9, 2008)

Finished 'Can't Wait to Get to Heaven' by Fannie Flagg last night (there's a comment on the sleeve which says it all really...'absurdly satisfying')

Started 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant' by Anne Tyler last night - excellent start.


----------



## KellyDJ (Oct 10, 2008)

Just started World War Z - Max Brooks


----------



## blueplume (Oct 10, 2008)

I'm just reading 'The Prospector' by J-M. G. Le Clezio, a really well written adventure which happens in the Indian Ocean at the beginning of the 20th : a treasure, sunny days, love, slow rhythm, but right now the hero has to leave for WW1 fightings...
Wow, he got the litterature Nobel prize, that's great, I like his writing, his nomadism too


----------



## avu9lives (Oct 10, 2008)

Gary Barlow / My Take

Thought i was gonna hate it, but its not a bad read


----------



## i_hate_beckham (Oct 10, 2008)

Threshers_Flail said:


> I'm reading Grapes of Wrath. Well I was before I got a Wire boxset through the door.


I'm reading that now, its long book!!


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 11, 2008)

i_hate_beckham said:


> I'm reading that now, its long book!!



On this thread admitting to reading long books is positively welcomed!


----------



## avu9lives (Oct 11, 2008)

laugh your way through the manopause


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 12, 2008)

I have not recieved them yet, but I will soon be reading

_The Naked and the Dead_ By Norman Mailer - I have never read any Norman Mailer before, but I recently read a collection his letters in _The New Yorker_,which is here if anybody is interested:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/06/081006fa_fact_mailer

Its a bit long, but print it out and read it. It is fantastic. 

I will also be reading _Eeee Eee Eeeee_ by Tao Lin. It is not something I would normally read, and I had to talk myself into buying it. Some descriptions sound almost twee, which I would hate. But I want to try reading something different, instead of really heavy postmodern stuff. And it sounds quite poetic. Plus the cover looks _beautiful_. Eeee Eee Eeee is the sound a dolphin makes, by the way. 

Review here

http://www.bookslut.com/fiction/2007_05_011091.php

I will also be reading _Foucault's Pendulum_ by Umberto Eco. I have been meaning to read this for a while, and it was references to Kabalah, Gnostics and mysticism generally whilst reading _Gravity's Rainbow_ that made me buy it.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 12, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I will also be reading _Foucault's Pendulum_ by Umberto Eco. I have been meaning to read this for a while, and it was references to Kabalah, Gnostics and mysticism generally whilst reading _Gravity's Rainbow_ that made me buy it.



A great book - probably the last decent novel he wrote


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 12, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> A great book - probably the last decent novel he wrote



I am going to buy the pair of books, _On Beauty_ and _On Ugliness_ by Eco, fairly soon. They look pretty good! But expensive at £20 each.


----------



## Zeppo (Oct 12, 2008)

The Credit Crunch - Graham Turner


----------



## idioteque (Oct 12, 2008)

I'm reading Slam by Nick Hornby, and it's truly fucking awful. I'm only still bothering with it in some act of defiance tbh.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 12, 2008)

idioteque said:


> I'm reading Slam by Nick Hornby, and it's truly fucking awful. I'm only still bothering with it in some act of defiance tbh.



Nick Hornby has always been rubbish.

Put it down!


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 12, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I am going to buy the pair of books, _On Beauty_ and _On Ugliness_ by Eco, fairly soon. They look pretty good! But expensive at £20 each.



IIRC there might be a boxed set which contains both of these titles (and perhaps one other) - it might even offer a cheaper way of obtaining these?

(Edited to add: I was wrong - a quick look on Amazon shows a boxed set available for pre-order (Hardback) for £45)

Sorry Dillinger4.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 12, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> IIRC there might be a boxed set which contains both of these titles (and perhaps one other) - it might even offer a cheaper way of obtaining these?



I have only seen them seperately, on Amazon. But I will look into this. You can knock a few pounds off if you get them second hand, I will probably do that.


----------



## idioteque (Oct 13, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Nick Hornby has always been rubbish.
> 
> Put it down!



'A Long Way Down' was tolerable, I just don't like abandoning books halfway through 

Btw Dill, you were right about 'The Satanic Verses' months ago, I reached some sort of gridlock halfway through and couldn't be bothered with it any more, and I'm really annoyed with myself about it


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 13, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have not recieved them yet, but I will soon be reading
> 
> _The Naked and the Dead_ By Norman Mailer - I have never read any Norman Mailer before, but I recently read a collection his letters in _The New Yorker_,which is here if anybody is interested:
> 
> ...


Have you tried the Executioner's Sing by Mailer, about Gary Gilmore? i think it's very very good.

Foucalt's Pendulum was a bit over-rated imo, i read it all and found it a bit lacking in something, not sure what really. RAW's Illumati books were more of a laugh and just as twisted conspiracy-wise.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 13, 2008)

idioteque said:


> 'A Long Way Down' was tolerable, I just don't like abandoning books halfway through
> 
> Btw Dill, you were right about 'The Satanic Verses' months ago, I reached some sort of gridlock halfway through and couldn't be bothered with it any more, and I'm really annoyed with myself about it



yess!!!

I have been right about something.



You shouldn't keep reading books that drag. I find almost all books drag at some point, and I just put them down, and continue reading them at a later date, maybe. 

For example, I have been picking my way through _Gravity's Rainbow_ for about two years now, reading a few pages every so often. I am up to part three now.

Another is _100 Years of Solitude_ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I just thought it was rubbish, and it really dragged to carry on reading it. However, I know that it is a classic, and it is just not the right time in my life to read it. Maybe there will never be a right time. But I am never going to read something that feels like a chore. 

My advice is to put it down. You might come back to it. You might not. 

To quote Doris Lessing (I have already used this quote on this thread, I think)



> There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag — and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty — and vice versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 13, 2008)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Have you tried the Executioner's Sing by Mailer, about Gary Gilmore? i think it's very very good.
> 
> Foucalt's Pendulum was a bit over-rated imo, i read it all and found it a bit lacking in something, not sure what really. RAW's Illumati books were more of a laugh and just as twisted conspiracy-wise.



No! I feel a little bit ashamed to say it, but this will be my very first Norman Mailer book. _The Executioners Song_ is one of the others on my list. 

I am quite interested to read Norman Mailer, because I feel I have never really read enough of the 'man of letters' kind of books - sort of like Ernest Hemingway, writing about Spain and Spanish Civil war and that kind of thing. 

I think one of the other reasons I chose _Foucaults Pendulum_ was because I recently read _If Not Now, When_ by Primo Levi, and I wanted to read more Italian fiction. There are a few others that I want to get, like _Garden of the Finzi Continis,_ and some others that I cant remember off the top of my head.


----------



## idioteque (Oct 13, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Another is _100 Years of Solitude_ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I just thought it was rubbish, and it really dragged to carry on reading it. However, I know that it is a classic, and it is just not the right time in my life to read it. Maybe there will never be a right time. But I am never going to read something that feels like a chore.



I know what you mean, I _know_ that 'The Satanic Verses' is something I want to read, and I really enjoyed the first section, but feeling as though I _had_ to keep reading made the harder sections even less enjoyable.

I read Of 'Love & Other Demons' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and liked it- is '100 Years of Solitude' quite difficult then? I'd like to read some more of his stuff.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 13, 2008)

idioteque said:


> I know what you mean, I _know_ that 'The Satanic Verses' is something I want to read, and I really enjoyed the first section, but feeling as though I _had_ to keep reading made the harder sections even less enjoyable.
> 
> I read Of 'Love & Other Demons' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and liked it- is '100 Years of Solitude' quite difficult then? I'd like to read some more of his stuff.



Its not that its difficult. Or even bad. It is very good, in its own way. 

I found I had to _make_ myself carry on reading it though, so I put it down. I have picked it up a few times, and tried to read more, but it is always the same. I have never had much time for magical realism, and maybe it is just his style that doesn't gel with me, or something. I still think I will get round to reading it, one day though. You should give it a go, though. 

I always like Mario Vargos Llosa more, anyway.


----------



## blueplume (Oct 13, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> and I wanted to read more Italian fiction.



Try Antonio Tabbuchi: just great! start with 'Sostiene Pereira' which takes place in Lisboa, it's about freedom of thought, then 'Notturno indiano' for exemple which is a kind of quest, etc.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 13, 2008)

blueplume said:


> Try Antonio Tabbuchi: just great! start with 'Sostiene Pereira' which takes place in Lisboa, it's about freedom of thought, then 'Notturno indiano' for exemple which is a kind of quest, etc.



Cheers! I had not heard of him before.

*adds to list*


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 13, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I think one of the other reasons I chose _Foucaults Pendulum_ was because I recently read _If Not Now, When_ by Primo Levi, and I wanted to read more Italian fiction. There are a few others that I want to get, like _Garden of the Finzi Continis,_ and some others that I cant remember off the top of my head.


Try and have a look at City by Alessandro Baricco which i mentioned a while back. The tale of a boyhood genius called Gould, his esrtwhile female role model Shatzy Shell, his friends Diesel and Poomerang and Dr Taltomar, some football and boxing related tales and a metaphysical Spaghetti Western novel to boot, recommended.


----------



## obanite (Oct 13, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Its not that its difficult. Or even bad. It is very good, in its own way.
> 
> I found I had to _make_ myself carry on reading it though, so I put it down. I have picked it up a few times, and tried to read more, but it is always the same. I have never had much time for magical realism, and maybe it is just his style that doesn't gel with me, or something. I still think I will get round to reading it, one day though. You should give it a go, though.
> 
> I always like Mario Vargos Llosa more, anyway.



I felt exactly the same as you. I was kind of enjoying the zaniness of it all, but at the same time it did drag, and just didn't really seem to have any particular direction to it, and was just a bit _too_ off the wall. I ended up giving up about 3 chapters from the end 

I've got Isabel Allende's _Daughter of Fortune_ on my pile too. Now I'm scared of Latin American fiction though  Haha.


----------



## chooch (Oct 13, 2008)

_A canticle for leibowitz_
Liking it so far.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 14, 2008)

Just started Cyrano: The Life and Legend of Cyrano De Bergerac by Ishbel Addyman, a gift from her bro who's on the boards.

Looks wonderful thus far, can't wait to get properly stuck in


----------



## the button (Oct 14, 2008)

I've just finished_ In search of excellence _by Tom Peters. Peters was a McKinsey management consultant who did a load of "research" on the characteristics of "excellent" companies in the 80s.

The book itself is an unutterable pile of shite, but I would heartily recommend it to anyone whose employer has had the consultants in, just so you know where they're coming from, and attempt to salvage your job accordingly. Plus you can get copies of it for 54 pence off Abebooks. It's where I got mine.


----------



## the button (Oct 14, 2008)

I actually feel quite dirty for reading it, which is some small consolation, I suppose.


----------



## quimcunx (Oct 14, 2008)

New World Order by Blossom Goodchild. 

I was always a good brownie.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 14, 2008)

the button said:


> I actually feel quite dirty for reading it, which is some small consolation, I suppose.



Maybe the aliens will get the consultants in too, so you'll be well placed to cope with the new way of things


----------



## the button (Oct 14, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Maybe the aliens will get the consultants in too, so you'll be well placed to cope with the new way of things



Having been on a training course delivered by McKinsey, I think the aliens probably _are_ consultants.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 14, 2008)

I ground to a halt with the Andrić, can't seem to read much at the moment, but did read _Anything But An Autobiography_ by Richie Benaud in the meantime. Not as interesting as it should have been, given the author.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 14, 2008)

I've ground to a halt, I've been trying to finish Moby Dick and have also picked up Midnight's Children, but now I can't really go on reading _both_ and material I _need_ to read for work. I've made reading a chore, so time for a complete break except for the work stuff.


----------



## Lea (Oct 14, 2008)

Call After Midnight by Tess Gerritsen. A thriller written in the late 80s. It's really dated what with mention of typewriters, KGB, East Germany etc...


----------



## christonabike (Oct 14, 2008)

Just finished How To Shit In The Woods (factual book, about getting ride of your waste when out and about in the wilderness)

Just started Ringolevio, cos it was mentioned on the boards a couple of days ago


----------



## ringo (Oct 15, 2008)

chooch said:


> Ah, but _Hangover square_ is great for its capturing of gin palace daytime drunk, and 30W-lightbulb hotel noises. _Slaves of Solitude_ does maybe edge it for containing the most brilliantly realised unbearable character - Mr Thwaites. Gorse I ain't so sold on, despite moments, and excellent Brighton and Reading shabbiness. Still, essential, for a particular kind of claustrophobic desperation. I can see the mass-produced stained glass around the draughty door and smell the mildewy social limits.



Loved Hangover Square, loved his idea that everything would be fine if he could just murder Netta nd move to Maidenhead.

Now reading Nigel Slater's Toast. Very endearing, quite inspiring although a bit twee at times.


----------



## Lea (Oct 15, 2008)

Another older book by Tess Gerritsen called In their Footsteps.


----------



## seeformiles (Oct 15, 2008)

Just finished "Felidae - On the Road"  - laugh out loud funny!


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 15, 2008)

Today, in the post, I received Eco's 'Turning Back the Clock'


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 15, 2008)

where are my books?


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 15, 2008)

What did you order D4? The Eco set?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 15, 2008)

no no, the three I mentioned up there ^^


----------



## cyberfairy (Oct 15, 2008)

17 by Bill Drummond. It's a strange book and not exactly gripping but pleasing nonetheless.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 15, 2008)

Ah. Well I hope they come soon for you.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 15, 2008)

they should be here tomorrow. I was just hoping they would be here today.


----------



## Looby (Oct 15, 2008)

I'm taking advantage of getting the bus to work this week and finally reading The Road. It's brilliant, I'm completely gripped and was so annoyed when we reached my stop this evening.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 15, 2008)

sparklefish said:


> I'm taking advantage of getting the bus to work this week and finally reading The Road. It's brilliant, I'm completely gripped and was so annoyed when we reached my stop this evening.



That's taken you more than a YEAR


----------



## sojourner (Oct 15, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> That's taken you more than a YEAR



easy tiger


----------



## Looby (Oct 15, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> That's taken you more than a YEAR





I started it months and months ago but I always used to read on the bus to and from work but now I drive I don't. Any other chance I get to read I end up reading for uni. Better late than never though and I love it in a bleak, tear out your heart kind of way.


----------



## Looby (Oct 15, 2008)

sojourner said:


> easy tiger



He bought it for my birthday last year.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 15, 2008)

sparklefish said:


> He bought it for my birthday last year.



well then he gave it in love, and should respect your need to read it when YOU want


----------



## belboid (Oct 15, 2008)

The Fallen, the Dave Simpson book on ex-members of, mm, The Fall!  Of coures, he finally found Karl Burns a week after publishing the book

Good read so far, very amusing


----------



## Roadkill (Oct 16, 2008)

Christopher Nye, _Maximum Diner: Making it Big in Uckfield_
I've been meaning to read this for ages since it's said to be very funny.  So far it is, and having lived in Uckfield bits of it are amusingly familiar too.  I wonder if my brother will get a - anonymised - mention, since he was the Maximum Diner's delivery driver for a while...


----------



## May Kasahara (Oct 16, 2008)

That Westlake book I'm reading is really good  Nearly finished though and have got a George Pelecanos novel lined up for the next read.


----------



## Mogden (Oct 16, 2008)

Roadkill said:


> Christopher Nye, _Maximum Diner: Making it Big in Uckfield_
> I've been meaning to read this for ages since it's said to be very funny.  So far it is, and having lived in Uckfield bits of it are amusingly familiar too.  I wonder if my brother will get a - anonymised - mention, since he was the Maximum Diner's delivery driver for a while...


*assures Roadie she's not stalking him*
I have that too  There's a photo of someone I know in the book as he was a cook there. I would say chef but this is the Maximum Diner we're talking about!

I'm reading Eckart Tolle's A New Earth at the moment. Bloody hard going but very enlightening.


----------



## Roadkill (Oct 16, 2008)

Mogden said:


> *assures Roadie she's not stalking him*
> I have that too  There's a photo of someone I know in the book as he was a cook there. I would say chef but this is the Maximum Diner we're talking about!



I must admit, I used to like the Maximum Diner.    It had a lot more character than most places in Uckfield and the food was usually pretty good too.


----------



## Mogden (Oct 16, 2008)

Roadkill said:


> I must admit, I used to like the Maximum Diner.    It had a lot more character than most places in Uckfield and the food was usually pretty good too.


Those booths were bloody tight to get into though and even worse with a belly full of hash


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 16, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> they should be here tomorrow. I was just hoping they would be here today.



hurrah!


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 16, 2008)

Enjoy D4!!


----------



## sojourner (Oct 16, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> hurrah!



*cough*PM*cough*


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 16, 2008)

sojourner said:


> *cough*PM*cough*


----------



## Roadkill (Oct 16, 2008)

Mogden said:


> Those booths were bloody tight to get into though and even worse with a belly full of hash



This is true, but the word 'hash' is a good one in two senses, since there used to be nowhere better in town to go and work off the munchies after an afternoon smoke.


----------



## ChrisC (Oct 17, 2008)

Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds. Came highly recommended, so should be good.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 17, 2008)

ChrisC said:


> Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds. Came highly recommended, so should be good.



it's the best he's written imo.

I'm on Intergalactic Empires (asimov presents and contributes a story, along with silverburg etc. eighties stuff)

it's each author on certain themes of empire: governance, defence etc. So far it's pulpy stuff but I'm only a story and a half in


----------



## Jo/Joe (Oct 17, 2008)

100 Years of Solitude. Funny and well written, but I also understand why people don't find it gripping.

Best books I've read recently are McCarthy's The Road and Blindness by Jose Saramago.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 20, 2008)

A Spot of Bother, by Mark Haddon

If I really did judge books by their covers, I'd never have bought this. 

However, I got over that, and the fact that he wrote Curious Incident... (which got on my fucking nerves BIG time), and I'm glad I did.  It's excellent - none too challenging, just a great story, fairly simply told, with some interesting insights into failing mental health


----------



## Rollem (Oct 22, 2008)

just started reading The Outcast, by Sadie Jones, my mum gave it to me and i am actually quite enjoying it


----------



## sojourner (Oct 23, 2008)

Having seen a fair few posts about Michael Chabon, imagine my surprise when I saw Wonder Boys going for 79p in the local ymca 

Bout 3/4 through it - yeh, very funny, well written, very self-aware, although more filler than killer in places (do I really need to know exactly what was in Sara's garden??), and laugh-out-loud in places


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Having seen a fair few posts about Michael Chabon, imagine my surprise when I saw Wonder Boys going for 79p in the local ymca
> 
> Bout 3/4 through it - yeh, very funny, well written, very self-aware, although more filler than killer in places (do I really need to know exactly what was in Sara's garden??), and laugh-out-loud in places



It's a good book, but not one of his greats. Go for Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay 


me: The Road To Wellville by TC Boyle.

once again, feeling a bit listless and failing to get into books I know I really want to read, I've fallen back on a Boyle book. I always seem to have one lying round the house unread  

he's obviously my 'comfort read'.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 23, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> It's a good book, but not one of his greats. Go for Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay



If it turns up in the ym, I will   Someone in Rainhill has excellent literary taste - I'm always getting great books in there


----------



## sojourner (Oct 23, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> he's obviously my 'comfort read'.



Mine's Fannie Flagg


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> If it turns up in the ym, I will   Someone in Rainhill has excellent literary taste - I'm always getting great books in there



I always get perversely annoyed if a book I really love shows up in charity shops. I have to convince myself somebody died or has gone to live in the jungle or something to stop me being angry at the donator


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 23, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> It's a good book, but not one of his greats. Go for Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay



Just bought that - it better be good


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 23, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Just bought that - it better be good



PROMISE 

honestly, it's ace. the 3rd quarter is the bit people have a problem with, but i didn't mind it and other than that, it's all perfect.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 23, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Just bought that - it better be good



hmmm....do you think maybe...when you've finished it...you could maybe stick it in the post? To me?    Please?


----------



## avu9lives (Oct 23, 2008)

The Blackpool Rock (Steve Sinclair) What a load of crapola 

And......

Just finished Renegade (The life and times of Mark E Smith)

Top Bloke and a great read


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> hmmm....do you think maybe...when you've finished it...you could maybe stick it in the post? To me?    Please?



Sure!


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 23, 2008)

I'm reading The Watchmen at work - it's a slow day.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 23, 2008)

oooo can I just say: I love _The Wonder Boys_. Excellent book.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 23, 2008)

I quite liked the film - I never imagined I'd find Michael Douglas being likeable on the screen, but he does a fair job here.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 23, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Sure!



 nice one


----------



## Voley (Oct 23, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Just bought that - it better be good



Great book. Really enjoyed it.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 23, 2008)

NVP said:


> Great book. Really enjoyed it.



still got it?


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 24, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> I'm reading The Watchmen at work - it's a slow day.


The graphic novel? I thought i loved that when i read it ~20 years ago if so. What do you think about it now?


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Oct 24, 2008)

My mind is still quite full of "Absolution Gap" which I loved, it was like trying to keep pieces of a tissue jigsaw together in your head.

So I have gone for the good, solid dependable but doesn't need a lot of mental agility of Peter Robinson's "Friend of the Devil"

Insp. Banks is an interesting protanganist and Peter Robinson writes a good thriller/police procedural. Plus it was 30p from the hospital charity shop so  bargainous too!


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Oct 24, 2008)

The Bluegrass Reader (Music in American Life) by Thomas Goldsmith


----------



## sojourner (Oct 24, 2008)

MightyAphrodite said:


> The Bluegrass Reader (Music in American Life) by Thomas Goldsmith



Any good?


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Oct 24, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Any good?



Yes. But i'm biased because i know/have known a lot of the people in the book over the years.


It's a good read for* ANY* bluegrass fan though. So, yes!


My tshirt may say 'never mind the bollocks' but my heart says 'foggy mountain breakdown'


----------



## sojourner (Oct 24, 2008)

MightyAphrodite said:


> Yes. But i'm biased because i know/have known a lot of the people in the book.
> 
> 
> It's a good read for* ANY* bluegrass fan though. So, yes!
> ...



Nice one

We should really start some kind of urban-library you know.  And I'm only saying that because I always want to read books people mention but am too skint to buy them


----------



## Pavlik (Oct 24, 2008)

Deepak Chopra - The Path to Love


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Oct 24, 2008)

Less Than Zero - Brett Easton Ellis.  I don't "get" him.  His writing is purposely soul-less and none-the better for it.  I find it impossible to mentally flesh out his charecters, which doesn't make for enthralling reading.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 24, 2008)

I'm sort of reading Robin Cook Chromosone 6 with open mouthed amazement. It's so bad, really technicaly deficient and badly written


----------



## Rainingstairs (Oct 24, 2008)

"Twilight" it is ATROCIOUS. dunno what all the hoopla was about...


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Oct 26, 2008)

The Plimsoll Sensation: The Great Campaign to Save Lives at Sea by Nicolette Jones.

Bloody brilliant.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Oct 26, 2008)

I'm reading a section from The Phemonenology of Spirit


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Oct 26, 2008)

Vintage Paw said:


> I'm reading a section from The Phemonenology of Spirit



I don't even understand the title


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 26, 2008)

Hegel.



I feel for you, VP.


----------



## idioteque (Oct 26, 2008)

'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' by Haruki Murakami, and 'Persepolis' by Marjane Satrapi. 

I gave up on 'Slam'; apparently Nick Hornby is coming to my university to discuss it, I'm thinking of going along to tell him what awful patronising shite it is.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 26, 2008)

ooooooo is that Haruki Murakami one good? I have not read that one yet.


----------



## idioteque (Oct 26, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> ooooooo is that Haruki Murakami one good? I have not read that one yet.



It's his autobiography- basically a memoir of his relationship between running and writing over a few months. I've only read six pages so far, started it at half 4 this morning whilst quite stoned, but it's written with the same kind of tone as his other novels though so I'm sure it'll be good.

I'll let you know when I've finished it


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 26, 2008)

Faith & Reason in Islam (Averroes' Exposition of Religious Arguments) - Averroes

(Translated by Ibrahim Najjar)


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 27, 2008)

Piercing by Ryu Murakami, very good so far, intense and disturbing. Also picked up a copy of Frankie Howerd's biography by Graham McCann which i am looking forward to.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Oct 27, 2008)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Piercing by Ryu Murakami, very good so far, intense and disturbing. Also picked up a copy of Frankie Howerd's biography by Graham McCann which i am looking forward to.



I read "In the Miso Soup" a little while ago and it was excellent, very distubing but compelling. Didn't realise that he wrote "Audition", the novel the film is based on.

I have "Coin Locker Babies" on my bookshelf but haven't got round to it yet


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 27, 2008)

Haven't come across him before, thoroughly enjoying this one and will prolly search out some other titles in due course.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Oct 27, 2008)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Haven't come across him before, thoroughly enjoying this one and will prolly search out some other titles in due course.



I only came across him last year before we went to Japan and was looking for some Japenese authors to read.

At the time "In the Miso Soup" was one of 'Waterstone's recommends' titles so I thought I'd get it. Not an easy read but worth it


----------



## sojourner (Oct 27, 2008)

idioteque said:


> I gave up on 'Slam'; apparently Nick Hornby is coming to my university to discuss it, I'm thinking of going along to tell him what awful patronising shite it is.



Heckle the twat for me will ya? 


I'm currently reading Collected Stories by Tennessee Williams, with an intro by Gore Vidal.  Loving it


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 27, 2008)

*I have finished 'Moby Dick'!!!!*


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 27, 2008)

Bought a pile today - 

From Anger To Apathy by Mark Garnett
A Pirate's Pocket Book
Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde

which I'll dip it into while I plough through A Road To Wellville


----------



## ringo (Oct 27, 2008)

Nigel Slater's Toast got better and better. Surprising how many times the young lad got his winky fiddled with by adults.

Now reading Already Dead - A Californian Gothic by Denis Johnson


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 27, 2008)

*Just in case anyone hadn't heard, I've finished 'Moby Dick'!!!!!*


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 27, 2008)

marvellous. did he get the whale?

i've finished piercing already. quite enjoyable, twisting and quite humourous in a very dark way. frankie howerd, here i come.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 27, 2008)

Well if you mean Ahab then that question is open to discussion,and what exactly do we mean by 'the whale'.............

I will *NEVER* read this book again


----------



## sojourner (Oct 28, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> *Just in case anyone hadn't heard, I've finished 'Moby Dick'!!!!!*



*round of applause*

jolly well done there - cup of tea to celebrate?

what's next, beating yourself up with a big stick?


----------



## sojourner (Oct 28, 2008)

ringo said:


> Nigel Slater's Toast got better and better. Surprising *how many times *the young lad got his winky fiddled with by adults.



Wasn't it just?  

Great book that, in so many ways.


----------



## vogonity (Oct 28, 2008)

Eating for England by Nigel Slater, which is a lot of fun.

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing - wonderful.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 28, 2008)

Decline and fall of the roman empire


no, really. I've run out of fiction and have only this convoluted tome to read

That commudus was a right cunt


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 29, 2008)

I am really enjoying reading Norman Mailer atm.


----------



## belboid (Oct 29, 2008)

i am currently reading my P45 - which is a damned site better written than the Mick Muddles book on MES/The Fall


----------



## maya (Oct 29, 2008)

*Michel Houellebecq & Bernard-Henri Levy: 'Ennemis Publics' (Public Enemies)*

More or less incoherent satire from the old poseurs...

_(Paraphrased: ) _

Houellebecq: 'The political leaders of France should stop trying to make the capital into a financial hub and rather focus on tourism... With these few lines, I've saved the French economy'  
_(later: )_ 'My exema hurts'


----------



## scifisam (Oct 30, 2008)

I'm reading 'Glue,' by Irvine Welsh right now. Good Lord, the language is hard work. I think I might return to my German short stories for a bit of light relief.


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Oct 30, 2008)

scifisam said:


> I'm reading 'Glue,' by Irvine Welsh right now. Good Lord, the language is hard work. I think I might return to my German short stories for a bit of light relief.



Love a bit of Irv, meself.  A pretty good one of his, as well.  Not up there with the best, but a nice, charming story with some good "snapshots" of each era depicted.  Stick with the scots for a while - it will become easy within 200 pages, second nature by the end of that (quite long, if memory serves...) book.


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Oct 30, 2008)

I'm reading "Rant" by Chuck Palahnia-hahniahuk atm.  Enjoying, so far (40 pages).  Last CP book I liked was Survivor.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 30, 2008)

I managed to read Mohsin Hamid's 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' during some short distance travelling and I was quite impressed with the quality of stillness and calm which pervades the narrative. The writing style is spare, which might well be taken by some to be representative of intellectual depth, something which (ultimately) the novella lacks.

Back to Averroes


----------



## scifisam (Oct 30, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Love a bit of Irv, meself.  A pretty good one of his, as well.  Not up there with the best, but a nice, charming story with some good "snapshots" of each era depicted.  Stick with the scots for a while - it will become easy within 200 pages, second nature by the end of that (quite long, if memory serves...) book.



I am enjoying the story, with the Clockwork Orange style stories and all. But it is very, very long indeed. 469 hardback-size pages!


----------



## Grub str. hack (Oct 31, 2008)

I'm reading, and loving "The Poison Wood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. A very damning indietment of colonialism and christianity. Chirstians, (particualary black christians) will absolutley HATE this book but everyone need to read it, especially them.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 31, 2008)

belboid said:


> i am currently reading my P45 - which is a damned site better written than the Mick Muddles book on MES/The Fall



In a bad way? 

And yeh, the Middles book is AWFUL


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 31, 2008)

I'm about two thirds into Making Money by Terry Pratchett. Pretty good and well timed given the parallels with the banking crisis etc.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 31, 2008)

scifisam said:


> I'm reading 'Glue,' by Irvine Welsh right now. Good Lord, the language is hard work. I think I might return to my German short stories for a bit of light relief.



How far are you into it sam?  I love IW, and found I just slipped into the dialect mentally after 20 pages or so.  An ex of mine couldn't handle it at all though


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 31, 2008)

scifisam said:


> I'm reading 'Glue,' by Irvine Welsh right now. Good Lord, the language is hard work. I think I might return to my German short stories for a bit of light relief.



just think in a glaswegian accent.


----------



## scifisam (Oct 31, 2008)

sojourner said:


> How far are you into it sam?  I love IW, and found I just slipped into the dialect mentally after 20 pages or so.  An ex of mine couldn't handle it at all though



About 100 pages. I think I'm just not in the mood for it right now, really. 



DotCommunist said:


> just think in a glaswegian accent.



The characters would nut you for saying that - it's Edinburgh.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 31, 2008)

Oh did I compare them with weedgie scum? oops.

but, it's how I read welsch's vernacular stuff. In the style of begbie from the film


----------



## trevhagl (Oct 31, 2008)

Mark Steel - Whats Going On.
Excellent.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 31, 2008)

scifisam said:


> About 100 pages. I think I'm just not in the mood for it right now, really.



put it down, read it another time 

dilly - doris lessing quote required please!


----------



## madamv (Nov 1, 2008)

I always have to be in the right frame of mind for Irvine.  Usually a bit pissed off and needing a fight 

Just finished *De Maupassant - Pierre and Jean.*   I really enjoyed it, it seemed to carry me akin to Crime and Punishment.   All breathless and urgent page turning, although not similar in anyway other than the main characters desperations...

Excited to be continuing *Armistead Maupins Tales of the City.*  I have read the first two, now received the next three , awaiting delivery of two more.   Yey!  The house will be a shit hole over the next few weeks


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 1, 2008)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> The graphic novel? I thought i loved that when i read it ~20 years ago if so. What do you think about it now?


It's interesting but I'm not completely taken with it - we'll see


----------



## scifisam (Nov 1, 2008)

sojourner said:


> put it down, read it another time



Yeah, I have. Maybe I'll wait till I'm feeling angry, like madamv says - I think that'd work! 

Besides, I have another ten books on the go at the moment anyway. The Father Brown mysteries, Charlotte Bronte's the Professor, a Batman graphic novel, and three different books of sci-fi short stories.


----------



## rollinder (Nov 1, 2008)

Demo: The Collection by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan


----------



## marty21 (Nov 5, 2008)

loving it


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 5, 2008)

I have just finished _The Naked & the Dead_ by Norman Mailer, and I finished _EEEEE EEE EEEEE_ by Tao Lin on the train the other day.


----------



## May Kasahara (Nov 6, 2008)

i'm reading another Pelecanos crime novel, Drama City. it's good, and has the added advantage of being written in Baltimore-style dialogue so i am getting a little extra Wire hit


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 6, 2008)

I seem to have given up reading for the moment, though I'm flicking through _Earl Scruggs and the Five-String Banjo_ by, er, Earl Scruggs.


----------



## Urbanblues (Nov 6, 2008)

'The Master and Margarita' by Mikhail Bulgakov


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 6, 2008)

sojourner said:


> put it down, read it another time
> 
> dilly - doris lessing quote required please!



heh.



I will find it in a second....


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 6, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> heh.
> 
> 
> 
> I will find it in a second....





> There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag — and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty — and vice versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you.



There are a whole bunch of other excellent quotes here:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Doris_Lessing

I particularly like this one:



> With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one — but no one at all — can tell you what to read and when and how.



It is the one I have in my mind as I am applying for graduate training in various Libraries. 

As for reading - I have run out of new books for the moment. So I am re-reading _On Belief_ by Slavoj Zizek and _The Fall_ by Albert Camus (one of my all time favourites)


----------



## tastebud (Nov 6, 2008)

I'm reading 'The post birthday world' by Lionel Shriver.
It's a bit chick lit in a way but I'm quite enjoying it. And I'm reasonably interested to find out how it ends so pick it up often. I accidentally read a bit of the author's concluding remarks though, so I sort of know how the structure of the story concludes.
I am a silly head.

Quite keen to read 'We need to talk about Kevin' now though.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 6, 2008)

*About to start som Rushdie book. I liked SV, this one better be worth the effort*

ooh wierd title thingy


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 6, 2008)

Slaughterhouse 5

Read it on the train home and I consider it to be a very odd little book. Very odd indeed.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 6, 2008)

slaughterhouse 5 is great i reckon, but cat's cradle is probably better imo.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 7, 2008)

I'm not sure that the word great applies to the book PT, but I'm going to allow a few days to digest the story. Is the other book you mention written in the same style?


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 7, 2008)

it's certainly from the same ballpark. great? who knows...


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 7, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Slaughterhouse 5
> 
> Read it on the train home and I consider it to be a very odd little book. Very odd indeed.



Good though. Very good indeed.


----------



## El Jefe (Nov 7, 2008)

I just read I Am Legend in about 3 hours, a sleepless rush. Perfect way, I think.

Not the best writing, but he does tension well, and makes a fair show of the interior monologue of despair. The fist did come crashing down on the bar a couple of times too many but it's a minor criticism.. very good.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Nov 7, 2008)

"The Separation" by Christopher Priest, on my Mum's bookclub's recommendation!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Separation-Christopher-Priest/dp/0743220331

Only just started the book but it seems interesting


----------



## foamy (Nov 7, 2008)

Just finished The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold. Picked it up at the charity shop as I'd enjoyed The Ugly Bones and Lucky but this one was really slow to start, hard to read then ended in an just as it got interesting.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 7, 2008)

I read _The Fall_ in one day.



I am so bored.


----------



## bluestreak (Nov 7, 2008)

The leopard by tomasi di lampedusa.

a few chapters in so far and it's great.


----------



## maya (Nov 7, 2008)

'In Europe: Travels Through the Twentieth Century', by Geert Mak. 

Only two chapters in so far. Never heard of this (Dutch) author before, but it proves to be a very entertaining read... 
It's sort of like an anecdotal travelogue, cross-referencing European history and politics from 1900- 2000, and fortunately the author is a professional historian and not just a journalist, which gives the book a bit more depth, IMO. (</bias >)

A bit too chatty for some, maybe- and dunno how well his writing has carried over in translation (I'm not reading the english version), but you can tell he knows his stuff.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 7, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Slaughterhouse 5
> 
> Read it on the train home and I consider it to be a very odd little book. Very odd indeed.



It's very odd ent it?

I came to it as a seasoned sci fi lover constantly told 'oh you'll love KV'

I liked, but didn't love. He's a darling of the lit-snob folks who hold him up as some great of the genre. He is good, and inexplicably gnarled and piercing with his prose. But not the champion of sci fi held up by so many booker-sucking snoblites


----------



## Eva Luna (Nov 7, 2008)

I've just finished 'Needs Must' by Kris Needs.  Really enjoyed it.

Now I am struggling once again thro 'Sophie's Choice' - everyone loves this but I struggle with it.  I think the way he writes pisses me off as I almost never put a book down halfway through.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 7, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> It's very odd ent it?
> 
> I came to it as a seasoned sci fi lover constantly told 'oh you'll love KV'
> 
> I liked, but didn't love. He's a darling of the lit-snob folks who hold him up as some great of the genre. He is good, and inexplicably gnarled and piercing with his prose. But not the champion of sci fi held up by so many booker-sucking snoblites



I thought that there were moments where the prose was good, but there were other aspects of the book which annoyed me - the continuous repetition of 'so it goes' began to grate rapidly (I know why it was used and what it represents), and I'm not entirely certain what he was trying to articulate. If the point was to raise questions of morality regarding the bombing of Dresden, or the futility and ugliness of war and the effects of involvement, it really couldn't have been less convincing. Maybe I just don't read enough Sci-Fi so I can't really say how well he compares with other writers from within that genre, but this has left me distinctly underwhelmed (or perhaps I've completely missed the point - assuming of course that there is a point!). Someone recently gave me a copy of Frank Herbert's 'Dune' to read and gushed whilst doing so.........but I have a bad feeling about even attempting to read that book.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 7, 2008)

Oh, also, I am flicking through _Richard Rorty: The Mirror of Nature_ by my old philosophy tutor, James Tartaglia.


----------



## Pie 1 (Nov 8, 2008)

1/4 of the way into Graham Swift's Ever After & it's beginning to irritate me... JM Coetzee's Dairy of A Bad Year is sitting on the shelf winking at me.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 8, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> I thought that there were moments where the prose was good, but there were other aspects of the book which annoyed me - the continuous repetition of 'so it goes' began to grate rapidly (I know why it was used and what it represents), and I'm not entirely certain what he was trying to articulate. If the point was to raise questions of morality regarding the bombing of Dresden, or the futility and ugliness of war and the effects of involvement, it really couldn't have been less convincing. Maybe I just don't read enough Sci-Fi so I can't really say how well he compares with other writers from within that genre, but this has left me distinctly underwhelmed (or perhaps I've completely missed the point - assuming of course that there is a point!). Someone recently gave me a copy of Frank Herbert's 'Dune' to read and gushed whilst doing so.........but I have a bad feeling about even attempting to read that book.





Dune is THE science fiction masterpiece imo. It's far, far better than Slaughterhouse 5. Read it.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 8, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Dune is THE science fiction masterpiece imo. It's far, far better than Slaughterhouse 5. Read it.



I've started it, I'll let you know how I get along


----------



## Lea (Nov 10, 2008)

Currently reading New Moon (book 2 in the Twilight series) by Stephanie Meyer.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 10, 2008)

Just re-read Stuart: A Life Backwards, and now on Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg


----------



## El Jefe (Nov 10, 2008)

Trickster Makes This World: How Disruptive Imagination Makes This World by Lewis Hyde.

One chapter in, absolutely GRIPPED


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 10, 2008)

I am about to order

_The Interpreter of Maladies_ by Jhumpa Lahiri
_The Cave_ by Jose Saramago
_Side Effects_ by Adam Phillips


----------



## El Jefe (Nov 10, 2008)

Ponce


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 10, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Ponce



to me that is a compliment.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 10, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> Trickster Makes This World: How Disruptive Imagination Makes This World by Lewis Hyde.
> 
> One chapter in, absolutely GRIPPED



Looks interesting.  I did a bit on Anansie and Eshu at uni, and found all of that fascinating


----------



## El Jefe (Nov 10, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Looks interesting.  I did a bit on Anansie and Eshu at uni, and found all of that fascinating



it is, he works through the trickster myths and then relates them to people like Picasso, Cage and that. Not quite sure where he's going for it, but he writes in a really winning way, it's a lot less dry than I expected.


----------



## Sadken (Nov 10, 2008)

I'm reading many, many boring law books but, in between reading them, crying and hammering my fists on the walls until I'm left with a coupla bloody stumps, I've been reading this amazing book I found in Oxfam, which I think may be my best ever find

Without Conscience by Nuel Emmonds in conversation with............wait for it.................only Charles Manson!  It's an account of his entire life, drawn from 7 years of interviews and it turns out Charlie is pretty Dennis Hopper.  In fact, I am reading the whole narrative in Hopper's voice.  I never normally go for crime books but this one really is very compelling.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 10, 2008)

I keep reading that as Noel Edmund's in conversation with Charles Manson.


----------



## Sadken (Nov 10, 2008)

I honestly had not thought that for a single second till just now.  Ritualistic suicide seems the only way forward for me from here.  My spidey pun sense is clearly knackered.


----------



## Iam (Nov 10, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I keep reading that as Noel Edmund's in conversation with Charles Manson.



There'd always the hope of Manson breaking his restraints and feasting on the un-aging one's brain...


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 10, 2008)

Iam said:


> There'd always the hope of Manson breaking his restraints and feasting on the un-aging one's brain...



I think Noel is probably more evil.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 10, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> it is, he works through the trickster myths and then relates them to people like Picasso, Cage and that. Not quite sure where he's going for it, but he writes in a really winning way, it's a lot less dry than I expected.



Wow - that DOES sound interesting, like what he's doing with that


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 10, 2008)

Just finished Stardust. Gaiman does faery tales very well.

About to start Rushdies 'The Moors Last Sigh'


----------



## han (Nov 10, 2008)

Currently reading 'First Overland' by Tim Slessor. An account of some blokes who drove from London to Singapore in a Landrover, in the '60s. Fab.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 12, 2008)

Dune is slow, very very very very very slow


----------



## ringo (Nov 13, 2008)

1980 - David Peace. Part 3 of the Red Riding Quartet about the Yorkshire Ripper. Horrific but very well written and gripping. Good escapism for a change.


----------



## May Kasahara (Nov 13, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> it is, he works through the trickster myths and then relates them to people like Picasso, Cage and that. Not quite sure where he's going for it, but he writes in a really winning way, it's a lot less dry than I expected.



Cheers for this - I now know what to get Mr K for Christmas 



Dillinger4 said:


> I keep reading that as Noel Edmund's in conversation with Charles Manson.



Now THAT I would read.

Currently reading Mystic River, by Dennis Lehane. It's really very good indeed (although I think I have worked out whodunnit) and has shamed me into a writing standstill.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Nov 13, 2008)

_'I dont mean to be rude but...'_ Simon Cowell's autobiography, which im almost finished and is very funny.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 13, 2008)

Andrew Marr's A History Of Modern Britain - great read


----------



## foamy (Nov 13, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Cheers for this - I now know what to get Mr K for Christmas
> 
> 
> 
> ...



it is a good book, isn't it?
have you seen the film too?


----------



## May Kasahara (Nov 13, 2008)

not yet, but reading the book has made me want to


----------



## bluestreak (Nov 13, 2008)

The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman.  Prompts more questions than it answers.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 13, 2008)

bluestreak said:


> The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman.  *Prompts more questions than it answers*.



which is a _good_ thing


----------



## Nina (Nov 14, 2008)

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

Ignatius is atrocious!  but makes for good reading


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 16, 2008)

Approaching the Sunnah (Comprehension & Controversy) - Yusuf Al-Qaradawi
Al-Munajah (The Intimate Discourse) - Hasan al-Banna


----------



## maya (Nov 16, 2008)

Fictionist, are all books you read about Islam? 
(no offense, btw)

Could you perhaps point me towards a good introduction to Sufism? 
I've been meaning to read more about Sufi thought for ages, but there are so many books out there, and I don't know where to start!


----------



## ivebeenhigh (Nov 16, 2008)

lunar park - bret easton ellis

about halfway through.  it's alright.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 16, 2008)

Finished Daisy Fay and The Miracle Man earlier. Bum - have read all her stuff now


----------



## sojourner (Nov 16, 2008)

maya said:


> Fictionist, are all books you read about Islam?
> (no offense, btw)
> 
> Could you perhaps point me towards a good introduction to *Sufism*?
> I've been meaning to read more about Sufi thought for ages, but there are so many books out there, and I don't know where to start!



Dilly's the chap to ask about that - he's well into the poetry


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 16, 2008)

reading Homage to Catalonia online. Have run out of unread real books.


----------



## maya (Nov 16, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Dilly's the chap to ask about that - he's well into the poetry


I guess by 'Dilly' you're referring to the chap(?) also known as Dillinger4?  *
(*...and, I think, someone who's clearly read a fair share of R.A.W.? )

Cool- I'll post up a question mark: *?* , and hope somebody will soon pounce to the rescue with helpful facts


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 16, 2008)

I'm reading Mao II, then I'm going to read Philadelphia Fire, then I need to re-read Apex Hides the Hurt (<--- I might change the order I read these 2 in), then I'm going to read the Zuckerman Bound Trilogy and Epilogue, followed by Exit Ghost.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 16, 2008)

maya said:


> I guess by 'Dilly' you're referring to the chap(?) also known as Dillinger4?  *



Yep, that's the chap


----------



## Lea (Nov 17, 2008)

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (book 3 in the Twilight Saga). Film of the first book is coming out on 19th December in the UK.


----------



## colbhoy (Nov 17, 2008)

Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks, it's relatively amusing and an easy read.


----------



## DexterTCN (Nov 17, 2008)

Great Apes by Will Self.

It's nuts....monkey nuts.


----------



## Barking_Mad (Nov 17, 2008)

3/4 way through War and Peace.


----------



## belboid (Nov 18, 2008)

just finished David Belbin - The Pretender, jolly good literary mystery type thing

will probably finally start Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black now


----------



## The Octagon (Nov 19, 2008)

Just been away for the weekend and read Barack Obama's 'Dreams Of My Father'. Very well-written and quite emotional in places, although it does get a little OTT in his hyperbole at times.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 20, 2008)

Sebastian Faulks - On Green Dolphin Street



Now, I liked Birdsong, so read Charlotte Grey, which was shite, but I thought I'd give him another go with this.

So far, it's insipid and verbose


----------



## Biddlybee (Nov 20, 2008)

BiddlyBee said:


> I'm _still_ reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay... really enjoying it, but I'm a slow reader, and only read on the bus


I'm still reading this  where does everyone get the time to read?

(I am reading about 4 ther books at the same time!)


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 20, 2008)

BiddlyBee said:


> I'm still reading this  where does everyone get the time to read?
> 
> (I am reading about 4 ther books at the same time!)



Me too - same book, same dilemma. I need to stop watching shite telly when I get back from work


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 20, 2008)

Just bought me Kingdom of Fear by Hunter Thompson, charidee shop win


----------



## Kev the Gooner (Nov 20, 2008)

I am just finishing 'Apache' by 'Ed Macy.'  A bloody good read. Puts you right in the cockpit. 
An Awesome story of an awesome machine.  An American Helicopter with Rolls Royce engines. Which makes it even better.


----------



## Lea (Nov 21, 2008)

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 22, 2008)

Discovering the Qur'an: A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled Text by Neal Robinson

This is quite enjoyable, and surprisingly readable too.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 22, 2008)

Ballard's 'Millenium People'

I enjoyed drowned world, so this better be half decent as it's a slightly more expensive charity shop purchase (oxfam specialist, you know how that's moar expensive)


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 23, 2008)

I've just received 'Towards Understanding the Qur'an' (abridged version of Tafhim al-Qur'an) - Sayyid Abul A 'la Mawdudi and 'The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology' - edited by Tim Winter.


----------



## madamv (Nov 23, 2008)

I have just done the six Tales of the City books (Armistead Maupin) back to back,  I have now received my latest purchase from Amazon second hand books.  *Danziger's Britain.  -  Nick Danziger.  *  I have read the first 50 or so pages and am enjoying it so far.  

I got chatting to a woman in soft play on holiday recently and its what she was reading, so I made a note as it looked very interesting.


----------



## El Jefe (Nov 23, 2008)

just finished John O'Farrell's History of Britain. I know it's riddled with inaccuracies and bad jokes, but I did actually learn stuff about the general progress of British History before perhaps The Industrial Revolution, the series of wars / kings / invasions etc.

Now going to read From Anger To Apathy: The Story of Politics, Society & Popular Culture In Britain Since 1975, by Mark Garnett. Which sounds interesting but grim


----------



## sojourner (Nov 24, 2008)

First Love, Last Rites - Ian McEwan

Excellent so far - 3 stories in.  But  @ second story!!! Fucking brave (or just insane) for a first publication!


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 24, 2008)

God just finished Millenium People. What a load of old shit 'The middle class are the new proletariat'


----------



## sojourner (Nov 25, 2008)

sojourner said:


> First Love, Last Rites - Ian McEwan
> 
> Excellent so far - 3 stories in.  But  @ second story!!! Fucking brave (or just insane) for a first publication!



Good lord


I'm fucking amazed this got published   (am loving it though)


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 25, 2008)

it's shocking isn't it?


----------



## sojourner (Nov 25, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> it's shocking isn't it?



yes!  very


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 25, 2008)

sojourner said:


> yes!  very



"I felt proud, proud to be fucking, even if it were only Connie, my ten-year-old sister, even if it had been a crippled mountain goat..."


----------



## bluestreak (Nov 25, 2008)

Just finished Tomalin's wonderful biography of Samuel Pepys.  Thoroughly thoroughly recommended, one of the best books i've read this year.  

Now I'm re-reading Spike Milligan's _Mussolini: His Part In My Downfall_


----------



## sojourner (Nov 25, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> "I felt proud, proud to be fucking, even if it were only Connie, my ten-year-old sister, even if it had been a crippled mountain goat..."



and the DETAIL he goes into! I'm cringing just thinking about it


----------



## El Jefe (Nov 25, 2008)

had a bit of a payday spree, got Bill Drummond's 17, Mark E Smith's Renegade, that David Simon Homicide book and another book on the Red Army Faction..


----------



## Dan U (Nov 25, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> that David Simon Homicide book



tis good that. i bought the first two seasons of Homicide cheap off Amazon after reading it as well.

i'm reading The Whisperers by Orlando Figes which is pretty bleak but very good.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 25, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> had a bit of a payday spree, got Bill Drummond's 17, Mark E Smith's Renegade, that David Simon Homicide book and another book on the Red Army Faction..


dur! its almost christmas, you should have put them on your pressie list!!!


----------



## El Jefe (Nov 25, 2008)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> dur! its almost christmas, you should have put them on your pressie list!!!



People generally know not to buy me books or music, it's a fruitless task. I'll either hate it or have it already


----------



## idioteque (Nov 25, 2008)

I'm about to start Ghostwritten by David Mitchell.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 25, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> People generally know not to buy me books or music, it's a fruitless task. I'll either hate it or have it already


A bag of oranges it is for you then.


----------



## maya (Nov 25, 2008)

Trying to catch up with the latest SF (after a longish, self-imposed break)
Have about four novels on the go, and one short story anthology thingy... *

(*That'll probably keep me going for a week, since I'm reading so slowly these days- I used to read one book a day at one point! Quite scary, really... Last night I read the same page- chapter opening- over and over, without being able to take it in at all... No concentration!)


----------



## sojourner (Nov 25, 2008)

After finishing the month WELL out of my overdraft cool: @ self), I have just treated myself to 3 more Ian McEwans on amazon - The Comfort of Strangers, The Cement Garden, and In Between the Sheets.  Also found an Annie Proulx that I didn't have - Fine Just the Way it is: Wyoming Stories (Wyoming Stories 3)


----------



## Scaggs (Nov 25, 2008)

Almost finished 'Lanark: A Life in Four Books' by Alasdair Gray (brilliant!) so I've just ordered 'Poor Things' by the same author.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 25, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> God just finished Millenium People. What a load of old shit 'The middle class are the new proletariat'



The problem is the middle class might lack the self awareness necessary to recognise the inherent contradiction contained therein.


----------



## Lea (Nov 26, 2008)

idioteque said:


> I'm about to start Ghostwritten by David Mitchell.



I read that one a few years ago and really enjoyed it.


----------



## narcodollars (Nov 27, 2008)

Will be re-reading *Midaq Alley* by Naguib Mahfouz, as soon as I can get some peace and quiet around here.


----------



## Rollem (Nov 28, 2008)

Barrel Fever - David Sedaris

not convinced yet


----------



## sojourner (Nov 28, 2008)

Anil's Ghost, by Michael Ondaatje.  A novel about human rights/forensic anthropology investigation into government-sanctioned mass murder in Sri Lanka in late 80s/early 90s

Fucking brilliant, such a great writer.  Read half of it last night - he slips massive amounts of research so easily into the story with not so much as a tiny clunk , and manages to write about war atrocities and the contradictory mess of that civil war without a hint of sensationalism or overdoing the pathos.


----------



## ringo (Nov 28, 2008)

Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger.


----------



## ringo (Nov 28, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Anil's Ghost, by Michael Ondaatje.  A novel about human rights/forensic anthropology investigation into government-sanctioned mass murder in Sri Lanka in late 80s/early 90s
> 
> Fucking brilliant, such a great writer.  Read half of it last night - he slips massive amounts of research so easily into the story with not so much as a tiny clunk , and manages to write about war atrocities and the contradictory mess of that civil war without a hint of sensationalism or overdoing the pathos.



Sounds good. Have you read his book about troubled jazz musician Buddy Bolden - Coming Through Slaughter?

I have almost no interest in jazz but this is the best book I've ever read about music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_Through_Slaughter


----------



## sojourner (Nov 28, 2008)

ringo said:


> Sounds good. Have you read his book about troubled jazz musician Buddy Bolden - Coming Through Slaughter?
> 
> I have almost no interest in jazz but this is the best book I've ever read about music.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_Through_Slaughter



Nah, not read that - will pick it up if i see it though, ta


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 28, 2008)

I'm reading 'Making Us Crazy' which is a slagging off of big phatma, the dcm-3 and psychiatric quackery in general.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 28, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm reading 'Making Us Crazy' which is a slagging off of big phatma, the dcm-3 and psychiatric quackery in general.



who by?


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 28, 2008)

Herb Kutchins & Stuart A Kirk


----------



## sojourner (Nov 28, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Herb Kutchins & Stuart A Kirk



didn't really want to know, just helping you brush up your bibliography skills 

date?

first publication date?


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 28, 2008)

Well I thought you've have some info as to their credentials


----------



## sojourner (Nov 28, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> Well I thought you've have some info as to their credentials



speaking as a parent...why?


----------



## Fedayn (Nov 28, 2008)

Last exit to Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 29, 2008)

Islamic Awakening (Between rejection and extremism) - Yusuf al Qaradawi


----------



## May Kasahara (Nov 29, 2008)

got another Pelecanos on the go - The Turnaround.


----------



## El Jefe (Nov 30, 2008)

finished the Mark E Smith autobiography, which was fun but quite depressing in some ways.

Now - like everyone else - I'm reading David Simon's Homicide, which presumably will be no fun at all and depressing in every way


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 30, 2008)

I dunno, it's quite funny in places.


----------



## tufty79 (Dec 1, 2008)

corporate watch's technofixes report.  not quite a book, but bigger than a pamphlet...
*brainfreeze*


----------



## sojourner (Dec 1, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Anil's Ghost, by Michael Ondaatje.  A novel about human rights/forensic anthropology investigation into government-sanctioned mass murder in Sri Lanka in late 80s/early 90s
> 
> Fucking brilliant, such a great writer.  Read half of it last night - he slips massive amounts of research so easily into the story with not so much as a tiny clunk , and manages to write about war atrocities and the contradictory mess of that civil war without a hint of sensationalism or overdoing the pathos.



Finished this yesterday, and all I can say is - if you see it, buy it. Seriously.  One of the best books I've read in a lonnnng time.  Incredibly dense, so many layers, I LOVE how he writes about emotion and relationships, and it's just 100% quality.  Couldn't stop thinking about it all night


----------



## Barking_Mad (Dec 1, 2008)

7 pages of War & Peace to go......

after that i don't know!


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 1, 2008)

45 - Bill Drummond


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 1, 2008)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Hugo


----------



## Dovydaitis (Dec 1, 2008)

enslaving anna- giselle lorimer

first one of hers ive read, so far, not too shabby


----------



## snackhead (Dec 1, 2008)

Just starting Iain Banks - The Steep Approach to Garbadale


----------



## henrytheoctopus (Dec 1, 2008)

i'm reading the night of the gun by david carr


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 1, 2008)

I have just reread _The Crying of Lot 49_ by Thomas Pynchon, for about the 6th time. I am starting to get obsessed with Pynchon.


----------



## ivebeenhigh (Dec 1, 2008)

im reading the new malcolm gladwell book.

its a bit meh and reductive.


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 1, 2008)

What does 'meh' mean? Is that a reductionist term?


----------



## snackhead (Dec 1, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> What does 'meh' mean? Is that a reductionist term?



It's Simpsonist 

LONDON (AP) — At least someone is excited about "meh."

The expression of indifference or boredom has gained a place in the Collins English Dictionary after generating a surprising amount of enthusiasm among lexicographers.

Publisher HarperCollins announced Monday the word had been chosen from terms suggested by the public for inclusion in the dictionary's 30th anniversary edition, to be published next year.

*The origins of "meh" are murky, but the term grew in popularity after being used in a 2001 episode of "The Simpsons" in which Homer suggests a day trip to his children Bart and Lisa.

"They both just reply 'meh' and keep watching TV," said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries.*

The dictionary defines "meh" as an expression of indifference or boredom, or an adjective meaning mediocre or boring. Examples given by the dictionary include "the Canadian election was so meh."

The dictionary's compilers said the word originated in North America, spread through the Internet and was now entering British spoken English.

"This is a new interjection from the U.S. that seems to have inveigled its way into common speech over here," McKeown said. "Internet forums and e-mail are playing a big part in formalizing the spellings of vocal interjections like these. 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hyI8ZfLlWGArP3zCmdKxZldyCKAwD94GBL381


----------



## ivebeenhigh (Dec 1, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> What does 'meh' mean? Is that a reductionist term?



nope its more indifference



> English
> 
> Etymology
> 
> ...


----------



## Barking_Mad (Dec 2, 2008)

Albert Camus - The Plague


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 2, 2008)

Thank you snackhead and ivebeenhigh


----------



## bluestreak (Dec 2, 2008)

Iain M Banks - Excession.

Just finished Mussolini - His Part In My Downfall, by Spike Milligan  and   all at once.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 2, 2008)

bluestreak said:


> Iain M Banks - *Excession.*
> 
> Just finished Mussolini - His Part In My Downfall, by Spike Milligan  and   all at once.



excellent opening scene


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Dec 2, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Finished this yesterday, and all I can say is - if you see it, buy it. Seriously.  One of the best books I've read in a lonnnng time.  Incredibly dense, so many layers, I LOVE how he writes about emotion and relationships, and it's just 100% quality.  Couldn't stop thinking about it all night



He is a fantastic writer, every novel of his I have read has, to use a hackneyed phrase, stayed with me.

I am 'between' books at the moment - got "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" and "The Constant Gardener" but can't get the motivation to start either of them


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Dec 6, 2008)

A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving.

I was stuck for a book to read and this caught my eye in the library because there was an armadillo on the cover and I've always loved armadillos.

Astonishing book. I laughed out loud often till my sides hurt  and sobbed twice. I was really tired last night but I couldn't go to bed till I finished it (nearly 2am).


----------



## ChrisC (Dec 6, 2008)

Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 6, 2008)

ChrisC said:


> Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds.



 I still haven't bought that


----------



## sojourner (Dec 6, 2008)

John Sergeants autobiog - Give Me Ten Seconds

fairly interesting - especially about the workings of the BBC back in the day


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 6, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> I still haven't bought that



Never mind that - explain further in pm!


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 6, 2008)

sojourner said:


> John Sergeants autobiog
> 
> fairly interesting - especially about the workings of the BBC back in the day


I read that - god knows why - must have been a present - tis a fun and instructive read all the same. Liked his account of the Thatcher incident in Paris.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 6, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> I read that - god knows why - must have been a present - *tis a fun and instructive read all the same*. Liked his account of the Thatcher incident in Paris.



Yeh - quite surprised. I only picked it up cos it was going for 79p in the local YM shop, and they had nothing else that day

Not got to that bit yet


----------



## ChrisC (Dec 6, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> I still haven't bought that



I'm going for The Terror by Dan Simmons instead. Fancy a change from the usual SF I read. Might as well give it ago.


----------



## idioteque (Dec 6, 2008)

Crime & Punishment- Dostoyevsky


----------



## Augie March (Dec 7, 2008)

Book Of Dave.


----------



## Pie 1 (Dec 9, 2008)

Le Carres new one: A Most Wanted Man.

Hats off to the guy - he can still bang out a yarn streets ahead of the rest.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 9, 2008)

maggie furey- The Eye of Eternity


one for the embarrasingly bad fantasy thread really.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 9, 2008)

Ian McEwan - The comfort of strangers

Only just started it, but enjoying it so far


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 9, 2008)

I am reading _Life After God_ by Douglas Coupland again, because I am bit depressed.


----------



## Homeless Mal (Dec 9, 2008)

_Joe Cinque's Consolation_ by Helen Garner which details a nasty crime in Canberra Aus where a woman killed her boyfriend by od'ing him on heroin and rohypnol because she seemed a bit nutty.  The author looks at the woman and the guy, Joe's, family.  the killer Anu Singh comes over as a bit of a nasty spoilt girl but only half way through.

Also reading _You'll Never Make Love in this Town Again_ about Holywood sex.

Have _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ sitting on my desk to bring in the New Year.  I hadn't thought about the book for years until I saw it on this forum


----------



## handy1 (Dec 10, 2008)

Just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

Fantastic and Heart rendering,the last line of the book made me physically sob


----------



## sojourner (Dec 15, 2008)

Toby Litt - deadkidsongs


Excellent.  Didn't want to put it down yesterday, but had to in the end as my eyes were closing


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 15, 2008)

some poems by Lorca


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Dec 15, 2008)

I'm halfway through  A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon -
it's very good


----------



## Upchuck (Dec 16, 2008)

_Halfway Heaven - Diary of a Harvard Murder_ by Melanie Thurnstrom about a murder/suicide in 1995 at Harvard.  Ethiopian 20 yr old killed her Vietnamese room mate and then hanged herself.  Very sad.  I kind of don't like the author as she seems like an opportunistic corporate whore, but am only 1/3 through so my opinion might change.


----------



## ringo (Dec 16, 2008)

All Crews: Journey's Through Jungle / Drum and Bass Culture by Brian Belle-Fortune

Don't know whay I haven't got round to this before, really good.


----------



## El Jefe (Dec 16, 2008)

still ploughing through Homicide. Very good, very long


----------



## sojourner (Dec 16, 2008)

dynamicbaddog said:


> I'm halfway through  A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon -
> it's very good



I read that earlier in the year - yeh, s'quite good


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 16, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> still ploughing through Homicide. Very good, very long



Vintage Paw recommended this to just yesterday.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 16, 2008)

As for me, I am determined to finish _Gravity's Rainbow_ before the new year. 

I have about 400 pages to go.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Dec 16, 2008)

Iain Banks- The Steep Approach to Garbadale.

It's very good, much better than I thought it would be given the crumminess of some of his more recent books. Very funny too in a strange way.


----------



## May Kasahara (Dec 16, 2008)

Victoria Hislop's _The Island_. It's terrible tosh and about as subtle as a brick, but decent enough to occupy my eyes when I'm feeding the baby


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 16, 2008)

SpookyFrank said:


> Iain Banks- The Steep Approach to Garbadale.
> 
> It's very good, much better than I thought it would be given the crumminess of some of his more recent books. Very funny too in a strange way.


No it's not. It's one of his worst.


----------



## May Kasahara (Dec 16, 2008)

you should try that Victoria Hislop, LTC - your eyes will pop right out in an apoplectic fury


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 16, 2008)

Is she related to Ian?


----------



## May Kasahara (Dec 16, 2008)

i wondered that myself actually 

he must be well ashamed, if she is - it's awful.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 16, 2008)

Just wiki'd her and she is
She also wrote: Sink or Swim: The Self-help Book for Men Who Never Read Them (2002) (with Duncan Goodhew)


----------



## SpookyFrank (Dec 16, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> No it's not. It's one of his worst.



Suit yourself, I'm enjoying it though 

Ok, it's fairly cliched and obvious and it's hard to really sympathise with any of the characters but it's well structured, occasionally surprising and very readable. I don't hold out much hope for the ending though, Banks is pretty crap at endings.


----------



## bluestreak (Dec 16, 2008)

Consider Phlebas - continuing my discovery of the joys of Banks.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 16, 2008)

bluestreak said:


> Consider Phlebas - continuing my discovery of the joys of Banks.



The main character is a cunt working for cunts.


good tale tho.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 16, 2008)

oh and pls, do Inversions next. It is a sly Culture song


----------



## bluestreak (Dec 16, 2008)

Cheers for that.   *puts book down*


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 16, 2008)

bluestreak said:


> Cheers for that.   *puts book down*



oh don't throw em out dear, it lessens the tale no less to know these facts.

It's like if I said of LOTR 'some twats sort of save the world'


----------



## mattie (Dec 16, 2008)

Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain.  A pretty good read, as it turns out, even though the only bit I'd be qualified to speak about he's got a very skewed perspective on.  And he spelt Lockheed incorrectly.

Got Mark Steel's Vive La Revolution lined up next.


----------



## bluestreak (Dec 16, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> oh don't throw em out dear, it lessens the tale no less to know these facts.
> 
> It's like if I said of LOTR 'some twats sort of save the world'


 

They do?  Fucksake.  *burns copy*


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 17, 2008)

Jihad in the Qur'an & Sunnah - Sheikh Abdullah Bin Muhammad Humaid


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 17, 2008)

Having another crack at Jerusalem Commands. I'm actually enjoying the 1st person narrative now where before I was repulsed by the twat.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 18, 2008)

Yes!!!  A new Annie Proulx collection of short stories    Fine Just The Way It Is.   Already brilliant


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 19, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I wanted to read more Italian fiction.



<snip>

I have been watching Inspector Montalbano in BBC4/Iplayer, and really enjoying it. Has anybody read the books? Are they any good? 

I have not read much crime fiction, and I quite like to start somewhere random, rather than work my way in.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 19, 2008)

My other question is: If I read detective/crime novels, do I need to read them in order? Will I miss out if I read them out of order?


----------



## mentalchik (Dec 20, 2008)

Song Of Kali - Dan Simmons


----------



## jeff_leigh (Dec 20, 2008)

Just finished The Count of Monte Cristo what a fucking excellent read probably get my teeth into one of the Russian Classics after Christmas


----------



## cybertect (Dec 20, 2008)

Orlando Figes: _A People's Tragedy: Russian Revolution, 1891-1924_


----------



## El Jefe (Dec 20, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Vintage Paw recommended this to just yesterday.



it is ace, but it's kinda frustrating because I have a tottering mountain of new books beside my bed I want to get stuck in...


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 20, 2008)

The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
Sir Gawain & The Green Knight - Anon


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 20, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
> Sir Gawain & The Green Knight - Anon




which version? The Tolkien edited one?


----------



## xenon (Dec 20, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> The main character is a cunt working for cunts.
> 
> 
> good tale tho.




It's just set piece after violent dramatic set piece.

Which isn't a critisism.

Anyway, currently being a bit flighty about books. have started 3 and not finished any lately. Have some short audio books I listen to at work on lunch. Annoyed with my general ignorance and interlectual malase, trying some accademic ish stuff. Just finishing Classics of Western philosophy. Today just started reading / listening to Guns, Germs and Steel. For novels, should finish the Screaming of Lott 49 over Christmas. 

Then i need something stupid and fun. Might look for some Sean Hudson. Terrible shlock but quite gripping.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 20, 2008)

You mean the Crying of Lot 49, right?

Tell me when you do. We have much to discuss. I am currently obsessed with Pynchon. That book is not what you think it is about. Seriously.


----------



## xenon (Dec 20, 2008)

bluestreak said:


> Cheers for that.   *puts book down*




That aspect's pretty clear from the off. he's a mercenary, who has a pretty rough time of it. Not an entirely unsympathetic character.


----------



## xenon (Dec 20, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> You mean the Crying of Lot 49, right?
> 
> Tell me when you do. We have much to discuss. I am currently obsessed with Pynchon. That book is not what you think it is about. Seriously.




Oops. yeah. Started it and kinda got distracted. Think I'll start from the beginning again. Will get back to you after. I don't know much about Pynchon TBH, other than that which wiki provides. Have heard the Crying of Lot 49 described as an early example of post modern fiction. What ever that precisely means.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 20, 2008)

Pynchon is a mystery.









_The Crying of Lot 49_ is probably one of the best books I have read. It is not a magnum opus piece, like _Gravity's Rainbow_, but it is just as good. 

The writing is beautiful. He is funny, and can go from high brow to the lowest of low brow, in a few lines. The jokes are brilliant. Sometimes his prose reads like poetry. I was hooked from the first few lines of _Gravity's Rainbow_:



> "A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare to it now.
> It is too late. The Evacuation proceeds, but it's all theatre"



On top of this, I think he is probably one of the most radical writers around, once you start to pick up on the keywords that point towards something else altogether. It is when you start to figure out what is being said _between_ the lines that you realize how brilliant, and radical he actually is. It is satire in the spirit of Johnathan Swift.  

Pynchon often gets labels like 'post-modern', but I just don't think it quite fits. IMO.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 20, 2008)

I could write a lot more.

A _whole_ lot more.

But I wont. For now.



Does anybody have an answer to my question about detective novels? ^^

It doesn't seem to merit a whole thread unto itself.


----------



## xenon (Dec 20, 2008)

Good stuff. 

Perhaps the post modern label is applied in a clumsy attempt to see the book in the context of wider artistic development. Was written 68 IIRC?

Hazarding a guess at your question, not being a big one for detective fiction. With the long running series type, I guess you do have to read in order. The central characters develop, age and earlier incidents are recollected. Which could become niggling if you read many from the same canon, out of cronological order.


----------



## Looby (Dec 20, 2008)

I've just started reading The Corrections again because Jefe and PieFace told me ages ago to give it another try and I'm enjoying it so far.


----------



## big eejit (Dec 20, 2008)

Just finished The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson. Most enjoybale read for ages. Great stuff.


----------



## extra dry (Dec 21, 2008)

'who runs britain' very interesting if you are into high finance and wondering just how and who is causing the uk to be losing out on millions of pounds to a very select few.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 21, 2008)

extra dry said:


> 'who runs britain' very interesting if you are into high finance and wondering just how and who is causing the uk to be losing out on millions of pounds to a very select few.



_other peoples money and how the bankers use it_ by Louis Brandeis is pretty good. It was actually published in 1914, and is about the financial panics of 1895 and 1907, and the robber barons, such as JP Morgan, and their continuing gathering influence. 

I have found today's financial panic far more similar to 1895/1907 than 1929. I think that what Brandeis says is still very relevant. And the years before 1914 are very very interesting and so often ignored.


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 21, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> which version? The Tolkien edited one?



The 2nd edition (Norman Davis) - based on the earlier edition by Tolkein and E.V Gordon (Oxford). There is a far more accessible Manchester University Press edition (edited by W R J Barton) which I find useful too.


----------



## fractionMan (Dec 21, 2008)

The book of dave - will self

funnay


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 21, 2008)

Crying Of Lot 49 is an incredible book - it's so short, yet there so much plot and incident in it - it should be unreadably dense but it isn't, it just flows beautifully.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 21, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Crying Of Lot 49 is an incredible book - it's so short, yet there so much plot and incident in it - it should be unreadably dense but it isn't, it just flows beautifully.



I think what amazed me is how many different levels it works on. There is just so much going on in there.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 21, 2008)

"Urban Spacemen & Wayfaring Strangers" by Richie Unterberger, and I'm re-reading "Europe's Inner Demons" by Norman Cohn.


----------



## ChrisC (Dec 21, 2008)

The Terror by Dan Simmons.


----------



## vauxhallmum (Dec 21, 2008)

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel.

It's not going well


----------



## audiodragon (Dec 21, 2008)

Essex Boys


----------



## sojourner (Dec 22, 2008)

I read Hunting Unicorns on Saturday. It should have had a fucking identifiable 'chick-lit' cover on it, cos that's what it was. Shite.


Started Lolita again yesterday - much easier to handle this time around, now that my daughter's not 12 anymore!  Am able to just enjoy the text, and even laugh at some of it, although still  at some of it too.

Excellent - really enjoying it


----------



## sojourner (Dec 22, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran



I love that


----------



## sojourner (Dec 22, 2008)

Re Crying of Lot 49 - I read that at Uni, for one of the postmodern lectures, and they somehow tied it up to the idea of entropy.  Completely fucked with my head at the time so never really got into it.  Will try it again at some point in the future though I reckon


----------



## mattie (Dec 22, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> As for me, I am determined to finish _Gravity's Rainbow_ before the new year.
> 
> I have about 400 pages to go.



Best of British.

I've made at least half-a-dozen false starts with that one.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 22, 2008)

sojourner said:


> Re Crying of Lot 49 - I read that at Uni, for one of the postmodern lectures, and they somehow tied it up to the idea of entropy.  Completely fucked with my head at the time so never really got into it.  Will try it again at some point in the future though I reckon



Entropy is definitely one of the themes. I can give you something pretty good to read about that (although you probably wont want to, after your course!).

If you do read it again, tell me, and I will read it again at the same time, and we can discuss it. I need more Pynchon readers!


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 22, 2008)

mattie said:


> Best of British.
> 
> I've made at least half-a-dozen false starts with that one.



It is pretty difficult to get into, I think. In fact, it is a difficult book all the way through. There is no easy way to read it. I don't know if I could even say that it is worth it. I don't know. 

But it is definitely a great book, and a very important one.


----------



## foamy (Dec 23, 2008)

Urban Grimshaw and the shed crew  - first book i've started in a long time.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 23, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Entropy is definitely one of the themes. I can give you something pretty good to read about that (although you probably wont want to, after your course!).
> 
> *If you do read it again*, tell me, and I will read it again at the same time, and we can discuss it. I need more Pynchon readers!



Well, it's been about 9 years now mate, so I might give it another 9, just to be on the safe side 

My little mate with the bald head might be able to give good debate about it though


----------



## elevendayempire (Dec 23, 2008)

The Séance, by John Harwood. I'm in full-on Victorian Ghost Story mode this Christmas.


----------



## cyberfairy (Dec 23, 2008)

elevendayempire said:


> The Séance, by John Harwood. I'm in full-on Victorian Ghost Story mode this Christmas.



Me too Recommend The Meaning of Night and The Glass Of Time by Micheal Cox if you want more victorian style sinister rompings around crumbling manor houses


----------



## May Kasahara (Dec 23, 2008)

On Writing, by Stephen King. It's brilliant. He remains one of my favourite writers, despite having gone off the boil with his fiction in recent years; he's still got that style I love.


----------



## mattie (Dec 23, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> It is pretty difficult to get into, I think. In fact, it is a difficult book all the way through. There is no easy way to read it. I don't know if I could even say that it is worth it. I don't know.
> 
> But it is definitely a great book, and a very important one.




I can't put my finger on what it is that stops me finishing it - it's not boring, it's not particularly byzantine, it's just - as you say - such hard work.

And it's quite a meaty beast, which is a bit intimidating when you're struggling to finish the first chapter.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 23, 2008)

mattie said:


> I can't put my finger on what it is that stops me finishing it - it's not boring, it's not particularly byzantine, it's just - as you say - such hard work.
> 
> And it's quite a meaty beast, which is a bit intimidating when you're struggling to finish the first chapter.



Indeed. I am at the last chapter, and I still feel nowhere near the end. I hold the pages of the last chapter between my pictures, and on its own it is the size of a book. 



I want to read Against the Day at some point, and that is even longer.



It is definitely his writing style. It is like nothing else I have ever read, particularly in Gravity's Rainbow. 

Like I said to Sojourner ages ago, reading Pynchon is like learning to read, all over again. It is a proper experience.


----------



## madamv (Dec 23, 2008)

Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh.

Wonderfully foppish indulgence...


----------



## sojourner (Dec 23, 2008)

madamv said:


> Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh.
> 
> Wonderfully foppish indulgence...



I really liked that


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 23, 2008)

sojourner said:


> I really liked that



So did I. Loved it, in fact. Waugh is a beautiful writer.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 23, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> So did I. Loved it, in fact. Waugh is a beautiful writer.



we're dangerously close to being a tag team you know 

i'm trying to cultivate some fresh arguments for the 27th


----------



## tastebud (Dec 24, 2008)

today at work I read 'The boy in the striped pyjamas'. this and the fact that this is the first time I have ever been on to Urban in a year of this job shows how boringly slow my day at work today is.

anyway - the book was ace. brilliant!


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Dec 24, 2008)

homicide - a year on the killing streets, present for xmas given 1 day early.  Anyone read it?  OK so far, but only 29 pages in, so hardly in a position to comment.  

Interesting already though is finding out that Jay Landsman was based on real life, same named person....


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 24, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> homicide - a year on the killing streets, present for xmas given 1 day early.  Anyone read it?  OK so far, but only 29 pages in, so hardly in a position to comment.
> 
> Interesting already though is finding out that Jay Landsman was based on real life, same named person....



Quite a few people reading that.

The real Jay Landsman is actually in it, he plays Bunny Colvin's lieutenant. The one with the *proper* B'more accent.


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Dec 24, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Quite a few people reading that.
> 
> The real Jay Landsman is actually in it, he plays Bunny Colvin's lieutenant. The one with the *proper* B'more accent.



having just done a seasons 2-4 rewatch since sat (I had the flu...), and wiki'd Landsman earlier, I can smugly say I already knew.  weird how he so skinny in real life....

I wanna see the real Bunk!


----------



## Lea (Dec 25, 2008)

Just finished reading the Host by Stephenie Meyer.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 25, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> having just done a seasons 2-4 rewatch since sat (I had the flu...), and wiki'd Landsman earlier, I can smugly say I already knew.  weird how he so skinny in real life....
> 
> I wanna see the real Bunk!



That's Requer (sp?) IIRC - great book


----------



## tastebud (Dec 28, 2008)

'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' by Mohsin Hamid & I'm totally hooked. Gonna order another of his books right now.


----------



## Lea (Dec 28, 2008)

Just started the Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. Also started a collection on short stories edited by the Lonely Planet called Brief Encounters.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 28, 2008)

Arthur C Clarke

profiles of the future

It is lol, cause of how wrong he was


----------



## mentalchik (Dec 28, 2008)

A Second Chance at Eden - Peter F Hamilton (short stories)


----------



## Bob_the_lost (Dec 28, 2008)

GEB


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 28, 2008)

tastebud said:


> 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' by Mohsin Hamid & I'm totally hooked. Gonna order another of his books right now.



Did you really enjoy the book? I read it and found it spare and elegant - but quite vacuous.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 28, 2008)

mentalchik said:


> A Second Chance at Eden - Peter F Hamilton (short stories)



oooh there's a well good twist the chief tale in that collection. Enjoy.


----------



## El Jefe (Dec 29, 2008)

well i finished Homicide, which was ace.

Then ploughed through Bill Drummond's excellent, inspirational and very funny 17 (thoroughly recommended) and I'm reading a Charlie Brooker collection before I depress the shite out of myself with John Gray's Black Mass


----------



## Citizen66 (Dec 29, 2008)

Almost finished The Last Of The Godfathers which makes me realise why, disappointedly, anarchist communism probably wouldn't work.


----------



## mentalchik (Dec 29, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> oooh there's a well good twist the chief tale in that collection. Enjoy.



I did enjoy it mostly......although it wasn't taxing and i sped through it very quickly........read The Nano Flower recently too.......same really !


----------



## lighterthief (Dec 29, 2008)

Just finished _The Hunters_, by James Salter - an unexpected and completely random treat, fiction but based on his experiences piloting F86 Sabres in the Korean War.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Dec 29, 2008)

"The Constant Gardener" was wonderful and definitely made me want to read more la Carre.

Just started on Richard Morgan's fantasy novel "The Steel Remains" which is shaping up well so far


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 29, 2008)

I am continuing to read _Vineland_ by Thomas Pynchon.

Everything else seems to be on hold.


----------



## bluestreak (Dec 29, 2008)

Over christmas I worked my way through most of the Culture novels, and very impressed I was too.  Especially Use Of Weapons.  I am taking a break from sci-fi wonderfulness for a while, and instead am going to start Jeanette Winterson's Lighthousekeeping on my journey home.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 29, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I am continuing to read _Vineland_ by Thomas Pynchon.
> 
> Everything else seems to be on hold.


 

it is a novel requiring full time attention.


----------



## Homeless Mal (Dec 29, 2008)

Homeless Mal said:


> _Joe Cinque's Consolation_ by Helen Garner which details a nasty crime in Canberra Aus where a woman killed her boyfriend by od'ing him on heroin and rohypnol because she seemed a bit nutty.  The author looks at the woman and the guy, Joe's, family.  the killer Anu Singh comes over as a bit of a nasty spoilt girl but only half way through.



Just finished _Joe Cinque's Consolation_.  Very good book.  The author gets the justice that was lacking in the courts and exposes his killer as the selfish, narcissistic, spoilt, remorseless person that she is.  If anyone wants to read PM me and I'll mail it.

Have started now on _The Insider_ by Piers Morgan.  Though I think he is an arrogant nasty prick it was only £1 from Oxfam and I hope it will make me laugh a bit.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 29, 2008)

DotCommunist said:


> it is a novel requiring full time attention.



Indeed


----------



## moonsi til (Dec 29, 2008)

I think mine is 'a million little pieces' by James Fey. Picked it up on holiday in November but although I'm enjoying it it sadly hasn't taken over my life.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 29, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Indeed


 

I'll be interested on your opinions when your finished. For me the novel felt intensely american in a way I didn't get from my two stabs at GR. The central character comes off as the last-stand hippy and his daughter as some fusion of hippy idealism and modern pragmatism


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 29, 2008)

The Place of Tolerance in Islam - Khaled Abou El Fadl et al


----------



## tastebud (Dec 29, 2008)

Fictionist said:


> Did you really enjoy the book? I read it and found it spare and elegant - but quite vacuous.


I finished it today and def enjoyed the first half beter than the second. No complaints really but he did get slightly annoying about half way through. I think it starts getting annoying from the point where he finds similarities between himself and a jeepney driver in Manila 

I also read some of his journalism out of interest and I think he is definitely a better writer of fiction!

I have since started an Orhan Pamuk book.


----------



## belboid (Dec 29, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> I depress the shite out of myself with John Gray's Black Mass


I wouldn't bother if I were you, grossly over-rated, not particularly insightful justification for going 'oh well, what else can you do?'

I just finished Irvine Welsh's Crime. A quite gripping story, even if a few key bits weren't entirely convincing. Now moved onto A matter of Life and Death - The Brain Revealed by the Mind of Michael Powell.  Fascinating stuff.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 30, 2008)

Halfway through The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, but after Xmas giftage, am getting drawn away by Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise: Listening To The 20th Century and a half arsed bit of fluff by Bill Bryson about Shakespeare.


----------



## cliche guevara (Dec 30, 2008)

Ben Goldacre's Bad Science.


----------



## El Jefe (Dec 30, 2008)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Halfway through The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, but after Xmas giftage, am getting drawn away by Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise: Listening To The 20th Century...



NOOOO...

stick with K&K


----------



## Bob_the_lost (Dec 30, 2008)

cliche guevara said:


> Ben Goldacre's Bad Science.


It's good but a lot of it is already up on his site in one way or another. It's like reading a book after seeing a well made film based on it.


----------



## marty21 (Dec 30, 2008)

the scar - china mieville - enjoying it, dark fantasy


----------



## lighterthief (Dec 30, 2008)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "The Constant Gardener" was wonderful and definitely made me want to read more la Carre.


Oh you definitely should, that was far from his best.


----------



## Pieface (Dec 30, 2008)

Medusa.

The story of the tragedy on the Raft of the Medusa and political situation in France that inspired Gericault's painting, which is my favourite in the world.   I hardly ever read stuff like this because I'm a fiction-whore but fucking hell it's good and is making me want to read more historical biographical stuff where their lives are as mental and interesting as any fictional character's.  I'm completely loving it.







Cracking opening chapter too, involving a decapited head and a studio full of bits of dead people.


----------



## mrs quoad (Dec 30, 2008)

PieEye said:


> Medusa.
> 
> The story of the tragedy on the Raft of the Medusa and political situation in France that inspired Gericault's painting, which is my favourite in the world.   I hardly ever read stuff like this because I'm a fiction-whore but fucking hell it's good and is making me want to read more historical biographical stuff where their lives are as mental and interesting as any fictional character's.  I'm completely loving it.
> 
> ...


Julian Barnes' History of the World in 10.5 Chapters has a chapter on that painting, ennit.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 30, 2008)

I have not read anything for a few days now. I am just not in the mood.


----------



## quimcunx (Dec 31, 2008)

I finally finished Shantaram.  I've been reading it for months, 10 minutes at a time.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 31, 2008)

Started and almost finished The Flamboya Tree by Clara Kelly.  Memoir of the Japanese camps in Java


----------



## bigbry (Dec 31, 2008)

"Who Runs Britain" by BBC Business Editor Robert Peston


----------



## Vintage Paw (Dec 31, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> On Writing, by Stephen King. It's brilliant. He remains one of my favourite writers, despite having gone off the boil with his fiction in recent years; he's still got that style I love.



I've heard lots of people rate this book - not just fans of King (which I used to be when I was younger but can't imagine reading something of his at the moment), but also proper writer types (not that the 2 are mutually exclusive, you understand). I might bag myself a copy.



Jon-of-arc said:


> homicide - a year on the killing streets, present for xmas given 1 day early.  Anyone read it?  OK so far, but only 29 pages in, so hardly in a position to comment.
> 
> Interesting already though is finding out that Jay Landsman was based on real life, same named person....



I'm reading this. Been eyeing it up on the shelf at work for a while but finally bought it a couple of weeks ago. Haven't read any for a while, must get back to it. 

I'm currently a couple of eps into season 5 of Homicide at the moment, on my mammoth Homicide-athon. I fucking love that show


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 1, 2009)

Beowulf - translated by Seamus Heaney

Which will be followed by The Woman in White


----------



## Upchuck (Jan 2, 2009)

Just finished _Halfway Heaven - Diary of a Harvard Murder _by Melanie Thurnstrom about a murder/suicide in 1995 at Harvard. Ethiopian 20 yr old killed her Vietnamese room mate and then hanged herself.  Really good.  Harvard come across as a right bunch of horrible people.

Am moving on to _Heart of Darkness_ as I have not read it for a while and want to feel its closeness again.


----------



## cliche guevara (Jan 2, 2009)

Ben Goldacre's Bad Science. Very interesting, even if a little untidy at times.


----------



## 5t3IIa (Jan 2, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> *Beowulf - translated by Seamus Heaney*
> 
> Which will be followed by The Woman in White



Isn't it wonderful? I don't read much of the type of stuff but I thought it was amazing 

I'm currently on the Introduction by Patrick Wright of _Journey through a small planet_ by Emanuel Litvinoff. The Introduction is bloody awful so I hope the text is better


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 2, 2009)

bout to start Ben Bova 'Mars'. Am a bit  as to wether it'll be any good.


----------



## Biffo (Jan 2, 2009)

Finished "The Damned United" by David Peace the other day. Bloody great. I am now half way through Haruki Murakami's "What I talk about when I talk about running".


----------



## 100% masahiko (Jan 2, 2009)

A real boring book on financial spread betting.


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 2, 2009)

Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, which is ace


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Jan 2, 2009)

A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis -  David M. Friedman


(thanks the lovely urbanite pseudonarcissus who sent me this book a few years ago, ive read it sooo many times, its really ace..)


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 2, 2009)

5t3IIa said:


> Isn't it wonderful? I don't read much of the type of stuff but I thought it was amazing
> 
> I'm currently on the Introduction by Patrick Wright of _Journey through a small planet_ by Emanuel Litvinoff. The Introduction is bloody awful so I hope the text is better



I am finding it very enjoyable - although the apparent fusion of Christianity with pagan elements is quite troubling. I particularly liked:

"Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere".


----------



## tar1984 (Jan 2, 2009)

im re-reading 'crime', by irvine welsh.  

not your standard welsh fare, but a good novel all the same.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jan 3, 2009)

Vintage Paw said:


> I've heard lots of people rate this book - not just fans of King (which I used to be when I was younger but can't imagine reading something of his at the moment), but also proper writer types (not that the 2 are mutually exclusive, you understand). I might bag myself a copy.



It's really, really excellent. And makes you realise how very skilled he is. Also reminded me of having a row with some snotty teen in my very first BA seminar about whether King was 'real literature' or not 

At the moment, as well as the King and a load of baby-themed books, I am reading something my lovely MIL gave me for Christmas: Under A Blood Red Sky, by Kate Furnivall. It is so badly written. Reading it alongside the King is providing a brilliant object lesson in all the things he advises not to do


----------



## mentalchik (Jan 4, 2009)

Fallen Dragon -Peter F Hamilton


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 4, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, which is ace



finished that and it's lovely.

Still putting off a number of serious, potentially depressing books


----------



## tufty79 (Jan 4, 2009)

'the book thief'

i'm on page 74 and loving every line so far


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 4, 2009)

Just finished Beowulf, and I found the poem very curious. The intermeshing of Christianity and pagan elements is odd, in some instances it appears forced - possibly a later addition - and it certainly reads as the work of more than one author (but this is probably disputed).


----------



## sojourner (Jan 5, 2009)

Started and finished The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan yesterday.  Veh good, veh interesting.  

Now re-reading Shikasta by Doris Lessing, after a 10ish year break.  I knew this was a great book, but I'd forgotten quite HOW fucking great.  What a powerful intellect


----------



## tufty79 (Jan 5, 2009)

cement garden = eeky but 

ms lessing = ohgodiloveher.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 5, 2009)

tufty79 said:


> cement garden = eeky but
> 
> ms lessing = ohgodiloveher.



Early Ian McEwan seems to be obsessed with incest!! 

Doris is a fucking god among writers


----------



## rollinder (Jan 5, 2009)

tufty79 said:


> cement garden = eeky but


 
read that ages ago after finding it in the college library  but  is right.
*goes off to a,azon to add the book to my wishlist & go hunting for the film*

I remember the Guardian guide reviewing both the film of it and The Secret Garden in the same issue (iirc) and mentioning in the Secret garden review not to confuse it with the cement garden


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 5, 2009)

Muriel Spark - Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

simply because I started doing a Maggie Smith impression in the pub yesterday


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 5, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Early Ian McEwan seems to be obsessed with incest!!
> 
> Doris is a fucking god among writers



Did somebody mention Doris?


----------



## sojourner (Jan 5, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Did somebody mention Doris?



 heh

you are sooo gonna have to read this one mate


----------



## Rollem (Jan 6, 2009)

just finished "touching from a distance" by deborah curtis


----------



## tufty79 (Jan 6, 2009)

stillll ploughing through 'the book thief'.
still loving it to bits.

the part with the pic below in nearly made me fall off my trainseat in astoundation


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 6, 2009)

I am really in the mood for some Milan Kundera, so I will probably be re-reading something by him over the next few days.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 6, 2009)

Kundera can fuck right off


----------



## bluestreak (Jan 6, 2009)

Just finished Jeanette Winterson's _Lighthousekeeping_, which I think is the weakest of her novels that I've read.  Which is a shame, because _Art & Lies_ is one of the greatest novels ever written, and to have her kind of treading water after such a great work is pretty saddening.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 6, 2009)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Kundera can fuck right off



I like him.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 6, 2009)

Just about to start PD James' The Lighthouse


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 6, 2009)

i started on 'In the Footsteps of Harrison Dextrose' by Nick Griffiths yesterday and it was thoroughly enjoyable and slightly silly, which is a good thing atm.


----------



## belboid (Jan 6, 2009)

just finished The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, or the Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale.  Marvellous stuff, part whodunnit, part history of police detectives, part history of detective fiction. Enthralling from beginning to end.

Now moved onto The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, which has started very well.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 6, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I like him.



This doesn't change the way I feel about you


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 6, 2009)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> This doesn't change the way I feel about you





I can definitely understand why other people wouldn't like him.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 6, 2009)

He's a randy old bastard


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 6, 2009)

I like him because he writes philosophical novels, of a kind that people don't really write these days.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 6, 2009)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> He's a randy old bastard


So are you.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 6, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I like him because he writes philosophical novels, of a kind that people don't really write these days.



I used to think that when I was 18.
Now I think he's a dirty old man.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 6, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> So are you.



I'm not a posturing philosophical writer though


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 6, 2009)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> I used to think that when I was 18.
> Now I think he's a dirty old man.



Sometimes that is just what I need. 



Have you ever read Lolita?


----------



## fogbat (Jan 6, 2009)

Just finished Altered Carbon. Spotted it in Forbidden Planet while seeking something else, and vaguely remembered someone on here recommending it. Excellent stuff - I now want a Khumalo superninja sleeve.


Currently reading the first two books in the Gap series by Stephen Donaldson. He really likes using rape as literary shorthand for "this is a bad, bad man", doesn't he? 

Also, if Morn Hyland "wails" one more time, I'm going to, well, mutter a bit and roll my eyes. Or start writing my own storyline on top.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 6, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Sometimes that is just what I need.
> 
> 
> 
> Have you ever read Lolita?



Yes, it's one of the best books I've ever read. One of the most immersive experiences one can have enjoying the beauty of the written word. And nothing to do with the fact that the narrator is a dirty old man.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Jan 6, 2009)

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio - Terry Ryan (just finished this...)


The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson (gonna read this tonight, its been a while since i last read it...)


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 6, 2009)

The Rum Diary is good imo, very different from much of his other work but no less enjoyable for that.


----------



## ChrisC (Jan 6, 2009)

Island by Aldous Huxley. Put The Terror by Dan Simmons on hold for a bit for this one.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Jan 6, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> The Rum Diary is good imo, very different from much of his other work but no less enjoyable for that.



yeah its a book i really enjoy too, it is a lot different than his other stuff youre right...but he was just straight-up ace really.


----------



## ChrisC (Jan 6, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> Fallen Dragon -Peter F Hamilton



Whats that like?


----------



## mentalchik (Jan 6, 2009)

ChrisC said:


> Whats that like?



I have to say i quite liked it.......very easy read and some interesting concepts !


----------



## belboid (Jan 7, 2009)

belboid said:


> Now moved onto The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, which has started very well.



superb book, magnificent evocation of the underbelly of India, slowly and quietly drawing out the brutal realities of life for the majority, but in an amusing and subtle way. The plot twists quite nicely, as you expect one thing to happen, and then it turns it around, and turns it around again. 

Cracking stuff.


----------



## quimcunx (Jan 7, 2009)

''god and the new physics'' 

Paul Davies


----------



## May Kasahara (Jan 7, 2009)

Left Turn Clyde said:


> Kundera can fuck right off



yes please. in fact i'd like him to come back afterwards, just so he can fuck right off again


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 7, 2009)

belboid said:


> just finished *The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, or the Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale.*  Marvellous stuff, part whodunnit, part history of police detectives, part history of detective fiction. Enthralling from beginning to end.
> 
> Now moved onto The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, which has started very well.



I bought that for a friend of mine for Christmas and rather wish I'd kept it for myself .

I'm currently reading "The Steel Remains" by Richard Morgan - which i think is his first foray into fantasy rather than sci-fi. Very robust and very good.


----------



## maya (Jan 7, 2009)

Just finished reading Shantaram by Gregory Davis Roberts (sp?), not able to say anything intelligent about this other than... Please read it!

Equally good (judging from the excited babble of friends whose taste i trust), and with slightly overlapping themes is the book I'm starting _right now_: by an indian writer named Chandra (first name and title eludes me, but more shortly), from the short paragraphs I've skimmed this looks like a great read!*

(*and if you know me in real life, you'd know that- contrary to what internet prescence would suggest- i don't usually dish out superlatives/such praise that often...)

Updates to follow...


----------



## belboid (Jan 7, 2009)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I bought that for a friend of mine for Christmas and rather wish I'd kept it for myself .


borrow it back - they should have finished it by now


----------



## bluestreak (Jan 8, 2009)

Having been very disappointed by Spike Milligan's _McGonagal_ I turn to a very different beast, and have jsut started Patricia Highsmith's _Ripley's Game_, which has started well even for someone who dislikes the thriller genre.


----------



## belboid (Jan 8, 2009)

Just started Umberto Eco's On Beauty.  Fascinating stuff so far, and utterly gorgeous thing in and of itself.

Seemingly the first things in western europe to be described as beautiful in and of themselves were Helen of Troy's tits.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 8, 2009)

bluestreak said:


> Having been very disappointed by Spike Milligan's _McGonagal_ I turn to a very different beast, and have jsut started Patricia Highsmith's _Ripley's Game_, which has started well even for someone who dislikes the thriller genre.



I quite like Patricia Highsmith, but it really grates when she writes 'he _lighted _a cigarette'


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 8, 2009)

I have been mostly reading FHM book of 'true' stories.

Christ I need to go bookshopping


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 8, 2009)

A Scanner Darkly.. can't believe it's taken me this long


----------



## maya (Jan 8, 2009)

*PKD*

^^ Tell us when you've arrived at the walking hash man...   !


----------



## maya (Jan 8, 2009)

As for my own reading: Still on the Chandra, but a growing pile of Stefan Zweig books (two were xmas gifts) are silently accusing me from the corner...  

Not enough time in the universe, etc...


----------



## obanite (Jan 8, 2009)

Finally onto book 4 of Tad Williams' Otherland, snatching bits of Gravity's Rainbow in between books... like GR's not confusing enough as it is


----------



## sojourner (Jan 9, 2009)

Didn't have the mental energy to continue with Shikasta last night, so started re-reading Down All The Days by Christy Brown instead.  Doris will have to wait til Sunday for another read


----------



## Aldebaran (Jan 9, 2009)

I just got a book I think I will find interesting to read: 

Michelle Goldberg, "Kingdom Coming, The rise of Christian nationlism", WW Northon & Company, NY, 2006.

salaam


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 10, 2009)

Homer's Odyssey - Simon Armitage

(For reading after I finish 'The Woman in White')


----------



## cybertect (Jan 11, 2009)

_The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy_ by Adam Tooze 

The shelves of my local Waterstones always seem to have too many books on Nazi Germany, but this looks to be an interesting new perspective.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 12, 2009)

STILL not finished Shikasta, but I ordered Homicide by David Simon, and got it on Saturday, so have been unable to help myself starting it already


----------



## tastebud (Jan 12, 2009)

Moth Smoke - Mohsin Hamid. Liking it so far. Definitely better than his more recent one so far - less preachy and more novelly.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jan 13, 2009)

Finished that dreadful Kate Furnivall book at the weekend. I've never known a book so crap to jump its own shark so many times. Was quite enjoyable really 

Now I am hopping between The No-Cry Sleep Solution and a dark-looking crime novel called The Brutal Art.


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 13, 2009)

Neil Gaiman - American Gods. excellent so far


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 13, 2009)

After all those threads on best/worst novels the other day, I am going to be reading some Borges for a while now.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 14, 2009)

A thousand splendid suns

It was light going and I got through it in a day  Interesting but nothing of real substance IMO


----------



## Stobart Stopper (Jan 15, 2009)

Byron In Love by Edna O'Brien.

Only got it today but it looks really good.


----------



## belboid (Jan 15, 2009)

I think there was just a piece on the radio about that.  And Byron being a complete and utter cunt who was only ever in love with himself.  And maybe his sister.


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 15, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Neil Gaiman - American Gods. excellent so far



what an ace book, I'm really ploughing through it.

Any other Gaiman recommendations?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 15, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> what an ace book, I'm really ploughing through it.
> 
> Any other Gaiman recommendations?



Neverwhere. Fantastic other london tale.

IMO he never tops American Gods but Anansi Boys and Stardust are also worth the time

Good Omens is fantastic and very funny indeed, but co-written with an author you hate, Pratchett


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 15, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Neverwhere. Fantastic other london tale.
> 
> IMO he never tops American Gods but Anansi Boys and Stardust are also worth the time
> 
> Good Omens is fantastic and very funny indeed, but co-written with an author you hate, Pratchett



I read Good Omens and didn't mind it. I imagine if you factor liking Gaiman and loathing Pratchett you end up with "don't mind" 

I also prefer the more "grown-up" stuff

I saw the film of Stardust and it was wank, so I guess I'll give Anansi Boys a go.


----------



## Sadken (Jan 15, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> what an ace book, I'm really ploughing through it.
> 
> Any other Gaiman recommendations?



How are you pronouncing that?


----------



## Rollem (Jan 15, 2009)

started reading "apples" yesterday, by Richard Milward....not sure yet


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 16, 2009)

Ben Goldacre's "Bad Science" which is excellent. Funny, informative, quietly, and not so quietly, fierce. Really enjoying it, especially the Gillian McKeith chapter I am currently on


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 16, 2009)

an interesting bit of writing on participatory economics


----------



## madzone (Jan 16, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> I read Good Omens and didn't mind it. I imagine if you factor liking Gaiman and loathing Pratchett you end up with "don't mind"
> 
> I also prefer the more "grown-up" stuff
> 
> I saw the film of Stardust and it was wank, so I guess I'll give Anansi Boys a go.


 Anansi boys is good but I preferred american gods


----------



## TruXta (Jan 16, 2009)

My Fault by Billy Childish. The wonder of Chatham on his childhood - read: sexual abuse, domestic dissonance (to put it mildly), art school, hating the world, and other topics eminently fit for a rock'n roller. Pretty good actually, especially since its near-selfcontained and short chapters really lend themselves well to reading in short bursts AKA in bed.


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 16, 2009)

TruXta said:


> My Fault by Billy Childish. The wonder of Chatham on his childhood - read: sexual abuse, domestic dissonance (to put it mildly), art school, hating the world, and other topics eminently fit for a rock'n roller. Pretty good actually, especially since its near-selfcontained and short chapters really lend themselves well to reading in short bursts AKA in bed.



I saw him do readings from that at Compendium once.

We were supposed to be going clubbing after (me and my mates, not me and Billy). After the reading I just went all quiet and went home early.

Not a laff riot


----------



## ringo (Jan 17, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> what an ace book, I'm really ploughing through it.
> 
> Any other Gaiman recommendations?



All good; Anansi Boys is excellent but I reckon Neverwhere is his best.


----------



## ringo (Jan 17, 2009)

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish - Dr. Seuss

Thought I'd read my littlun all of these but this came back from school this week and has had us wetting ourselves. 

Inspired imagery and alliteration. Did he do all the illustration himself too? Can't see any other credits, brilliant stuff.


----------



## ringo (Jan 17, 2009)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Ben Goldacre's "Bad Science" which is excellent. Funny, informative, quietly, and not so quietly, fierce. Really enjoying it, especially the Gillian McKeith chapter I am currently on



My favourite weekly bit of the Gruniad.


----------



## colbhoy (Jan 17, 2009)

I'm reading Whirlwind by James Clavell. He is a master storyteller.


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 17, 2009)

Just finished 'The Woman in White', certainly not something I will be revisiting any time soon. So now Simon Armitage, which should be a completely different experience.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 17, 2009)

ringo said:


> All good; Anansi Boys is excellent but I reckon Neverwhere is his best.



Patterson James is in the fucking awful bbc tv version, he's the best thing in it


----------



## obanite (Jan 17, 2009)

Otherland. Book 4. Almost done... finally!


----------



## rapattaque (Jan 17, 2009)

New Wilfred Owen biography by Dominic Hibberd. Tres Bien so far.


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 18, 2009)

Taking some time away from Armitage to read 'The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam' by G.R Hawting.


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 18, 2009)

I'm reading some "proper" books for a bit.

I've read most of To Have & To Have Not today, which is pretty shite.

Got Cannery Row and End Of The Affair waiting


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 18, 2009)

I am reading _What I Loved_ by Siri Hustvedt, after stealing it from millymollys house and reading it on the coach.


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 19, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> I'm reading some "proper" books for a bit.
> 
> I've read most of To Have & To Have Not today, which is pretty shite.
> 
> Got Cannery Row and End Of The Affair waiting



Yep, To Have & To Have Not really was poor (although I gather Hemingway thought so too).

Whereas Cannery Row is absolutely wonderful, I'm only familiar with the bleak Steinbeck so this was a shock


----------



## Homeless Mal (Jan 19, 2009)

Just finished _Leaving Dirty Jersey_ by James Salant - memoir of a meth addict in California in early 2000's.  Nothing special and unique by a rolling on easy read.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 19, 2009)

still wrestling with the parecon text.

I like the idea but can't see how to implement it in the face of rapacious and armed capital


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 19, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> still wrestling with the parecon text.
> 
> I like the idea but can't see how to implement it in the face of rapacious and armed capital



I have vague memories of some pretty interesting threads on parecon. They might still be around.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 19, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have vague memories of some pretty interesting threads on parecon. They might still be around.



thing is, as I am nodding along to the fascinating and practical implementations of parecon I can't help but think 'the powers that be would kill us all before allowing this'


----------



## belboid (Jan 19, 2009)

it's not entirely meant to be tho is it? (implemented now that is).  It's an idea of how a socialist society _could_ work, not  a plan  for how to get there


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 19, 2009)

belboid said:


> it's not entirely meant to be tho is it? (implemented now that is).  It's an idea of how a socialist society _could_ work, not  a plan  for how to get there



then why is it ought but deckchairs/titanic?

It's fascinating and agreeable stuff, but how the fuck do we get there?


----------



## belboid (Jan 19, 2009)

different question, it doesnt mean that Albert's (I presume its his book you're reading) aren't worth asking.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 19, 2009)

belboid said:


> different question, it doesnt mean that Albert's (I presume its his book you're reading) aren't worth asking.



yes it is his book, it is just the chief question raised in my mind while reading it.


----------



## Chuff (Jan 21, 2009)

I am working through Madam Bovary which is a slight change of pace from 'The Enchantress of Florence' By Salman Rushdie a classic mix of facts, humour and humanity (most of his book rock espically midnights children) I also finished 'Something to tell you' by Hanif Kureishi (not as good as buddah of surburbia but an entertaining read)

I saw Stardust and though the film better than the book (which was good but I went through it too quick)


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 21, 2009)

^^ That Hanif Kureshi is pretty good. 

I am really enjoying this Siri Hustvedt book.


----------



## tastebud (Jan 21, 2009)

ooh I'm reading the newest (2008) Hanif Kureshi one atm.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 21, 2009)

Any good?


----------



## tastebud (Jan 21, 2009)

not very far in but so far so good. have read all his books and love them all, so I have high hopes. it's about a middle aged shrink.... is as far as it's got.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 21, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> ^^ That Hanif Kureshi is pretty good.
> 
> I am really enjoying this Siri Hustvedt book.



why does this post make me lol?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 21, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> why does this post make me lol?



Because you are pissed and want to take the piss.

Go for it.


----------



## tastebud (Jan 21, 2009)

'what i loved' by siri was well good.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 21, 2009)

tastebud said:


> 'what i loved' by siri was well good.



That is the one I am reading. I really like it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 21, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Because you are pissed and want to take the piss.
> 
> Go for it.



I am reading Hranar Colliqueis intense look at the make up of icelandic society in the 1930's

cos thats how I proffita roll


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 21, 2009)

I've got nothing to read. Any suggestions?


----------



## i-am-your-idea (Jan 21, 2009)

just finished 'starter for ten' by david nicholls.  its good!


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 22, 2009)

now reading Peter Carey's The Tax Inspector. Which is quite... odd.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 22, 2009)

the shack - all of the books i read are religious or music bios.


----------



## idioteque (Jan 22, 2009)

I'm reading 'Life After God' by Douglas Coupland.


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 22, 2009)

idioteque said:


> I'm reading 'Life After God' by Douglas Coupland.



possibly the book that's affected me more than any other. Ever. I think I bought about 10 copies of the kinda Bible-sized editions to give away


----------



## idioteque (Jan 22, 2009)

I am really enjoying it, I'm not that far in at the moment because I've got exams on at the moment, but as soon as they're finished I'm going to sit down and read the whole thing. Dillinger recommended it to me


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 22, 2009)

he's a smart lad


----------



## Voley (Jan 22, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Whereas Cannery Row is absolutely wonderful, I'm only familiar with the bleak Steinbeck so this was a shock



Sweet Thursday's worth a go, too. Doesn't quite hit Cannery Row's heights but is similarly uproarious and has the same beautiful descriptions of the Monterey shoreline and what-have-you.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 22, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> possibly the book that's affected me more than any other. Ever. I think I bought about 10 copies of the kinda Bible-sized editions to give away



Tis weird, cos that's the only book of his that I can't remember anything about


----------



## cybertect (Jan 22, 2009)

cybertect said:


> _The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy_ by Adam Tooze



Highly recommended.

Having enjoyed reading his book on the London Underground last year., I've moved on to _Fire and Steam: A New History of the Railways in Britain_ by Christian Wolmar.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 22, 2009)

idioteque said:


> I'm reading 'Life After God' by Douglas Coupland.







El Jefe said:


> possibly the book that's affected me more than any other. Ever. I think I bought about 10 copies of the kinda Bible-sized editions to give away



Same for me, I think. I have gone back and re-read it quite a few times at different times in my life. I often find myself quoting it. 





El Jefe said:


> he's a smart lad


----------



## Lea (Jan 22, 2009)

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb. A ghostly tale.


----------



## belboid (Jan 22, 2009)

belboid said:


> Now moved onto A matter of Life and Death - The Brain Revealed by the Mind of Michael Powell.  Fascinating stuff.



great book, lots of insights, tho it is disappointing to learn that Abraham Farlan didn't exist at all.


Dunno what to read now, still waiting for the library to get Scandals of Translation in, so some light, barely needs reading, novel sounds good, hmmm...


----------



## CHAPPERS (Jan 22, 2009)

I'm reading the Twilight books, because I like to reads the books before I see the movies


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 22, 2009)

cybertect said:


> Highly recommended.


Agreed, hugely informative book.


> Having enjoyed reading his book on the London Underground last year., I've moved on to _Fire and Steam: A New History of the Railways in Britain_ by Christian Wolmar.


Also very good!


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 22, 2009)

Just polishing off the final volume of Adrian Coles' "The Omaran Saga". Old-school fantasy without elves, gnomes and fairies.


----------



## Lea (Jan 22, 2009)

CHAPPERS said:


> I'm reading the Twilight books, because I like to reads the books before I see the movies



I really enjoyed them even though they are young adult books. Huge following in the States.


----------



## middle C (Jan 22, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> Tis weird, cos that's the only book of his that I can't remember anything about



same.

i'd much prefer his girlfriend in a coma.


----------



## tastebud (Jan 22, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> That is the one I am reading. I really like it.


it goes a bit freaky - it's great.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 22, 2009)

tastebud said:


> it goes a bit freaky - it's great.



Yeh, I just hit that bit.



I did have a sense of something like that coming. 

It is wonderfully written, deep, and pretty moving. I am going to spend a lot of this evening reading it, I think.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 22, 2009)

middle C said:


> same.
> 
> i'd much prefer his girlfriend in a coma.



I didn't really care for that one very much.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 22, 2009)

Just finishing off Homicide, and was not wanting to finish it cos it's ace - but today Grace After Midnight (Felicia Pearson's memoir) got delivered, so I shall be reading that shortly


----------



## trevhagl (Jan 22, 2009)

"Five Years of my Life- an innocent man in Guantanamo" , excellent read.


----------



## Lea (Jan 22, 2009)

Just about to start A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.


----------



## belboid (Jan 22, 2009)

decided to re-read Martin Millars _Dreams of Sex & Stage Diving_.  Hope it's not just 'an off its time' thing


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 23, 2009)

belboid said:


> decided to re-read Martin Millars _Dreams of Sex & Stage Diving_.  Hope it's not just 'an off its time' thing



I rather think it is


----------



## starfish (Jan 23, 2009)

About a third of the way through "A Fraction of the Whole" by Steve Toltz. 
Quite interesting so far & funny.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jan 23, 2009)

Grantchester Grind - Tom Sharpe


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Jan 23, 2009)

A Mind of Its Own - David M. Friedman

(which a lovely urbanite sent me ages ago, im on about my 5th read of it!!!...)


----------



## big eejit (Jan 23, 2009)

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Jr.

I don't think I could read a book 5 times. Esp with so many out there to read!


----------



## pboi (Jan 24, 2009)

Young Stalin


Rocking my world


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 24, 2009)

pboi said:


> Young Stalin
> 
> 
> Rocking my world





shows you what a murderous manipulative womanising bag of shit he was even before he got control of the whole country


----------



## pboi (Jan 24, 2009)

poor fella was doomed from the beginning. those gerogians are fucking nutbars


----------



## snackhead (Jan 24, 2009)

Can you trust the media? by Adrian Monck. A few "no shit Sherlock" moments among the more interesting bits.


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 24, 2009)

The Enchantress of Florence - Salman Rusdie

Quite possibly the best thing he has written in years.


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 25, 2009)

Peter Carey's The Tax Inspector was one of the oddest books I've read in quite some time 

now I'm going to read Perdido Street Station but I've got a bad feeling about it


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 25, 2009)

Why?
It's great


----------



## Voley (Jan 25, 2009)

You read Tortilla Flat, Geoff?

You might like that if you liked Cannery Row. Similar vein. Very drunken throughout. 

Any book with a chapter titled 'How Jesus Maria Corcoran, a good man, became an unwilling vehicle of evil' is alright by me.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 25, 2009)

Almost finished this Siri Hustvedt now. 

I am enjoying it loads more than I thought I would, because I have always felt a little wary of Paul Auster, for some reason. But it is great. I have read it almost exclusively, which is rare for me.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 25, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Peter Carey's The Tax Inspector was one of the oddest books I've read in quite some time
> 
> *now I'm going to read Perdido Street Station but I've got a bad feeling about it*


why is that? Just a gut feeling?


----------



## Pieface (Jan 25, 2009)

NVP said:


> You read Tortilla Flat, Geoff?
> 
> You might like that if you liked Cannery Row. Similar vein. Very drunken throughout.
> 
> Any book with a chapter titled 'How Jesus Maria Corcoran, a good man, became an unwilling vehicle of evil' is alright by me.



Yeh, gonna read that. I'm trying to read less contemporary stuff and work back through some of the 'canon' that I've missed along the way, so I'm kinda alternating between the two


----------



## Pieface (Jan 25, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> why is that? Just a gut feeling?



Yeh, I used to read huge amounts of scifi / fantasy whatever, but reached a point where I realised most of the writing was so awful I just gave in, regardless of how good the ideas might be. Every now and then I've dipped my toe back in and been disappointed, so Mieville might be my last shot at it


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 25, 2009)

You're not PieEye.
Don't make your mind up about a book before you've read it, no matter how tempted you are


----------



## Pieface (Jan 25, 2009)

oh fuck - el jefe posting


----------



## Pieface (Jan 25, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> You're not PieEye.
> Don't make your mind up about a book before you've read it, no matter how tempted you are



el jefe posting: yeh, you're right - but sometimes it's hard not to..

But i am hoping to be pleasantly surprised./


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 25, 2009)

I think you will be. It's very cerebral for fantasy, and crucially doesn't rely on the strength of the ideas over the quality of writing


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 25, 2009)

It's the only fantasy book I've ever enjoyed, apart from LOTR.
Mind you, I've only read one other.


----------



## Pieface (Jan 25, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> You're not PieEye.
> Don't make your mind up about a book before you've read it, no matter how tempted you are



it pleases me that you just *knew* that wasn't me. Jefe can be jolly negative about things can't he


----------



## silver (Jan 25, 2009)

I'm reading the Heroin Diaries, by Nikki Sixx...... how that man is still alive I have no idea  

It's really good tho, I like the way he's got people to comment on each section and give their impressions on what was going on at the time


----------



## phildwyer (Jan 25, 2009)

"The Diana Chronicles" by Tina Brown.  I never really rated Brown before, but this is really well-written.


----------



## jbob (Jan 26, 2009)

The Leopard by Tomasi De Lampedusa. An exceptional novel about Sicilian nobility during the Garibaldi landing.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jan 26, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> I think you will be. It's very cerebral for fantasy, and crucially doesn't rely on the strength of the ideas over the quality of writing



i dunno, i thought the writing was pretty overcooked. he could easily have lost a few hundred pages of descriptive stuff and improved it no end. but his ideas kept it going for me, and there are plenty of scenes that do really work.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 26, 2009)

May Kasahara said:


> i dunno, i thought the writing was pretty overcooked. he could easily have lost a few hundred pages of descriptive stuff and improved it no end. but his ideas kept it going for me, and there are plenty of scenes that do really work.



for the genre, that level of linguistic involvement is pretty special imo.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 26, 2009)

Finished Homicide (brilliant), finished Grace After Midnight (a 2 hour read - funny, touching, a bit  on occasion - I just fancy her even more now!)

Started No Logo by Naomi Klein.  Never read it and it was going dirt cheap in the local YM so...yeh.  Not much new, but the actual stats themselves are quite shocking


----------



## phildwyer (Jan 26, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Started No Logo by Naomi Klein.  Never read it and it was going dirt cheap in the local YM so...yeh.  Not much new



Actually they were new ideas when she first published them, the stuff about brands becoming more valuable than things hadn't really been done from a Leftist, critical perspective before.


----------



## Pieface (Jan 26, 2009)

American Gods - Neil Gaiman.

Not loving it as much as I thought I would.  And the main character's name is getting on my wick really badly.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 26, 2009)

PieEye said:


> American Gods - Neil Gaiman.
> 
> Not loving it as much as I thought I would.  And *the main character's name* is getting on my wick really badly.



What is it?


----------



## Pieface (Jan 26, 2009)

Shadow.


----------



## Pieface (Jan 26, 2009)

Lame.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 26, 2009)

PieEye said:


> Shadow.



Is it a book about ponies?


----------



## Pieface (Jan 26, 2009)

I wish


----------



## sojourner (Jan 26, 2009)

Well that'd be the only excuse for having a main character called Shadow 

I'm not surprised you're pissed off tbh


----------



## G. Fieendish (Jan 27, 2009)

Schoolgirl Milky Crisis by Jonathan Clements...
_(Basically it's a collection of his columns, written for various anime mags, over the years... Mind you, I'd love for "Warriors of The Test Card" to be made, as I think it could be quite Samurai Pizza Cats-esque, IMO...). _


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 27, 2009)

I finished _What I Loved_.

I feel like I am still absorbing it, so I don't know what to say about it. 

I don't know what to start reading next, either!


----------



## christonabike (Jan 27, 2009)

David Peace - Tokyo Year Zero

Basically, the ripper goes back in time to Tokyo, (so far)


----------



## ChrisC (Jan 27, 2009)

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan.


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 27, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> now I'm going to read Perdido Street Station but I've got a bad feeling about it



convince it gets better. I'm 50-odd pages in and I just don't give a fuck about anybody or anything.


----------



## the button (Jan 27, 2009)

ChrisC said:


> Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan.



So it arrived already. Hope you're enjoying it. 

_Tokyo Year Zero _by David Peace for me. All good stuff.


----------



## the button (Jan 27, 2009)

christonabike said:


> David Peace - Tokyo Year Zero
> 
> Basically, the ripper goes back in time to Tokyo, (so far)



Blimey. Small world.


----------



## the button (Jan 27, 2009)

phildwyer said:


> the stuff about brands becoming more valuable than things hadn't really been done from a Leftist, critical perspective before.



Apart from Marx, obviously.


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 27, 2009)

the button said:


> Apart from Marx, obviously.



_obviously...._


----------



## the button (Jan 27, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> _obviously...._



Chapter in volume 1 of _Capital_ about the emergence of the commodity form, and again in the chapter on money (money being presented as the purest expression of the commodity form). It's fairly clear.


----------



## Lea (Jan 28, 2009)

About to start Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.


----------



## mrkikiet (Jan 28, 2009)

cloud atlas, a bit behind the times, and i preferred Number 9 dream.


----------



## Lea (Jan 28, 2009)

mrkikiet said:


> cloud atlas, a bit behind the times, and i preferred Number 9 dream.



I couldn't get into Cloud Atlas but did enjoy Ghostwritten by the same author.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 28, 2009)

Having another crack at Jerusalem Commands.


----------



## ringo (Jan 28, 2009)

1983 - David Peace - Last in the Red Riding quartet.


----------



## mrkikiet (Jan 28, 2009)

Lea said:


> I couldn't get into Cloud Atlas but did enjoy Ghostwritten by the same author.


i very nearly gave up in the middle. but i had enjoyed the first section enough to persevere and see what happens.


----------



## Pieface (Jan 28, 2009)

Enjoying American Gods a bit more now.  I probably shouldn't have read that and Perdido St so close together.  I'm all fantasied out.

He held the character back because of something in the plot so now that it's all coming tumbling down I can care about him now.  I don't always _need _to care about protagonists but for Neil Gaiman it's rare that he doesn't write someone sympathetic so it felt odd to me.

The whole story feels kind of hollow up until the point I'm at and it's supposed to be I think.  I'm quite excited about the next few chapters.  I feel big things coming....


----------



## seeformiles (Jan 28, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Having another crack at Jerusalem Commands.



Mrs SFM got a copy of that for me when it came out and queued up in Waterstones to get it signed (Bless Her!) - found it harder work than the other Oswald Bastable books though.


----------



## breasticles (Jan 28, 2009)

just finished reasons to be cheerful by mark steel. one lol per chapter, and a genuinely funny line every other paragraph. exceedingly enjoyable.


----------



## baldrick (Jan 28, 2009)

ryuzard kapucinski (sp?) - _Imperium_

been sat on my bookshelf for ages and it deserves re-reading...


----------



## ringo (Jan 29, 2009)

baldrick said:


> ryuzard kapucinski (sp?) - _Imperium_
> 
> been sat on my bookshelf for ages and it deserves re-reading...



Good then eh? I've only read The Emperor, about the horrors of life under the rule of Haille Selassie. An interesting alternative view to that positited by your average Rasta.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 29, 2009)

Lots of false starts in the last few months, but I managed to get _The Reluctant Fundamentalist_ down, just about. It's a terrible piece of crap. _Pies and Prejudice_, which was fun enough. _Wide Boys Never Work_ by Robert Westerby, which was rubbish, despite the claims that Iain Sinclair, that berk, makes for it, and another reissued London lowlife novel from the 30s, _The Gilt Kid_ by James Curtis, which I'm halfway through and enjoying a lot.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 29, 2009)

I loved Pies and Prejudice


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 29, 2009)

I'm nearly at the end of Kavalier & Clay - it's so so so so good!


----------



## sojourner (Jan 29, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm *nearly at the end* of Kavalier & Clay - it's so so so so good!



 *waves*


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 29, 2009)

My mum wants to read it after me, sorry!


----------



## baldrick (Jan 29, 2009)

ringo said:


> Good then eh? I've only read The Emperor, about the horrors of life under the rule of Haille Selassie. An interesting alternative view to that positited by your average Rasta.


i found his style of writing took a bit of getting used to, but once that was out of the way it was very very good. 

might have to seek out The Emperor, i know sod all about Haile Selassie tbh.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 29, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> My mum wants to read it after me, sorry!



  I asked first! She's only your mum!  I'm a person you've never met before!!


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 29, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I asked first! She's only your mum!  I'm a person you've never met before!!


 My mum trumps you, sorry. I gave my Dad The Yiddish Policemen's Union for his birthday and they loved it, so when mum saw me reading K&C, she told me to hurry up and finish it before I leave.


----------



## Pieface (Jan 29, 2009)

I think I may read the Yiddish Policemen yet. I'm excited. I have so many books to choose from


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 29, 2009)

Kavalier and Clay is in a 3for2 offer in Borders I noticed yesterday (altho i didn't buy a copy).


----------



## Gingerman (Jan 29, 2009)

About to start reading Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944--45 by Max Hastings.


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 29, 2009)

sojourner said:


> *waves*



I'll bring it to Wales


----------



## mrkikiet (Jan 29, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> My mum trumps you, sorry. I gave my Dad The Yiddish Policemen's Union for his birthday and they loved it, so when mum saw me reading K&C, she told me to hurry up and finish it before I leave.


K&C is so much better than Yiddish Policemen's Union it's untrue. i'm having a severe case of 'second book i read by an author not as good as the first-itis'. if that makes sense?


----------



## sojourner (Jan 29, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> I'll bring it to Wales



Woo!   cheers


----------



## El Jefe (Jan 29, 2009)

I did enjoy Yiddish Policemen's Union a great deal, but K&C is infinitely better. But then it's infinitely better than almost anything I've ever read so..

like Joseph Heller said when it was suggested he'd never written anything as good as Catch 22

"neither has anyone else"


----------



## the button (Jan 29, 2009)

_Zugszwang_ by Ronan Bennett. I stocked up on thrillers and crime fiction over Christmas.


----------



## ChrisC (Jan 31, 2009)

the button said:


> So it arrived already. Hope you're enjoying it.
> 
> _Tokyo Year Zero _by David Peace for me. All good stuff.



Yeah it's brilliant.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 31, 2009)

"A More Beautiful City: Robert Hooke and the Rebuilding of London after the Great Fire" by Michael Cooper.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 31, 2009)

I finished The Amazing Adventure Of Kavalier & Clay - I had a pesky bit of grit in my eye whilst reading this on a crowded coach.
What a story and what beautiful writing. Such a nourishing book.


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 31, 2009)

About to start 'Will' by Christopher Rush


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2009)

The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold.  Interesting little novel.  Nice big shiny sticker on the front trumpeting its status as 'Winner of the Richard and Judy Best Read Award'


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 31, 2009)

Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire by Iain Sinclair. Fantastic so far, its spooky reading something that feels like its coming straight out of your consciousness. I wouldn't even begin to try and describe it. But i was pleased to read the acknowledgements and see my pal Mark's name there as someone he's interviewed. There's a map of the borough of Hackney as a dust sheet which is nifty. And he's coming to speak at Stoke Newington Bookshop in March so that's another reason to be cheerful


----------



## cybertect (Jan 31, 2009)

_The English Reformation_ by A. G. Dickens.


----------



## belboid (Feb 3, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> I rather think it is



but you'd be wrong!  Foir the first twenty pages I was thinking 'oh god, I may have to hide this so its never read again' - but once I'd got past the stupid names and talk of bloody fairies, it's actually great. He is a really good writer, amusing, thoughtful, fairly rounded characters, sex, drugs and rock n roll.

Not bad.


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 3, 2009)

The Kingdom of the Wicked - Anthony Burgess


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 3, 2009)

'Breaking the Disney spell' a Jack Zipes essay. It's interesting.


----------



## Lea (Feb 4, 2009)

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 4, 2009)

I have picked up _Soul Mountain_ again, by Gao Xingjian. It is great.


----------



## ringo (Feb 4, 2009)

Hand Tool Essentials - A collection of articles on tool sharpening and maintenance <insert fnarr here>


----------



## El Sueno (Feb 4, 2009)

The Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson.

Funny! And slightly alarming.


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 4, 2009)

picked this up cheap and it's excellent








http://www.bibleroadbook.com/






fantastic collection of photos taken across the US featuring religious slogans and phrases, often incorporated into commercial signs or ads.


----------



## ringo (Feb 4, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> picked this up cheap and it's excellent
> 
> 
> 
> ...



And God so loved Brixton he gave his only son....................


----------



## Dirty Martini (Feb 5, 2009)

_Bitten By The Tarantula & Other Writing_ by Julian Maclaren-Ross


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 5, 2009)

that Shakespeare book by Bryson - it's mildly diverting


----------



## maya (Feb 5, 2009)

ringo said:


> Hand Tool Essentials - A collection of articles on tool sharpening and maintenance <insert fnarr here>


Perhaps you'd like the book I ordered last summer- ?
I _thought_ it was a book on rough 'outdoor survival' and hunter-gatherer D.I.Y. antics , ...instead I got a massive tome on livestock and poultry (and the farming philosophy on how to raise them...)

Er... anyway: I'm reading Daniil Kharms at the moment- suitably playful and retro-avant for my evil snob tastes... But in the reading pile and on the bedside table, there's a mountain of old crime novels: 
Sjöwall & Wahlöö's 'Beck' series, Maigret, and some paint-by-numbers Christie nonsense... Strictly oldschool at the moment, because i've been having nightmares, and don't want to encourage things further with scary/bloody horror   eek...


----------



## seeformiles (Feb 5, 2009)

"Rat Run" by Gerald Seymour - good escapist thriller for cold evenings by the fire.


----------



## Upchuck (Feb 5, 2009)

_Madness_ by Marya Hornbacher.  This woman has made a literary career of being fucking mad.  I don't know if I will feel it as much now as I would have a few years ago.  When I read _Wasted_ I got very very sick


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 5, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> that Shakespeare book by Bryson - it's mildly diverting




It's shite. Go to Schoenbaum instead.


----------



## Blagsta (Feb 6, 2009)

Michael Eaude - Catalonia: A Cultural History


----------



## ringo (Feb 6, 2009)

maya said:


> Perhaps you'd like the book I ordered last summer- ?
> I _thought_ it was a book on rough 'outdoor survival' and hunter-gatherer D.I.Y. antics , ...instead I got a massive tome on livestock and poultry (and the farming philosophy on how to raise them...)



Not quite up my street


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 6, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> It's shite. Go to Schoenbaum instead.



It's short and I needed an easy read. And it was a Xmas present.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Feb 6, 2009)

last night i ploughed through 8 chapters of _And the hippos were boiled in their tanks_ by William S Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. its certainly not the greatest thing ever written but its interesting reading both of them at such early stages of their writing.


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 6, 2009)

"The Keepers of Truth" - Michael Collins.

A savage indictment on the end of the American dream. And a crime novel.


----------



## obanite (Feb 7, 2009)

Finished Otherland and Slaughterhouse Five, back to Gravity's Rainbow

Just bought The Illiad today


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 7, 2009)

His Own Words - A translation of the writings of Dr Ayman al Zawahiri - Laura Mansfield


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 7, 2009)

obanite said:


> Finished Otherland and Slaughterhouse Five, back to Gravity's Rainbow
> 
> Just bought The Illiad today



The Illiad is fantastic - which translation did you buy?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 7, 2009)

obanite said:


> Finished Otherland and Slaughterhouse Five, back to Gravity's Rainbow
> 
> Just bought The Illiad today



I am still on Gravity's Rainbow. I intend to finish it in the first half of this year. I am in the last quarter now!


----------



## Pieface (Feb 7, 2009)

Muriel Spark - A Far Cry from Kensington.

I'm really not sure if she's my cup of tea tbh.  I remember being really ambivalent about the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie but she makes me laugh every now and then and writes very elegantly. I wish I could come up with those sentences in everyday life.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Feb 7, 2009)

Just started Switchboard by Roger Longrigg.

_It was a balmy London evening - mid-summer. Half of London were attending Everest parties. If Sue and Eddie had switched the light off - or even stayed away from the window - none of it would ever have happened ..._


----------



## Pieface (Feb 7, 2009)

Ooh - do you watch Mad Men baddog?   I think you'd like it if you're into those books.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Feb 8, 2009)

PieEye said:


> Ooh - do you watch Mad Men baddog?   I think you'd like it if you're into those books.



I've not seen it, but I've heard good stuff about it and that there's a new series of it on telly - I'll check it out next time it's on


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 8, 2009)

Perdido Street Station has picked up a lot and I'm really enjoying it (still think it's VERY flawed though)


----------



## madzone (Feb 8, 2009)

The Art of Happiness by HH Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler

It's a weepy


----------



## Lea (Feb 9, 2009)

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 9, 2009)

Shakey - by Jimmy McDonough and Neil Young

Cheers NVP - fucking lovin it   If I respected Neil before reading this, I'm practically deifying him now


----------



## Voley (Feb 9, 2009)

Yay!


----------



## sojourner (Feb 9, 2009)

NVP said:


> Yay!



Same thing happened as when I first read a book about Janis Joplin though...criticisms of his voice, which I've never thought of as being odd in any way at all


----------



## ChrisC (Feb 9, 2009)

Broken Angels by Richard Morgan


----------



## Pieface (Feb 10, 2009)

PieEye said:


> Muriel Spark - A Far Cry from Kensington.
> 
> I'm really not sure if she's my cup of tea tbh.  I remember being really ambivalent about the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie but she makes me laugh every now and then and writes very elegantly. I wish I could come up with those sentences in everyday life.



This is really very good now.  I am _so lazy _sometimes and found the set up and pre amble to the plot and characters rather tiresome.   Now it's getting very funny - our heroine has just called someone a "_pissoire de copie_" and she's lost her job


----------



## sojourner (Feb 10, 2009)

Woop, got a cracking haul of books from the YM this affy:

Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children
Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind
Andrea Levy - Small Island
Hillary Jordan - Mudbound
Gert Ledig - The Stalin Organ
Alan Parker - The Sucker's Kiss

all for the grand total of £4.94!


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 10, 2009)

I got some new books today. I got

_On Photography_ by Susan Sontag
_The Blindfold_ by Siri Hustvedt
_Illuminations_ by Walter Benjamin


----------



## sojourner (Feb 10, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I got some new books today. I got
> 
> _On Photography_ by Susan Sontag



ooo my lass would be interested in that


----------



## sojourner (Feb 10, 2009)

How much did your haul cost you?


----------



## rollinder (Feb 11, 2009)

Tony Attwood - The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome 
Ben Elton - High Society 

just bought John Peel (& Shelia) - Margrave of the marshes


----------



## belboid (Feb 11, 2009)

Robert Peston's How Rules Britain?

Seems quite good on the coruscating effects of letting the super-rich get away with murder, but entirely useless when it comes to having any idea of what to do about it.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 11, 2009)

sojourner said:


> ooo my lass would be interested in that



Get it! I have read a bit and it is fantastic. Something she would like, I reckon.


----------



## Voley (Feb 11, 2009)

I'm reading Bill Bryson's book on Shakespeare atm. It's a bit of a longwinded way of saying 'we don't know much about him'. It's OK but I'll be glad when I've finished it.


----------



## mentalchik (Feb 13, 2009)

Pushing Ice - Alistair Reynolds


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 13, 2009)

Finally finished Perdido St Station - on balance an excellent book, but along the way littered with some really really awful writing


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 13, 2009)

going to read Colin McInnes' London Novels now


----------



## Dirty Martini (Feb 13, 2009)

Finished the Maclaren-Ross collection, which was highly enjoyable. Some of his stories are magnificent, and he writes the best openings of any writer ever. Film criticism not bad either.


Now it's _Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey_ by James Attlee.


----------



## Ms T (Feb 13, 2009)

I've just discovered Neil Gaiman and am loving it.  I'm reading Neverwhere atm and I'm remembering why I used to love fantasy novels as a kid.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Feb 13, 2009)

Infinity Blues - Ryan Adams  D)

whos getting married, which is awesome news im over the moon for him xxx :-D


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 13, 2009)

Ms T said:


> I've just discovered Neil Gaiman and am loving it.  I'm reading Neverwhere atm and I'm remembering why I used to love fantasy novels as a kid.



Go to American Gods next, it's the tits


----------



## Blagsta (Feb 13, 2009)

John Reed - Ten Days that Shook the World


----------



## the button (Feb 13, 2009)

Richard Morgan -- Black Man

Good knockabout stuff.


----------



## Dead Cat Bounce (Feb 13, 2009)

Necronomicon - The Best Weird Tales Of H. P. Lovecraft.

All my favourite stories in one hardback edition.


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 14, 2009)

Dead Cat Bounce said:


> Necronomicon - The Best Weird Tales Of H. P. Lovecraft.
> 
> All my favourite stories in one hardback edition.



i find him largely unreadable.

it's all about someone's uncle who read a book about a bloke who's grandad met a guy in bar who knew who someone who once saw something awful


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 14, 2009)

Heh - fascinating all the same IMO


----------



## Ms T (Feb 14, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Go to American Gods next, it's the tits



Thanks for that.  Will see if they've got it in the library.   

Finished Neverwhere last night - the ending was a bit predictable but all in all an enjoyable read.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 14, 2009)

Ms T said:


> Thanks for that.  Will see if they've got it in the library.
> 
> Finished Neverwhere last night - the ending was a bit predictable but all in all an enjoyable read.



obscure info: Neverwhere was made into an awfuly cheap and low-rent bbc mini series starring Patterson Jones of Peep Show and Survivors fame in the role of De Carrabas


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 14, 2009)

I saw that - it was shit and responsible for my low opinion of Gaiman, til I saw Mirrormask


----------



## Ms T (Feb 14, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> obscure info: Neverwhere was made into an awfuly cheap and low-rent bbc mini series starring Patterson Jones of Peep Show and Survivors fame in the role of De Carrabas



Wasn't it the other way round - the TV series came first and then he made it into a book.  That was the impression I got from the book's introduction.  It could have been a great TV programme.


----------



## Shirl (Feb 14, 2009)

The Blunderer by Patricia High-Smith, it's not great but I'm working my way through all her books. Nearly there now


----------



## trevhagl (Feb 14, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Woop, got a cracking haul of books from the YM this affy:
> 
> Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children
> Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind
> ...



Has Salman Rushdie got a book out about being on the run from the funda-mentalists? That would be interesting i guess?


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 14, 2009)

Ms T said:


> Wasn't it the other way round - the TV series came first and then he made it into a book.  That was the impression I got from the book's introduction.  It could have been a great TV programme.



yes, he put up with all cuts to his script cause he was thinking 'I'll put it in the book'


----------



## mentalchik (Feb 14, 2009)

Gonna finally start Altered Carbon later..........


----------



## weepiper (Feb 14, 2009)

"Shadows of the Workhouse" by Jennifer Worth, autobiographical social history stuff


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 14, 2009)

trevhagl said:


> Has Salman Rushdie got a book out about being on the run from the funda-mentalists? That would be interesting i guess?



Read _Satanic Verses_, it is well worth your time. The mans prose is far superior to his plotting.


----------



## purplex (Feb 14, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Read _Satanic Verses_, it is well worth your time. The mans prose is far superior to his plotting.



I read about half of it, i like his humour


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 14, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> Gonna finally start Altered Carbon later..........



You'll love it, I'm sure. But there is a hollowness to Morgans work, an essential emptiness that he cloaks in sex and violence. He is an interesting author, and given how many non sci-fi people he ropes into buying his works he must be doing something right. I really enjoyed him, but another poster had it right when he described him as grubby, and not good grubby.
For me he is cut-rate Alistair Reynolds. Very good, a sci fi genius, but there is a lack o his works, a certain something missing.


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 14, 2009)

i can't be arsed with the Colin McInnes - i appreciate it's "a vivid insight into a changing London", or something, but meh


----------



## obanite (Feb 14, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I am still on Gravity's Rainbow. I intend to finish it in the first half of this year. I am in the last quarter now!



Haha yeah I'm finding it heavy going. Some of the descriptive bits really wow me, and some bits really make me laugh, but it's just so stylised, and BIG!



Fictionist said:


> The Illiad is fantastic - which translation did you buy?



Robert Fagles - looked at a few different translations in the bookshop and ended up picking one at random really...


----------



## dooley (Feb 14, 2009)

tortilla flat (for the umpteenth time) and whipping girl by julia serrano


----------



## RubyBlue (Feb 15, 2009)

Between Psychology text books I squeezed in James Patterson's latest novel - I miss reading crap at the moment - fed up of text books


----------



## Artaxerxes (Feb 15, 2009)

The Punic Wars - Adrian Goldsworthy


----------



## Kuso (Feb 15, 2009)

island of the sequined love nun - christopher moore


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 15, 2009)

I'm going to be reading Solzhenitsyn's 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' and 'The Mabinogion' (translated by Sioned Davies).


----------



## ViolentPanda (Feb 15, 2009)

RubyBlue said:


> Between Psychology text books I squeezed in James Patterson's latest novel - I miss reading crap at the moment - fed up of text books



I always try to work in one bit of "pulp fiction" to each couple of academic texts, just to stop myself going *too* insane. 
Currently reading Mary Fulbrook's "The Two Germanies, 1945-1990: Problems of Interpretation" and Steve Turner's "The Man Called Cash".


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Feb 15, 2009)

Penguin's small collected volume of Orwell's essays called Books versus Cigarettes
How could I not enjoy it? Great writing about my favourite things. A shame they couldn't throw in the one about the perfect pot of tea. It would be my idea of heaven then.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 15, 2009)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Penguin's small collected volume of Orwell's essays called Books versus Cigarettes
> How could I not enjoy it? Great writing about my favourite things. A shame they couldn't throw in the one about the perfect pot of tea. It would be my idea of heaven then.



I like Decline of the English Murder best


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Feb 15, 2009)

I prefer Chandler's Simple Art of Murder to that DC


----------



## ChrisC (Feb 16, 2009)

Legacy by Greg Bear


----------



## Abcinthia (Feb 17, 2009)

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 17, 2009)

the brutal art by jesse kellerman


----------



## jeff_leigh (Feb 17, 2009)

Movern Callar - Alan Warner


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 17, 2009)

The Tempest - William Shakespeare


----------



## Lazy Llama (Feb 17, 2009)

The Complete Ace Trucking Co. Volume 1 - Writers: John Wagner, Alan Grant  -  Artists: Ian Gibson, Massimo Belardinelli


----------



## ivebeenhigh (Feb 17, 2009)

Irrationality - Stuart Sutherland

It's a rehash of a lot of things I already know, a god intro guide I suppose, but i don't think I will finish it,


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 17, 2009)

Ursula LeGuin - The Dispossessed


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 17, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Ursula LeGuin - The Dispossessed


what's wrong with you? Read a proper book


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 18, 2009)

why is that not a proper book?


----------



## cliche guevara (Feb 18, 2009)

Douglas Coupland - Life After God

It's too short, I reckon I'm gonna finish it on my lunchbreak today.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> why is that not a proper book?


I was joking!


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2009)

jeff_leigh said:


> Movern Callar - Alan Warner



What do you think of it?  I really liked the book...didn't feel like the film worked tremendously well


----------



## jeff_leigh (Feb 18, 2009)

sojourner said:


> What do you think of it?  I really liked the book...didn't feel like the film worked tremendously well



I'm really enjoying it, I never managed to catch the film


----------



## jayeola (Feb 18, 2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_in_Flight
James Blish. Sci-fi. So far so good.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2009)

jeff_leigh said:


> I'm really enjoying it, I never managed to catch the film





i wouldn't bother with the film then


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 18, 2009)

I really liked the film. 

Flawed, but really interesting.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> I really liked the film.
> 
> Flawed, but really interesting.



did you read the book first or after?  or not at all?


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 18, 2009)

not read it.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> not read it.



I'm gesticulating.  Mainly shrugging, and doing the hand thing.


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 18, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I'm gesticulating.  Mainly shrugging, and doing the hand thing.



I'm gesticulating. Mainly raising my right arm, middle finger extended


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> I'm gesticulating. Mainly raising my right arm, middle finger extended


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 18, 2009)

_The Time of Our Singing_ - Richard Powers.

_An Introduciton to Pierre Bourdieu: The Practice of Theory_ - Various ppl.

_The Field of Cultural Production_ - Pierre Bourdieu.


----------



## mentalchik (Feb 19, 2009)

The State Of The Art - Iain M Banks................still reading Altered Carbon too !


----------



## baldrick (Feb 19, 2009)

misadventures - sylvia smith.

a chronology of anecdotes from a woman born during WW2.  something slightly weird about it, but nonetheless entertaining.  naturally, it was published by canongate.


----------



## El Jefe (Feb 19, 2009)

now reading this, which is wonderful - one of those gorgeous special edition Virago jobbies (Pie Eye got the whole set for her birthday)


----------



## sojourner (Feb 20, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> now reading this, which is wonderful - one of those gorgeous special edition Virago jobbies (Pie Eye got the whole set for her birthday)



I've never read that, but it's always been on my list   I'm massively into African American female writers


----------



## Voley (Feb 20, 2009)

I'm reading Cannery Row again after talking to Geoff about it. Also ordered a load of other Steinbeck paperbacks off Amazon. The Pearl, The Long Valley, To A God Unknown and The Moon Is Down. I think I'll have read everything by him then.


----------



## ChrisC (Feb 21, 2009)

Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds.


----------



## ChrisC (Feb 21, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> The State Of The Art - Iain M Banks................still reading Altered Carbon too !



Altered Carbon is quite good, what do you think of it?


----------



## mentalchik (Feb 21, 2009)

ChrisC said:


> Altered Carbon is quite good, what do you think of it?



Wiil let you know when i've finished it.......have read one of his others before.........


*reminds self to not get distracted*


----------



## marty21 (Feb 21, 2009)

ChrisC said:


> Altered Carbon is quite good, what do you think of it?



i'm reading it at the moment - enjoying it


----------



## mentalchik (Feb 22, 2009)

marty21 said:


> i'm reading it at the moment - enjoying it



I'm enjoying it too but i have to say it's not blowing me away or nufin...iykwim


----------



## marty21 (Feb 22, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> I'm enjoying it too but i have to say it's not blowing me away or nufin...iykwim



no, it's not a great book, but it is a jolly good read, I want a new sleeve


----------



## mentalchik (Feb 22, 2009)

marty21 said:


> I want a new sleeve




Me too........in fact i spent ages thinking about that when i went to sleep


----------



## Scarlette (Feb 22, 2009)

I'm reading 'The Mitfords - Letters between six sisters' edited by Charlotte Mosley. I feel a bit guilty about it, what with the fascist/Nazi connections, but it is truly fascinating. Half because I love details of the minutae of people's lives and half because it is horrifying and car-crash addictive. Unity Hitler-mania: _'Went to lunch with the Fuhrer. He knew I had been ill and was so sweet about it. He's the sweetest man alive. We talked about the Jews and it was simply heaven!'_ 

But some of it is just quite touching: the Communist sister eloping with her cousin at 18 and being wildly in love, and the youngest one marrying at 20 and sort of playing at the role of being a Lady, when still utterly childlike.


----------



## Scarlette (Feb 22, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> now reading this, which is wonderful - one of those gorgeous special edition Virago jobbies (Pie Eye got the whole set for her birthday)



Ooh yes. That is a brilliant book. Really beautifully written.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 22, 2009)

Still reading Powers' _The Time of our Singing_, but need to get a move on and start Richard Wright's _Native Son_. Might put the Powers' on hold for a while until I have time to come back to it.

Still reading Bourdieu though.


----------



## maya (Feb 22, 2009)

^^ That's a beautiful cover

I'm back on Vonnegut, two books I got for christmas: 'A Man Without A Country' and 'Armageddon In Retrospect'.


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 23, 2009)

Al-Muwatta of Imam Malik ibn Anas

This is fantastic.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 23, 2009)

A re-read of Illuminatus!

It's just as pleasingly bonkers as I remembered it to be


----------



## Dirty Martini (Feb 24, 2009)

Finished _Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey_ by James Attlee, which was generally enjoyable, Diet Psychogeography.

Now _Closely Observed Trains_ by Hrabal.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Feb 26, 2009)

Mona Lisa Overdrive - William Gibson


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 26, 2009)

1974 - David Peace


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 26, 2009)

me said:


> the brutal art by jesse kellerman



Finished this last night - absolutely awesome, loved it 

Have started Restless by William Boyd.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 26, 2009)

ooh let us know what you think of that? I have strong opinions on Boyd.


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 26, 2009)

What a surprise


----------



## yield (Mar 1, 2009)

Finished Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian C Esslemont. It's the best Malazan Book since Deadhouse Gates I reckon. 

I love it when some of my least favourite characters die. Must. avoid. spoilers. Although they do have a tendency to make death nothing more than an inconvience.

Started Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. My first book by him. Already learnt a lot about the 1934 San Francisco general strike and Senator McCarthy's witch hunts.

Keep putting the book down though.



Fictionist said:


> Al-Muwatta of Imam Malik ibn Anas
> 
> This is fantastic.



Are you studying Islamic Law? Do you read Arabic? That looks a little dry for me to read for pleasure.



marty21 said:


> no, it's not a great book, but it is a jolly good read, I want a new sleeve





mentalchik said:


> Me too........in fact i spent ages thinking about that when i went to sleep



Me too. How great would it be to get a new sleeve! I think my favourite, of the one I've read, is Woken Furies. The surfer hippies stuff is a little annoying. 

Still seems to be something lacking in his novels though. Can't quite put my finger on it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 1, 2009)

yield said:


> Finished Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian C Esslemont. It's the best Malazan Book since Deadhouse Gates I reckon.
> 
> I love it when some of my least favourite characters die. Must. avoid. spoilers. Although they do have a tendency to make death nothing more than an inconvience.




good ennit? Esselmont is a bit more visual in his descriptions of warren magics.


----------



## starfish (Mar 1, 2009)

Just started The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe.


----------



## Rollem (Mar 1, 2009)

have just finsished the celliest of sarjeavo, followed by shdows of the workshouse......am about to start mr roberts, by alexi sayle


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2009)

I'm about to re-read Faulkner's _The Sound and the Fury_. I don't remember liking it the last time around, but it's for class, so there you go.

After that I need to read Wright's _Native Son_ along with Baldwin's 'Notes of a Native Son'. Then I need to crack on and read Colson Whitehead's _The Intuitionist_.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 1, 2009)

Vintage Paw said:


> I'm about to re-read Faulkner's _The Sound and the Fury_. I don't remember liking it the last time around, but it's for class, so there you go.



Oh! I bought that just last week. I have not read it before. I will read it at the same time as you.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Oh! I bought that just last week. I have not read it before. I will read it at the same time as you.



Excellent. I'm going to start it tonight. We will compare notes.

There are 3 of us being supervised by Tim. Instead of planning out 3 separate modules for us he's lumped us in together and we take it in turns to read stuff that's relevant to our dissertations. This is the guy in our class's week. He's doing his dissertation on Faulkner and the idea of recognition re: Hegel. So that's the sort of stuff I'll be looking for in it I suppose.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 1, 2009)

Vintage Paw said:


> Excellent. I'm going to start it tonight. We will compare notes.
> 
> There are 3 of us being supervised by Tim. Instead of planning out 3 separate modules for us he's lumped us in together and we take it in turns to read stuff that's relevant to our dissertations. This is the guy in our class's week. He's doing his dissertation on Faulkner and the idea of recognition re: Hegel. So that's the sort of stuff I'll be looking for in it I suppose.



That is interesting, I can see how Hegel/recognition would work from a story like that, from what I have read so far, and know about it. 

I will start reading it properly tonight then.


----------



## Voley (Mar 1, 2009)

A fairly shitty thing happened to me when I went abroad recently. I left all my books round at a relative's house and the fucker sold them!  One of them was a signed copy of 'Ecstasy' by Irvine Welsh, too. 

Anyhow, Ebay and Amazon are good places for cheap paperbacks so I've been on a spending spree that has replaced most of the replaceable stuff and I've bought loads of Hemingway, Steinbeck and stuff I've wanted to read for ages.

Right now I've just started 'The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test' by Tom Wolfe.


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 1, 2009)

yield said:


> Are you studying Islamic Law? Do you read Arabic? That looks a little dry for me to read for pleasure.



I think of the text as opening up a sociological window on early Islam, which I find fascinating.


----------



## mentalchik (Mar 1, 2009)

NVP said:


> A fairly shitty thing happened to me when I went abroad recently. I left all my books round at a relative's house and the fucker sold them!  One of them was a signed copy of 'Ecstasy' by Irvine Welsh, too.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 1, 2009)

NVP said:


> A fairly shitty thing happened to me when I went abroad recently. *I left all my books round at a relative's house and the fucker sold them!  One of them was a signed copy of 'Ecstasy' by Irvine Welsh, too. *
> 
> Anyhow, Ebay and Amazon are good places for cheap paperbacks so I've been on a spending spree that has replaced most of the replaceable stuff and I've bought loads of Hemingway, Steinbeck and stuff I've wanted to read for ages.
> 
> Right now I've just started 'The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test' by Tom Wolfe.




ALL of your books? I would have removed the sellers teeth with a pair of pliers.


----------



## baldrick (Mar 1, 2009)

NVP said:


> A fairly shitty thing happened to me when I went abroad recently. I left all my books round at a relative's house and the fucker sold them!




i hope he gave you the money! that's outrageous.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 1, 2009)

David Peace - 1977 - grim as fuck, even darker than Ellroy and that's saying something


----------



## Voley (Mar 1, 2009)

baldrick said:


> i hope he gave you the money! that's outrageous.



Nope. He has bi-polar disorder, though, so I've been told that I'm not allowed to flay him limb from limb. Personally I don't think his medical problem had anything to do with it and he's just a cunt of the first order but it's done, no use crying over spilt milk etc.

I've nearly replaced all the books now anyhow.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 1, 2009)

i've just purchased the unabridged version of the ragged trousered philanthropists and am looking forward to reading it.


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 2, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i've just purchased the unabridged version of the ragged trousered philanthropists and am looking forward to reading it.



It does get a little _tiresome_ in its unexpurgated form.


----------



## mentalchik (Mar 2, 2009)

yield said:


> Me too. How great would it be to get a new sleeve! I think my favourite, of the one I've read, is Woken Furies. The surfer hippies stuff is a little annoying.
> 
> Still seems to be something lacking in his novels though. Can't quite put my finger on it.



Finished it last week and although i did enjoy it i wouldn't say i was blown away like !


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 2, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> Finished it last week and although i did enjoy it i wouldn't say i was blown away like !



It's no dune- a tad shallow. But still a good read


----------



## sojourner (Mar 2, 2009)

NVP said:


> Personally I don't think his medical problem had anything to do with it and he's just a cunt of the first order



Yep - I'd agree with that.  The fucking bastard!!!

Glad you've got them all again but fucking hell 


I got a fab haul of books from a secondhand bookshop in Machynlleth - and currently reading one of them which is Anything for Billy by Larry McMurtry.  Ace


----------



## Voley (Mar 2, 2009)

I've quite enjoyed replacing them if I'm honest. Ebay / Amazon tend to give me what I want at about 3 or 4 quid maximum. The signed Irvine Welsh one irks me, though. 'Ecstasy's not even a very good book but I met him and got it signed myself so it had sentimental value. My Uncle probably flogged it for a couple of quid or something.


----------



## ringo (Mar 2, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> David Peace - 1977 - grim as fuck, even darker than Ellroy and that's saying something



I have a spare copy of 1980 if you want it.


----------



## foamy (Mar 2, 2009)

*started reading again*

Today I finished Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew by Bernard Hare after a pause of several months.

I started The Mitfords: letters between six sisters edited by Charlotte Mosley and also The Reader by Bernhard Schlink on my mums recommendation.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 2, 2009)

ringo said:


> I have a spare copy of 1980 if you want it.


Ta, but flatmate has all 4 - gonna read them all this week/next week


----------



## ringo (Mar 3, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> Ta, but flatmate has all 4 - gonna read them all this week/next week



That's brave. I spaced them out over 2 years - so grim I didn't fancy such an overload.

40 pages of the last one left to read, finally starting to make sense of the plot strands and the brilliance of the writing.


----------



## Structaural (Mar 3, 2009)

Just finished 'They Fuck you up' by Oliver James. 

Interesting stuff on nurture vs nature (he's not a big advocate of nature not surprisingly). Recommended.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 3, 2009)

Finished _Closely Observed Trains_. I liked it, but not as much as the other two of Hrabal's I've read.

Now it's _Albion's Dream_ by Roger Norman, fairly enjoyable fantasy aimed at teenagers. Not quite sure why I'm reading it.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Mar 3, 2009)

"Riot! The Bristol Bridge Massacre of 1793" by Michael Manson.


----------



## Voley (Mar 3, 2009)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Penguin's small collected volume of Orwell's essays called Books versus Cigarettes
> How could I not enjoy it? Great writing about my favourite things. A shame they couldn't throw in the one about the perfect pot of tea. It would be my idea of heaven then.



I'm reading this after Mrs M's recommendation. Yes, it's wonderful and, yes, it should have the essay about the pot of tea. I love the fact that the man who wrote what I consider to be the greatest book ever written also had time to discuss the merits of getting your brew right. Very English.


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 3, 2009)

NVP said:


> I'm reading this after Mrs M's recommendation. Yes, it's wonderful and, yes, it should have the essay about the pot of tea. I love the fact that the man who wrote what I consider to be the greatest book ever written also had time to discuss the merits of getting your brew right. Very English.



1984 or Animal Farm (and I don't mean the rather dubious Dutch cinema version either, you mucky lot).

Orwell is my all-time favourite writer as well, a legend and without doubt one of the most important British writers of the 20th Century.

I've just started reading Paul Brickhill's 'The Great Escape' about, not surprisingly, the Great Escape, when 76 British and Allied aircrew escaped from the POW camp known as Stalag Luft III. Only three made the 'home run' back to the UK, while a number of others ended up in concentration camps and, of course, 'the fifty' were murdered by the Gestapo in retaliation for the escape.

The book is immeasurably better than the film.


----------



## Voley (Mar 4, 2009)

1984, Bakunin. Never read anything like it; relevant now more than ever. My favourite writer of all time. 

Really into his essays atm. After 'Books v Cigarettes' I've got the 'Shooting An Elephant' anthology to go at. The essays are great - such diverse topics, everything from the nature of true patriotism to the perils of working in a second-hand bookshop. Ebay got me 'Inside The Whale' for a couple of quid recently, too, so I've got a lot of stuff to look forward to.


----------



## ringo (Mar 4, 2009)

Just started  If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino after it was recommended here a while back.

First impressions - can't decide if its beyond pretentiousness or brilliant. Will continue.


----------



## obanite (Mar 4, 2009)

Shelved _The Illiad_ for a bit. Reading _Shantaram_, really enjoying it so far, feel slightly less pretentious


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 4, 2009)

obanite said:


> Shelved _The Illiad_ for a bit. Reading _Shantaram_, really enjoying it so far, feel slightly less pretentious



Reading 'The Illiad' doesn't make you pretentious. It might, however, indicate you have an interest in the transition from oral to written culture, and the modes of behaviour used to express power and solidarity.


----------



## baldrick (Mar 4, 2009)

the iliad is most excellent


----------



## belboid (Mar 5, 2009)

just finished Renegade, the Mark E Smith autobiography.  Should really be called 'Twat', he doesn't come over that well.  It may sound funny in the pub Mark, but looks shit written down on paper.

And so just started on Christopher Brookmyres 'A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away. Quite good from the first sixty pages


----------



## Voley (Mar 5, 2009)

belboid said:


> just finished Renegade, the Mark E Smith autobiography.  Should really be called 'Twat', he doesn't come over that well.  It may sound funny in the pub Mark, but looks shit written down on paper.



I've been wondering whether to get that. Probably won't bother now - I like his music but pretty much everything I've heard about him as a person has been overwhelmingly negative.


----------



## belboid (Mar 5, 2009)

borrow it from the library, wont take you long.  there are some amusing bits, quite a few. but not enough to outdo the sense of 'stop being such an egotistical twat mark'


----------



## Lazy Llama (Mar 5, 2009)

belboid said:


> And so just started on Christopher Brookmyres 'A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away. Quite good from the first sixty pages


I've read all Brookmyre's novels. Not great intellectual literature by any means, but fun, imaginative and loaded with satire.

Some of the characters from "A Big Boy..." turn up in "Sacred Art of Stealing" and his latest, " A Snowball In Hell". 

The latter is particularly good with Brookmyre venting his wrath at celeb culture and 'reality' TV.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 5, 2009)

Stephen King's "Duma Key" - slow but quite seductive


----------



## N_igma (Mar 5, 2009)

Just finished Thomas Paine's-The Age of Reason.

Great stuff, any man who can make a good argument for Christains being atheists deserves to be applauded.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 5, 2009)

belboid said:


> borrow it from the library, wont take you long.  there are some amusing bits, quite a few. but not enough to outdo the sense of 'stop being such an egotistical twat mark'



heh

i read it when it was serialised, and thought exactly the same thing.


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 5, 2009)

Reading a Tom Waits book, "Innocent When You Dream". What a card!

Also, ongoing dipping into Michael Palin's autobio, quite fun but my sis gave me the hardback edition and I can't really cart it about...

Recently read "Persepolis" by Maryam Satrap (may have got spelling wrong) and Jerome K Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat" - hilarious!


----------



## Upchuck (Mar 6, 2009)

_Savage Grace_ by Natalie Robins and Steven L. Aronson



> Friday 17th November, 1972.  London is rocked by a horrifying murder.  Wealthy American socialite Barbara Bakeleand has been stabbed to death in her Chelsea apartment.  the man arrested for the crime?  Her own son.
> 
> A spellbinding tale of money and madness, incest and matricide..


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 6, 2009)

Just got an email saying my _The Sound and the Fury_ seminar has been cancelled, so I'm shelving that and starting Colson Whitehead's _The Intuitionist_.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 6, 2009)

jer said:


> Reading a Tom Waits book, "Innocent When You Dream". What a card!



  that's one of my longterm bedside readers is that


----------



## 5t3IIa (Mar 6, 2009)

Keep eyeing a borrowed copy of Watchmen but not even nearly started it yet


----------



## jeff_leigh (Mar 7, 2009)

5t3IIa said:


> Keep eyeing a borrowed copy of Watchmen but not even nearly started it yet



Thats a comic


----------



## belboid (Mar 7, 2009)

it's a comic _book_.

Unless he's been lent all 12 original comics....


----------



## ViolentPanda (Mar 7, 2009)

It's a *graphic novel* you pair of goat-fuckers!!


----------



## jeff_leigh (Mar 7, 2009)

Most beautiful girl in town - Charles Bukowski


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2009)

I am re-reading _Non Places: an Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity_ by Marc Auge, because I saw it mentioned somewhere.


----------



## El Jefe (Mar 7, 2009)

just finished Luke Haines' AWESOME account of his time in the Britpop trenches, Bad Vibes.
An absolute classic.

Now reading On Some Faraway Beach, David Shepherd's weighty Eno biog


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2009)

When I say reading, I mean that I got it down from my shelf, read a few pages, and put it on my 'intend to read but probably wont' pile.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2009)

You not started that Shelagh Delaney yet dilly?

I am reading Nelson Algren - Walk on the Wild Side, and it has already made its way into my top ten books of all time.  Beautifully written, poetic, passionate...I'm hooked


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2009)

sojourner said:


> You not started that Shelagh Delaney yet dilly?
> 
> I am reading Nelson Algren - Walk on the Wild Side, and it has already made its way into my top ten books of all time.  Beautifully written, poetic, passionate...I'm hooked



Yeh, I read the first story. I really like it!

I googled her, I didn't realize it was her on the cover of Girlfriend in a Coma by The Smiths. 







That is very cool.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2009)

No I didn't know that either.  Oh well


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2009)

Nobody is perfect, eh?


----------



## jules64 (Mar 7, 2009)

'The Psychology of Happiness' written in 1946 ............ will fill in details next time i visit the 'net cafe )


----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Nobody is perfect, eh?



I console myself with the thought that it wouldn't have been her decision


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 7, 2009)

sojourner said:


> No I didn't know that either.  Oh well



The Smiths had all sorts of great and good people on their record covers


----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> The Smiths had all sorts of great and good people on their record covers



you're missing the point

i loathe the smiths, but love shelagh delaney.  if i need to explain more, let me know


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2009)

Could you explain more?


----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Could you explain more?



not to you, no 

for others who might not 'understand', perhaps


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 7, 2009)

You may loathe The Smiths but surely you can appreciate the beauty of their lyrics and their record covers?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2009)




----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> You may loathe The Smiths but surely you can appreciate the beauty of their lyrics and their record covers?



did you cut and paste that?


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 7, 2009)

No


----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> No





it's just that i've heard that line so often (usually without the reference to album covers though)


----------



## bluestreak (Mar 7, 2009)

Re-reading Banks' _Excession_.  Even better the second time around.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 7, 2009)

It's true though


----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> It's true though



there's no such thing as truth


----------



## Voley (Mar 7, 2009)

Morrissey is a prize fucking twat.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2009)

NVP said:


> Morrissey is a prize fucking twat.



oh, the voice of reason


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 7, 2009)

NVP said:


> Morrissey is a prize fucking twat.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 9, 2009)

_Campo Santo_ by WG Sebald


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2009)

I'm reading a book of fairy/folk tales boughten from the charity shop.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 9, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm reading a book of fairy/folk tales boughten from the charity shop.



Not Perrault's stuff, is it?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 9, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Not Perrault's stuff, is it?



You still have my hat.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Not Perrault's stuff, is it?



nah, it's famous legends (beowulf, Odysseus) done for children with illustrations, plus red riding and hansel and gretel and a few others. Perrault annoys me because of his morals at the end, just as the later sanitised Grimm versions annoy me with their hammered-home moral messages.

I bet these tales really lived when they were strictly oral.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 9, 2009)

altered carbon - richard morgan - nearly finished that, enjoyed it
also on the go

Phillip Kerr - a quiet flame


----------



## sojourner (Mar 9, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> You still have my hat.



I know. It's safe - in the glovebox, nestling with my cds.  You can have it back when I get Shelagh back 



DotCommunist said:


> nah, it's famous legends (beowulf, Odysseus) done for children with illustrations, plus red riding and hansel and gretel and a few others. Perrault annoys me because of his morals at the end, just as the later sanitised Grimm versions annoy me with their hammered-home moral messages.
> 
> I bet these tales really lived when they were strictly oral.




Sounds great.  Have you read the Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter?  You probably know of it - but she reworks the endings of Perrault's tales brilliantly


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 9, 2009)

marty21 said:


> *altered carbon *- richard morgan - nearly finished that, enjoyed it
> also on the go
> 
> Phillip Kerr - *a quiet flame*



Have you been stealing from my bookshelf 

Great book - I really like all his Bernie Gunther novels.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 9, 2009)

Mr Paw just came home from a new charity shop he discovered with 12 books. *sigh* We haven't got room for any more books. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having lots of books, but we already have, and we don't have room for more. Only cost him less than £4 for all 12, so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I know. It's safe - in the glovebox, nestling with my cds.  You can have it back when I get Shelagh back
> 
> 
> 
> ...



heard of but not read-Will seek out.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 9, 2009)

Vintage Paw said:


> Mr Paw just came home from a new charity shop he discovered with 12 books. *sigh* We haven't got room for any more books. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having lots of books, but we already have, and we don't have room for more. Only cost him less than £4 for all 12, so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much.



  bargain!

kind of thing I do that.  only I don't have anyone to moan at me for it


----------



## RubyBlue (Mar 9, 2009)

Reading The Perk by Mark Gimenez - meant to be a Grisham type legal thriller - half way through it and a bit bored


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Mar 10, 2009)

Have just finished Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac which was great. A bit inconsistent, some fantastically, eloquently observed subtleties but then also a bit meh in places. Will read another of her books 

I'm excited to be starting Ben in the World by Dear Doris Lessing tonight. The Fifth Child was engrossing and for me quite an emotive book. Am keen to read the sequel.


----------



## purplex (Mar 11, 2009)

My sister Tommie  - a biography of Tammi Terrell


----------



## rollinder (Mar 11, 2009)

Watchmen
Can Jane Eyre be Happy?: More Puzzles in Classic Fiction by J.A. Sutherland
and Completely Unexpected Tales by Roald Dahl
(both Tales of the Unexpected short story books in one - getting reacquainted with the likes of Lamb To The Slaughter


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 11, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I know. It's safe - in the glovebox, nestling with my cds.  You can have it back when I get Shelagh back



You are holding my hat hostage!


----------



## fractionMan (Mar 11, 2009)

The Prefect - Alastair Reynolds

I've given up on the book of dave by will self.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 11, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> You are holding my hat hostage!



I didn't mean to

I can't help it if you're a forgetful future librarian


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 11, 2009)

fractionMan said:


> I've given up on the book of dave by will self.



I was considering reading this - why did you stop? Is it poorly written?


----------



## belboid (Mar 11, 2009)

enjoyed A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away, somewhat daft, and formulaic, but fast paced and well enough written.

Now onto Lawrence Venutti's 'The Scandals of Translation', a book all about...translating, and how sometimes it's done...scandalously. Fascinating stuff actually


----------



## Lea (Mar 11, 2009)

Continuing the Notebook by Nicholas Sparks a romance written by a bloke. Strange as most romances are written by women. After I finish it I will start The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 12, 2009)

_The Cyberiad_ by Stanislaw Lem, loving it.


----------



## big eejit (Mar 12, 2009)

*Slaughterhouse 5*. Vonnegut is one of my fave authors and I was pretty sure I must have read this at some point, but it turns out I haven't. Unless my memory of it has been erased by aliens.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 12, 2009)

it's a very good book. if you fancy a vonnegut splurge, try Cat's Cradle next, i think it's even better.


----------



## big eejit (Mar 12, 2009)

I just read The Sirens of Titan, which was very good too. TBH I thought I'd read all his books years ago, but I'm discovering I haven't, so not sure if I've read Cat's Cradle or not now!


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 12, 2009)

big eejit said:


> *Slaughterhouse 5*. Vonnegut is one of my fave authors and I was pretty sure I must have read this at some point, but it turns out I haven't. Unless my memory of it has been erased by aliens.



so it goes


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 12, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> so it goes


----------



## Karamazov#1 (Mar 13, 2009)

Crime and Punishment.  Read it after finishing the Red Riding Quartet.  Maybe something light might be on the cards for the next one.


----------



## Urbanblues (Mar 13, 2009)

Moby Dick
Beat Poets


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 14, 2009)

Gender Trouble - Judith Butler


----------



## jeff_leigh (Mar 15, 2009)

The TesserAct - Alex Garland


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 15, 2009)

Recently received:

Muslim Tradition - GHA Juynboll
Traditions of Islam: An Introduction to the Study of the Hadith Literature - Alfred Guillaume

Will have to start these once I've finished Butler, which is superb!


----------



## El Jefe (Mar 15, 2009)

Joseph O'Neill - Netherland.

ace thus far


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 15, 2009)

Just finishing _The Cyberiad_ by Stanislaw Lem, which has been incredible fun, and the funniest, wisest and most enjoyable book I've read for ages. An astounding work of translation, too.

There's your beautifully written speculative fiction right there 


Next up it's _Confessions of a Crap Artist_ by Philip K Dick.


----------



## El Jefe (Mar 15, 2009)

is he the guy who coined the word robot? or the guy who asimov nicked his ideas off? or both? Or neither.

<well informed mode>


----------



## Blagsta (Mar 15, 2009)

Ben Fine & Alfredo Saad-Filho - Marx's Capital
Gerry Badger - The Genius of Photography


----------



## Blagsta (Mar 15, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> is he the guy who coined the word robot? or the guy who asimov nicked his ideas off? or both? Or neither.
> 
> <well informed mode>



Karl Capek invented the word robot in Rossum's Universal Robots.


----------



## El Jefe (Mar 15, 2009)

OK, I think Lem was the Laws of Robotics guy then.

or something


----------



## _pH_ (Mar 15, 2009)

Riding the Iron Rooster - Paul Theroux


----------



## Blagsta (Mar 15, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> OK, I think Lem was the Laws of Robotics guy then.
> 
> or something



No, that was Asimov.


----------



## El Jefe (Mar 15, 2009)

i thought asimov nicked them though


----------



## Lakina (Mar 15, 2009)

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott.

Surprisingly good, difficult to believe it was written in 1814.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 15, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> is he the guy who coined the word robot? or the guy who asimov nicked his ideas off? or both? Or neither.
> 
> <well informed mode>



I know fuck all about SF. But _The Cyberiad_ was great -- fairytales of the distant future.

Lem was responsible for _Solaris_, which I haven't read yet, but I've got some more of his stuff on order. You'd love this.


----------



## jayeola (Mar 15, 2009)

finished "the man in the high castle" by philp k. dick


----------



## Lakina (Mar 15, 2009)

jayeola said:


> finished "the man in the high castle" by philp k. dick



Worth reading?  Its been sitting on my shelf for about a year and I'm not sure if I should give it a go.


----------



## newme (Mar 15, 2009)

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Mar 15, 2009)

Reading Before I Forget now, a few pages in and it seems very reflective and insightful which is exactly what I like in a book. Seemingly simple plot with a lot of naval gazing, yes please.

Read ShiftyJunior Tyrannosaurus Drip at bedtime and it was marvellous. Best book this week.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 16, 2009)

Lakina said:


> Worth reading?  Its been sitting on my shelf for about a year and I'm not sure if I should give it a go.



one of his best. I'd rate alongside Do androids Dream.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 16, 2009)

Will Self - Book of Dave

Started it last night and enjoying it so far, but quite slow going coping with the language


----------



## 5t3IIa (Mar 16, 2009)

Peter Akroyde's _Chaucer_.


----------



## Rollem (Mar 17, 2009)

'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' - John Boyne


----------



## maya (Mar 17, 2009)

Lakina said:


> Worth reading?  Its been sitting on my shelf for about a year and I'm not sure if I should give it a go.


'The Man In The High Castle' is one of the worst of his 'highbrow' books, IMO- totally overrated. 
The plot is slow-going and doesn't work, there's little of interest and when the ending comes, you sort of just think... 'Yeah- So _what?_' The characters are unengaging and it feels too sketchy and undeveloped.

(That said, there's plenty of worse stuff from his early pulp period- he *had* to write like a hero to keep his family from starving- 'Vulcan's Hammer' and 'Dr.Futurity' are maybe his worst.)


----------



## fractionMan (Mar 17, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> I was considering reading this - why did you stop? Is it poorly written?



just hard work and a bit close to the bone for me at the time.



sojourner said:


> Will Self - Book of Dave
> 
> Started it last night and enjoying it so far, but quite slow going coping with the language



Let me know if it's worth picking up again!


----------



## sojourner (Mar 17, 2009)

fractionMan said:


> Let me know if it's worth picking up again!



Well, I have an awful lot of time for Will Self, and I am rather enjoying the wordplay and ideas so far, so I think I'll probably keep going with it anyway


----------



## lyra_k (Mar 17, 2009)

Eleanor Rigby by Coupland, and The Dark Side of Camelot, sensationalist page turner (about the Kennedys rather than King Arthur) by somebody or other.


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 17, 2009)

fractionMan said:


> just hard work and a bit close to the bone for me at the time.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Scrus (Mar 17, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Well, I have an awful lot of time for Will Self, and I am rather enjoying the wordplay and ideas so far, so I think I'll probably keep going with it anyway




me too, I really rate him, he has so many ideas and he really exercises my mind when i read him, he's a very creative writer, after I read him I have loads of different opinions and ideas myself, he kind of blows away the cobwebs.


----------



## El Jefe (Mar 17, 2009)

Dave is my favourite Self book - his writing is always awesome, and his ideas, but he's not great at plot or characters as a rule. Dave changes that, it has a great narrative, and pace, and it's moving


----------



## Ceej (Mar 17, 2009)

Just finished The Other Hand by Chris Cleave - the deceptively simple tale of a Nigerian refugee girl at home and in the UK - a real message without a lecture.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 17, 2009)

Human Smoke - Nicholson Baker - very absorbing - managed to get through 150 pages at Bloc!


----------



## Scrus (Mar 17, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Dave is my favourite Self book - his writing is always awesome, and his ideas, but he's not great at plot or characters as a rule. Dave changes that, it has a great narrative, and pace, and it's moving




I think i'm going to buy this then, I've read a few of his short stories, extracts in the independant and the dead book. But i will have to have a dictionary by my side when I read dave, no doubt, but that is one of the reasons I rate him.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 18, 2009)

Scrus said:


> I think i'm going to buy this then, I've read a few of his short stories, extracts in the independant and the dead book. *But i will have to have a dictionary by my side when I read dave*, no doubt, but that is one of the reasons I rate him.



Actually, the reverse is probably true.  But I won't say anymore than that!


----------



## wifey (Mar 18, 2009)

Bill Bryson, _Made in America_

Evelyn Waugh, _Decline & Fall _- have read before

E M Delafield, _The Diary of a Provincial Lady_ - inspiration


----------



## Lakina (Mar 18, 2009)

Just finished The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.  It's really underwhelming.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 19, 2009)

Finished _Confessions of a Crap Artist_, which was kind of uneven but had great moments, with a bit of a non-ending. Will have to read some of his proper SF.

Now, _Invisible Cities_ by Italo Calvino.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 19, 2009)

wifey said:


> Evelyn Waugh, _Decline & Fall _- have read before



I re-read that recently. Even funnier the second time round.


----------



## fractionMan (Mar 19, 2009)

Fictionist;8886786][quote=fractionMan said:


> just hard work and a bit close to the bone for me at the time.



What do you mean by this?[/quote]

It's about a dad who is having trouble seeing his children, at least at first.  I was in the process of going to court for the same reasons.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 19, 2009)

wifey said:


> Bill Bryson, _Made in America_
> 
> Evelyn Waugh, _Decline & Fall _- have read before



I've got that Bill Bryson on my bedtime reading/dip into pile 

As for EW - I have been rewatching Brideshead Revisited a couple of episodes at a time, and absolutely loving it all over again


----------



## wifey (Mar 19, 2009)

sojourner said:


> As for EW - I have been rewatching Brideshead Revisited a couple of episodes at a time, and absolutely loving it all over again



I did go to see the recent film - read the book too a while back.  Pure nostalgia.  Deeply melancholic though & a little bit tragic .. Especially because the whole thing is essentially the main character's memories to begin with so it's all seen through the mists of time and space .. It's a lovely book.  And a beautiful film, I thought.  

Which version are you watching?


----------



## sojourner (Mar 19, 2009)

wifey said:


> I did go to see the recent film - read the book too a while back.  Pure nostalgia.  Deeply melancholic though & a little bit tragic .. Especially because the whole thing is essentially the main character's memories to begin with so it's all seen through the mists of time and space .. It's a lovely book.  And a beautiful film, I thought.
> 
> Which version are you watching?



The Anthony Andrews version.  Was nearly welling up the other night   He does great 'tortured soul'  . I last watched it as a kid so it's really satisfying watching it all again now.  

I also have the book - read it a few years ago 

Not sure I want to watch the recent film tbh.  Anthony Andrews IS Sebastian - anyone else just wouldn't wash for me


----------



## wifey (Mar 19, 2009)

sojourner said:


> The Anthony Andrews version.  Was nearly welling up the other night   He does great 'tortured soul'  . I last watched it as a kid so it's really satisfying watching it all again now.
> 
> I also have the book - read it a few years ago
> 
> Not sure I want to watch the recent film tbh.  Anthony Andrews IS Sebastian - anyone else just wouldn't wash for me



Ooh, must look up that version!  

I know what you mean about certain actors _being_ the part.  The Sebastian in the recent film is excellent too though - all the actors, in fact.


----------



## ChrisC (Mar 19, 2009)

Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 19, 2009)

ChrisC said:


> Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds.



I was dissatisfied with this book. Let me know when you've finished and I'll tell you why, because it's impossible to explain why without spoilers


----------



## Dozy (Mar 19, 2009)

Currently wading through the complete Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes series, reading them in the order they were written which is not the order the book was complied in.

A Study In Scarlet -   I found this great, except I was thrown by part 2 when you suddenly end up in America and it took a while for me to work out why.

The Sign Of Four - Very oldy worldy London, nice story.

A Scandal In Bohemia - Short but sweet.

I'm now just starting to read - The Red-Headed League.


----------



## maya (Mar 20, 2009)

Vladimir Odoyevsky (sp?), 'Russian Nights'.

Odd little novel of ideas which consists entirely of (fictional) nightly discussions between a group of bohemian friends in 19th century Russia. The language flows beautifully, as always in Russian novels, especially from this period. Romanticism, idealism, and a  bit of unexpected nationalism added at the end.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 20, 2009)

The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon


----------



## baldrick (Mar 20, 2009)

lyra_k said:


> Eleanor Rigby by Coupland


made me cry like a baby


----------



## Urbanblues (Mar 20, 2009)

'In Dubious Battle' John Steinbeck
'Blue Coffee' Adrian Mitchell
'Beat Poets' Beat Poets


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 20, 2009)

fractionMan said:


> It's about a dad who is having trouble seeing his children, at least at first.  I was in the process of going to court for the same reasons.



I'm sorry to hear that.


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 20, 2009)

Granny Made Me An Anarchist - Stuart Christie.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 20, 2009)

Bakunin said:


> Granny Made Me An Anarchist - Stuart Christie.


i thought this was very good. a very absorbing mix of the personal and political. and quite inspiring as well.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 22, 2009)

Got pissed off with Calvino so am reading _The Judgment of Deke Hunter_ by George V Higgins, which is everything Higgins always is, which is great.


----------



## ChrisC (Mar 23, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> I was dissatisfied with this book. Let me know when you've finished and I'll tell you why, because it's impossible to explain why without spoilers



Yes that seems to be the general attitude. I must admit it's not as good as Redemption Ark and Revelation Space.

After I have finished this I'll be reading David Brin's second uplift trilogy.


----------



## Pieface (Mar 23, 2009)

I've just had a fine run of books:

*Watchmen - Alan Moore:*  wanted to get it read so I could be righteously indignant at the film.  I loved this book!  You can see why it's the big daddy graphic novel - the ideas and execution are so ambitious.  It's ace.

*Valley of the Dolls - Jaqueline Susan:*  This was ace, prototype blockbuster trashyness.  This book is why gossip mags are so popular - the filth of the rich and famous.

*Bad Vibes - Luke Haines:*  I don't know The Auteurs or Black Box Recorder or Bader-Meinhof but will be digging some out now just to hear what kind of music this furious, vicious and villainous man made   It is fucking hilarious this book - about Britpop and it's fall.    Britpop was the soundtrack of my teens.  I was shortchanged and I listened to all the wrong bands but this book clears all that up for me.  It was kind of therapeutic for me .  I urge you all to read it.

*The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman*:  A nice Neil Gaiman book for kids.  That's it really - not aimed at me.


----------



## belboid (Mar 23, 2009)

PieEye said:


> *Bad Vibes - Luke Haines:*  I don't know The Auteurs or Black Box Recorder or Bader-Meinhof but will be digging some out now just to hear what kind of music this furious, vicious and villainous man made   It is fucking hilarious this book - about Britpop and it's fall.    Britpop was the soundtrack of my teens.  I was shortchanged and I listened to all the wrong bands but this book clears all that up for me.  It was kind of therapeutic for me .  I urge you all to read it.



They're all fucking great, Haines is a genius. I meant to ask me bro if he had this and could I borrow it when I saw him on saturday.  Bugger.

Run out and buy After Murder Park and How I Learned to Love the Bootboys _*NOW*_


----------



## Pieface (Mar 23, 2009)

I shall post it to you.  Give me your address   I'm sure Jefe won't mind.


----------



## belboid (Mar 23, 2009)

I half recal li was meant to lend Jefe some book or other, can't remember what it is now tho.

Bad Vibes is in the local library, so I'll nip down there and borrow it, ta


----------



## ViolentPanda (Mar 23, 2009)

belboid said:


> They're all fucking great, Haines is a genius. I meant to ask me bro if he had this and could I borrow it when I saw him on saturday.  Bugger.
> 
> Run out and buy After Murder Park and How I Learned to Love the Bootboys _*NOW*_



*And* "New Wave", you effing barbarian!!


----------



## belboid (Mar 23, 2009)

mmm, yeah, that ones not bad either


----------



## Pieface (Mar 23, 2009)

Heh.  New Wave of New Wave gets very short shrift.  As a "movement"


----------



## belboid (Mar 23, 2009)

I'd have thought Luke would be a _massive_ S*M*A*S*H* fan...


----------



## Pieface (Mar 23, 2009)

Their biggest.

I liked a  S*M*A*S*H* album   I was probably Luke's worst nightmare.


----------



## belboid (Mar 23, 2009)

PieEye said:


> I liked a  S*M*A*S*H* album   I was probably Luke's worst nightmare.



_A_ SMASH album?  There can't have been more than one, can there?




i saw them three times.  Oh Ovary! isn't a bad song


----------



## Pieface (Mar 23, 2009)

I don't know.  I was never very faithful to bands.  I had an album by them - actually, come to think of it, it was a self titled album wasn't it??


----------



## belboid (Mar 23, 2009)

wiki tells me self-titled was the first two ep's compiled, and the album was called Self Abuse


----------



## starfish (Mar 23, 2009)

PieEye said:


> *Watchmen - Alan Moore:*



Just started reading this too. Can vaguely remember it from my teens & what with the film out & all that, has a similar feel to the New Statesmen series from Crisis.


----------



## belboid (Mar 24, 2009)

Death Note.

Japanese manga thing.  Good plot (and a hell of a lot of plot) but toherwise a bit crappy


----------



## ringo (Mar 24, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Got pissed off with Calvino so am reading _The Judgment of Deke Hunter_ by George V Higgins, which is everything Higgins always is, which is great.



Same here, "If on a winter's night" started clever, then began to fall apart, nearly rescued itself, but then disappeared up its own arse. 

Now onto Ancient Rome: The rise and fall of an empire - Simon Baker.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Mar 25, 2009)

Hergé's "Tim und Struppi: Die Schwarze Insel", otherwise known as "Tintin and Snowy: The Black Island".


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Mar 26, 2009)

belboid said:


> Death Note.
> 
> Japanese manga thing.  Good plot (and a hell of a lot of plot) but toherwise a bit crappy



also has a load of gay porn  fan stuff

a lot of which is really rather funny...


----------



## Upchuck (Mar 26, 2009)

Upchuck said:


> _Savage Grace_ by Natalie Robins and Steven L. Aronson
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Still reading this.  Is very good.  Has good info on what life in Broadmoor is like and interviews with ex staff and patients, doctors and nurse notes, and people recall what visiting Tony in there was like.  It sounds grim!


----------



## belboid (Mar 26, 2009)

belboid said:


> Bad Vibes is in the local library, so I'll nip down there and borrow it, ta



aagghh!! the bloody library have mislaid it! (ie a member of staff's nicked it)


----------



## baldrick (Mar 26, 2009)

erich maria remarque - all quiet on the western front.

not exactly what i expected so far.  i thought it was going to be relentlessly gloomy and horrifying.  black humour.... definitely, but not depressing. all the better for it i think.  only 20 pages in though, it could all change


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Mar 26, 2009)

A piece of trash I bought in newcastrle central station as it wa half price.  called City Boy and it's an account from a previous city broker type about the firms and banks and stuff and what a load of wankery it was.


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Mar 26, 2009)

Black humour is a great way to deal with war though (viz Citizen kane


----------



## sojourner (Mar 27, 2009)

baldrick said:


> erich maria remarque - all quiet on the western front.
> 
> not exactly what i expected so far.  i thought it was going to be relentlessly gloomy and horrifying.  black humour.... definitely, but not depressing. all the better for it i think.  only 20 pages in though, it could all change



I love that book.  Reread it again last year, and it was as good as I thought it was the first time around


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 27, 2009)

Joe Abercrombie "The Blade Itself" - nice bit of fantasy, just started it this morning and am already enjoying it plus took my mind of my aching head and tummy so I like it for that!


----------



## Meltingpot (Mar 27, 2009)

"Unjust Rewards", by Polly Toynbee and - is it David Walker?


----------



## wifey (Mar 27, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I love that book.  Reread it again last year, and it was as good as I thought it was the first time around



I liked it when I read it at uni (studied German).  Must read it again sometimes.  I love dark humour and I remember it being so real and heart-breaking without being mawkish.


----------



## Fedayn (Mar 27, 2009)

Shallow Grave by Walter Gregory.


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 27, 2009)

The Last Dickens  - Matthew Pearl


----------



## RubyBlue (Mar 27, 2009)

True Detectives by Jonathan Kellerman.  I got bored with his delaware / sturgis series and this is a standalone novel - quite good, not great but ok.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Mar 28, 2009)

Christopher Brookmyre - Country of the Blind


----------



## El Jefe (Mar 28, 2009)

Neverland wasn't all that in the end... 

now reading Oscar & Lucinda by Peter Carey (Pie Face's favourite book, I think) and Barney Hoskyn's recent Tom Waits biog


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 28, 2009)

be interested what you think about the Tom Waits book. some of the reviews i read put me off it a bit but an excerpt i read about him and that woman singer was quite readable i thought.


----------



## May Kasahara (Mar 29, 2009)

Lunar Park. It's great.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 29, 2009)

A modern anthology of english verse. Well it was modern when published now it is practically an antique book



> 'Nothing begins and nothing ends,
> That is not paid with moan;
> For we are born in others pain
> And perish in our own



Francis Thompson


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 30, 2009)

_Trouble Is My Business_, short stories by Raymond Chandler


----------



## marty21 (Mar 30, 2009)

Simon Schama - The American Future


----------



## sojourner (Mar 30, 2009)

Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer

Well - there's a WHOLE chunk of this I wasn't expecting.  A fair bit of it appears to be surplus to requirements, but I am nevertheless still enjoying most of it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 31, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon



I have to confess I'm struggling with the hebrew/yiddish in this. 
I keep having to look stuff up.


----------



## Rollem (Mar 31, 2009)

well i have three books in my vicinity which need reading

the 19th wife - david ebershoff
child 44 - tom rob smith
marching powder - rusty young

think i will attempt marching powder first...


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 31, 2009)

Rollem said:


> well i have three books in my vicinity which need reading
> 
> the 19th wife - david ebershoff
> child 44 - tom rob smith
> ...



Then you should rush through the other two.


----------



## tar1984 (Apr 1, 2009)

The steep approach to Garbadale - Iain Banks.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 1, 2009)

China Meiville _Scar_

a 2nd read, but still well good


----------



## Rollem (Apr 1, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Then you should rush through the other two.



arf!  it's actually quite a good book, fast moving (lol!)


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 3, 2009)

Finished Chandler's stories, which were great, and now reading _Aunts Aren't Gentlemen_ by PG Wodehouse.


----------



## starfish (Apr 4, 2009)

The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart. Thought it was about time.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Apr 4, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> be interested what you think about the Tom Waits book. some of the reviews i read put me off it a bit but an excerpt i read about him and that woman singer was quite readable i thought.



You like Tom Waits Paulie? 

I've a screen-play for a film that a friend is writing about him if you want to have butchers at it. I wasnt expecting to like it tbh. But its really good. 

Hes a brilliant writer (imo) with a few really good film scripts under his belt (imo again of course). I'll email you the screen-play (well the bit thats finished anyway  ) if you wanna have a peek at it. 

I couldnt stop once I got started and that was just the 1st act, and thats saying something cause my attention span is usually zilch unless its something really good.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Apr 4, 2009)

oh yeah books...ive just started 
*
What's Not to Love?: The Adventures of a Mildly Perverted Young Writer *- Jonathan Ames

i adore his writing,* 'The Alcoholic'* is in my top 50 books that i devour on a regular basis 

the tags on amazon for the book (well its actually a collection of autobiographical essays) ive just started are enough to make you want to read it, or should be ....



> Key Phrases: chicken fights, armpit hair, prosthetic leg, New York, New Jersey, Christmas Eve


 

He's an _excellent_ author. 

so yeah thats what im reading atm.


----------



## the button (Apr 4, 2009)

"English Passengers" by Matthew Kneale. Got it from a charity shop years ago, and found it in my pile. Very good it is too. Slightly dodgy review here, but you get the idea: -

http://www.authortrek.com/english_passengers.html


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 4, 2009)

Three arrived this morning. I've started on The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay since it's the final part of a trilogy that I've been waiting to complete reading. Next up will be Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde. Then I'll reread Whit by Iain Banks using the new copy that replaces the borrowed and lost copy.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 4, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer
> 
> Well - there's a WHOLE chunk of this I wasn't expecting.  A fair bit of it appears to be surplus to requirements, but I am nevertheless still enjoying most of it.



Finished this today

I thought that in parts, it was blinding.  But I think there was an awful lot of  over-thinking/over-writing if you know what I mean.  And some of it was just downright pretentious self-indulgent nonsense.  But - I enjoyed it more than I didn't enjoy it.  Could do better.  Don't get the idolising reviews of it.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 4, 2009)

sojourner said:


> an awful lot of  over-thinking/over-writing if you know what I mean



Not read this one, but I do know what you mean. It's a bit of a plague among the latest American generation I think, but could also be called the 'latest American style'. I blame the editors -- for encouraging it, or for not stamping it out.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 4, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Not read this one, but I do know what you mean. It's a bit of a plague among the latest American generation I think, but could also be called the 'latest American style'. I blame the editors -- for encouraging it, or for not stamping it out.



Mmm, it also made me think of a comment someone made on here about a lot of novels being written these days with book clubs in mind.  This would appear to be the perfect example of that!

It occurred to me that it could have done with a damn sight more editing tbh


e2a - I only got it cos I'd seen the film and thought that was brilliant.  I think this is the first case so far that I've preferred the film over a book


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 4, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Mmm, it also made me think of a comment someone made on here about a lot of novels being written these days with book clubs in mind.  This would appear to be the perfect example of that!



That definitely happens. The young Americans are something else, though, I think. It's the pursuit of something perfect that can end up reading quite patrician.

E.g. Lethem. Motherless Brooklyn was great because it was stylish but restrained; You Don't Love me Yet was just all style (but enjoyable). Chabon overwrites, too, in pursuit of the perfect paragraph (but I still like him).


----------



## sojourner (Apr 4, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> *That definitely happens.* The young Americans are something else, though, I think. It's the pursuit of something perfect that can end up reading quite patrician.
> 
> E.g. Lethem. Motherless Brooklyn was great because it was stylish but restrained; You Don't Love me Yet was just all style (but enjoyable). Chabon overwrites, too, in pursuit of the perfect paragraph (but I still like him).



I find that incredibly depressing.

I thought Wonder Boys was ace - have Kavalier and Klay on loan, and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh on my shelf to come.  I'm going to read them with an open mind though - it's the only way I can.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 4, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I find that incredibly depressing.



On the one hand. On the other, publishing has always been about identifying then creating a section of the reading public and milking it for all it's got.

Like publishing a novel called 'Badger Baiting in the Rue de Lyon' because someone somewhere has just published a novel called 'Mackerel Fishing in the Sudan'. _That_ shit drives me nuts 



sojourner said:


> I thought Wonder Boys was ace - have Kavalier and Klay on loan, and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh on my shelf to come.  I'm going to read them with an open mind though - it's the only way I can.



Not read WB, but loved K&K for the notion if not the last 150 pages, and The Yiddish Policeman's Union, which was bit too perfect but a lot of fun nevertheless.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 4, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> On the one hand. On the other, publishing has always been about identifying *then creating a section of the reading public and milking it for all it's got.*
> 
> Like publishing a novel called 'Badger Baiting in the Rue de Lyon' because someone somewhere has just published a novel called 'Mackerel Fishing in the Sudan'. _That_ shit drives me nuts



Yeh, like I said, depressing 

I get most of my books from trips to second hand shops (it's rare that I'll buy something specifically, but I did with this cos of the film) so I miss/avoid unintentionally publishing trends.  Always good to chat to people who actually keep up with stuff though 

I wish there really was a book called 'Mackerel Fishing in the Sudan'


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 5, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I wish there really was a book called 'Mackerel Fishing in the Sudan'



I'd be more interested in the badger-baiting one I think 

---

Finished _Aunts Aren't Gentlemen_, now reading _Thank You, Jeeves_, in an old kitschy Pan edition that I forgot I had. I like Wodehouse a lot.


----------



## maya (Apr 5, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> I like Wodehouse a lot.


I've got a Folio Society collection of Wodehouse's best gathering dust in the attic, give me a beep if you want it (no charge, it's a pleasure to finally thank you for the fantastic mixes i received AGES ago and never got round to return)


----------



## maya (Apr 5, 2009)

Just opened, will read: 'The Forever War' by Joe Haldeman.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 5, 2009)

'Creating Public Value' - Micheal Moore


----------



## Vintage Paw (Apr 5, 2009)

May Kasahara said:


> Lunar Park. It's great.



I got the chance to read that before it came out - loved it. I actually haven't read anything else of his, but I don't believe that mattered. Of course, a knowledge of AP is crucial (perhaps).

Soj + DM - very interesting convo up there you had. Something I'm very interested in (being little miss contemp. american lit.).


----------



## sojourner (Apr 5, 2009)

Vintage Paw said:


> Soj + DM - very interesting convo up there you had. Something I'm very interested in (being little miss contemp. american lit.).



 yeh, forgot about you and that connection


----------



## Vintage Paw (Apr 5, 2009)

sojourner said:


> yeh, forgot about you and that connection



Pfft. I'd never forget about you 

The lecturer in the office next to mine is currently writing a book on Lethem. He likes Brooklyn fiction.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 5, 2009)

Vintage Paw said:


> Pfft. I'd never forget about you
> 
> The lecturer in the office next to mine is currently writing a book on Lethem. He likes Brooklyn fiction.



I didn't forget about YOU my darling, just about your fanaticism for american lit   i've slept since birmingham 

you should come down (or up, or whatever) to mine for a visit, and we'll get dill round.  Wine, food, literary conversation - it'll be just like a salon


----------



## Vintage Paw (Apr 5, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I didn't forget about YOU my darling, just about your fanaticism for american lit   i've slept since birmingham
> 
> you should come down (or up, or whatever) to mine for a visit, and we'll get dill round.  Wine, food, literary conversation - it'll be just like a salon



Only if I can wear a beret and turtle neck sweater.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 5, 2009)

Vintage Paw said:


> Only if I can wear a beret and turtle neck sweater.



more than welcome

you can carry a satchel too, if you like


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Apr 5, 2009)

Am reading The eye in teh door by Pat Barker.
Yes, 'tis a good read. Interesting but not too demanding.


----------



## foamy (Apr 5, 2009)

oooh, i've just been recommended some Pat Barker, "Life Class" but I liked the look of the trilogy your book is in (I forget the name....)

I've just finished the Mitford sisters letters so might read something mindless and short for a break


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 5, 2009)

The Regeneration Trilogy - Pat Barker is possibly my favourite writer


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Apr 5, 2009)

As I always suspect you are a man of impeccable taste 
I've jumped it at the middle with this one, bit silly really but I just liked the look of the book.

Finished We need to talk about Kevin the other day, the first half was like swimming agaist the tide but I began to enjoy it towards the end


----------



## foamy (Apr 5, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> The Regeneration Trilogy - Pat Barker is possibly my favourite writer



this thread has spurred me on to order Life Class and if i enjoy that i shall be getting the regeneration trilogy too!


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 5, 2009)

A friend read Life Class and said it wasn't very good for a Barker. Border Crossing may be a better choice.


----------



## foamy (Apr 5, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> A friend read Life Class and said it wasn't very good for a Barker. Border Crossing may be a better choice.



ah, i've been recommended it for the subject matter so wont hold it against Barker and keep and open mind (and put the R T on my birthday wish list!


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 5, 2009)

MightyAphrodite said:


> You like Tom Waits Paulie?
> 
> I've a screen-play for a film that a friend is writing about him if you want to have butchers at it. I wasnt expecting to like it tbh. But its really good.
> 
> ...


sounds interesting  pm with email addy on the way. thanks


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 6, 2009)

maya said:


> I've got a Folio Society collection of Wodehouse's best gathering dust in the attic, give me a beep if you want it (no charge, it's a pleasure to finally thank you for the fantastic mixes i received AGES ago and never got round to return)



Wow 

That's far too much for a couple of ropey mixes. I do love Wodehouse, though


----------



## Homeless Mal (Apr 7, 2009)

_Innocents - How Justice Failed Stefan Kiszko and Lesley Molseed_

This is a weighty book as it describes terrible circumstances of people's lives. I feel I have to maintin a severe reverence as the story is just horrible - from a criminal and moral point of view.


----------



## MorrisLDN (Apr 7, 2009)

I'm reading The Beach by Alex Garland


----------



## Lakina (Apr 7, 2009)

Gorky Park.  Brainless and ridiculous.  I love it.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 8, 2009)

Vintage Paw said:


> Only if I can wear a beret and turtle neck sweater.







sojourner said:


> more than welcome
> 
> you can carry a satchel too, if you like



I have a satchel. You both know me so well.



here is my current book pile:

_Snow Country_ by Yusanari Kawabata
_The Makioka Sisters_ by Junichiro Tanizaki
_Spring Snow_ by Yukio Mishima

(I have only really started reading _Snow Country_ so far)

I am continuing reading _Soul Mountain_ by Gao Xingjian as well.

I read a book about Zen recently as well, which was pretty good:

_Zen Mind, Beginners Mind_ by Shunryu Suzuki

The book I am reading most is _A Brief History of Neoliberalism_ by David Harvey, and I also have _Limits to Capital_ to read as well when I have finished. I wish I had read them earlier! The Neoliberalism one would have come handy during my degree. 

I also started reading _One Dimensional Man_ by Herbert Marcuse. I have read most of it before, so I stopped after a while. 

There are a few others but I cant remember them right now.


----------



## maya (Apr 8, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Wow
> 
> That's far too much for a couple of ropey mixes. I do love Wodehouse, though


Yeah, Wodehouse just sums up that kind of particularly english, sparkly ironic elegance thing which has always fascinated me- the style looks so damn easy, simple even- but it's actually pretty hard to emulate. 
No it isn't, those mixes were brilliant.  - Wodehouse in transit!


----------



## sojourner (Apr 8, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have a satchel. You both know me so well.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



we do 

hey, looks like you've been spending your time extremely wisely young man, i thoroughly approve of it 

let's get a date sorted out for this salon thing eh?


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 8, 2009)

maya said:


> Yeah, Wodehouse just sums up that kind of particularly english, sparkly ironic elegance thing which has always fascinated me- the style looks so damn easy, simple even- but it's actually pretty hard to emulate.
> No it isn't, those mixes were brilliant.  - Wodehouse in transit!



Blimey, thank you 

Yes, Wodehouse had, above almost anything else (a lot of stuff gets recycled), incomparable comic timing.

In the (temporary) absence of any more Wodehouse, I've started _Tales of Pirx The Pilot_ by Stanislaw Lem.


----------



## electrogirl (Apr 9, 2009)

I've just joined a feminist book group. 

So I am going to be reading Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth.


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 9, 2009)

Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere. 

Nevermeh more like. I suspect I'm about to give up on fantasy again.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 9, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere.
> 
> Nevermeh more like. I suspect I'm about to give up on fantasy again.



still no doris then 

I want that bloody back if you're not reading it


----------



## sojourner (Apr 9, 2009)

electrogirl said:


> I've just joined a feminist book group.



Have you?!


----------



## electrogirl (Apr 9, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Have you?!



what is with the shock?!


----------



## sojourner (Apr 9, 2009)

electrogirl said:


> what is with the shock?!



just never thought you would do that. like i know you really well, and that


----------



## electrogirl (Apr 9, 2009)

sojourner said:


> just never thought you would do that. like i know you really well, and that



Heh. 

I studied Sociology you know! I am very interested in feminist theory, but it never got covered in much detail in my degree, so yes, I have.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 9, 2009)

electrogirl said:


> Heh.
> 
> I studied Sociology you know! I am very interested in feminist theory, but it never got covered in much detail in my degree, so yes, I have.


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 11, 2009)

Well I finished Neverwhere and quite enjoyed it in the end.

Now I'm reading Maps & Legends, a collection of essays about literature by Michael Chabon.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 11, 2009)

i have just read this:


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 11, 2009)

and am now reading this:






i'm all historied up


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 11, 2009)

I've also been reading some open uni science text books that someone on here (can't remember who) sent me about 5 years ago. they're very interesting, as are the scribbled comments from the urbanite in question:



> Quantum numbers - it's fucking impossible - 2 fucking electrons - what the fuck is that fucking about? that [illegible] of impossible shit HATE HATE HATE HATE


----------



## mentalchik (Apr 11, 2009)

Line War - Neal Asher


----------



## Voley (Apr 11, 2009)

Just started 'Pogue Mahone - Kiss My Arse: The Story Of The Pogues' by Carol Clerk. Very entertaining so far. Not entirely sure about the writing style but tales of Shane getting his ear bitten off at early punk gigs and the like have raised a smile or two. I used to drink in quite a few of the pubs mentioned, too. I always like it when you find that out, for some reason.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 12, 2009)

Finished _Tales of Pirx The Pilot_, loved these stories. A different Lem to the fantasy Lem. Really arresting and moving stories that aren't really about space at all.

Wondering whether to read another one, this time _Mortal Engines_.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 12, 2009)

I am tempted by 2666 by Roberto Bolano.

It looks kind of heavy and intense.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 12, 2009)

Did you finish Shelagh?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 12, 2009)

Yes.



I will return it to you when I see you next.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 12, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Yes.
> 
> 
> 
> I will return it to you when I see you next.





next weekend I am free, btw


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 12, 2009)

Covering Islam - Edward Said

(Again). It was so bad that I feel a refutation underway.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 12, 2009)

Brief History of Neoliberalism.


and in the fiction corner I'm re-reading Midnight Tides by steven erickson


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 12, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Brief History of Neoliberalism.



I have been reading that one as well.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 12, 2009)

cool. I watched the youtube talks he did on neoliberalism and thought it worth a go. I'm still only midway through 'freedom is just a word' cos of the graphs. I have to sit and work them out, as I am not big on maths/graphs


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 12, 2009)

I also got _Limits to Capital_ as well, but that is a lot more heavy and academic. 

It makes me feel like I am studying. 

Apparently David Harvey will be publishing a book that is a guide to _Capital_, or something, in a month or two. That looks pretty good.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 12, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I also got _Limits to Capital_ as well, but that is a lot more heavy and academic.
> 
> It makes me feel like I am studying.
> 
> Apparently David Harvey will be publishing a book that is a guide to _Capital_, or something, in a month or two. That looks pretty good.



that migh be cool. He has a series of lectures on _Capital_ as well, available free online. I watched the first one, the introducion bit. When I get round to picking up Capital I'll watch the chapter-by-chapter lectures.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 12, 2009)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Introduction-Marxs-Capital-David-Harvey/dp/1844673596/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239549552&sr=8-4

This is the one I meant. It looks pretty good, for a beginners introduction. He seems pretty good at making complex ideas (and _Capital_ is nothing if it is not complex) seem pretty simple. 

I have the link on his site about his guide to _Capital_. I think this is basically the same thing in book form.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 12, 2009)

I am also thinking of getting _Daughters of Juarez_ by Teresa Rodriguez.

I am not normally into crime books. But there is something that seems really really really really wrong about all those murders in Juarez. Hundreds of them. Mostly unsolved. I want to know more.


----------



## ChrisC (Apr 12, 2009)

Re-reading Dune by Frank Herbert now.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 12, 2009)

ChrisC said:


> Re-reading Dune by Frank Herbert now.



I tried reading that and failed, I just couldn't progress beyond the first few pages (despite the fact it has been recommended to me countless times). Maybe it was just not the right time for me.

Best of luck!


----------



## Shevek (Apr 12, 2009)

I've just read "the devils" by fyodor Dostoevsky. It seemed quite dry and I found it hard to follow


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 12, 2009)

Shevek said:


> I've just read "the devils" by fyodor Dostoevsky. It seemed quite dry and I found it hard to follow



That is Dostoyevsky for you. 

You should try _The Brothers Karamazov_.


----------



## cyberfairy (Apr 12, 2009)

Have finished and utterly adored The Observations by Jane Harris, a superbly funny and thrilling romp of a book narrated by a nineteenth century prostitute in a crumbling Scottish manor


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 13, 2009)

Giving Lem a rest, so it's _A Time To Be Born_ by Dawn Powell.


----------



## Threshers_Flail (Apr 13, 2009)

Lolita, by Nabokov. Only reading it as my sister just did an essay on it, and wants to discuss it, I'm not really looking forward to that.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 13, 2009)

With William Burroughs by Victor Bockris, very enjoyable collection of essays, interviews, conversations and so on.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 13, 2009)




----------



## nino_savatte (Apr 13, 2009)

Watchmen


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 13, 2009)

beesonthewhatnow said:


>


that makes my head go funny


----------



## breasticles (Apr 13, 2009)

bright lights, big city. it's making me feel realy hungover. i wouldn't mind, but i haven't had a drink since 2005.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 13, 2009)

beesonthewhatnow said:


>



Someone gave that to me and explained that it could potentially radically alter my thinking - but as I read it it just seemed to get ever more entirely predictable. What do you think thus far?


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 13, 2009)

I have been reading 'Walden' by Thoreau. But he's annoying me, the smug git. I might just skip to 'Civil Disobedience'


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 13, 2009)

Threshers_Flail said:


> Lolita, by Nabokov. Only reading it as my sister just did an essay on it, and wants to discuss it, I'm not really looking forward to that.



Great book.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 13, 2009)

bit pervy?!


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 13, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Someone gave that to me and explained that it could potentially radically alter my thinking - but as I read it it just seemed to get ever more entirely predictable. What do you think thus far?



I like it, I kinda get what you mean about it getting predictable, but I reckon that's a result of my understanding the previous chapters IYSWIM


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 13, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> bit pervy?!



Oh yes. 

It is definitely one of the best books of the 20th century, IMO. Nabakov was a master.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 13, 2009)

Discussing it with my little sister would rank as one of those 'FML' moments. I'm not a prude but still...


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 13, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Discussing it with my little sister would rank as one of those 'FML' moments. I'm not a prude but still...



That is part of the beauty of it, I think.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 13, 2009)

pervy-lit is cool


----------



## sojourner (Apr 14, 2009)

The Sexual Education of Edith Wharton - Gloria C Erlich

which amounts so far to some academic bollocks relating to having a nanny do most of the caring for a child


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 14, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Discussing it with my little sister would rank as one of those 'FML' moments. I'm not a prude but still...



FML?


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 14, 2009)

'fuck my life'


----------



## madzone (Apr 14, 2009)

The Artist's Way

Again


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 14, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> 'fuck my life'



that still doesn't make any sense


----------



## breasticles (Apr 14, 2009)

there's a website called 'fuck my life', where people send in little snippets about examples of lifes' challenges that they have encountered- usually of the 'i was having a wank and my mum came in with a cup of tea while i had my eyes closed' sort, and then after the example it says 'FML'.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 14, 2009)

yes, but how does that go with DotC's discussing a work of literature with his sister (unless she's not an adult of course)?


----------



## breasticles (Apr 14, 2009)

i don't know. i would imagine she may be in that discomforting hinterland where dotcommunist still thinks of her as a child even though she has reached the dewy apex of her womanhood. maybe dotcommunist would rather not think about his sister having a dewy apex of womanhood. maybe dotcommunist would, in all honesty, rather be watching the dog whisperer and eating oatcakes than having to have earnest conversations about nabakov with his sister. i don't know. ask him, man.


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 14, 2009)

been dipping into a collection of essays by Michael Chabon, which is a bit meh.

Now getting into Oscar & Lucinda by Peter Carey


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 14, 2009)

breasticles said:


> i don't know. i would imagine she may be in that discomforting hinterland where dotcommunist still thinks of her as a child even though she has reached the dewy apex of her womanhood. maybe dotcommunist would rather not think about his sister having a dewy apex of womanhood. maybe dotcommunist would, in all honesty, rather be watching the dog whisperer and eating oatcakes than having to have earnest conversations about nabakov with his sister. i don't know. ask him, man.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 14, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Now getting into Oscar & Lucinda by Peter Carey



Read that last year, quite enjoyed it as I recall


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 14, 2009)

I don't have a sister, but when the poster referred to his little sister studying nabakov's lolita I assumed gcse age and imagined how uncomfortable I'd feel discussing it with her. But who knows, maybe hypothetical sister and I would have had the sort of relationship that meant it wouldn't have been uncomfortable for me in any way.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 14, 2009)

My sister is a probation officer and we talk about nonces all the time.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Apr 14, 2009)

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde.

Impressed so far.


----------



## breasticles (Apr 14, 2009)

maybe threshers flail could recruit one of us to chat to his sister about lolita? it seems like we'd all be pretty unfazed by the experience.


----------



## breasticles (Apr 14, 2009)

i should stop arseing about and talk about some books shouldn't i? i stopped reading bright lights big city because i was running out of paracetomol. will return to it once i've been to the chemist. read will storr v the supernatural by will storr (surprisingly enough). light- hearted and fairly entertaining look at the world of woo. probably nowhere near as staringly rational about the subject as many on here would like, but i enjoyed it.


----------



## Shevek (Apr 14, 2009)

Im skimming through two books at the moment. 'Touched by Fire' by Kay Redfield Jamieson (a psychologist) was recomended to me by my psychiatrist. I have leafed through it this lunch time, wasn't massively impressed but should be useful. The other books I am reading bits of is 'Necessary Illusions' by Noam Chomsky. I like his idea of a democratically controlled media. I tried to get something 'light' from the main library today but couldn't find anything worth reading. I fancy Dave Gorman's 'America Unchained' to give my brain a rest after my recent Dostoevsky fest. After that I'll probably read 'The Brothers Karamazov' or 'War and Peace'. I am considering doing a bit of creative writing and want to absorb some great literature.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Apr 15, 2009)

Fangland - John Marks


----------



## caizaab (Apr 15, 2009)

Just finished "Second Sight" by Neil Gunn. I really enjoyed it.  Next, "A Cool Head" by Ian Rankin.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 15, 2009)

this atm. it's fascinating, well worth reading


----------



## Vintage Paw (Apr 15, 2009)

Just finished The Hungry Ghosts by Anne Berry. Weirdo magical realism book about the end of empire (Rushdie anyone?) where ghosts follow this girl around and make her life a bit shit (although her mother makes a good job of that too). One of the chapters is narrated by the girl's dead dog's ghost.

Next to read is either Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo or Ellison's Invisible Man.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 16, 2009)

Magical Realism = rubbish. 

Always.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 16, 2009)

i'd tend to agree with that tbh.

altho not always.....


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 16, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i'd tend to agree with that tbh.
> 
> altho not always.....



It is a solid rule that always holds true. Any fule know dat.


----------



## ivebeenhigh (Apr 16, 2009)

This is your brain on music - Daniel Levitin


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 16, 2009)

jeff_leigh said:


> Fangland - John Marks



let us know how you get along with that - my brother gave me it a couple of years ago and I never got round to reading it


----------



## northernhord (Apr 16, 2009)

The last batch of books I sucked into my mind were Nowtopia by Chris Carlsson, living off grid by Nick Rosen, and the Alice b Toklas cook book.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 16, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Magical Realism = rubbish.
> 
> Always.



Lies. Rushdie does it well, even if some books ( The Moors Last Sigh in particular) do read as extended prose poetry than a proper narrative. You can't beat some of the wordplay in his books.


----------



## madzone (Apr 16, 2009)

_pH_ said:


> this atm. it's fascinating, well worth reading


 Have you read that one about the female spitfire pilots?


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 16, 2009)

madzone said:


> Have you read that one about the female spitfire pilots?



no, but it sounds interesting - am reading a lot of history stuff atm.

title/author?

or do i just go in a bookshop and say 'i'd like a book about spitfire pilots who flew spitfires in the war and were female please'

like that character off Little Britain


----------



## madzone (Apr 16, 2009)

_pH_ said:


> no, but it sounds interesting - am reading a lot of history stuff atm.
> 
> title/author?
> 
> ...


 I'll send you mine. It's not fantastically well written but the subject matter was really interesting.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spitfire-Women-World-War-II/dp/0007235356


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 16, 2009)

thanks Madz


----------



## Vintage Paw (Apr 16, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Lies. Rushdie does it well, even if some books ( The Moors Last Sigh in particular) do read as extended prose poetry than a proper narrative. You can't beat some of the wordplay in his books.



Indeed.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 16, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Lies. Rushdie does it well, even if some books ( The Moors Last Sigh in particular) do read as extended prose poetry than a proper narrative. You can't beat some of the wordplay in his books.



Unfortunately there are the bits in between to contend with - hence my continuing frustration with Rushdie.


----------



## Blagsta (Apr 16, 2009)

William Gibson - Pattern Recognition


----------



## smmudge (Apr 16, 2009)

Middlemarch by George Eliot. Well it's a classic, innit.



ivebeenhigh said:


> This is your brain on music - Daniel Levitin



Hmm I've been tempted to pick up a copy of this; amazon insists I will like it. Any good?


----------



## ivebeenhigh (Apr 16, 2009)

smmudge said:


> Middlemarch by George Eliot. Well it's a classic, innit.
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm I've been tempted to pick up a copy of this; amazon insists I will like it. Any good?



only started this morning so about 40 pages in, liking it so far, will get back to you in a few days


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 17, 2009)

Don't Cry For Me Aberystwyth by Malcolm Pryce. Several laugh out loud moments in the first few chapters.


----------



## foamy (Apr 17, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> The Regeneration Trilogy - Pat Barker is possibly my favourite writer



Just finished Life Class by Pat Barker and loved it but felt like it ended very abruptly. Will certainly be getting the triolgy now though.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 17, 2009)

Finished _A Time To Be Born_ by Dawn Powell, which is a sharp bit of work, a vicious satire on the New York elite just before America's entry into WWII, written at the time. It's uneven in places, and a bit far-fetched, but there are some great passages of writing. She was almost forgotten, Powell, but a lot of her stuff has been reissued. I'll be reading more.

Now it's _Netherland_.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 17, 2009)

ivebeenhigh said:


> ... will get back to you in a few days



It's a great book but you'll be gone for weeks.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 18, 2009)

Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry

absurdly satisfying


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 18, 2009)

Iron Man - Ted Hughes - even better than I remembered


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 18, 2009)

2666 by Roberto Bolano. 

Definitely one of the first 'classics' of the 21st century.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 18, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> 2666 by Roberto Bolano.
> 
> Definitely one of the first 'classics' of the 21st century.



looks interesting 

swapsies?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 18, 2009)

sojourner said:


> looks interesting
> 
> swapsies?



I am nowhere near finished yet.

Although I did read the first 150 pages in one day. There are still about 800 more to go. 

When I am done - definitely. 

More people need to read this.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 18, 2009)

Oh, and in between reading 2666, I have been reading _Daughters of Juarez_ about all the murders there. Proper shocking.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 18, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> More people need to read this.



  All I need to know


----------



## sojourner (Apr 18, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Oh, and in between reading 2666, I have been reading _Daughters of Juarez_ about all the murders there. Proper shocking.



quite fancy that as well

when I'm on holiday, we should sort some proper book swapsies out


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 18, 2009)

Just finished "More Tales of the City" by Armistead Maupin, have almost finished "Eating for England" by Nigel Slater, and am halfway through "Hammer or Anvil: The Story of the German Working-Class Movement" by Evelyn Anderson.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 19, 2009)

Armistead Maupin is a very good writer imo.


----------



## electrogirl (Apr 19, 2009)

I'm quite a bit through The Beauty Myth now. I have a feeling everyone should read it.


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 19, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
> 
> absurdly satisfying



i loved it but found the ending a bit meh


----------



## madamv (Apr 19, 2009)

I read all the Armistead Maupins 'city' series and loved them.   A really light read, easy to digest and just soak in...

I am still half way through Brideshead Revisited and Julie Walters autobiography.   I havent picked either up in weeks, although I was really enjoying them.   I have lost my reading mojo


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 19, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Armistead Maupin is a very good writer imo.



Agreed. He's great at sketching his characters and getting you interested in them.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 19, 2009)

madamv said:


> I read all the Armistead Maupins 'city' series and loved them.   A really light read, easy to digest and just soak in...


He wrote "Tales...", "More Tales..." and "Further Tales" as serials for a San Francisco newspaper, apparently, which is why all the chapters are so short and punchy.
I'm looking forward to reading "Michael Tolliver Lives!" in the near future too.


----------



## kittyP (Apr 19, 2009)

Currently re-reading 'Life the universe and everything' but kinda lost interest so tomorrow I shall be starting the second novel in The Flashman Papers, 'Royal Flash'. 

Thanks to CR


----------



## goldenecitrone (Apr 19, 2009)

The Barefoot Emperor by Phillip Marsden. Here's part of a review in the Spectator. 



> Ethiopia, an ancient Christian state, the emperors of which claimed descent from Solomon and Sheba, had passed into mediaeval myth as the kingdom of Prester John. But by the middle of the 19th century it had been stuck in the Wars of the Roses for hundreds of years, as dynastic clans fought for supremacy, and was thus too embattled, too remote, too poor, for any of the Great Powers to grab. Then, in the 1860s, one warlord clambered out of the scrum, proclaimed himself the Emperor Theodore of prophecy, a sort of King Arthur figure, and took over the whole country. Only his nemesis intervened: the Emperor Theodore, as such a man might, took it into his head to write a friendly letter to Queen Victoria.
> 
> The tragedy that followed echoes the Elvis Presley song, ‘Return to Sender’ (‘She wrote upon it, “Return to sender, Address unknown, No such number, No such zone”’). For the Queen did not reply, her Civil Service having filed it somewhere, as civil servants do (and will probably file, and lose, details of the Last Judgment if entrusted with these by the Almighty).
> 
> Things happened quickly after that. The Emperor got the hump, went barmy and locked up the handful of white diplomats and missionaries who were in his country. Actually it was even odder than that, for he first commanded the missionaries to make him a cannon. And these remarkable men, who had never cast so much as a thimble, cast cannon after cannon, each one bigger than the last, culminating in the monster he called Sebastapol. For somehow news of the Crimea was getting through, confusing even further the Emperor, who could not understand how Britain could be in alliance with the infidel Turks


----------



## smmudge (Apr 19, 2009)

electrogirl said:


> I'm quite a bit through The Beauty Myth now. I have a feeling everyone should read it.



I thought the Beauty Myth was very good. I tried to get my mother to read it but she didn't seem very interested. What's slightly worrying about it is you can tell it's not even that recent yet pretty much everything she says is still relevant.

I'm half way through The Second Sex and would recommed that too if you haven't already read it.


----------



## electrogirl (Apr 19, 2009)

smmudge said:


> I thought the Beauty Myth was very good. I tried to get my mother to read it but she didn't seem very interested. What's slightly worrying about it is you can tell it's not even that recent yet pretty much everything she says is still relevant.
> 
> I'm half way through The Second Sex and would recommed that too if you haven't already read it.



Thank you, yes all of what she says still applies today, if not more so. I don't think I've ever been more aware of diets/body image/cosmetics being everywhere I look.

I'll have a look at The Second Sex thank you. I'm reading this for a feminist bookgroup so will see if they've read it already and maybe suggest it for a later meeting.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 19, 2009)

.


----------



## electrogirl (Apr 20, 2009)

.


----------



## rollinder (Apr 21, 2009)

been dipping in and out of the Penguin Classics corrected to the original part 1&2 edition of Little Women.
bought it from a Clic shop books bargain bin with an eye for selling/swapping it online, but the intro notes re feminist subtext/(re)interpretation + the above make it a keeper (for now anyway)
plus John Peel/Sheila Ravenscroft - Margrave of the Marshes 
sweet, funny, warm, loving and sad in places.
wish he'd written more but Sheila's lovely


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 21, 2009)

_pH_ said:


> .





electrogirl said:


> .



oooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Mysterious.


----------



## electrogirl (Apr 21, 2009)

Haha and quite unusual on a thread of this kind.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 21, 2009)

I know what you did.


----------



## electrogirl (Apr 21, 2009)

I thought you might.


----------



## OneStrike (Apr 21, 2009)

A man called Dave.  It was recommended by a near illiterate friend so i didn't hold much hope.  It is actually quite a moving story about the life of an abused child.  Not especially well written but therein lies the charm.


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 21, 2009)

abuse-porn


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 21, 2009)

Finished _Netherland_ by Joseph O'Neill.

I really liked this, much more than I thought I would. It has some interesting and even original things to say about cricket and New York, and is pretty beautifully written. I particularly enjoyed the way it was structured, creating suspense for each of the strands of the story, juggling them brilliantly. The endings's a bit unsatisfying though...

And it is beautifully written, but there is something that disturbs me -- again, that surface brilliance that makes many voices in current fiction sound the same. Urbane, liberal, humble, ironic -- it's difficult to tell them apart.


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 21, 2009)

i loved the writing, but couldn't find much _beyond _the writing - the only thing that kept me going through the "not very much" was how well it was written


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 21, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> i loved the writing, but couldn't find much _beyond _the writing - the only thing that kept me going through the "not very much" was how well it was written



Ah, that's cos you're not a cricketer 

I know what you mean, but it did seem to say some uncanny things about my situation. Novels don't usually do that for me, so I liked it for that.


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 21, 2009)

i get how it was about being shaped by your memories but there were pages and pages and pages  of interior monologue, i thought it was just a bit overkill. But the guy can write


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 21, 2009)

_Netherland_ keeps getting recommended to me, but it doesn't appeal to me at all.

I am half way through _2666_ now. It is brilliant.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 21, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> i get how it was about being shaped by your memories but there were pages and pages and pages  of interior monologue, i thought it was just a bit overkill. But the guy can write



The digressions didn't add up to a lot, I agree. Exercises in sparkling writing, I guess, and not a lot more.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 21, 2009)

Now reading _Leviathan_ by Paul Auster. I have mixed feelings about Auster, but this was lying around, so ...


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 21, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Now reading _Leviathan_ by Paul Auster. I have mixed feelings about Auster, but this was lying around, so ...



Vintage Paw is writing her thesis on Paul Auster, if I remember correctly.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 21, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Vintage Paw is writing her thesis on Paul Auster, if I remember correctly.



Has to be a hell of a task -- he writes his own theses on himself.


----------



## Pieface (Apr 21, 2009)

I am currently wallowing in anarchist fantasy land with China Mieville and a load of aliens.  I'm really happy there and while I know there are more important books to be read I secretly want a massive iron claw for a hand, to know where the cactocopic stain is and to speak ragamoll with people who have pipes for intestines.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 21, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> i loved the writing, but couldn't find much _beyond _the writing - the only thing that kept me going through the "not very much" was how well it was written



pretty similar reaction from me as well 

currently reading "One" by Conrad Williams, post apocalyptic UK. majority of the population wiped out by a massive nuclear explosion, with some mysterious germ warfare too, the survivors are either zombie like, eating the non zombies and the rest trying to find out what happened and whether there is life elsewhere 

it's high culture  hugely enjoyable


----------



## electrogirl (Apr 21, 2009)

marty21 said:


> pretty similar reaction from me as well
> 
> currently reading "One" by Conrad Williams, post apocalyptic UK. majority of the population wiped out by a massive nuclear explosion, with some mysterious germ warfare too, the survivors are either zombie like, eating the non zombies and the rest trying to find out what happened and whether there is life elsewhere
> 
> it's high culture  hugely enjoyable



That sounds amazing.

I've nearly finished From Hell. Really enjoying it but it made my brain hurt a bit trying to remember all the characters. But that's not a bad thing.


----------



## Rollem (Apr 22, 2009)

i have started reading Child 44 and its bloody good!!! 

blurb form the back


> In Stalin's Soviet union, crime does not exist. But still millions live in fear. The mere susicion of disloyalty to the State, the wrong word at tehwrong time, can send an innocent person to his execution. Office Leo Demidov, an idealistic war hero, beliees hes building a perfect society. But after witnessing the interrpgation of an innocent man, his loyalty begins towaver, and when ordered to investige his own wife, Leo is forced to choose where his heart truly lies [not as soppy as it sounds  ]
> 
> Then the impossible happens. A murderer is on the loose, killing at will, and every belief Leo has ever held is shattered. Denounced by his enemies and exiled from home, he must risk everything to find a criminal that the State won't admit even exists. On the run, Leo soon discovers that the danger isn’t from the killer he is trying to catch, but from the country he is trying to protect…



not my usual sort of read at all, but im thoroughly enjoying it


----------



## Pieface (Apr 22, 2009)

marty21 said:


> pretty similar reaction from me as well
> 
> currently reading "One" by Conrad Williams, post apocalyptic UK. majority of the population wiped out by a massive nuclear explosion, with some mysterious germ warfare too, the survivors are either zombie like, eating the non zombies and the rest trying to find out what happened and whether there is life elsewhere
> 
> it's high culture  hugely enjoyable



I am definitely liking the sound of that as well.....

I have another Mieville to read but I need a break from New Crobuzon after one of his fat old books.  I think I'll read some Muriel Spark to counter it


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 22, 2009)

i've put Peter Carey's Oscar & Lucinda on hold - it deserves more careful attention than my addled brain can provide at the moment so I too am ploughing through another Mieville book (The Scar)


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 22, 2009)

Gave that a re-read some weeks ago. In some ways it's tighter plot-wise that Perdido Street Station, I think.


I'm currently reading a book on Creation Science for lulz.


----------



## Pieface (Apr 22, 2009)

I think that Iron Council is much better written than Perdido St DC - he's not trying so hard and he's dropped the really overwrought metaphors.

Not read the Scar yet.


----------



## big eejit (Apr 22, 2009)

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. 

Surprised to find myself rather gripped by it.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 22, 2009)

big eejit said:


> The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles.
> 
> Surprised to find myself rather gripped by it.



Paul Bowles.

He is the one who lives in Morocco, isn't he?


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 22, 2009)

PieEye said:


> I think that Iron Council is much better written than Perdido St DC - he's not trying so hard and he's dropped the really overwrought metaphors.
> 
> Not read the Scar yet.



It's better than Iron Council imo-I was slightly disappointed with IC's ending.

The Scar has an absolutely insane cityscape that isn't New Crobuzon


----------



## big eejit (Apr 22, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Paul Bowles.
> 
> He is the one who lives in Morocco, isn't he?


 
According to the blurb at the start he went to Tangier in 1947 and lived there until his death in 1999. B. Jamaica, New York 1910.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 22, 2009)

big eejit said:


> According to the blurb at the start he went to Tangier in 1947 and lived there until his death in 1999. B. Jamaica, New York 1910.



Ah yes.

I had heard of him by reading a Paul Theroux book.

Would you recommend him?


----------



## goldenecitrone (Apr 22, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Ah yes.
> 
> I had heard of him by reading a Paul Theroux book.
> 
> Would you recommend him?



Christopher Isherwood borrowed his surname for the Sally Bowles character in Goodbye to Berlin.


----------



## big eejit (Apr 22, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Ah yes.
> 
> I had heard of him by reading a Paul Theroux book.
> 
> Would you recommend him?


 
So far I would. Only about a third of the way through this book, but it's much better than I was expecting. Didn't notice my train had pulled into Temple Meads this morning, which is always a good test of how engaged I am in a book!

The last thing I read from the same period was The End of The Affair by Graham Greene, which I found really claustrophobic and affected, so maybe I'm just pleasantly surprised that it's not like that!

It's definitely a 'serious' book tho, but none the worse for that.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 22, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Ah yes.
> 
> I had heard of him by reading a Paul Theroux book.
> 
> Would you recommend him?



I'd definitely recommend him -- _The Sheltering Sky_ and _Up Above The World_ are both great.

I'd recommend Jane Bowles's novel _Two Serious Ladies_, too. It's utterly brilliant and very funny.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 22, 2009)

electrogirl said:


> That sounds amazing.
> 
> I've nearly finished From Hell. Really enjoying it but it made my brain hurt a bit trying to remember all the characters. But that's not a bad thing.





PieEye said:


> I am definitely liking the sound of that as well.....


I enjoyed it, had elements of The Road, and it's set mainly in London, scenes of carnage in Trafalgar square and Paddington 


El Jefe said:


> so I too am ploughing through another Mieville book (The Scar)



I enjoyed that, I have another Mieville Book that I started and found a bit dull tbh "Un Lun Dun" I got a bit bored of it, might return to it after i finish "Broken Angels" Richard Morgan


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 22, 2009)

Just finished Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. Which was pleasantly engrossing. Now on The Steep Approach To Garbadale which seems to be Iain Banks at close to his best.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 22, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> I'd definitely recommend him -- _The Sheltering Sky_ and _Up Above The World_ are both great.
> 
> I'd recommend Jane Bowles's novel _Two Serious Ladies_, too. It's utterly brilliant and very funny.


Yes, i'd agree that the Sheltering Sky is a very enjoyable read.


----------



## Roadkill (Apr 22, 2009)

George and Weedon Grossmith - Diary of a Nobody

I haven't been reading much of late, but I'm rather enjoying this.


----------



## rekil (Apr 23, 2009)

Roadkill said:


> George and Weedon Grossmith - Diary of a Nobody
> 
> I haven't been reading much of late, but I'm rather enjoying this.


I thought it'd be something of a literary curio but it has dated surprisingly well and is very funny. 

I'm wading through these at the moment.

Beating the Fascists: The German Communists and Political Violence - Eve Rosenhaft.
A Very British Strike - Anne Perkins. About the 1926 general strike.
The  Terror - Graeme Fife. You cannot whack a bit of post revolutionary bloodbath.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 23, 2009)

Finished _Leviathan_.

Fuck, I really don't know about Auster. This is the fourth of his I've read, I keep getting drawn back to him and I'll probably read everything he's done, but I don't _like_ him. Well, I like him enough to always want to know what happens to the beautiful fuck-ups that he specialises in, but he writes the same book over and over, with different sentences, apart from the one that appears every 20 pages or so, when he feels the strands have to be pulled together, which is: 'No one knows anything about anyone and everything is connected'.

I like the prose, its banality has some purpose; but he seems overwhelmed by purpose and the interpretation that he feels his work is due. And the little I know about his biography suggests that the books come from a dark place (but not too dark) and that he is continually trying to exorcise some guilt.

I dunno.

Can anyone help?


----------



## Roadkill (Apr 23, 2009)

copliker said:


> I thought it'd be something of a literary curio but it has dated surprisingly well and is very funny.



Yes, that's pretty much what I thought.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 23, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Paul Bowles.
> 
> He is the one who lives in Morocco, isn't he?



Yep, he did. He also wrote some rather beautiful orchestral music that's very resonant of his literary _oeuvre_.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 23, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Yes, i'd agree that the Sheltering Sky is a very enjoyable read.



The film of "The Sheltering Sky" is rather good, too.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 23, 2009)

ViolentPanda said:


> The film of "The Sheltering Sky" is rather good, too.



Manages to be OK, despite having John Malkovic in it.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 23, 2009)

copliker said:


> I thought it'd be something of a literary curio but it has dated surprisingly well and is very funny.
> 
> I'm wading through these at the moment.
> 
> Beating the Fascists: The German Communists and Political Violence - Eve Rosenhaft.


A very good book, IMO.


> A Very British Strike - Anne Perkins. About the 1926 general strike.


I've got a book about 1926 lined up for reading too, "The Great Lock-Out of 1926" by Gerard Noel.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 25, 2009)

I have aquired a copy of Focaults Pendulum by means I cannot recall, so I'm going to make a start on that


----------



## Rainingstairs (Apr 25, 2009)

"Dragonfly in Amber" It threatened to become a romance novel at a few points where I would then be very sad for myself it were to happen. Turning into a nice historical fiction about the Jacobite rising though so i'm happy


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 25, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> I have aquired a copy of Focaults Pendulum by means I cannot recall, so I'm going to make a start on that



Oh, you will enjoy that, I reckon. I did.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 25, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> I have aquired a copy of Focaults Pendulum by means I cannot recall, so I'm going to make a start on that



It is a very interesting book - very much up your street DC.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 25, 2009)

_The Idiot_ by F. Dostoevsky.


----------



## Rollem (Apr 28, 2009)

am about to start Mudbound, by hillary jordan


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 28, 2009)

Frankenstein - Mary Shelly


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 28, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Frankenstein - Mary Shelly



If you don't come away despising the narrator I'll be suprised


----------



## marty21 (Apr 28, 2009)

just finished "Broken Angels" Richard Morgan, found it difficult to put down and was sad it finished, brilliant sci fi imho, luckily I have another Richard Morgan in my to be read pile - "Black Man" which I will be starting shortly


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 28, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> If you don't come away despising the narrator I'll be suprised



What makes you think that DC?


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 28, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> What makes you think that DC?



He is a sodding coward. A really mealy-mouthed coward. His whole narrative is 'poor me' and it's only when his creation has destroyed everything he loves that he grows a pair. He let someone (a woman iirc) go to the gallows for the murder his creation committed!


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 28, 2009)

Also, look at the texts the monster educates itself from. Plutarchs lives, sorrows of werter, and significantly: Paradise Lost.

The narrator is a complete bastard and his monster is the tragic hero of the piece.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 28, 2009)

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=245897
contains my exasperation and annoyance with the text


----------



## Pieface (Apr 28, 2009)

DC is right.  We trashed that arsehole in Eng Lit A-level 

His name was MUD!   What is he called again?  Walton?  Waltby?  Something like that...


----------



## Santino (Apr 28, 2009)

I just finished Netherland and it was rubbish.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 28, 2009)

Alex B said:


> I just finished Netherland and it was rubbish.



As was your mum


----------



## Pieface (Apr 28, 2009)

Is that the Michael Chabon one about baseball and fairies?


----------



## Santino (Apr 28, 2009)

No, it's about cricket and New York and unexplained plots that go nowhere and an irritating narrator.


----------



## Pieface (Apr 28, 2009)

oh yes.

haven't read it


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 29, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=245897
> contains my exasperation and annoyance with the text



Well I'll let you know my reaction when I finish. I'm desperately trying to avoid the temptation to read 'Q' again at the same time......


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 29, 2009)

Alex B said:


> No, it's about cricket and New York and unexplained plots that go nowhere and an irritating narrator.



my brother gave me it for xmas and it went straight on the 'gift never to be read' shelf - was i right to put it there?
i saw an interview with the author and decided he was a cunt.
i don't know what to read next - someone please choose for me.
These are all sat on my inshelf, waiting to be read:
pat barker - union street/blow your house down
stephen king - on writing
margaret atwood - the blind assassin
jonathan safran foer - extremely loud & incredibly close
haruki murakami - kafka on the shore
will self - the book of dave
oliver sacks - uncle tungsten
david peace - 1983
philip roth - the plot against america
naomi klein - the shock doctrine
nassim nicholas taleb - the black swan
katherine dunn - geek love
simon schama - rough crossings
graham jones - last shop standing - whatever happened to record shops?
marjane satrapi - persepolis
junot diaz - the brief wondrous life of oscar wao
john ajvide lindqvist - let the right one in

trouble is, i'm having trouble concentrating right now
sime


----------



## Santino (Apr 29, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Well I'll let you know my reaction when I finish. I'm desperately trying to avoid the temptation to read 'Q' again at the same time......


Ooh, maybe I'll re-read Q


----------



## Santino (Apr 29, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> my brother gave me it for xmas and it went straight on the 'gift never to be read' shelf - was i right to put it there?
> i saw an interview with the author and decided he was a cunt.


You were right to do so.

My copy has an interview at the back, and there's a bit about the narrator's voice, and how the reader wants to spend time with it, and I thought 'Do I fuck, he was an irritating wanker with more money than sense who almost let his family fall apart'.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 29, 2009)

doesn't he live in an hotel in NY with his beautiful family or am i getting him mixed up with another priviledged cunt writer?


----------



## Santino (Apr 29, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> doesn't he live in an hotel in NY with his beautiful family or am i getting him mixed up with another priviledged cunt writer?


Yes, the Chelsea Hotel. The narrator of the book lives there too.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 29, 2009)

I am reading 

Quit Smoking The Easy Way 

By Allen Carr.

Its a self help book as you might have gathered


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 29, 2009)

Alex B said:


> Yes, the Chelsea Hotel. The narrator of the book lives there too.



,yeh, a book dominated by incessant internal monologue at the expense of an actual plot is OK, but not if the monologuist isn't a smug bore.

Still reading the Scar and enjoying it a lot more than Perdido Street Station.. Despite being a more ambitious plot, it holds together much better and Mieville has stopped showing off.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 29, 2009)

hey jefe - can you recommend me a book from the list posted above? i need someone to make a decision for me - i keep reading internets and magazines and nowt else


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 29, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> my brother gave me it for xmas and it went straight on the 'gift never to be read' shelf - was i right to put it there?
> i saw an interview with the author and decided he was a cunt.
> i don't know what to read next - someone please choose for me.
> These are all sat on my inshelf, waiting to be read:
> ...



OSCAR WAO! OSCAR WAO! OSCAR WAO!



Oscar Wao


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 29, 2009)

Oscar Wao? I bought that for my mum cos of rave reviews here, then bought it for myself. Then she wasn't mad on it.


----------



## llion (Apr 29, 2009)

David Lodge - 'How far can you go' - v funny, about the 'permissive society'/sixties
Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 29, 2009)

llion said:


> Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca



wicked book - so overwrought but as all melodramas should be


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 29, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> Oscar Wao? I bought that for my mum cos of rave reviews here, then bought it for myself. Then she wasn't mad on it.



It's beautiful and sad and rousing and uplifting.


----------



## llion (Apr 29, 2009)

I really enjoyed Oscar Wao too - has v interesting bits about Latin American history/politics as well as being v funny and moving 
Hilary Mantel's new book, Wolf Hall,  sounds like a corker - all about the Tudors/Thomas Cromwell etc. Not sure if its out yet. Sounds very different to her last one, Beyond Black, which I thought was brill, although very creepy.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 29, 2009)

i've only read her book about the giant Charles O'Brien cos of my interest in the anatomist Hunter (whose macabre collection can be found at the Royal College of Surgeons) but it was great


----------



## llion (Apr 29, 2009)

Just finished Marge Piercy's novel 'Vida', which is about a political fugitive in America in the seventies. Not as good her 'Woman on the Edge of time' but very interesting particuarly as it has obvious parallels with the real life experiences of women within the Weather Underground organization. Piercy seems very sympathetic to their cause, but also shows the moral complexities of what they were involved in.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 29, 2009)

ooh, we seem to share tastes! I read Woman On The Edge of Time for bg and enjoyed it immensely


----------



## llion (Apr 29, 2009)

Cool! I found out about 'Woman on the Edge of Time' by reading one of  Scarlett Thomas's books, in which she bangs on quite a bit about good it is! Think its in 'The end of Mr Y'. Could be in Popco though. Think Scarlett Thomas is seriously under-rated. Her stuff is so complex and political and layered, but so gripping and readable as well.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 29, 2009)

Alex B said:


> You were right to do so.
> 
> My copy has an interview at the back, and there's a bit about the narrator's voice, and how the reader wants to spend time with it, and I thought 'Do I fuck, he was an irritating wanker with more money than sense who almost let his family fall apart'.



Aw, he's not that bad. He's a bit lost; it's his wife who's flaky beyond belief, breaks the family apart for however long it is.

I enjoyed the book.

OU should read it.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 30, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> can you recommend me a book from the list posted above? i need someone to make a decision for me - i keep reading internets and magazines and nowt else



I would have recommended Book of Dave myself


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 30, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I would have recommended Book of Dave myself



that would have been my seconf suggestion - definitely Self's best novel.

But Oscar Wao is such a fresh and wonderful book...


----------



## El Jefe (Apr 30, 2009)

I finished - and greatly enjoyed - The Scar. Pirates, monsters, vampires - what's not to like? And Mieville has totally calmed down with the adjectives and learned how to keep a plot together


----------



## Yelkcub (Apr 30, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I would have recommended Book of Dave myself



Really? I found the language a little to 'try hard' and it put me off.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 30, 2009)

Yelkcub said:


> Really? I found the language a little to 'try hard' and it put me off.



but the language was learned..from the book of dave


----------



## Shevek (May 1, 2009)

Reading James Joyce's Dubliners at the moment. After that Ive got Luis Borges Labyrinths. Then want to read some Chekov short stories. Im trying to write short stories at the moment so want inspiration.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 1, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> I finished - and greatly enjoyed - The Scar. Pirates, monsters, vampires - what's not to like? And Mieville has totally calmed down with the adjectives and learned how to keep a plot together



And bellis coldwine is a wonderfully ambivalent, dislikable main character


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (May 1, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> that would have been my seconf suggestion - definitely Self's best novel.
> 
> But Oscar Wao is such a fresh and wonderful book...



I've got that Book of Dave from the library.  Can't really get into it.


----------



## Fictionist (May 1, 2009)

Shevek said:


> After that Ive got Luis Borges Labyrinths.



Borges. His work is wonderful.


----------



## tastebud (May 1, 2009)

very much addicted to 'the cellist of sarajevo'.


----------



## kittyP (May 1, 2009)

Royal Flash - The second in the Flashman series.

I am bloody loving in it. 

I am sure someone will kill me for saying this but I see these books as a much more intelligent version of mills and boon for boys (and girls obviously). 

Eek.


----------



## Dozy (May 1, 2009)

I'm reading Collected Ghost Stories by M.R. James.

Some very creepy stories, written in a style I like.   Noticed that a recurrent theme is one of a gentleman traveling in the countryside. Which is how I think he collected so many good ghost stories.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 2, 2009)

tastebud said:


> very much addicted to 'the cellist of sarajevo'.



the title is so offputting


----------



## bosco (May 2, 2009)

Currently on Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman. Like all his stuff, it's brilliant.


----------



## kerb (May 2, 2009)

Just started to read 'The Minds Eye' 


Few essays on photography by Cartier-Bresson.


----------



## kerb (May 2, 2009)

llion said:


> I really enjoyed Oscar Wao too - has v interesting bits about Latin American history/politics as well as being v funny and moving
> .




Yep it's a brilliant book. Bought that on advice from dillenger and El Jefe last year. 

Cheers guys btw


----------



## ericjarvis (May 2, 2009)

Just started Halting State by Charlie Stross. Excellent as usual.


----------



## Random One (May 2, 2009)

White Teeth by Zadie Smith it's a bit ...meh... at the moment


----------



## mentalchik (May 2, 2009)

The White Plague - Frank Herbert


----------



## DotCommunist (May 2, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> The White Plague - Frank Herbert



Scariness, specially given the pig-deah plague


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 5, 2009)

Finished _The Idiot_, which was fantastic. I have to read more Russians, so now it's _Fathers and Sons_ by I Turgenev.


----------



## Voley (May 5, 2009)

I'm reading this:







Notes are being made, equipment is being acquired, plots of land are being earmarked etc ...


----------



## Rollem (May 5, 2009)

have finished mudbound, now starting the revolutionary road


----------



## mrkikiet (May 5, 2009)

recently read The Good Terrorist by Lessing. 'twas good.


----------



## 5t3IIa (May 5, 2009)

Argh, I'm not reading anything at the moment! Have an Aliens graphic novel that I've started but I have to renew it at the library 

It's amazing what a short commute does to ones reading habits


----------



## sojourner (May 5, 2009)

I am still reading Lonesome Dove.  Bit of an epic.  Am really loving it, and it's surprising how much emotion is in there - how many times men are moved to tears.  It isn't a genre where emotion has ever really been raised like this.


----------



## El Jefe (May 5, 2009)

That's cos McMurtry is the fucking don


----------



## sojourner (May 5, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> That's cos McMurtry is the fucking don



  He is.  I've been really hooked by this...and it seems to go on forever   So dense, so many different strands.  Almost romanticising that kind of life, but then showing the brutality and brevity of it.   I do love Woodrow Call - I think he's my favourite character - out of a whole host of interesting and many-layered characters


----------



## ericjarvis (May 5, 2009)

mrkikiet said:


> recently read The Good Terrorist by Lessing. 'twas good.



I'm a massive fan, and in my view it's (marginally) her best book. Apart from her wonderfully concise prose, I love the way she views human failings with sympathy but no sentimentality. It's a book I believe EVERYONE should read.


----------



## tastebud (May 5, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> the title is so offputting


so is yours.

my current book is 'the impressionist' - hari kunzru.


----------



## Fledgling (May 5, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Yes, i'd agree that the Sheltering Sky is a very enjoyable read.



Yeah I really enjoyed that, 

Apart from that the only Bowles I've read was Let It Come Down which is set in Tangier and is pretty bleak (partly due to the drizzly rain). I'm keen to set aside a week for The Spider House sometime. 


But currently finishing Brothers Karamazov and starting The Good Soldier Schweik (get out and buy this NOW if you haven't read it). Also been reading through A Doll's House which I'd love to see in performance as the dialoue alone doesn't do it justice methinks.


----------



## Fictionist (May 5, 2009)

In Search of Lost Time (Vol 1) - Proust

It had to happen eventually.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (May 6, 2009)

Fledgling said:


> Yeah I really enjoyed that,
> 
> Apart from that the only Bowles I've read was Let It Come Down which is set in Tangier and is pretty bleak (partly due to the drizzly rain). I'm keen to set aside a week for The Spider House sometime.
> 
> ...


Good Soldier Schweik = so what's the best translation? sounds interesting..

finished a raft of books lately which is good. tidied my shelves up, nahwotimean?!


----------



## Fledgling (May 6, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Good Soldier Schweik = so what's the best translation? sounds interesting..
> 
> finished a raft of books lately which is good. tidied my shelves up, nahwotimean?!



Hmm, I've not encountered many and those I have are somewhat flawed. I have an early edition from the 50s which is seriously abridged, omitting various jokes about notable Austro Hungarian personages and other assorted obscenities! 

The second edition I have is the newest Penguin Classics translated by Cecil Parrott. He admits that it probably isn't complete because Hasek never finished it, wasn't too organised about producing a definitive version (or indeed organised about anything) and often wrote/dictated in colloquial Czech so it's hard to translate. But he thinks it's the least abridged version possible. 
I'd buy the newest Parrott translation from Penguin.


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 8, 2009)

_Fathers and Sons_ was very fine, now I'm reading _The Steppe & Other Stories_ by A Chekhov.


----------



## El Jefe (May 8, 2009)

Finished The Iron Council, which I thought was very good, but I'll have to talk to dotcommunist about the ending - it's a great ending in terms of the book, but I wonder what he's trying to say in terms of his real world politics (which are more explicit in this book than the others)


----------



## QueenOfGoths (May 8, 2009)

"This Thing of Darkness" by Harry Thompson 

Had it on my bookshelf for about 3 years but kept passing it over. Decided to give it a go and it is shaping up well.


----------



## El Jefe (May 8, 2009)

Ballard- Cocaine Nights.


----------



## tar1984 (May 8, 2009)

I am currently reading 3 different books:

Iain M Banks - The algebraist

Will Self - The book of dave

Irvine Welsh - The bedroom secrets of the master chefs


----------



## Rollem (May 8, 2009)

i am really tempted to stop reading revolutionary road and just get the dvd


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (May 8, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Ballard- Cocaine Nights.


sentimentalist.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 8, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> sentimentalist.



that's nothing. my flatmate is going on a pilgrimage to shepperton tomorrow.


----------



## llion (May 8, 2009)

Mark Kurlansky - 1968 - seems very good so far, broad in scope and range of opinion. He was a student/activist himself at the time, which gives it a bit more immediacy/passion. 
Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (May 8, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> that's nothing. my flatmate is going on a pilgrimage to shepperton tomorrow.


i do like your tagline atm


----------



## sojourner (May 9, 2009)

Have been reading Lonesome Dove since 11am - I thought I'd be finished by now, but have another 50 pages to go, and since I have started drinking, I thought it wiser to leave the rest til tomorrow.  I also just don't want it to finish, even though my heart is breaking 

Oh, and Clara has completely replaced Call in my affections


----------



## _pH_ (May 9, 2009)

Re-reading No Logo


----------



## sojourner (May 9, 2009)

_pH_ said:


> Re-reading No Logo



That's sat on my bedside table, awaiting further dips into it


----------



## _pH_ (May 9, 2009)

It doesn't seem as relevant now as when it first came out. Still valid, but activism seems to have moved on from action against Nike etc. afaik


----------



## sojourner (May 9, 2009)

_pH_ said:


> It doesn't seem as relevant now as when it first came out. Still valid, but activism seems to have moved on from action against Nike etc. afaik



Well it won't, because people are more used to the ideas now.  I still found it really interesting.  Just not interesting enough to keep me away from all the fiction I have waiting to be read


----------



## _pH_ (May 9, 2009)

Yeah, it's still interesting I agree. But I'm only really reading it as i've run out of anything else to read :/


----------



## sojourner (May 9, 2009)

_pH_ said:


> Yeah, it's still interesting I agree. But I'm only really reading it as* i've run out of anything else to read* :/



  one should NEVER allow that to happen!!   that's only ever happened to me once, but I did end up reading the daughter's copies of the Pullman trilogy, so it could have been worse

I make sure I've always got at least 3 or 4 books lined up, but it's usually a lot more than that


----------



## _pH_ (May 9, 2009)

I know. The world's a terrible place


----------



## Roadkill (May 11, 2009)

Frances Pryor - _Britain BC_

Seeing him on Time Team recently reminded me how much I enjoyed _Britain in the Middle Ages_, so I've bought copies of his previous two books - _Britain BC_ and _Britain AD_ - and I'm planning to read straight through all three of them.


----------



## mentalchik (May 11, 2009)

The Summer Queen - Joan D Vinge !


----------



## _pH_ (May 11, 2009)

Roadkill said:


> Frances Pryor - _Britain BC_
> 
> Seeing him on Time Team recently reminded me how much I enjoyed _Britain in the Middle Ages_, so I've bought copies of his previous two books - _Britain BC_ and _Britain AD_ - and I'm planning to read straight through all three of them.



ooh ooh! can i borrow them when you're done? pls!!


----------



## fractionMan (May 12, 2009)

just finished House of Suns - alistair reynolds

now reading some weird book about a zombie who's fucking some kind of mutant rat girl.


----------



## dylans (May 12, 2009)

Bill Bryson. _A Short Hstory Of Everything._ 

I am loving it. It's a really accessible rough guide to science, life the universe and everything

All the really really small stuff, protons etc to really really big, supernovas and big bangs. I'm not a science head at all, i'm more an artistic type but this is written really well and it flows like a novel.

 Great personalities and fabulous stories pepper his beautifully clear and understandable tour guide to the wonderful thing that is the universe.He really makes you realise how utterly stupendously mindbendingly awesome the universe is. And how completely unlikely and very very precious everything is. 
At times it takes your breath away. 

How about this one 
_"A proton is an infinitesimal part of an atom, which is itself of course an  an insubstantial thing. Protons are so small that a little dib of ink like the dot on this *"i"* can hold 500,000,000,000 of them, or  rather more than the number of seconds it takes to make half a million years. So protons are exceedingly microscopic to say the very least."_

lovely stuff.


----------



## 5t3IIa (May 12, 2009)

I'm reading Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyberpunk-O...8539820?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242136221&sr=8-3 but the 1991 version. Got to 100+ pages before it mentioned the word 'internet' and says 'In 1980 there were a few BBS, by 1991 there are hundreds'. It's interesting stuff - do you know you could download Moby Dick in three minutes?


----------



## Roadkill (May 12, 2009)

dylans said:


> Bill Bryson. _A Short Hstory Of Everything._
> 
> I am loving it. It's a really accessible rough guide to science, life the universe and everything



I really enjoyed the first few chapters of that and then got distracted and never went back to it.   I really must read it again, because what I did read of it, and what everyone else says of it, suggests I'm missing out if I don't...


----------



## Urbanblues (May 13, 2009)

'The Outsider' Albert Camus.


----------



## cesare (May 13, 2009)

That Ben Goldacre 'Bad Science'. Struggling to get into it tbh.


----------



## Urbanblues (May 13, 2009)

cesare said:


> That Ben Goldacre 'Bad Science'. Struggling to get into it tbh.



I'm going to read 'The Plague' next; followed by 'Maggie Cassidy' by Jack Kerouac; I'm also reading a 'Beat Poets' book at the moment; and, I'm listening to 'Highway 61 Revisited' as I write this.


----------



## cesare (May 13, 2009)

Urbanblues said:


> I'm going to read 'The Plague' next; followed by 'Maggie Cassidy' by Jack Kerouac; I'm also reading a 'Beat Poets' book at the moment; and, I'm listening to 'Highway 61 Revisited' as I write this.



I'm partway into Calvino's Italian Folktales, Miéville's Iron Council, The Pendle Witch-Trial, and Leon's Through A Glass, Darkly. Oh, and the Gnostic Gospels. I've also got a stack that I haven't even started. I think this stress thing has shortened my already short attention span.


----------



## wanizame (May 13, 2009)

By Grand Central Station I Lay & Down & Wept-Elizabeth Smart
The Book of Words - Jenny Erpenbeck
Journalists Under Fire-Frank Webster
Europe in the Global Age - Anthony Giddens

But, read...The Solitude of Thomas Cave, Alias Grace, The Poisonwood Bible, The Spire, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Book Thief, I'll stop now...


----------



## El Jefe (May 13, 2009)

Finished Ballard's Cocaine Nights last night and went straight into Super-Cannes.


----------



## sojourner (May 13, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Finished Ballard's Cocaine Nights last night and went straight into Super-Cannes.



Agree with you re the ending of Lonesome Dove btw.  Stupid blunt way to end a brilliant epic


----------



## El Jefe (May 13, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Agree with you re the ending of Lonesome Dove btw.  Stupid blunt way to end a brilliant epic



yeh, it totally threw me. I mean, maybe it's right that it wasn't climactic as such, but this was all wrong.


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 13, 2009)

I'm still reading _Invisible Man_, which is excellent, but next week I'll be re-reading the awesomeness that is _Erasure_ by Percival Everett.


----------



## Pieface (May 13, 2009)

I'm reading the Scar by China Mieville and then I'm going to seriously move onto something else.  

My mate interviewed him last week and said he was basically my perfect man


----------



## El Jefe (May 13, 2009)




----------



## DotCommunist (May 13, 2009)

He'd be easy to take out in a ruck Jefe, just rip out his mass of earings.


----------



## Pieface (May 13, 2009)

He likes binary opposites DC - he kept making her pick between things like white wine and red - and sometimes there are three-ways (very rarely mind) so he asked her to choose between the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man.



And he reckons he tries to keep his politics OUT of his books!!   Although I think we all know that went to pot in the Iron Council.


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 13, 2009)

Chekhov is doing nothing for me at all.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 13, 2009)

PieEye said:


> He likes binary opposites DC - he kept making her pick between things like white wine and red - and sometimes there are three-ways (very rarely mind) so he asked her to choose between the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man.
> 
> 
> 
> *And he reckons he tries to keep his politics OUT of his books*!!   Although I think we all know that went to pot in the Iron Council.



LOL

in Un Lun Dun he slips in loads of sly politics at kid-comprehension level.


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 14, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Super-Cannes.



How you getting on with that? I didn't like it at all, thought it was all a bit hackneyed and automatic.


----------



## sojourner (May 14, 2009)

I'm back on the Sexual Education of Edith Wharton.  I paid £2.50 for it so am damn well going to get my money's worth.


----------



## Rollem (May 14, 2009)

having perservered with Revolutionary Road, i have about 8 more pages to go, and whilst i have not exactly enoyed it, i am glad i kept going.

am planing to start on either *Things Fall Apart*, by Chinua Achebe, which a friend has recommended, or *The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists*, by Robert Tressell, which i have been meaning to read for years and always forgotten about!

am thining i need a _thin _book so likely to be Achebe's offering....


----------



## Biddlybee (May 14, 2009)

Rollem said:


> *The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists*, by Robert Tressell, which i have been meaning to read for years and always forgotten about!


That's on my (borrowed) shelf waiting to be read... heard it's quite hard going.

Just started High Rise by JG Ballard - should be a quick read.


----------



## Fictionist (May 16, 2009)

Having a brief sojourn away from Proust to dip in to 'Selected Poems' by Walcott.


----------



## story (May 16, 2009)

Apparently, sales of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists have increased since the recession started....

I read it years ago, when I was a painter and decorator. Not hard going really imo, but long and old fashioned. Quite a lot fo painter-and-decorator details about linseed oil and so forth, which I found fascinating at the time 


Am currently reading Who Moved The Stone? by Frank Morison


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 17, 2009)

Finished the Chekhov stories. Some of them were quite sparky, most of them were pretty dull


----------



## kerb (May 17, 2009)

I had a break from reading at the begining of the year. Think it's because ive been so braindead as of late. Just drained mentally. The only thing I could manage was reading Charlie Brooker 'Dawn of the Dumb' when I was in the bathroom. Took me about 5 months

However even though i'm still shattered ive needed to read again so started off this week with Notes from Underground. Classic dostovesky. Havent read anything by him since Crime and Punishment a couple of years ago. What a writer


----------



## El Jefe (May 18, 2009)

i skipped Super Cannes by Ballard because it was just too similar to Cocaine Nights (i know that's the point!) and moved onto Millenium People instead, which is very funny


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (May 18, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> i skipped Super Cannes by Ballard because it was just too similar to Cocaine Nights (i know that's the point!) and moved onto Millenium People instead, which is very funny



Is Millennium People the one about the middle classes revolting? I read that recently and was a bit ho-hum.  What would you recommend starting with with Ballard?


----------



## El Jefe (May 18, 2009)

RenegadeDog said:


> Is Millennium People the one about the middle classes revolting? I read that recently and was a bit ho-hum.  What would you recommend starting with with Ballard?



Well he's in kind of phases - there's the "shocking" stuff like Crash and Atrocity Exhibition, you need both those. and then the earlier sci fi stuff.

But Cocaine Nights could be a good starter, I think


----------



## caizaab (May 18, 2009)

I'm reading 'Virus' by Sarah Langan.

Weird.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 18, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> i skipped Super Cannes by Ballard because it was just too similar to Cocaine Nights (i know that's the point!) and moved onto *Millenium People* instead, which is very funny



oh that really is a cunt of a book.


----------



## sojourner (May 18, 2009)

Kavalier and Clay

Can't make up my mind whether I really like it, or it's irritating


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 18, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Can't make up my mind whether I really like it, or it's irritating



The sign of a good book


----------



## El Jefe (May 18, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Kavalier and Clay
> 
> Can't make up my mind whether I really like it, or it's irritating



If you don't like it, we can never truly be friends.


----------



## sojourner (May 18, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> If you don't like it, we can never truly be friends.



Shut up and read fucking Doris - THEN we'll see if we can be friends


----------



## belboid (May 19, 2009)

the library finally found the copy of *Luke Haines' Bad Vibes*, whyich they lost a couple of months ago.  Started on it at midnight last night, and didn't manage to tear myself away till half one. Great stuff


----------



## Rollem (May 19, 2009)

Rollem said:


> am planing to start on either *Things Fall Apart*, by Chinua Achebe, which a friend has recommended,


some guy on the tube this morning commented on me reading this book. said it was a great read (although he read it years and years ago!) then he said 'thank you' to me 


am liking it so far though, only just started so only read a few chapters


----------



## El Jefe (May 19, 2009)

belboid said:


> the library finally found the copy of *Luke Haines' Bad Vibes*, whyich they lost a couple of months ago.  Started on it at midnight last night, and didn't manage to tear myself away till half one. Great stuff



it's just genius, the whole book. He's SUCH a cunt


----------



## May Kasahara (May 19, 2009)

Just started World War Z, page-turningly good so far although if you're going to attempt that many different voices you should really try and differentiate them a bit more [/critical]


----------



## Pieface (May 19, 2009)

Not reading ANYTHING. In trauma.  Bought Grazia this morning.
Will have to punish self later  

I want to read sexy books but not actual SEXY books ifswim?  

God I'm petulant at the moment.


----------



## sojourner (May 19, 2009)

Why are you in trauma? Cos you're not reading?


----------



## foamy (May 19, 2009)

picked up the first book in months last night - Kate Atkinson's When will there be good news (going to see the author in conversation at Hay festival). I didnt get to read much though as my eyes wouldnt stay open.


----------



## Pieface (May 19, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Why are you in trauma? Cos you're not reading?



Yeah,  I'm not actually traumatised, I'm too gauche and stupid for that 

I shall pick a book TONIGHT and forswear 8 page articles on the new high heel fashions


----------



## dodgepot (May 19, 2009)

the missus wants me to get her imodesty blaize's novel. it sounds like it might be quite racy.


----------



## Pieface (May 19, 2009)

it won't be - it'll be all *suggestion* and *a hint of flesh here and there* just like those burlesque shows.


----------



## belboid (May 20, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> it's just genius, the whole book. He's SUCH a cunt



and it just gets better and better 

Loved the (unspoken) Iggy rant, and the chats with Albini - you just knew those two cunts would get along!  Am intrigued to try and work out who the 'unmentionable but fleetingly succesful rock band' were


----------



## DotCommunist (May 20, 2009)

I'm readin a Duncton Moles book.


Not sure why, I already read one from the series and it's just dark, creepy melancholy stuff. Really muted, like a sad song. And it's for kids!


certainly a unique style I have to say.


----------



## El Jefe (May 20, 2009)

belboid said:


> and it just gets better and better
> 
> Loved the (unspoken) Iggy rant, and the chats with Albini - you just knew those two cunts would get along!  Am intrigued to try and work out who the 'unmentionable but fleetingly succesful rock band' were



I wasted HOURS on that. I googled the tour, I tried to guess by era. Bush, maybe?


----------



## Lea (May 20, 2009)

Silver Falls by Anne Stuart.


----------



## belboid (May 20, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> I wasted HOURS on that. I googled the tour, I tried to guess by era. Bush, maybe?



plausible, but would they be on the same plane as the other lot, and didnt they actually 'break through' the year after?

i vaguely thought of SMASH (not really rock, and only unmentionable cos he says that he will never talk of NWONW again after the paragraph a few pages earlier) or Dodgy.  Who aren't really a rock band either.  neither of them sound objectionable enough tho


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 20, 2009)

belboid said:


> Am intrigued to try and work out who the 'unmentionable but fleetingly succesful rock band' were



Not read the book, I want to, but 'unmentionable' and 'fleetingly successful' can only point to Reef, can't it?


----------



## belboid (May 20, 2009)

ooh, that does sound plausible.  sadly the oldest full list of bands who played at the festie is 1995


----------



## El Jefe (May 20, 2009)

Yehm, Reef does sound plausible indeed


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 20, 2009)

What are they meant to have done (if it can be repeated on a family bulletin board)?


----------



## belboid (May 20, 2009)

nothing, absolutely nothing. Well, nothing that is mentioned in the book, tho they are clearly arrogant up-their-own arses, think they're gods gifts ,knobcheeses.

And that's on a flight that already includes Oasis and _The_ Verve.

Bush do fit well because you know Rossdale was exactly the kind of cunt who would have driven everyone fucking mad mererly by existing in their proximity.  I can't even remember who was in Reef.


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 20, 2009)

I'm going to have to read this book


----------



## Fictionist (May 20, 2009)

The Dialogue of the Dogs - Miguel Cervantes


----------



## Pieface (May 20, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> I'm going to have to read this book



It's ace and the very last scene had me howling.


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 20, 2009)

PieEye said:


> It's ace and the very last scene had me howling.



 I'll pick up a copy next week.


----------



## blairsh (May 20, 2009)

I read Fantastic Mr Fox the other day for the first time in neraly twenty years.

Fucking ace in the face


----------



## Pieface (May 20, 2009)

I used to time myself reading that when I was little, weirdly.


----------



## blairsh (May 20, 2009)

PieEye said:


> I used to time myself reading that when I was little, weirdly.



Why?


----------



## Pieface (May 20, 2009)

I wanted to see how fast I could read it.


----------



## blairsh (May 20, 2009)

PieEye said:


> I wanted to see how fast I could read it.



Okay. What was your best time?


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (May 21, 2009)

blairsh said:


> I read Fantastic Mr Fox the other day for the first time in neraly twenty years.
> 
> Fucking ace in the face


i love reading this to my boy as i still remember how much i loved it when i was a child 
books are special like that.
I can't wait to read him George's Marvellous Medicine, remember that one?


----------



## May Kasahara (May 22, 2009)

me said:


> Just started World War Z, page-turningly good so far although if you're going to attempt that many different voices you should really try and differentiate them a bit more [/critical]



Okay, am a bit further in now and much much more impressed with this. A really excellent piece of work, although not one to read when (a) you have a young baby, and (b) you are 'alone' in the house with the baby sleeping upstairs. So disturbed and sad have I been that I've started a different book to read at bedtime, to try and stop having world's-end dream marathons. Unfortunately the book I chose (White Crow by Mary Gentle) is some kind of up its own arse sci fi/fantasy which is really quite good but also fairly irritating.


----------



## sojourner (May 22, 2009)

May Kasahara said:


> Okay, am a bit further in now and much much more impressed with this. A really excellent piece of work, although not one to read when (a) you have a young baby, and (b) you are 'alone' in the house with the baby sleeping upstairs. So disturbed and sad have I been that I've started a different book to read at bedtime, to try and stop having world's-end dream marathons. Unfortunately the book I chose (White Crow by Mary Gentle) is some kind of up its own arse sci fi/fantasy which is really quite good but also fairly irritating.



perhaps a bit of Agatha Christie would help? 

hope alls well with you May - not seen you around lately


----------



## May Kasahara (May 22, 2009)

Don't worry, it was only a bit of epic BT fail keeping me away  Broadband up and running now so expect to see me hanging about like a bad smell once more.


----------



## sojourner (May 22, 2009)

May Kasahara said:


> Don't worry, it was only a bit of epic BT fail keeping me away  Broadband up and running now so expect to see me hanging about like a bad smell once more.



oh good  

ooo, i wouldn't say bad smell...more of an unmistakeable aroma


----------



## El Jefe (May 22, 2009)

finished Millenium People, which was a laugh.

Now reading Geoff Dyer's Paris Trance - I've always liked his essays so wanted to see what his fiction is like. Not bad so far, but hasn't really grabbed me


----------



## mentalchik (May 24, 2009)

Have Judas Unchained - Peter Hamilton and The Quiet War - Paul McAuley.......


not decided which to start with !


----------



## Belushi (May 24, 2009)

_Managing Information and Statistics_


----------



## DotCommunist (May 24, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> Have Judas Unchained - Peter Hamilton and The Quiet War - Paul McAuley.......
> 
> 
> not decided which to start with !



Paul 


Judas Unchained is so massively Hamilton plot-fail that I was annoyed at having wasted my time on it. Yeah it has flashes of awesome but they are not enough to excuse the deus ex.


----------



## mentalchik (May 24, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Paul
> 
> 
> Judas Unchained is so massively Hamilton plot-fail that I was annoyed at having wasted my time on it. Yeah it has flashes of awesome but they are not enough to excuse the deus ex.



Hmmmm........i tend to have massive sessions with a particular author at a time (iykwim) and i will admit got a bit bored with PH last time........only picked it up in the library coz i couldn't find anything much else !


----------



## DotCommunist (May 24, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> Hmmmm........i tend to have massive sessions with a particular author at a time (iykwim) and i will admit got a bit bored with PH last time........only picked it up in the library coz i couldn't find anything much else !



Northants main library? they have a shit skiffy/fantasy selection cos people nick or never return boooks. I'd never do soemething like that

Smaller local branches hoard some better finds. Kingsethorpe linrary is good as is Duston (if it's still going)


----------



## mentalchik (May 24, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Northants main library? they have a shit *skiffy/fantasy selection* cos people nick or never return boooks. I'd never do soemething like that
> 
> Smaller local branches hoard some better finds. Kingsethorpe linrary is good as is Duston (if it's still going)



Don't think Kingsthorpe library is still there.......


and you aint kidding............it's all fucking sword and sorcery shite.....which appears to be the problem in some shops too !


----------



## DotCommunist (May 24, 2009)

eh, coulda sworn Kingsthorpe branch is still going, went past in the car not three weeks ago- It has the sickest comic collection out of all the northants library branches.

I'll be annoyed if thats shut down. Bus from Kings to town isn't cheap and why deprive my kingsthorpe/semi-on boys of their lit.


----------



## wobble (May 24, 2009)

Richard Morgan, Broken Angels.


----------



## toblerone3 (May 24, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> finished Millenium People, which was a laugh.



Coincidentally I just finished reading a JG Ballard. Concrete Island. V good would make an excellent TV play or film.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 24, 2009)

wobble said:


> Richard Morgan, Broken Angels.



Andy McNab in SPAAAACE


still well good though. I still rate Woken Furies as his best


----------



## mrkikiet (May 24, 2009)

The Falling Man - delillo


----------



## mentalchik (May 24, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> eh, coulda sworn Kingsthorpe branch is still going, went past in the car not three weeks ago- It has the sickest comic collection out of all the northants library branches.
> 
> I'll be annoyed if thats shut down. Bus from Kings to town isn't cheap and why deprive my kingsthorpe/semi-on boys of their lit.






I wonder if i think it's in the wrong place then..........it's nearer than the town library for me !


----------



## Mrs Magpie (May 24, 2009)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asylums-Pelican-Erving-Goffman/dp/0140210075


----------



## mentalchik (May 24, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> I wonder if i think it's in the wrong place then..........it's nearer than the town library for me !



Jeebus i am dense.........it wasn't where i thought it was........


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 24, 2009)

James Joyce biography by Richard Ellman. Its 950 pages long.


----------



## Geri (May 24, 2009)

I'm just re-reading Joan Baez's autobiography, _And a Voice to Sing With._


----------



## SpookyFrank (May 24, 2009)

Philip K Dick- Ubik. A bit like Ben Elton if Ben Elton could write.


----------



## El Jefe (May 24, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> finished Millenium People, which was a laugh.
> 
> Now reading Geoff Dyer's Paris Trance - I've always liked his essays so wanted to see what his fiction is like. Not bad so far, but hasn't really grabbed me



Paris Trance was OK, but didn't really go anywhere.

So now I'm reading For Whom The Bell Tolls, which I was shocked to realise I hadn't already read


----------



## DotCommunist (May 24, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> Jeebus i am dense.........it wasn't where i thought it was........



pwned. its just behind kingsthorp high street


----------



## Roadkill (May 24, 2009)

Still reading my way through Frances Pryor.  I'm onto _Britain AD_ now and thoroughly enjoying it.

I've also made a start on Glyn Williams's _The Death of Captain Cook_, which I bought after being rather impressed with his lecture on the subject last week.


----------



## Fictionist (May 24, 2009)

Cheesypoof said:


> James Joyce biography by Richard Ellman. Its 950 pages long.



Wow. 950 pages. Amazing. You must be _really, really, really_ clever to read such a big book!


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 24, 2009)

Kind of reading _Mortal Engines_ by Stanislaw Lem, which is like his _Cyberiad_ but with all the jokes taken out


----------



## vauxhallmum (May 24, 2009)

I've had a real obsession with sea voyage stories recently. I loved This Thing of Darkness and The Secret River and The Floating Brothel so I thought I would go back to the real thing and try The Sea Wolf. I've had to abandon it, I just can't get on with the fussy, annoying narrator. 
*Sigh* need to find a new book....


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 24, 2009)

vauxhallmum said:


> I've had a real obsession with sea voyage stories recently. I loved This Thing of Darkness and The Secret River and The Floating Brothel so I thought I would go back to the real thing and try The Sea Wolf. I've had to abandon it, I just can't get on with the fussy, annoying narrator.
> *Sigh* need to find a new book....



_Rites of Passage_ by William Golding is a great sea story...


----------



## ericjarvis (May 25, 2009)

wobble said:


> Richard Morgan, Broken Angels.



Just finished that. Excellent.

Currently on In The Teeth Of The Evidence, a collection of Dorothy L Sayers short stories.


----------



## sojourner (May 25, 2009)

Ok jefe, you win

Kavalier and Clay IS fantastic   I think I just needed to sit down for hours at a time to do it proper justice.  Have just started Radioman chapter, but put it down due to sleepy eyes, and having just opened a bottle of wine.


----------



## phildwyer (May 25, 2009)

Cheesypoof said:


> James Joyce biography by Richard Ellman. Its 950 pages long.



That's a seriously great book.  His bios of Yeats and Wilde are even better.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (May 25, 2009)

Just finished Double Vision by pat Barker hich is going in my favourite ooks of all time pile. She is fast becming one of my faourite authors.  
Next I will finish Severed Head which is languishing in my handbag.
I have a few things lined up after that but I'm feeling quite distracted. I will read some poetry or finish a few short psychology type things I started months ago...
Have a book of short stories by Doris Lessing in the pending pile, will get round to that shortly.


----------



## tufty79 (May 25, 2009)

the sovereignty of good by iris murdoch
big women by fay weldon


----------



## big eejit (May 26, 2009)

Just finished The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. What a powerful read that is. Brilliant stuff. I decided I wouldn't read any more of her stuff after not getting on with The Blind Assassin, but this is much better. IMO.

Currently really enjoying The Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas.


----------



## foamy (May 26, 2009)

just read 'When will there be good news' by Kate Atkinson, it was engrossing but rather fantastical.

Just about to start Jo Brand's 'It's different for girls'.

doing my homework as I'm going to see them both at Hay festival at the weekend.


----------



## Greebo (May 26, 2009)

Olaf Baale's "Aubbau Ost" (about what happened to the GDR's economy after the borders opened, and why it didn't work as well as hoped), and the German translation of Terry Pratchett's "Interesting Times".

It helps get my passive memory of German more active, and the non fiction helps me sleep.


----------



## starfish (May 26, 2009)

A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin. Part of his Rebus series. Only got Fleshmarket Close left to read & ill have read them all.


----------



## Pieface (May 27, 2009)

The Princess Bride.

LOLZERS!


----------



## mrkikiet (May 27, 2009)

starfish said:


> A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin. Part of his Rebus series. Only got Fleshmarket Close left to read & ill have read them all.



these are the best. but make sure you read them in order


----------



## El Jefe (May 27, 2009)

PieEye said:


> The Princess Bride.
> 
> LOLZERS!



SOOOO much better than the movie


----------



## goldenecitrone (May 27, 2009)

starfish said:


> A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin. Part of his Rebus series. Only got Fleshmarket Close left to read & ill have read them all.



I'm on Set in Darkness, then just the last four in order. Addictive stuff.


----------



## Sweet FA (May 27, 2009)

PieEye said:


> The Princess Bride.
> 
> LOLZERS!


I had a passage from that read out at my wedding  (Not the 'Prepare to die!' bit obv).


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 27, 2009)

I'm reading _Netherland_ atm. It's so-so.


----------



## obanite (May 27, 2009)

Finally finished the Iliad - really enjoyed it, found it very readable, definitely going to give the Odyssey a go sometime  Onto Bones of the Hills by Iggulden (third book about Ghengis Khan's shizzle), more blood and violence.  Still haven't finished Gravity's Rainbow


----------



## starfish (May 27, 2009)

mrkikiet said:


> these are the best. but make sure you read them in order



Made the mistake of reading Naming the Dead then Exit Music first. Read the rest in order though.

I read his first post Rebus book 'Open Doors' recently. Unfortunately didnt think much of it. Nowhere near as good as the Rebus series.


----------



## llion (May 27, 2009)

Patrick White - Voss. Really enjoying this so far. Reminds me of a Werner Herzog film in a way as its about a slightly crazy/eccentric German on an epic quest across Australia in the 1840s. 

Re Geoff Dyer's novels, 'The Colour of Memory' is a very good one, set in Brixton in the eighties, so quite different to Paris Trance, and better from what I remember.


----------



## rollinder (May 28, 2009)

finished Little Women
currently dipping into the New Internationlist's No Nonsense Guide To Fair Trade - got from the library because of the thread
- also have The Good Life:Guide to ethical living & the creative guide to digital scrapbooking, waiting to be read (got at the same time and will need to renew)


----------



## mrkikiet (May 28, 2009)

starfish said:


> I read his first post Rebus book 'Open Doors' recently. Unfortunately didnt think much of it. Nowhere near as good as the Rebus series.



I agree. i thought it was weak and the parts where he changes his mind about what is happening were more obvious in i than in Rebus. ah well.


----------



## ericjarvis (May 28, 2009)

Just started on The Brief And Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao. Absolutely hooked.


----------



## El Jefe (May 28, 2009)

ericjarvis said:


> Just started on The Brief And Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao. Absolutely hooked.



it's a joy


----------



## heinous seamus (May 28, 2009)

I'm reading Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 28, 2009)

heinous seamus said:


> I'm reading Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath



I love this. By far the most moving book I've ever read. 


Oscar Wao is probably next on my reading list.


----------



## ericjarvis (May 28, 2009)

heinous seamus said:


> I'm reading Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath



Steinbeck has been one of my favourite authors as long as I can remember reading. Tremendously consistent for one thing. Every single book is a joy except for The Red Pony which is sentimental crap. Guess which Steinbeck book we were set at school.


----------



## heinous seamus (May 28, 2009)

I'm only about halfway through. It's amazing though. I had only read 'Of Mice and Men' before.


----------



## dodgepot (May 28, 2009)

the cambridge illustrated history of china


----------



## Kav (May 28, 2009)

Gonna start Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell... Not a slender one by any means!! 

M'lady reckons it's brilliant.


----------



## kittyP (May 28, 2009)

Flashman's Lady


----------



## jeff_leigh (May 28, 2009)

Samaritan - Richard Price


----------



## Fictionist (May 28, 2009)

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy

This was _terrible_!


----------



## Streathamite (May 29, 2009)

just finshed Thomas Keneally's _The Office Of Innocence_. Bit disappointed actually. Not a patch on _Schindler's Ark_ or even _The Cut-Price Kingdom_.
Also reading Dilip Hiro's excellent analysis of the Iraq situation, 1991-1993, *Iraq *. The best nailing so far of how huge a cockup was made, and why.


----------



## jeff_leigh (May 29, 2009)

Just starting  A short history of Tractors in Ukrainian - marina Lewycka


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (May 30, 2009)

2 weeks of solid reading 

got through _jonathon strange and mr norrell_ which was very (and quite surprisingly) enjoyable, _basket case_ which was pants, _metropole_ which didn't really translate well, _hangover square_ which was absolutely brilliant, really recommend that, _the business_ which was laughable, _rip it up and start again_, which i found to be really annoying overall, and _london and the south east_ which was a good read and quite easy to glide through.


----------



## sojourner (May 30, 2009)

jeff_leigh said:


> Just starting  A short history of Tractors in Ukrainian - marina Lewycka



What do you think to it?

It almost always gets quoted as a 'silly po mo title' - but the title relates to the story (as you will know), and I really liked it


----------



## jeff_leigh (May 31, 2009)

sojourner said:


> What do you think to it?
> 
> It almost always gets quoted as a 'silly po mo title' - but the title relates to the story (as you will know), and I really liked it



I've only just started reading it, but liking it so far although I'm thinking the plot could have been better served if the old guys family were just a typically middle england family instead of having Ukrainian themselves thus making his marriage to a "Foreign Golddigger" more controversial IYSWIM.


----------



## El Jefe (May 31, 2009)

i suspect i'm not going to finish For Whom The Bell Tolls - just really not enjoying it.

also reading Totally Wired, the collection of Simon Reynolds interviews that accompanies his Rip It Up book


----------



## Voley (May 31, 2009)

Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. 'Enjoyed' it, if you can enjoy post-apocalyptic horror. It reminded me of The Grapes Of Wrath a fair bit.


----------



## ChrisC (May 31, 2009)

Just finished reading A Darkness at Sethanon by Raymond E. Feist that was excellent. Now I'm reading Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton, I have to admit thought book is hefty and I am struggling. I will finish it though as I don't like to leave books unfinished.


----------



## Fictionist (May 31, 2009)

Either Ivan Turgenev's 'Fathers & Sons' or Rafael Sabatini's 'Captain Blood'.

I have not decided which yet.


----------



## Lea (Jun 1, 2009)

Walk On by D Mikels.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 1, 2009)

Finished Kavalier and Clay.  Yes, very good.  Dense, funny, extremely well written, actually even had me interested in the whole comic/cartoon business, which is amazing cos usually it just bores me. 

Started and finished Mudbound yesterday by Hillary Jordan. Meh.


----------



## Voley (Jun 1, 2009)

Just started Bad vibes by Luke Haines following the recommendations above. Incredibly bitchy so far - I'm enjoying it a lot.


----------



## El Jefe (Jun 1, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Finished Kavalier and Clay.  Yes, very good.  Dense, funny, extremely well written, actually even had me interested in the whole comic/cartoon business, which is amazing cos usually it just bores me.



phew


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 1, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Finished Kavalier and Clay.  Yes, very good.  Dense, funny, extremely well written, actually even had me interested in the whole comic/cartoon business, which is amazing cos usually it just bores me.




can you send it back to me soon please cos i need to lend it to a preggers friend of mine who needs something to do


----------



## sojourner (Jun 1, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> phew





Orang Utan said:


> can you send it back to me soon please cos i need to lend it to a preggers friend of mine who needs something to do



aye, will do - will get it in the post to you tomorrow chuck - ta very much for the lend


----------



## _pH_ (Jun 1, 2009)

Almost Like A Whale - Steve Jones.

v. interesting so far


----------



## harpo (Jun 1, 2009)

The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene.  I've been working up to it via Brighton Rock and Travels With My Aunt.  It's widely held to be his greatest work, but I'm having a slow start.  No doubt due to the distractions of hot weather.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 1, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> also reading Totally Wired, the collection of Simon Reynolds interviews that accompanies his Rip It Up book


Rip It Up annoyed the tits off of me. His way of dismissing bands, producers, genres, musicians, in a single line (if they were lucky) really started getting on my nerves, as well as his OTT eulogising for those who he did like. i enjoyed some chapters of it, but i was seriously skimming it by the end tbh.


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Jun 1, 2009)

Short stories of Jack London


----------



## ericjarvis (Jun 1, 2009)

Just finished Oscar Wao, which was superb, and now on to Snowball In Hell by Christopher Brookmyre. Only a few pages in and it's already caused a fair few disturb the neighbours laughs. He claims it's his best book, and he may well be right.


----------



## pennimania (Jun 1, 2009)

The Mitford sisters' letters.

Has kept me shocked, enthralled, smitten and made me laugh out loud continually.

Recommend....


----------



## foamy (Jun 1, 2009)

pennimania said:


> The Mitford sisters' letters.
> 
> Has kept me shocked, enthralled, smitten and made me laugh out loud continually.
> 
> Recommend....



it's great, isn't it? I saw a big book of Decca's letters in a shop at the weekend but stopped myself buying it as the Sisters letters took me so long to read!
having said that I would like to read the book of Nancy's letters.


----------



## sleaterkinney (Jun 1, 2009)

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, very good.


----------



## pennimania (Jun 1, 2009)

foamy said:


> it's great, isn't it? I saw a big book of Decca's letters in a shop at the weekend but stopped myself buying it as the Sisters letters took me so long to read!
> having said that I would like to read the book of Nancy's letters.



am addicted 

it has stopped me functioning for the last 5 days  now re reading them!

will not rest till I have rinsed all of them - you should have snapped up Decca


----------



## Rollem (Jun 2, 2009)

_guernica _- dave boling

and flicking through _bash the rich _- ian bone, at the same time...


----------



## pennimania (Jun 2, 2009)

I have just been re-reading the Wyoming short stories by Annie Proulx. Some of them (not just Brokeback Mountain) are very harsh.

Especially 'People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water'.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 2, 2009)

pennimania said:


> I have just been re-reading the Wyoming short stories by Annie Proulx. Some of them (not just Brokeback Mountain) are very harsh.
> 
> Especially 'People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water'.



  I fucking ADORE, nay WORSHIP Annie Proulx - imo she is one of the all time most talented short story writers ever.  I cannot rate her highly enough.


----------



## pennimania (Jun 2, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I fucking ADORE, nay WORSHIP Annie Proulx - imo she is one of the all time most talented short story writers ever.  I cannot rate her highly enough.



I love the stories too - but you must admit the high rate of accidental fatalities is quite astounding.

It has actually made me paranoid about walking around my croft in the winter in case my eyeballs freeze or giant hailstones rip my flesh !I can see quite a lot of similarities between Skye and Wyoming.....

have you read 'Wyoming - Fine Just the Way It is?' another collection by her.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 3, 2009)

I kinda like all that though - some of it is breathtakingly brutal, just like the landscape 

Yep, got that last collection - have got everything available in the UK, and a couple of things that haven't been released yet are on order.  I'm a total fangirl of Annie Proulx 

She's fucking fantastic at short stories, but I think one of my favourite novels of hers is Accordion Crimes - you read that?


----------



## belboid (Jun 3, 2009)

Almost finished Simon Napier Bells White Powder, Black Vinyl.  very good, mostly already known stories abut well told and with a few nice little insights into the world of rock n roll.

Off into town to pick the new Sarah Waters up shortly


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jun 3, 2009)

I gave up on _Netherland_ because I couldn't get into it. So now started Roberto Bolano's _The Savage Detectives_. However, I've just ordered the latest Percival Everett, _I am Not Sidney Poitier_, so I might have to read that as soon as it arrives.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jun 3, 2009)

ericjarvis said:


> Just finished Oscar Wao, which was superb, and now on to Snowball In Hell by Christopher Brookmyre. Only a few pages in and it's already caused a fair few disturb the neighbours laughs. He claims it's his best book, and he may well be right.



Been on my list for ages, this has (Oscar Wao). Keep moving it to 'next to read' but then shunting it back again as something else comes along. I've got his short story collection _Drown_ too, that seems really good.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 3, 2009)

Had about as much as I can take of Lem's _Mortal Engines_ for the time being. Will finish the last story, 'The Mask', and move onto _Last Evenings on Earth_ by Roberto Bolano, cos people here seem to rate him.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jun 3, 2009)

I don't know how to do the little ~ above the n in his name. How do I do it? Ooh I worked it out.

Roberto Bolaño.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 3, 2009)

Vintage Paw said:


> I don't know how to do the little ~ above the n in his name. How do I do it? Ooh I worked it out.
> 
> Roberto Bolaño.



Thanks. Now I can just cut and paste from your post when I mention him again, 'stead of arsing around with shortcuts 

Bolaño.


----------



## tastebud (Jun 3, 2009)

new murakami book. good - about running. and writing. he is great. and loves the great gatsby, like i do- which makes him even greater.


----------



## llion (Jun 3, 2009)

Eduardo Galeano - Open Veins of Latin America. Started this having read a recommendation by Gruff Rhys from the Super Furries in Q recently. From what I've read so far his writing style is very poetic and engaging.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jun 4, 2009)

Finished World War Z last night, fantastic.

So I'm still reading White Crow, on and off, and am about to start rereading Darwin's Radio.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 4, 2009)

The Story of the Pogues by Carol Clerk

cheers NVP 

It's good, but it's verging on being a hagiography in places tbh.


----------



## El Jefe (Jun 4, 2009)

sojourner said:


> The Story of the Pogues by Carol Clerk
> 
> cheers NVP
> 
> It's good, but it's verging on being a hagiography in places tbh.



or "shagiography", if you will


----------



## sojourner (Jun 4, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> or "shagiography", if you will



?

What, did she shag them all or something?


----------



## El Jefe (Jun 4, 2009)

nah,  just shane


----------



## sojourner (Jun 4, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> nah,  just shane



Sure you're not getting mixed up with the Victoria Clarke book?


----------



## El Jefe (Jun 4, 2009)

ah.

bugger.

Clerk / Clark.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 4, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> ah.
> 
> bugger.
> 
> Clerk / Clark.



The VC book was absolutely dreadful - I couldn't even finish it, it was that fucking fawning


----------



## El Jefe (Jun 4, 2009)

sojourner said:


> The VC book was absolutely dreadful - I couldn't even finish it, it was that fucking fawning



see, that WAS a shagiography. So, good gag, wrong book


----------



## sojourner (Jun 4, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> see, that WAS a shagiography. So, *good gag*, wrong book



Yeh, if you're 8


----------



## pennimania (Jun 4, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I kinda like all that though - some of it is breathtakingly brutal, just like the landscape
> 
> Yep, got that last collection - have got everything available in the UK, and a couple of things that haven't been released yet are on order.  I'm a total fangirl of Annie Proulx
> 
> She's fucking fantastic at short stories, but I think one of my favourite novels of hers is Accordion Crimes - you read that?



Yes, she's right up there with Somerset Maugham imo.

Haven't read Accordion  Crimes - on my list now   Obviously have  read The Shipping News - wonderful.

Currently reading Hons and Rebels - continuing Mitford wallow


----------



## sojourner (Jun 4, 2009)

pennimania said:


> Yes, she's right up there with *Somerset Maugham* imo.
> 
> Haven't read Accordion  Crimes - on my list now   Obviously have  read The Shipping News - wonderful.



Do you know, I've never read anything of his.  Any recommendations?

Mmm, Accordion Crimes is completely different to a lot of her other stuff.  But still immensely interesting   That Old Ace in the Hole is fab too.  I'll shut up now cos I think she can do no wrong


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 4, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> _Last Evenings on Earth_ by Roberto Bolano, cos people here seem to rate him.



Quite enjoying these in a they-slip-down-easily-remind-me-of-Sebald-(kind-of) way


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 4, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> see, that WAS a shagiography. So, good gag, wrong book


'_shagiography'_  is this the new psychedelia and if so, where do i sign up?!


----------



## Bassism (Jun 5, 2009)

pennimania said:


> The Mitford sisters' letters.
> 
> Has kept me shocked, enthralled, smitten and made me laugh out loud continually.
> 
> Recommend....



What kind of book is this? Just gonna have a look see if i can find it x


----------



## foamy (Jun 5, 2009)

Basswhore said:


> What kind of book is this? Just gonna have a look see if i can find it x



it is a collection of letters that the mitford sisters sent to each other during their lives. Edited by charlotte mosley (granddaughter of diana mitford)
very interesting and well worth reading (it's not a small book!)

Pennimania - loving your "mitford wallow"


----------



## pennimania (Jun 5, 2009)

foamy said:


> it is a collection of letters that the mitford sisters sent to each other during their lives. Edited by charlotte mosley (granddaughter of diana mitford)
> very interesting and well worth reading (it's not a small book!)
> 
> Pennimania - loving your "mitford wallow"




I literally lost days of my life reading those letters.
Have now skim read Decca's Hons and Rebels - will read it properly later - I nearly always read things like that -often reread a book I like several times.

Have got Love in a Cold Climate to guzzle at too...


----------



## tar1984 (Jun 6, 2009)

I just finished "The Gum Thief" by Douglas Coupland.  It was pretty good.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jun 7, 2009)

Just finished Revolutionary Road and I loved it was a tad depressing there at the end but I love a bit of misery.
Don't know what to read next. Might read Madame Bovary again actually, I was thinking about it the other day which is as good as any other reason


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 7, 2009)

I liked Bolaño's short stories, so I'm going to start with his _Savage Detectives_.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 8, 2009)

sojourner said:


> The Story of the Pogues by Carol Clerk
> 
> cheers NVP
> 
> It's good, but it's verging on being a hagiography in places tbh.



Finished this yesterday and it turned out a lot better than I first thought

Bit surprising, in that I realised I had seen them 4 times, and not the vague 3 I had in mind - recognised the dates   Also realised that I did actually buy Hell's Ditch, even after hating over half of Peace and Love and not being particulary enamoured of the other half

Sad though...


----------



## Voley (Jun 8, 2009)

Glad you enjoyed it. There was a lot of stuff in it I didn't know about (the slpits, mainly).

I only heard Hells Ditch for the first time a few weeks back due to reading that book. It's surprisingly not all that bad, considering. There's maybe three songs on it that are really pretty good, the rest's filler.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 8, 2009)

NVP said:


> Glad you enjoyed it. There was a lot of stuff in it I didn't know about (the slpits, mainly).
> 
> I only heard Hells Ditch for the first time a few weeks back due to reading that book. It's surprisingly not all that bad, considering. There's maybe three songs on it that are really pretty good, the rest's filler.



Yeh, the Cait thing - at the time, it was like she'd just disappeared.  Now we know that she did just actually disappear   Thought there was an awful lot of animosity towards her though in the book - not sure it was called for.

Agree re Hell's Ditch - but even those few were shite compared to the first 3 albums.  I'd completely forgotten about Poguetry in Motion as well, which I have on vinyl.

They didn't mention the big troughs they had on one tour, collecting for the Birmingham Six.  A LOT of money was put in those troughs - and no one touched it 

I also remember being under the impression at the time that Joe Strummer was only standing in for Shane on vocals (the last time I saw them, actually), and that Shane would be back.  When he didn't come back, I just didn't bother with them anymore.


----------



## Lea (Jun 8, 2009)

Brida by Paulo Coelho.


----------



## Fictionist (Jun 8, 2009)

Capt Blood - Sabatini

This isn't quite what I expected, in the sense that (allowing for a few specific markers) it is actually well written, very well paced, and thoroughly entertaining.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 9, 2009)

Got a good haul from the YM shop yesterday, so have pretty much consumed Jane Grigson's Book of Vegetables, which is great.  Published in 1978, so she cooks with lard most of the time , although does say 'but you could use olive oil if you want'   there's loads of cracking recipes in it though, that I want to try out

Also started The Accidental, by Ali Smith last night.  Hmmm...time will tell whether it's a great big heap of pretentious twaddle, or really quite good.  I'm leaning towards the former at the moment though.


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Jun 9, 2009)

People of the Abyss - Jack London


----------



## foamy (Jun 9, 2009)

sojourner said:


> t
> 
> Also started The Accidental, by Ali Smith last night.  Hmmm...time will tell whether it's a great big heap of pretentious twaddle...



i thought this, it was awful and i felt robbed that i'd wasted my time on it!


----------



## nicksonic (Jun 10, 2009)

just finished 'money' by martin amis (pretty good...) and just started 'bridge of sighs' by richard russo. both 'empire falls' and 'straight man' were excellent so hopefully this'll be as good.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 10, 2009)

foamy said:


> i thought this, it was awful and i felt robbed that i'd wasted my time on it!



Well, I'll give it til halfway, and if I'm not admiring the style by then, I'll jack it in


----------



## Voley (Jun 11, 2009)

Just finished 'Bad Vibes' by Luke Haines. Really funny book full of collossal bitchiness and massive slaggings-off of almost everybody involved in Britpop. Very enjoyable - his 'everything I did was ace, everything everyone else did was shit' approach is one I admire.  Particularly as The Auteurs, his band, were pretty dismal as I recall. There's a great three sentence slating of 'Be Here Now' by Oasis that ends with him admitting he's never even heard it. And, yet, he's still right.  Very funny book.

Just about to start 'Destination Morgue' by James Ellroy.


----------



## pennimania (Jun 11, 2009)

'Love in a Cold Climate' Nancy Mitford.

Absolutely hilarious. If you can get over the fact it's about the upper classes ( ripping the shit out of them) - it's a fantastic read.

The dialogue and gameplaying between 2 young sisters is particularly funny and well observed.


----------



## Roadkill (Jun 11, 2009)

Just finished Christy Campbell's _Mini: An Intimate Biography_ which, despite its rubbish title, is actually rather good.

Now reading Geoffrey Elliott, _The Mystery of Overend and Gurney_, about the financial crash of the mid-1860s which started with the collapse of Overend Gurney & Co.  It was the last run on a British bank until Northern Rock.  The book is ... well, it's alright.


----------



## foamy (Jun 11, 2009)

pennimania said:


> 'Love in a Cold Climate' Nancy Mitford.
> 
> Absolutely hilarious. If you can get over the fact it's about the upper classes ( ripping the shit out of them) - it's a fantastic read.
> 
> The dialogue and gameplaying between 2 young sisters is particularly funny and well observed.



i'll put it on my mitford list!


----------



## The Octagon (Jun 12, 2009)

Just got back from 2 week holiday, only chance I really get to read a lot of books at the moment.

Colombine - Proper in-depth and fascinating account of the events leading up to, during and after the shootings (or more accurately, failed bombings). Excellent, if a little depressing at times.

Altered Carbon - Bought as a few on here had mentioned it, really enjoyed it and want to read a few more Morgan books now. Which is the next book to read with Kovacs in?

Debt of Honour, Executive Orders and Without Remorse - Bit of a Tom Clancy splurge, all good thrillers (if a little wank-heavy on the military detail), the politics side of things was spot on and the events quite prescient given all 3 were written well before 9/11.

Seven Troop (Andy McNab) - Interesting, particularly his accounts of the PTSD his unit suffered from, but light on anything else of substance.


----------



## Fictionist (Jun 12, 2009)

The Clash of Civilizations & The Remaking of World Order - Samuel P Huntington


----------



## Random One (Jun 12, 2009)

Lightning by D.Koontz - so far so good


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 12, 2009)

that's not saying much tbh


----------



## starfish (Jun 12, 2009)

Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin. My last Rebus book.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jun 13, 2009)

The Last Detective - Robert Crais


----------



## RubyBlue (Jun 13, 2009)

Random One said:


> Lightning by D.Koontz - so far so good



Lightning is my fav Dean Koontz novel.  I'm reading the Associate - John Grisham.  Just finished When you were me - Robert Rodi.


----------



## pennimania (Jun 15, 2009)

Alastair Campbell's Diaries.

Riveting.  I love political diaries and these are almost as good as Alan Clark's


----------



## sojourner (Jun 15, 2009)

Marley and Me on Saturday. Was okay - was very hungover and after a light read so fitted the bill

Yesterday I read Four Stories, by Alan Bennett - brilliant 

Started Through the Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong, about becoming a nun and her eventual departure - seems okay


----------



## pennimania (Jun 15, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Started Through the Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong, about becoming a nun and her eventual departure - seems okay



I've read that !  I love books about nuns   her experiences were horrendous.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 15, 2009)

pennimania said:


> I've read that !  I love books about nuns   her experiences were horrendous.



Ooo nice one 

I've only read one book about nuns - it was called Lesbian Nuns I think.  Now THAT was interesting


----------



## pennimania (Jun 15, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Ooo nice one
> 
> I've only read one book about nuns - it was called Lesbian Nuns I think.  Now THAT was interesting


----------



## Voley (Jun 16, 2009)

Just started 'Generation Kill' by Evan Wright as I enjoyed the TV series so much. Pretty good so far - very much in the Michael Herr 'Dispatches' style. The marines all think the writer's a right wanker.


----------



## Lea (Jun 16, 2009)

Collected short stories by Vladimir Nabokov.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 16, 2009)

Lea said:


> Collected short stories by Vladimir Nabokov.



Ooo sounds interesting.  What are they like?


----------



## christonabike (Jun 16, 2009)

I need a read

Thinking about Jim Dodge - Not Fade Away

Any good?

Ta


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 16, 2009)

christonabike said:


> I need a read
> 
> Thinking about Jim Dodge - Not Fade Away
> 
> ...



It's good fun, but only _quite_ good. It does indeed fade away in the last third.


----------



## yield (Jun 16, 2009)

I finished Vineland by Thomas Pynchon a few weeks ago. Difficult to describe what it isn't. He has an amazing style. Proper LOL in places.

Got a copy of Gravity's Rainbow and Slow Learner which I looking forward to.

Also read Thirteen/Black Man by Richard Morgan. Main character is a black British supersoldier. Reminds me of Steppenwolf and Bladerunner. Great read.

Now I'm on my third read of Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. I'm getting a little obsessive about the Malazan books as I'm sure there's something I've missed or forgotten....



The Octagon said:


> Altered Carbon - Bought as a few on here had mentioned it, really enjoyed it and want to read a few more Morgan books now. Which is the next book to read with Kovacs in?



I'd read Broken Angels next and then Woken Furies. 

You'll probably like Neal Asher too.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 16, 2009)

Graviy's rainbow is hard work man- I never finished it.


The Malazan books, I only really _got_ the mythic structure after re-reading them all in one marathon.

I'm re-reading Iron Council


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 16, 2009)

Consider Phlebas - just started it this morning


----------



## yield (Jun 16, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Graviy's rainbow is hard work man- I never finished it.



It's got to be done. It can't be harder than Foucault's Pendulum surely?



DotCommunist said:


> The Malazan books, I only really _got_ the mythic structure after re-reading them all in one marathon.



Maybe I ought to do that. How long did it take you?



DotCommunist said:


> I'm re-reading Iron Council



Excellent book.



QueenOfGoths said:


> Consider Phlebas - just started it this morning



My second favourite Banks sci-fi after Use of Weapons. I hope you enjoy it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 16, 2009)

yield said:


> It's got to be done. It can't be harder than Foucault's Pendulum surely?



much harder going IMO



> Maybe I ought to do that. How long did it take you?



bout two-3 months iirc


----------



## ericjarvis (Jun 16, 2009)

Just finished reading Altered Carbon. What a fantastic first novel!

Next up is Embers Of Heaven by Alma Alexander. Her first novel, Secrets of Jin Shei, was right up their with Altered Carbon, and my other favourite debut, Humility Garden by Felicity Savage. I gather that in this case it's very much a sequel, and not as good as its predecessor, but Alma's a nice lass so I shall read it anyway.


----------



## ChrisC (Jun 16, 2009)

The Kings Buccaneer by Raymond E. Feist.


----------



## yield (Jun 16, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> much harder going IMO



I will give it a go. Feeling daunted now.



DotCommunist said:


> bout two-3 months iirc



Not sure if I'm ready to stomach the Bonehunters and Reaper's Gale so soon. Large parts were tedious. 

Deadhouse Gates third time around is much less about the Chain of Dogs. Some characters like Fiddler, Kalam and Cutter become more central with knowing about their futures.


----------



## rollinder (Jun 17, 2009)

recently finished re-reading Ian Banks' The Crow Road
todays reading:Rob Newman - Dependance Day & Chuck Palahniuk - Rant 
both fucking wierd but good wierd (I think)


----------



## Lea (Jun 17, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Ooo sounds interesting.  What are they like?



I've only read 4 stories so far. They are very different from each other. I've never read Nabokov before but I find his vocabulary very rich. He writes like a painter creating a canvas. Lots of subtle details and vivid descriptions.


----------



## tufty79 (Jun 17, 2009)

finished 'last exit to brooklyn' the other day - grim as fuck 

just moved onto 'the book of dave' by will self (started it a while ago and then got distracted) and, while it's good, all i can think of is 'you fucker - you're ripping off russell hoban and riddley walker.  sort of'.


----------



## Fictionist (Jun 17, 2009)

The Castle of Otranto - Horace Walpole


----------



## Rollem (Jun 18, 2009)

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, by Robert Tressell


----------



## sojourner (Jun 18, 2009)

kitty_kitty said:


> finished 'last exit to brooklyn' the other day - grim as fuck



Oh god - I remember reading that ooooo 20 ish years ago, and being devastated by it 



kitty_kitty said:


> just moved onto 'the book of dave' by will self (started it a while ago and then got distracted) and, while it's good, all i can think of is 'you fucker - you're ripping off russell hoban and riddley walker.  sort of'.



Interestingly, I was on about BoD to a mate a few weeks back.  The conversation moved on slightly, and he was describing a story and I stopped him to ask if he was still on about BoD.  He wasn't, his summary was actually about A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller.  In bare bones structure, it's very similar.


----------



## llion (Jun 18, 2009)

Mary Webb - Precious Bane. A very magical, mystical read so far. A bit like a much earlier Angela Carter.


----------



## tastebud (Jun 18, 2009)

i'm reading 'the good women of China' - really good so far!


----------



## sojourner (Jun 19, 2009)

tastebud said:


> i'm reading 'the good women of China' - really good so far!



Heartbreaking though, at times


----------



## pennimania (Jun 20, 2009)

Rollem said:


> The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, by Robert Tressell



I love that book.


----------



## ChrisC (Jun 21, 2009)

Shadow of a Dark Queen and now Rise of a Merchant Prince both by Raymond E. Feist.


----------



## RubyBlue (Jun 21, 2009)

7 Days to Live by Nick Yarris - he spent 21 years inside (USA) for a rape / murder he didn't commit - eventually released because DNA evidence proved he didn't commit the crime - he had to virtually do all the legal work himself and tell his so called lawyer what he needed him to do as the public defender assigned to him not only made it clear from the outset he thought he was guilty but was also incompetent


----------



## tastebud (Jun 21, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Heartbreaking though, at times


I know. I am now realising this. I did a last minute Christmas present rush buy in Bangkok a few years ago and got it as a Christmas present for my grandma who is actually a feminist but still, she thinks there is nothing bad in the world ever - a very sweet little old lady. Who knows there is bad of course, really - she has lived it - but pretends nevertheless as a way of coping with life. But I hadn't read it and am reading it now, kinda wishing that I had read it before I had got it for her. and then perhaps not done so.


----------



## pennimania (Jun 21, 2009)

I am giving Ali Campbell a break - I am finding the post 9/11 stuff quite painful...

Guilty pleasure - Thunder Over Castle Rising by Fanny Cradock, grand bit of mental chewing gum 


Now about to start Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 22, 2009)

Shelagh Delaney - Sweetly Sings the Donkey 

A collection of her short stories.  Ace.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 22, 2009)

pennimania said:


> Now about to start Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg.



That's one of the maddest books ever written. Fantastic.


----------



## pennimania (Jun 22, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> That's one of the maddest books ever written. Fantastic.




mr mania bangs on about it ALL the time so I thought I better get stuck in


----------



## Roadkill (Jun 22, 2009)

Charles Nicholl - The Fruit Palace.


----------



## colbhoy (Jun 22, 2009)

I'm reading The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, the book on which the film Gettysburg was based. Borrowed from my dad who is fascinated by the American Civil war. It's a gripping read so far.


----------



## mozzy (Jun 22, 2009)

Roadkill said:


> Charles Nicholl - The Fruit Palace.



That's a brilliant book!! I remember reading that quite some time ago - it was one of the first books i read which sparked my interest in politics/philosophy. I found it in a charity shop and still have it! It really opened my eyes about the political system. Soz, won't say too much....!


----------



## Roadkill (Jun 22, 2009)

mozzy said:


> That's a brilliant book!! I remember reading that quite some time ago - it was one of the first books i read which sparked my interest in politics/philosophy. I found it in a charity shop and still have it! It really opened my eyes about the political system. Soz, won't say too much....!



Yes, my sister recommended it for much the same reasons!

I've only read a couple of chapters, but I'm impressed so far. 

It reminds me a bit of Isabel Fonseca's _Bury Me Standing_ - which if you've not read I couldn't recommend too highly.


----------



## mozzy (Jun 22, 2009)

Roadkill said:


> Yes, my sister recommended it for much the same reasons!
> 
> I've only read a couple of chapters, but I'm impressed so far.
> 
> It reminds me a bit of Isabel Fonseca's _Bury Me Standing_ - which if you've not read I couldn't recommend too highly.



Cheers, I will have to check that out - i have to admit i have not heard of this so it will be something new!


----------



## ChrisC (Jun 22, 2009)

Rage of a Demon King, Raymond E. Feist. He's my Facebook friend aswell now.


----------



## Gingerman (Jun 22, 2009)

Nemesis :The Battle For Japan 1944-45 by Max Hastings,enjoying it v much.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jun 23, 2009)

Today I will start Twenty thousand streets under the sky. Looks good but long, not sure if my current lack of concentration will thwart the effort but I haven't got anything else to read and it's been in the pending pile for a while


----------



## belboid (Jun 23, 2009)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> Today I will start Twenty thousand streets under the sky. Looks good but long, not sure if my current lack of concentration will thwart the effort but I haven't got anything else to read and it's been in the pending pile for a while



aaah, a great book that.  Very easy to read so sohludn't take that long. Check out his Hangover Square as well


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jun 23, 2009)

will do 
have just ordered love on the dole which I'm eager to read. one book at a time...


----------



## Fictionist (Jun 23, 2009)

God's Caliph (Religious authority in the first centuries of Islam)  - Patricia Crone & Martin Hinds


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 23, 2009)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> Today I will start Twenty thousand streets under the sky. Looks good but long, not sure if my current lack of concentration will thwart the effort but I haven't got anything else to read and it's been in the pending pile for a while



I second belboid on this. Fantastic stuff. You can read them as three separate novels, to keep the concentration up


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 23, 2009)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> Today I will start Twenty thousand streets under the sky. Looks good but long, not sure if my current lack of concentration will thwart the effort but I haven't got anything else to read and it's been in the pending pile for a while


got that too recently  looks well a laugh


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jun 23, 2009)

Pickman'sModel said:


> got that too recently



What's that, pending piles?


----------



## Threshers_Flail (Jun 23, 2009)

John Steinbeck - Grapes Of Wrath. 

Gave up 20 pages in last time, the descriptive style annoyed me, was reading the Mayor Of Casterbridge in school at the time so I think I was just desperate for some meaningful narrative. Anyways, second time round, and I'm enjoying it, only about 80 pages in mind you. 

Cheers to Isitme for that thread a while back, made me glance over to my bookshelf and think, "why not?"


----------



## sojourner (Jun 24, 2009)

Started reading The Suckers Kiss by Alan Parker last night

It's okay


----------



## pootle (Jun 24, 2009)

I need to read more whilst I've got the summer hols off from uni so have got two books on the go - a v trashy effort called "My Big Fat Teenage Diary" which is actually very sad and depressing in parts about a teenage, overweight girl with some mental ill health issues.

Am also reading Stephen Pinker's "Stuff of Thought" which isn't the easiest going but v, v interesting and thought provoking.


----------



## Fedayn (Jun 24, 2009)

belboid said:


> aaah, a great book that.  Very easy to read so sohludn't take that long. Check out his Hangover Square as well



Bought Hangover Square today, once that's done will start 20,000 streets.


----------



## Fedayn (Jun 24, 2009)

Roadkill said:


> It reminds me a bit of Isabel Fonseca's _Bury Me Standing_ - which if you've not read I couldn't recommend too highly.



Brilliant book.


----------



## Spion (Jun 24, 2009)

Fedayn said:


> Bought Hangover Square today, once that's done will start 20,000 streets.


Hamilton's Slaves of Solitude is really good too


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 24, 2009)

Fedayn said:


> Bought Hangover Square today, once that's done will start 20,000 streets.


Yep, I recommended this (Hangover Sq)after reading it on my hols recently, it's marvellous I think, dark humour, gripping writing style, great the way he manages to get you into the protagonist's head and some cracking characters. A page turner as they say, want to check out the other 2 books (part of a trilogy apparently).


----------



## Spion (Jun 24, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> A page turner as they say, want to check out the other 2 books (part of a trilogy apparently).


it's not. Hangover Sq is a standalone. You're thinking of The Gorse Trilogy, which is, unsurprisingly, a trilogy, and quite good tho not as good as the others mentioned here _or _20,000 streets under the sky which is also a trilogy and is absolutely blinding


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 24, 2009)

Spion said:


> it's not. Hangover Sq is a standalone. You're thinking of The Gorse Trilogy, which is, unsurprisingly, a trilogy, and quite good tho not as good as the others mentioned here _or _20,000 streets under the sky which is also a trilogy and is absolutely blinding


i'll check the preface and report back sah!  (sure it said it was part of a 3-some but could well be wrong...)


----------



## rollinder (Jun 25, 2009)

just read
Morecambe and wise the autobiography - 
basically the two of them talking (in character, but mostly seriously rather than joking - apparently interviewed together by a man with a tape recorder) about how they met/career so far etc. Most of the book's describing their times on the child star and adult variety circuit before they even first appeared on television- fascinating & disturbing from a social history pov. 
+ Quentin Crisp - How To Become A Virgin and am currently halfway through Henry Miller - Tropic Of Cancer (have to keep double checking the date it was originally written)


----------



## purves grundy (Jun 25, 2009)

Perry Anderson's 'Imagined Communites'. One of those big uns I'd never got around to reading. Origins of nationalism and all that. If not always convincing, it's beautifully written.


----------



## big eejit (Jun 25, 2009)

Just finished *Let the right one in* by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Really good, one of those books that causes strangers on the train to start a "what a brilliant book..." conversation with you.

Saw the film a few months ago and I actually preferred the film's treatment of the story.The book adds a lot more story. but I do think it's one of those 'film better the book' events.

Just started The English by Jeremy Paxman.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 26, 2009)

Finished _The Savage Detectives_, which I loved. A very big book about actually qute a small story. Moving and funny, very detailed, and absolutely right about the course of a life.

Now reading _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 26, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i'll check the preface and report back sah!  (sure it said it was part of a 3-some but could well be wrong...)



Yes, _Hangover Square_ is standalone. The two trilogies are _The Gorse Trilogy_ and _Twenty Thousand Streets_.

Patrick Hamilton is one of my favourite writers and I'd recommend everything mentioned here, especially _Slaves of Solitude_, which is his single best book in my opinion. Also, _Craven House_, an early one, which is raw but very very funny.

I hope they can get all his books back into print. There are still some that you'll only find if you want to buy a first edition for big money.


----------



## Fictionist (Jun 28, 2009)

Scaramouche - Rafael Sabatini


----------



## llion (Jun 28, 2009)

Lush Life - Richard Price. Brilliant new novel by one of the main writers for 'The Wire'. Although set in New York rather than Baltimore, its got a lot of affinities with 'The Wire' and the dialogue in particular is amazingly crisp and contemporary. Richard Price was one of Richard Yates's students when he used to teach creative writing at some university in the seventies, and there are some parallels with Yates in his work I think, although the settings are very different. Price's introduction to the Everyman edition of Revolutionary Road is very interesting for Yates fans.


----------



## Ceej (Jun 28, 2009)

llion said:


> Lush Life - Richard Price. Brilliant new novel by one of the main writers for 'The Wire'. Although set in New York rather than Baltimore, its got a lot of affinities with 'The Wire' and the dialogue in particular is amazingly crisp and contemporary. Richard Price was one of Richard Yates's students when he used to teach creative writing at some university in the seventies, and there are some parallels with Yates in his work I think, although the settings are very different. Price's introduction to the Everyman edition of Revolutionary Road is very interesting for Yates fans.



^^^^ This one's next for me - not long finished The Corner by David Simon and Ed Burns - creators of The Wire. Concentrates on a single neighbourhood in Baltimore, drugs being the only economically and socially viable reality. Fascinating, uplifting, heartbreaking and probably the bleakest, most profound history lesson ever. Highly recommended.


----------



## Philip Pomper (Jun 28, 2009)

I'm reading the first issue of Twentieth Century Communism, a new history journal.  The theme for contributions to this issue is that of leadership cults.   And good it is too.


----------



## Fictionist (Jun 28, 2009)

Philip Pomper said:


> I'm reading the first issue of Twentieth Century Communism, a new history journal.  The theme for contributions to this issue is that of leadership cults.   And good it is too.



Sure it is......


----------



## Philip Pomper (Jun 28, 2009)

I'm a professor of Russian history, I'll have you know.


----------



## Fictionist (Jun 28, 2009)

Philip Pomper said:


> I'm a professor of Russian history, I'll have you know.



So what? You have to work harder than that to impress me Dr Pangloss.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 28, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Yes, _Hangover Square_ is standalone. The two trilogies are _The Gorse Trilogy_ and _Twenty Thousand Streets_.
> 
> Patrick Hamilton is one of my favourite writers and I'd recommend everything mentioned here, especially _Slaves of Solitude_, which is his single best book in my opinion. Also, _Craven House_, an early one, which is raw but very very funny.
> 
> I hope they can get all his books back into print. There are still some that you'll only find if you want to buy a first edition for big money.


cheers


----------



## Philip Pomper (Jun 29, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> So what? You have to work harder than that to impress me Dr Pangloss.



I'm not the one alluding to things beyond my intellectual capacities.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 29, 2009)

Finished _Oscar Wao_.

I was entertained by it and dazzled by some of the language. It's a good performance. Overall, though, I don't know. I thought some of the authorial riffing in the second half was fucking annoying, frankly. And it's a family saga, and all family sagas end up reading the same.

Now I'm reading _The Age of Grief_ by Jane Smiley.


----------



## ringo (Jun 29, 2009)

The Honorary Consul - Graham Greene. 

I try and only read one Green book a year otherwise I'd have done them all at once. Probably becoming my favourite author as I get older.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jun 29, 2009)

Tsotsi - Athol Fugard


----------



## rollinder (Jun 29, 2009)

Spent part of yesterday pre/betrween/during Glastonbury coverage reading 
Ray Badbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes (am about halfway through)
and Charlie Brooker - Dawn Of The Dumb


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 30, 2009)

Have finished "Consider Phlebas" - excellent, have now ordered "Player of Games" from Amazon

In the interim am reading "Cell" by Stephen King which I picked up at Cookham Fete book stall for 50p! A good rollicking zombie fuelled earthwide disaster novel!


----------



## Roadkill (Jun 30, 2009)

Daphne Glazer - _Goodbye Hessle Road_

I'd not heard of Glazer before I spotted this in a bookshop in Hull yesterday, and I'm not aware of many novels set in the city - although I now find she's written several - so it was mainly a curiosity buy.  Judging from the first couple of chapters it's really rather good.


----------



## El Jefe (Jun 30, 2009)

reading Sweet Thursday by Steinbeck

in hospital i read It Still Moves by Amanda Petrusich, a really interesting but very partial and inevitably incomplete account of the history of americana / folk / country based on her roadtrips around the southern US


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 30, 2009)

Just finished Ken Mcloads first book from the 'engines of light' cycle.

Loving communist scotland


next up is 'Fathom' a book about fair play and boat races


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 30, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Yes, _Hangover Square_ is standalone. The two trilogies are _The Gorse Trilogy_ and _Twenty Thousand Streets_.


Purchased both trilogies yesterday, and am enjoying Twenty thousand streets already.


----------



## Pieface (Jun 30, 2009)

I'm reading Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess.  He is an astonishing writer.  Sometimes so erudite that I lose the meaning of what I'm reading.  I cannot yet work out if this is because I'm a bit thick or he's being too clever clogs.  I'm suspecting the former....

In any case it's a joy to read in fairly short bursts and it's making me feel like I'm doing some exercise in my brain 

Centre of the book is a bitter old queen recounting his life in Europe during pretty much all of the 20th century.  Everyone is a bit of a shit and lots of real life characters turn up doing silly things - like Ernest Hemingway shadow boxing round the edge of a dance floor while people are dancing and Ford Maddox Ford overcoming people with his gas rotted lungs from a stint in the trenches.   There is plenty of joyous buggery, Roman Catholic guilt and smoking.  Rampant sailors are currently featuring heavily and even though I'm making it sound like a Benny Hill sketch the grumpy old turd at the centre of it keeps it grounded.  It's very funny even if it does make me feel very stupid indeed


----------



## sojourner (Jun 30, 2009)

^ that sounds great!


----------



## Thimble Queen (Jun 30, 2009)

A Thousand Splendid Suns and Down and Out in Paris and London


----------



## Fuchs66 (Jun 30, 2009)

Nuclear Weapons a Very Short Introduction by Joseph M. Siracusa (Oxford University Press) 

s'not bad


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 30, 2009)

PieEye said:


> I'm reading Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess.  He is an astonishing writer.  Sometimes so erudite that I lose the meaning of what I'm reading.  I cannot yet work out if this is because I'm a bit thick or he's being too clever clogs.  I'm suspecting the former....
> 
> In any case it's a joy to read in fairly short bursts and it's making me feel like I'm doing some exercise in my brain
> 
> Centre of the book is a bitter old queen recounting his life in Europe during pretty much all of the 20th century.  Everyone is a bit of a shit and lots of real life characters turn up doing silly things - like Ernest Hemingway shadow boxing round the edge of a dance floor while people are dancing and Ford Maddox Ford overcoming people with his gas rotted lungs from a stint in the trenches.   There is plenty of joyous buggery, Roman Catholic guilt and smoking.  Rampant sailors are currently featuring heavily and even though I'm making it sound like a Benny Hill sketch the grumpy old turd at the centre of it keeps it grounded.  It's very funny even if it does make me feel very stupid indeed



"Earthly Powers" is possbly my favourite book, well, ever! Though I know what you mean there were times when I just lost what was happening because of his, as you say, very erudite writing style.  Plus having to go to the dictionary because I didn't know the meaning of some of the words he uses. But at the same time I do love the way he uses language.

Fantastic book - I am kind of envious of you reading it for the first time because I still remember how swept away I was by it, not just by the book, the ideas, the storyline but by Burgess' skill as a writer. Just wonderful!


----------



## Pieface (Jun 30, 2009)

Jefe has been trying to get me to read it for ages - I had a crack a couple of years ago but found it too hard.  I'm obvs a tiny bit less stupid now


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 30, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Purchased both trilogies yesterday, and am enjoying Twenty thousand streets already.





Once Hamilton grabs you, he never lets go. I'm really glad stuff is being republished properly. A few years ago, it was difficult to get anything, stuff would go in and out of print, even recent Penguin copies went for daft money. He deserves far more respect than that.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 30, 2009)

Finished _The Age of Grief_, a novella by Jane Smiley, which was good enough, nice twists of phrase. The kind of thing American writers turn out in their sleep.

Now I think I'll read _The Fortress of Solitude_, because I haven't read a book set in Brooklyn for what seems like weeks


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 30, 2009)

PieEye said:


> Everyone is a bit of a shit ... gas rotted lungs ... joyous buggery, Roman Catholic guilt and smoking ... Benny Hill sketch ...



Sold.


----------



## Pieface (Jun 30, 2009)

I'm kind of surprised you've not read it Martini.  It's the sort of thing I can see you enjoying


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 30, 2009)

PieEye said:


> I'm kind of surprised you've not read it Martini.  It's the sort of thing I can see you enjoying



I've picked it up and turned it round plenty of times in bookshops, but always thought: it's Anthony Burgess, I CAN'T.

I should.


----------



## Pieface (Jun 30, 2009)

Ah, you see I've never read anything of his and all I know about is Clockwork Orange.  I'm a philistine you see.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 30, 2009)

PieEye said:


> Ah, you see I've never read anything of his and all I know about is Clockwork Orange.  I'm a philistine you see.



I've not read that either.

I used to have a prejudice against people I thought of as primarily literary critics/cultural figures writing novels. Silly, but there you go. Which is why I'll never read a novel by Melvyn Bragg (one of the reasons)


----------



## Pieface (Jun 30, 2009)

I didn't even know Melvyn Bragg wrote novels! 

There's a theme in Earthly Powers about the different schools of writers actually, the maverick modernists vs the cheap populists and the paranoia suffered from not being in the groovy gang...

Bit like on here


----------



## sojourner (Jun 30, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Which is why I'll never read a novel by Melvyn Bragg (one of the reasons)



Your rationale may be a bit iffy, but if it stops you reading novels by Melvyn, that's no bad thing.

Trust me.

Boiled shite is more interesting than a Melvyn Bragg novel.  Truly shocking.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 30, 2009)

PieEye said:


> I didn't even know Melvyn Bragg wrote novels!
> 
> There's a theme in Earthly Powers about the different schools of writers actually, the maverick modernists vs the cheap populists and the paranoia suffered from not being in the groovy gang...
> 
> Bit like on here



It's the eternal struggle!

Kind of a theme of _The Savage Detectives_ by Roberto Bolano, too. You should give that a go -- very funny, very moving.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jun 30, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Your rationale may be a bit iffy, but if it stops you reading novels by Melvyn, that's no bad thing.
> 
> Trust me.
> 
> Boiled shite is more interesting than a Melvyn Bragg novel.  Truly shocking.



I trust you.

I've got over my prejudice, largely, but it remains in place for that becoiffured bellend.


----------



## Pieface (Jun 30, 2009)

Bellend is my favoured abusive term of the moment.  It's made a definite comeback in casa Pie.


----------



## Fictionist (Jun 30, 2009)

Philip Pomper said:


> I'm not the one alluding to things beyond my intellectual capacities.



_Sure_.


----------



## Fictionist (Jun 30, 2009)

PieEye said:


> I'm reading Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess.  He is an astonishing writer.  Sometimes so erudite that I lose the meaning of what I'm reading.  I cannot yet work out if this is because I'm a bit thick or he's being too clever clogs.  I'm suspecting the former....
> 
> In any case it's a joy to read in fairly short bursts and it's making me feel like I'm doing some exercise in my brain
> 
> Centre of the book is a bitter old queen recounting his life in Europe during pretty much all of the 20th century.  Everyone is a bit of a shit and lots of real life characters turn up doing silly things - like Ernest Hemingway shadow boxing round the edge of a dance floor while people are dancing and Ford Maddox Ford overcoming people with his gas rotted lungs from a stint in the trenches.   There is plenty of joyous buggery, Roman Catholic guilt and smoking.  Rampant sailors are currently featuring heavily and even though I'm making it sound like a Benny Hill sketch the grumpy old turd at the centre of it keeps it grounded.  It's very funny even if it does make me feel very stupid indeed




A fellow member of the appreciation society!


----------



## Philip Pomper (Jul 1, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> _Sure_.



I will admit that dropping names is beyond me.


----------



## ringo (Jul 1, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Now I think I'll read _The Fortress of Solitude_, because I haven't read a book set in Brooklyn for what seems like weeks



That is a fantastic book, loved it and recommended it to loads of people.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 1, 2009)

ringo said:


> That is a fantastic book, loved it and recommended it to loads of people.



Enjoying it so far, but the humour hasn't kicked in yet  Loved _Motherless Brooklyn_, liked _You Don't Love Me Yet_.


----------



## maya (Jul 1, 2009)

PieEye said:
			
		

> There is plenty of joyous buggery, Roman Catholic guilt and smoking. Rampant sailors are currently featuring heavily


sounds fantastic


----------



## maya (Jul 1, 2009)

I'm reading Daphne du Maurier at the moment.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 1, 2009)

Philip Pomper said:


> I will admit that dropping names is beyond me.



As is much else. Apparently.


----------



## starfish (Jul 1, 2009)

A Florentine Death by Michele Guterria. Thought id give Italian Detectives a try.


----------



## Philip Pomper (Jul 2, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> As is much else. Apparently.



At least you didn't edit that last post.  I was scared you were going to get all _clever_ on me.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 2, 2009)

i'm reading geek love - katherine dunne
it's about a family of circus sideshow freaks and it's rather twisted.
i bet it's popular amongst goths.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 2, 2009)

Philip Pomper said:


> At least you didn't edit that last post.  I was scared you were going to get all _clever_ on me.



It isn't something about which I have to try, my self proclaimed 'failed academic' friend.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jul 2, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i'm reading geek love - katherine dunne
> it's about a family of circus sideshow freaks and it's rather twisted.
> i bet it's popular amongst goths.


it's a fantastic book, i loved it, and i'm not a goth 

*i think*


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 2, 2009)

me neither and i'm enjoying it too


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 2, 2009)

oh, and in my break, i also read let the right one in - FUCKING HELL, IT'S AWESOME!
I absolutely blown away by it - the plot is much more complex than the film and there are some truly horrific, disturbing scenes that go on and on and instensify to such a degree that i had to keep putting the book down but the writing is simultaneously so engaging that the thinning pages on your right alarmed me as i didn't want it to end. the central relationship is much deeper and more transgressive than in the film, the aging alcoholics are much better rounded characters (and much more grim of course) and the motives of the bullies are more fleshed out. 
the film is even more admirable after reading the novel as, despite it cutting a lot out and adding a lot more ambiguity, it works on its own. both book and film have inspired a lot of discussion, but i don't think the extra detail in the book should inform what we make of the film. it's hard to convey what i mean here without spoilers, so i urge people to read it cos i want to talk about it! 
in the mean time, i'm going to read lindqvist's next one, called handling the undead. it's about zombies, but apparently in the same way let the right one in is 'about' vampires.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 2, 2009)

House Of Suns by Alistair Reynolds. Not his best, but excellent all the same.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 2, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i'm reading geek love - katherine dunne
> it's about a family of circus sideshow freaks and it's rather twisted.
> i bet it's popular amongst goths.



an utterly fantastic book


----------



## Philip Pomper (Jul 3, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> It isn't something about which I have to try, my self proclaimed 'failed academic' friend.



Do you take everything you read on the internet at face value, friend?  I at least try not to.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 3, 2009)

Philip Pompous


----------



## Pieface (Jul 3, 2009)

Why is there some sad ass row going on on the book thread?

Anyway - I'm going to read Let the Right One In now OU. I loved the film and had forgotten about it until you posted that!


----------



## big eejit (Jul 3, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> oh, and in my break, i also read let the right one in - FUCKING HELL, IT'S AWESOME!
> I absolutely blown away by it - the plot is much more complex than the film and there are some truly horrific, disturbing scenes that go on and on and instensify to such a degree that i had to keep putting the book down but the writing is simultaneously so engaging that the thinning pages on your right alarmed me as i didn't want it to end. the central relationship is much deeper and more transgressive than in the film, the aging alcoholics are much better rounded characters (and much more grim of course) and the motives of the bullies are more fleshed out.
> the film is even more admirable after reading the novel as, despite it cutting a lot out and adding a lot more ambiguity, it works on its own. both book and film have inspired a lot of discussion, but i don't think the extra detail in the book should inform what we make of the film. it's hard to convey what i mean here without spoilers, so i urge people to read it cos i want to talk about it!
> in the mean time, i'm going to read lindqvist's next one, called handling the undead. it's about zombies, but apparently in the same way let the right one in is 'about' vampires.



I also read the book after seeing the film (posted about it above somewhere). I agree with what you said. I rather simplified it by saying that the 'film was better than the book'. Reading your post, I'd agree that they're different animals, but I still think the film works better as a single piece, and it is a great interpretation of the book.

I tired to buy 'handling the undead' - saw it adertised half price in the window of a borders shop. Went in and couldn't find it anywhere. Neither could the staff tho their computer said they had six copies.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 3, 2009)

In between _Fortress of Solitude_, I slipped in two long stories from the Richard Ford collection of American 'long stories': 'Rosa' by Cynthia Ozick and 'Caroline's Wedding' by Edwidge Danticat. I'd like to read more by Ozick, and Danticat has the best name ever.


----------



## Mr_Nice (Jul 3, 2009)

I am mostly reading Rise of the Foot soldier - Carlton Leach its not a bad read


----------



## ChrisC (Jul 3, 2009)

Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 4, 2009)

Philip Pomper said:


> Do you take everything you read on the internet at face value, friend?  I at least try not to.



Oh dear.

Anyway, currently I'm reading 'Shi'ism' by Heinz Halm (New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys - 2nd Edition) which is proving to be an excellent survey of the subject.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jul 4, 2009)

Eon. Haven't read it for ten years. Trouble is I'm so tired all the time that eveytime I pick it up I read two pages before drifting off into a deep sleep.


----------



## tufty79 (Jul 5, 2009)

just finishing the book of dave - on the last few chapters.. i *think* i liked it 

next: the courage to heal (ellen bass & laura davis) - bit intimidated by the title, one particular bit of the blurb, and the sheer length of it.
's not exactly light reading 

have got 'introducing consciousness' (papineau/sehna), 'toast' (nigel slater. again) and 'a dog's heart' (mikhail bulgakov) lined up as good distractions.


----------



## obanite (Jul 5, 2009)

Just finishing Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Find it quite depressing...


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 6, 2009)

David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day, one of two Sedaris books a friend gave me as a gift.

Absolutely excellent


----------



## Roadkill (Jul 6, 2009)

Vince Cable - The Storm: The Global Economic Crisis and What it Means

I don't agree with all of it - too liberal for me in places - but I can see why Cable is so well regarded.  I doubt many politicians have anywhere near as coherent an understanding of the current crisis as he does.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 6, 2009)

The Crucible - Arthur Miller


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 7, 2009)

Off the top of my head

Home by Marilynne Robinson
The Right Hand of Sleep by John Wray
Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism by Peter Somebody.

I am re-reading The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.

I also recently read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.

I had only read The Road before, and I didn't think much of it. Blood Meridian is brilliant, though.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 7, 2009)

_Home_ by Marilynne Robinson is beautifully written. It is gorgeous, like poetry.


----------



## 3dfan (Jul 8, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Just finished Porterhouse Blue by tom sharpe.
> 
> 
> Going to charity shops tomorrow for more readings



awesome book I must say, now I'm reading "1984" by Orwell
--------------------------------------------------
power of attorney!


----------



## sojourner (Jul 8, 2009)

John Dufresne - Louisana Power and Light

Interesting writing - given his day job that should be no surprise though


----------



## marty21 (Jul 8, 2009)

Woken Furies - Richard Morgan - enjoying it


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Jul 8, 2009)

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath


----------



## sojourner (Jul 8, 2009)

MightyAphrodite said:


> The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath



Jesus, that book really raises my hackles

Fuck off and cheer up you miserable bitch  (sylvia, not you!)


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 8, 2009)

I have not read The Bell Jar, I have only read her poems, and they are gorgeous. Some of the words are almost tasty.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Jul 8, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Jesus, that book really raises my hackles
> 
> Fuck off and cheer up you miserable bitch  (sylvia, not you!)



Heh.

Yeah you're not gonna die laughing or anything reading it for sure. But I absolutely love Sylvia Plath's work, always have. 



Dillinger4 said:


> I have not read The Bell Jar, I have only read her poems, and they are gorgeous. Some of the words are almost tasty.



You should give it a read.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 8, 2009)

I just find her way too fragile to enjoy.  She just annoys me.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 8, 2009)

*You're, by Sylvia Plath*



> Clownlike, happiest on your hands,
> Feet to the stars, and moon-skulled,
> Gilled like a fish. A common-sense
> Thumbs-down on the dodo's mode.
> ...



Gorgeous.

millymolly introduced me to that one.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 8, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I just find her way too fragile to enjoy.  She just annoys me.



there's nothing fragile about Daddy. That's a howl, not a whimper.


----------



## Lea (Jul 8, 2009)

Silver Falls by Anne Stuart.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 8, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> there's nothing fragile about Daddy. That's a howl, not a whimper.



Definitely.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 8, 2009)

Fair enough.  Haven't read that.


----------



## Voley (Jul 8, 2009)

I think Sylvia Plath's awful, too. I'd kill myself if I was her.


----------



## ChrisC (Jul 8, 2009)

Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds.


----------



## Pieface (Jul 8, 2009)

I feel like I may be reading Earthly Powers for the rest of my life.

It's still great though.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 8, 2009)

MightyAphrodite said:


> The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath




that book is incredible


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 8, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> that book is incredible



i read it all in one night on a teenage speed binge. And then in the morning went downstairs and found my mother on the floor covered in vomit with the phone in  one hand and a bottle of pills in the other hand. I got her the urgent help she needed, but often  wonder if i should have just kept fucking walking


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 8, 2009)

fucking hell.
but, no, you shouldn't have.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 8, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> i read it all in one night on a teenage speed binge. And then in the morning went downstairs and found my mother on the floor covered in vomit with the phone in  one hand and a bottle of pills in the other hand. I got her the urgent help she needed, but often  wonder if i should have just kept fucking walking



Oh

I can kind of see why you quite like Sylvia then.  In an odd sort of way


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 8, 2009)

why don't you like her soj?


----------



## sojourner (Jul 8, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> why don't you like her soj?



already said 

I haven't read everything of hers, as evidenced on this thread


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 8, 2009)

you didn't really say. you just said she annoyed you and she raised your hackles and she should cheer up the miserable bitch. which isn't really fair cos the bell jar is about manic depression.


----------



## big eejit (Jul 8, 2009)

Just finished Felicia's Journey by William Trevor. V good.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 9, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> you didn't really say. you just said she annoyed you and she raised your hackles and she should cheer up the miserable bitch. which isn't really fair cos the bell jar is about manic depression.



Okay.  The way she is is a behaviour that I struggle with, due to similarities with my mother.  I was being flippant.  But it does raise my hackles - it's an automatic response.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 9, 2009)

OK, but everything she does in that is classic bipolar behaviour. i think it's a brave, honest, admirable book.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 9, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> OK, but everything she does in that is classic bipolar behaviour. i think it's a brave, honest, admirable book.



I'm shit at dealing with any kind of depressive behaviour - literary or not.  I feel a bit exposed saying that - it's not something I'm proud of, but can't seem to get rid of.

Blimey.

Back to books!


----------



## Roadkill (Jul 9, 2009)

Robert Allen - The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective.  Not as dry as it sounds, thoroughly researched and very well written: I'm enjoying it.

Daphne Glazer - By the Tide of the Humber.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 9, 2009)

"The Player of Games" - Iain M. Banks. Am enjoying it. A lot.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 11, 2009)

Finished _The Fortress of Solitude_.

I liked it, despite it being a bit daft in parts. He's not a great stylist -- but is very watchful, tendency to overwrite I guess. _Motherless Brooklyn_ is still the best of his I've read.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 11, 2009)

Just finished re-reading Roth's 'The Plot Against America'. Undoubtedly one of the most tedious books I have ever read.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Jul 11, 2009)

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 - Hunter S. Thompson 

(I read these things over and over, I always have 4 or 5 books going at once, grrr...)


----------



## llion (Jul 11, 2009)

Murry Bookchin - The Philosophy of Social Ecology - finding this a very, very difficult read but enjoying what sense i can make of it! Its taken me about three months to read the first fifty pages. 
Found a copy of Richard Price's Freedomland in Oxfam the other day so I might start that next. Interesting that his books have been re-released probably as a result of the all the attention The Wire has had recently.


----------



## maya (Jul 12, 2009)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "The Player of Games" - Iain M. Banks. Am enjoying it. A lot.


When you've finished it, tell us what you think about the ending!  

PoG is my feavourite in the series actually... That, and Use Of Weapons.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jul 12, 2009)

MightyAphrodite said:


> Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 - Hunter S. Thompson
> 
> (I read these things over and over, I always have 4 or 5 books going at once, grrr...)


yes but books like that do merit repeated and random readings don't they


----------



## ringo (Jul 13, 2009)

Stickleback - John McCabe.  No great literary work but reasonably entertaining.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 13, 2009)

the discovery of france - graham robb
anecdote-packed book about the tribes of france and their weird ways.
i wanna go to france on my holidays again


----------



## Rollem (Jul 13, 2009)

the bolter - frances osborne


----------



## moonsi til (Jul 13, 2009)

Just started Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. 

So far really enjoying it in a can't wait to go to bed and read way. I have also been to India a few times and loved it as much as he seems to.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 13, 2009)

I read 'Wide Sargasso Sea' by Jean Rhys over the weekend, which I found hugely entertaining. The only problem is I will now *have *to read Bronte's 'Jane Eyre'....


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 13, 2009)

don't worry, it's brilliant


----------



## belboid (Jul 13, 2009)

Finished John Niven's Kill Your Friends - an indie rock version of American Psycho.  But nothing like as good. 

And started on Q again, fuck knows why I didnt finish it last time, what a cracker. Got fifty pages further so far...


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 13, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> I read 'Wide Sargasso Sea' by Jean Rhys over the weekend, which I would found hugely entertaining. The only problem is I will now *have *to read Bronte's 'Jane Eyre'....





And



I am finishing reading _Home_ by Marilynne Robinson. 

After that, I might finish reading _The Right Hand of Sleep_ by John Wray. But I probably wont. 

I have just ordered a few new books:

_The Poetics of Space_ by Gaston Bachelard
_Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence_ by Andrew Juniper
The _Tao Te Ching_
(those three are all connected in my mind in a way that I cant really explain here)

And a few books by Italo Calvino that I have had recommended to me by a few different people. One of them is _Invisible Cities_.

Whilst I am talking about the things I have bought, I have also bought a new watch. It is white.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 13, 2009)

I've given up my re-read of _Toll the Hounds_ and am having another go at my 60's primer on middle english.

once again it has my brain hurtng by page two. What sort of primer supposes that the reader would know loads of relevant stuff


----------



## Upchuck (Jul 14, 2009)

I'm reading Kafka's _The Trial_


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Jul 14, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> yes but books like that do merit repeated and random readings don't they



Yes they do. 

I'm packing right now & have a bag separate from my clothes etc for HST books & such, I will never tire of reading this stuff.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Jul 14, 2009)

I am also going to be devouring some of frogwoman' s superb writing while I'm in the air.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 14, 2009)

Upchuck said:


> I'm reading Kafka's _The Trial_


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 14, 2009)

Just started 'Antigone' by Jean Anouilh.


----------



## pootle (Jul 14, 2009)

London Orbital by Iain Sinclair.

Am love, love, lovin' it!


----------



## llion (Jul 14, 2009)

London Orbital is sooooo good. Lights Out for the Territory is my favourite by him, especially since so many random things happen during his walks that somehow tie in with what he's writing about. Found his novels much more hard-going, but still worth perservering with, especially Downriver, which is very scathing and funny about the 80s/Thatcher's Britain. Would love to find a copy of his first book, about Allen Ginsberg's time in London in the 60s, but its really hard to find.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 14, 2009)

I have somehow lived my entire life without reading any Iain Sinclair. And he writes about the kind of stuff that I find ultra-fascinating as well. Psychogeography. Must read.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 14, 2009)

I like the idea of Iain Sinclair, but reading him makes my eyes water. Got halfway through _Lights Out_, it was like wading through mud


----------



## Diamond (Jul 15, 2009)

I've just finished The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.

It's a brilliant read - a proper old school yarn.

The intricacy and balance of the plotting was spot on even if it is a bit heavy handed for some tastes.

Plenty of sex and murder (and cathedrals and monks and 12c English history) too.

Yeah, it was great basically.


----------



## Gym Beam (Jul 15, 2009)

Jitterbug Perfume; Tom Robbins

Lovin it


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 15, 2009)

maya said:


> When you've finished it, tell us what you think about the ending!
> 
> PoG is my feavourite in the series actually... That, and Use Of Weapons.



Really really enjoyed the book and I liked the ending - it was very operatic, which I think suited the idea of the Empire. I also liked the feeling that Gurgeh may never play another game, that Azad had been the culmination of all he had been and was.

Not sure whether to continue with the Culture and start "Use of Weapons" or go for Alastair Reynold's "The Prefect" (which I have out of the library) or Kate Mosse's "Labryinth" which I've just bought from the charity shop for 50p


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 15, 2009)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Really really enjoyed the book and I liked the ending - it was very operatic, which I think suited the idea of the Empire. I also liked the feeling that Gurgeh may never play another game, that Azad had been the culmination of all he had been and was.
> 
> Not sure whether to continue with the Culture and start "Use of Weapons" or go for Alastair Reynold's "The Prefect" (which I have out of the library) or Kate Mosse's "Labryinth" which I've just bought from the charity shop for 50p



I'd go for a change with The Prefect. it's a good 'un.

btw, did the huge heav-handed slab of moralising in POG not stand out to you? I know a few people who moaned about it...


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 15, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> I'd go for a change with The Prefect. it's a good 'un.
> 
> btw, did the huge heav-handed slab of moralising in POG not stand out to you? I know a few people who moaned about it...




It stood out  but didn't bother me too much - not being overly familiar with Iain M. Bank's style I wasn't sure whether this was a feature of his writing (though i hadn't noted it as much in "Consider Phlebas" "Inversions" and "The Algerbaist") and my only thought was that he didn't expand upon some events, such as the Azadian girl that Gurgeh met who was also playing the game when I though he would i.e. I wondered if that would have a greater significance later, rather than just be remarked upon.

So though heavy handed for me it didn't overbalance the story or lessen my enjoyment of the book.

He likes anal sex though doesn't he - that seems to get a fair mention in his writing, especially in "The Algerbraist"


----------



## sojourner (Jul 15, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Just started 'Antigone' by Jean Anouilh.



Ha - one of the very first choices of essay title on my Access course asked whether that was an existentialist text.  So I immediately went to get it out of the library - and it was IN FRENCH! 

I dissed Descartes instead


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 15, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Ha - one of the very first choices of essay title on my Access course asked whether that was an existentialist text.  So I immediately went to get it out of the library - and it was IN FRENCH!
> 
> I dissed Descartes instead



Dissing Descartes is always good.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 15, 2009)

I cant wait to start reading _The Poetics of Space_ by Gaston Bachelard. 

I will probably get bored before I finish it, though, as I inevitably do. I already have my eye on some new books.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 15, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Dissing Descartes is always good.



Too easy though eh?  As I found out, when I happily ripped him to shreds


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 15, 2009)

Descartes is a whipping boy.



It was always much more interesting to try and defend him, I found.


----------



## 6_6 (Jul 15, 2009)

Complete short stories by JG Ballard.
Loving it.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 15, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Descartes is a whipping boy.
> 
> 
> 
> It was always much more interesting to try and defend him, I found.



Weirdly enough, that's exactly what I set out to do, but in the end, it couldn't really be done, with any fair conscience


----------



## Chimmay (Jul 15, 2009)

*NW2*

Just finished Whit teeth by Zadie Smith and then watched the tv series on you tube - really Good

Can anyone recomend another good book set in and around North West London


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 15, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Ha - one of the very first choices of essay title on my Access course asked whether that was an existentialist text.  So I immediately went to get it out of the library - and it was IN FRENCH!
> 
> I dissed Descartes instead



It hasn't provoked the same reaction for me. I finished it and went straight to Sophocles (which I will finish later this evening).


----------



## kittyP (Jul 15, 2009)

The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams (of Watership Down fame).

I started it years and years ago when I was in my teens and misplaced the book about a third of the way through. 

Its really well written (IMHO) and quite emotional and I am only on about page 50.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 15, 2009)

kittyP said:


> The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams (of Watership Down fame).
> 
> I started it years and years ago when I was in my teens and misplaced the book about a third of the way through.
> 
> Its really well written (IMHO) and quite emotional and I am only on about page 50.



Beautifully written. The people who did the _Watership Down_ animation also did _Plague Dogs_ as an animation. Far, far bleaker than the book.


----------



## Diamond (Jul 15, 2009)

kittyP said:


> The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams (of Watership Down fame).
> 
> I started it years and years ago when I was in my teens and misplaced the book about a third of the way through.
> 
> Its really well written (IMHO) and quite emotional and I am only on about page 50.



I've got that upstairs and need to start a new book tonight.

Now Plague Dogs vs. Netherland?

Quite the quandary.....


----------



## kittyP (Jul 15, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Beautifully written. The people who did the _Watership Down_ animation also did _Plague Dogs_ as an animation. Far, far bleaker than the book.



Ooooh! 

We have the Watership Down film and I know it virtually word for word (much to the annoyance of anyone watching it with me ) but I didn't know about the Plague Dogs. 
Will have to see if we can get a copy


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 15, 2009)

kittyP said:


> Ooooh!
> 
> We have the Watership Down film and I know it virtually word for word (much to the annoyance of anyone watching it with me ) but I didn't know about the Plague Dogs.
> Will have to see if we can get a copy




OK quality as well


----------



## xenon (Jul 15, 2009)

Now have limited internet access at work, woot. Can't Urban though. Anyway, found myself browsing sfreviews.net Spent Sunday afternoon hunting for titles. Got me unabridged audiobook of Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. Remember DC ^ mentioning him, so thought I'd post.

About a third the way in. Great stuff. Very vivid depiction of the decaying and bezarre city of New Crobuzon and it's eclectic ihabitants.


----------



## starfish2000 (Jul 15, 2009)

I read Nick Cohens Waiting For The Etonians on Holiday in March and now I'm just getting into a biography of the photographer Bill Brandt


----------



## xenon (Jul 15, 2009)

Upchuck said:


> I'm reading Kafka's _The Trial_




All his stuff, short stories and the unfinished one,  have just been reprinted. New translations IIRC. Must give this a go one day. Only read The Transformation... Oh,  and the Judgement, I think it was. Inadiquate feeling son drowns himself in the Vltava.


----------



## Urbanblues (Jul 15, 2009)

'Germinal' by Emile Zola


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 16, 2009)

Don Juan - Lord Byron. I can't help but think that Byron was taking the piss with this, almost goading people to point out just how bad the poetry is. Very strange indeed.

I have decided to put 'Don Juan' away for a short time as I have bought a copy of Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', which I'm starting tonight. Wish me luck!


----------



## sojourner (Jul 20, 2009)

Michael Chabon - The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

some amazing phrasing in this


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jul 20, 2009)

Joseph Roth -- _The Silent Prophet_. Love Joseph Roth.


----------



## purves grundy (Jul 20, 2009)

Finally got around to reading Edward Said's _Orientalism_. V good indeed.


----------



## quimcunx (Jul 20, 2009)

Israeli Apartheid - Ben White. 

A slim book.  Just an introduction but seems concise and elegant and a good place to start if you want to know about this thorny issue.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 21, 2009)

Picked up and read Carol Ann Duffy - The World's Wife last night.  Been on my shelf for aaaages.  I really liked it


----------



## Pickman's model (Jul 21, 2009)

quimcunx said:


> Israeli Apartheid - Ben White.
> 
> A slim book.  Just an introduction but seems concise and elegant and a good place to start if you want to know about this thorny issue.



you might try finkelstein's 'beyond chutzpah' too. although it's not that slim.


----------



## llion (Jul 21, 2009)

A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz - best first novel I've read for a long time. Very exuberantly and colourfully written family epic, bit like an Australian Ken Kesey.


----------



## Philip Pomper (Jul 22, 2009)

Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire by Marlene Laruelle.


----------



## yield (Jul 22, 2009)

purves grundy said:


> Perry Anderson's 'Imagined Communites'. One of those big uns I'd never got around to reading. Origins of nationalism and all that. If not always convincing, it's beautifully written.





purves grundy said:


> Finally got around to reading Edward Said's _Orientalism_. V good indeed.



The two most enjoyable books off my old social anthropology reading list. 

Is that what you're studying purves grundy?

...

I've read very little lately. Completely given up hope of finishing Hegel By Charles Taylor. Reread Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson, some great imaginative fantasy... that's about it.


----------



## Zeppo (Jul 22, 2009)

The Plague Albert Camus.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jul 22, 2009)

Just started The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M Auel


----------



## cascader (Jul 23, 2009)

I've just finished The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, which was wonderful, and The Queen and I by Sue Townsend, which was fun.  I've just started The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney, which is nicely written but not terribly gripping so far.  I'll give it a few more chapters, though.

This is the most I've read since my sons were born.  It's quite refreshing.


----------



## El Jefe (Jul 23, 2009)

finished Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, which was ace, now started The City & The City by Mieville


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 23, 2009)

Finished 'Jane Eyre', and what a fantastic read it was too. Imperialism, racism, sex, feminism, religion, and very well written. Next it may well be 'Madame Bovary'.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jul 23, 2009)

"How to Lie with Statistics" by Darrell Huff. I read the original 1954 edition ages ago, but I've just bought the updated paperback and I'm reading it to Blind Lemon. Great little book.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 23, 2009)

Just finished   1066 The Year of the Conquest by David Howarth.

 Told me a lot i didn't know about who did what, why, when and where.

Just started the Book Thief


----------



## tar1984 (Jul 24, 2009)

I Just finished reading Complicity by Iain Banks last night.  It was ace, i read it in 2 days.


----------



## Corax (Jul 24, 2009)

I've just finished the _Dragonriders of Pern_ series after DotCom was good enough to lend them to me.  They were just as good as he said they'd be too.


----------



## mentalchik (Jul 24, 2009)

Corax said:


> I've just finished the _Dragonriders of Pern_ series after DotCom was good enough to lend them to me.  They were just as good as he said they'd be too.






(i have all of them by the way)

I have Absolution Gap and Diamond Dogs,Turquoise Days - Alistair Reynolds
Prador Moon - Neal Asher.........


all in hard back for the pricely sum of £2 each courtesy of a discount book shop !


dunno where to start actually...


----------



## Pie 1 (Jul 25, 2009)

Just finished Netherland by Joseph O'Neil. 

Melancholic, post 911 NYC set, relationships & questions of home, with cricket thrown into the centre of the mix.

Very well written & a good read but tbh, not all that memorable. 
Richard Ford it 'aint


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 25, 2009)

Richard Morgan - Market Forces

An utterly brilliant and enormously ugly book.


----------



## Corax (Jul 25, 2009)

Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell.  Bought it ages ago as part of Waterstones rolling 3 for 2 deal, but didn't get into it the first time around.  Enjoying it this time.  It's no work of great literature, but it's an entertaining piece of escapism.


----------



## ChrisC (Jul 25, 2009)

Flight of the Nighthawks by Raymond E. Feist.


----------



## ChrisC (Jul 26, 2009)

Into a Dark Realm by Raymond E. Feist can't get enough of this guy.


----------



## ChrisC (Jul 26, 2009)

tar1984 said:


> I Just finished reading Complicity by Iain Banks last night.  It was ace, i read it in 2 days.



Arhh yes one of my favourite Iain Banks books.


----------



## mentalchik (Jul 27, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> (i have all of them by the way)
> 
> I have Absolution Gap and Diamond Dogs,Turquoise Days - Alistair Reynolds
> Prador Moon - Neal Asher.........
> ...




Have started with Absolution Gap..........bit odd as i haven't read many others, have Revelation Space but read it a long time ago........still, enjoying it so far !


----------



## Gym Beam (Jul 27, 2009)

ChrisC said:


> Into a Dark Realm by Raymond E. Feist can't get enough of this guy.



Just finished part 2 of the Talon of Silverhawk trilogy - really enjoyed the 1st two and looking forward to starting the last instalment.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> Have started with Absolution Gap..........bit odd as i haven't read many others, have Revelation Space but read it a long time ago........still, enjoying it so far !



you really should read Redemption Arch and Chasm City first. It's sequential.

Still, I'm sure you'll enjoy.


I have dug out a George R R Martin book. Song of ice and fire book 2. I'm going to read that.


----------



## mentalchik (Jul 27, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> you really should read Redemption Arch and Chasm City first. It's sequential.
> 
> Still, I'm sure you'll enjoy.




I know but these were so cheap.........am enjoying it anyhoo and kinda like reading it out of sequence coz usually am anal about reading things in order !


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 27, 2009)

After a non-reading week last week I am getting back into Alastair Reynolds' "The Prefect" - and jolly good it is to.


----------



## RubyBlue (Jul 27, 2009)

Karin Slaughter - Genesis


----------



## ChrisC (Jul 27, 2009)

Gym Beam said:


> Just finished part 2 of the Talon of Silverhawk trilogy - really enjoyed the 1st two and looking forward to starting the last instalment.



Have you read everything before it? I'd recommend Magician probably the best Fantasy book out there.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 27, 2009)

Madame Bovary. And I can't say I'm particularly enjoying it.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 27, 2009)

Life.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 27, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Life.



Are you okay D4?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 27, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Are you okay D4?



Yeh, thanks.


----------



## starfish (Jul 27, 2009)

Stark by Edward Bunker.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 27, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Yeh, thanks.



Not 'yeh'. Use 'yeah'.

Yeah?!


----------



## sojourner (Jul 29, 2009)

Dug out a collection of novels and stuff by Sade last night - so read Eugenie de Franval, which I now think is one of my favourites by him.  It's got everything in one little novella - morality, religion, proto existentialism; a cracking ending that completely flips it all over, revealing the contradiction and weakness of the main characters.  Also read a couple of essays on him, a letter from him to his wife, and will be delving into Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man tonight.

Been wayyy too long since I read any of his stuff - am marvelling all over again.  Sade fucking rocked


----------



## pootle (Jul 29, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Madame Bovary. And I can't say I'm particularly enjoying it.



Shame - it's one of my favourite books evar! Are you male Fictionist? I've always thought you were...maybe you can't relate to a woman's desperate need to be loved and then let down by marriage, affairs, shopping and debt? 

I've just started "The Book of Dave" It's a bit wierd getting used to the lingistics and figuring out what exactly is going on, but I'm liking it.  One of those books you read aloud in your head, iysim?


----------



## sojourner (Jul 29, 2009)

pootle said:


> I've just started "The Book of Dave" It's a bit wierd getting used to the lingistics and figuring out what exactly is going on, but I'm liking it.  One of those books you read aloud in your head, iysim?



I _really_ liked that.  I struggled with the language at first, but you do become more familiar with it and it gets easier to read

One of my favourite books, I reckon


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 29, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Not 'yeh'. Use 'yeah'.
> 
> Yeah?!



Yeh innit, LOL.


----------



## cyberfairy (Jul 29, 2009)

Just finished 'Stone's Fall' by Iain Pears. Utterly utterly superb book-just unhappy that it is finished Murder, espionage, romance and so many twists and turns.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 30, 2009)

Wise Children by Angela Carter.


----------



## tufty79 (Jul 30, 2009)

so many ways to begin by john mcgregor


----------



## pootle (Jul 30, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I _really_ liked that.  I struggled with the language at first, but you do become more familiar with it and it gets easier to read



Just discovered there's a sorta dictionary/glossary at the back!  Am kinda just enjoying sussing it out myself though


----------



## sojourner (Jul 30, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man



On a bit of a Sade kick at the moment, so read this last night.  A proper revolutionary essay/dialogue this, given the time it was written in 

Also picked up Margaret Crosland's translation of Crimes of Love, and read Faxelange, and Florville and Courval 

Then, for a little light reading to get me off (to sleep ), I read the first three dialogues of Philosophy in the Bedroom (Arrow publication)


----------



## sojourner (Jul 30, 2009)

pootle said:


> Just discovered there's a sorta dictionary/glossary at the back!  Am kinda just enjoying sussing it out myself though



Ha - yeh, I only found that after I'd finished the book    But, like you, I really enjoyed sussing it out for myself anyway


----------



## pootle (Jul 30, 2009)

I have a bad habit of flicking to the back couple of pages and scanning what names pop up, sorta glad I did this time!


----------



## sojourner (Jul 30, 2009)

pootle said:


> I have a bad habit of flicking to the back couple of pages and scanning what names pop up, sorta glad I did this time!



I would rather stick pins in my eyes than flick to the back of a book


----------



## Lea (Jul 30, 2009)

Nightfall by Anne Stuart


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 30, 2009)

pootle said:


> I have a bad habit of flicking to the back couple of pages and scanning what names pop up, sorta glad I did this time!



I am genuinely shocked. For shame!

Anyway, at the moment I'm reading:

Fevre Dream by George R R Martin - picked this up in the library as I am STILL waiting for the next Ice+Fire book to come out  and needed to scratch the itch. Unfortunately it's not really doing it for me, all seems a bit silly tbh. Has had some good moments but way too much blustering about steamboats to be truly gripping.

Contagious: Cultures, Carriers and the Outbreak Narrative by Priscilla Wald - very interesting.


----------



## Fictionist (Jul 30, 2009)

pootle said:


> Shame - it's one of my favourite books evar! Are you male Fictionist? I've always thought you were...maybe you can't relate to a woman's desperate need to be loved and then let down by marriage, affairs, shopping and debt?
> 
> /QUOTE]
> 
> Because men just can't relate to women (real or fictional)_ever_, can they? As a story I found it deeply unattractive, and the writing style was occasionally irritating (although I am reading via a translation). My next book will be either 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' or 'Farenheit 451'.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 30, 2009)

I should read F451 again, it's been a long time.

In fact, I have been daydreaming lately of the day I finish my Masters and can finally get cracking on the massive pile of books I want to read, without feeling guilty that I'm not reading something else.


----------



## Rollem (Jul 31, 2009)

I am about to start reading - "*The Big Blowdown*" by George P Pelecanos - a birthday present from work  sounds good from the blurb....


----------



## pootle (Jul 31, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Because men just can't relate to women (real or fictional)_ever_, can they? As a story I found it deeply unattractive, and the writing style was occasionally irritating (although I am reading via a translation). My next book will be either 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' or 'Farenheit 451'.



I was just jesting with you! "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is ace though...


----------



## rennie (Jul 31, 2009)

I am revisiting Anna Karenina at the moment.


----------



## pootle (Jul 31, 2009)

May Kasahara said:


> I am genuinely shocked. For shame!




I know! And it's a habit I hate myself as even though I just scan the pages invariably something gets given away.

My name is pootle and I flick to the back of books.  That's a start eh?

I'm loving my summer break from my Masters and being able to read non-educamacational books, guilt free so I totally understand where you're coming from.  Course, not like you've got any other distractions that wouldn't let you sit around for hours reading, is there. Honestly May!


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 31, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I would rather stick pins in my eyes than flick to the back of a book



I used to do it, but the last paragraph divorced from the preceding text has none of the significance it gains from a full read through.


I cannot help but read appendices first though


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 31, 2009)

rennie said:


> I am revisiting Anna Karenina at the moment.



!!!

I often reread Tolstoy in the summer. 

I reread War & Peace again last summer. I think I might read Anna Karenina again. I need something I can really get into.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I often reread Tolstoy in the summer.


have you any idea how that reads?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 31, 2009)

Yeh I do.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 31, 2009)

Alistair Reynolds - Century Rain.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 31, 2009)

Rollem said:


> I am about to start reading - "*The Big Blowdown*" by George P Pelecanos - a birthday present from work  sounds good from the blurb....



I enjoyed that


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2009)

what's a good pelecanos to start with - i saw him speak last week and he was charming and funny and clever and well-dressed.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> Yeh I do.



did you ever weep in butcher's shops?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 31, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> !!!
> 
> I often reread Tolstoy in the summer.
> 
> I reread* War & Peace a*gain last summer. I think I might read Anna Karenina again. I need something I can really get into.



That fucking book. I've started it a dozen times.

I have this penguin paperback with microscopic text though, I think that's half the issue.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 31, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> did you ever weep in butcher's shops?



yeh man I am sobbing onto some bacon right now innit LOL.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 31, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> That fucking book. I've started it a dozen times.
> 
> I have this penguin paperback with microscopic text though, I think that's half the issue.



I think I have read it a dozen times.



I read it the first time on holiday when I was about 14. I have probably reread it most summers since. 

I don't know. I think I just like having a story that takes me a few months to get through.


----------



## llion (Jul 31, 2009)

An Anarchist's Story: The Life of Ethel Macdonald by Chris Dolan - Brilliant new biography of the Scottish anarchist who reported from Barceolna during the Spanish Civil War. Very illuminating about the context of the Spanish Civil War and the reaction to it in Britain.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 31, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> did you ever weep in butcher's shops?





Dillinger4 said:


> yeh man I am sobbing onto some bacon right now innit LOL.



 



Orang Utan said:


> what's a good pelecanos to start with - i saw him speak last week and he was charming and funny and clever and well-dressed.



I've read The Turnaround, Drama City and The Big Blowdown - all pretty decent but The Big Blowdown is the one that stuck in my mind longest and grew on me most.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2009)

ah, he mentioned drama city and the night gardener as two of the books he was most proud of (as well as the latest). i was very impressed with him - he sounds like he knows exactly what he's doing. he talked a lot about a book he wrote about young offenders, but i can't remember whether it was on of the aforementioned book, or another one entirely.
i need to read some more american crime fiction. i've only really read chandler, ellroy and one michael connolly. oh, and richard price's clockers, which is awesome, and so proto-Wire it's incredible.


----------



## MysteryGuest (Jul 31, 2009)

i've read about dozen or so pelecanoss..es.  from what i can remember, the ones i liked best and were the most excitingest were the ones with the greek protagonist (can't remember his name now, soz).  very, very exciting indeed, but also very good on poverty and fucked up society in washington dc.  strongly recommended - get in there!


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 31, 2009)

Clockers eh? Another one added to my post-MA reading list.

Joe sends hugs btw


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2009)

May Kasahara said:


> Clockers eh? Another one added to my post-MA reading list.
> 
> Joe sends hugs btw



i still haven't met him! 
lambeth country show was stuffed full of friend's new babies - it was awesome - got some more on the way too (not mine of course). also unexpectedly bumped into my nephew, who was with his dad for the weekend. kids everywhere!


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 1, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i still haven't met him!
> lambeth country show was stuffed full of friend's new babies - it was awesome - got some more on the way too (not mine of course). also unexpectedly bumped into my nephew, who was with his dad for the weekend. kids everywhere!



He's nearly 1 now! Into everything  I must try and come down for a weekend sometime.

That must have been a bit weird, bumping into your nephew. I bet he went mental over you


----------



## ChrisC (Aug 1, 2009)

Wrath of a Mad God by Raymond E. Feist.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 1, 2009)

Just finished 'Farenheit 451'. Mmmm. A little idea stretched too far methinks.


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 2, 2009)

The writing is beautiful though.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 2, 2009)

May Kasahara said:


> The writing is beautiful though.



Beautiful isn't a word that I would use, but it certainly has a spare and considered quality to it. I have not read enough Bradbury to know if this is a common feature of his writing May, is it typical of his work?


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 2, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Beautiful isn't a word that I would use, but it certainly has a spare and considered quality to it. I have not read enough Bradbury to know if this is a common feature of his writing May, is it typical of his work?



In my opinion, yes. Beautifully crafted prose with no attempt to show off is pretty much what I'd count as trademark Bradbury. Often mixed in with a sort of effortless "folkiness" that lets him treat quite abstract ideas very approachably. He's a better short story writer than a novelist though.


----------



## idioteque (Aug 2, 2009)

Recently finished reading 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy, and my word, it was brilliant. The best book I've read in a very long time.

I am now reading 'Ghostwritten' by David Mitchell.


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 2, 2009)

Me, Cheeta - which is a lot of fun


----------



## ChrisC (Aug 2, 2009)

Honoured Enemy by Raymond E. Feist and William Forstchen.


----------



## Clint Iguana (Aug 2, 2009)

Gig by Simon Armitage.

I am on a bit of a mission at the moment reading loads of music related books. This book is a little bit frustrating because despite being called "Gig: the life and times of a rock star fantasist"... the music very much takes a back seat to his poetry and his travels. 

However, it is very well written and has had me laughing out loud many times, so i will forgive him.


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 2, 2009)

ericjarvis said:


> In my opinion, yes. Beautifully crafted prose with no attempt to show off is pretty much what I'd count as trademark Bradbury. Often mixed in with a sort of effortless "folkiness" that lets him treat quite abstract ideas very approachably. He's a better short story writer than a novelist though.



eric has saved me a job here (thanks ) Quality varies, so the folkiness can sometimes become a bit overcooked and whimsical, but when it's right there's not many who can touch him. The best of his horror stories are genuinely utterly terrifying.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 2, 2009)

May Kasahara said:


> He's nearly 1 now! Into everything  I must try and come down for a weekend sometime.
> 
> That must have been a bit weird, bumping into your nephew. I bet he went mental over you



he was actually more interested in the giant inflatable slide behind me


----------



## chooch (Aug 2, 2009)

Seem to be on a run of things that leave me unimpressed:

Norman Collins - _London Belongs to Me_. It ain't 'the capital's great vernacular novel'. It's passable, in the places where characters called Percy and Doris don't say things like 'Getcher there in a jiff'.

Jean Marie Gustave Le Clezio - _The Flood_ - got 30 pages into this and abandoned it on the street. It appears to be made of adjectives and wallpaper paste. 

A collection of Alvah Bessie's short fiction. Not looking for more. 

Some earlyish Michael Chabon stories - _A Model World_ were bearable, though there's many a metal-booted misstep. 

It's been a poor few reading weeks, dpesite access to some great bookshops


----------



## rennie (Aug 3, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I think I have read it a dozen times.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



To be fair, I have read War and Peace and once is enough. Tolstoy has a habit of sucking me in and then playing around with myemotions before spitting me out by the end. Like I said, once is enough.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 5, 2009)

Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 5, 2009)

_Fanon_ by John Edgar Wideman. Well, I got a page and a half through it earlier before my coffee date turned up at Cafe Nero.


----------



## starfish (Aug 5, 2009)

No Beast So Fierce by Edward Bunker.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Aug 5, 2009)

Cricket: A History by Rowland Bowen.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 5, 2009)

ericjarvis said:


> In my opinion, yes. Beautifully crafted prose with no attempt to show off is pretty much what I'd count as trademark Bradbury. Often mixed in with a sort of effortless "folkiness" that lets him treat quite abstract ideas very approachably. He's a better short story writer than a novelist though.



The only two of his I've particularly 'liked a lot' are Farenheit and Martian Chronicles. The others I've read haven't come close.


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 5, 2009)

Edmund Cooper - Seed Of Light. Just finished. It's very dated.


----------



## _pH_ (Aug 5, 2009)

Understanding Power by Chomsky, really informative stuff


----------



## Looby (Aug 7, 2009)

I've just finished reading Let The Right One In and it was fantastic. Pretty harrowing and disturbing in places but so worth it imo. It took me a while to read it because Magic Sam has been away quite a bit and I wouldn't read it when I was in the house on my own. 

I felt quite sad that it was over tbh, I want to know more. 

The film captured the mood of the book and the relationship between Eli and Oskar brilliantly but as always the book was so much better.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 7, 2009)

Started re-reading You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down, by Alice Walker last night


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 7, 2009)

I'm reading Brazzaville Beach, by William Boyd, and it's as reliably excellent as everything else of his I've read.


----------



## Lea (Aug 7, 2009)

Death Angel by Linda Howard


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 8, 2009)

Ideology - Terry Eagleton


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 8, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Ideology - Terry Eagleton


----------



## Voley (Aug 8, 2009)

To A God Unknown - John Steinbeck. Pretty good so far.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 8, 2009)

May Kasahara said:


> I'm reading Brazzaville Beach, by William Boyd, and it's as reliably excellent as everything else of his I've read.


have you read the new confessions?


----------



## sojourner (Aug 8, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Ideology - Terry Eagleton



His wife was one of my lecturers at uni

Right fucking nazi she was. If it weren't on her list, we weren't fucking talking about it.  She completely dissed my reading of Villette as a lesbian text.  I got a first though for the finished essay


----------



## sojourner (Aug 8, 2009)

I started The Last of the Savages by Jay McInerney before.  Am finding it clumsy, and quite boring.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 8, 2009)

sojourner said:


> His wife was one of my lecturers at uni
> 
> Right fucking nazi she was. If it weren't on her list, we weren't fucking talking about it.  She completely dissed my reading of Villette as a lesbian text.  I got a first though for the finished essay



i thought she was a marxist? terry certainly is


----------



## Pickman's model (Aug 8, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i thought she was a marxist? terry certainly is



you know what they say, opposites attract


----------



## sojourner (Aug 8, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i thought she was a marxist? terry certainly is


----------



## Zeppo (Aug 8, 2009)

I am reading 3 books which is unusual for me. The Plague by Albert Camus (but I got ill) now better and The White Tiger Aravind Adiga and A World without bees Alison Benjamin abd Brian McCallum. 

The White Tiger is really good.


----------



## rollinder (Aug 8, 2009)

The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher by Julian Baggini 

not recommended for 'just dipping into one chapter before going off to bed' @ 5o'clock in the morning

Johnny Green & Garry Barker - A Riot Of Our Own : night and day with The Clash (revised/updated version)


----------



## mentalchik (Aug 9, 2009)

Incandescence - Greg Egan


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 9, 2009)

Lord of the Flies - William Golding


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 9, 2009)

The Futurological Congress - Stanislaw Lem


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 9, 2009)

Breaking the Magic Spell- Jack Zipes


It's a collection of critical essays looking at the fairytale. Good shit, albeit a bit germanic in focus and heavily marxist in approach. No bad thing, that.


----------



## marty21 (Aug 9, 2009)

Just finished

"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Stieg Larsson - fantastic book, one of the best thrillers I've read in years

Just Started 

"The Girl Who Played With Fire" by the same author, I'm hoping it is as good as the other one


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Aug 9, 2009)

i finished 20,000 streets under the sky today, haunting elegiac writing, simply Wonderful


----------



## sojourner (Aug 10, 2009)

Gave up on the McInerney book as it was a massive pile of toss.

Instead, am now reading the wonderful The Stalin Organ, by Gert Ledig.  Jesus.  Horrific in parts, and a must read for anyone who's ever wondered what it's like to take part in combat.  Comparing this with Generation Kill, fuck all has changed within the hierarchy of combat commandment 

Weird too, cos I didn't know that Harry Patch prog was on the telly last night until I was flicking through, and it kinda went hand in hand with the book


----------



## Roadkill (Aug 11, 2009)

_Wasting Police Time_ - PC David Copperfield.  He comes across as a rather boorish and unpleasant individual but he does write well and some of what he has to say is thought-provoking.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 11, 2009)

My copy of _Inherent Vice_ by Thomas Pynchon should arrive today. I am mildly excited.


----------



## Leica (Aug 11, 2009)

marty21 said:


> "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" [...] "The Girl Who Played With Fire"



Lisbeth Salander is my hero.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 11, 2009)

Re-reading

"Letters from Burma" by Aung San Suu Kyi.


----------



## Lea (Aug 11, 2009)

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr


----------



## ChrisC (Aug 11, 2009)

Rides a Dread Legion by Raymond E. Feist.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 11, 2009)

Will probably finish 'Lord of the Flies' this evening, I am considering 'Robinson Crusoe' as my next read.


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 11, 2009)

The Rider by Tim Krabbe, a kind of existential account of a fictional mountain cycle race from the perspective of the rider, written in a really compelling, literally breathless style. It's one of the more curious books I've read in a while...


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 11, 2009)

a friend recommended that to me passionately - the same author wrote the story that was adapted as the vanishing wasn't it?


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 11, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> a friend recommended that to me passionately - the same author wrote the story that was adapted as the vanishing wasn't it?



yeh. i'm loving it, it's a totally original (AFAIK) narrative idea


----------



## marty21 (Aug 13, 2009)

Leica said:


> Lisbeth Salander is my hero.



mine too!!

Finished the second of the trilogy, and the English translation of the 3rd doesn't come out until October, I want it NOW!!

i'm going to have to learn Swedish


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Aug 13, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> yeh. i'm loving it, it's a totally original (AFAIK) narrative idea


i saw this at dinner time in a book shop down the road and now i'm thinking i should have purchased it....

*wonders whether he can sneak another new book past the beady eye of the missus or not*


----------



## llion (Aug 13, 2009)

From Anger to Apathy - Mark Garnett. Rivetting history of politics, society and popular culture in Britain from 1975 to the Blair era. It's not too dry or academic, but isn't superficial or patronizing either.


----------



## big eejit (Aug 13, 2009)

I capture the castle by Dodie Smith


----------



## Scarlette (Aug 13, 2009)

big eejit said:


> I capture the castle by Dodie Smith



Ooh, I love that. I'm reading The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter. It's great. Gosh I love her.


----------



## big eejit (Aug 13, 2009)

I've just started it. Very enjoyable so far.


----------



## Leica (Aug 14, 2009)

marty21 said:


> I want it NOW!!
> 
> i'm going to have to learn Swedish



Same here


----------



## seeformiles (Aug 14, 2009)

Colin Forbes - "The United State" (probably the worst book I've ever read - I will have to finish it on principle but it is utter shite)


----------



## sojourner (Aug 14, 2009)

Got a cracking haul of books from the YM the other day, so started on J P Donleavy's A Fairytale of New York last night.

Very interesting style of writing - very unusual.  TINY text though - bloody 1973 publication date, back when they didn't give a shit whether you would go blind trying to read the friggin thing!


----------



## sojourner (Aug 14, 2009)

milly molly said:


> I'm reading The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter. It's great. Gosh I love her.



One of my all time favourite writers is Angela - think my favourite by her is The Passion of New Eve


----------



## Bassism (Aug 14, 2009)

Just finished Urban Grimshaw and the shed crew - Bernard Hare

Just starting Selling Olga - Louisa waugh


----------



## gosub (Aug 14, 2009)

Just finished Chocalate and Cuckoo Clocks -Alan Coren

Just starting The Corner -David Simon & Ed Burns


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 14, 2009)

Will be starting Roberto Bolano's 'By Night in Chile' tonight.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 14, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Will be starting Roberto Bolano's 'By Night in Chile' tonight.



Re: Lord of the Flies

There are a couple of films worth a gander. The B&W one is very stiffly acted, but not total gash.

The later one is a bit hollywood-slick but again not total gash.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 14, 2009)

I am still considering 'Lord of the Flies', I didn't think it was particularly engaging as a text, and it certainly bears the imprint of the period in which it was written (some fantastically casual racism in there - rather like 'Madame Bovary'). I'm beginning to suspect I expect too much of the novel form.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 14, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Will be starting Roberto Bolano's 'By Night in Chile' tonight.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Aug 14, 2009)

Wormwood by GP Taylor


----------



## sojourner (Aug 14, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> I'm beginning to suspect I expect too much of the novel form.



Or maybe you're just concentrating on the 'classics'


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 14, 2009)

I loved what China Meville said about the Lord of The Flies. (paraphrasing here) ' When the British officer makes landfall and tells them all they are not behaving like British children and they all fall into line is repugnant. The kids from the Borrovilles would have told him to piss off'


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 14, 2009)

"A Season for the Dead" - a thriller by Dabid Hewson. Alright, not brilliant. Very much a Sunday evening 8.00pm serial kind of book.

Back to the Culture next with "Use of Weapons"


----------



## Bakunin (Aug 14, 2009)

Stephen King - The Green Mile.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 14, 2009)

I am reading _Inherent Vice_ by Thomas Pynchon.

It is a kind of detective story. It is surprisingly normal, considering some of the other stuff by Thomas Pynchon. I am really really enjoying it so far. I have no idea where the story is going to go. 

I am also re-reading _Generation X_ by Douglas Coupland, again. This is about the 8th time I have bought this book. I kept buying it and then becoming really insistent that somebody else should read it and never getting my copy back.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 14, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Or maybe you're just concentrating on the 'classics'



Do you think so?


----------



## llion (Aug 14, 2009)

Some of William Golding's other books are much, much better than Lord of the Flies e.g. the one he wrote straight afterwards, The Inheritors, about early man and Darkness Visible, a much later one which is a very interesting reflection of Britain in the seventies.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 14, 2009)

llion said:


> Some of William Golding's other books are much, much better than Lord of the Flies e.g. the one he wrote straight afterwards, The Inheritors, about early man and Darkness Visible, a much later one which is a very interesting reflection of Britain in the seventies.



I picked up about 4 of his in the YM the other day.

They were all 69p, so had to get them


----------



## llion (Aug 14, 2009)

The Spire is another good Golding one.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 15, 2009)

llion said:


> The Spire is another good Golding one.



One of my favourite novels - also Golding's "To the Ends of the Earth" trilogy is wonderful


----------



## llion (Aug 15, 2009)

I haven't read the "To the Ends of the Earth" trilogy but really should soon. Can't beat a good trilogy! Gormenghast trilogy being the best example in my view.


----------



## Bomber (Aug 17, 2009)

Generation Kill ~ Evan Wright


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 17, 2009)

finished the Ride by Krabbé, which even as a non-cycling fan is a great read.

Going for Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday next, and hoping it matches up to Cannery Row


----------



## Jazzz (Aug 17, 2009)

13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Intriguing Scientific Mysteries of Our Time


----------



## dilute micro (Aug 17, 2009)

I don't know how to read.


----------



## Roadkill (Aug 17, 2009)

For the last two nights, for some reason I've read my way through one of my favourite kids' books before going to bed.  Last night was _The Revenge of Samuel Stokes_ by Penelope Lively; the night before was _The Diddakoi_, by Rumer Godden.  I'd forgotten how good they both are.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 17, 2009)

Wolf of the Plains - Conin Iggulden


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 17, 2009)

naomi klein - the shock doctrine -it was about time i read it - i only read a few pages and skimmed it a bit, but it appears to have simlarities to the ground adam curtis covers in his tv programmes. this could prove to be an interesting book.


----------



## mentalchik (Aug 17, 2009)

Just finished Shadow Of The Scorpion - Neal Asher and am on Prador Moon also Neal Asher !


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 17, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> naomi klein - the shock doctrine -it was about time i read it - i only read a few pages and skimmed it a bit, but it appears to have simlarities to the ground adam curtis covers in his tv programmes. this could prove to be an interesting book.



I went and saw her do the book tour for that. I just get the impression that she has just ripped off a load of ideas from elsewhere and sensationalized them.

I also wanted to point out the irony in her using shocking videos in order to sell a book about 'the shock doctrine'.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 17, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I went and saw her do the book tour for that. I just get the impression that she has just ripped off a load of ideas from elsewhere and sensationalized them.
> 
> I also wanted to point out the irony in her using shocking videos in order to sell a book about 'the shock doctrine'.



i think it would be more charitable to say that she gathers current ideas written by oher thinkers for a more academic audience and presents them to a wider audience.


----------



## heinous seamus (Aug 17, 2009)

John Christopher - The Death of Grass


----------



## Dirty Martini (Aug 18, 2009)

_Coming Back To Me_ by Marcus Trescothick.


----------



## llion (Aug 19, 2009)

Just started Dennis Lehane's new book, 'The Given Day', a historical novel about Boston after the First World War. Reminds me a bit of Doctorow's 'Ragtime' so far, mixing fictional with historical characters


----------



## chooch (Aug 23, 2009)

joe boyd - _white bicycles_
and jonathan lethem -_ girl in landscape_


----------



## ChrisC (Aug 23, 2009)

Krondor the Assassins by Raymond E. Feist.


----------



## Boo Radley (Aug 23, 2009)

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 23, 2009)

Boo Radley said:


> The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami





I am still reading _Inherent Vice_. It is brilliant.


----------



## Bakunin (Aug 23, 2009)

'Executioner: Pierrepoint'.

It's the memoir of the UK's most profilic, professional and humane public executioner, Albert Pierrepoint. Pierrepoint, in addition to hanging some 600 people, also holds the world record for the fastest hanging ever performed, at a time of seven seconds from start to finish.


----------



## goldenecitrone (Aug 23, 2009)

Radio Free Albemuth - Phil Dick.


----------



## ChrisC (Aug 23, 2009)

Arhh yes Radio Free Albemath good book. A sort of prequel to VALIS by Philip K. Dick.


----------



## cyberfairy (Aug 23, 2009)

Bakunin said:


> 'Executioner: Pierrepoint'.
> 
> It's the memoir of the UK's most profilic, professional and humane public executioner, Albert Pierrepoint. Pierrepoint, in addition to hanging some 600 people, also holds the world record for the fastest hanging ever performed, at a time of seven seconds from start to finish.


Excellent book


----------



## goldenecitrone (Aug 23, 2009)

ChrisC said:


> Arhh yes Radio Free Albemath good book. A sort of prequel to VALIS by Philip K. Dick.



I'd always found it difficult to find his books in British bookshops but found loads of them in Thailand. Enjoyed The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch whilst on holiday.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Aug 24, 2009)

Fnished the Trescothick autobiography, which was OK, but plods a fair bit. Cricket books don't have to be that good for me to enjoy them.

Now reading _The Inimitable Jeeves_.


----------



## marty21 (Aug 24, 2009)

Bomber said:


> Generation Kill ~ Evan Wright



ditto


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 24, 2009)

Bakunin said:


> 'Executioner: Pierrepoint'.
> 
> It's the memoir of the UK's most profilic, professional and humane public executioner, Albert Pierrepoint. Pierrepoint, in addition to hanging some 600 people, also holds the world record for the fastest hanging ever performed, at a time of seven seconds from start to finish.



it's an astonishing book - his feeling that he had to be the one to do the job because he didn't feel anyone else could be as humane / fast


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Aug 24, 2009)

Love on the dole
Thoroughly enjoying it too


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 24, 2009)

I'm about to start a flashman book I got from the charity shop


----------



## starfish (Aug 24, 2009)

Am giving The Yiddish Policemans Union another chance.


----------



## llion (Aug 24, 2009)

The Last Game - Jason Cowley - the last game in this case being Arsenal's defeat of Liverpool to win the league in 1989, which the author sees as a turning point in football after the bleakness of eighties football. Nicely written, and combines the sociological theorizing well with his own personal and family history.


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 24, 2009)

starfish said:


> Am giving The Yiddish Policemans Union another chance.



i loved it, even if the ending is a bit crazy


----------



## marty21 (Aug 24, 2009)

llion said:


> The Last Game - Jason Cowley - the last game in this case being Arsenal's defeat of Liverpool to win the league in 1989, which the author sees as a turning point in football after the bleakness of eighties football. Nicely written, and combines the sociological theorizing well with his own personal and family history.



nick hornby wrote about the same match  in fever pitch


----------



## soar (Aug 24, 2009)

Mass Effect: Revelation.


----------



## Blagsta (Aug 24, 2009)

Geoff Dyer - The Ongoing Moment


----------



## Pickman's model (Aug 24, 2009)

d w meinig (ed.). the interpretation of ordinary landscapes: geographical essays


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Aug 24, 2009)

I'm reading a book about the generals who commanded the British army in Africa, 1940-45. I've just finished with General O'Connor.


----------



## Pickman's model (Aug 24, 2009)

Johnny Canuck2 said:


> I'm reading a book about the generals who commanded the British army in Africa, 1940-45. I've just finished with General O'Connor.


churchill finished with him about 65 years ago


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Aug 24, 2009)

Pickman's model said:


> churchill finished with him about 65 years ago



He got 'finished' when he got captured by the Germans.


----------



## Pickman's model (Aug 24, 2009)

Johnny Canuck2 said:


> He got 'finished' when he got captured by the Germans.


churchill never got captured by the germans, he was captured by the boers


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 25, 2009)

Blagsta said:


> Geoff Dyer - The Ongoing Moment



great innit?


----------



## ChrisC (Aug 25, 2009)

.


----------



## Bakunin (Aug 25, 2009)

Pickman's model said:


> churchill never got captured by the germans, he was captured by the boers



General O'Connor was captured by the Germans. He was doing a forward recce around the Tobruk area IIRC.


----------



## llion (Aug 25, 2009)

Quote:

nick hornby wrote about the same match in fever pitch 

He does mention Fever Pitch a few times in the book, and there's an interesting bit when he talks with the author of the main academic work on Hillsbrough who really disagreed with and was angered by the film version of the book as it made the Arsenal-Liverpool game in '89 much more of a focus to the story than it is in the book (whereas the '87 semi-final is the turning book in the book). All in all, the book is very different to Fever Pitch as it's more of a reflection on how football as a whole has changed in Britain, rather than being one fan's story or journey.


----------



## ChrisC (Aug 25, 2009)

The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett.


----------



## teamB_macro (Aug 26, 2009)

im rereading pride and prejudice (for the nth time). it's the only book i can read till the end. i've put down a lot of novels halfway through so i dont know what to do of them. guess i have to reread them again. lol


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 26, 2009)

Just finished re-reading 'Enderby's Dark Lady' by Anthony Burgess. This works so well across many levels, and is funny in an intensely passionate way. If you love Shakespeare this is a book you must read, particularly for the late (and self -referencing) nod to science fiction.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 26, 2009)

teamB_macro said:


> im rereading pride and prejudice (for the nth time). it's the only book i can read till the end. i've put down a lot of novels halfway through so i dont know what to do of them. guess i have to reread them again. lol



Or you could subscribe as 'victim' to a recent Radio 4 'PM' inspired thread.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 27, 2009)

Still reading "Use of Weapons" which I am enjoying though not finding as engaging as some of the other Culture novels.

A visit to the library yesterday netted me Alan Furst's "The Polish Officer" and Christopher Fowler's "The Victoria Vanishes" so probably one of those next.


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 28, 2009)

stalled on several books lately - James Baldwin's Go Tell It On The Mountain, Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun, Peter Carey's Oscar & Lucinda - because I always find it harder to concentrate in the 'summer'.

So I've got Let The Right One In to have a crack at instead


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 28, 2009)

you won't regret it


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 28, 2009)

I picked up another Lindqvist at the same time, Handling The Undead..


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 28, 2009)

yeah, i intend to read that too


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 28, 2009)

Dalton Trumbo - was he a screen writer blacklisted in the 1950s?


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 28, 2009)

he was indeed


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 28, 2009)

the film johnny get his gun is amazing


----------



## El Jefe (Aug 28, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> the film johnny get his gun is amazing



i've got that ready to watch but thought I'd read it first. That, the Baldwin and the Carey are all definitely books I'll go back to, sometimes you just need to match your mental state.


----------



## goldenecitrone (Aug 28, 2009)

Now reading The Stuff of Thought - Steven Pinker. Did you know that the term 'spam' for unwanted mail comes from the Monty Python sketch? Obvious really.


----------



## BlueRunner (Aug 28, 2009)

I just finished up The Fairy Godmother Academy book 1 (Birdie's Book) by Jan Bozarth. My daughter and I loved it!


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 28, 2009)

A quote from Umberto Eco regarding Dan Brown. Eco describes Brown as being a character from his novel.......

You have to love Eco.


----------



## thought (Aug 28, 2009)

Currently reading :
 Un Sac De Billes - Joseph Joffo, first read it around 1992, enjoying a re-read of it.

Also reading  : Gwyn Jones : Welsh Legends and Folk Tales 

and the childrens book The Owl Service, by Alan Garner.

Should have all three finished by Sunday night, where upon I am going to be tackling the complete works of Robert Burns... I kid you not!


----------



## llion (Aug 29, 2009)

I'm getting towards the halfway mark in Dennis Lehane's 'The Given Day' (its 700 pages in all) and am really enjoying it so far. Love the way different historical characters pop up in different scenes e.g. there's an interesting portrayal of a young, very creepy J.Edgar Hoover. Jack Reed also features. Might be a bit of a lazy comparison given Lehane's links with the show, but it does remind me a bit of The Wire, but a Wire set in the 1910s!!


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 29, 2009)

The Handbook to Literary Research - Delia Da Sousa Correa & W.R Owens 
Protagoras & Meno - Plato


----------



## Dirty Martini (Aug 29, 2009)

Finished _The Inimitable Jeeves_, which was great. Half-heartedly starting _Zuleika Dobson_ by Max Beerbohm, but I want more Wodehouse.


----------



## Bakunin (Aug 31, 2009)

Death Row Chaplain - Byron Eshelman.

It's the story of California prison chaplain Byron Eshelman, who worked at three prisons in the USA (Metropolitan Detention Centre in New York, Alcatraz and San Quentin in California). Eshelman acted as chaplain at nearly 100 executions in San Quentin's gas chamber, counselling some of California's most infamous condemned inmates such as Barbara 'Bloody Babs' Graham and Caryl 'Red Light Bandit' Chessman. Aside from detailing some of the famous cases he dealt with and the procedures and rituals of Californian executions, Eshelman also offers a strong case against capital punishment, both on humanitarian, practical and theological grounds.

An excellent read, if not one that's either easy to find or especially pleasant in parts.


----------



## Fictionist (Aug 31, 2009)

The End of the World News - Anthony Burgess


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 31, 2009)

Just finished Flashman and The Tiger.

Now re-reading a first edition of Brian Aldiss _The Malacia Tapestry_


----------



## Bakunin (Aug 31, 2009)

Hmmm, tough choice to make now.

I've finished 'Death Row Chaplain' now (and Sonny Barger's first book about the Hell's Angels as well) and now have a choice of maybe two or three books to read. I can either read them in sequence or I can flip betwee them, as is my habit.

The nominations are:

1. 'Public Enemies' by Bryan Burrough (the book on which the recent film was based).

2. 'Churchill's Underground Army' by John Warricker. It tells the, until recently, almost inknown story of the Home Guard Auxiliary Units, which were 'stay behind' units intended to perform sabotage, assassination and intelligence gathering behind German lines in the event of Britain being invaded.

3. 'Murder With Venom' by Brian Masters, a collection of some of the world's most notorious poisoning cases which also provides an examination of the poisons used, their effects and how these cases were detected.


----------



## rollinder (Aug 31, 2009)

just been re-reading Engleby by Sebastian Faulks


----------



## Lea (Sep 1, 2009)

The Mark of the Lion trilogy by Francine Rivers


----------



## Blagsta (Sep 1, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> great innit?



Yeah, it's brilliant.


----------



## Blondebiker (Sep 2, 2009)

rollinder said:


> just been re-reading Engleby by Sebastian Faulks



Haven't read that one by SF, but was HUGELY disappointed by 'Charlotte Gray' - my god, were we supposed to empathise with that sappy heroine?  Not exactly an empowered feminist icon!!


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 3, 2009)

just finished Let The Right One In.

whoah!! SO much darker than the movie.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 3, 2009)

it is, isn't?


Spoiler: this scene is well grim



when tommy kills hakan


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 3, 2009)

yep, i'm kinda glad that didn't make the movie. I was reading that about 3am and it made my stomach turn


----------



## fogbat (Sep 3, 2009)

Rereading American Gods by Neil Gaiman.


----------



## gercrow (Sep 3, 2009)

Hi all, new to the forums and already lurking around, having a great time 
I'm currently reading Mysts of Avalon. It's huge but worth it!

---------------------------------------

A tale of tails


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 4, 2009)

read Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday in one insomniac sitting last night and it was absolutely beautiful, possibly even better than Cannery Row.

Not sure what to read next, the new Mieville is by the bed but Pieface said it's crap


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 4, 2009)

That can't be true

It's on mt 'to buy' list


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 4, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> That can't be true
> 
> It's on mt 'to buy' list



she really didn't rate it at all.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 4, 2009)

_Generation A_ by Douglas Coupland. I am up to page 30. It is pretty good so far.


----------



## Shevek (Sep 4, 2009)

coin locker babies by Ryu Murakami


----------



## Roadkill (Sep 4, 2009)

Been reading a lot of memoirs recently - Violet Jessop (ship stewardess and survivor of both the _Titanic_ disaster and the sinking of her sister ship by a mine in the Aegean in 1916), the first part of the autobiography of Sir James Bisset, who went to sea at 14 as an apprentice on a sailing ship and ended up commanding the _Queen Mary_, a couple of books by former railwaymen talking about life and railway work (and National Service) in the Black Country in the 50s and 60s, a book by a former policeman and the recently republished memoirs of a nonconformist clergyman writing about his life and work in Yorkshire between the 1830s and 1870s.


----------



## marty21 (Sep 4, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> read Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday in one insomniac sitting last night and it was absolutely beautiful, possibly even better than Cannery Row.
> 
> Not sure what to read next, the new Mieville is by the bed but Pieface said it's crap



Started the city,china's new one, ok,but hasn't grabbed me yet. Also reading "bring the jubilee " by ward moors, an alternative American history, the south wins the civil war!  quite enjoying that so far


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 4, 2009)

I have also ordered a few books about Italian history/politics, as well as a few Inspector Montalbano detective stories. I have never read a proper detective story before.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Sep 4, 2009)

The valley of the horses - Jean Auel


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 4, 2009)

i'm dipping into Chabon's Maps & Legends again, interesting essay about the golem in fiction


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 4, 2009)

i need to read some more chabon. blown away by kavalier & clay. impressed but less moved by the yiddish policemens' union. what should i read next?


----------



## Grandma Death (Sep 4, 2009)

Just finished Enduring Love by Ian McKewan and now on David Mitchells Cloud Atlas.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 5, 2009)

Just finished "Use of Weapons" - wonderful, halfway through I thought it was okay but wasn't enjoying as much as other Iain M. Banks but by the end I had completely revised that and it has really left me thinking.

Not sure what next - possibly Alan Furst's "The Polish Officer"


----------



## sojourner (Sep 5, 2009)

Currently reading The Gathering by Anne Enright

Excellent


----------



## foamy (Sep 5, 2009)

i don't think i 'got' the Gathering, it didn't impress me in anyway at least.
I loved 'Enduring Love' and 'Engleby' though. (I think i enjoyed the latter as I felt a connection to where it was set - Cambridge)

I read 'The Third Policeman' on holiday, very surreal book - has anyone else read it or anything else by Flan O'Brien?


----------



## mentalchik (Sep 5, 2009)

The Engineer ReConditioned - Neal Asher


----------



## sojourner (Sep 5, 2009)

foamy said:


> i don't think i 'got' the Gathering, it didn't impress me in anyway at least.



I'm really loving the playing with memories, and the ease of transition from mind to reality   Just sorta mucks about with the false memory thing dunnit? And growing up. I really like it - raw, fierce, vague, unsure, uncertain...


----------



## foamy (Sep 5, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I'm really loving the playing with memories, and the ease of transition from mind to reality   Just sorta mucks about with the false memory thing dunnit? And growing up. I really like it - raw, fierce, vague, unsure, uncertain...



maybe it was too subtle for me rolleyes: <--- @me) there's been a few books that people have really raved about that have really not engaged me... maybe it's a case of reading them at the wrong time of life or not reading it properly. The other book I can remember it happening with was Ali Smith's 'The Accidental'


----------



## sojourner (Sep 5, 2009)

foamy said:


> maybe it was too subtle for me rolleyes: <--- @me) there's been a few books that people have really raved about that have really not engaged me... *maybe it's a case of reading them at the wrong time of life* or not reading it properly. The other book I can remember it happening with was Ali Smith's 'The Accidental'



Or you just really don't like them

It's not a crime, is it?  What really matters is that there is a fuckload of writing out there, and some will change your life, and some will move you, and some will just bore the pants off you

But someone somewhere will always connect with what another person has written


----------



## foamy (Sep 5, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Or you just really don't like them
> 
> It's not a crime, is it?  What really matters is that there is a fuckload of writing out there, and some will change your life, and some will move you, and some will just bore the pants off you
> 
> But someone somewhere will always connect with what another person has written


oh, absolutely. I don't often feel dislike for a book I just don't connect with it. More often than not I feel like I'm missing out when someone sings the praises of a book which I've read but not 'got', It feels more like i've completely misunderstood the book IYKWIM


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 6, 2009)

Muhammad - Karen Armstrong

Perhaps the most irritating book that I will ever read. Inaccurate and lacking any sense of a intellectual rigour and independence. Hagiographic shit.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 6, 2009)

Finished _Zuleika Dobson_, which was daft and remarkable equally  Anyone else read it?

Now I'm reading some Nancy Mitford, _The Pursuit of Love_.



foamy said:


> I read 'The Third Policeman' on holiday, very surreal book - has anyone else read it or anything else by Flan O'Brien?



He was a one-off  I loved _The Third Policeman_, but preferred _At Swim-Two-Birds_ and, best of all, _The Dalkey Archive_.


----------



## maya (Sep 6, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Now I'm reading some Nancy Mitford, _The Pursuit of Love_


Have you read Love In A Cold Climate?


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 6, 2009)

maya said:


> Have you read Love In A Cold Climate?



I'll read it after this one, it's in the same volume


----------



## maya (Sep 6, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> I'll read it after this one, it's in the same volume


Nice-  There's a pretty good (recent-ish) collection of letters between the Mitford sisters BTW, it gets really eerie when one of them dies and just drops out of the conversation while the others continue the exchange... Like one voice is missing.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 6, 2009)

maya said:


> Nice-  There's a pretty good (recent-ish) collection of letters between the Mitford sisters BTW, it gets really eerie when one of them dies and just drops out of the conversation while the others continue the exchange... Like one voice is missing.



Cheers, might try those letters ... though I think I'd better take a break from reading about the interwar idle rich. I'm beginning to hanker for teapots and soapdishes.


----------



## foamy (Sep 6, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> He was a one-off  I loved _The Third Policeman_, but preferred _At Swim-Two-Birds_ and, best of all, _The Dalkey Archive_.



I read in the mini biography at the end of TTP that he wrote lots more but under different names - did he write those under another name?

Might add them to the To Read list, along with some of Nancy Mitfords stuff as I loved the Mitford Sisters Letters.

Going to read the rest of Pat Barkers "Regeneration Trilogy" first....


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 6, 2009)

foamy said:


> I read in the mini biography at the end of TTP that he wrote lots more but under different names - did he write those under another name?



He wrote them as Flann O'Brien, but wrote his newspaper columns under the name of Myles na gCopaleen. His real name, though, was Brian O'Nolan 

I really do recommend _The Dalkey Archive_. Astounding work.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 7, 2009)

Alan Bennett - Untold Stories

Fantastic 'annual' of autobiographical prose, diary entries, and other sundries that he put together whilst getting through cancer a few years back

I do love Alan Bennett


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 7, 2009)

another Lindqvist -Handling The Dead. a really creepy, sad zombie story thus far, shaping up very well


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 7, 2009)

Steve Pinker_ The Language Instinct_

interesting stuff


----------



## colbhoy (Sep 7, 2009)

I am reading World Without End by Ken Follett, the follow up to his magnificent Pillars of the Earth. Very good so far!


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 7, 2009)

colbhoy said:


> I am reading World Without End by Ken Follett, the follow up to his magnificent Pillars of the Earth. Very good so far!



It's a good narrative that, although I do feel it looks at feudal society through rose tinted specs


----------



## marty21 (Sep 8, 2009)

Just started "Century Rain" Alistair Reynolds


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Sep 8, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Steve Pinker_ The Language Instinct_
> 
> interesting stuff


yes, it's a fascinating read imo. i've heard accusations of some latent racism about his views which i don't think have any real substance.


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 9, 2009)

Last Evenings on Earth - Roberto Bolano
The Rage & The Pride - Oriana Fallaci


----------



## llion (Sep 10, 2009)

David Foster Wallace - Infinite Jest. 30 odd pages into an absolute monster with tiny print and never-ending paragraphs! Not sure if I'll make it all the way to the end, but it's got off to a good start.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 10, 2009)

Finished Linqvist's Handling The Undead. Not anywhere near as good as Let The Right One In. Without giving anything away it's a fresh take on zombies, where it's about the love between the bereaved and their dead rather than tearing flesh and stuff - and in parts is quite moving for those reasons, but the resolution sucks and some of the writing is quite bad (although that might be bad translation?).

Going to restart the big ole Tom Waits biog now...


----------



## obanite (Sep 11, 2009)

Reading 'Hells Angels' by Hunter S. Thompson. Yes yes I'm glad I'm not a Hells Engel? Erm Angel.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Going to restart the big ole Tom Waits biog now...



Who by?


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 11, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Who by?



the recent Barney Hoskyns one. Actually, I've got that and Age of Extremes by Eric Hobsbawm next to my bed vying for my attention and I  couldn't face either of them last night. I think I'm in a particularly thick mode.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> the recent Barney Hoskyns one. Actually, I've got that and Age of Extremes by Eric Hobsbawm next to my bed vying for my attention and I  couldn't face either of them last night. I think I'm in a *particularly thick mode*.



Heh - I get like that sometimes 

Didn't know there was a newer one


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 11, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Didn't know there was a newer one



it got reviewed as the 'definitive' one and it's quite hefty. A lot of it is taken up with Hoskyns' reactions to how tightly Waits and Brennan guard his profile, blocking interviews and getting other people to clam up, stuff like that...


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 11, 2009)

Finished _The Pursuit of Love_, which was beastly fun but not much cop as a novel.

Now, I don't know, maybe _The Damned Utd_.



El Jefe said:


> Actually, I've got that and Age of Extremes by Eric Hobsbawm next to my bed vying for my attention



Give it up -- everyone's got a copy, no one's read it


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> A lot of it is taken up with Hoskyns' reactions to how tightly Waits and Brennan guard his profile, blocking interviews and getting other people to clam up, stuff like that...



Oooo interesting

I'm always frustrated by that as a fan - I've wanted more info on how Waits and Brennan work together for ages now, but apart from a few sparse words on the subject, there's nowt


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 11, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Give it up -- everyone's got a copy, no one's read it



really? 

i just feel like I need to get ONE volume of 20th century history under my belt and this seems like the one to do..

i fell asleep reading the introduction


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 11, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Oooo interesting
> 
> I'm always frustrated by that as a fan - I've wanted more info on how Waits and Brennan work together for ages now, but apart from a few sparse words on the subject, there's nowt



sewn up very fucking tight. She obviously saved his ass and made him totally revise the way he made his music, but they probably don't want her to be perceived as a big controlling influence cos it would fuck with the Waits "mythos", so I guess that's why it's so closely guarded.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 11, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> really?
> 
> i just feel like I need to get ONE volume of 20th century history under my belt and this seems like the one to do..
> 
> i fell asleep reading the introduction



Oh yes. It's the Brief History of Time of the humanities.

And we all bought it for the same reason you did 

I got to about page 50 I think. As with all these things, I just know I won't remember more than a couple of minor facts after the whole thing's over. "Erm, there was something about the Malays in the 50s I think. It was Britain's fault"


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 11, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Oh yes. It's the Brief History of Time of the humanities.
> 
> And we all bought it for the same reason you did
> 
> I got to about page 50 I think. As with all these things, I just know I won't remember more than a couple of minor facts after the whole things over. "Erm, there was something about the Malays in the 50s I think. It was Britain's fault"



i'm glad it's not just me. I mean, i was good at history, had a passion for it, all that. But I just don't retain information any more 

So in summary: who WERE the baddies?


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 11, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> i'm glad it's not just me. I mean, i was good at history, had a passion for it, all that. But I just don't retain information any more
> 
> So in summary: who WERE the baddies?



I just comfort myself with the fact that the pleasure to be had is contemporaneous with the reading. And that I know where to go if I need to know who the baddies were


----------



## fogbat (Sep 11, 2009)

_Lonely Werewolf Girl_ by Martin Millar.

I loved _Love and Peace with Melody Paradise_, but I'm yet to be convinced by this one


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 11, 2009)

fogbat said:


> _Lonely Werewolf Girl_ by Martin Millar.
> 
> I loved _Love and Peace with Melody Paradise_, but I'm yet to be convinced by this one



i loved all the early ones  - Lux, Alby Starvation etc - but I think they all got a bit TOO twee and formulaic.


----------



## fogbat (Sep 11, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> i loved all the early ones  - Lux, Alby Starvation etc - but I think they all got a bit TOO twee and formulaic.



I quite enjoy the storyline in this - werewolves and other supernatural creatures in a modern world. It's overdone, but can still be entertaining.

But the sentence structure's really weird and simplistic, like a sixteen year old would write. I don't know whether it's a deliberate stylistic thing, but I'm finding it grating


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 11, 2009)

i think that's my problem with him as a rule, he's just not a very good writer, even though sometimes his characters and narratives are fun


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2009)

fogbat said:


> _Lonely Werewolf Girl_ by Martin Millar.
> 
> I loved _Love and Peace with Melody Paradise_, but I'm yet to be convinced by this one



I did my dissertation on Ruby and the Stone Age Diet 

I got in touch with him, and he was absolutely lovely, very generous and said he'd help in any way he could


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> sewn up very fucking tight. She obviously saved his ass and made him totally revise the way he made his music, but they probably don't want her to be perceived as a big controlling influence cos it would fuck with the Waits "mythos", so I guess that's why it's so closely guarded.



Aye - that was my guess too.  I'd love to know more about her herself though


----------



## llion (Sep 11, 2009)

It's worth reading the final chapter of 'The Age of Extremes'. Some of his conclusions have proved to be quite prophetic. The bits in between that and the introduction do drag a bit though!


----------



## Corax (Sep 11, 2009)

This thread encapsulates the worst of urban.  Your cultural and intellectual snobbery can fuck right off.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2009)

Corax said:


> This thread encapsulates the worst of urban.  Your cultural and intellectual snobbery can fuck right off.



You fucking what?


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 11, 2009)

wrong thread i think!


----------



## cyberfairy (Sep 11, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I did my dissertation on Ruby and the Stone Age Diet
> 
> I got in touch with him, and he was absolutely lovely, very generous and said he'd help in any way he could



I've met him and he is a lovely bloke-I adore his books-consider them fairy tales for adults. I read a wide range of literature and sometimes you want a bloody detective/murder novel, sometimes something utterly beautifully  clever and thought provoking and sometimes a book about a crustie fairy or werewolf to read in an hour or two and enjoy. Tis like music-depending on your mood, anything can be beautiful and thank god for Martin Millar when I was younger and I had never seen a book featuring crusties or whatever without a sobering end Far prefer them to the sodding 'so well written ' Booker nominated books about middle class families and their boring affairs. I feel more akin to a werewolf than that way of life ...


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 11, 2009)

i read the good fairies of new york. never again.


----------



## cyberfairy (Sep 11, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i read the good fairies of new york. never again.



Well, each to their own innit? Books are like music-everyone has their own taste which might or might not develop and change over the years-I loathe sci-fi and romance, both of which can have excellent authors


----------



## Corax (Sep 11, 2009)

sojourner said:


> You fucking what?



That's exactly the unpleasant sneering attitude I'm talking about.


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 11, 2009)

Corax said:


> That's exactly the unpleasant sneering attitude I'm talking about.




Corax, is that a genuine accusation you are making? It seems a little unfair to generalise in such a manner and I wonder what has made you feel thus?


----------



## Corax (Sep 11, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Corax, is that a genuine accusation you are making? It seems a little unfair to generalise in such a manner and I wonder what has made you feel thus?



The elitism that surround this thread sickens me.  It's a perpetual stream of _oh, I've read this book_ and _I've read this one_ that excludes anyone that doesn't read books.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2009)

Corax said:


> That's exactly the unpleasant sneering attitude I'm talking about.





Corax said:


> The elitism that surround this thread sickens me.  It's a perpetual stream of _oh, I've read this book_ and _I've read this one_ that excludes anyone that doesn't read books.



If that's what you really think, then I'm sorry you feel excluded

This thread, for me, has been a fantastic source of other writers and books, and is all about one of the most important things in my life.  

I have seen no elitism, not a fucking jot tbh, and the 'oh i've read this book' is all about it being a fucking 'what book are you reading' thread, you thick cunt


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 11, 2009)

Corax said:


> The elitism that surround this thread sickens me.  It's a perpetual stream of _oh, I've read this book_ and _I've read this one_ that excludes anyone that doesn't read books.



The thread is dedicated to discussing books that people have read and enjoyed, hated, cried over or abandoned in frustration. 

If your objection is to the fact of articulating this process then this thread may not be for you. 

Or could it be that the manner in which people choose to articulate their engagement with books annoys you? That you find the language used elitist or exclusive?

Genuine questions.


----------



## Annierak (Sep 11, 2009)

The argos catalogue 

Surprisingly good


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2009)

Annierak said:


> The argos catalogue
> 
> Surprisingly good



What's the biggest knock-down price?  On, say, wooden chairs?


----------



## Corax (Sep 11, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Or could it be that the manner in which people choose to articulate their engagement with books annoys you? That you find the language used elitist or exclusive?
> 
> Genuine questions.



Genuine questions, genuine answers.

Yes, the manner people choose to articulate on this thread pisses me off.  It seems to be a constant competition to see who can use the longest words.  I really hope you don't protest as *you* have been by far the worst offender.

Do I find the 'language used elitist or exclusive'?  I think so, but as most of the words you've used aren't readily understood it's a bit hard to tell?


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 11, 2009)

I'll reserve judgement until Corax answers. A little criticism from outside can be a good thing.


----------



## Annierak (Sep 11, 2009)

sojourner said:


> What's the biggest knock-down price?  On, say, wooden chairs?


Impressive knock down prices on wooden chairs at the moment, a bargain at £4.99


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 11, 2009)

Corax said:


> Genuine questions, genuine answers.
> 
> Yes, the manner people choose to articulate on this thread pisses me off.  It seems to be a constant competition to see who can use the longest words.  I really hope you don't protest as *you* have been by far the worst offender.
> 
> Do I find the 'language used elitist or exclusive'?  I think so, but as most of the words you've used aren't readily understood it's a bit hard to tell?



A genuine response.

I'm quite taken aback, I use language that I understand and am comfortable with in that it allows me to attempt to articulate and express my perception of books etc. 

I'm really not sure what to say.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 11, 2009)

Corax said:


> Genuine questions, genuine answers.
> 
> Yes, the manner people choose to articulate on this thread pisses me off.  It seems to be a constant competition to see who can use the longest words.  I really hope you don't protest as *you* have been by far the worst offender.
> 
> Do I find the 'language used elitist or exclusive'?  I think so, but as most of the words you've used aren't readily understood it's a bit hard to tell?



you are engaging in an anti-peristaltic motion. Indeed you are enacting the direct opposite of micturation


----------



## Corax (Sep 11, 2009)

Okay, chinese has arrived, I'll leave you alone now.

I'm so sorry.


----------



## playghirl (Sep 11, 2009)

Time to read a book ..you must be fucking joking.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2009)

Corax said:


> Genuine questions, genuine answers.
> 
> Yes, the manner people choose to articulate on this thread pisses me off.  It seems to be a constant competition to see who can use the longest words.  I really hope you don't protest as *you* have been by far the worst offender.
> 
> Do I find the 'language used elitist or exclusive'?  I think so, but as most of the words you've used aren't readily understood it's a bit hard to tell?



It's just language used by people who read a lot of books.  There is some lit-crit language in there too, but it's mostly from people who have studied literature at a certain level and who use the terminology that is employed in any kind of literary analysis

i was doing loads of this shit before i even realised there were terms for it.  semiotics?  yep - did that all the time.  It's just that there are sometimes easy terms for other shit


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 11, 2009)

Corax said:


> Okay, chinese has arrived, I'll leave you alone now.
> 
> I'm so sorry.




There seemed a certainty in degredation.

T.E Lawrence


----------



## vauxhallmum (Sep 11, 2009)

I am reading Missy by Chris Hannan.
 It's not highbrow but I'm really enjoying it .


----------



## cyberfairy (Sep 11, 2009)

Bloodhunt by Neil M Gunn. A novel set in the highlands and utterly spellbinding-atmospheric, creepy and so evocative of a byegone era-makes you question your own morals and stays with you.


----------



## vauxhallmum (Sep 11, 2009)

cyberfairy said:


> Bloodhunt by Neil M Gunn. A novel set in the highlands and utterly spellbinding-atmospheric, creepy and so evocative of a byegone era-makes you question your own morals and stays with you.




Ok, that one is next on my list, thanks Cyberfairy.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 11, 2009)

Corax said:


> The elitism that surround this thread sickens me.  It's a perpetual stream of _oh, I've read this book_ and _I've read this one_ that excludes anyone *that doesn't read books*.




If you really don't read books then why have you clicked on this thread? I don't take drugs and I don't go into the the drugs forum saying "You are excluding me because I don't know what meph is" 

Also this thread has a real range of books from esoteric to popular. Strange attitude.


----------



## Corax (Sep 12, 2009)

There you go again, words no one understands like _esoteric, attitude_ and _this_.

Corax
(2:1 Eng Lit)


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 12, 2009)

Corax said:


> There you go again, words no one understands like _*esoteric*, attitude_ and _this_.
> 
> Corax
> (2:1 Eng Lit)




It's the only big word I know


----------



## Grandma Death (Sep 12, 2009)

Corax said:


> The elitism that surround this thread sickens me.  It's a perpetual stream of _oh, I've read this book_ and _I've read this one_ that excludes anyone that doesn't read books.



Well you know the solution to that dont you...read some books you thick twat


----------



## Corax (Sep 12, 2009)

Grandma Death said:


> Well you know the solution to that dont you...read some books you thick twat



Not all of us can _afford_ "books" you know.  

Fucking elitist fash attitude.


----------



## mentalchik (Sep 12, 2009)

*smells the scent of a wind up*


----------



## phildwyer (Sep 13, 2009)

Grandma Death said:


> Well you know the solution to that dont you...read some books you thick twat



Yes, then you too can be clever like Granny D.

I just finished Andrew Mango's biography of Ataturk.  He was a right ruthless bastard, but the right man for the job that had to be done etc.  Liked his _raki_ a bit too much too.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 13, 2009)

I finished _The Damned Utd_, which I enjoyed a lot. Not sure how much it stands up if you didn't have an interest in Clough or football in the first place. Quite moving in parts. Peace's CTRL C gets a good workout.

Now reading _Whispering Death: The Life and Times of Michael Holding_ by, er, Michael Holding (with Tony Cozier).


----------



## Corax (Sep 13, 2009)

mentalchik said:


> *smells the scent of a wind up*



I admitted it feckin _ages_ ago.  I thought the BA in English Lit would have been clear enough!


----------



## phildwyer (Sep 13, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> I finished _The Damned Utd_, which I enjoyed a lot. Not sure how much it stands up if you didn't have an interest in Clough or football in the first place. Quite moving in parts.



I found ıt hard goıng tbh.  It's all lıke:

'He's the manager of England. Not you.  Don fuckıng Revıe.  England manager.  Not you.  Not Clough.  Revıe.  Fuckıng Revıe.  England manager.  Manager of England.  Not Clough.  Never fuckıng Clough. '

On and on and on.  I suppose the ıdea ıs that's how Clough actually thought, but stıll, ıt ges a bıt much.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 13, 2009)

phildwyer said:


> I found ıt hard goıng tbh.  It's all lıke:
> 
> 'He's the manager of England. Not you.  Don fuckıng Revıe.  England manager.  Not you.  Not Clough.  Revıe.  Fuckıng Revıe.  England manager.  Manager of England.  Not Clough.  Never fuckıng Clough. '
> 
> On and on and on.  I suppose the ıdea ıs that's how Clough actually thought, but stıll, ıt ges a bıt much.



... and the dogs, the ferrets, the clouds, the stones, the blood. Yep 

It was an attempt to replicate Clough's paranoia and obsession I guess. I got past it though, just about, and enjoyed the story and the dignity of tragedy that it tried (sometimes a bit too hard, granted) to give to a figure that most novelists wouldn't think was worth exploring. I liked the detail of it.

I thought the way he made Leeds a character in its own right hard and convincing.

He's thinking of writing a novel about Boycott apparently. Given that man's obsessions, it could just be a couple of paragraphs repeated over and over and over again.


----------



## rennie (Sep 13, 2009)

I picked up The Franchise Affair while away.I'd never heard of it before. Good read and very funny observations about small town middle england.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Sep 13, 2009)

phildwyer said:


> I found ıt hard goıng tbh.  It's all lıke:
> 
> 'He's the manager of England. Not you.  Don fuckıng Revıe.  England manager.  Not you.  Not Clough.  Revıe.  Fuckıng Revıe.  England manager.  Manager of England.  Not Clough.  Never fuckıng Clough. '
> 
> On and on and on.  I suppose the ıdea ıs that's how Clough actually thought, but stıll, ıt ges a bıt much.


yes, i didn't get on with it at all either, just didn't do it for me on any level.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 14, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> ... and the dogs, the ferrets, the clouds, the stones, the blood. Yep
> 
> It was an attempt to replicate Clough's paranoia and obsession I guess. I got past it though, just about, and enjoyed the story and the dignity of tragedy that it tried (sometimes a bit too hard, granted) to give to a figure that most novelists wouldn't think was worth exploring. I liked the detail of it.
> 
> ...



Given Boycs playing style just the word "Block...." repeated over and over!

Mr. QofG's has read The Damned United and also the first part of David Peace's Red Riding series, both of which he enjoyed.

I keep toying with reading the latter but, I don't know, I started reading his Tokyo Year Zero a while ago and just couldn't get on with it.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 14, 2009)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Given Boycs playing style just the word "Block...." repeated over and over!



Alternating with "My granny". I think I'll give it a miss.

Now reading _The White Cities: Reports from France 1925-39_ by the incomparable Joseph Roth.


----------



## pootle (Sep 14, 2009)

The Five Giants by Nicholas Timms - all about the setting up of the welfare state in this country - back to uni reading for me. Bah!


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 14, 2009)

pootle said:


> The Five Giants by Nicholas Timms - all about the setting up of the welfare state in this country - back to uni reading for me. Bah!



illness, ignorance, disease, squalor and want - wow - i can still remember my gcse history


----------



## Voley (Sep 14, 2009)

I'm reading Death in The Afternoon. Pretty good so far.


----------



## Rollem (Sep 14, 2009)

i have just finsished one pile of chick lit crap, and am about to start another....


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Sep 14, 2009)

pootle said:


> The Five Giants by Nicholas Timms - all about the setting up of the welfare state in this country - back to uni reading for me. Bah!


it's not a bad book tbh. it's an interesting period of history that he covers and i think it's well written.


----------



## goldenecitrone (Sep 14, 2009)

Just started the new William Boyd, Ordinary Thunderstorms.


----------



## chooch (Sep 14, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Now reading _The White Cities: Reports from France 1925-39_ by the incomparable Joseph Roth.


 
Is it Marseille or Toulon or somewhere that has the amphitheatre/cinema? That's a corker. 

Bruno Schulz - _The Street of Crocodiles_


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 14, 2009)

chooch said:


> Is it Marseille or Toulon or somewhere that has the amphitheatre/cinema? That's a corker.
> 
> Bruno Schulz - _The Street of Crocodiles_



Not got far yet  Hope they're at least as good as the Berlin pieces.

Have fancied reading Schulz for some time. Any good?


----------



## Grandma Death (Sep 14, 2009)

Corax said:


> Not all of us can _afford_ "books" you know.
> 
> Fucking elitist fash attitude.



http://www.readitswapit.co.uk/TheLibrary.aspx  FREE!

or try charity shops......

No away with you miserable tight fucker....


----------



## chooch (Sep 14, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Not got far yet  Hope they're at least as good as the Berlin pieces.


Think he was fairly sunk in drink, so the overall standard may not be quite what it was. 


> Have fancied reading Schulz for some time. Any good?


Great so far. Rich picking apart of household experience with some absurd imaginary stuff going on. Not a souffle, not a pudding. A fancy chocolate cake. 



Dirty Martini said:


> He wrote them as Flann O'Brien, but wrote his newspaper columns under the name of Myles na gCopaleen. His real name, though, was Brian O'Nolan


The columns are great, once you get the feel of them, and his Irish novel (parodying Irish novels) _An Beal Bocht/The Poor Mouth_ is also fucking funny and kind of fascinating, as a very good translation into English of a great writer in English.

Just didn't get him at all at first but now think he brilliant


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 15, 2009)

had another crack at Mieville's The City & The City. lasted 150 pages, which is more than it deserved to be honest.

absolute wank. He's not the best prose writer at the best of times, but his characters and plots kind of obscure the fact. This has a toss plot, no decent characters and is DREADFULLY written.


----------



## ringo (Sep 15, 2009)

Heart Of The Matter - Graham Greene


----------



## jms (Sep 16, 2009)

Dead Souls by Gogol

it is rather good


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 16, 2009)

i started Oryx and Crake last night, but I'd taken some vallies cos of a bad back so I don't remember anything, I'll have to start again


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Sep 16, 2009)

I was reading one called Super.Naive but it was just a bit too flat, plodding along apparently going nowhere. Short reading though, I might come back to it.  So now I've started When I Forget by Elina Hirvonen, again quite short snappy stuff butmore interesting, I have a feeling I might enjoy this one.
I will finish both of these books before I start More Than it Hurts You by Darin Strauss. 
I really want to read that but I have a feeling I will either love it or rip it up. Top of the pending pile.


----------



## Fledgling (Sep 16, 2009)

jms said:


> Dead Souls by Gogol
> 
> it is rather good



Aye it's a cracker; on my list of repeat reads defo


----------



## llion (Sep 17, 2009)

Liam O'Flaherty - The Informer. Gripping novel written and set in the twenties in the aftermath to the Irish Civil War. Good insight into the radical politics of the period as well.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 17, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> i started Oryx and Crake last night, but I'd taken some vallies cos of a bad back so I don't remember anything, I'll have to start again



I did, and so far it's wonderful


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 18, 2009)

Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges


----------



## belboid (Sep 18, 2009)

Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair.

Very entertaining.  I suspect if I read them straight after one another they'd get kinda annoying, but with big enough gaps inbetween each one, then top hole intellectual masturbation.


----------



## chooch (Sep 18, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges


Good as can be


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 19, 2009)

chooch said:


> Good as can be



A fellow fan? Fantastic!


----------



## Voley (Sep 20, 2009)

Victor Bockris' biography of Lou Reed. Good so far.


----------



## Greenfish (Sep 20, 2009)

cease the day, saul bellow.  v good.


----------



## Drone Module (Sep 21, 2009)

_The Inflatable Volunteer_ - Steve Aylett


----------



## ericjarvis (Sep 21, 2009)

The Map Of Love - Ahdad Soueif


----------



## Bakunin (Sep 21, 2009)

The Real Band Of Brothers - Max Arthur.

It's a series of first-hand accounts from the very few remaining British survivors who fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. I'm just about to start it when I head for bed later.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 22, 2009)

finished Oryx & Crake - curious ending.

Now reading The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers


----------



## The Octagon (Sep 22, 2009)

Just finished Michael J. Fox's autobiography (Lucky Man), was very well written, particularly when it comes to the Parkinson's side of things.

About to start on one of the Richard Morgan books that just arrived from Amazon (what's the one to read right after Altered Carbon?)


----------



## goldenecitrone (Sep 22, 2009)

Greenfish said:


> cease the day, saul bellow.  v good.



Was that the sequel? The first one was terrific.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 22, 2009)

goldenecitrone said:


> Was that the sequel? The first one was terrific.



that was seethe the day - cease the day is the final part of the trilogy


----------



## HAPPY CHEF (Sep 22, 2009)

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley,very good so far.


----------



## ChrisC (Sep 22, 2009)

The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds.


----------



## starfish (Sep 22, 2009)

The State of the Art by Iain M Banks.


----------



## madamv (Sep 22, 2009)

I am currently reading a chicky kind of book, but enjoying it.  The Forget-me-not Sonata - Santa Montefiorre.

I have In the Frame - Helen Mirrens autobiog waiting in the wings...


----------



## ChrisC (Sep 22, 2009)

starfish said:


> The State of the Art by Iain M Banks.



Good book that.


----------



## starfish (Sep 22, 2009)

ChrisC said:


> Good book that.



Read the first couple of stories then a read a few other books & have gone back to it.
Should read a few more of his.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 23, 2009)

The Octagon said:


> Just finished Michael J. Fox's autobiography (Lucky Man), was very well written, particularly when it comes to the Parkinson's side of things.
> 
> About to start on one of the Richard Morgan books that just arrived from Amazon (what's the one to read right after Altered Carbon?)



"Broken Angels" and then "Woken Furies" is the sequence of the Takeshi Kovacs novels 

I have just started Iain M. Bank's "Excession" in my quest to read all the culture novels


----------



## Bakunin (Sep 23, 2009)

I've just started 'Gaspipe', a biography of Anthony 'Gaspipe' Casso, senior mobster in the Lucchese 'family' of New York.

Waiting in the wings I have:

'Executioner' - A memoir written by Victorian hangman James Berry.

'Wiseguy' - Nicholas Pileggi's memoir about the life and criminal career of a certain Henry Hill. This book was the basis of the film 'Goodfellas.'

'Murder Machine' - A book about New York's notorious 'Gemini Crew', so called because they were a Mafia crew that hung out at the Gemini Lounge nightspot and were, between them, responsible for over 200 murders in the New York area.


----------



## maya (Sep 23, 2009)

'Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams' (1794) by William Godwin (father of Mary Shelley, née Godwin)


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 23, 2009)

just finished Reflections in A Golden Eye by Carson McCullers.
That should see me right for southern Gothic melodrama for a bit, I think


----------



## maya (Sep 23, 2009)

^ the Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole must be on your reading list, then? (but I reckon you've already read it)


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 23, 2009)

maya said:


> ^ the Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole must be on your reading list, then? (but I reckon you've already read it)



yeh, it's great. Always meant to watch the movie but never got round to it.


----------



## maya (Sep 23, 2009)

Didn't know that.
I think The Ballad Of The Sad Café was made into a film aswell, but never bothered to investigate- i think Vanessa Redgrave is in it  
Perhaps some books are best left alone... As books.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 24, 2009)

Read The Informers by Brett Easton Ellis in a few hours.

he really is a one-trick pony, no? 

"we did loads of drugs and fucked and then talked about consumer goods and now I feel so... shallow".


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 24, 2009)

The Illiad - Homer

(Again)


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 24, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> The Illiad - Homer
> 
> (Again)



by man-murdering Hector and proud Priam, you sail your black-hulled ship into this forum and challenge the horse taming Trojans with your bronze coated greek behaviour?

*wrastles with Fictionist*


----------



## The Octagon (Sep 24, 2009)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "Broken Angels" and then "Woken Furies" is the sequence of the Takeshi Kovacs novels



Thanks, started Broken Angels last night


----------



## belboid (Sep 24, 2009)

maya said:


> I think The Ballad Of The Sad Café was made into a film aswell, but never bothered to investigate- i think Vanessa Redgrave is in it



tis deeply, deeply disappointing


----------



## sojourner (Sep 24, 2009)

Cold Mountain by someone Frazier

perfect reading for my fucked head


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 24, 2009)

Joseph Roth's reports from France (_The White Cities_) were utterly brilliant and, as he got closer to the outbreak of war, very moving. Incredibly fresh for stuff written 70, 80 years ago. Utterly modern.

If anyone's interested, copies are floating around remainder shops -- because people are silly and don't recognise one of the 20th century's greatest writers when they see him.

Now I'm reading _Cause For Alarm_ by Eric Ambler.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Sep 24, 2009)

getting stuck into 'a fraction of the whole' by steve toltz which is quite entertaining and enjoyable. an aussie low-life's thrills and spills with some philosophical bits thrown in on top.


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 24, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> by man-murdering Hector and proud Priam, you sail your black-hulled ship into this forum and challenge the horse taming Trojans with your bronze coated greek behaviour?
> 
> *wrastles with Fictionist*


----------



## Zeppo (Sep 24, 2009)

We need to talk about Kevin Lionel Shriver. Anyone read it? Forty pages in - interesting but someone told me it is a disturbing book.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 25, 2009)

Zeppo said:


> We need to talk about Kevin Lionel Shriver. Anyone read it? Forty pages in - interesting but someone told me it is a disturbing book.



Yeh, I've read it

Really liked it

Well yes of course it's disturbing, but that shouldn't even be an issue in any decision to read it or not, should it?


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 25, 2009)

The Business by Iain Banks.

jesus. does it get any better, i'm about 1/3rd through and wondering if Banks is just  waste of time past the first couple of books


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 25, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> The Business by Iain Banks.
> 
> jesus. does it get any better, i'm about 1/3rd through and wondering if Banks is just  waste of time past the first couple of books



it's a shaggy dog story. The ending is just odd. I enjoyed it for the journey iyswim but in retrospect it's not a great plot. An entertaining tale rather than a grabbing plot.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 25, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> it's a shaggy dog story. The ending is just odd. I enjoyed it for the journey iyswim but in retrospect it's not a great plot. An entertaining tale rather than a grabbing plot.



well I finished it,  but I'm not sure why I bothered. He used to be SUCH a great writer. But plot aside, even the actual writing in this sucked - stuffed with exposition, awkwardly placed cultural references, clichés... Horrible


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 25, 2009)

Fictionist said:


>



on a serious note I srsly reccomend Dan Simmons 2 parter _Illium_ and _Olympos_

It's a great sci fi twist on Homer. Loses its' way a bit during the second book. Still a really entertaining twist on an old tale. Manages humour and pathos and a good romp. It's the works that made me actually read the good bits of _Illiad_ where even Keats hadn't managed to do so.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 25, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> well I finished it,  but I'm not sure why I bothered. He used to be SUCH a great writer. But plot aside, even the actual writing in this sucked - stuffed with exposition, awkwardly placed cultural references, clichés... Horrible



I enjoyed it, but it's a flawed work. Try _The Bridge_ instead. It's a far wierder and more satisfying read


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 25, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> I enjoyed it, but it's a flawed work. Try _The Bridge_ instead. It's a far wierder and more satisfying read



ah, i've read all of them up to Whit, I think...


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 25, 2009)

going to try Atwood's Blind Assassin now.

Basically, being skint, I'm working through Pieface's books...


----------



## Fictionist (Sep 25, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> on a serious note I srsly reccomend Dan Simmons 2 parter _Illium_ and _Olympos_
> 
> It's a great sci fi twist on Homer. Loses its' way a bit during the second book. Still a really entertaining twist on an old tale. Manages humour and pathos and a good romp. It's the works that made me actually read the good bits of _Illiad_ where even Keats hadn't managed to do so.




Thanks for that DC, I'll look at that and let you know if it works for me. Sci-Fi isn't usually my thing.

You tamer of horses......


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 25, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Thanks for that DC, I'll look at that and let you know if it works for me. Sci-Fi isn't usually my thing.
> 
> You tamer of horses......



heh, they are as satisfying as Rosy fingered at dawn

Simmons is an odd fella. Also does some sci fi that is all Keats as a character. The man clearly knows his classics. Doesn't work with the keats really, but the Homer is inspired. His protagonist is some crusty scholiia type and it works really well.


----------



## han (Sep 26, 2009)

Just finished Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - pretty fascinating stuff.

Oh and a Haruki Marukami book called 'What I talk about when I talk about running'. I really liked that book - it's basically all about what's in his head when he's running.....


----------



## goldenecitrone (Sep 26, 2009)

han said:


> Oh and a Haruki Marukami book called 'What I talk about when I talk about running'. I really liked that book - it's basically all about what's in his head when he's running.....



I love Murakami, great writer. I've just bought Elephant and other stories by Raymond Carver and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. That's the rest of my weekend sorted.


----------



## cybertect (Sep 26, 2009)

finished Iain M Banks' _Matter_ cool earlier this week and started on _No One Here Gets Out Alive_, the Jim Morrison bio by Danny Sugerman & Jerry Hopkins.

Picked up a second hand copy for 50p a few weeks ago. It's been on my 'should read' list since I was about fifteen. I thought 27 years was long enough to wait. 

Pure coincidence that BBC 4 decided to air the TV documentary last night.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 27, 2009)

Finished _Cause for Alarm_ by Eric Ambler, which was fun. Now: _The Acceptance World_ by Anthony Powell. I'm not sure about this _Dance to the Music of Time_ cycle, but I keep reading it anyway.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 28, 2009)

Right, well I really couldn't be arsed with The Blind Assassin. (i'm getting much more comfortable with abandoning books these days, perhaps it's a feeling of mortality).

So now I'm reading Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun - twenty pages in and already feel like topping myself.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 28, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Right, well I really couldn't be arsed with The Blind Assassin. (i'm getting much more comfortable with abandoning books these days, perhaps it's a feeling of mortality).
> 
> So now I'm reading Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun - twenty pages in and already feel like topping myself.



Patience with books reduces with age.

Time to return to Patrick Hamilton!


----------



## llion (Sep 28, 2009)

Babs 2 Brisbane by Barbara Haddrill - Inspirational travel book that describes the author's overland journey all the way from Machynlleth to Brisbane via lot of trains, buses and boats so that she can attend her friend's wedding! Her description of the journey on the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Beijing is awe-inspiring.


----------



## El Jefe (Sep 30, 2009)

Finished Johnny Got His Gun. Probably the most upsetting book I've ever read.

I REALLY need to read something vacuous now


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 1, 2009)

Finished _The Acceptance World_, now re-reading Roth's _The Radetsky March_.


----------



## Lea (Oct 1, 2009)

Still Lake by Anne Stuart.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 1, 2009)

i need something light after the Trumbo, so i've restarted the Waits biography


----------



## Pieface (Oct 1, 2009)

I'm reading If On a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino.

Well _he's _a smartypants.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 1, 2009)

Pieface said:


> I'm reading If On a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino.
> 
> Well _he's _a smartypants.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 1, 2009)

Pieface said:


> I'm reading If On a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino.
> 
> Well _he's _a smartypants.




Such low standards....


----------



## rollinder (Oct 2, 2009)

Maus by Art Spiegelman
Demo: The Collection by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan
and re-re-reading fragments of British Summertime by Paul Cornell


----------



## Biscuit Tin (Oct 3, 2009)

The Wind - up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami


----------



## (empty) (Oct 3, 2009)

*Laurie Lee* - As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969)
Amazing book.


----------



## silverfish (Oct 3, 2009)

Memoirs of an economic hit man, John Perkins

7 troop, Andy Mcknob

Histories, Herotodus

An eclectic selection, but I'm in Greenland and the obviously don't have enough trees to make books


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 3, 2009)

Good job you took the trusty Mcnab book with you then


----------



## Drone Module (Oct 3, 2009)

the always fascinating

Clinical Nursing Procedures by The Marsden Hospital


----------



## llion (Oct 3, 2009)

Alexander Baron - From the city, from the plough. Fantastic novel about the D-Day landings written in 1948 by an author who had witnessed the events as a solider. Quite a short novel, but he builds a really rich portrait of all the different characters in the battalion. Earthy, raw and unflinching.


----------



## Shevek (Oct 3, 2009)

coin locker babies by Ryu Murakami. Have got stuck after about 150 pages. Boerd of it really.

but no spoilers please.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 3, 2009)

Biscuit Tin said:


> The Wind - up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami


wonderful book.


----------



## starfish (Oct 4, 2009)

After years of badgering by ms starfish im finally reading The Collector by John Fowles.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 4, 2009)

"The Tattoo" by Chris McKinney.

Prison drama about errant young Hawaiian.


----------



## LindaR (Oct 4, 2009)

Second part of Michael Palin's diaries. One of the six books I got for my birthday.  Three already read, Michael Moore's biography next.


----------



## Biscuit Tin (Oct 4, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> wonderful book.


I'm not quite half way through, it is a good read


----------



## Pieface (Oct 4, 2009)

I loved that book Biscuit Tin but just finished Kafka on the Shore by him and hated it.


----------



## Biscuit Tin (Oct 5, 2009)

Pieface said:


> I loved that book Biscuit Tin but just finished Kafka on the Shore by him and hated it.[/QU
> ...........................................


----------



## Biscuit Tin (Oct 5, 2009)

Pieface said:


> I loved that book Biscuit Tin but just finished Kafka on the Shore by him and hated it.



 I reserve judgement at this point........... really enjoying wind up bird. my first of his. How disappointing to avidly a book and then read another that just doesn't catch your attention


----------



## sojourner (Oct 5, 2009)

The Gift, by Nabokov

I really _really_ fucking love his writing.  Ridiculously clever without being a smart-arse, laugh-out-loud funny on occasion, and just completely 'out there' for want of a better phrase.  No one else like him, ever.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 5, 2009)

sojourner said:


> without being a smart-arse



Mmm ... 

Love his prose though.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 5, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Mmm ...
> 
> Love his prose though.



Hehe - welllll...but he also takes the piss out of being a smart arse as well though, so it counterbalances it


----------



## Mr_Nice (Oct 5, 2009)

Wasted - Mark Johnson 

awsome 

Wasted


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 5, 2009)

Ilium - Dan Simmons

Starting this today after the recommendation by DC.


----------



## big eejit (Oct 5, 2009)

I've just finished The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney, which was a rollicking good read. Well written with lots of lovely wry observations, esp from the lead female character.

Now reading Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel, which is very funny but very dark in places. As you might imagine from the title.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 5, 2009)

Finished my re-read of _The Radetzky March_, which is, of course, even better the second time round, is one of the great books of the last century and feels like my favourite novel.

Go on, y'all. Read it. Used on Scamazon for 31 new pence.


----------



## Pieface (Oct 5, 2009)

Biscuit Tin said:


> I reserve judgement at this point........... really enjoying wind up bird. my first of his. How disappointing to avidly a book and then read another that just doesn't catch your attention



I was a bit gutted! I do find him very hit and miss as some of his books can really blow you away (and I think Wind up Bird is one) and others are so flat in comparison I convinced myself it must be for a reason and not because they were just shit 

It could be in the translation obviously.  I hate the fact I'm not reading the book in the language it was written in as it makes me worry I'm missing out on important subtleties that don't translate very well.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 5, 2009)

Pieface said:


> I was a bit gutted! I do find him very hit and miss as some of his books can really blow you away (and I think Wind up Bird is one) and others are so flat in comparison I convinced myself it must be for a reason and not because they were just shit
> 
> It could be in the translation obviously.  I hate the fact I'm not reading the book in the language it was written in as it makes me worry I'm missing out on important subtleties that don't translate very well.


Try Norwegian Wood - it's one of the best things i've ever read. And it might make you revisit Kafka on the Shore (or it might not....)


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 5, 2009)

everything i've read of murakami's has been slightly disappointing cos i read wind up bird chronicle first. he's good, but that's his best. i wish i had started with another of his.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Oct 5, 2009)

A Tale of a Tub
Jonathan Swift


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 5, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> everything i've read of murakami's has been slightly disappointing cos i read wind up bird chronicle first. he's good, but that's his best. i wish i had started with another of his.


but that's why i think norwegian wood is so good as it's so different to wind-up bird chronicle. and so moving at the serious end of the novel that it takes my breath away.


----------



## ChrisC (Oct 5, 2009)

Zig Zag Zen Buddhism and Psychedelics by Allan Hunt Badiner and Alex Grey.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 5, 2009)

any cop?


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 5, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> but that's why i think norwegian wood is so good as it's so different to wind-up bird chronicle. and so moving at the serious end of the novel that it takes my breath away.



i've read that too. can't say i was moved. i think that was the second one i read of his.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 5, 2009)

sojourner said:


> the gift, by nabokov
> 
> i really _really_ fucking love his writing.  Ridiculously clever without being a smart-arse, laugh-out-loud funny on occasion, and just completely 'out there' for want of a better phrase.  No one else like him, ever.



word. YOU HAVE TO READ LOLITA NOW


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 5, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i've read that too. can't say i was moved. i think that was the second one i read of his.


*SPOLIER ALERT*














the section when he finds out * was suffocatingly affecting. imo.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 5, 2009)

i've already forgotten about that


----------



## Bakunin (Oct 5, 2009)

Well, after a mamooth session of true crime, and in need of something a tad lighter, I've opted for a spot of Frederick Forsyth's 'The Fourth Protocol.'

I'm not keen on Forsyth's politics (I'm not keen on those of Tom Clancy either) but he does write a really decent potboiler, IMHO.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 5, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i've already forgotten about that


i'm not sure i shouldn't edit my post to remove that anyhoo. perhaps i will...


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 5, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> but that's why i think norwegian wood is so good as it's so different to wind-up bird chronicle. and so moving at the serious end of the novel that it takes my breath away.



i think Norwegian Wood is a brilliant, brilliant book.

And I really really didn't like Wind Up Bird.

enough jazz loving  cat owning pasta eating people stuck in holes already


----------



## ChrisC (Oct 5, 2009)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> any cop?



Very well written and very interesting.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 5, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> i think Norwegian Wood is a brilliant, brilliant book.
> 
> And I really really didn't like Wind Up Bird.
> 
> enough jazz loving  cat owning pasta eating people stuck in holes already



but which did you read first?


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 5, 2009)

Wind Up Bird Chronicles. Hated it. Was convinced by pieface to read Norwegian Wood, blew me away.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 6, 2009)

ChrisC said:


> Very well written and very interesting.


might be tempted to have a look for that then


----------



## Pieface (Oct 6, 2009)

Thing is, Norwegian Wood stands out as different to his other books and it's the one that everyone likes the most  

I may read his book on running at some point...


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 6, 2009)

Pieface said:


> Thing is, Norwegian Wood stands out as different to his other books and it's the one that everyone likes the most



nah, reckon the most liked is WUBC...


----------



## Pieface (Oct 6, 2009)

Ah disahgree.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 6, 2009)

Pieface said:


> Ah disahgree.



Ah don't care


----------



## fogbat (Oct 6, 2009)

Just finished Amsterdam, by Ian McEwan. Entertaining, but disappointingly short.

Currently re-reading What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 6, 2009)

finished the Waits biography. Like most music books, the last two decades take a fraction of the page count that the rest does, but that's how it goes I think - it becomes a list of what people did and who they worked with. Not having access to Waits collaborators post-Brennan probably hamstrung Hoskyns a bit too. But worth reading.

dunno what to read now - waiting for Howard Zinn to show up. Might read Strong Motion by Jonathan Franzen while I wait


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 6, 2009)

Reading _The Successful Self_ by Australian psychologist Dorothy Rowe. It is quite interesting.


----------



## Blagsta (Oct 6, 2009)

Antonio Damasio - Descartes Error


----------



## sojourner (Oct 6, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> word. YOU HAVE TO READ LOLITA NOW



I've already read it 

I bought a big bound collection of 5 or 6 of his novels for 99p in a charity shop years ago, and Lolita was the first story in it.


----------



## Roadkill (Oct 6, 2009)

Judy Shepard, _The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie and a World Transformed_.

A friend got it for me for my birthday.  Judy Shepard is Matthew Shepard's mother...


----------



## belboid (Oct 6, 2009)

started _Black Swan Green_ last night.  

Dunno why I hadn't done before - except for the fact that the protagonist is only a year younger than me and the whole thing sounds far too familiar to being 13, and who the fuck wants to be reminded of that?


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 6, 2009)

Pieface said:


> Thing is, Norwegian Wood stands out as different to his other books and it's the one that everyone likes the most
> 
> I may read his book on running at some point...



no, everyone except contrarijefe loves wind up bird chronicle.
norwegian wood is too soppy.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 6, 2009)

soppy? it's horrible.

you're weird.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 6, 2009)

yeah, sentimental


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 6, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> yeah, sentimental



it's not sentimental at all, unless you consider any book dealing with relationships to be such.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 6, 2009)

i disagree strongly!


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 6, 2009)

yeh, but you're weird


----------



## Biddlybee (Oct 6, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Might read Strong Motion by Jonathan Franzen while I wait


He the fella that wrote The Corrections?


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 6, 2009)

yep. loved that but not read anything else ofhis


----------



## Biddlybee (Oct 6, 2009)

I didn't realise he'd written anything else.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 6, 2009)

he brought out a collection of articles which i read, but i can't remember anything about it


----------



## ericjarvis (Oct 6, 2009)

Blagsta said:


> Antonio Damasio - Descartes Error



An amazing book. Hard work, but fascinating.

Just finished Ahdad Soueif - The Map Of Love, which was absolutely brilliant. Gets the full five star recommendation. A book that everyone in the British and US governments should have read a decade ago. It might have made them aware of a few lessons of history.


----------



## chooch (Oct 7, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> he brought out a collection of articles which i read, but i can't remember anything about it


I like at least half of these. There are a couple where you want to dent his nose some, but is not bad at all. 



> no, everyone except contrarijefe loves wind up bird chronicle.
> norwegian wood is too soppy.


Norwegian Wood is the only one I like of what I've read. Everything else seems at least a little bollocks. That one gets from start to end without overt wankery, to me.


----------



## chooch (Oct 7, 2009)

Bakunin said:


> he does write a really decent potboiler, IMHO.


He writes what you'd expect the cunt to write. It's cycling proficiency writing, with cones and red borders. 




			
				Dirty Martini said:
			
		

> Finished my re-read of The Radetzky March,
> Go on, y'all. Read it. Used on Scamazon for 31 new pence.


This, on the other hand, would tempt me to give him the keys to the souped-up universe if I had them. He's one of the most subtle writers I've read. Lays it on glaze by glaze.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Oct 7, 2009)

The Bible - by God. 


really.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 7, 2009)

MightyAphrodite said:


> The Bible - by God.
> 
> 
> really.



it was the butler.


----------



## Bakunin (Oct 7, 2009)

Fik Meijer - Gladiators: History's Most Deadly Sport.

Non-fiction for me now, a study of the famous gladiators of Ancient Rome and not a single sighting of Russel Crowe either.

Haven't read it for a while, but I remember it as being an absolutely fascinating read, if a tad gory for some tastes.


----------



## ericjarvis (Oct 7, 2009)

MightyAphrodite said:


> The Bible - by God.
> 
> 
> really.



He used ghostwriters. It's a cheat.

I skipped straight to the ending. It was the horsemen what did it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 7, 2009)

I'd skim the Begats, they're dull.

Job is a laugh a minute. God proper cunts him.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 7, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> I'd skim the Begats, they're dull.
> 
> Job is a laugh a minute. God proper cunts him.



I remember in RE really enjoying the whole Job bit. 

I picked up a copy of Jon Ronson's Them for cheap today. Very odd reading the chapter about Omar Bakri Mohammed, which was written and published some time before 9/11. He's portrayed as an almost lovable comedy fanatic.

also picked up The Crying of Lot 49. It's about time I tackled a Pynchon


----------



## heinous seamus (Oct 7, 2009)

henry miller - tropic of cancer

Not really getting into it.


----------



## llion (Oct 7, 2009)

Richard J.Evans - In Defence of History. It's good, but he's a bit defensive.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 8, 2009)

Still reading 'Ilium'.


----------



## The Octagon (Oct 8, 2009)

Just finished Broken Angels (Richard Morgan).

Didn't enjoy it as much as Altered Carbon, but it was still a page-turner and interesting. 



Spoiler: Broken Angels



I may have been guilty of skim-reading at times, as there were parts where I didn't really 'get' the architecture of the Martian starship or it's weapon exchanges with the 'other' craft.

On the whole, I felt the descriptions weren't as good as in the previous novel.



Onto Woken Furies now....


----------



## tastebud (Oct 8, 2009)

'The girl with the dragon tattoo'..... very addictive so far!


----------



## chooch (Oct 9, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> The Crying of Lot 49.


It's a good one, though much hated 

Witold Gombrowicz _kosmos_. Great so far.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Oct 9, 2009)

Still going with Iain M. Bank's "Excession" - about 2/3 through buty I am finding it really tough going. Can't get interested in the characters or narrative...does it get better those in the know?

I will stick with it but I am finding it hard


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 9, 2009)

finished Ronson's Them, which was quite interesting and quite fun. Now reading Vital Signs, an Ian Penman collection


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 9, 2009)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Still going with Iain M. Bank's "Excession" - about 2/3 through buty I am finding it really tough going. Can't get interested in the characters or narrative...does it get better those in the know?
> 
> I will stick with it but I am finding it hard


i must admit that my prefered strategy for dealing with them kind of books is to just stop reading and take the fucker down the charity shop tbh.


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 9, 2009)

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

the epitome of bleakness

but beautifully written


----------



## big eejit (Oct 9, 2009)

I don't re-read books. Cos there are too many of them. But I might make an exception for The Road. Bloody marvellous.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 10, 2009)

big eejit said:


> I don't re-read books. Cos there are too many of them. But I might make an exception for The Road. Bloody marvellous.



To achieve wisdom and true understanding you *must *re-read.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 10, 2009)

I have finished _Ilium_. Not sure what to read next. Any ideas DC?!


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 10, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> I have finished _Ilium_. Not sure what to read next. Any ideas DC?!



you could move in to the femur


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 10, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> you could move in to the femur



Nutter!


----------



## Bakunin (Oct 10, 2009)

A Killing For The Hawks - Frederick E Smith.

A little lighter reading again, after the non-fiction historical 'swords and sandals' bloodbath that was Fik Meijer's 'Gladiators: The World's Most Deadly Sport.' Written by Frederick E Smith (writer of the famed '633 Squadron' among other works) this one's set in a British fighter squadron fighting over the Western Front in WW1 and is proving surprisingly enjoyable.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 11, 2009)

Wu Ming - 54


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 11, 2009)

is that a book or your tea tonight?










*get's coat*


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 11, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> Wu Ming - 54



Good choice


----------



## Bakunin (Oct 12, 2009)

Back to true crime again for me. I just started 'Mafia: The First 100 Years.'

Read this many times before, but it's always a enjoyable read ad commendably low on the shock factor that a lot of true crime writers seem to go for.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 12, 2009)

chooch said:


> Norman Collins - _London Belongs to Me_. It ain't 'the capital's great vernacular novel'. It's passable, in the places where characters called Percy and Doris don't say things like 'Getcher there in a jiff'.



Yes  Reading this at the moment. It's beginning to swing, a bit, but I'm failing not to attach Arthur and Pauline Fowler's faces to everyone in the book.


----------



## Pieface (Oct 12, 2009)

have stalled on smartypants book  

Bought Grazia yesterday 

fail.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 12, 2009)

what was your smartypants book?


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 12, 2009)

And why aren't you reading Cryptonomicon?


----------



## Pieface (Oct 12, 2009)

I don't have that yet DC.

Smartypants book is If on a Winter's Night a Traveller.  It's funny and all pomo and shit.  My head's all scrambly right now - I can't do cleverclogs.


----------



## Vider (Oct 12, 2009)

humbroldts gift, or whatever it's called, by saul bellow. good, as usual for bellow.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Oct 12, 2009)

I'm reading More Than It Hurts You. The set up was quite good but now it's meandering a bit too much. We'll see.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 13, 2009)

Lord of the Flies - William Golding

Purely because a) the local charity shop had 4 of his books going for about 50p, and b) I've never actually read the book


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 13, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Lord of the Flies - William Golding
> 
> Purely because a) the local charity shop had 4 of his books going for about 50p, and b) I've never actually read the book



I would be interested to know what you make of it.

I'm currently reading Robert Irwin's 'For the Lust of Knowing'. He _really_ doesn't like Edward Said.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 13, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> I would be interested to know what you make of it.
> 
> I'm currently reading Robert Irwin's 'For the Lust of Knowing'. He _really_ doesn't like Edward Said.



Well, I know all about it, I've just never actually read it.  I like the writing,  and I'm interested in the ideas behind it, although I don't think I actually agree with them.  Depends on the circumstances I guess.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 13, 2009)

I thought I knew the book and the story but it wasn't quite what I expected. I hope you enjoy it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 13, 2009)

Did you finish illium or give up in disgust?


----------



## Ms Scarlet (Oct 13, 2009)

I've been reading..' Sum;40 tales from the afterlife' ...really good!!!!


----------



## jeff_leigh (Oct 13, 2009)

The Mammoth Hunters - Jean M Auel


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 13, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Did you finish illium or give up in disgust?



If you had been paying attention you would have seen that I finished it! (just)


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 13, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> I have finished _Ilium_. Not sure what to read next. Any ideas DC?!



Ah!


missed this


Olympos is the sequel to Illium.

Or you could go for 'Sparrow' which is an enchantingly leftfield bit of Sci Fi which is steeped in Catholic stuff and martyrdom etc. Jesuits in space

Maria Doria Russel is the author.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 13, 2009)

I'm not certain that I'll read the sequel to Ilium, but I will have a look at the other book. I have a recommendation for you too - I'll pm you.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 13, 2009)




----------



## May Kasahara (Oct 14, 2009)

S T Joshi - The Modern Weird Tale

His analysis is incredibly flawed and he comes across as a complete twat, but I'm ploughing gamely on as he occasionally makes some interesting points. I think he needs therapy to deal with his deep personal dislike of Stephen King though.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 14, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> I thought I knew the book and the story but it wasn't quite what I expected. I hope you enjoy it.



Yeh, it was a bit of a smart arse comment by me that wasn't it?   I shall read it and get back to you


----------



## DRINK? (Oct 14, 2009)

Cloudsplitter...enjoying it thus far


----------



## belboid (Oct 15, 2009)

belboid said:


> started _Black Swan Green_ last night.
> 
> Dunno why I hadn't done before - except for the fact that the protagonist is only a year younger than me and the whole thing sounds far too familiar to being 13, and who the fuck wants to be reminded of that?



well, finished it, and was finally quite disappointed.  It's all very well written and that, has some lovely touches, but overall, not that exciting. Yes, I know full well that being 13 is geeky and awkward, and that the early eighties were oh so naff in so many ways. 

But more importantly, the ending was crap, and obvious, and frankly almost unbelievable.  Shame.

Moved onto the first Wallander book, _Faceless Killers_.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Oct 16, 2009)

Finished "Excession" - didn't enjoy it as much as other Iain M. Banks stuff but it was still good.

Just started on Val McDermid's "A Darker Domain", saw her interviewed on a BBC4 doc a while ago and thought she spoke very well and as I like police thriller fiction thought I'd give it a go. Shaping up well so far.

Also I like the fact that the protagonist is not athlectic or willowy with soft, tumbling chestnut curls that she tries to keep in check and intelligent yet sensual oval eyes but, as the character describes herself, a "wee fat woman crammed into a Marks and Spencers" suit


----------



## llion (Oct 16, 2009)

Alun Richards - Dai Country. Rereleased classic short stories taken from both Dai Country and The Former Miss Merthyr Tydfil. Two of the best book titles ever IMO! He was a fantastic author, but isn't as well known as he should be - brillliantly crafted, poignant but tangy stories about South Wales between about the 1930s and 1970s.


----------



## marty21 (Oct 16, 2009)

Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo, I've loved his others, but I'm finding this one a bit frustrating, as I don't like one of the main characters, he annoys me


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 16, 2009)

llion said:


> Alun Richards - Dai Country. Rereleased classic short stories taken from both Dai Country and The Former Miss Merthyr Tydfil. Two of the best book titles ever IMO! He was a fantastic author, but isn't as well known as he should be - brillliantly crafted, poignant but tangy stories about South Wales between about the 1930s and 1970s.



Never heard of him before. Sounds interesting.


----------



## nicksonic (Oct 16, 2009)

having just finished 'if this is a man/the truce' by primo levi (based on it getting praise on this thread) i'm now reading 'in search of schrodinger's cat' which is great, if you're into physics/wanting to know how the physical world works (which reading that back is the same thing).


----------



## Ceej (Oct 16, 2009)

Reading 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' by Jonathan Safran Foer. Initially had a bit of trouble with the structure, which is unusual, but I'm right into it now.


----------



## 8115 (Oct 17, 2009)

I'm reading Seamus Heaney's New Selected poems.  I keep looking at very tiny bits when I feel like it.

Dogger, Rockall, Malin, Irish Sea

The man is a genius.


----------



## Bakunin (Oct 17, 2009)

'Lepke: The Life And Times Of America's Foremost Labour Racketeer.'


----------



## ChrisC (Oct 17, 2009)

Pihkal By Alexander and Ann Shulgin.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 18, 2009)

Finished Lord of the Flies this affy

I really enjoyed it.  One thing that really leaped out at me though was the actual Lord of the Flies.  Male.  When the head was from a sow.  Some kind of nod to male religion pinching female religious ideas?  Interesting in a couple of ways actually, from a feminist point of view.

Love how it built to being that scary, even though I knew it was coming.  

I guess readers will ask themselves, as I did, whose group would I join.  And my choice would, unfortunately or otherwise, be the savages.  Anyone else read it?

Your thoughts, fictionist?  There's lots to say about it, stuff I didn't think about before reading it


----------



## belboid (Oct 18, 2009)

decades since I read LotF, so I cant recall it that well, but this might interest you Soj - http://accidentalfeminist.com/2005/12/07/lord-of-the-flies-gender-bender/


----------



## sojourner (Oct 18, 2009)

belboid said:


> decades since I read LotF, so I cant recall it that well, but this might interest you Soj - http://accidentalfeminist.com/2005/12/07/lord-of-the-flies-gender-bender/



Thanks,  ace article .  The sow's head being turned into a Lord was so interesting...they hunted her when she was one of the biggest pigs, and they saw her suckling all the babies.  

The 3 original boys was also interesting.  Holy trinity sort of thing.  And the name Simon, and what happened to him. 

Freud built his theories of psychology on the male, and the writer of that article knows that.  Fuck, it's something really similar to what I would have written myself 

I don't object in the slightest to this being an all-male 'society' - I think that in itself is really interesting.  I reckon a book like that written 20 years later may well have nodded much more substantially to homosexuality 

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would


----------



## belboid (Oct 19, 2009)

belboid said:


> Moved onto the first Wallander book, _Faceless Killers_.



well that was rather cracking. Can't help but picture Kenneth Branagh as Wally, but that didn't detract too much...

Can't decide now between GB84 and The End of Mr Y


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 19, 2009)

I didn't really enjoy the book that much Soj, I didn't feel it had a great deal to say about anything. I felt the possible Simon /Christ juxtaposition was entirely unconvincing, but your point regarding the lack of female characters is thought provoking - would that be the case if the novel had been written today? There was some odd casual racism there too, which I suspect might be defended by some as being entirely symptomatic of the time.


----------



## May Kasahara (Oct 19, 2009)

A Dark Night's Dreaming, eds. Magistrale and Morrison. Essays on some well-known horror writers. Quality is variable, but at least none of them sounds he's writing while someone holds a turd under his nose (yes Joshi, I'm looking at you).


----------



## big eejit (Oct 19, 2009)

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. Written at the time of the Nazi invasion and occupation of France. She died in Auscwhitz in 1942. A remarkably frank account of human frailty, cowardice and treachory - and that's the French. It's not all about weakness tho, there's some fine behaviour, but it is fascinating to read a contemporary story before history airbrushed out the embarrassing / shameful / real bits.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 19, 2009)

Re-reading Peter Watts _Behemoth_ and noticing the heavy emphasis on sadism and sex


----------



## starfish (Oct 19, 2009)

Just starting The Animal Factory by Edward Bunker.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 20, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> I didn't really enjoy the book that much Soj, I didn't feel it had a great deal to say about anything. *I felt the possible Simon /Christ juxtaposition was entirely unconvincing*, but your point regarding the lack of female characters is thought provoking - would that be the case if the novel had been written today? There was some odd casual racism there too, which I suspect might be defended by some as being entirely symptomatic of the time.



But that was just something I thought about - I'm not sure that was actually Golding's aim.  

Does a book HAVE to say anything about anything?  Can it not be just an entertaining story?  For me, it will always be about how the reader receives the story, that's where the joy lies.

Yes, there was some racism in it, most notably use of the word 'nigger' - like you say, it probably was defended as such, but that's what you get if you read older books eh?

My point about it being all-male - I kinda liked that, thought it brought the focus right down on them, and there was a hint at some homosexual behaviour (Roger, in particular - he did 'things' to Samneric that weren't actually talked about, and was also fond of that 'sharpening the stick at both ends' ), but I think had it been written more recently, it would have been more open about that.  

Shame you didn't like it that much.  I surprised myself liking it as much as I did.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 20, 2009)

Sorry Soj the juxtaposition of Christ and Simon has been made before in respect of the book, and appears to be a common reaction amongst educated readers like yourself. I do like your point regarding the lack of the female in the book - it would make for an interesting exploration! Or maybe the female does exist but within the males (Piggy for example?)although this would require an identification of what constitutes the feminine and the masculine and the values attched thereto (which also assumes that such terms or values are fixed?).  

I like to get _something_ out of books, which unfortunately means that a book has to really engage me at some level in order for me to get excited. Some friends often cite this fact as evidence of my inability to read 'for fun', which isn't true.


----------



## belboid (Oct 20, 2009)

belboid said:


> Can't decide now between GB84 and The End of Mr Y



grrr, Mr Y has disappeared somewhere on loan, and mrs b hasn't read GB84 yet, so I can't.

Wilkie Collins _The Woman In White_ for me then.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 20, 2009)

belboid said:


> grrr, Mr Y has disappeared somewhere on loan, and mrs b hasn't read GB84 yet, so I can't.
> 
> Wilkie Collins _The Woman In White_ for me then.



Oh I hated that book!


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 21, 2009)

I finished _London Belongs To Me_ by Norman Collins and, after a fairly dull start, it really hit its stride. As chooch mentioned somewhere on this thread, it's not London's great vernacular novel, but it's fascinating stuff, moving, detailed very funny. If you like characters that go into Lyons's tea emporia and eat potted salmon or, like me, like that build-up-to-the-war atmosphere in fiction, give it a go.


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 21, 2009)

Currently reading Jonathan Coe's Closed Circle, which is pretty poor really.
In the last fortnight have also read

Love In The Time of Cholera - Marquez
The Demon - Hubert Selby Jr
Exotica - David Toop
Bash The Rich - Ian Bone
Collected Short Stories - Ian Bone
Five Miles From Outer Hope - Nicola Barker


----------



## tendril (Oct 21, 2009)

Currently...

Look back in hunger - Jo Brand


----------



## El Jefe (Oct 22, 2009)

finished The Closed Circle. Really quite rubbish - "oh look how our lives are still interacting, but now we have Blair's Britain as a backdrop! Golly - is that a demo?"

meh


----------



## vauxhallmum (Oct 22, 2009)

Hmm, started The End of Mr Y.

I have a feeling I won't be reaching the end. I'm losing it already.


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 23, 2009)

El Jefe said:


> finished The Closed Circle. Really quite rubbish - "oh look how our lives are still interacting, but now we have Blair's Britain as a backdrop! Golly - is that a demo?"
> 
> meh



Did you finish 54?


----------



## Blagsta (Oct 23, 2009)

David Harvey - The Limits to Capital


----------



## sojourner (Oct 24, 2009)

Am halfway through The Inheritors, by William Golding

It's _okay_...I can see what he's doing with the text, the difference and primal feel to it, but he can't half fucking waffle.  Yes, the pond weeds, the weeds, they're trailing, got it


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 24, 2009)

right ho jeeves, pg wodehouse which is genius

and the true believer by eric hoffer. its philosophy and a follow up to his aphorisms one, which ididnt like


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 24, 2009)

Cheesypoof said:


> right ho jeeves, pg wodehouse which is genius
> 
> and the true believer by eric hoffer. its philosophy and a follow up to his aphorisms one, which ididnt like



What happened to 'Mein Kampf'?


----------



## Vintage Paw (Oct 24, 2009)

Reading _Indecision_ by Benjamin Kunkel. Liking it a lot so far.


----------



## lanepe (Oct 25, 2009)

Reading Homicide: A year On The Killing Streets by David Simon, who wrote the HBO series The Wire.

It is aces.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 25, 2009)

it sure is an impressive book. i'm reading the corner, which is by simon and ed burns and that is even more impressive than homicide. it's also rich with people and incidents that inspired many of the stories and characters in the wire.


----------



## lanepe (Oct 25, 2009)

Cheers, I will check that out. 

Loved The Wire, haven't got round to watching The Corner tv series that predated it.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Oct 25, 2009)

lanepe said:


> Loved The Wire, haven't got round to watching The Corner tv series that predated it.



Didn't even know there was a Corner tv series.


----------



## lanepe (Oct 25, 2009)

jeff_leigh said:


> Didn't even know there was a Corner tv series.



Here you go. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corner


----------



## madamv (Oct 25, 2009)

Currently I am reading 'A Special Relationship' by Douglas Kennedy.

Its quite harrowing and very clever of him to write from a female perspective on post natal depression.


----------



## tastebud (Oct 25, 2009)

I'm now reading part two of the millenium series - 'The girl who played with fire'. which i swore i wouldn't do - go straight on to the second one, but they are so good and addictive and lighter than my usual readings, that i am happy i did.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Oct 26, 2009)

Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg -   1976 thriller novel  about a Vietnam veteran who tries to convince his friend that he witnessed a murder.


----------



## ChrisC (Oct 26, 2009)

Still the Mind by Alan Watts.


----------



## vauxhallmum (Oct 27, 2009)

vauxhallmum said:


> Hmm, started The End of Mr Y.
> 
> I have a feeling I won't be reaching the end. I'm losing it already.



Actually I take that back. It's so good I've been up all night reading.


----------



## Blagsta (Oct 27, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> it sure is an impressive book. i'm reading the corner, which is by simon and ed burns and that is even more impressive than homicide. it's also rich with people and incidents that inspired many of the stories and characters in the wire.



I've got that, haven't read it yet though.


----------



## Mr Retro (Oct 27, 2009)

Just finished "The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest" which I really enjoyed. As I said before it could do with a right good edit not least the title which is shit. 

Over here I think the Dutch title is "Men hate Women" but my Dutch is very bad so I'm not sure if thats totally correct


----------



## belboid (Oct 27, 2009)

"The Air Castle that was blown up" according to wiki! with 'air castle' meaning pipe dream

'Girl with the dragon tattoo' is 'men who hate women'


----------



## Mr Retro (Oct 27, 2009)

belboid said:


> "The Air Castle that was blown up" according to wiki! with 'air castle' meaning pipe dream
> 
> 'Girl with the dragon tattoo' is 'men who hate women'



Cheers. Thats a good name for one of the books. Given Men hating Women is the theme throughout the trilogy really.


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 27, 2009)

Just finished Agent Zigzag. Highly recommended yarn of espionage in WW2.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 28, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Am halfway through The Inheritors, by William Golding
> 
> It's _okay_...I can see what he's doing with the text, the difference and primal feel to it, but he can't half fucking waffle.  Yes, the pond weeds, the weeds, they're trailing, got it



Finished this last night, and it definitely improved over the second half, came together.  

He tries to provide the missing link story basically, and it works quite well.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 29, 2009)

jg ballard - complete short stories - wow, there are a lot of them!


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Oct 29, 2009)

Necronomicon, The Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft.

Short horror stories, some of which are quite strange.


----------



## goldenecitrone (Oct 29, 2009)

The Life of Kingsley Amis. Interesting fellow.


----------



## llion (Oct 29, 2009)

Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose. I've avoided seeing the film over the years which makes it even more exciting to read!


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 29, 2009)

llion said:


> Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose. I've avoided seeing the film over the years which makes it even more exciting to read!


enjoy. i think it's a dense but absorbing read


----------



## starfish (Oct 29, 2009)

Have just started reading Moon Palace by Paul Auster


----------



## ericjarvis (Oct 29, 2009)

The Quantity Theory Of Insanity, short stories by Will Self.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 30, 2009)

Started The Pyramid by William Golding last night.  Promising start.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 30, 2009)

Ohhh, now _that's_ interesting...have just read on wiki that Golding was mates with James Lovelock, and it was Golding that suggested using 'Gaia' for his theory


----------



## Fictionist (Oct 30, 2009)

llion said:


> Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose. I've avoided seeing the film over the years which makes it even more exciting to read!



The film doesn't do justice to the book, so a real treat awaits.


----------



## Bakunin (Oct 30, 2009)

Frederick Forsyth - The Dogs Of War.

I've read it many times before, but it's an enjoyable read.


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 30, 2009)

Bakunin said:


> Frederick Forsyth - The Dogs Of War.
> 
> I've read it many times before, but it's an enjoyable read.



I've read a good few Forsyth but not that one. I think Forsyth is a bit underrated as an author, probably because the type of book he writes is classed as "popular fiction". I still maintain that The Day of the Jackal is one of the best books I have ever read.


----------



## Bakunin (Oct 30, 2009)

colbhoy said:


> I've read a good few Forsyth but not that one. I think Forsyth is a bit underrated as an author, probably because the type of book he writes is classed as "popular fiction". I still maintain that The Day of the Jackal is one of the best books I have ever read.



I'm quite a Forsyth fan, I must admit. He manages to write books with immense detail while still keeping the reader engaged and not feeling bogged down in facts and figures. That's quite a talent when you consider the depth of detail he goes into.

And the The Day Of The Jackal is a class read, it was Forsyth's first novel and was turned down by several publishers when he offered it to them, much to their later regret I should think.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 30, 2009)

I'm reading a book about the Chechens.


----------



## Leica (Oct 31, 2009)

I'm reading Small g by Patricia Highsmith.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 31, 2009)

the death of bunny munro by nick cave, which the missus got me as an anniversary pressie, enjoying it so far


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 31, 2009)

gee, such a romantic book to give for an anniversary present


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 31, 2009)

innit  do you think she's trying to tell me something?!


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 31, 2009)

i hope not, considering how it starts. well, considering everything else.
maybe you should give her a copy of irreversible next year?


----------



## nicksonic (Nov 1, 2009)

stone junction by jim dodge. i'm only about 30 pages in so far but it's started off really well and i like his writing style.


----------



## ericjarvis (Nov 1, 2009)

Last House In The Galaxy by Andy Secombe. Silly but fun.


----------



## ChrisC (Nov 1, 2009)

Overcoming Depression by Paul Gilbert.


----------



## temper_tantrum (Nov 1, 2009)

'How The Ocean Works: An Introduction to Oceanography' by Mark Denny.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 2, 2009)

_Put Out More Flags_ by Evelyn Waugh


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 2, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> _Put Out More Flags_ by Evelyn Waugh



I've not read that though I enjoyed the pre-cursors to it. 

let us know if it's any good


----------



## pootle (Nov 2, 2009)

A Haynes manual - the bike book in a vain attempt to teach myself some basic maintenance skillz


----------



## spirals (Nov 2, 2009)

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski


----------



## andy2002 (Nov 2, 2009)

Close to finishing Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts


----------



## D'wards (Nov 2, 2009)

spirals said:


> House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski



I love this book, unique it is

Just started Modern Ranch Living by Mark Poirier - love it already - his characters are so rich and style so funny.


----------



## maya (Nov 3, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> jg ballard - complete short stories - wow, there are a lot of them!


^ Just received this in the post! Great read... And the book itself weighs a ton!


----------



## tar1984 (Nov 3, 2009)

I'm reading GB84 by David Pearce.  Not too keen on his writing style but interesting subject matter (the miners strikes).

Just finished Irvine Welsh's latest offering "Reheated Cabbage".  It's not new material, but unpublished short stories from earlier in his career.  Quite enjoyed it.  There's one new story, a novella, which re-introduces the legend that is Juice Terry.


----------



## andy2002 (Nov 3, 2009)

Just started re-reading Judas Pig by Horace Silver.


----------



## ChrisC (Nov 3, 2009)

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Life and Living by the Dalai Lama.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 4, 2009)

rubbershoes said:


> I've not read that though I enjoyed the pre-cursors to it.
> 
> let us know if it's any good



Thoroughly enjoyed it -- then again, I always enjoy Waugh. I like the glimpses of melancholy and heart in among the great jokes and the viciousness 

---

Now starting _Child of All Nations_ by Irmgard Keun.


----------



## live_jayeola (Nov 5, 2009)

Major piece of work! "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" great read by S Larrson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_with_the_Dragon_Tattoo


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 5, 2009)

Finished _Child of All Nations_, which was great. A story of exiled Germans in 30s Europe through the eyes of a 9-year-old child.

Now something completely different: _Jeeves In The Offing_.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 7, 2009)

_The Discovery of France_ by Graham Robb.


----------



## ericjarvis (Nov 7, 2009)

Wuthering Heights.

I hadn't realised how far ahead of its time it was. Terrific.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 7, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> _The Discovery of France_ by Graham Robb.



that's a great read!


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 7, 2009)

I'm not reading at the moment. The _mojo_ has gone.


----------



## Signal 11 (Nov 7, 2009)

I've just finished _Red Mars_ by Kim Stanley Robinson. Really enjoyed it and will definitely be reading the other two.


----------



## Infidel Castro (Nov 7, 2009)

I'm reading _The Damnation Game_ by the feller Clive Barker.  First Barker book I've read and it's not a bad read.  It's even got sex in it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 7, 2009)

I've just started The Prince by Machiavelli. See how far I get


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 7, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> I've just started The Prince by Machiavelli. See how far I get



I found it quite tedious, but I am glad that I read it. You _might _enjoy it.


----------



## Zeppo (Nov 7, 2009)

The Road Cormac McCarthy just started looks good.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 7, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> that's a great read!



Am enjoying it


----------



## madamv (Nov 7, 2009)

Loads of books over the last couple of pages are great reads.

I have just finished 'The Woman in the Fifth' by Douglas Kennedy.  Its my third of his on the trot so I feel a different read is needed.

Anyone read 'Morrissey and Marr' by Johnny Rogan?  I was bought it when it came out but havent read it yet.  It seems very detailed


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 7, 2009)

madamv said:


> Anyone read 'Morrissey and Marr' by Johnny Rogan?  I was bought it when it came out but havent read it yet.  It seems very detailed



I've read his biography of The Byrds. It is _very _detailed


----------



## nicksonic (Nov 8, 2009)

'stone junction' by jim dodge was excellent. i'd love to describe it but i can't. 420 pages, read it in a week, check out the reviews on amazon.

next - 'skeleton crew' by stephen king.


----------



## ericjarvis (Nov 8, 2009)

Signal 11 said:


> I've just finished _Red Mars_ by Kim Stanley Robinson. Really enjoyed it and will definitely be reading the other two.



Conincidentally I just ordered a copy of that. I read Green Mars a while back, and I've long meant to go back to the beginning and read them all in the right order.


----------



## Voley (Nov 8, 2009)

Tom Wolfe - 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'

Mixed feelings about it so far. Writing style's pretty dated and Kesey and the people it seeks to glorify sound like the sort of people that would piss me off hugely if I met them. Interesting document of the times, though. Probably hasn't aged that well, this one.


----------



## madamv (Nov 8, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> I've read his biography of The Byrds. It is _very _detailed



Hmm, I have just started it last night and it took half an hour to read the preface and forward    Still, I hope I will get into it quickly and then I will grateful for the attention to detail.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 8, 2009)

Elmore Leonard - The Hot Kid

Loving the dialogue, and the writing, although fairly simple, is massively effective 

Must read some more of his stuff


----------



## Bakunin (Nov 8, 2009)

Executioner: Chronicles Of A Victorian Hangman.

A biography of Victorian hangman James Berry, whose major claim to fame was, ironically enough, being the hangman at the failed execution of John 'Babbacombe' Lee who was known afterwards as 'the man they couldn't hang.'


----------



## ericjarvis (Nov 8, 2009)

Brecht on Theatre.


----------



## llion (Nov 8, 2009)

Still reading 'The Name of the Rose' and thoroughly enjoying it. How clever/erudite in Umberto Eco? Apparetnly Eco has a collection of 30,000 books in one house and 20,000 books in another house! Think he manages to reference a good few thousand of them in this one book.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 8, 2009)

glad you're enjoying it, i think its a wonderful read.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 8, 2009)

llion said:


> Still reading 'The Name of the Rose' and thoroughly enjoying it. How clever/erudite in Umberto Eco? Apparetnly Eco has a collection of 30,000 books in one house and 20,000 books in another house! Think he manages to reference a good few thousand of them in this one book.



you may find this of interest:
http://ruchir75.blogspot.com/2008/01/umberto-ecos-anti-library.html


----------



## llion (Nov 8, 2009)

Thanks for the above link, it's a really interesting extract. Are Eco's other novels equally worth reading?


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 8, 2009)

name of the rose is brilliant.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 8, 2009)

fuck yes! foucault's pendulum is pure joy and the island of the day before is mesmerising. i haven't read his others. he's an author i feel i have to save up for.


----------



## llion (Nov 8, 2009)

I think I might give Foucault's Pendulum a go after Name of the Rose. I wonder if Eco was friends with Foucault himself?


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 8, 2009)

not the foucault referenced in the title - i suppose he may have been acquainted with the latter foucault


----------



## bi0boy (Nov 8, 2009)

Mieville's The Scar. 

I'm liking it more than Perdido Street Station. So much so that I might go straight on to Iron Council rather than resume the abandoned Revelation Space (which I temporarily mislaid after page 29 )


----------



## llion (Nov 8, 2009)

Aha, didn't realise the tiltle referred to another Foucault! Sounds v interesting.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Nov 9, 2009)

Feersum Endjinn - I am back on Iain M. Banks - and am enjoying it


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 9, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Elmore Leonard - The Hot Kid
> 
> Loving the dialogue, and the writing, although fairly simple, is massively effective
> 
> Must read some more of his stuff



I love Elmore Leonard 

I'd recommend _Swag_ as about the funniest crime novel ever written


----------



## sojourner (Nov 9, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> I love Elmore Leonard
> 
> I'd recommend _Swag_ as about the funniest crime novel ever written



  I'll look out for that.  Wasn't expecting it to be so good tbh - just picked it up second hand thinking it would do for a lazy read, but am really impressed!


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 9, 2009)

Leonard's an American classic


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Nov 9, 2009)

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 12, 2009)

Finished _T__he Discovery of France_, which I enjoyed very much. A great story, great stories, witty. My only (slight) problem with it is that the claim made that somehow France was a particular case in the way it came together and 'discovered itself' isn't fully developed. I don't know, but it seems to me that similar processes would have gone on in Italy, for example. Some more comparisons with the development of Britain would have been instructive too. It's really a social history of the French provinces, but a very good one.

Now I'm halfway through _Against Happiness_ by Eric G Wilson, about the benefits of melancholia


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 12, 2009)

urb said:


> Good Omens - Terry Pratchett



AND niel gaiman.


everyone always forgets niel


----------



## belboid (Nov 12, 2009)

especially his brother, Neil.


----------



## fogbat (Nov 12, 2009)

_The Woman in White_, Wilkie Collins.

I loved the Moonstone, and TWIW is going pretty well, too.


----------



## Blagsta (Nov 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> fuck yes! foucault's pendulum is pure joy



Really?  I found it quite dull when I tried to read it several years ago.


----------



## belboid (Nov 12, 2009)

fogbat said:


> _The Woman in White_, Wilkie Collins.
> 
> I loved the Moonstone, and TWIW is going pretty well, too.



I started that a week or two back, just haven't been able to get into it so far, tho mrs b insists I really really must.

I'll persevere.


----------



## Lo Siento. (Nov 12, 2009)

Hernan Casciari, "España, Perdiste." Quite funny actually.


----------



## belboid (Nov 12, 2009)

Blagsta said:


> Really?  I found it quite dull when I tried to read it several years ago.



well you are quite wrong!  It's one of the most entertaining books I've ever read, hilarious in places.  Probably my favouritest book, the load of old intellectual masturbation that it is.


----------



## Blagsta (Nov 12, 2009)

belboid said:


> well you are quite wrong!  It's one of the most entertaining books I've ever read, hilarious in places.  Probably my favouritest book, the load of old intellectual masturbation that it is.



Hmmmm, maybe I should try again, although I think I gave my copy to charity when I moved last.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 12, 2009)

I'd rate it as the best book I read this year tbf.

Makes an excellent compare/contrast with Illuminatus!


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 12, 2009)

The fall of Constantinople -Stephen Runciman

not many laughs in it so far


----------



## sojourner (Nov 12, 2009)

Blagsta said:


> Really?  I found it quite dull when I tried to read it several years ago.



So did I, threw it back on the bookshelves before I'd even got a third of the way through

Not throwing it out mind, will return to it at some point


----------



## TruXta (Nov 12, 2009)

McMafia by Misha Glenny. It rather shines through that the authors is a journo (ie. not the best stylist), but the man does know what he's talking about. And what he is talking about is pretty fucked up. Highly recommended non-fic.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 13, 2009)

Manituana - Wu Ming


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 13, 2009)

Finished _Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy_ by Eric G Wilson, which was a good laugh but, though it's only a short book, it did go on a bit. It also tipped over into misanthropy on enough occasions. It's very much a polemic against 'American happiness', written for his students (he's an English professor) and arguing, in the end, for literature as a way out of the grind of late capitalism and the commercial imperatives of the university. In that, it's a bit like _Why Read?_ by Mark Edmundson, which is the better book I think.

Anyway, now I'm reading _The Film Explainer_ by Gert Hofmann.


----------



## Voley (Nov 13, 2009)

NVP said:


> Tom Wolfe - 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'



Gave up on this. Fucking hippy wankers. 

Now reading 'Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets', David Simon's book that eventually got adapted into The Wire. Very very good so far.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 13, 2009)

NVP said:


> Now reading 'Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets', David Simon's book that eventually got adapted into The Wire. Very very good so far.



Brilliant book that - I absolutely loved it, was gutted when I finished it.


----------



## ericjarvis (Nov 13, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> AND niel gaiman.
> 
> 
> everyone always forgets niel



Nobody forgets Neil. Half the population of the world know Neil Gaiman. There are tribes in deepest Amazonia that have had almost no contact with the rest of the world where several people regularly regale everyone with stories of the evening they spent on the piss with Neil Gaiman. When we finally make contact with an alien civilisation their second question will be "How's Neil? Haven't seen him in months." *

* Their first question will be "Is that Thatcher bitch dead yet?"


----------



## no-no (Nov 13, 2009)

Just finished - Let the right one in. They left a lot of the nastier stuff out of the film and also some of the explanations of how the vampirism works and spreads which somehow makes it less believable.

The ending for the Hakan character is horrific in the film, hard to believe he has an even worse time in the book.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 14, 2009)

Gregor Von Rezzori - Memoirs of an Anti-Semite

(Alongside the Wu Ming)


----------



## 5t3IIa (Nov 14, 2009)

_Nothing_. Not even bought the paper today


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 14, 2009)

5t3IIa said:


> _Nothing_. Not even bought the paper today



Will this become permanent?!


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 16, 2009)

The _Film Explainer_ was good and kind of strange.

_The Corrections_ by J Franzen


----------



## belboid (Nov 16, 2009)

David Peace, GB84.  Pretty good so far.


----------



## fogbat (Nov 16, 2009)

Just finished The Virgin of Flames, by Chris Abani. Which I mainly bought because of the awesome Mexican folk-art style Virgin Mary image on the cover.

I've not yet decided whether it's brilliant, or drivel


----------



## starfish (Nov 16, 2009)

Matter by Iain M Banks. This may take me a while.


----------



## quimcunx (Nov 16, 2009)

Bad Science, Ben Goldacre. 

Interesting.


----------



## Bakunin (Nov 16, 2009)

I've nearly finished Sharpe's Escape by Bernard Cornwell and will soon be starting on The Complete Guide To Asperger's Syndrome.


----------



## quimcunx (Nov 16, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> AND niel gaiman.
> 
> 
> everyone always forgets niel



I've read Good Omens.  I came away thinking I would have preferred it had one or other of them written it.  Or, even better, we got a book from each instead of one between them. 

Not to say I didn't enjoy it.


----------



## ChrisC (Nov 16, 2009)

Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist.


----------



## nicksonic (Nov 17, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> _The Corrections_ by J Franzen



i really liked this.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 17, 2009)

nicksonic said:


> i really liked this.



It's slipping down nicely and has had me doubled up with laughter on the bus; but the fact that it's yet another relentlessly ironic portrait of a late-20th century dysfunctional family written by another smart young American means that I'm struggling to get anything more than a comfort read out of it (and some good jokes).

Maybe I should reserve judgement though, I'm only a third of the way through.


----------



## nicksonic (Nov 18, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> It's slipping down nicely and has had me doubled up with laughter on the bus; but the fact that it's yet another relentlessly ironic portrait of a late-20th century dysfunctional family written by another smart young American means that I'm struggling to get anything more than a comfort read out of it (and some good jokes).
> 
> Maybe I should reserve judgement though, I'm only a third of the way through.



i was going to recommend 'empire falls' by richard russo but it sounds like you may have already read that, or wouldn't be keen. it's def worth reading if you haven't


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 18, 2009)

The Stuff of thought- Steve Pinker. Good enough to have kept me off of the net all day


----------



## mentalchik (Nov 19, 2009)

Stealing Light - Gary Gibson.......picked it up in the library and am muchly enjoying it !


----------



## nicksonic (Nov 19, 2009)

'bad science' by ben goldacre, which is very good.

i have most of december off so after that it'll be 'the lord of the rings'


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 19, 2009)

Just finished The Fall of Constantinople by Stephen Runciman


In case anyone else is reading it, I won't say what happens


----------



## miledorcha (Nov 19, 2009)

The Loch Fisher's Bible by Stan Headley and Mr Toppit by Charles Elton.


----------



## llion (Nov 19, 2009)

Glyn Jones - The Learning Lark. Fascinating novel written in 1960 by a former teacher, who was also a brilliant poet and short story writer, about his experiences teaching at a secondary school in South Wales area in the 1950s.


----------



## Norse Goddess (Nov 22, 2009)

The Adult Gap yr Book


----------



## sojourner (Nov 23, 2009)

I FINALLY got round to finishing the Elmore Leonard book (too bloody tired to read mid-week, as fall asleep far too quickly, and if I can't read for at least an hour I get pissed off) - brilliant, loved it.  Have ordered Swag on Dirty Martini's recommendation 

Started Andrea Levy's Small Island yesterday.  Promising start.  Problem is though that I've just ordered a fuckton of Larry McMurtry books, so will I be able to resist diving into them when they arrive?


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 23, 2009)

Finished _The Corrections_, which was mostly ok, occasionally great, but fell away really strangely halfway through and became another book, plodding and explanatory -- almost like the Cliff Notes for the first half. Several of the characters seem to take 180-degree turns in personality in the course of the book, which might have had something to do with the whole idea of 'correction' that runs through it, but made it all strangely disjointed. It's pretty much always interesting, but hyped beyond its merits, this one. By no means a 'great' novel.

Now halfway through _The One From The Other_ by Philip Kerr, the first Bernie Gunther novel I've read.



nicksonic said:


> i was going to recommend 'empire falls' by richard russo but it sounds like you may have already read that, or wouldn't be keen. it's def worth reading if you haven't



Not read that, will check it out


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Nov 23, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Finished _The Corrections_, which was mostly ok, occasionally great, but fell away really strangely halfway through and became another book, plodding and explanatory -- almost like the Cliff Notes for the first half. Several of the characters seem to take 180-degree turns in personality in the course of the book, which might have had something to do with the whole idea of 'correction' that runs through it, but made it all strangely disjointed. It's pretty much always interesting, but hyped beyond its merits, this one. By no means a 'great' novel.
> 
> *Now halfway through The One From The Other by Philip Kerr, the first Bernie Gunther novel I've read.*
> 
> ...



Hope you are enjoying it - I have just started "If The Dead Rise Not" which is the latest Bernie Gunther novel. 

I am thinking of re-reading the original Berlin Noir trilogy as it is years and years since I first read them, I am a bit of a fan of Philip Kerr - both his sci-fi stuff and the Bernie Gunther books


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 23, 2009)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Hope you are enjoying it - I have just started "If The Dead Rise Not" which is the latest Bernie Gunther novel.
> 
> I am thinking of re-reading the original Berlin Noir trilogy as it is years and years since I first read them, I am a bit of a fan of Philip Kerr - both his sci-fi stuff and the Bernie Gunther books



I'm enjoying it a lot. I'll definitely be getting the trilogy at some point 

The only other Kerr I've read is _A Philosophical Investigation_, which I remember liking, but I can't recall much more about it.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 23, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Have ordered Swag on Dirty Martini's recommendation







sojourner said:


> fuckton



Is this collective noun in the big OED? If not, why not?


----------



## toblerone3 (Nov 23, 2009)

Is Bernie Gunther the writer the same Bernie Gunther that posts on Urban?


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 23, 2009)

toblerone3 said:


> Is Bernie Gunther the writer the same Bernie Gunther that posts on Urban?



B Gunther is the name of the detective. I'm guessing urban's Bernie is a fan of the series


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Nov 23, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> I'm enjoying it a lot. I'll definitely be getting the trilogy at some point
> 
> The only other Kerr I've read is _A Philosophical Investigation_, which I remember liking, but I can't recall much more about it.



"Dark Matter" which is a historical thriller about Sir Issac Newton is very good.

Also if you like good solid undemanding sci-fi entertainment "Gridiron", about a 'smart' building which goes wrong and starts to kill its inhabitants, is great  It gets some iffy reviews on amazon but I love it!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gridiron-Philip-Kerr/dp/0099594315


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 23, 2009)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "Dark Matter" which is a historical thriller about Sir Issac Newton is very good.
> 
> Also if you like good solid undemanding sci-fi entertainment "Gridiron", about a 'smart' building which goes wrong and starts to kill its inhabitants, is great  It gets some iffy reviews on amazon but I love it!
> 
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gridiron-Philip-Kerr/dp/0099594315



The Newton one looks interesting and _Gridiron _sounds familiar. I wonder if I've read it and forgotten having done so


----------



## nicksonic (Nov 24, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Finished _The Corrections_, which was mostly ok, occasionally great, but fell away really strangely halfway through and became another book, plodding and explanatory -- almost like the Cliff Notes for the first half.



from what i remember it certainly tailed off when they got on the boat, i enjoyed it overall.

let me know what you think of 'empire falls' if you get round to reading it


----------



## Dirty Martini (Nov 24, 2009)

Finished _The One From The Other_, which was great, elegantly plotted and exciting. I want to read more B Gunther mysteries.

Now I've started _Lanark_ by Alasdair Gray, which I've put off for long enough.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 24, 2009)

Just finished J.M Coetzee's 'Foe'. Looking at Bolano next.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 24, 2009)

i have a pile of books in front of me and i don't know what to pick. i may have to start a thread so i don't have to decide.


----------



## belboid (Nov 24, 2009)

read the third one down.

or one with an orange cover


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 24, 2009)

3rd one down is letters of kingsley amis
orange one is stephen king's cell


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 24, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i have a pile of books in front of me and i don't know what to pick. i may have to start a thread so i don't have to decide.


----------



## Stobart Stopper (Nov 24, 2009)

Just bought A Different Drummer, the life of the ballet choreographer Sir Kenneth Macmillan. It's a massive book but he had an incredible life so there's a lot to fit in; I can't wait to get stuck kin to this one.


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 25, 2009)

2666 - Roberto Bolano


----------



## sojourner (Nov 26, 2009)

The Wire: Truth Be Told, by Rafael Alvarez, with an intro by David Simon

took delivery of this yesterday and despite my best intentions to continue the book I have only just started, I gave in immediately and started reading this instead 

I think I might be delving into another new arrival too this weekend - Larry McMurtry - Dead Man's Walk, which is the prequel to Lonesome Dove


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Nov 26, 2009)

The Elements of Style - Strunk & White

Because I sometimes make mistakes.


----------



## ericjarvis (Nov 26, 2009)

Just put down:

Bill Drummond - 45

Just picked up:

Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars


----------



## ChrisC (Nov 26, 2009)

Transform Your Life by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso


----------



## Fictionist (Nov 26, 2009)

Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe

Have to read this again after Coetzee, and it makes quite a contrast from the Bolano at the same time.


----------



## llion (Nov 26, 2009)

Philip Hensher - The Northern Clemency. Very long but very readable family epic about Sheffield from around the early seventies to mid nineties. The period detail about the Seventies in particular is impeccable without being too nostalgic/weren't Spacehoppers brilliant. Interesting chunk about the miners strike/Orgreave as well.


----------



## Blagsta (Nov 26, 2009)

The Corner by David Simon & Ed Burns.

A year in the life of the drug markets in Baltimore, written by the authors of The Wire.  Heartbreaking.


----------



## The Octagon (Dec 1, 2009)

Just finished Black Man (Richard Morgan) last night, not really sure I've fully digested it all yet though. 

Overall, interesting ideas (which seem plausible for the most part) and some semi-intelligent racial / sexual politics thrown in too. Yet again there were some unnecessary / dubious sex scenes, which seem to crop up every single time Morgan writes a book and they just slow the story down IMO.

Not his best but still readable - 6/10


----------



## Pie 1 (Dec 1, 2009)

William Boyd's Ordinary Thunderstorms.

Quite John le Carre-ish in direction this time - a straight up thriller as such (big pharma conpiracy too) , but still the distinctive literary style & hallmarks of Boyd. 

He's just such a fucking brilliant story teller - I literally cannot put the fucker down


----------



## A. Spies (Dec 1, 2009)

Have been reading A case of Conscience by James Blish, about a scientist/catholic who visits an alien planet where they abid by earths ethical rules perfectly without faith and how he deals with it/what follows. Good for the way his faith leads him to such a radically different understanding of events than the atheists.
Apparentley it lead the chruch to disclose its policy on extraterrestrials as well.
8/10


----------



## live_jayeola (Dec 1, 2009)

David Brin "Sundiver" sci-fi


----------



## nicksonic (Dec 2, 2009)

finished 'bad science' which i thought was excellent.

now i've started 'lord of the rings', last read it when the 3rd film came out in 2003.


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 2, 2009)

Still reading the Bolano. It can never be described as fast paced!


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Dec 3, 2009)

I'm reading Medicine's Strangest Cases. 
I got totally stuck in Sense and Sensibility. I really like that book but for some reason I just couldn't get through it.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 3, 2009)

Live and Let Die. Crikey; it's quite racist


----------



## llion (Dec 3, 2009)

Sex and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll: The Life of Ian Dury by Richard Balls. Excellent biography so far, unpretentiously written, very well researched. Does a very good job of conveying what a complex character Dury was and how his difficult childhood experiences shaped his character.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 3, 2009)

charles mackay - extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds - interesting and perpetually relevant - there was no golden age: humanity has always as stupid as it is now.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Dec 3, 2009)

Finished _Lanark_, which I loved. Raw, full-blooded and a brilliant amalgam of autobiography and politics written beautifully with great love. A great novel that just works.

I followed that with _The Seventh Well_ by Fred Wander, which is a short novel based on the author's experiences in 20 Nazi camps until liberation at Buchenwald. Quite stunning about the cameraderie of the camps and the attempt to keep some kind of awareness of the outside world alive in the most appalling circumstances. Great, too, on how ordinary German citizens brought themselves to commit their baroque crimes.

Now it's _Nazi Germany and the Jews_ by Saul Friedlander. Cheery stuff.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 4, 2009)

Finished The Wire: Truth be Told last night, and read the first few pages of Larry McMurtry - Dead Man's Walk, which is the prequel to Lonesome Dove.  

However, I have just been dipping into something I found completely by accident on Amazon - 'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea' by Kim Cooper.  A tiny little book, detailing the background to the band members, how it all kicked off, and presumably analysing the actual album.

I thought it might be a bit of a hagiography, but it isn't.  Chuffed I found it


----------



## belboid (Dec 4, 2009)

aah, just ordered the Wire book for me sis (and myself after her) - it is good then is it?


----------



## sojourner (Dec 4, 2009)

belboid said:


> aah, just ordered the Wire book for me sis (and myself after her) - it is good then is it?



Well, it's _okay_, but I thought there might be a bit more depth to it.

There's an awful lot of 'Episode Guide', which was just rehashing episodes, although they did clear up a few minor points for me, that even after 2 viewings of all seasons I still hadn't actually worked out.

Also a teeny tiny point of interest about Omar's whistle, which I won't spoil for you 

The interviews are good though, and the articles by various writers, set/location designers, and actors.  

I picked it up for about 7 quid on amazon, but there's no way I'd have paid the full book price of £20, put it that way.


----------



## belboid (Dec 4, 2009)

twenty squids??!!  christ no, mine was £9.

Better get sis something else as well to top it up if it aint tht hot tho...


----------



## sojourner (Dec 4, 2009)

belboid said:


> twenty squids??!!  christ no, mine was £9.
> 
> Better get sis something else as well to top it up if it aint tht hot tho...



She might like it as it is though, eh?

Has she read Homicide?


----------



## fractionMan (Dec 4, 2009)

Peace and War


----------



## sojourner (Dec 4, 2009)

fractionMan said:


> Peace and War



is that the prequel to War and Peace?


----------



## belboid (Dec 4, 2009)

sojourner said:


> She might like it as it is though, eh?
> 
> Has she read Homicide?



oh yeah, and The Corner. Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters will be her other one I'm guessing.

You copme across 'Reading "Six Feet Under"'?  Very interestng look at that prime bit of telly, proper analysis n stuff.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 4, 2009)

belboid said:


> You copme across 'Reading "Six Feet Under"'?  Very interestng look at that prime bit of telly, proper analysis n stuff.



Nah - am still finishing off Season 4 at the mo, so will hold off on reading owt until finish off S5

But ta - once I have done, I'll look out for that


----------



## quimcunx (Dec 4, 2009)

Night Train to Lisbon. 

Pascal Mercier.


----------



## marty21 (Dec 6, 2009)

the last kingdom - bernard cornwell, enjoying it


----------



## Urbanblues (Dec 7, 2009)

Just finished 'Germinal' by Zola. Absolutely incredible. Only another 18 to read in the Rougon-Macquart series, having already read 'Nana'.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 7, 2009)

"Live and Let Die". Unfortunately, some very suspect views on black people


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 7, 2009)

Still working through Bolano and about to finish 'Robinson Crusoe'.


----------



## little_legs (Dec 7, 2009)

Summertime by Coetzee. Good book.


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Dec 7, 2009)

I'm about half way through Court of the Red Tsar in just over a week. Not bad going when it's been on a shelf gathering dust for the past year or so. I can almost remember four or five Russian/Georgian names now


----------



## live_jayeola (Dec 8, 2009)

jer said:


> "Live and Let Die". Unfortunately, some very suspect views on black people



like? not read the book before.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Dec 9, 2009)

Simon Ings
The Eye: A Natural History


----------



## soluble duck (Dec 9, 2009)

Just finished In Cold Blood by Capote which was excellent...

Just started a big old biography from the mid eighties of David Bowie called 'Alias'


----------



## sojourner (Dec 10, 2009)

soluble duck said:


> Just finished In Cold Blood by Capote which was excellent...



Yeh, I really liked that when I read it too

Think it's one I'll read again at some point


----------



## Dirty Martini (Dec 10, 2009)

I've been ill so have spent most of the time reading.

_Nazi Germany and The Jews_ by Saul Friedlander, which was a strong read, a good overview, but sails close to Goldhagen a few times.

Re-read _Ordinary Men_ by Christopher Browning, which I now realise is more than good, it's great.

_Uncommon Danger_ by Eric Ambler, a cracking late-30s spy thriller, probably the best I've read (but I haven't read a lot of spy stuff).

Now it's _Little Man, What Now?_ by Hans Fallada.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Dec 10, 2009)

soluble duck said:


> Just finished In Cold Blood by Capote which was excellent...



The number of times I've picked that up, then gone for something else.


----------



## maya (Dec 10, 2009)

The Story Of Reading by Alberto Manguel(sp?). Non-fiction, about... the story of reading. Looks nice so far. 

And Matter by Iain M. Banks which I've tried to finish for years now, but loses interest after a few minutes, not sure why (have read all the other books, perhaps this just wasn't a book for me).


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 10, 2009)

The Tell Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe


----------



## soluble duck (Dec 11, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> The number of times I've picked that up, then gone for something else.



Yeh, I mean there was a lot of hype about it, particularly because that film came out a few years ago, which was also very good, but it is a really well written book. It reads like a fiction except you know that he has researched it to the finest detail, although there are some bits where he has spruced some things up.

I would recommend you give it go


----------



## belboid (Dec 11, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> The number of times I've picked that up, then gone for something else.



read it next time!  It really is a superb book, Harper Lee's best.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Dec 11, 2009)

soluble duck said:


> Yeh, I mean there was a lot of hype about it, particularly because that film came out a few years ago, which was also very good, but it is a really well written book. It reads like a fiction except you know that he has researched it to the finest detail, although there are some bits where he has spruced some things up.
> 
> I would recommend you give it go



Ok, next time 



belboid said:


> read it next time!  It really is a superb book, Harper Lee's best.





Is there a Salinger/Pynchon thing going on here?


----------



## ericjarvis (Dec 11, 2009)

Richard Morgan - Woken Furies


----------



## belboid (Dec 11, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Is there a Salinger/Pynchon thing going on here?



reclusivity???  

Naah, there is talk amongst the literati*  that the truth is that Lee wrote In Cold Blood whilst Capote actually wrote Mockingbird.



*my big bro


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Dec 11, 2009)

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens


----------



## Dirty Martini (Dec 12, 2009)

belboid said:


> reclusivity???
> 
> Naah, there is talk amongst the literati*  that the truth is that Lee wrote In Cold Blood whilst Capote actually wrote Mockingbird.
> 
> ...



That Pynchon was/is Salinger rumour that was around for years. Didn't know about the Lee/Capote thing


----------



## Urbanblues (Dec 13, 2009)

'The Plague' - Albert Camus.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Dec 13, 2009)

The Plains of Passage - Jean M Auel


----------



## Dirty Martini (Dec 15, 2009)

Finished _Little Man, What Now?_ by Hans Fallada. It became fascinating after a slow start -- white collar poverty and despair in Weimar Germany. Pretty leaden translation though.


----------



## ericjarvis (Dec 15, 2009)

Elmore Leonard - Maximum Bob.

Fantastic book. Almost as bizarre as a Carl Hiaassen novel. Must be something in the water in Florida.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 15, 2009)

The Road - Cormac McCarthy


----------



## sojourner (Dec 15, 2009)

ericjarvis said:


> Elmore Leonard - Maximum Bob.
> 
> Fantastic book. Almost as bizarre as a Carl Hiaassen novel. Must be something in the water in Florida.



I read my first one by him the other week and was hugely impressed.  Really sparse writing, hits home like a fuckoff big hammer.  Quality writer


----------



## ericjarvis (Dec 21, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I read my first one by him the other week and was hugely impressed.  Really sparse writing, hits home like a fuckoff big hammer.  Quality writer



I just ordered two more. I shall spend the first part of next year on an Elmore Leonard jag.

Currently reading: Jeff Noon - Nymphomation.

I love his writing. It's kind of poetic, kind of gritty, and sort of dub somehow. When you get past the sheer joy of his abuse of language there are some really sharp ideas there too.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Dec 21, 2009)

I finished _At Lady Molly's_ and _Casanova's Chinese Restaurant_ by Anthony Powell. One more and I'm halfway through this bastard cycle. Very entertaining, fucking annoying, but I can't stop reading it. The population of interwar London in these books is about 30, all of them rich bohemians or just plain rich, with just enough waitresses to keep them fed.

Now it's _The Legend of the Holy Drinker_ by Joseph Roth.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Dec 21, 2009)

I'm still reading _David Copperfield_...  and loving it.  Thinking of reading _Bleak House_ next, although I'll have to see what books I get for Christmas, or what gems I can find in the charity shop.


----------



## starfish (Dec 21, 2009)

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=72931

Over 5 & a half years later ive finally decided to read The Chrysalids.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 22, 2009)

ericjarvis said:


> I just ordered two more. I shall spend the first part of next year on an Elmore Leonard jag.
> 
> I love his writing. It's kind of poetic, kind of gritty, and sort of dub somehow. When you get past the sheer joy of his abuse of language there are some really sharp ideas there too.



I like his handy hint to aspiring writers:  Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip



I am still ploughing through Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry, which is not as good as Lonesome Dove, but is still interesting enough to keep me going back to it.

Think it might be an Elmore Leonard next though - Swag


----------



## ericjarvis (Dec 22, 2009)

Elmore Leonard - Unknown Man #89


----------



## Dirty Martini (Dec 22, 2009)

This thread is making me want to revisit Elmore Leonard.

In the meantime, I finished _The Legend of the Holy Drinker_, which is slight but great and so obviously the last book before Roth succumbed to drink and despair.

Now it's _Joy in the Morning_, more Jeeves. Need something like that after all the recent heavy German stuff.


----------



## Annierak (Dec 22, 2009)

Just started 'Shakey: Neil Young's Biography' by Jimmy McDonough


----------



## sojourner (Dec 22, 2009)

Annierak said:


> Just started 'Shakey: Neil Young's Biography' by Jimmy McDonough



 top book that - I lent my copy to Laurence the other week


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 22, 2009)

Gene Wolfes 'Calde of the Long Sun' which I found in a hitherto forgotten book-stash in the attic. So good I missed gremlins. Real nostalgia read


----------



## 5t3IIa (Dec 22, 2009)

the 39 Steps, 20p from charity shop.


----------



## Annierak (Dec 22, 2009)

sojourner said:


> top book that - I lent my copy to Laurence the other week


Loving it so far. I had a bit of a book buying binge in fopp a few weeks ago, great place for bargains


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 22, 2009)

Read Benjamin Zephaniah's "Face" over the weekend. Not as good as "Refugee Boy" but better than "Gangsta Rap".

Reading Theodore Sturgeon's "More than Human" now. Kinda X-Men feel to it but it was written in the 50s...


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 24, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> 2666 - Roberto Bolano



What did you think?


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 24, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> What did you think?



Still reading it. It is in need of some serious editing!!


----------



## Bakunin (Dec 24, 2009)

Gangland - Howard Blum.

The story of the rise and fall of John Gotti, known as the 'Teflon Don' because no cases seemed to stick, and the work of the FBI's 'C-16' Squad led by Bruce Mouw that finally brought him (and much of New York's Gambino 'Family') down.

An excellent read, IMHO.

Next up is George Orwell's 'Homage To Catalonia.'


----------



## chooch (Dec 25, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> This thread is making me want to revisit Elmore Leonard.


Should be done. 





> In the meantime, I finished _The Legend of the Holy Drinker_, which is slight but great and so obviously the last book before Roth succumbed to drink and despair.


Aye. Reckon it was all he had left. Reads very differently from when he still had command of the fancy stuff, but still great. 

Almost bought some Stefan Zweig in town the other day? You read any?

I reading Emanuel Litvinoff _Journey Through a Small Planet_, fictionalised somethings about the Jewish East End. I appear to be a sucker for any newish London-based Penguin Modern Classic with rain-stained bricks, men with hats or a fog-bound tram on the cover...


----------



## ericjarvis (Dec 26, 2009)

Len Deighton - Horse Under Water


----------



## tastebud (Dec 27, 2009)

I reread Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier this festive period - had totally forgotten how great it is


----------



## idioteque (Dec 27, 2009)

jer said:


> The Road - Cormac McCarthy



How are you finding it?

I think it was the best book I read this year. Loved it.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Dec 27, 2009)

I'm reading She Came To Stay by Simone De Beauvoir. 
I am already enjoying it and I know that I'll read it too quickly and feel sad when it's finished.


----------



## Greebo (Dec 27, 2009)

"French Revolutions" by Tim Moore
"Love Me" by Garrison Keillor
and the German translation of "Briget Jones's Diary" ("Schokolade zum Fruehstueck")


----------



## chooch (Dec 27, 2009)

Have skipped through John Christopher _The Death of Grass_ with some good cheer, and now trying some David Malouf short stories, before moving on to a Russell Hoban thing.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 27, 2009)

Finally got round to finishing Dead Man's Walk, and it had a fucking ace ending.  Love how Larry McMurtry spins a yarn

Just started And the Ass saw the Angel, by Nick Cave.  Wow   He's not exactly afeared of upsetting anyone of a delicate disposition is he?


----------



## sojourner (Dec 27, 2009)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> I'm reading She Came To Stay by Simone De Beauvoir.
> I am already enjoying it and I know that I'll read it too quickly and feel sad when it's finished.



That's not one I've read by her.  She is one of my gods though, is Simone.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Dec 27, 2009)

sojourner said:


> That's not one I've read by her.  She is one of my gods though, is Simone.



Simone and Doris?
What excellent taste you have


----------



## chooch (Dec 27, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Just started And the Ass saw the Angel, by Nick Cave.  Wow   He's not exactly afeared of upsetting anyone of a delicate disposition is he?


Quite hard work that, but there's some great language in it. Laid on the page in great creosote gloops.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 27, 2009)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> Simone and Doris?
> What excellent taste you have



No no m'dear, what fine taste _you_ have


----------



## sojourner (Dec 27, 2009)

chooch said:


> there's some great language in it. Laid on the page in great creosote gloops.



That's very well articulated   It really is thick dark molasses in text.  Hugely atmospheric, almost like being surrounded by it 

Well impressed


----------



## heinous seamus (Dec 27, 2009)

Ray Bradbury - The Golden Apples of the Sun


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Dec 27, 2009)

memoirs of a geezer - jah wobble. what a great christmas pressie


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 27, 2009)

heinous seamus said:


> Ray Bradbury - The Golden Apples of the Sun



any good? i've read a few of his and they're were quite disturbing.
he's still alive and writing!


----------



## tastebud (Dec 27, 2009)

totally disturbing, but great.
i have been trying to remember, for years, the name of a book of short stories he published (which i must have read in like 1989 or something) and it was brilliant - amazing. one story was about a couple completely in love.... and, um... um, the girl plays a really scary joke on the guy... it's really creepy but i can't remember the name of the book. or the story. and that is all i remember about the story. very annoying.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 27, 2009)

the one that creeped me out was about how a crowd always gathers at accidents and other tragic events, yet it's always the same crowd, the same people. a very simple premise, but the idea is creepy as hell.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 28, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Still reading it. It is in need of some serious editing!!



I thought that as I was reading it. But looking back on it, I don't think it does. 

For example, the first chapter (or book), _The Part about the Critics_, is very dry and repetitive, consisting of the critics attending conferences and talking on the telephone and falling in love and so on, all in a very banal way, with a strange outburst of violence. 

I think this is done on purpose, and it kind of sets up the rest of the book. The epigraph is, after all, "An oasis of horror in a desert of boredom" from _Fleurs du Mal_ by Baudilaire. 

It is a true epic. As one review said:



> "2666 is an epic of whispers and details, full of buried structures and intuitions that seem too evanescent, or too terrible, to put into words. It demands from the reader a kind of abject submission—to its willful strangeness, its insistent grimness, even its occasional tedium—that only the greatest books dare to ask for or deserve."


----------



## Lo Siento. (Dec 28, 2009)

just finished "Missing" about the disappearance off an American journalist in the 1973 coup d'etat in Chile. I now have a choice of 4 books to start 1) Stieg Larrson's Millennium Trilogy 2) Slavoj Zizek's First as Tragedy Second as Farce 3) Marquez - Crónica de una muerte anunciada 4) Cortázar - Cronopias y famas. Think Zizek is my main temptation, as both the Spanish books look hard, and the Larrson one is an unappetising commitment to read three huge books.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 28, 2009)

I read that Zizek one a while ago, its worth a read.


----------



## Lo Siento. (Dec 28, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I read that Zizek one a while ago, its worth a read.



am also 50 or so pages in already, so continuing reading that is the logical move. Good so far. He rambles a bit sometimes though (people who think they're very profound often do...)


----------



## chooch (Dec 28, 2009)

Lo Siento. said:


> Cortázar - Cronopias y famas... Think Zizek is my main temptation, as both the Spanish books look hard


_Cronopios y famas_ is unusual, but not hard, unless you want to treat it as a great monolith of profundity, and he'd probably snigger at you if you did. It's easier to dip in to, and very funny in places


----------



## colbhoy (Dec 28, 2009)

I am reading Hark! by Ed McBain - haven't read one of his for years, it's a good read.


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 28, 2009)

Dillinger4 said:


> I thought that as I was reading it. But looking back on it, I don't think it does.
> 
> For example, the first chapter (or book), _The Part about the Critics_, is very dry and repetitive, consisting of the critics attending conferences and talking on the telephone and falling in love and so on, all in a very banal way, with a strange outburst of violence.
> 
> ...



I'm not sure that I agree. There is a moment within the text when a comparison and invitation is made to consider the lack of ambition found in modern fiction, with particular reference to size. 2066 is large and Bolano might have had epic books in mind whilst writing, but size is not enough to sustain interest. Is ambition enough? Do we respect and recognise the effort whilst ignoring the end result? I keep having to ask 'Would this work if the books had been published in separate parts?', and thus far I don't think it would. I'll wait until I finish until reaching a final judgement. 

I much prefer the shorter stories that I have read.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 28, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> I'm not sure that I agree. There is a moment within the text when a comparison and invitation is made to consider the lack of ambition found in modern fiction, with particular reference to size. 2066 is large and Bolano might have had epic books in mind whilst writing, but size is not enough to sustain interest. Is ambition enough? Do we respect and recognise the effort whilst ignoring the end result? I keep having to ask 'Would this work if the books had been published in separate parts?', and thus far I don't think it would. I'll wait until I finish until reaching a final judgement.
> 
> I much prefer the shorter stories that I have read.



Let me know what you think when you finish it. 

I have just started to re-read it myself, having read all of his shorter stories (2666 was the first book by Bolano that I had read!)


----------



## Lo Siento. (Dec 28, 2009)

chooch said:


> _Cronopios y famas_ is unusual, but not hard, unless you want to treat it as a great monolith of profundity, and he'd probably snigger at you if you did. It's easier to dip in to, and very funny in places



the girlfriend lent it to me, it's one of her favourite books. Presumably she will have guaged if my language skills were up to it...


----------



## Fictionist (Dec 28, 2009)

Lo Siento. said:


> the girlfriend lent it to me, it's one of her favourite books. Presumably she will have guaged if my language skills were up to it...



Spelling skills too.


----------



## tendril (Dec 28, 2009)

Currently:

Elephants on Acid
and other bizarre experiments


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Dec 28, 2009)

tendril said:


> Currently:
> 
> Elephants on Acid
> and other bizarre experiments


well?


----------



## belboid (Dec 29, 2009)

Battlestar Galacatica & Philosophy.

Some cracking stuff (and a few essays where they've clearly just rammed some BSG references into their standard first year lectures).  I am now completely convinced the scriptwriters had a very good understanding of Nietzsche.


----------



## Lo Siento. (Dec 29, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Spelling skills too.



I spent ages thinking about it as well  I think my spelling has deteriorated badly over the last couple of years. I can spell it in spanish though


----------



## sojourner (Dec 31, 2009)

The Bible.  No shit.

A mate bought me it cos I've never done more than dip into various editions.  It's the Today NIV by Hodder and Stoughton, with a frankly groovy cover.

I spent yesterday oohing and ahhing and picking out a shit ton of musical and literary references in Genesis.  Fucking ace!  

Being a big fan of Doris Lessing's Shikasta has also lent a huge interest to it, as she drew heavily on it.


----------



## Blagsta (Dec 31, 2009)

Jon Ronson - Them


----------



## Brinxmat (Dec 31, 2009)

A Little History Of The World - E H Gombrich

(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Hist...ef=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1262260255&sr=1-2-spell)

It is so thoughtfully laid out that I wish it had been set as GCSE History Coursework.

Well worth chucking a Xmas Voucher at...

HNY


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Dec 31, 2009)

Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler.


----------



## Lo Siento. (Dec 31, 2009)

sojourner said:


> The Bible.  No shit.
> 
> A mate bought me it cos I've never done more than dip into various editions.  It's the Today NIV by Hodder and Stoughton, with a frankly groovy cover.
> 
> ...



somebody bought you it? surely you can get bibles free?


----------



## Bakunin (Dec 31, 2009)

Lo Siento. said:


> somebody bought you it? surely you can get bibles free?



I find stealing them from hotel rooms works pretty well.


----------



## tar1984 (Dec 31, 2009)

I'm reading "diamond dogs, turquoise days" by Alastair Reynolds.  It's quite good.

I just finished "The state of the art" by Iain. M Banks...which was fucking amazing!


----------



## cascader (Jan 1, 2010)

El Jefe said:


> just finished Let The Right One In.
> 
> whoah!! SO much darker than the movie.



Ooh, I like the sound of that.  I got it for Christmas, but haven't started it yet.  I'll start it as soon as I finish The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte.  (This is a reread; it's a favorite of mine, and Roman Polanski should have some time added to his prison sentence for what he did to it in the film version.)


----------



## sojourner (Jan 2, 2010)

Lo Siento. said:


> somebody bought you it? surely you can get bibles free?



Well you probably can, in churches n that, but I never go to church 


Anyhoo - am now also reading another book bought for me (by the lovely Annierak, for my birthday) Lowside of the Road, a life of Tom Waits, by Barney Hoskyns.  Which is actually very readable, given it's a biog


----------



## Lakina (Jan 2, 2010)

The Leper of Saint Giles (comfy Brother Cadfael whodunit).  Peace be with you.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jan 3, 2010)

The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak. An excellent book to start the year with.

Next up will be Be Cool by Elmore Leonard.


----------



## big eejit (Jan 3, 2010)

Just finished Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist (who wrote Let The Right One In). A cracking read. I preferred it to LTROI.


----------



## isvicthere? (Jan 3, 2010)

"A history of Scotland" by Neil Oliver


----------



## llion (Jan 3, 2010)

Jimmy McDonough - Shakey: Neil Young's Biography - Absolutely rivetting and I'm not even that big a Neil Young fan! Very irreverently written.

Iain Sinclair - Hackney: That Rose-Red Empire - Sinclair's best for years IMO. His style seems a bit less dense these days, which makes it a bit easier to read. Starts off as his usual memoir/psychogeography, specifically about Hackney, and turns into a bit of a detective story/thriller. Highly recommended.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 4, 2010)

Finished _Joy in the Morning_, which is the least interesting Jeeves & Wooster I've read. Too long, motions being gone through. And _Carry On, Jeeves_, which is great, althought there's a Jeeves-penned story at the end which busts the mystique a bit.

Now it's _Crime and Punishment_, which I've never managed to get through before.


----------



## chooch (Jan 4, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Now it's _Crime and Punishment_, which I've never managed to get through before.


 Haven't managed it the last couple of times I tried. Last time I dropped it mid-sentence down the side of the bed and forgot about it for a month or two. Needs to be done though. Just wish I was 19 and a bit again and could casually finish things with more than 250 large-print pages. 

Finished Russell Hoban _Fremder_. Bit disappointing, I thought. Is about two thirds of a good book in the philosophical Philip-K-Dicking-around mode, and one third not quite finished. Editor could have had a word, or 10,000.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 4, 2010)

chooch said:


> Haven't managed it the last couple of times I tried. Last time I dropped it mid-sentence down the side of the bed and forgot about it for a month or two. Needs to be done though. Just wish I was 19 and a bit again and could casually finish things with more than 250 large-print pages.
> 
> Finished Russell Hoban _Fremder_. Bit disappointing, I thought. Is about two thirds of a good book in the philosophical Philip-K-Dicking-around mode, and one third not quite finished. Editor could have had a word, or 10,000.



I'm about halfway through -- gripped and fascinated mostly, occasionally bored, and always convinced that mid-19th c. Russia must have been a very lively place indeed.


----------



## kittyP (Jan 4, 2010)

Got given The Father Christmas Letters by some Ubz for christmas. 
I can't belive that I have never heard of it before, what with my love of all things christmas and of Tolkien. 

Has any one else come across it? 
Its just beautiful!


----------



## Lo Siento. (Jan 4, 2010)

finished Zizek's First as Tragedy. started Cortazar's Cronopios y Famas. I like it, it's weird, but sort of charming. Full of weird Argie words though


----------



## tastebud (Jan 4, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> the one that creeped me out was about how a crowd always gathers at accidents and other tragic events, yet it's always the same crowd, the same people. a very simple premise, but the idea is creepy as hell.


ooh that does sound good!
i might look for him in charity shops and car boot sales and the like. it's been a while since i've read any of his stuff.


cascader said:


> Ooh, I like the sound of that.  I got it for Christmas, but haven't started it yet.


oooh i got it for my boyfr for one of his xmas presents - think he's too scared to start it.
loved the film - hope the book's even better.


----------



## Urbanblues (Jan 5, 2010)

Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' - in the vain hope it’ll warm me up. Hasn't so far. I could always burn the fucker!


----------



## ChrisC (Jan 5, 2010)

Never Turn Away by Rigdzin Shikpo.


----------



## colbhoy (Jan 5, 2010)

No Safe Place by Richard North Patterson.


----------



## starfish (Jan 5, 2010)

Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton & The Best by Miles a selection of writings of the late Miles Kington.


----------



## chooch (Jan 5, 2010)

starfish said:


> Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton


----------



## Lo Siento. (Jan 5, 2010)

I started the damn Larsson book as well


----------



## cliche guevara (Jan 6, 2010)

Just finished Hunter S. Thompson's Hells Angels, now starting Martin Amis - Heavy Water


----------



## Bakunin (Jan 6, 2010)

cliche guevara said:


> Just finished Hunter S. Thompson's Hells Angels, now starting Martin Amis - Heavy Water



In his own book about the Hell's Angels, founder member Ralph 'Sonny' Barger really rips into Hunter S Thompson. Said he was a bit of a wuss, in Barger's opinion.


----------



## cliche guevara (Jan 6, 2010)

So I've heard, the relationship eventually soured to the point where Thompson got a kicking. But then I'm sure we'd all be 'wusses' by Angels standards. Is Barger's book worth a read?


----------



## Garcia Lorca (Jan 6, 2010)

just picked up Paulo Coelho - Veronika decides to die


----------



## chooch (Jan 6, 2010)

Garcia Lorca said:


> just picked up Paulo Coelho - Veronika decides to die


Shame it weren't that book by Veronika.


----------



## zenie (Jan 6, 2010)

Teach your dog to read - Bonnie Bergin


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 6, 2010)

chooch said:


> Shame it weren't that book by Veronika.


----------



## starfish (Jan 6, 2010)

cliche guevara said:


> So I've heard, the relationship eventually soured to the point where Thompson got a kicking. But then I'm sure we'd all be 'wusses' by Angels standards. Is Barger's book worth a read?



It jumps around a bit but it was fairly interesting. Its ok if youve got nothing else or are sitting on a beach.


----------



## Bakunin (Jan 6, 2010)

cliche guevara said:


> So I've heard, the relationship eventually soured to the point where Thompson got a kicking. But then I'm sure we'd all be 'wusses' by Angels standards. Is Barger's book worth a read?



True, Angels being a pretty masculine bunch by anyone's standards.

Barger's book is definitely worth a read, although to be fair it does seem a touch self-aggrandising at times. He goes into great detail concerning the image of the Angels and seems to go out of his way to portray them as being misunderstood patriotic types rather than outlaw bikers (in the criminal sense).


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 6, 2010)

still enjoying gangs of new york - it's so juicily written
as was me cheeta - a proper scandalous hollywood memoir, but 'written' by tarzan's companion


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 6, 2010)

Me Cheeta is on my list!


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 6, 2010)

move it to the front!


----------



## chooch (Jan 6, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


>




Now starting _Child of All Nations_ by Irmgard Keun, entirely independently, obviously.


----------



## stethoscope (Jan 7, 2010)

Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism by Peter Marshall

First read of the New Year and looks like a hefty one!


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 7, 2010)

chooch said:


> Now starting _Child of All Nations_ by Irmgard Keun, entirely independently, obviously.



Good that ...


----------



## goldenecitrone (Jan 7, 2010)

Lo Siento. said:


> I started the damn Larsson book as well



You'll have to get the other two now. Finished reading the last one on holiday. Very good.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jan 7, 2010)

Just started Saturn's Children by Charlie Stross.


----------



## Lo Siento. (Jan 7, 2010)

goldenecitrone said:


> You'll have to get the other two now. Finished reading the last one on holiday. Very good.



I was bought all three, but only had room for one in my luggage...


----------



## dlx1 (Jan 7, 2010)

_Never got round to learning excel hate maths so auto going to hate excel. T
_
Teach yourself VISUALLY - excel 2007 
 All screen shots not much text bite size chunks


----------



## Diamond (Jan 8, 2010)

So in the last few weeks I've had a go at:

Shogun by James Clavell - Top notch barnstorming page turner that strangely fizzles out towards the end.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - Pretty good thriller/murder mystery page turner that takes a very difficult to believe turn to the absurd towards the end. Will still prolly give the next one a go though.

Gold by Dan Rhodes - Am currently halfway through and it's very good in a very low key British comic way.


----------



## Dr. Furface (Jan 8, 2010)

The Hacienda - How Not To Run A Club by Peter Hook. One of the funniest things i've ever read.


----------



## belboid (Jan 8, 2010)

Dr. Furface said:


> The Hacienda - How Not To Run A Club by Peter Hook. One of the funniest things i've ever read.



I started that last night too!  Only got as far as the first chapter, but that was hilarious


----------



## sojourner (Jan 8, 2010)

Am still reading And the Ass Saw the Angel, which is bloody fantastic have to say  - must get ahold of his most recent book and am wondering why he doesn't write more, because he's fucking great at it 

But - took delivery of The American West, by Dee Brown today, and just picked it up for a flick through, so of course have been drawn into it.  It's a history of the American West, using research collected in 3 earlier books he and Martin Schmitt put together, and is totally fascinating.  Covers settlers, indian wars, cowboys...you name it.  Tons of photos too.  Fucking brilliant


----------



## Dan U (Jan 8, 2010)

the new James Elroy book - Bloods A Rover

got it for Christmas, really enjoy it. last part of a triolgy


----------



## CosmikRoger (Jan 8, 2010)

Land of the Headless by Adam Roberts
A ripping sci-fi yarn with echoes of China Mieville's Remades and Donaldson's Thomas Covenant.
Got about 30 pages to go and am waiting for the twist ending he seems to have been building up to for the last 200 odd pages.


----------



## tastebud (Jan 9, 2010)

cliche guevara;10155535]Just finished Hunter S. Thompson's Hells Angels[/QUOTE]that book made me ill - couldn't finish it.[QUOTE=Dillinger4;10156996]Me Cheeta is on my list![/QUOTE]Ooh it's on mine too. In my pile. A mate posted it to me as he said I would really like it. I also got a copy for crispy for his birthday - dunno what he thought yet though.[QUOTE=goldenecitrone said:


> You'll have to get the other two now. Finished reading the last one on holiday. Very good.


Yep. Fucking loved them - still have the last one to read.... very exciting. Will probably go in to mourning when I finish it.... my auntie did.


----------



## Diamond (Jan 9, 2010)

Me Cheeta's ace.

It's got one joke about whalesong that is fantastic.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Jan 9, 2010)

I just finished Down and Out in Paris and London... much goodness.


----------



## llion (Jan 10, 2010)

Geoff Dyer - Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. First novel that Dyer's written for a long time, and it doesn't disappoint. There's very little plot, but his writing's so effortless and casually lyrical that it doesn't really matter!


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 10, 2010)

SmellyGusset said:


> Land of the Headless by Adam Roberts
> A ripping sci-fi yarn with echoes of China Mieville's Remades and Donaldson's Thomas Covenant.
> Got about 30 pages to go and am waiting for the twist ending he seems to have been building up to for the last 200 odd pages.



This is a good book. The narrative voice is one of my favoruite 'unreliable narrators' like Dr. Frankenstein and the despicaple rapist whiner Thomas Covenant

If you haven't yet, try Swiftly by AR. Not quite so good but well worth the time


----------



## Diamond (Jan 12, 2010)

Diamond said:


> *Gold by Dan Rhodes* - Am currently halfway through and it's very good in a very low key British comic way.



I finished this last night and thought it was worth highlighting because I reckon a lot peeps around here would really really like it. So, yeah, go and get a copy.


----------



## no-no (Jan 12, 2010)

Just finished World War Z - Max Brooks, loved it. Hard to believe the amount of detail he's crammed in, maybe living amongst the zombie hordes wouldn't be so much fun after all. I'd still like to have a go with a lobo though.

Just started The stars my destination - Alfred Bester....not sure if I like the lead character but he's a tough bastard, makes for an exciting read.


----------



## da3 (Jan 13, 2010)

Started yesterday: Alex Garland's The Beach. Loved the film but ive been told the book is much better, parts that were cut out for the film release and more indepth with the characters, can't wait for when Daffy turns up in the book lol


----------



## ericjarvis (Jan 13, 2010)

Just finished Shame by Jasvinder Sanghera. Now reading E.M. Forster's Where Angels Fear To Tread.


----------



## chooch (Jan 13, 2010)

da3 said:


> Started yesterday: Alex Garland's The Beach


Burns well, I've heard, though with a slightly transfatty smell. 



			
				chooch said:
			
		

> Child of All Nations by Irmgard Keun






			
				Dirty Martini said:
			
		

> Good that


. Yeah. Like it a lot.


----------



## CosmikRoger (Jan 13, 2010)

The Poacher by H.E. Bates   Set in the 19th century and pretty much what it says on the tin.



DotCommunist said:


> If you haven't yet, try Swiftly by AR. Not quite so good but well worth the time



I have invested the 1 penny necessary and ordered it from Amazon


----------



## snackhead (Jan 13, 2010)

When you are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris


----------



## 8115 (Jan 13, 2010)

The Radiant Way by Margaret Drabble.  I might give up because it's quite boring.


----------



## Bakunin (Jan 13, 2010)

The First Casualty: The War Correspondent As Hero, Propagandist and Myth-Maker - Philip Knightley.

It's a study of the evolution and role of the war correspondent in the modern media, starting with the early correspondents covering the Crimean War and going right up to the Falklands War by way of such delightful times as the Franco-Prussian War, the Boer War, WWI, the Russian Revolution and Civil War, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

It's superbly written, engaging, packed with facts and figures and pretty muchs blows out of the water the myth of the brave war correspondent risking life and limb for the sake of the readers. It also ruins the reputations of a fair few previously highly regarded war correspondents as well.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 14, 2010)

haruki murakami - underground
junot diaz - the brief and wondrous life of oscar wao
both of which i'm zipping through effortlessy
i got my mojo back!


----------



## lizzieloo (Jan 14, 2010)

I'm reading Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, I got an ebook reader with birthday and Christmas vouchers and have downloaded lots of classics from Project Gutenberg.

I'm loving it, it's so descriptive it really takes you there.

I have Madame Bovary waiting to be read. I have no idea when I'll get round to reading the 'real' books I got for Christmas.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jan 14, 2010)

About to start Memory by Linda Nagata.

Where Angels Fear To Tread was very entertaining and a wonderful "supplement" to Shame. The two together really put the boot into people who place reputation and convention above everything else.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 14, 2010)

"Lizard" - collection of short stories from Banana Yoshimoto.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 14, 2010)

lizzieloo said:


> I'm reading Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, I got an ebook reader with birthday and Christmas vouchers and have downloaded lots of classics from Project Gutenberg.
> 
> I'm loving it, it's so descriptive it really takes you there.
> 
> I have Madame Bovary waiting to be read. I have no idea when I'll get round to reading the 'real' books I got for Christmas.



I have an e-reader now as well, and I have been looking for places to download books/texts/whatever. I forgot all about project gutenberg!


----------



## belboid (Jan 14, 2010)

Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzucchelli.

Great comic, really cleverly done, about architecture, men, dualism and the history of printing (kinda).


----------



## fractionMan (Jan 14, 2010)

More space opera stuff, this time "Pandoras star".


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 14, 2010)

Val McDeirmid "The Grave Tattoo" - need a bit of good but not too demanding crime action


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 14, 2010)

A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole - fantastic book


----------



## discokermit (Jan 14, 2010)

Cheesypoof said:


> A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole - fantastic book


proper funny.


----------



## fen_boy (Jan 15, 2010)

Just started 'Rings of Saturn' by WG Sebald. Heard Will Self extolling its virtues, or more specifically the virtues of WG Sebald, on the Radio the other day so I picked it up.
Excellent so far, and unlike anything else I've ever read. It's difficult to describe, but it's sort a a travellog-cum-autobiography-cum-fantasy-cum-philosophical musing'y thingy.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jan 16, 2010)

I have almost read 5 books so far this week. They are The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman by Bruce Robinson, The Curse of Lono by Hunter Thompson, Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr and I am currently reading Kingdom of Fear Hunter Thompson.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 16, 2010)

fen_boy said:


> Just started 'Rings of Saturn' by WG Sebald. Heard Will Self extolling its virtues, or more specifically the virtues of WG Sebald, on the Radio the other day so I picked it up.
> Excellent so far, and unlike anything else I've ever read. It's difficult to describe, but it's sort a a travellog-cum-autobiography-cum-fantasy-cum-philosophical musing'y thingy.



I love Sebald, that one especially. You'll read that, then want to read everything he wrote. Shame there'll be no more


----------



## Pieface (Jan 16, 2010)

I'm reading A Suitable Boy  by Vikram Seth.  Wow.....it's fucking massive so has to have everything I suppose.  Lots of love, romance, great characters, political intrigue, religious unrest, intertwined family relationships (there are 4 family trees at the start of my edition ).  He has taken the time (and space) to flesh most characters out very well and if anything it's taken me so long to get my head around everyone that I'm a bit slow on the uptake when he's forging new connections between people you haven't read about for 300 pages    He's amusingly aware of the vastness of the novel; these quotes open the book:

"The superfluous, that very necessary thing..."
"The secret of being a bore is to say everything."

Both Voltaire.

I also read 3 Twilight novels at the same time over the xmas period  - it's my version of crap xmas telly okay?


----------



## Bakunin (Jan 16, 2010)

Das Boot - Lother Loheim.

A WWII classic about the final cruise of a German U Boat in the Atlantic during 1941. I have the film (the director's cut IIRC) and I'm loving the book.


----------



## Urbanblues (Jan 17, 2010)

Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises'.


----------



## elevendayempire (Jan 17, 2010)

A HP Lovecraft collection. I'm reading "At the Mountains of Madness" at the moment.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 17, 2010)

Finished _Crime and Punishment_.

Now: _Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia_ by Paul Willetts, which is a biography of Julian Maclaren-Ross.


----------



## ChrisC (Jan 17, 2010)

The Book, On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts.


----------



## Lakina (Jan 17, 2010)

elevendayempire said:


> A HP Lovecraft collection. I'm reading "At the Mountains of Madness" at the moment.



I am reading the same - very freaky.


----------



## elevendayempire (Jan 18, 2010)

Lakina said:


> I am reading the same - very freaky.


Have you encountered Nameless Horrors from Beyond the Dawn of Time yet?


----------



## Lazy Llama (Jan 18, 2010)

elevendayempire said:


> Have you encountered Nameless Horrors from Beyond the Dawn of Time yet?


You called?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 18, 2010)

re-reading Pratchett's Truckers/Diggers/Wings trilogy. Excellent kids fic.


----------



## ChrisC (Jan 18, 2010)

The Life of the Buddha by Patricia M. Herbert.


----------



## thegonzokid (Jan 18, 2010)

The Plague - Albert Camus


----------



## starfish (Jan 18, 2010)

Chocky by John Wyndham.


----------



## Lo Siento. (Jan 18, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> I love Sebald, that one especially. You'll read that, then want to read everything he wrote. Shame there'll be no more



I read "on the natural history of destruction" and then "austerlitz" both which i loved


----------



## ericjarvis (Jan 18, 2010)

Berlin Game - Len Deighton

Fleming wrote about how he wished the security services were, Le Carre wrote about how the security services wish they were, Len Deighton writes about something that seems very real.


----------



## marty21 (Jan 18, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> Berlin Game - Len Deighton
> 
> Fleming wrote about how he wished the security services were, Le Carre wrote about how the security services wish they were, Len Deighton writes about something that seems very real.



I enjoyed the Game, Set, and Match Trilogy


reading D-Day - Antony Beevor


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 18, 2010)

I am flicking between loads of books at the moment, I cant settle on any.

There are a few I want to buy soon.

If I were to impulse buy any right now, I would get:

_Berlin, Alexanderplatz_ by Alfred Doblin
_Dreamtigers_ by Jorge Luis Borges
_Life, Life: Selected Poems_ by Arseny Tarkovsky

Maybe something by Mayakovsky...

I need something I can really get into though.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jan 18, 2010)

I am reading Operation Heartbreak by Duff Cooper.
Easy, enjoyable reading. I like it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 18, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


> I am flicking between loads of books at the moment, I cant settle on any.
> 
> There are a few I want to buy soon.
> 
> ...


how about a thriller by lee child, ken follett or clive cussler?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 18, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> how about a thriller by lee child, ken follett or clive cussler?



I think I might get one of those historical novels about Genghis Khan or something.


----------



## Blagsta (Jan 18, 2010)

Never Had it So Good - Dominic Sandbrook


----------



## Lakina (Jan 18, 2010)

elevendayempire said:


> Have you encountered Nameless Horrors from Beyond the Dawn of Time yet?



Not yet, but there is something strange about the woman next door.  Shoot her.  And don't burn the body - _dissolve it it acid!_


----------



## Lakina (Jan 18, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> how about a thriller by lee child, ken follett or clive cussler?



Follet - a lousy writer prepared to go where no lousy writer has gone before.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 19, 2010)

Daughter got me a couple of Bukowski books as a belated birthday pressie, so started Women last night.  Never read anything by him before, and read most of it last night.

Yeeees. Hmmmm.  It's not intellectual, but he appears to be opposed to that sort of thing anyway.  The text can be irritating in its sparsity, and not brilliant like Elmore Leonard.  From a feminist perspective he's a terrible cunt...and yet, and yet...I had to admire his opportunism. It's a lot like my own 

I find his dislike of people in general, his disregard for superior intellectual attitudes, and his love of booze quite attractive too


----------



## Strumpet (Jan 19, 2010)

Have got a shed load of dog related books to get through. Loving it


----------



## belboid (Jan 19, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Daughter got me a couple of Bukowski books as a belated birthday pressie, so started Women last night.  Never read anything by him before, and read most of it last night.
> 
> Yeeees. Hmmmm.  It's not intellectual, but he appears to be opposed to that sort of thing anyway.  The text can be irritating in its sparsity, and not brilliant like Elmore Leonard.  From a feminist perspective he's a terrible cunt...and yet, and yet...I had to admire his opportunism. It's a lot like my own
> 
> I find his dislike of people in general, his disregard for superior intellectual attitudes, and his love of booze quite attractive too



He is a brilliant writer, but I'd try and avoid too many of them at once. Less life affirming literature it would be hard to find, the misanthropic barstool

But do read Post Office next


----------



## sojourner (Jan 19, 2010)

belboid said:


> He is a brilliant writer, but I'd try and avoid too many of them at once. Less life affirming literature it would be hard to find, the misanthropic barstool
> 
> But do read Post Office next



I wouldn't call him brilliant - not yet, and certainly not on the basis of Women.

I have a short story collection to read next - Tales of Ordinary Madness, I think.  

Am intrigued by Post Office - the 21 day/1st novel thing.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 19, 2010)

Lo Siento. said:


> I read "on the natural history of destruction" and then "austerlitz" both which i loved



Ah, not read the Natural History. I've read the big four, though, plus Campo Santo.

I say Rings of Saturn is my favourite, but actually it changes as I go back over the books in my mind. I love them all.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 19, 2010)

What do you reckon to Bukowski DM?  I'd be interested in hearing your opinion of his stuff


----------



## belboid (Jan 19, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I wouldn't call him brilliant - not yet, and certainly not on the basis of Women.



mmm, if you dont like that.....actually, if you dont like that you're very sensible, as it's hate filled bile. but it (along with PO) are deffo his best novels, the ones that show his wit as well as his misogyny.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 19, 2010)

belboid said:


> mmm, if you dont like that.....actually, if you dont like that you're very sensible, as it's hate filled bile. but it (along with PO) are deffo his best novels, the ones that show his wit as well as his misogyny.



Well I've said why I like it above - I don't not like it!  READ the fucking post dear boy 

I don't even think it's hate filled bile.


----------



## belboid (Jan 19, 2010)

true true...consider my head banged against a brick wall. And rephrase my post to 'if you dont _love_ that...'


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 19, 2010)

sojourner said:


> What do you reckon to Bukowski DM?  I'd be interested in hearing your opinion of his stuff



Not read a single line of Bukowski actually. Should I?

I've read a fair amount about him, articles and interviews and so forth, and he always comes across as such a _dick_. Not that it should matter, of course.

I guess I'll get round to it one day. Kind of had my fill of Americans for the time being.

Last mention I was of him was on the back cover of the Julian Maclaren-Ross biog I'm reading atm -- now _there's_ an impecunious alcoholic speedfreak bohemian you should read, soj


----------



## belboid (Jan 19, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> I've read a fair amount about him, articles and interviews and so forth, and he always comes across as such a _dick_.



as Modest Mouse put it, And yeah, I know he's a pretty good read. But God who'd wanna be? God who'd wanna be such an asshole? God who'd wanna be? God who'd wanna be such an asshole?


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 19, 2010)

belboid said:


> as Modest Mouse put it, And yeah, I know he's a pretty good read. But God who'd wanna be? God who'd wanna be such an asshole? God who'd wanna be? God who'd wanna be such an asshole?



Fine song that, always raises a chuckle. With added banjo too


----------



## chooch (Jan 20, 2010)

fen_boy said:


> Just started 'Rings of Saturn' by WG Sebald


Is brilliant. There's nothing else quite like him for a constant nudging into gentle gloom. 

Just about to start Daniel Pennac _The Fairy Gunmother_.


----------



## Lakina (Jan 20, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Not read a single line of Bukowski actually. Should I?
> 
> I've read a fair amount about him, articles and interviews and so forth, and he always comes across as such a _dick_. Not that it should matter, of course.
> 
> ...



Try Post Office - it hilarious


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jan 20, 2010)

Still reading that book on the Korean War. Fuck I'm learning a lot about Harry Truman, James Forrestal, George Marshall etc.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 20, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Not read a single line of Bukowski actually. Should I?
> 
> I've read a fair amount about him, articles and interviews and so forth, and he always comes across as such a _dick_. Not that it should matter, of course.
> 
> ...



Ah okay - well this is the first book of his I've ever read too.  Just thought you might have read something by him.  Erm...should you?  Your life won't change whether you do or not.

He's always there, if you ever want to read something that isn't challenging .  Writing's not terribly good tbh, like I said, his sparsity is shite compared to the genius of Elmore Leonard.

I only really decided to read something by him cos he's mentioned so much in that Tom Waits biog.  

Shall look out for the JMR book then!


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jan 20, 2010)

Book with pictures

Maus

My preconceptions of this meant that I have not been even slightly interested in reading it for 20 years. Shame, it's really very good and nothing at all as I had imagined. It's leapfrogged all the other 'real' books I have been reading and I don't think will continue with any until I am finished (which will be this afternoon anyway).


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 20, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Shall look out for the JMR book then!



You could even start with the biog, as a pretty good description of the Soho/London literary scene of the 40s and 50s. Or the Collected Memoirs, or Of Love and Hunger, a scandalously underappreciated novel 

I'll search out Post Office then, as recommended by Lakina above.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 20, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Book with pictures
> 
> Maus
> 
> My preconceptions of this meant that I have not been even slightly interested in reading it for 20 years. Shame, it's really very good and nothing at all as I had imagined. It's leapfrogged all the other 'real' books I have been reading and I don't think will continue with any until I am finished (which will be this afternoon anyway).



I hated that - mainly because of the layout.  I really struggle with pictures and text, never know which bit to look at first and it annoys the shite out of me.  Shame really, cos the story itself seemed to be good.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 20, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> You could even start with the biog, as a pretty good description of the Soho/London literary scene of the 40s and 50s. Or the Collected Memoirs, or Of Love and Hunger, a scandalously underappreciated novel
> 
> I'll search out Post Office then, as recommended by Lakina above.



Will stick it on my wishlist then, ta


----------



## belboid (Jan 20, 2010)

sojourner said:


> He's always there, if you ever want to read something that isn't challenging .  Writing's not terribly good tbh, like I said, his sparsity is shite compared to the genius of Elmore Leonard.


 
I think your being very harsh on him there. Sure, he’s not the greatest writer in the world, and certainly doesn’t have the zing of Leonard, but those sentences are powerful, simple and brutal. The depth of what they portray about him goes beyond the Mariana Trench. I think they kinda work better in Post Office, tho possibly only cos he seems less unpleasant in that one.




sojourner said:


> I hated that - mainly because of the layout.  I really struggle with pictures and text, never know which bit to look at first and it annoys the shite out of me.  Shame really, cos the story itself seemed to be good.



Doesn’t matter which you read first! Whichever grabs you, that’s part of the beauty.  Tho if it don’t work for you, it don’t work for you.  Shame cos they are a powerful and very moving couple of books.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 20, 2010)

belboid said:


> I think your being very harsh on him there. Sure, he’s not the greatest writer in the world, and certainly doesn’t have the zing of Leonard, but those sentences are powerful, simple and brutal. The depth of what they portray about him goes beyond the Mariana Trench. I think they kinda work better in Post Office, tho possibly only cos he seems less unpleasant in that one.



You think?  Doesn't really matter does it?  I'm not exactly gonna hurt his feelings   That's my opinion mate - and like I said, I don't dislike him, there's a lot I do like about him.  And this is only the first book I've read by him.  

eta - I do like sparse texts.  I love that about Annie Proulx, and Elmore.  But they manage to pack so much more in.  Sometimes, I get the feeling that Bukowski is actually taking the piss out of the reader, it's so very basic Dick and Jane 




belboid said:


> Doesn’t matter which you read first! Whichever grabs you, that’s part of the beauty.  Tho if it don’t work for you, it don’t work for you.  Shame cos they are a powerful and very moving couple of books.


I tried and tried, really I did.  I tried reading text first, then pictures first, but it just did my fucking head in.  I am _so used _to reading text only.  It is a shame, because the bit I did get through was really promising.  Maybe I'll go back to it in time.


----------



## belboid (Jan 20, 2010)

sojourner said:


> You think?  Doesn't really matter does it?  I'm not exactly gonna hurt his feelings



He'd expect nothing more of you, after all you are..... _a woman_.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 20, 2010)

belboid said:


> He'd expect nothing more of you, after all you are..... _a woman_.



 hehe


----------



## Lincoln Rhyme (Jan 20, 2010)

I'm reading _Meg: Hell's Aquarium, and Dexter By Design by Jeff Lindsay._


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jan 20, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I hated that - mainly because of the layout.  I really struggle with pictures and text, never know which bit to look at first and it annoys the shite out of me.  Shame really, cos the story itself seemed to be good.



Quite natural if you ask me.
I don't think maus could have worked as anything other than a comic book. I think it would make a fairly cool  film if handled in the same way as persepolis but the writer has turned down many offers and even mentions it as part of the story (which is from a section that went a bit far for me and was unnecessary. I know he was trying to explain more of his emotions about the whole thing but the story suddenly 'clunked' for a few pages and felt more like a Harvey Pekar homage).


----------



## llion (Jan 20, 2010)

One Day by David Nicholls. Much, much better than Starter for Ten.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 21, 2010)

Tales of Ordinary Madness, by Charles Bukowski

Okay - now this is soooo much better than Women.  I am really liking these.  I need to read more of his stuff to see if he is just better at short stories, or whether Women was just his big splurge.  

Had me chortling away last night.  Couple of lines in particular stood out.  On the sound of his mate eating:  'sounded like 12 rabbits fucking in straw'.  And one of the multiple plates of party food being taken into a house:  'minced dove assholes' 

Mucho impressed with this   Everything about it is better than Women - the writing, the ideas, the structure...


----------



## sojourner (Jan 21, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Quite natural if you ask me.
> I don't think maus could have worked as anything other than a comic book. I think it would make a fairly cool  film if handled in the same way as persepolis but the writer has turned down many offers and even mentions it as part of the story (which is from a section that went a bit far for me and was unnecessary. I know he was trying to explain more of his emotions about the whole thing but the story suddenly 'clunked' for a few pages and felt more like a Harvey Pekar homage).



Actually, I would really love to see it made into a film 

Perhaps I'll give it another go someday...


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jan 21, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Actually, I would really love to see it made into a film
> 
> Perhaps I'll give it another go someday...



I was reading the last bit last night and out of all the comic books in the world this is about the easest to follow. There are no strange box formations. Read from left to right, top to bottom. Like words in books. 

I would like to see it as a film, I'm not sure why because it works perfectly in comic from. Maybe it's just because I loved the way persepolis was handled, it looked so beautiful.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jan 21, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Tales of Ordinary Madness, by Charles Bukowski
> 
> ..



I have never read any of his stuff but have always fancied it. Is this a good one to start with?


----------



## sojourner (Jan 21, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> I have never read any of his stuff but have always fancied it. Is this a good one to start with?



Well, it's only the second book of his that I've read, but yeh - it's a great one to start with


----------



## sojourner (Jan 21, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> I was reading the last bit last night and out of all the comic books in the world this is about the easest to follow. There are no strange box formations. Read from left to right, top to bottom. Like words in books.



Yes, but - do you look at the picture first, and then read the text?  Or the other way round?  Is there a consistent way you read it?


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jan 21, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Yes, but - do you look at the picture first, and then read the text?  Or the other way round?  Is there a consistent way you read it?



Interesting. I have never even considered that. As far as I am concerned they happen simultaneously. I think I go for the words but can't help seeing the picture while I am at it.


----------



## silverfish (Jan 21, 2010)

occupational hazards, Rory Stewart

basically about the balls up of southern Iraq, "Post" conflict


----------



## Mr_Nice (Jan 21, 2010)

The Hacienda - How Not To Run A Club

Peter Hook

A cracking read


----------



## sojourner (Jan 21, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Interesting. I have never even considered that. As far as I am concerned they happen simultaneously. I think I go for the words but can't help seeing the picture while I am at it.



I only started considering it when I got frustrated with how to read it   Gave myself a headache in the end, and the _way_ of trying to read it completely obstructed any joy gained from the actual reading

Btw - Tales of Ordinary Madness is a collection of short stories, not a novel.  Just mentioned it in case you're not a fan of short stories


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jan 21, 2010)

Finished Operation Heartbreak yesterday and it was bittersweet. I liked that book.

Next I'm reading The Making Of A Marchioness by Fracnes Hodgson Burnett


----------



## ChrisC (Jan 21, 2010)

Buddha. A Story of Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra.


----------



## kittyP (Jan 21, 2010)

The Subtle Knife. 

I am reading it very quickly for me. Its just what I needed for the January blues. 

I have The Amber Spyglass ready to go straight after too.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jan 21, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Btw - Tales of Ordinary Madness is a collection of short stories, not a novel.  Just mentioned it in case you're not a fan of short stories



Humm, I haven't read many but it might be a good starting point. Might even be a darn good idea, I seem to be jumping from book to book at the moment.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 22, 2010)

Finished _Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia_, being the life of Julian Maclaren-Ross and a salty account of Soho literary pub life in the 40s and 50s. A very fine read, though it could have done with pruning and a bit more editorial attention to make it read more smoothly.

Now, another Victorian classic I started once and got waylaid on: _Jane Eyre_.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 22, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Humm, I haven't read many but it might be a good starting point. Might even be a darn good idea, I seem to be jumping from book to book at the moment.



He's a bit provocative, has to be said.  I have to keep maintaining an objective perspective, as he's a total cunt if you have any feminist principles at all!  Very funny in parts, and I like a lot of his attitudes - but yeh - worra cunt


----------



## sojourner (Jan 22, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Finished _Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia_, being the life of Julian Maclaren-Ross and a salty account of Soho literary pub life in the 40s and 50s. A very fine read, though it could have done with pruning and a bit more editorial attention to make it read more smoothly.



I've got Of Love and Hunger on my wishlist, ready for when I get paid next week 

and Ham on Rye, Bukowski's book about his shit childhood and development of love of booze.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jan 22, 2010)

sojourner said:


> He's a bit provocative, has to be said.  I have to keep maintaining an objective perspective, as he's a total cunt if you have any feminist principles at all!  Very funny in parts, and I like a lot of his attitudes - but yeh - worra cunt



I am aware of what a dilsnick he is from what I have read about him, but I am intrigued.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 22, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I've got Of Love and Hunger on my wishlist, ready for when I get paid next week





'The new bloke's name was Roper. Soon as I set eyes on him I knew he'd never make a salesman'

Best opening to a novel ever.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 22, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> 'The new bloke's name was Roper. Soon as I set eyes on him I knew he'd never make a salesman'
> 
> Best opening to a novel ever.



  Yeh, had a flick through the first few pages - I love that facility on Amazon   Should be able to put it on all the books - prob a copyright issue though


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jan 22, 2010)

I'm reading bad sci-fi, for shame 

Video game tie-in, at that.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 22, 2010)

Vintage Paw said:


> I'm reading bad sci-fi, for shame
> 
> Video game tie-in, at that.



Eve: The Empyrean Age?


----------



## elevendayempire (Jan 22, 2010)

Finshed the HP Lovecraft collection, now reading Thunderball. Originally intended to be the first James Bond film, it opens with a thrilling sequence in which agent 007... goes to a health farm. What was Fleming _thinking_?


----------



## andy2002 (Jan 22, 2010)

I'm about 150 pages into Bedroom Secrets Of The Master Chefs by Irvine Welsh. Haven't read anything by Welsh in ages after that thoroughly mediocre book of new short stories he did a few years ago. But this is pretty absorbing stuff albeit stuffed with the usual Welsh obsessions (drugs, booze, football, swearing, sex and violence).


----------



## ericjarvis (Jan 22, 2010)

Just finished Mexico Set by Len Deighton. Absolutely gripping. Started on Master And 
Commander by Patrick O'Brian.


----------



## Lakina (Jan 22, 2010)

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Oh...my...god...such...a...good...book!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Lakina (Jan 22, 2010)

elevendayempire said:


> Finshed the HP Lovecraft collection, now reading Thunderball. Originally intended to be the first James Bond film, it opens with a thrilling sequence in which agent 007... goes to a health farm. What was Fleming _thinking_?



There is whole chapter in Goldfinger where he's playing a game of golf.


----------



## marty21 (Jan 22, 2010)

D-DAY - Antony Beevor


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 22, 2010)

marty21 said:


> D-DAY - Antony Beevor


i bet you're reading the daily mirror really,,,,


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jan 23, 2010)

Given that I'm prone to over-romanticising at the best of times it was probably silly of me to read two sweet and romantic books back to back. To compensate I'm going to read Melancholy by Jon Fosse which promises some twisted, dark prose. Might read some poetry before I settle into that book though as I quite the view atop the crest of this sentimental wave...


----------



## marty21 (Jan 24, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i bet you're reading the daily mirror really,,,,



I am so reading the d-day book


----------



## mentalchik (Jan 24, 2010)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.........


----------



## marty21 (Jan 24, 2010)

mentalchik said:


> The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.........



loved that, and the other two!


----------



## big eejit (Jan 24, 2010)

marty21 said:


> loved that, and the other two!



Read that last week. Reading The Girl Who Played with Fire at the mo.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 25, 2010)

I wasn't gonna launch into another Dee Brown book, but it appealed over the rest of the books hanging round waiting to be read - so am now reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and am in tears approximately every 5 minutes


----------



## Bassism (Jan 25, 2010)

The heroin diaries - NIkki Sixx. Fookin ace so far


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 25, 2010)

Joe Abercrombie "Best Served Cold" - a good slice of fantasy


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 25, 2010)

I am going to start reading _The Tragic Sense of Life_ by Miguel de Unamuno.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Jan 25, 2010)

The Howling - I want to read something non-taxing for a change.


----------



## yield (Jan 25, 2010)

I finished Matter last week. Hadn't read any Iain M Banks in a long while. Matter was excellent, shellworlds and the way the Involveds play each other. Imaginative, thought provoking stuff. 



Spoiler: Excession's plot



I'm about two-thirds of the way through Excession. Found it confusing so far. Games within games. The "Outside Context Problem" which is both the Excession itself and the Affront for the Culture...All good so far. k_s finally met GSV Ethics Gradient. 



Can't wait for the end. Then onto Against a Dark Background.


----------



## starfish (Jan 25, 2010)

yield said:


> I finished Matter last week. Hadn't read any Iain M Banks in a long while. Matter was excellent, shellworlds and the way the Involveds play each other. Imaginative, thought provoking stuff.
> 
> Can't wait for the end. Then onto Against a Dark Background.



Read Matter recently, thought it was excellent. Need to read more of them.

Currently reading Free Fall by Robert Caris. Its part of a series of books about an LA Private Eye called Elvis Cole.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 25, 2010)

My family and other animals, by Gerald Durrell.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jan 25, 2010)

CJ Cherryh - Downbelow Station

Long overdue. I've been meaning to get a copy for fifteen years or so.


----------



## da3 (Jan 26, 2010)

Missus has bought me a copy of The Dirt, Motley Crue


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 26, 2010)

da3 said:


> Missus has bought me a copy of The Dirt, Motley Crue



Mr. QofG's loved it - he alternated between giggling and going "WTF!!" at the descriptions of the depravity they got up too!


----------



## Gym Beam (Jan 27, 2010)

Reading Bad Science, by Ben Goldacre. Very funny, and alarming, especially the chapter on the Placebo Effect. Made me throw out all my Omega 3 pills


----------



## da3 (Jan 27, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Mr. QofG's loved it - he alternated between giggling and going "WTF!!" at the descriptions of the depravity they got up too!



lol Those bits are going to keep me occupied on the late shifts


----------



## ericjarvis (Jan 27, 2010)

Len Deighton - London Match


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 28, 2010)

Interrupted Jane Eyre, which I'm enjoying very much, with DJ Taylor's Bright Young People: The Rise and Fall of a Generation 1918-40, which is cracking so far.


----------



## Bakunin (Jan 28, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Mr. QofG's loved it - he alternated between giggling and going "WTF!!" at the descriptions of the depravity they got up too!



Well, if he liked that book, he'd love 'Hammer Of The Gods: Led Zeppelin Unauthorised.'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hammer-Gods-Led-Zeppelin-Unauthorised/dp/033043859X


----------



## ericjarvis (Jan 28, 2010)

Camus - The Fall


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 28, 2010)

Bakunin said:


> Well, if he liked that book, he'd love 'Hammer Of The Gods: Led Zeppelin Unauthorised.'
> 
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hammer-Gods-Led-Zeppelin-Unauthorised/dp/033043859X




Oooh - I will recommend that too him, ta!


----------



## Voley (Jan 28, 2010)

'Hammer Of The Gods' is ace, agreed. 'Proper' rock journos tend to hate it, too, which I find endearing. 

In a similar (ahem) vein I'm just about to start Victor Bockris biog of Keith Richards; which is fairly warts an all, by all accounts.


----------



## Roadkill (Jan 29, 2010)

I've got three on the go atm.

William Bernstein - _A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World_. It's actually a very good piece of narrative history, although Bernstein (as you'd expect from an American financier) is decidedly right-wing.  He also has a certain New Worlder's prejudice against the Old, and whilst he rightly emphasises the violence and exploitation inherent in European colonial trade, I very much doubt that the actions of the United States, for example in Latin America, will get the same treatment. I notice also that in his discussion of the first Opium War he neglects to mention that American firms were active in the opium trade, not least of which was Russell & Co, one of whose heads was grandfather of Franklin Roosevelt.

*edit* Finished this yesterday. Chapter 13, dealing with the post-1914 period, is indeed a bit crap, but the last bit is perhaps surprisingly thoughtful and his conclusions aren't as strident and conservative as I expected. Worth a read, IMO.


Roy Moxham - _Tea: The Extraordinary Story of the World's Favourite Drink_.  I picked it up as bog reading, but I'm enjoying it so much I'm reading it right through. 

Daphne Glazer - _The Wardrobe_.  Not bad short stories, but I prefer her novels...


----------



## pennimania (Jan 30, 2010)

Just finished 'The Rack' by A E Ellis.  Apparently this book got rave reviews in 1958 - well I liked it not.

set in a TB sanatorium it was less spiritual than The magic Mountain but not as funny as The Plague and I. Apparently it's meant to be very funny but I did not laugh.There were many unpleasant descriptions of medical practises which were vile - and I've read (and enjoyed) Bodies by Jed Mercurio.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Jan 30, 2010)

Finished _Bright Young People_, which I enjoyed a lot, liking Taylor's style and being generally entertained by the employment of the English language in the 1920s.

Back to _Jane Eyre_ now.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 30, 2010)

As I lay Dying - William Faulkner. Bit hard to work out who's who and the Southern vernacular, though enchanting, can be a bit arduous...


----------



## ringo (Jan 30, 2010)

Rabbit, Run - John Updike. Plus a couple of cabinet making books.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jan 31, 2010)

Shelters of Stone - Jean Auel


----------



## Fictionist (Jan 31, 2010)

Lolita - Nabakov


----------



## Ceej (Jan 31, 2010)

Extremely loud and incredibly close - Jonathan Safran Foer. Strange and wonderful - took a while to find the rhythm, but worth the effort.


----------



## Scarlette (Jan 31, 2010)

Ceej said:


> Extremely loud and incredibly close - Jonathan Safran Foer. Strange and wonderful - took a while to find the rhythm, but worth the effort.



Oh gosh! Don't read in public, I wept and wept on the Fenchurch Street line. A really wonderful book.

I just bought 'One Good Turn' by Kate Atkinson, largely because it features Brodie, the private investigator from her book 'Case Histories' and I have a crush on him.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jan 31, 2010)

Patrick O'Brian - Post Captain

I'm enjoying these, but not completely bowled over as many seem to be. Possibly because I find the dialogue too reminiscent of Dickens, who I hate with a passion.


----------



## colbhoy (Feb 1, 2010)

Just started Papillon by Henri Charriere.


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 1, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> Patrick O'Brian - Post Captain
> 
> I'm enjoying these, but not completely bowled over as many seem to be. Possibly because I find the dialogue too reminiscent of Dickens, who I hate with a passion.



Give it time and the magic will begin to work.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Feb 1, 2010)

Cheesypoof said:


> A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole - fantastic book



i read that not very long ago, i knew if i searched this thread for it it'd be on here, anyway i really loved that book, amazing. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

now im re-reading (again, for the 5th time probably)...


A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis - David M. Friedman


the lurverlllly urbanite pseudonarcissus sent it to me a few years ago... ive read it a good few times....its really, really good.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 1, 2010)

_Boonville_ by Robert Mailer Anderson.

It reminds me of _Generation X_ in a lot of ways. It is essentially about the same kind of thing, and it was written around the same time by an author of the same age...

It is nice to read something that is not so serious. I am going to do it more often, I think.


----------



## da3 (Feb 2, 2010)

colbhoy said:


> Just started Papillon by Henri Charriere.



Really enjoyed the Steve mcqueen film, does the film deviate far from the book?


----------



## Rainingstairs (Feb 2, 2010)

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. Pretty brilliant historically. never thought I'd find a fiction about the building of a cathedral interesting


----------



## belboid (Feb 2, 2010)

Mark Kermodes _It's Only A Movie_ has just arrived on my doorstep, so I may well be sneakily avoiding work and starting on that this afternoon.


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 2, 2010)

Just re-read The Naming Of The Dead by Ian Rankin, just to see quite how much worse the TV adaptation was... answer - infinitely.

Now on CJ Cherryh again, Merchanter's Luck.


----------



## colbhoy (Feb 3, 2010)

da3 said:


> Really enjoyed the Steve mcqueen film, does the film deviate far from the book?



I saw the film as a boy so really don't remember much about it. I'm not too far into the book either, they have just arrived at the penal settlement in French Guiana but it is a really compelling read so far.


----------



## colbhoy (Feb 3, 2010)

Rainingstairs said:


> Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. Pretty brilliant historically. never thought I'd find a fiction about the building of a cathedral interesting



Read it years ago, it was brilliant!


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 3, 2010)

shantaram - it's pissing me off


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 3, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> shantaram - it's pissing me off



I have picked that up so many times but something has put me off buying/reading it.

Do you think you'll continue with it or not bother?


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 3, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I have picked that up so many times but something has put me off buying/reading it.
> 
> Do you think you'll continue with it or not bother?


i'll keep with it - it's a rollicking o) and enjoyable read despite its size as he's a very engaging and evocative writer who knows how to write a story. 
although it's a work of fiction, it's heavily autobiographical and this is part of the reason it's pissing me off. the character is a bit of a weasel and he over romanticises the criminals and slumlords he meets and glosses over the inequality, even seeming to admire it at times, despite his harrowing descriptions of poverty and suffering elsewhere. i hope events change his mind later in the book.
i don't like his twee cod-philosophical musings either. he doesn't sound sincere or profound, he just sounds like a Gilette advert.
bloody good read though


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 3, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> i'll keep with it - it's a rollicking o) and enjoyable read despite its size as he's a very engaging and evocative writer who knows how to write a story.
> although it's a work of fiction, it's heavily autobiographical and this is part of the reason it's pissing me off. the character is a bit of a weasel and he over romanticises the criminals and slumlords he meets and glosses over the inequality, even seeming to admire it at times, despite his harrowing descriptions of poverty and suffering elsewhere. i hope events change his mind later in the book.
> i don't like his twee cod-philosophical musings either. he doesn't sound sincere or profound, he just sounds like a Gilette advert.
> bloody good read though



It sounds an interesting if rather frustrating read


----------



## starfish (Feb 3, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> Just re-read The Naming Of The Dead by Ian Rankin, just to see quite how much worse the TV adaptation was... answer - infinitely.



Ive read all the Rebus books but only seen a couple of the TV adaptations, they seemed to be a mish mash of books thrown together but thats possibly for another thread.

Currently reading Rendezvous at Kamakura Inn by Marshall Browne. Its a Japanese Detective story.


----------



## smmudge (Feb 4, 2010)

Ring by Koji Suzuki. It's ace and makes much more sense than the films. I started it this morning and I would have finished it by now if general lifey things had not taken up my time. I'll finish it tomorrow morning though


----------



## Dirty Martini (Feb 5, 2010)

Finished _Jane Eyre_.

Now it's _We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain Between the Wars_ by Martin Pugh, which has already become annoying.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 5, 2010)

Let The Right One In - just started it this morning and it is shaping up well


----------



## sojourner (Feb 5, 2010)

Was in a fed up mood last night, so picked up Andrew Collins - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, and read most of it.  

Yeh - really funny in places, lifted my mood


----------



## live_jayeola (Feb 5, 2010)

The Black Swan Nassim Nicholas Taleb


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 5, 2010)

live_jayeola said:


> The Black Swan Nassim Nicholas Taleb



ooh let us know what you thought of it


----------



## live_jayeola (Feb 5, 2010)

Speed reading it so I may be loosing a few key points but I've got the gist of it. Essentially it's a good read in the sense that he knows his topic. He's got one main point that he hammers home with anecdotes, footnotes and many references to history, philosophy, economics, history...


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 5, 2010)

Iain M Banks - Matter


----------



## Caecilian (Feb 5, 2010)

I'm reading DeLanda's 'One Thousand Years of Nonlinear History'. Interesting so far- he's drawing on a lot of stuff that I know well and like (Braudel, complexity theory). The problem is that I have a godawful cold, sinuses completely blocked and hurting . Difficult to focus when I'm in this condition.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Feb 5, 2010)

What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People.

Pretty good so far!


----------



## andy2002 (Feb 5, 2010)

I'm about 100 or so pages into Stephen King's Under The Dome. I haven't read any King for years and years but this hooked me straightaway. It's bloody huge so god knows when I'll finish it...


----------



## tar1984 (Feb 5, 2010)

'Darwin's Watch' by Terry Pratchett (with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen).  The science bits are fucking heavy - I like all the stuff about natural selection and the scientific method, but the mathematics of infinity are probably a step too far for my brain.  The discworld sections (where the wizards visit 'roundworld') are brilliant.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Feb 6, 2010)

Open, by Andre Agassi, its really good!

He absolutely hated tennis, which is intriguing.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Feb 6, 2010)

I'm reading Elsie and Marie Go to War


> When they met at a motorcycle club in 1912, Elsie Knocker was a thirty year-old motorcycling divorcee dressed in bottle-green Dunhill leathers, and Mairi Chisholm was a brilliant eighteen-year old mechanic, living at home borrowing tools from her brother. Little did they know, theirs was to become one of the most extraordinary stories of the First World War. In 1914, they roared off to London 'to do their bit', and within a month they were in the thick of things in Belgium driving ambulances to distant military hospitals. Frustrated by the number of men dying of shock in the back of their vehicles, they set up their own first-aid post on the front line in the village of Pervyse, near Ypres, risking their lives working under sniper fire and heavy bombardment for months at a time. As news of their courage and expertise spread, the 'Angels of Pervyse' became celebrities, visited by journalists and photographers as well as royals and VIPs. Glamorous and influential, they were having the time of their lives, and for four years, Elsie and Mairi and stayed in Pervyse until they were nearly killed by arsenic gas in the spring of 1918. But returning home and adjusting to peacetime life was to prove even more challenging than the war itself.


It's really very good.


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 8, 2010)

Q - Luther Blissett (again - in expectation of the 'sequel')


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 8, 2010)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> I'm reading Elsie and Marie Go to War
> 
> It's really very good.



you're missing one very very important detail - who wrote it?


----------



## kropotkin (Feb 8, 2010)

Wolf hall by Hilary mantel


----------



## belboid (Feb 8, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> you're missing one very very important detail - who wrote it?



methinks there is enough there to be able to find the book pretty easily.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 8, 2010)

belboid said:


> methinks there is enough there to be able to find the book pretty easily.


i'm sure there is, but one shouldn't have to play detective!


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 8, 2010)

Just finished. Ian Fleming - Dr No.

Now started Patrick O'Brian - HMS Surprise.


----------



## Boppity (Feb 9, 2010)

Richard III - Charles Ross.

Not for pleasure, let me assure you. Luckily I do not need to read all of it. 

When that's out of the way I'll probably get started on The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova. I read The Historian by her and really enjoyed it.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 9, 2010)

Eastern Approaches - Fitzroy Maclean.  Reading it for the 2nd time, hopefully I'll enjoy it as much as the 1st time. Excellent book, he was a Tory soldier /politician / diplomat /explorer /adventurer. The book details his adventures in the 30s and 40s. He travelled around Russia,fought behind the lines in Africa,and worked with Tito in Yugoslavia.


----------



## stethoscope (Feb 9, 2010)

Derek Wall - Babylon and Beyond


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 9, 2010)

I've rediscoverd lambs soryville book version of Shakespeare. The book that let me bullshit through many a shakespear discussion at GCSE.

Might re read it.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 11, 2010)

Willa Cather - O Pioneers!


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 11, 2010)

Nightwatch, by Sergei Russianname. Had it on my shelf for ages but not got around to it, turns out it is the perfect wind-down read - lots of thrilling adventure and interesting ideas without being particularly deep.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Feb 11, 2010)

Verbal Judo again.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 11, 2010)

May Kasahara said:


> Nightwatch, by Sergei Russianname. Had it on my shelf for ages but not got around to it, turns out it is the perfect wind-down read - lots of thrilling adventure and interesting ideas without being particularly deep.



I have heard lots of good things about Sergei Russianname.


----------



## vauxhallmum (Feb 11, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have heard lots of good things about Sergei Russianname.



And there was me thinking Night Watch was written by Sarah Englishname


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 11, 2010)

Still 'Q'. Engaging but deeply flawed.


----------



## Gingerman (Feb 11, 2010)

When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies by Andy Becket


----------



## Stanley Edwards (Feb 11, 2010)

I'm on a William Faulkner loop ATM. Sort of like a lot, sort of find it very frustrating also. Very interesting guy.


----------



## llion (Feb 11, 2010)

Daphne Du Maurier - Jamaica Inn - Rip-roaring, swashbuckling, windswept, smuggling and wrecking Cornish classic!


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 12, 2010)

vauxhallmum said:


> And there was me thinking Night Watch was written by Sarah Englishname



 I am a lazy bones. It's Lukyanenko, in case anyone wishes to read it. Decent book. Certainly a welcome antidote to the collection of feminist essays on the body and literary theory that I am trying to reach the end of  This is a particularly wank-sodden corner of Eng lit studies that I had long forgotten.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 12, 2010)

May Kasahara said:


> Nightwatch, by Sergei Russianname. Had it on my shelf for ages but not got around to it, turns out it is the perfect wind-down read - lots of thrilling adventure and interesting ideas without being particularly deep.



I rather enjoyed that too, in fact I have got Day Watch to read on a shelf somewhere at home.

However Let The Right One In is satisfying my vampire needs at the moment. And very good it is too


----------



## ringo (Feb 12, 2010)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson. Best page turner I've read since the Pullman trilogy.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 12, 2010)

ringo said:


> The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson. Best page turner I've read since the Pullman trilogy.



I am hoping to go on to that one next


----------



## Structaural (Feb 12, 2010)

I've just started the 3rd instalment, Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest. 
The Swedes have made a film of the first book, we watched it last month, very well made, cast and acted. If you like the book, check it out. I think they got Salander spot on, though Blomkvist looks like a young Jim Canning from Eastenders


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 12, 2010)

i've just finished the girl with the dragon tattoo and don't see what all the fuss is about. i don't read many crime thrillers but i thought the writing was appalling.


----------



## ringo (Feb 12, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> i've just finished the girl with the dragon tattoo and don't see what all the fuss is about. i don't read many crime thrillers but i thought the writing was appalling.



Agreed the writing style is nothing special, in fact after reading Updike the week before it was almost childlike in simplicity. I wondered if that was part of the Swedish literature style coming through though. 

The power of this book is it's story, characterisation and the skill which went into making it a page turner. I genuinely wanted to find out what was going on and had some degree of empathy for a number of the characters. Pretty unusual.

Finished it this morning and moving on to A Man Of The People - Chenua Achebe.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 12, 2010)

ringo said:


> Agreed the writing style is nothing special, in fact after reading Updike the week before it was almost childlike in simplicity. I wondered if that was part of the Swedish literature style coming through though.
> 
> The power of this book is it's story, characterisation and the skill which went into making it a page turner. I genuinely wanted to find out what was going on and had some degree of empathy for a number of the characters. Pretty unusual.
> 
> Finished it this morning and moving on to* A Man Of The People - Chenua Achebe.*



Been meaning to read that for ages, let me know what you think!


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 12, 2010)

ringo said:


> Agreed the writing style is nothing special, in fact after reading Updike the week before it was almost childlike in simplicity. I wondered if that was part of the Swedish literature style coming through though.
> 
> The power of this book is it's story, characterisation and the skill which went into making it a page turner. I genuinely wanted to find out what was going on and had some degree of empathy for a number of the characters. Pretty unusual.
> 
> Finished it this morning and moving on to A Man Of The People - Chenua Achebe.



i wasn't impressed by the structure of it either. the climax of the main plot happened too early and the rest of the story wasn't very engaging.
i didn't find the characters intriguing either. it was just a standard pot-boiler whose only difference was its setting and it's vaguely left wing/right on bent.


----------



## ringo (Feb 12, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


> Been meaning to read that for ages, let me know what you think!



His African Trilogy is one of the finest pieces of writing I've ever read, and the only other thing I have, Anthills of the Savannah, was also excellent, so I have high hopes for this one.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Feb 12, 2010)

Finished _We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain Between The Wars_ by Martin Pugh.

I've read quite a bit in this area and I didn't find anything new in it, despite the fact that he says he's following the recent trend of emphasising the rise of the leisure society at the expense of the common view of the period as one mired in depression and unemployment. What he seems to have done, rather, is cherrypick from a handful of books on each of the themed chapters (work, sport. aviation, etc.). There's very little original research on primary sources, and a lousy index. And, oh, a serious historian should never use exclamation marks, which Pugh does every other fecking page. Not recommended, except for some interesting facts you can conjure with down the pub.

Now it's Julian Maclaren-Ross's _Selected Stories_


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 13, 2010)

Len Deighton - Spy Hook.

Going to have to lay off the spy stories, they are feeding my paranoia.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 13, 2010)

Just finished some great trashy sci-fi, _Mass Effect: Ascension_ and started slightly more literary sci-fi _The Player of Games_. 

I'm very much in the grips of a sci-fi addiction. Any trashy recommendations welcome. I haven't read much at all.


----------



## Flavour (Feb 13, 2010)

I'm reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman - very good sci-fi


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 13, 2010)

Vintage Paw said:


> Just finished some great trashy sci-fi, _Mass Effect: Ascension_ and started slightly more literary sci-fi _The Player of Games_.
> 
> I'm very much in the grips of a sci-fi addiction. Any trashy recommendations welcome. I haven't read much at all.



The Starchild Trilogy is good quality, well, I wouldn't call it trash exactly but it's an easy read. I loved it when I was at school, so much so in fact that I stole the school library's copy  Still have it now.


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 14, 2010)

Joseph Wambaugh - The Onion Field


----------



## gradski75 (Feb 14, 2010)

Been reading a gem I stumbled upon, promislingly entitled "The Psychedelic Yogi" ...

http://sites.google.com/site/psihedelichniatyogi/

The tricky part is it's in Bulgarian


----------



## rollinder (Feb 14, 2010)

Russell T Davies / Benjamin Cook - The Writers Tale (been reading the original hardback, now on the extra sections in/of the Final Chapter)


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 15, 2010)

I have received a first edition of 'Q'......(English/2003)


----------



## xes (Feb 15, 2010)

I am reading Forbidden History:Extraterrestrial Intervention, Prehistoric Technologies, and the Suppressed Origin of Civilization, edited by J. Douglas Kenyon. Bear and Co.


----------



## Errol's son (Feb 16, 2010)

Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil by John Ghazvinian

Very good - much better than most books I have read recently on Africa, although I have found the odd small mistake.


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 16, 2010)

William Tenn - The Square Root Of Man

Short stories, some a tad dated, but often fun nonetheless.


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 16, 2010)

The Travels of Ibn Battutah (edited Tim Mackintosh-Smith) (1)


----------



## lanepe (Feb 17, 2010)

I'm re-reading an Isaac Asimov short stories collection that I first read many years ago as a teenager.

The stories are still great but what strikes me now is how many of the gadgets that he imagined we now actually have and use daily. And as interesting how our real gadgets are so much better than the imagined ones.

There was a short I read last week where two future kids discover and are amazed by a real paper book as they have never seen one before. The 'book' that they read from is a large non portable tv screen where the words scroll across the screen from right to left. One kid comments that his modern book can hold 'tens' of books in its memory.

Compare that to the Kimble or other products on the market currently that are small, portable, don’t have scrolling words (that would do your head in) and can hold many thousands of books, plus having the ability to download any book you want within seconds.

Anyway, I've gone off at a tangent. It's a very good read.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2010)

Started Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski last night, and it's already shaping up to be the best thing I've read by him so far


----------



## Voley (Feb 18, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Started Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski last night, and it's already shaping up to be the best thing I've read by him so far





I've just started 'The Decline Of The English Murder and other essays' by George Orwell. Great so far. I love his short, pithy articles. Ideal at bedtime as he crams enough ideas into three or four pages to get you really thinking and then you fall asleep. 'Books vs. Cigarettes' was good for this, too.


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Feb 18, 2010)

The Tetherballs of Bougainville -Mark Leyner


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Feb 18, 2010)

Underground London:Travels Beneath The City Streets by Stephen Smith
Really good and funny enough to have me laughing on the bus as I read it on the way home after I had bought it.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Feb 18, 2010)

_Tess of the D'Urbervilles_


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> _Tess of the D'Urbervilles_



Oh I fucking _love_ that.  Breaks my heart into little pieces though   I was full of fury for ages after first reading it


----------



## Dirty Martini (Feb 18, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Oh I fucking _love_ that.  Breaks my heart into little pieces though   I was full of fury for ages after first reading it



Am indeed enjoying it. Love the sly, jaunty pessimism.

I largely gave Hardy the swerve at university. I feel a little foolish now.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Am indeed enjoying it. Love the sly, jaunty pessimism.
> 
> I largely gave Hardy the swerve at university. *I feel a little foolish *now.



Nah, no need is there?  It's all there, ready and waiting for us to be in the right mood to read it   There's shit tons of stuff I didn't want to read for years, that I am enjoying now


----------



## Dirty Martini (Feb 18, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Nah, no need is there?  It's all there, ready and waiting for us to be in the right mood to read it   There's shit tons of stuff I didn't want to read for years, that I am enjoying now



Yeh, you're right 

I am embarrassed by the extent to which I avoided the Victorians, when they're pretty much _essential_. Love Dickens though.


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 18, 2010)

Yevgeni Zamyatin - We

The original sf dystopic novel. A decade before Brave New World was written, yet in many ways less dated.


----------



## Starflesh (Feb 18, 2010)

The Tyranny Of Words by Stuart Chase.


----------



## starfish (Feb 18, 2010)

Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh.


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 18, 2010)

The Seagull - Chekhov (2)


----------



## han (Feb 19, 2010)

The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst. Quite racy!


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 19, 2010)

The Purloined Letter - Edgar Allan Poe (3)


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 19, 2010)

Hamlet (Q1) - Shakespeare (4)


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 19, 2010)

Four new books:

Roberto Bolano: The Last Interview & other Conversations
Gauchos & the Vanishing Frontier by Richard Slatta
Stefano Delle Chiaie by Stuart Christie
City of Quartz by Mike Davis


----------



## llion (Feb 19, 2010)

Understanding Comics - Scott McLoud - Brilliantly inventive and enthusiastic.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 22, 2010)

I started Swag  by Elmore Leonard last night, and loving it already 

oh, and Ham on Rye is the best thing by Bukowski that I've read so far.


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 22, 2010)

Back to Len Deighton. Just finished Spy Line. Now have to choose between Spy Sinker which is an overview from a different perspective, and Faith, which is the next novel in the series. I shall probably read Jane Eyre instead.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 22, 2010)

Charlie and the Glass Elevator 

I'm working my way through a box of roal dahl I found in the attic. Did georges Marvellous medicine over dinner and pud last night. I read it as an allegory for how drugs are cool and they make moany old women disappear.


----------



## belboid (Feb 22, 2010)

Ground Control by Anna Minton. Very interesting wee book on the privatisation of britains public spaces and the return of neo-feudal estates to our city centres.


----------



## elevendayempire (Feb 22, 2010)

GW Dahlquist's The Dark Volume.


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 22, 2010)

Pericles - Shakespeare (5)
A Knack to Know a Knave - Anon (6)


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 22, 2010)

love saves the day: a history of american cance music culture 1979-1979 - tim lawrence


----------



## live_jayeola (Feb 23, 2010)

Cobweb by Neal Stephenson & Frederick George


----------



## MightyAphrodite (Feb 24, 2010)

Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army - Jeremy Scahill


----------



## Dirty Martini (Feb 24, 2010)

Finished _Tess of the D'Urbervilles_, for which words are probably superfluous.

It might be the only book that's ever made me cry, but that's because I'm a big jessie.

Now it's _Through A Glass Darkly: The Life of Patrick Hamilton_ by Nigel Jones.


----------



## madzone (Feb 24, 2010)

I'm reading 'Notes on an Exhibition' by Patrick Gale. I bought it because the bumph said it was about an artist from Penzance being found dead in her studio 

I'm enjoying it so far


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 24, 2010)

Contemplating Plaths 'The Bell Jar'

Everyone who has enthused about it to me has been odd and a girl.

I'm guessing there will be no explosions.


----------



## the button (Feb 24, 2010)

madzone said:


> I'm reading 'Notes on an Exhibition' by Patrick Gale. I bought it because the bumph said it was about an artist from Penzance being found dead in her studio
> 
> I'm enjoying it so far



That was the last novel I read -- and one of the best I've read for some time. 

Currently reading "The wages of destruction," by Adam Tooze, which is an economic history of the Third Reich. A Valentine's gift.


----------



## the button (Feb 24, 2010)

belboid said:


> Ground Control by Anna Minton. Very interesting wee book on the privatisation of britains public spaces and the return of neo-feudal estates to our city centres.



That's on its way to me from Amazon.

Edit: in fact it's just been delivered.


----------



## Bakunin (Feb 24, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> Contemplating Plaths 'The Bell Jar'
> 
> Everyone who has enthused about it to me has been odd and a girl.
> 
> I'm guessing there will be no explosions.



Nope, no explosions, no car chases, no mass firefights, no drug taking and probably no sex either.

Pretty much dull as ditchwater really.


----------



## madzone (Feb 24, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> Contemplating Plaths 'The Bell Jar'
> 
> Everyone who has enthused about it to me has been odd and a girl.
> 
> I'm guessing there will be no explosions.


 It's completely self indulgent and depressing. I loved it when I was 20.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 24, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Finished _Tess of the D'Urbervilles_, for which words are probably superfluous.
> 
> It might be the only book that's ever made me cry, but that's because I'm a big jessie.



Awww...  I'm not a jessie at all, I'm big and hard and clever - and it makes me cry like a baby


----------



## sojourner (Feb 24, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> Contemplating Plaths 'The Bell Jar'
> 
> Everyone who has enthused about it to me has been odd and a girl.
> 
> I'm guessing there will be no explosions.



  I hated it


----------



## belboid (Feb 24, 2010)

the button said:


> That's on its way to me from Amazon.
> 
> Edit: in fact it's just been delivered.



just about finished it now.  It's a bit annoyingly editted (ie badly, she points out that manchester is the ASBO capital of Britain twice in five pages!), and i suspect you'll know quite a lot of the info already, but there's still more than enough about the scale of how bad things are to make it a very worthwhile purchase

Meanwhile, Amazn have just sent me The Ridgeway: Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon Trailblazer British Walking Guides, as we are off for a pleasant weekend break in Avebury on friday.  When its due to piss down for three days...


----------



## the button (Feb 24, 2010)

belboid said:


> just about finished it now.  It's a bit annoyingly editted (ie badly, she points out that manchester is the ASBO capital of Britain twice in five pages!), and* i suspect you'll know quite a lot of the info already, but there's still more than enough about the scale of how bad things are to make it a very worthwhile purchase*



Yeah, nice to have things in one place, though. Plus I'd far rather read a book about something than pick up bits & pieces from magazines and the internet.


----------



## Dr. Furface (Feb 24, 2010)

Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov (on an iphone app )


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 24, 2010)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera (7)


----------



## Fictionist (Feb 24, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> Charlie and the Glass Elevator
> 
> I'm working my way through a box of roal dahl I found in the attic. Did georges Marvellous medicine over dinner and pud last night. I read it as an allegory for how drugs are cool and they make moany old women disappear.



Plonker!


----------



## Dirty Martini (Feb 25, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Awww...  I'm not a jessie at all, I'm big and hard and clever - and it makes me cry like a baby





I'm ok now. Decadent country squires and ethereal sexists better keep away from me though.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 25, 2010)

the bell jar is a stunning book. my 2c.


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 25, 2010)

Ian Fleming - Live And Let Die


----------



## sojourner (Feb 25, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> I'm ok now. Decadent country squires and ethereal sexists better keep away from me though.


----------



## ChrisC (Feb 25, 2010)

Buddhism Encyclopedia By Ian Harris.

And.

Consciousness A Very Short Introduction By Susan Blackmore.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 26, 2010)

Finished Swag last night - fucking brilliant .  Probably one of the best final lines in a novel ever  

In an attempt to halt my growing twin obsession with Bukowski and Leonard, I have two other books lined up, plucked from the charidee shop - so started Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang last night

Very interesting framing of the narrative, and the vernacular used is fitting in nicely following on the heels of Leonard 

The use of 'adjectival' rather than actual swear words is tickling me


----------



## girasol (Feb 26, 2010)

One Straw Revolution - Masanobu Fukuoka (considered to be the father of organic farming)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanobu_Fukuoka

This was a follow on from 'How to be Free' by Tom Hodginkson, who recommended this book as essential reading.

There's a buddhist undertone to it (he's a buddhist), but there are many aspects of buddhism that I like, so I'm happy with that, as well as lots of tips on how to grow fruit/veg more easily/organically.  Really enjoying it.  The writer comes over as a very intelligent, wise and in tune with nature.  

He also demonstrates why intensive farming is so destructive and unsustainable.  I don't think there's nothing there I didn't know, but they do say that the best books tell you what you know already! (George Orwell?)


----------



## llion (Feb 26, 2010)

Victor Hugo - Les Miserables. Much quicker-paced and more exiciting than I'd imagined.


----------



## Pieface (Feb 26, 2010)

I'm still reading A Suitable Boy   the politics really slowed me down.  I think I'm getting slower at reading


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 27, 2010)

Just started Across Realtime by Vernor Vinge


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 1, 2010)

Finished _Through A Glass Darkly: The Life of Patrick Hamilton_ by Nigel Jones.

I don't know how much of this to believe. Most of it seems to come from a problematic memoir written by his devoted (but apparently, in the end, less than devoted) brother, and it's all rather confusing.

What isn't in doubt, though, is that PH was a highly disturbed and controlling character, and, in many senses, a total fucking weirdo. You wouldn't want his life, but you wouldn't have minded writing some of the funniest black comedy in English, like he did.

This is a 2008 revision of a 1991 book that doesn't seem to have been revised or corrected at all. Lazy publishers/editors, I hate them with a passion.

Now it's _The Military Orchid_ by Jocelyn Brooke.


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 1, 2010)

Murder Machine - Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustain.

The tale of New York's notorious 'Gemini Crew' (so called because their base was a bar called the Gemini Lounge), a group of Mafiosi nominally part of the Gambino 'family' who specialised in car ringing, drug dealing and murder for pleasure and profit.

Definitely not for those with a faint heart or a weak stomach.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 1, 2010)

llion said:


> Victor Hugo - Les Miserables. Much quicker-paced and more exiciting than I'd imagined.



I have tried to read that about 4 times....and failed 



Pieface said:


> I'm still reading A Suitable Boy   the politics really slowed me down.  I think I'm getting slower at reading



I think you are being hard on yourself . It is a massive book with a complicated interwoven story even without the political angle. Worth perservering though as it is a wonderful book.


----------



## Voley (Mar 1, 2010)

Just started 'A Spot Of Bother' by Mark Hatton but it's really dull. I'm giving it another chapter and if it hasn't got going it's heading for the bin.


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 1, 2010)

Across Realtime is superb. Just a fantastic story, great characters, and some interesting political and scientific concepts. SF at its best.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 1, 2010)

NVP said:


> Just started 'A Spot Of Bother' by Mark Hatton but it's really dull. I'm giving it another chapter and if it hasn't got going it's heading for the bin.



don't waste your time - it's dreadful


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 1, 2010)

just treated myself to The End of The Party by Andrew Rawnsley, and looking forward to reading about Brown being driven demented by Blair


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 1, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> just treated myself to The End of The Party by Andrew Rawnsley, and looking forward to reading about Brown being driven demented by Blair



i couldn't be bothered to read it, so i watched it instead:


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 1, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> just treated myself to The End of The Party by Andrew Rawnsley, and looking forward to reading about Brown being driven demented by Blair



The bits I have read in the Observer have been interesting - Brown being frustrated in his desire to be PM reminds me of Peggy wanting to become but never quite making a yellow coat in "Hi-de-Hi". But with less pathos


----------



## sojourner (Mar 1, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> don't waste your time - it's dreadful



seconded


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 1, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> i couldn't be bothered to read it, so i watched it instead:


that's very bizarre


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 1, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> The bits I have read in the Observer have been interesting - Brown being frustrated in his desire to be PM reminds me of Peggy wanting to become but never quite making a yellow coat in "Hi-de-Hi". But with less pathos


i missed the first weekend's extracts but was laughing my socks off at yesterdays revelations.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 1, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i missed the first weekend's extracts but was laughing my socks off at yesterdays revelations.



I was going to say it is like some kind of greek tragedy but generally the protaganists in those are a little more sympathetic! Even when killing their fathers and shagging their mothers! It is more like some kind of car-crash farce. Was it in yesterday's paper when Brown was qouted as shouting "When are you fucking going" to or about Blair. 

Something many are shouting about Brown himself now


----------



## Spion (Mar 2, 2010)

Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds.

I'm halfway through 600 pages and agonising over whether to just stop because so many things about it wind me up. But then there are interesting threads to it too - It's a painful choice


----------



## tinytina (Mar 2, 2010)

i totaly agree


----------



## Voley (Mar 2, 2010)

NVP said:


> Just started 'A Spot Of Bother' by Mark Hatton but it's really dull. I'm giving it another chapter and if it hasn't got going it's heading for the bin.





Orang Utan said:


> don't waste your time - it's dreadful





sojourner said:


> seconded



Agreed. The bin beckons.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 2, 2010)

Spion said:


> Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds.
> 
> I'm halfway through 600 pages and agonising over whether to just stop because so many things about it wind me up. But then there are interesting threads to it too - It's a painful choice



stick with it. It is worth it.


----------



## Spion (Mar 2, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> stick with it. It is worth it.


I really like the Flotilla/Sky Haussman part of the storyline. It's developing slowly, atmosphere-wise it hangs together, the motives, the means, the technology, everything works. I'm hooked.

But the other threads in it I'm finding frustrating. Tanner Mirabel in particular drives me mental. The worst in a book with very poor characters who could have been lifted from bad space cartoons. They so lack credible motives.

I'll finish it, but I've got a Robert L Forward sitting next to me and I keep reading the first page and stopping myself going further.

Really, I don't think Chasm City is a well-crafted book at all. 

Horses for courses tho, and all that


----------



## Part 2 (Mar 2, 2010)

I just finished my first book in years. David Simon's Homicide: A Year on The Killing Streets.

I was well impressed with myself, it only took 2 weeks. So much so I bought The Corner on Saturday and already 100 pages in. 

Just filling a basket on Book Depository so I don't lose momentum.


----------



## mentalchik (Mar 2, 2010)

Spion said:


> Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds.
> 
> I'm halfway through 600 pages and agonising over whether to just stop because so many things about it wind me up. But then there are interesting threads to it too - It's a painful choice



Have to say i kinda struggle with AR too...............



reading Seeds Of Earth by Michael Cobley !


----------



## little_legs (Mar 2, 2010)

NVP said:


> Just started 'A Spot Of Bother' by Mark Hatton but it's really dull. I'm giving it another chapter and if it hasn't got going it's heading for the bin.



haddon should have never published 'a spot of bother', it dreadful. i'd rather he waited a few years and wrote something worth reading.

i found it similar to 'running with scissors' which is also garbage


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 4, 2010)

Fazlur Rahman - Major Themes of the Qur'an (8)


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 4, 2010)

Just finished yet another Len Deighton, Spy Sinker. Now started on Jane Eyre.


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 4, 2010)

Sharpe's Waterloo - Bernard Cornwell.


----------



## starfish (Mar 4, 2010)

Doll by Ed McBain.


----------



## Voley (Mar 5, 2010)

little_legs said:


> haddon should have never published 'a spot of bother', it dreadful. i'd rather he waited a few years and wrote something worth reading.



I didn't even get past chapter 2. I had no interest in any of the characters at all. Considering how good his previous book was it was surprisingly disappointing.

Anyhow, just started 'Killer On The Road' by James Ellroy which is shaping up to be really good. It's an early one of his so doesn't have the dense plotting and mad language of his later stuff but it's obviously semi-autobiographical, it's written from the point of view of a Charles Manson / Hannibal Lecter type serial killer and after Mark Haddon it's fucking great.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 5, 2010)

^ did you hear James Ellroy on Desert Island Discs the other week?  God I love his voice   He's another writer I mean to read more of - have only read one I think, but liked it


----------



## Voley (Mar 5, 2010)

Nah, missed that unfortunately. 

I know what you mean about his voice - it fits his writing style perfectly. His writing style is probably my favourite of anyone. Brutal but right to the point. Not a word wasted. The Cold Six Thousand opens with:

"They sent him to Dallas to kill a nigger pimp named Wendell Durfee. He wasn't sure he could do it. The Casino Operators Council flew him. They supplied first-class fare. They tapped their slush fund. They greased him. They fed him six cold."

Just great. His editor told him 'The Black Dahlia' had to be a thousand words shorter so he reckons he just took all the verbs out. 

I'd really recommend The LA Quartet if you've not read them, soj. It's epic in every way. Really worth reading them in order if possible.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 5, 2010)

There are lots of similarities in style with Elmore Leonard.  I do really admire that sparsity - Annie Proulx is another one who manages to carry it off brilliantly

Cheers for the rec - will deffo look them up


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 5, 2010)

NVP said:


> I'd really recommend The LA Quartet if you've not read them, soj. It's epic in every way. Really worth reading them in order if possible.



seconded. i cannot hype it with enough superlatives. it's amazing.


----------



## Voley (Mar 5, 2010)

Well I've only read a couple of Elmore Leonard; Freaky Deaky and Get Shorty, both of which I really liked. Any recommendations back?

Very different style but James Lee Burke's written some good crime novels, too. 'In The Electric Mist With The Confederate Dead' was a good 'un.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 5, 2010)

I just finished Swag by EL - would definitely recommend that.  I am just going to read everything he's done tbh, but spaced out between other books.  Am totally fucking hooked on his writing style - the man is a god

e2a - the first one I read was The Hot Kid, which is brilliant too


----------



## Voley (Mar 5, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> seconded. i cannot hype it with enough superlatives. it's amazing.



I've always thought it would make a great HBO series. One series for each book - you'd have enough room to have all the dense plots over a series. And with someone a bit scarier than the guy that played Dudley Smith in the film of LA Confidential.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 5, 2010)

I've just looked up the LA Quartet, and the only one I've read is the first book!


----------



## Voley (Mar 5, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I just finished Swag by EL - would definitely recommend that.  I am just going to read everything he's done tbh, but spaced out between other books.  Am totally fucking hooked on his writing style - the man is a god
> 
> e2a - the first one I read was The Hot Kid, which is brilliant too



Cheers. Will look em up.


----------



## Voley (Mar 5, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I've just looked up the LA Quartet, and the only one I've read is the first book!



The Big Nowhere next then. I envy you frankly. 

(Quick edit, btw)


----------



## sojourner (Mar 5, 2010)

NVP said:


> The Big Nowhere next then. I envy you frankly.
> 
> (*Quick edit,* btw)



heh - I was still in EL mode 

righty ho - more to go on the Amazon wish list then!!  Am desperately trying not to buy any books this month due to all monies going towards gig and festie tix!!


----------



## Roadkill (Mar 5, 2010)

Joel Mokyr - _The Enlightened Economy_

Glyn Williams - _Arctic Labyrinth: The Search for the North West Passage_

Ian Mortimer - _The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England_


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 5, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I just finished Swag by EL - would definitely recommend that.  I am just going to read everything he's done tbh, but spaced out between other books.  Am totally fucking hooked on his writing style - the man is a god
> 
> e2a - the first one I read was The Hot Kid, which is brilliant too



Seconded. My favourite so far is Be Cool.


----------



## llion (Mar 6, 2010)

Keats by Andrew Motion - the recent film about Keats, 'Bright Star', was based on this biography. It's very good so far, surprisingly in-depth about the historical background, political radicalism of the era etc.


----------



## belboid (Mar 7, 2010)

Aravind 'The White Tiger' Adiga _Between The Assasinations._ Pretty good from the first fifty pages.


----------



## rollinder (Mar 7, 2010)

Jake Arnott - truecrime


----------



## Cheesypoof (Mar 8, 2010)

Washer Mouth - The man who was a washing machine, by Kevin Donihe


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 8, 2010)

Just finished Jane Eyre. Enjoyed it immensely.


----------



## Spion (Mar 8, 2010)

Roadkill said:


> Ian Mortimer - _The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England_


Looks superb . . . but, so many books so little time


----------



## sojourner (Mar 8, 2010)

Just started reading No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.  Although I've seen the film, am really looking forward to reading the book, and getting the original story


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 8, 2010)

Finished _The Orchid Trilogy_ by Jocelyn Brooke, which I really really enjoyed.

Made up of _The Military Orchid_, _The Mine of Serpents_ and _The Goose Cathedral_ (1948-1950), it's an often really beautiful, mostly melancholic and occasionally very funny look at the author's childhood in Kent and his time in the army (he re-enlisted for a couple of years in 1947), interspersed with lots of botany, musings about memory and nostalgia, guilt at not writing and time spent drinking in Dover with sailors. The books get about as close as anyone could get to describing homosexual desire at that time without having to be published in Paris.

It was a real thrill for me to read about places I know so well -- Folkestone, Sandgate, Bishopsbourne. Kent doesn't have many literary mythmakers, but I love this one.

Nearly finished _How Not To Write A Novel_ by Sandra Newman & Howard Mittlemark, which is funny when it doesn't try too hard.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 8, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Just started reading No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.  Although I've seen the film, am really looking forward to reading the book, and getting the original story



I loved it - absolutely loved it 

I am onto The Girl Who Played With Fire. Not bad. I enjoyed The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo but I felt his writing got a bit lazy and unfocused towards the end of the book when the story started to take precedence.


----------



## loosehead (Mar 8, 2010)

One of the best books that I've ever read on the English drug scene; 'Poppy Dream - the story of an English addict,' by Joe South. It is an autobiography of a registered heroin addict, prostitute and drug dealer. The book is beautifully written and absolutely reeks of authenticity. I couldn't put the book down and laughed and cried in equal measure. Forget 'Trainspotting' and other contrived stories about the drug scene 'Poppy Dream' is the real thing. Marvellous....and it's English!


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 9, 2010)

_Journey into the Past_ by Stefan Zweig -- short and sweet. Great writer, Zweig.

Now: _Far From The Madding Crowd_


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 9, 2010)

Elmore Leonard - The Hunted

Why do people bother with authors like Tom Clancy? Elmore Leonard does action better, and with real seeming characters, and with the ability to twist a cliche into something absolutely strange.


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 9, 2010)

SOE: Special Operations Executive 1940-1946 - M.R.D. Foot.

Rather dated now, seeing as it accompanied the BBC series that was broadcast back in the 1980's, but an enjoyable and informative read all the same.


----------



## starfish (Mar 9, 2010)

Think ill start Joseph Wambaughs Hollywood Crows tonight.


----------



## el topo (Mar 10, 2010)

Disgrace - Coetzee
Devil in a Blue Dress - Mosley.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 10, 2010)

Court of The Red Tsar is on order and due in the next three days 

In the meantime I am making do by re-reading the first Artemis Fowl book.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 10, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> Elmore Leonard - The Hunted
> 
> Why do people bother with authors like *Tom Clancy*? Elmore Leonard does action better, and with real seeming characters, and with the ability to twist a cliche into something absolutely strange.



I'm not sure you can compare the two.  Clancy is a ham-fisted clumsy  best-seller-list chaser, lacking any soul or semblance of vision, and Leonard gifts us with writing that feels like he's sat right there alongside you, telling you the story


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 10, 2010)

In the last week I've finished

_The Yiddish Policeman's Union _by Michael Chabon

_Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March_ by Adam Zamoyski

Both excellent books though the first had rather more laughs.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 10, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Just started reading No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.  Although I've seen the film, am really looking forward to reading the book, and getting the original story



i found it rather disappointing. Cormac McCarthy is one of my favourite authors but this one just didn't do it for me. It just read like a  pulp western


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 10, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I'm not sure you can compare the two.  Clancy is a ham-fisted clumsy  best-seller-list chaser, lacking any soul or semblance of vision, and Leonard gifts us with writing that feels like he's sat right there alongside you, telling you the story



I'm certainly not comparing them. Just questioning how Clancy gets to sell any books.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 10, 2010)

Along with Crichton, Grisham, and any number of hacks these people sell McDonalds books. You know what they will be like, they are made to a pleasing formula and they'll fill a hole.

Oh and there is always one authorial eye on the potential film rights dosh


----------



## belboid (Mar 10, 2010)

rubbershoes said:


> _The Yiddish Policeman's Union _by Michael Chabon



always meant to read that, I must put it on me list.  Again.


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 10, 2010)

Shakespeare - Henry IV (Parts 1 & 2). In readiness for 'The Globe' this season.


----------



## tastebud (Mar 11, 2010)

Well I am reading 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' cos I have spent most of this year reading either classics or research methods, which is not always fun. anyway, so far the book is awesome. totally loved the 'Post Birthday World' and thus far, this seems even better. 

Tomorrow one of my favourite authors - Hanif Kureishi - is doing a reading from his new book, and I have tickets - very excited indeed. Love him.


----------



## rollinder (Mar 11, 2010)

Quentin Crisp - How To become A Virgin


----------



## little_legs (Mar 11, 2010)

tastebud said:


> Well I am reading 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' cos I have spent most of this year reading either classics or research methods, which is not always fun. anyway, so far the book is awesome. totally loved the 'Post Birthday World' and thus far, this seems even better.
> 
> Tomorrow one of my favourite authors - Hanif Kureishi - is doing a reading from his new book, and I have tickets - very excited indeed. Love him.



what's the new book called? i like kureishi too. his last book 'something to tell you' was a mix of everything he has written before, so i did not enjoy it as much as i enjoyed his previous books.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 11, 2010)

tastebud said:


> Well I am reading 'We Need to Talk About Kevin'



Loved that book


----------



## sojourner (Mar 11, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> I'm certainly not comparing them. Just questioning how Clancy gets to sell any books.



It's probably got everything to do with marketing eh?  I've never noticed stacks of Elmore Leonard books in WH Smith, airports, supermarkets, or motorway service stations, which is where I imagine most of them get picked up

Plus I think the covers are designed specifically to catch a certain kind of male eye, whereas Leonard's are quite subtle, and don't look like they contain vast amounts of testosterone


----------



## jeff_leigh (Mar 11, 2010)

Ed McBain - The Mugger


----------



## Badgers (Mar 11, 2010)

I Lick My Cheese and Other Notes - from the Frontline of Flatsharing by
Oonagh O'Hagan for £1 from the charity shop


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 11, 2010)

Also: Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon


----------



## starfish (Mar 11, 2010)

jeff_leigh said:


> Ed McBain - The Mugger



Well done that man. Im on my 25th or so 87th Precinct book. Love them.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 11, 2010)

I have started _All The Pretty Horses_ by Cormac McCarthy.

I have read _The Road_ (which I wasn't keen on, but I can accept is a great and important book) and _Blood Meridian_, which I can only say is fucking amazing, in a very very violent kind of way.

I don't know which way this one is going to go yet.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 12, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have started _All The Pretty Horses_ by Cormac McCarthy.
> 
> I have read _The Road_ (which I wasn't keen on, but I can accept is a great and important book) and _Blood Meridian_, which I can only say is fucking amazing, in a very very violent kind of way.
> 
> I don't know which way this one is going to go yet.



I've not read any other McCarthy, but ATPH is a masterpiece. Not a word too many or out of place.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 12, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have started _All The Pretty Horses_ by Cormac McCarthy.



I fucking LOVE that book.  By far the best one in that trilogy.

It totally appealed to the cowboy within - the landscapes, the horses , the two growing young men in the unfolding tale...I loved the simplicity of it

That's something I'm getting more and more into lately - simplicity of the text, and strength of the writing.  It's a thrilling combination for me, and one I admire to the very tips of my toes 

Annie Proulx was one of the first writers to hook me into that style, and now I have Cormac McCarthy, Elmore Leonard, and James Ellroy


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 12, 2010)

re-reading 'The Secret Annexe' which is a hefty anthology of war diaries covering entries from all sorts of people and all sorts of wars. I'd forgotten how good it is. From the rage-inducing to the heartbreaking and everything inbetween. Best charity shop find ever.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 12, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I fucking LOVE that book.  By far the best one in that trilogy.
> 
> It totally appealed to the cowboy within - the landscapes, the horses , the two growing young men in the unfolding tale...I loved the simplicity of it
> 
> ...



It's makin me feel like a cowboy


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 12, 2010)

Len Deighton - Winter: A Berlin Family 1899-1945

Brilliant. It's got nazis, zeppelins, spies, and pianos. What more could anyone want.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 12, 2010)

Moustaches and Lederhosen? But I guess they feature as well at some point.


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 12, 2010)

A Life In Secrets: Vera Atkins and the lost agents of SOE - Sarah helm.

An excellent read that neatly combines the life story of SOE spymaster Vera Atkins (a senior member of SOE's F Section that sent agents into occupied France) with her personal search for the 118 F Section agents lost during WWII.

Fascinating if also, at times, depressing reading.


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 12, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Moustaches and Lederhosen? But I guess they feature as well at some point.



Funnily enough, yes. As do schnapps, schnitzels, and various types of sausage. And beer. Len Deighton is generally quite good at giving his characters a chance to drink some obscure and interesting beers now and again.


----------



## Kingdom (Mar 12, 2010)

I've finished all 3 of James Freys book. LOVED A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard (especially MFL). Took me a while to get into Bright Shiny Morning, but really enojyed it once i'd got used to to the format. 

Last night i started reading Suttree by Cormac McCarthy. I was so blown away i ended up reading the first two chapters to my other half.


----------



## OneStrike (Mar 13, 2010)

Scared to read the thread as i spotted the title twice as i scrolled down, but if i can resist the rest of the booze around my person i will finish The Road tonight, i guess many of you have an opinion on it.  It has helped me appreciate my warm bed on the last two nights, sent me into some sort of survivalist half dream about going into long term survival mode.  I'm not currently convinced that it is as good as the hype though i'm hopeful of an inciteful/heavily revealing finale.  Still, even if it dissapoints, i recall appreciating some works for not giving an answer and leaving you to ponder(i'm waffling, sorry).  Probably moving on to something entirely different next anyway, at least after i read George Kimbwall's  Four Kings.


----------



## tastebud (Mar 13, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Loved that book


yeah it's amazing. so emotional. really, really does make me question having kids at all. she writes about r'ships so well too.

littlelegs - it was a collection of short stories - eight of which are new ones and two are old ones - the launderette one and my son the fanatic being the old ones i think.
he was amazecore. love him even more now. was very funny. and mental. great. wish i had recorded it on my phone or something. didn't buy the book or get it signed, but so glad i saw him.
yeah - the most recent was not necessarily his best. i have read all his stuff and that one just didn't flow so well. he does write about the same stuff in every book though. but now i know why and can relate to his reasons.
anyway - he was great.


----------



## lizzieloo (Mar 13, 2010)

Am about to start the Idiot by Dostoevsky, urban types tell me it's his best novel


----------



## Pickman's model (Mar 13, 2010)

lizzieloo said:


> Am about to start the Idiot by Dostoevsky, urban types tell me it's his best novel



you're thinking of the devils


----------



## lizzieloo (Mar 13, 2010)

Pickman's model said:


> you're thinking of the devils



I don't have that one 

ETA: Yes I do


----------



## little_legs (Mar 13, 2010)

tastebud said:


> ... littlelegs - it was a collection of short stories - eight of which are new ones and two are old ones - the launderette one and my son the fanatic being the old ones i think. he was amazecore. love him even more now. was very funny. and mental. great. wish i had recorded it on my phone or something. didn't buy the book or get it signed, but so glad i saw him. yeah - the most recent was not necessarily his best. i have read all his stuff and that one just didn't flow so well. he does write about the same stuff in every book though. but now i know why and can relate to his reasons. anyway - he was great.



well in that case... following the thread about jealousy, i am jealous that tastebud went and saw hanif  glad you enjoyed the evening


----------



## little_legs (Mar 13, 2010)

Smurker said:


> Scared to read the thread as i spotted the title twice as i scrolled down, but if i can resist the rest of the booze around my person i will finish The Road tonight, i guess many of you have an opinion on it.  It has helped me appreciate my warm bed on the last two nights, sent me into some sort of survivalist half dream about going into long term survival mode. I'm not currently convinced that it is as good as the hype though i'm hopeful of an inciteful/heavily revealing finale. Still, even if it dissapoints, i recall appreciating some works for not giving an answer and leaving you to ponder(i'm waffling, sorry).  Probably moving on to something entirely different next anyway, at least after i read George Kimbwall's  Four Kings.



exactly how i felt about 'the road'. i blitzed through the book in 2 days and wasn't sure what to think of it as there is no logical end to it, i was not sure if that was a flaw or a smart way of keeping the reader in suspence. the book would not leave my brain for days, scenes from the book kept on coming back, especially during sleep. fuck! that was scary.


----------



## tastebud (Mar 13, 2010)

haha!


----------



## smee (Mar 14, 2010)

The Seven Daughters of Eve. Best science book I've read in ages. I'd tell you about it, but my explanation would make it sound a million times less interesting than it is.


----------



## OneStrike (Mar 14, 2010)

little_legs said:


> exactly how i felt about 'the road'. i blitzed through the book in 2 days and wasn't sure what to think of it as there is no logical end to it, i was not sure if that was a flaw or a smart way of keeping the reader in suspence. the book would not leave my brain for days, scenes from the book kept on coming back, especially during sleep. fuck! that was scary.





Having finished the book i've concluded that it was indeed a pretty damn good read and the lack of a defined ending was the way to go.  The way it made me think while reading will stay with me and left me with more questions than answers, which in this case is a good thing.  It won't require a re-read and that is to it's benefit, because i won't forget it.  Part of me would love to live in that environment, i guess i'm a bit twisted!


----------



## little_legs (Mar 14, 2010)

Smurker said:


> Having finished the book i've concluded that it was indeed a pretty damn good read and the lack of a defined ending was the way to go. The way it made me think while reading will stay with me and left me with more questions than answers, which in this case is a good thing.  It won't require a re-read and that is to it's benefit, because i won't forget it.  Part of me would love to live in that environment, i guess i'm a bit twisted!



glad you enjoyed 'the road'. don't know if i would have liked to experience the darkness and despair the characters had to endure. i was, however, touched by how well mccarthy, being a male author, describes the nurturing virtues of a father that one typically associates with mothers. ordinarily i could not imagine my dad & brother being like that, but 'the road' made me think 'why not!'.

i might read another mccarthy book after the exams. a few folks on this thread have mentioned his other works, 'suttree' seems to be the hot item.


----------



## OneStrike (Mar 14, 2010)

little_legs said:


> glad you enjoyed 'the road'. don't know if i would have liked to experience the darkness and despair the characters had to endure. i was, however, touched by how well mccarthy, being a male author, describes the nurturing virtues of a father that one typically associates with mothers. ordinarily i could not imagine my dad & brother being like that, but 'the road' made me think 'why not!'.
> 
> i might read another mccarthy book after the exams. a few folks on this thread have mentioned his other works, 'suttree' seems to be the hot item.




Thanks for the comments, i will also be looking into more of Mccarthy's back catalogue.  Enjoy was the wrong word for me to use, nobody should enjoy the horrible situations in the book, more accurate is that i'd likely revel in a life where food, safety and shelter were all that really mattered, modern life is too complicated for my tiny little brain!


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 14, 2010)

PD James - Innocent Blood


----------



## marty21 (Mar 15, 2010)

Lauran Paine - The White Bird


----------



## Part 2 (Mar 15, 2010)

Drive By...Gary Rivlin

After reading Homicide and The Corner it's familiar territory, a journalist gathers several accounts of a drive by shooting looking at the history of those involved and those affected afterwards. It's good.


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 15, 2010)

I've just started The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Has been in the book-case at my parents for years and I've had my eye on it for some time.


----------



## belboid (Mar 15, 2010)

belboid said:


> Aravind 'The White Tiger' Adiga _Between The Assasinations._ Pretty good from the first fifty pages.



but gets a bit samey after aa couple hundred more.  All right, quite interesting, butg nowt essential.

Now on A Journey Round My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy. Fascinating book by a Hungarian poet detailing what he later found to be a major brain tumor, written with geat wit and insight. I'm looking forward to the bit where he is fully conscious of having his head sawn open.

The book was a key source for P&P's A Matter of Life & Death.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 17, 2010)

Far From the Madding Crowd
Life with a Star by Jiri Weil
Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig

Liked them all, but was surprised at the lumpiness of FFTMC. Bathsheba rarely convinces, but Hardy does great bastard 

The Zweig was enjoyably overwrought. I do like "against the background of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire" novels.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 17, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Hardy does great bastard





I'm waiting for that MacLaren Ross book to turn up at the mo, plus a collection of westerns by Elmore, so have brought my bible into work for lunchtime reading as I have neglected it somewhat of late 

_Finally_ made it through fucking Leviticus


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 17, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I'm waiting for that MacLaren Ross book to turn up at the mo, plus a collection of westerns by Elmore, so have brought my bible into work for lunchtime reading as I have neglected it somewhat of late
> 
> _Finally_ made it through fucking Leviticus



Looking forward to seeing what you think of Of Love and Hunger


----------



## pennimania (Mar 17, 2010)

I forget to post on here because I put my stuff on the reading challenge.

will just mention  couple that have got me going since January.

The Letters of Evelyn Waugh - if you like this sort of thing, letters, unashamed snobbery, extreme erudition, diamond sharp wit and an insight into a rather vile mind, you'll love it. I did. 

The Road - kept me very quiet for a few hours. Ended up being unconvinced (in a silly, nitpicking way) about the finer details of the catastrophe and this played on my mind. If nuclear - why any survivors left if they were trudging around in all that dust? If other - why had the seas at least not recovered in some fashion? Still a massive tour de force .

I had to take an RME (religious and moral education) lesson recently and I used it to provoke discussion. The kids (15/16) really responded well to it and many left vowing to read it.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 17, 2010)

Erewhon by Samuel Butler


----------



## southside (Mar 17, 2010)

Just read "I Am Ozzy."

Class bloke full of laughs.


----------



## BettyBlue (Mar 17, 2010)

Milk Sulphate And Alby Starvation - Martin Millar


----------



## XerxesVargas (Mar 17, 2010)

Aunts Aren't Gentlemen - P. G. Wodehouse


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 17, 2010)

pennimania said:


> The Road - kept me very quiet for a few hours. Ended up being unconvinced (in a silly, nitpicking way) about the finer details of the catastrophe and this played on my mind. If nuclear - why any survivors left if they were trudging around in all that dust? If other - why had the seas at least not recovered in some fashion? Still a massive tour de force .
> 
> I had to take an RME (religious and moral education) lesson recently and I used it to provoke discussion. The kids (15/16) really responded well to it and many left vowing to read it.



don't think it's nuclear or anything. it just is. he's not a sci-fi writer.
my own interpretation is supervolcano but i don't think mccarthy meant it to be anything specific.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 17, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Looking forward to seeing what you think of Of Love and Hunger



Am desperately hoping it's gonna be waiting for me when I get home!  I don't wanna start another book cos I wanna read that


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 17, 2010)

Back to Len Deighton. Faith. I love this set of books. Easily the best spy fiction I've ever read.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 17, 2010)

Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost

Interesting in places but the most irritating prose style. I don't know if I can take much more of it


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Mar 17, 2010)

Skippy Dies. Liking so far. 

Just finished a new William Boyd thriller of no discernable merit and don't know what the buggery the author of New Confessions and Any Human Heart thinks he's doing pissing about with genre and using stock characters to boot.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Mar 17, 2010)

Inside Of A Dog by Alexandra Horowitz 
Very funny, written by an ethologist.


----------



## cliche guevara (Mar 18, 2010)

Generation A by Douglas Coupland, have barely been able to put it down.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 18, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Am desperately hoping it's gonna be waiting for me when I get home!  I don't wanna start another book cos I wanna read that



 wasn't there! had to start flicking through All The Pretty Horses 



Maurice Picarda said:


> Skippy Dies. Liking so far.


Heh - I just had to look that up, cos I thought it might be about the real Skippy


----------



## sojourner (Mar 18, 2010)

Started The Complete Western Stories by Elmore Leonard at lunchtime.

Luckily it's not all one story, so I will be able to delve into the McLaren Ross book when it finally turns up


----------



## tendril (Mar 18, 2010)




----------



## little_legs (Mar 18, 2010)

cliche guevara said:


> Generation A by Douglas Coupland, have barely been able to put it down.



awww... i saw this book in my local whsmith y'day and wanted to buy it so bad decided not to. what's the grade you so far: 10/10?


----------



## marty21 (Mar 18, 2010)

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

The first digital book I've read, downloaded about 10 classics onto my ipod touch, not as good as reading a real book, but fairly convenient on packed tubes, and I'm enjoying it


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 19, 2010)

I'm sort of torn between starting 'De Niro: A Biography' (which I remember as being quite a good read despite being about a notoriously private person), 'Satisfaction' which is an unauthorised biography of Keith Richards and 'Papillon' by Henri Charriere (who escaped from the notorious French penal settlements in French Guiana known collectively as 'Devil's Island').

Haven't decided which to go for yet, but will make a firm choice when I go to bed in a few hours time.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 19, 2010)

Finished _Erewhon_ by Samuel Butler, which was mostly a bit dull with some funny bits.

Now it'll be _Beyond A Boundary_ by CLR James.


----------



## girasol (Mar 19, 2010)

marty21 said:


> The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
> 
> The first digital book I've read, downloaded about 10 classics onto my ipod touch, not as good as reading a real book, but fairly convenient on packed tubes, and I'm enjoying it



I'm loving the digital books on the ipod, perfect for the tube, especially if it's crowded, so much easier to hold!

I got 23,000 for 50p 

There's a really good app called 101 classics, they are all free (Just finished reading 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and now I'm reading 'An Unsocial Socialist' by George Bernard Shaw...


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 19, 2010)

sojourner said:


> wasn't there! had to start flicking through All The Pretty Horses



Your copy is down the pub sponging drinks. It'll turn up, dishevelled and contrite.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 19, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Your copy is down the pub sponging drinks. It'll turn up, dishevelled and contrite.


----------



## Badger Decoy (Mar 19, 2010)

Rushing to Paradise by J G Ballard - am enjoying it so far though the themes seem to be very similar to those in a lot of his other books.


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 19, 2010)

Continuing with the final Samson trilogy novel.

Len Deighton - Hope.


----------



## fakeplasticgirl (Mar 19, 2010)

going to start another murakami soon


----------



## llion (Mar 19, 2010)

I Didn't Get Where I am Today - David Nobbs - Hilarious, gentle, subtly poignant autobiography by the genius behind Reggie Perrin. 
Nice to see it, to see it Nice - Brian Viner - On a similar theme, very, very funny book about growing up watching tele in the 70s.


----------



## 19sixtysix (Mar 19, 2010)

Crucibles: The lives and achievements of the great chemists.
Bernard Jaffe
1931 edition

A surprisingly good read on how modern chemistry came about.


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 20, 2010)

Double Falsehood or The Distressed Lovers - Fletcher/Shakespeare/Theobold (10)


----------



## marty21 (Mar 20, 2010)

Iemanja said:


> I'm loving the digital books on the ipod, perfect for the tube, especially if it's crowded, so much easier to hold!
> 
> I got 23,000 for 50p
> 
> There's a really good app called 101 classics, they are all free (Just finished reading 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and now I'm reading 'An Unsocial Socialist' by George Bernard Shaw...



they are great, although the pages are really short, I'm on about page 700 of the Count of Monte Cristo and he hasn't even escaped from the island yet


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 20, 2010)

marty21 said:


> they are great, although the pages are really short, I'm on about page 700 of the Count of Monte Cristo and he hasn't even escaped from the island yet



A book to be savoured.


----------



## Voley (Mar 20, 2010)

Just about to start 'The Hacienda - How Not To Run A Club' by Peter Hook.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 20, 2010)

Fictionist said:


> A book to be savoured.



I'm enjoying it


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 20, 2010)

marty21 said:


> I'm enjoying it



You should, it is a real journey, let down (perhaps) only by the ending.

A fellow traveller is always welcome.


----------



## idioteque (Mar 22, 2010)

Finished Catcher in the Rye last week.

Have now started reading Solitude by Robert Kull, it's an account of a man who marooned himself on a remote Patagonian island for a year for a PhD thesis to explore the effects of extreme isolation on the mind. Am enjoying it so far.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 22, 2010)

idioteque said:


> Finished Catcher in the Rye last week.
> 
> Have now started reading Solitude by Robert Kull, it's an account of a man who marooned himself on a remote Patagonian island for a year for a PhD thesis to explore the effects of extreme isolation on the mind. Am enjoying it so far.





You might have to lend me that one when you have finished it.


----------



## idioteque (Mar 22, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


> You might have to lend me that one when you have finished it.



Will do! It'll probably take you over a year to get round to actually reading it though...


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 22, 2010)

idioteque said:


> Will do! It'll probably take you over a year to get round to actually reading it though...



Naturally.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 22, 2010)

P.D.James "The Private Patient" - I like her writing, spare, elegant, maybe a little old fashined but with a sharpness underneath. Less enamoured by her politics but they only come our very, very sparingly in her novels thankfully.


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 22, 2010)

Charlie Stross - The Revolution Business

Entertaining as ever. Including arguably his best ever chapter so far.


----------



## cliche guevara (Mar 22, 2010)

little_legs said:


> awww... i saw this book in my local whsmith y'day and wanted to buy it so bad decided not to. what's the grade you so far: 10/10?



It was good, a solid eight I reckon.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 23, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> Charlie Stross - The Revolution Business
> 
> Entertaining as ever. Including arguably his best ever chapter so far.



I rate charlie but he can sometimes feel like a man who is writing sci fi for sci fi fans and fuck the casual reader.

Gis a quote from his latest to get my juices dlowing.

Me, I have started reading LOTR again. It has been 2 years since I read him and that is remiss of me. Will smash into the Dune series after that. another annual fave that I have neglected for to long.

It's like a favoured film or perfect place for me with those books. You know them well but can't go too long without revisiting and enjoying the bastards


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 23, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> I rate charlie but he can sometimes feel like a man who is writing sci fi for sci fi fans and fuck the casual reader.
> 
> Gis a quote from his latest to get my juices dlowing.



I suppose that's partly because Charlie was a long time active fan before becoming a writer. Though I'd have thought the Merchant Princes books are the least like that of his.

Not going to give a quote. Just think about the possibilities inherent in a war between two nuclear armed powers from different dimensions, that can each place a bomb into the other dimension with pin point accuracy. Now look at that from the POV of the two sides of an essentially medieval civil war who are fighting at ground zero.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 23, 2010)

Finished _Beyond a Boundary_ by CLR James. Cricket and the dialectic. A great book.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 23, 2010)

cliche guevara said:


> It was good, a solid eight I reckon.



I read that, I would give it about the same.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 23, 2010)

Read the intro and the first few pages of Of Love and Hunger by Julian Maclaren Ross last night.

Too early for a proper review, but I like what I'm reading so far.  Love the use of 'she'd, you'd, I'd' etc - does really place it in a certain time, that


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 23, 2010)

I am reading _Nazi Literature in the Americas _ by Roberto Bolano and _Did Somebody say Totalitarianism?_ by Slavoj Zizek.


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 23, 2010)

Now on to another Len Deighton. This time Charity, the last of the Bernard Samson series.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 24, 2010)

_Among The Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939_ by Virginia Nicholson.


----------



## ChrisC (Mar 24, 2010)

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry by Jack Kornfield


----------



## Part 2 (Mar 24, 2010)

I'm reading this.







73 year old, previous heart attacks, buys pizza delivery bike and rides from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego. It all seems too easy so far.


----------



## rollinder (Mar 24, 2010)

just finished rereading the following;

Henry Miller - Tropic Of Cancer 
John Wyndham - Day Of The Triffids 

Mark Gatiss  - The Devil in Amber
and 
The Leather Nun: And Other Incredibly Strange Comics by Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury 
(is it wrong that I a) want to find/buy most of those comics and b)got turned on by them? )


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 25, 2010)

rollinder said:


> just finished rereading the following;
> 
> Henry Miller - Tropic Of Cancer
> John Wyndham - Day Of The Triffids
> ...



I really must get around to seeking out all the stuff Paul Gravett has done over the years. He's a brilliant bloke, I just haven't got around to getting into his stuff yet.


----------



## madzone (Mar 25, 2010)

Women who run with the wolves


----------



## pennimania (Mar 25, 2010)

The Jewel Garden - Monty Don - worth reading for his account of depression - how it resonated with me. 

The Well tempered Garden - Christopher LLoyd - so much more than a gardening book - the man was a comic genius 

House Music - diaries of Oonagh King - a right rollicking read.

eta Oona not Oonagh - sorry ms King !

I am now reading Edwina Currie's diaries - an interesting comparison


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 25, 2010)

CJ Cherryh - Hellburner


----------



## tastebud (Mar 25, 2010)

I finished 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' and it made me very sad indeed. Cried for ages.... can't stop thinking about it this eve. 

Dunno what to read now - probably 'The Dumas Club'* by Arturo Perez-Reverte soon as my book club has said we have to, but something funny in between might be an idea. Kevin book has troubled me 

*edit - it looks terrible. holy moly. will have to skip this month's one too.


----------



## cyberfairy (Mar 25, 2010)

The Wilding by Maria McCann-superb


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 28, 2010)

epic bootsale raid has netted me the movie guide for the LOTR films (interviews, info, photos) and a book about rastafarianism which should be interesting.


50p the lot. Back of the net.


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 28, 2010)

Elmore Leonard - Freaky Deaky


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Mar 28, 2010)

pennimania said:


> The Well tempered Garden - Christopher LLoyd - so much more than a gardening book - the man was a comic genius


I've never come across a duff Christopher Lloyd book. He was great.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 28, 2010)

Finished _Among The Bohemians: Experiments in Lving 1900-39_ by Virginia Nicholson.

Some good stories in it, I'd like to read more about Augustus John 

But the book lacked focus (what's the difference between a Bohemian at that time and most writers and artists?) and mistook interesting lives for courageous ones.


----------



## andy2002 (Mar 28, 2010)

About halfway through Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods'. It isn't one of those books you just can't put down but is certainly intriguing and unpredictable enough to keep me reading. 

Read Joe Hill's 'Heart-shaped Box' a couple of weeks ago; it's a very effective horror story that I'm amazed hasn't already been turned into a film (ah, IMDB tells me there's a movie 'in development').


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 28, 2010)

andy2002 said:


> About halfway through Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods'. It isn't one of those books you just can't put down but is certainly intriguing and unpredictable enough to keep me reading.
> 
> Read *Joe Hill's 'Heart-shaped Box' *a couple of weeks ago; it's a very effective horror story that I'm amazed hasn't already been turned into a film (ah, IMDB tells me there's a movie 'in development').



Someone was recommending that to me the other day ... is he Stephen King's son?

I may have to give it a go


----------



## andy2002 (Mar 28, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Someone was recommending that to me the other day ... is he Stephen King's son?
> 
> I may have to give it a go



Yes, he's King's son but 'Heart-shaped Box' isn't just King-lite. It's actually pretty unsettling in places.


----------



## maya (Mar 28, 2010)

Rachel Carson: Silent Spring... to round up my recent theme of "depressing environmental disaster forecasts"... the first on the list was Alan Weisman, The World Without Us, and I'm now terrified and wonder whether i just should top myself before the world goes down the bin.. yikes


----------



## maya (Mar 28, 2010)

(^just kidding, it's been a good week  )
Now on "The Sea! The Sea! The cry of the ten thousand in the popular imagination" (don't remember the exact title or author, but it's of course about the cultural implact of Xenophon, the "thalatta thalatta!" cry of the greek in Anabasis... very educating  )


----------



## starfish (Mar 28, 2010)

80 Million Eyes by Ed McBain. Another 87th Precinct novel. Will be starting it later tonight.


----------



## Rainingstairs (Mar 28, 2010)

"Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" a Tom Robbins satire about giving social norms and preconceived gender roles the double birds. The main character has giant tantalizing thumbs that every passing car must answer to her hitch. There's an all female cowgirl ranch out in S. Dakota with some lesbiandry occurring as well as a needy Mohawk Indian artist-husband aching to be all the rage. Somehow it will all tie together to reveal deep perspectives on society. or not.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 29, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> Elmore Leonard - Freaky Deaky



and?


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 29, 2010)

sojourner said:


> and?



It's an Elmore Leonard book. Weird shit happens to weird people. Somehow he manages to make the reader give a damn about them. There are explosions. Great stuff.

Actually it's one of his best. Some really bizarre images, and three quarters of the way through there's still questions that I want answers to that were set up on the first page.


----------



## Fictionist (Mar 29, 2010)

Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children (Again) (11)


----------



## mentalchik (Mar 29, 2010)

The City and the City - China Mieville


----------



## The Fourth Bear (Mar 29, 2010)

Michael Mansfield - Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer.


----------



## nicksonic (Mar 30, 2010)

the angel's game - carlos ruiz zafon.

i loved 'shadow of the wind' and 100 pages in this is equally as enjoyable.


----------



## bmd (Mar 30, 2010)

Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. 

It's ok, not really grabbing me like his others have.

Finally finished the Steven Erickson series apart from the one to be published. I don't think I'll ever read a fantasy series as good again.


----------



## The Fourth Bear (Mar 30, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> the angel's game - carlos ruiz zafon.
> 
> i loved 'shadow of the wind' and 100 pages in this is equally as enjoyable.



This one's on my list of books to read next.


----------



## boing! (Mar 30, 2010)

José Saramago - Blindess. The writing is nice, but it's so unrelentlessly bleak that I'm having trouble motivating myself to read it. I might fuck it off for something a bit lighter.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 30, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> It's an Elmore Leonard book. Weird shit happens to weird people. Somehow he manages to make the reader give a damn about them. There are explosions. Great stuff.
> 
> Actually it's one of his best. Some really bizarre images, and three quarters of the way through there's still questions that I want answers to that were set up on the first page.



oooOOOOoo - that sounds fantastic!  Right - that's going on my wish list right now 

He's extremely good at hiding stuff from the reader, isn't he?  He gets me that way too


----------



## El Sueno (Mar 30, 2010)

Fictionist said:


> Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children (Again) (11)



I just finished _Midnight's Children_ (first time for me, pretty incredible read - took it to India on holiday with me), now I'm nearing the end of Vic Reeves' autobiography _Me:Moir_ which is a hoot.


----------



## Roadkill (Mar 30, 2010)

Just finished Ben Wilson - _What Price Liberty?_  Wilson is two years younger than me and already on this third bestseller - the bastard.   I didn't think much of his previous book, but _What Price Liberty?_ is well worth a read. 

Now about to start on Amartya Sen - _Identity and Violence_


----------



## little_legs (Mar 30, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> .... i loved 'shadow of the wind' and 100 pages in this is equally as enjoyable.



i thought 'shadow of the wind' was pulp fiction for girls. brown tripe. it's actually worse than 'a 1000 spending suns' or whatever that crap book is called. 

i read 'shadow' as it was purged on me by my book club. i made a commitment after this book to never ever read anything on richard and judy's big read list.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Mar 30, 2010)

two books on the go atm both re-reads of old favourites
Tales of Ordinary Madness - Charles Bukowski
and Our Flag Stays Red by Phil Piratin


----------



## Dirty Martini (Mar 31, 2010)

_Alone in Berlin_ by Hans Fallada


----------



## elevendayempire (Mar 31, 2010)

I am trying to finish Quicksilver. It's a bit turgid and didactic.


----------



## ringo (Mar 31, 2010)

elevendayempire said:


> I am trying to finish Quicksilver. It's a bit turgid and didactic.



I gave up. I thought it was interesting and wanted to read it but just couldn't get through it.

Just finished The Girl Who Played With Fire and Santaram.

Currently reading bits of Don't Sweat The Aubergine (What Works In The Kitchen and Why) by Nicholas Clee and also Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth.


----------



## ericjarvis (Mar 31, 2010)

Now engrossed by Vernor Vinge - Rainbows End.

Note that the grammatical error in the title is deliberate and commented on in the book.


----------



## tastebud (Mar 31, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> i loved 'shadow of the wind' and 100 pages in this is equally as enjoyable.


ugh. i thought it terrible


----------



## Roadkill (Mar 31, 2010)

Roadkill said:


> Now about to start on Amartya Sen - _Identity and Violence_



Have to say, this is an absolutely brilliant book.   I'd not read much by Amartya Sen before, but I'll be seeking out more of his work now.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 1, 2010)

tastebud said:


> ugh. i thought it terrible



Heh - I've got it on my bookshelf - it's been picked up, and rapidly put down again, twice so far


----------



## 100% masahiko (Apr 1, 2010)

Complete Manual of Surveillance Training - it's good so far.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 3, 2010)

Will be starting Sylvia Plath's 'The Bell Jar' (12) tonight.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 4, 2010)

_Alone in Berlin_ by Hans Fallada, about a couple who distribute anti-Nazi postcards in wartime Berlin, was very enjoyable. Tough, scruffy, broad, gripping. You couldn't call him a fine novelist -- he had to write, wrote quickly, died quickly. I'm glad his stuff is being (re-)translated.

Now I'm onto _Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy_ by Eric D Weitz.


----------



## live_jayeola (Apr 4, 2010)

Building servers from home and listening to spotify. Tiny bit of facebooking. News on bbc.


----------



## live_jayeola (Apr 4, 2010)

100% masahiko said:


> Complete Manual of Surveillance Training - it's good so far.



Where did you get that? Are you in the industry?


----------



## Grub str. hack (Apr 4, 2010)

Just finished reading "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and couldn't understand why it sold so many copies. I didn't _disagree with the books feminist slant (quite the opposite in fact) but the way it kept trying to shove it's message down the readers throat seemed really patronising. I'd like to think that most blokes know that rapeing, torturing and killing women isn't a good idea, but this Swedish twat kept going on about it like we needed to be told! I did like the girl though very different sort of non-detective dectective which is refreshing in crime fiction._


----------



## Bakunin (Apr 4, 2010)

'Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia Family' by Nicholas Pileggi.

It's the memoir of Mafia associate and government witness Henry Hill (a former associate of New York's Lucchese crime family, that was used as the basis for the classic gangster film 'Goodfellas.' An excellent read all round.


----------



## Part 2 (Apr 4, 2010)

Think I'll start World War Z tonight


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 4, 2010)

Chip Barm said:


> Think I'll start World War Z tonight


fair do's. those WMD's are only gathering dust after all.


----------



## Part 2 (Apr 4, 2010)




----------



## llion (Apr 5, 2010)

George Eliot - Middlemarch. Slow-moving doesn't quite cover it. Am persevering at the moment though. 
Peter Marshall - Nature's Web: Rethinking our place on earth. A tremendous history of 'green'/ecological ideas dating right back to Taoism and Buddhism and right up to deep social ecology/Bookchin etc (published in 1992).


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 5, 2010)

i gave up with middlemarch, just couldn't get into it at all.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 7, 2010)

_Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy_, which I found equally enjoyable and frustrating. It works as an introduction, but it's repetitive and reduces some of the serious attempts at putsch and revolution in those years to a mere line or two, weirdly. Great pics, tho, and a beautifully designed book.

Now I'm re-reading _Rebellion_ by Joseph Roth


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 7, 2010)

Serendipities - Umberto Eco (13)


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Apr 7, 2010)

elevendayempire said:


> I am trying to finish Quicksilver. It's a bit turgid and didactic.


i rather liked that.
Currently reading The Alienist and the trilogy of Ian Glasper books on the British punk scenes in the 80s.


----------



## belboid (Apr 7, 2010)

Fictionist said:


> Serendipities - Umberto Eco (13)



aah, a great book.


I'm on Mike Pitts - Hengeworld.  Great and very thorough book telling you why everything you know about Stonehenge and Avebury is (probably) wrong

And for lighter reading in bed:  Nick kent - The Dark Stuff.  Probably the best journo from the music inkies ever.


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 7, 2010)

PD James - A Certain Justice

Lots of plot twists. 40 odd pages to go and I still don't know whodunnit.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2010)

I've finished my LotR movie guide and although it is so very cobbled together I have these two facts to comfort me:

The bloke who played Bilbo was Frodo in the BBC radio version

Vigo Mortenssen is tri-lingual and actually learned to speak passable sindarin elvish for his role. Which, even given his obvious gift for languages, is still pretty fucking cool.


----------



## Paj (Apr 7, 2010)

Am reading Love all the People, a collection of performances, interviews and other bits from Bill Hicks. Very funny and engaging, if a bit repetitious.




ringo said:


> Just finished The Girl Who Played With Fire and Santaram.



Ive just finished Shantaram, what do you think of it? I quite enjoyed it, apart from the pretentious flowery wank that pops up too often when he tries to be momentous and insightful. Would probably make a good movie once people get over Slumdog Millionaire.


----------



## nicksonic (Apr 8, 2010)

the view from castle rock - alice munro.

munro is supposed to be 'the greatest living short story writer'...


----------



## sojourner (Apr 8, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> the view from castle rock - alice munro.
> 
> munro is supposed to be 'the greatest living short story writer'...



I've never actually heard of her - but just looked her up and she sounds intriguing.  I absolutely LOVE good short stories, and so far my favourites are Annie Proulx, Elmore Leonard, and Tennessee Williams

What do you think of her then?


----------



## starfish (Apr 8, 2010)

In a complete departure from my normal literature, i have started to read, The Frock Coated Communist by Tristram Hunt. Its a biography of Friedrich Engels. My mum picked up a copy as an wee extra gift for my birthday as Hunt was doing a signing at the recent Aye Write festival in Glasgow. I was a bit surprised.


----------



## nicksonic (Apr 9, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I've never actually heard of her - but just looked her up and she sounds intriguing.  I absolutely LOVE good short stories, and so far my favourites are Annie Proulx, Elmore Leonard, and Tennessee Williams
> 
> What do you think of her then?



i only found out about her when i read this interview with richard russo who said she got a scandalous lack of attention despite being brilliant.

i'm only about 50 pages in, interesting so far, will report back when i'm finished


----------



## Roadkill (Apr 9, 2010)

Anthony Seldon - _Trust: How we lost it and how to get it back_.  Fifty pages in I still can't work out whether it's rather good or very crap.  It's interesting either way, though.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 9, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> i only found out about her when i read this interview with richard russo who said she got a scandalous lack of attention despite being brilliant.
> 
> i'm only about 50 pages in, interesting so far, will report back when i'm finished



 nice one


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 9, 2010)

Neil Gaiman - Coraline


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 9, 2010)

i've started in again on jg ballard's short stories. they are arranged in chronological order and i was struggling at the beginning but now i'm on a roll, probably cos i'm seeing him improve and mature. highlights so far are the voices of time, the overloaded man, the concentration city, billenium, mr f is mr f and the last world of mr godddard. he's proper blowing my mind and keeping me awake at night, marveling at mysteries of the world like calvin from calvin and hobbs.


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 9, 2010)

Now on to Hoot by Carl Hiaasen.


----------



## rollinder (Apr 9, 2010)

Barbara Vine - The Chimney Sweeper's Boy

grim.
 at the fucking stupid, posh, spoiled brats obsessed with their darling daddy.



Spoiler: the 'twist/revelation'



When it went on and on about how much he loved families and how wonderful he was with children. I expected him to turn out to be a peado, instead of an ultrarepressed homosexual who _accidentally fucked his brother_


----------



## stethoscope (Apr 10, 2010)

Lynsey Hanley - Estates


----------



## Bajie (Apr 10, 2010)

A Brief History of Tea - Roy Moxham, not as dull as it sounds.


----------



## Voley (Apr 11, 2010)

Bakunin said:


> 'Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia Family' by Nicholas Pileggi.
> 
> It's the memoir of Mafia associate and government witness Henry Hill (a former associate of New York's Lucchese crime family, that was used as the basis for the classic gangster film 'Goodfellas.' An excellent read all round.



Ace book. 

I'm just starting 'My Shit Life So Far' by Frankie Boyle.


----------



## G. Fieendish (Apr 11, 2010)

_Frank Herbert - The Dosadi Experiment..._


----------



## rollinder (Apr 12, 2010)

William Haggard - The Unquiet Sleep


----------



## Roadkill (Apr 12, 2010)

Bajie said:


> A Brief History of Tea - Roy Moxham, not as dull as it sounds.



I read that a couple of months back - it's good.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Apr 12, 2010)

stephj said:


> Lynsey Hanley - Estates


I enjoyed that. It's good to read something about estates from someone who lived on one from childhood, rather than the POV of sociologists, architects, planners etc


----------



## Mungy (Apr 12, 2010)

black house - stephen king and peter straub


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 12, 2010)

The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Am enjoying it, quite dark and gothic at times


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 12, 2010)

The Enchantress of Florence (again) - Salman Rushdie (14)

Beautiful and beguiling, his best novel for years.


----------



## Itziko (Apr 12, 2010)

The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes and no, I don't work for Amazon. My copy hasn't that pretty cover either 

A wonderful story of the early scientists in late XVIII - early XIX Century in Britain, very well narrated and with great anecdotes.


----------



## rollinder (Apr 13, 2010)

^ is that your affiliate link?


----------



## Itziko (Apr 13, 2010)

No, it was the first link I found when googling up the title


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Apr 13, 2010)

I'm re-reading Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and Camouflage by Peter Forbes.
I'm getting into a lot of re-reading, especially non-fiction as I find after I've had time to mull over what I've read, plus then reading further stuff on the subject, re-reading a few months later means I have a greater understanding and get loads more stuff that passed me by before.


----------



## nicksonic (Apr 13, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Am enjoying it, quite dark and gothic at times



i finished that last week and won't go into further detail for obvious reasons


----------



## 5t3IIa (Apr 13, 2010)

I'm on English Passengers by Matthew Kneale again as I don't have the energy to start something new.


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 13, 2010)

5t3IIa said:


> I'm on English Passengers by Matthew Kneale again as I don't have the energy to start something new.



It's a great book though. Must re-read it myself.


----------



## 5t3IIa (Apr 13, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> It's a great book though. Must re-read it myself.



If you're interested in transportation may I recommend The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes


----------



## the button (Apr 13, 2010)

"Planet of slums" by Mike Davis. A bit heavy on facts & figures and light on analysis so far. But perhaps he's just warming up.


----------



## mark1234 (Apr 13, 2010)

reading sophie's world now..


----------



## little_legs (Apr 13, 2010)

'water for elephants' by sara gruen. it's very good so far. sad, horrifying and funny at the same time.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 13, 2010)

the chinaman by friedrich glauser. he was born in vienna in 1896, was a morphine and opium addict as well as being a diagnosed shizophrenic who spent most of his adult life in psychiatric wards, prison and the foriegn legion. a very enjoyable existentialist crime thriller, with a well trippy dick.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 14, 2010)

Well, I finally finished Of Love and Hunger, by Julian Maclaren-Ross yesterday - you will be glad to hear Dirty Martini 

Hmmm...a mostly enjoyable read, and I did love that it was a story about nothing much at all really.  I think he managed to capture that pre-war society feel extremely well - my maternal grandad was a 'commercial traveller' at about that time, and from what I've been told, it matched what I was reading in this novel.  The daily grind, the switching from one sales job to another, the rooming houses, the poverty, the lifestyle in general.

I loved the use of archaic language - 'I'd, she'd' - that form of abbreviating that you just don't see or hear these days.  Also, different spellings of twat (twatt in the book) and twerp (twirp in the book)

Fair ole sprinkling of casual racism however - I had to pull on reserves of understanding about cultural relativism to get me through those parts, given it was first published in 1947.

On the whole though - yeh, glad I read it


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Apr 14, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I loved the use of archaic language - 'I'd, she'd' - that form of abbreviating that you just don't see or hear these days.


I do that all the time  I don't think I'm alone.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 14, 2010)

Mrs Magpie said:


> I do that all the time  I don't think I'm alone.



I've not heard it for years though Mrs M

You will use that because you are older, you know?  But you never hear younger people saying it.  Or at least I don't.

'I'd' is probably not the best example.  More context would be a sentence like, "She'd to go down the road'"

See what I mean?


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Apr 14, 2010)

Ah, your example makes more sense...still, my Granny always wrote 'shew' for 'show' so these things do change from generation to generation.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 14, 2010)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Ah, your example makes more sense...still, my Granny always wrote 'shew' for 'show' so these things do change from generation to generation.



Yeh sorry - I knew what I meant, but when I read it back after your post I realised it needed context 

I love the language used in it - it's fascinating


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 14, 2010)

sojourner said:


> I've not heard it for years though Mrs M
> 
> You will use that because you are older, you know?  But you never hear younger people saying it.  Or at least I don't.
> 
> ...



i'm not sure.
i say i'd and she'd all the time and the youngsters do too - i'd like to give her one to use a crude example.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 14, 2010)

Seneca - Oedipus (15)

So poor when compared against Sophocles. What was he thinking?


----------



## live_jayeola (Apr 14, 2010)

None. I'm too busy unit testing! Bought "the girl who stirred the hornets nest" but not going to read it for a while.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 15, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> i'm not sure.
> i say i'd and she'd all the time and the youngsters do too - i'd like to give her one to use a crude example.



Your example is different to mine OU - I will dig around when I have more time and find some more because context is everything in my explanation


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 15, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Well, I finally finished Of Love and Hunger, by Julian Maclaren-Ross yesterday - you will be glad to hear Dirty Martini
> 
> Hmmm...a mostly enjoyable read, and I did love that it was a story about nothing much at all really.  I think he managed to capture that pre-war society feel extremely well - my maternal grandad was a 'commercial traveller' at about that time, and from what I've been told, it matched what I was reading in this novel.  The daily grind, the switching from one sales job to another, the rooming houses, the poverty, the lifestyle in general.
> 
> ...



Now that's a ringing endorsement 

I'm not sure what you mean about the casual racism. Some hints of endemic prewar British antisemitism through what the characters say. Any other stuff escapes me (though I've read the book three times now). It's certainly not Maclaren-Ross's though.

I agree with you on the language. "I'd five pounds in my pocket" instead of today's "I had ...", "I've" instead of "I have" or even more commonly today, "I've got". That's a definite change in language observable over the last 50 years or so, at least in Southern England, where the book is set.

And yes, "twat" spelt "twatt". It's the way to go


----------



## sojourner (Apr 15, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> I'm not sure what you mean about the casual racism. Some hints of endemic prewar British antisemitism through what the characters say. Any other stuff escapes me (though I've read the book three times now). It's certainly not Maclaren-Ross's though.
> 
> I agree with you on the language. "I'd five pounds in my pocket" instead of today's "I had ...", "I've" instead of "I have" or even more commonly today, "I've got". That's a definite change in language observable over the last 50 years or so, at least in Southern England, where the book is set.
> 
> And yes, "twat" spelt "twatt". It's the way to go



Yep, there's anti-semitism too, with the Calhoun character, but I did fold down the pages of some the racist terms, so here's a couple of examples:

(p139, describing Craven) "Sallow face, small black moustache.  Cairo last war. With a tarboosh on he'd have done for a Wog himself"

(p162, describing Mr Black) "Mr Black.  He damn near was, too. Touch of the tarbrush, putting it mildly"

That 'touch of the tarbrush' - my family used to say that for years about people


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 15, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Yep, there's anti-semitism too, with the Calhoun character, but I did fold down the pages of some the racist terms, so here's a couple of examples:
> 
> (p139, describing Craven) "Sallow face, small black moustache.  Cairo last war. With a tarboosh on he'd have done for a Wog himself"
> 
> ...



It's a vexed question. An accurate reflection of 'public conversation' about race 50 years ago, but doesn't have to reflect JMR's thinking. In fact, having read pretty much everything he wrote, plus the biography and the letters, he was sound on most issues.

This language brings me up short, too -- but it's part of Fanshawe's character. JMR is at pains to make his hero considerably less than a perfect man.


----------



## southside (Apr 15, 2010)

They are giving away a free book today at Liverpool Street Station called The Colour of Law, so I took one I read the first line and dread set in I thought Oh no not another story about multi million dollar pomp.

As I read further my interest has been aroused by the words He was also a mojor league screwup.

I'm going to give this book a go, the auther has been heralded as the next Grisham by The Times and is written by Mark Gimenez. First impressions look good for this book so I think it will become my commuting companion for the next few weeks.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 15, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> It's a vexed question. *An accurate reflection of 'public conversation' about race 50 years ago*, but doesn't have to reflect JMR's thinking. In fact, having read pretty much everything he wrote, plus the biography and the letters, he was sound on most issues.
> 
> This language brings me up short, too -- but it's *part of Fanshawe's character*. JMR is at pains to make his hero considerably less than a perfect man.



Yeh, I know mate - I am an ex lit student, don't forget


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Apr 15, 2010)

sojourner said:


> anti-semitism..............Sallow.......


Sallow was also a 'polite company' racist euphemism for Jewish. I've not heard it used in that sense since the 1970s though.


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 15, 2010)

Chester Himes "If He Hollers Let Him Go". Written in 1945, it gets to the heart of racial discrimination in the USA. The way black workers are treated by their white workmates and bosses... sadly, it reminds me that things don't change much, at least, not in 21st century Ireland.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 15, 2010)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Sallow was also a 'polite company' racist euphemism for Jewish. I've not heard it used in that sense since the 1970s though.



Interesting

My mother used to use 'sallow' to describe a cousin of mine, whose father was one of the people she also said had 'a touch of the tarbrush'

'sallow' used in her case as a racist description


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 15, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Yeh, I know mate - I am an ex lit student, don't forget



Oh, yeh, I know that 

My post plodded a little.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 15, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> My post plodded a little.



Not at all o'boy 

Useful to have it up there, in case anyone else is thinking of reading that book, eh?


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 15, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Not at all o'boy
> 
> Useful to have it up there, in case anyone else is thinking of reading that book, eh?



Glad to hear it, chum


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 15, 2010)

CJ Cherryh - Cyteen

A very weird book.


----------



## Voley (Apr 15, 2010)

Frankie Boyle's book is very funny as you'd imagine and despite doing his best to convince you otherwise he actually comes across as quite likeable. As you wouldn't imagine, particularly.

Just started 'No Country For Old Men', Cormac McCarthy, which is absolutely ace already but I wish I hadn't seen the film first.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Apr 15, 2010)

How Proust can change your life, by Alain De Botton.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 16, 2010)

NVP said:


> Just started 'No Country For Old Men', Cormac McCarthy, which is absolutely ace already but I wish I hadn't seen the film first.



I saw the film first too mate, but it'll be fine, trust me   Book's fucking top


----------



## stethoscope (Apr 16, 2010)

Mrs Magpie said:


> stephj said:
> 
> 
> > Lynsey Hanley - Estates
> ...



About half way through. Enjoying a lot - not only as a personal portrait of growing up and living on estates, but also because of the class/political examination that runs throughout the book too.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 17, 2010)

Rudyard Kipling - Kim (again) (16)


----------



## jeff_leigh (Apr 17, 2010)

Richard Laymon - The Travelling Vampire Show


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 17, 2010)

I'm read ing 'Gangs' and while the geeezah tone of the author is annoying it does have interesting background on various recent crimes.


----------



## 5t3IIa (Apr 17, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm read ing 'Gangs' and while the geeezah tone of the author is annoying it does have interesting background on various recent crimes.



Is that the Tony Thompson one? I've got that - £1.75 from a charity shop. I'd just read a Jack Arnott so was mildly interested.

Is it an easy sleazy read? That's what I'd want it to be.


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Apr 17, 2010)

Jake Arnott? He went to my old school, so I tried to like and pretend that it was more than competent genre, but not entirely convinced.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 17, 2010)

5t3IIa said:


> Is that the Tony Thompson one? I've got that - £1.75 from a charity shop. I'd just read a Jack Arnott so was mildly interested.
> 
> Is it an easy sleazy read? That's what I'd want it to be.



yeah, easy as. I got it for the 'to drunk for sensible book' half hour read before bed. There is a bald scary looking fellow on the front pointing at me.


----------



## mentalchik (Apr 17, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> CJ Cherryh - Cyteen
> 
> A very weird book.



Lawks, haven't dug that out in an age.............


----------



## 5t3IIa (Apr 17, 2010)

Maurice Picarda said:


> Jake Arnott? He went to my old school, so I tried to like and pretend that it was more than competent genre, but not entirely convinced.



It's an easy read. _truecrime_ is basically a barely-semi-fictionalised account of loads of stuff - east end/Essex hardmen, acid house, M25 parties turning into Ministry of Sound, gansters writing books about being gangsters in Loaded times, Range Rover murders kinda stuff. Seemed a bit lazy tbh. I think _The Long Firm_ is better but I can't remember


----------



## 5t3IIa (Apr 17, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> yeah, easy as. I got it for the 'to drunk for sensible book' half hour read before bed. There is a bald scary looking fellow on the front pointing at me.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 18, 2010)

The Nether World -- George Gissing


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Apr 18, 2010)

I'm reading Two People by AA Milne. Picked it up out of curiosity, to see how he wrote for adults and it's really charming and absorbing. I like it.


----------



## audiotech (Apr 18, 2010)

"Pies and Prejudice - In Search of the North". Stuart Maconie.

'Bloody crackin'.


----------



## bmd (Apr 18, 2010)

The Kingdom Beyond The Waves by Stephen Hunt. 

It starts off with Mandinko the ex-slave escorting his white mistress to a buried tomb in search of treasure, which is a bit "oh oh". But I'm gonna stick with it and see what happens. Mandinko has died saving his white mistress and she has escaped and hopes to avenge his death.

I finished Un Lun Dun by China Mieville. Yet another fantasy about Socialism set in a weird city from me ol China. But despite my misgivings it was pretty good.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 18, 2010)

I loved the sly little poitical asides in Un Lun Dun. Subverting teh kids.

The massive library tunnel was good as well and the illustrations


----------



## bmd (Apr 18, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> I loved the sly little poitical asides in Un Lun Dun. Subverting teh kids.
> 
> The massive library tunnel was good as well and the illustrations



Yeah I really liked the illustrations too. I've got The City and The City to read next but I wanted to clean his stuff out of my head before I read that, so it's Stephen Hunt. Maybe. 

I'm also reading Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton. I read and reread his description of love because I found it so true. If I remember I'll post it up here when I get home.


----------



## Bakunin (Apr 18, 2010)

Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing - George Kimball.

A superb read covering the legendary rivalry and many fioghts between these four incredible boxers. Terrific stuff.


----------



## rollinder (Apr 19, 2010)

The Worst Rock n' Roll Records of All Time - Jimmy Guterman and Owen O'Donnell
- partly funny, partly just the writers being total jerks (and some of their choices aren't even rock'n'roll)

Doctor Who and the Hand Of Fear - Terrence Dicks (re-found a bunch of Targets that I don't remember buying )

Documents Concerning Rubashov the Gambler by Carl-Johan Vallgren (translated by Sarah Death)


----------



## last request (Apr 19, 2010)

Bill Bryson- A walk in the woods


----------



## llion (Apr 19, 2010)

Nick Hornby - Juliet, Naked. Much funnier than I'd expected.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 20, 2010)

I'm dipping back into me bible again - I WILL get through Numbers


----------



## Dirty Martini (Apr 20, 2010)

Putting _The Nether World_ on hold to read _A Majestic Innings_, which is a collection of writings on cricket by CLR James.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 21, 2010)

Woop!  My brand spanking new copy of Philip Pullman's 'The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ' came yesterday, so started it last night

Very promising - am excited by it


----------



## stethoscope (Apr 21, 2010)

George McKay - Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance


----------



## belboid (Apr 21, 2010)

Maps That Made History: The Influential, the Eccentric and the Sublime by Dr Lez Smart.  Following on from the beeb programmes.  Damn fine book, although the maps he discusses are often not quite big enough to see all the detail you'd wanna.  Still fascinating tho.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 21, 2010)

E Bronte - Wuthering Heights (17)

A poor novel.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 22, 2010)

Fictionist said:


> E Bronte - Wuthering Heights (17)
> 
> A poor novel.



You fackin what??

Best of the Brontes!  Brilliant fucking book that - one of my all time favourites!

You have no Romance in your soul, brutha


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 22, 2010)

"The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters" G.W. Dahlquist - picked it up for a quid from one of the local charity shops and it seems to be shaping up nicely


----------



## 100% masahiko (Apr 22, 2010)

Generation A - okayish so far.


----------



## Roadkill (Apr 23, 2010)

Gavin Stamp - _Britain's Lost Cities_.  A bit of a coffee-table book but fascinating, and a fairly angry polemic about what's been done to British cities in the last century. Rightly, blames misguided town-planners and politicians more than the Luftwaffe....

Taras Grescoe - _The End of Elsewhere_. A very sideways look at tourism and its effects.


----------



## wtfftw (Apr 23, 2010)

Gene Wolfe -  The Book Of The New Sun.
I recall people on here liked it and my ex didn't, so I'm reading it in a fuck off to him stylee.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 24, 2010)

sojourner said:


> You fackin what??
> 
> Best of the Brontes!  Brilliant fucking book that - one of my all time favourites!
> 
> You have no Romance in your soul, brutha



The one about that Jane girl wipes the floor with this....


----------



## colbhoy (Apr 25, 2010)

Just today started The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth. I get the feeling I may have read this before but many years ago so I can't remember any of it. A good read so far, as with all Forsyth's work.


----------



## starfish (Apr 25, 2010)

Giving Engels a wee break & am reading Indigo Slam by Robert Crais.


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 26, 2010)

Cyteen was interesting. There aren't many murder mysteries solved by the victim. Patchy though. The ideas and characters are brilliant. However it reads as if the first three quarters of the book were written (and edited) somewhat self indulgently and slowly, then there are a couple of chapters that are absolutely spot on. Then the deadline came up and the last few pages were done in a couple of hours in a desperate attempt to get the last quarter of the story covered before it's too late. Worth reading. Not Cherryh's best.

Now on some more Elmore Leonard. Valdez Is Coming. Which is brilliant so far. An anti-racist western.


----------



## clicker (Apr 26, 2010)

The half that works - a first novel by Laurie Horner, which is an easy and enjoyable read...set in London in the world of art college/gallery and graphic design...taking an irreverent look at the pretensions that surround all three.


----------



## tar1984 (Apr 26, 2010)

I've just started 'The Catcher in the Rye' by JD Salinger.

Really enjoying it so far.  It's a classic and all but it's not at all dry - really engaging and great use of language.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 26, 2010)

Fictionist said:


> The one about that Jane girl wipes the floor with this....


I was right - you really do not have a soul   What a big pile of wank!



ericjarvis said:


> Now on some more Elmore Leonard. Valdez Is Coming. Which is brilliant so far. An anti-racist western.






tar1984 said:


> I've just started 'The Catcher in the Rye' by JD Salinger.
> 
> Really enjoying it so far.  It's a classic and all but it's not at all dry - really engaging and great use of language.


I hate that book.  I've heard that it can make sense/seem interesting if you read it as an adolescent boy, but having never actually been one, and having read it as a late 20s woman, it did fuck all for me


----------



## Part 2 (Apr 26, 2010)

Put me back on my bike...Tom Simpson biography


----------



## xenon (Apr 26, 2010)

A Classical Education, by Caroline Taggot. Presented in a sort of conversational style, a quick guide to all that stuff you should probably have learned at school. That said, it's surprising how much you already have a passing aquaitence with, classical Greek and Roman references being so omnipresent.

Next, back to the scifi I think. probably Holting State by Charles Stross. A near future theft in cyber space unfolds into something much more sinister. As I gathered from the blurb anyway.


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 27, 2010)

xenon said:


> Next, back to the scifi I think. probably Holting State by Charles Stross. A near future theft in cyber space unfolds into something much more sinister. As I gathered from the blurb anyway.



A fun book. Ignore the blurb. It's not wrong, it's just not telling you anything much about the story. Certainly a must read for anyone who thinks about where we are going with the links between cyberspace and meatspace.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 27, 2010)

dennis lehane - shutter island. 
don't tell me owt.


----------



## xenon (Apr 27, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> A fun book. Ignore the blurb. It's not wrong, it's just not telling you anything much about the story. Certainly a must read for anyone who thinks about where we are going with the links between cyberspace and meatspace.




I was paraphrasing from memory, very lazily. 

 I'm a frequent  visitor to www.sfreivews.net and it got a decent explanative review there. As Stross does generally.


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 27, 2010)

PD James - The Lighthouse

I like her books. They keep my intellect mildly involved without being either emotionally demanding or completely soulless. Very relaxing to read.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 27, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> PD James - The Lighthouse
> 
> I like her books. They keep my intellect mildly involved without being either emotionally demanding or completely soulless. Very relaxing to read.



Good description - I feel the same having recently read "The Private Patient"


----------



## elevendayempire (Apr 27, 2010)

"Pistols at Dawn: A History of Duelling."


----------



## nicksonic (Apr 28, 2010)

i've taken a break from 'the view from castle rock' (i don't feel too bad since it's a short story collection) to read 'servants of the people' by andrew rawnsley, the precursor to 'the end of the party'.

fascinating stuff, i'm completely absorbed.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Apr 28, 2010)

I'm reading Sex, Botany & Empire by Patricia Fara. Quite interesting but a bit simplistic.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 28, 2010)

I am now reading my bible at lunchtimes, the Pullman book in the evenings, and The Family Frying Pan by Bryce Courtenay at bedtime

The Family Frying Pan is quite interesting actually - but incredibly annoying to read as it only has little pages and fairly big text, so I am constantly having to turn pages.  This is not easy when you're lying down on your side


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 28, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Good description - I feel the same having recently read "The Private Patient"




I read The Private Patient a couple of months ago.
It felt to me like it could be her last book 
She seemed to tie up a lot of loose ends with the characters. And the last paragraph of the book felt very much like a goodbye.
tbf she is 90 but it makes me sad that there might not be any more.


----------



## Cerberus (Apr 28, 2010)

Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own

Really enjoying this.....and finding it filled with humour too (didnt expect that)


----------



## sojourner (Apr 28, 2010)

Cerberus said:


> Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own
> 
> Really enjoying this.....and finding it filled with humour too (didnt expect that)



One of my all time favourites is that


----------



## ringo (Apr 28, 2010)

Cerberus said:


> Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own
> 
> Really enjoying this.....and finding it filled with humour too (didnt expect that)



I found a copy of that by the bins the other day, 1st deition by the looks, a good find.

Lunchtime reading is currently The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold. About 8 years after everybody else was reading it at lunchtime I reckon.


----------



## D'wards (Apr 28, 2010)

Just finished The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman by Bruce Robinson.

Loved it, made me laugh out loud at times, paints a great picture of adolescence in an England long gone. Really captures the feeling of first infatuation too.

And all the blowing up of crabs too of course.

Either gonna read Shutter Island or Miss Wyoming next, cannot decide which yet.


----------



## Fictionist (Apr 29, 2010)

Leo T - Anna Karenina


----------



## little_legs (Apr 29, 2010)

'Too Much Happiness' by Alice Munro. 

It's an excellent collection of stories and I am enjoying it.


----------



## nicksonic (Apr 30, 2010)

little_legs said:


> 'Too Much Happiness' by Alice Munro.
> 
> It's an excellent collection of stories and I am enjoying it.



have you read 'the view from castle rock'? i'm halfway through that, hasn't grabbed me quite as i hoped.


----------



## Voley (Apr 30, 2010)

Just about to start 'The Hell Of It All' by Charlie Brooker


----------



## little_legs (Apr 30, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> have you read 'the view from castle rock'? i'm halfway through that, hasn't grabbed me quite as i hoped.



i've not read this collection. and i have heard mixed reviews ranging from awesome to boring. i will give it a go some time in future and will submit a report on this thread.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 30, 2010)

NVP said:


> Just about to start 'The Hell Of It All' by Charlie Brooker


the missus says she thinks this is alright and quite amusing.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 30, 2010)

is it another one of his collections of columns? i'm waiting for a proper book


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 30, 2010)

yes it is apparently.

what's a proper book then? war and peace. naked lunch. five go mad in waitrose?


----------



## Sesquipedalian (Apr 30, 2010)

Currently reading ;
Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking.

(Includes two CDs with inspirational tips from the author.)


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 30, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> yes it is apparently.
> 
> what's a proper book then? war and peace. naked lunch. five go mad in waitrose?


you know, a proper book about something. not just old clippings (though they are still funny and worth rereading).


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 30, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> you know, a proper book about something. not just old clippings (though they are still funny and worth rereading).


yes.i do know what you mean. it's a bit lazy on his part. but also a bit typical really.


----------



## ericjarvis (May 1, 2010)

More Elmore Leonard. Get Shorty this time.


----------



## Voley (May 1, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> you know, a proper book about something. not just old clippings (though they are still funny and worth rereading).



I don't read The Guardian so this is handy for me. Same with Dawn Of The Dumb.


----------



## the button (May 1, 2010)

Just about to start Chomsky's "Letters from Lexington: reflections on propaganda." I'm not a big Chomsky fan (I've only read "Hegemony or survival," plus some of the philosophy when I was a stude), but this was £3.99 reduced from £13.99 in a remainder shop so thought I'd give it a go.


----------



## William of Walworth (May 2, 2010)

Half way through Francis Wheen's 'Strange Days Indeed : the golden age of paranoia' (about the Seventies). 

Very, very readable and crammed with laughs and anecdotes ...


----------



## wtfftw (May 2, 2010)

drag0n said:


> Gene Wolfe -  The Book Of The New Sun.
> I recall people on here liked it and my ex didn't, so I'm reading it in a fuck off to him stylee.



Some irritating person has reserved it so couldn't renew my library loan.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 2, 2010)

finished shutter island - very well written trash


----------



## maya (May 2, 2010)

Dashiel Hammett- Red Harvest. (Need recommendations for more hardboiled noir yarns please, it suits my mood at the moment...)


----------



## QueenOfGoths (May 2, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> finished shutter island - very well written trash



Been thinking about reading this - we have a dodgy copy of the dvd from Hong Kong and am not sure whether to watch that first and then read the book or vice versa


----------



## cesare (May 2, 2010)

I'm just starting God Is Back (Micklethwait/Wooldridge) after reading Patrick Gale's Notes From An Exhibition (which I enjoyed).


----------



## Orang Utan (May 2, 2010)

i watched the first 20 minutes of the film straight after putting down the book. they've got the look right (as far as i imagined it) and the actors are well cast so far. the plot has a lot of revelations in it, so whatever you watch/read first, your enjoyment may be 'spoilt' the second time round. i'm glad i'd read the book first. if i'd seen the film first i'd be less inclined to read the book, but only cos it takes longer to finish than a film.
on the other hand, with a book, you have more time to piece together clues, so most of the revelations aren't surprises. with films, you don't get time to digest the clues, so plot developments are more of a shocker. so maybe it's best to see the film first!


----------



## QueenOfGoths (May 2, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> i watched the first 20 minutes of the film straight after putting down the book. they've got the look right (as far as i imagined it) and the actors are well cast so far. the plot has a lot of revelations in it, so whatever you watch/read first, your enjoyment may be 'spoilt' the second time round. i'm glad i'd read the book first. if i'd seen the film first i'd be less inclined to read the book, but only cos it takes longer to finish than a film.
> on the other hand, with a book, you have more time to piece together clues, so most of the revelations aren't surprises. with films, you don't get time to digest the clues, so plot developments are more of a shocker. so maybe it's best to see the film first!



Thanks OU, that's useful advice


----------



## Gym Beam (May 3, 2010)

Reading Magician, by Raymond E. Feist. Have read before, now reading authors preferred edition, which has some extra bits. Enjoying muchly!


----------



## tastebud (May 3, 2010)

I have a lot on the go at present because I am working sooo hard atm and so easily distracted and not focussing on any one thing for long:

The Master and the Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
A Touch of Love - Jonathan Coe
The Impressionist - Hari Kunzru
(All of which I have started reading previously, liked, but somehow never finished).

and I recently finished The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides. Which was pretty good - enjoyed it. Not a patch on the depth and amazingness of Middlesex, but still good. He's a great writer.


----------



## little_legs (May 3, 2010)

tastebud said:


> The Master and the Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov



this one is bulgakov at his best. loved it. the cat is the coolest character ever! 




tastebud said:


> ....and I recently finished The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides. Which was pretty good - enjoyed it. Not a patch on the depth and amazingness of Middlesex, but still good. He's a great writer.



i enjoyed 'middlesex' too, i thought it was a well written book. he paints a good story that crosses continents and covers a long period of time in a very untiring/engaging way. and the names: chapter elleven? the obscure object? 

'the virging suicides' is on my to read some time in future list.


----------



## tastebud (May 3, 2010)

i knoooow - everyone loves it and for some reason i never seem to be in thje mood for it when i read it. one day it'll happen!

yeah, totally re: middlesex... it's epic. virgin suicides is a less involved read but still lovely prose.


----------



## nicksonic (May 4, 2010)

i really enjoyed both 'the virgin suicides' and 'middlesex', quite a contrast between the two in terms of depth and narrative but both are definitely worth reading. his latest book - my mistress's sparrow is dead - is a collection of love stories that's supposed to be great.


----------



## sojourner (May 4, 2010)

tastebud said:


> The Master and the Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
> Frankenstein - Mary Shelley



I love both of these, but M&M more, by a country mile.  I intend to re-read that at some point, but did find it incredibly disorientating.  Had to keep putting it down and reorientating myself back into my own reality 

I ordered Elmore Leonard's '10 Rules of Writing', and read it whilst having brekky on Saturday morning


----------



## D'wards (May 5, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> finished shutter island - very well written trash



Ooh, someone gave tjis to me at work, and i feel obliged. Is it worth the read?


----------



## Orang Utan (May 5, 2010)

yeah, wouldn't bother with the film though


----------



## D'wards (May 5, 2010)

Just started Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland - very good so far, though you would not epect anything less from Douglas eh?


----------



## DotCommunist (May 5, 2010)

A GCSE sort of level book about Irish society post and pre Union. Tis interesting


----------



## ringo (May 5, 2010)

Picked up a copy of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, edited by Peter Boxall, at Oxfam yesterday.

Looks great for flipping through when you're looking for what to read next and want to discover new authors or read the best of a particular genre/author/period. Already assembling a wants list from an hour's random reading. Loads I've never heard of that look interesting.


----------



## nicksonic (May 5, 2010)

'we need to talk about kevin' by lionel shriver. had this on the bookshelf for a while, i didn't realise lionel is actually a 'she'.

80 pages in and good so far


----------



## little_legs (May 5, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> 'we need to talk about kevin' by lionel shriver. had this on the bookshelf for a while, i didn't realise lionel is actually a 'she'.
> 
> 80 pages in and good so far



one my favourite books. i like shriver's rage and irony. her writing is also full of illustriuos adjectives. 

i did not like shriver's 'double fault' though, but! her new book 'so much for that' is meant to be good though. it's on my to read list. anyone out there read it?


----------



## D'wards (May 5, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> 'we need to talk about kevin' by lionel shriver. had this on the bookshelf for a while, i didn't realise lionel is actually a 'she'.
> 
> 80 pages in and good so far



As i recall, the first 80 pages were like wading through over-articulate treacle - gets much better once Kevin turns up...


----------



## the button (May 5, 2010)

"First as tragedy, then as farce," by Slavoj Zizek. Not read any of his stuff since "A ticklish subject," but this is entertaining enough, even though he is basically just riffing.


----------



## nicksonic (May 6, 2010)

D'wards said:


> As i recall, the first 80 pages were like wading through over-articulate treacle



that's a fair summary, but it's done with passion. i plan to make significant inroads this weekend


----------



## starfish (May 6, 2010)

Fuzz by Ed McBain. Its another 87th Precinct novel & one of the few that was made into a film. Burt Reynolds was in it i believe.


----------



## Diamond (May 8, 2010)

So recently I have read:

The Perfect Distance - a history of the Coe - Ovett rivalry. I didn't know much about it before and it was quite interesting but I felt that the author promised a sort of socio-cultural history angle that in the end was swamped by his pure passion for middle-distance running. Which isn't surprising I suppose but maybe he missed a trick there.

You Are Not A Gadget by Jaron Lanier - This is one of the most important books I have read. It concerns itself with the culture of the modern internet and wider 'cybernetic totalism' and in doing so provides some profound insights. I've been meaning to start a thread on it for ages and will do so soon but before that I feel that I've got to digest some of the central strands so that I can summarise them effectively in the OP.

Lush Life - If you like the Wire you should read this because a) it's by one of the writers on the Wire and b) it's better than the Wire.


----------



## Fictionist (May 9, 2010)

Collected Critical Writings - G Hill

I think Soj might like this.


----------



## sojourner (May 10, 2010)

Fictionist said:


> I think Soj might like this.



Why?


----------



## DotCommunist (May 10, 2010)

The City And The City by everyones favourite trot China Mieville

It's great. The usual baroque flourishes of language and stop-start cadence yo expect from China. Set in some imagined eastern european communist city where a police detective is seeking the murderer of a working girl. But something is _wrong_ in the city. There are people who are unpeople, things you unsee. It's intriguing and filled with a certain strange tension and very good so far.


----------



## girasol (May 10, 2010)

Started to read 'The Greatest Show on Earth' by Dawkins, this one does very little god bashing and concentrates on showing the evidence for evolution.  Shockingly he says children are no longer being taught this in many schools in the UK   wtf? 

Also reading 'Crime and Punishment', this one is on the ipod so I only read little bits occasionally, it'll probably take me months to finish it


----------



## Fictionist (May 10, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Why?



Because u believe that literature matters, and whilst some find Hill's native register problematic I suspect the ideas will interest u.


----------



## andy2002 (May 10, 2010)

A short story collection called Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman. Some of it's great (there's a reimagining of a classic fairytale here that is just brilliantly horrible) but I don't really care for his poetry or 'prose experiments'.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 10, 2010)

third attempt on the book of dave


----------



## sojourner (May 11, 2010)

Fictionist said:


> Because *u believe that literature matters*, and whilst some find Hill's native register problematic I suspect the ideas will interest u.


Well yes I do, but I have no idea what this guy's take is on it.  Some lit crit gets right up my nose.  What sort of ideas? 



Orang Utan said:


> third attempt on the book of dave



I loved that book.

I started Valdez is Coming by Elmore Leonard yesterday - great start already.


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 12, 2010)

_Hank Williams: The Biography_ by Colin Escott


----------



## Fictionist (May 12, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Well yes I do, but I have no idea what this guy's take is on it.  Some lit crit gets right up my nose.  What sort of ideas?
> 
> 
> 
> ...




He tackles Jonson ('Sejanus' and 'Catiline'), Dryden, Shakespeare ('Cymbeline'), Swift, Eliot, Hopkins and Whitman. Whilst not themes, it gives you an indication of his range and breadth of learning. He really does manage to reference an authentic and far ranging scholarship that is utterly beguiling. I think this is that rare beast - a book you can return to again and again and one that will offer genuinely challenging interpretations of familiar texts.


----------



## sojourner (May 13, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> _Hank Williams: The Biography_ by Colin Escott



Any good?


----------



## Dirty Martini (May 13, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Any good?



It's rattling along and is fairly well written, although the endless line-up changes are trying my patience 

It's surprising how little concrete information there is about him prior to his breakthrough, which only really leaves a handful of years to write about. But to the writer's credit, he doesn't pad out the childhood/early years with cod-psychology, which biographers sometimes do.

He was a poor drunken bastard who left stellar music, but no beautiful corpse


----------



## sojourner (May 13, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> It's rattling along and is fairly well written, although the endless line-up changes are trying my patience
> 
> It's surprising how little concrete information there is about him prior to his breakthrough, which only really leaves a handful of years to write about. But to the writer's credit, he doesn't pad out the childhood/early years with cod-psychology, which biographers sometimes do.
> 
> He was a *poor drunken bastard who left stellar music,* but no beautiful corpse



Cheers.

Yep

Had terrible back pain, as I recall, which led to a ridiculous amount of boozing, as well as 'self medicating' as some would have it.  Bad tempered too - but you would be, wouldn't you, if you were in fucking pain all the time. Poor Hank.  So young


----------



## andy2002 (May 13, 2010)

*The City And The City - China Mieville* - first book I've read by him and I'm enjoying it, I think. He has an odd style that it takes you a while to get into the rhythm of - lots of short sentences and frequent diversions to discuss the history/architecture/culture/language of the city (cities) the story is set in. I understand the need for this kind of verisimilitude but it can pull you out of the story, too.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 13, 2010)

Snap, halfway through now. He loves texture. LAnguage and world. Very strange book so far. It is china trying to do a detective novel but invariably writing his normal beat- bizarre urban landscapes with strange undercurrents.


----------



## the button (May 13, 2010)

David Harvey's "The enigma of Capital." After a very interesting account of the current economic crisis, it's gone a bit 'textbook on Marxism.' A very good textbook on Marxism, like.


----------



## andy2002 (May 13, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> Snap, halfway through now. He loves texture. LAnguage and world. Very strange book so far. It is china trying to do a detective novel but invariably writing his normal beat- bizarre urban landscapes with strange undercurrents.



It's one of the most evocative, atmospheric books I've read in a while - he's really good at mainlining his vision of the worlds he creates straight into your head. It can be hard work for the reader though - not that there's anything wrong with that.


----------



## ericjarvis (May 13, 2010)

Just finished Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian. I'm now hooked on these. It took a while to get into the swing of the shifting between naval slang and terminology and 18th century aristocratic badinage. However after a while the politics start to take shape, and all the things being hinted at start being an important part of the picture.

Started on a re-read of Golden Witchbreed. When times are tough it's nice to settle down with an old friend of a book. In my view Mary Gentle is pretty much the most underrated author in the country. The Orthe books aren't really mature work, but they are streets ahead of the likes of Peter Hamilton, and better even than Alistair Reynolds or China Mieville.


----------



## wtfftw (May 14, 2010)

I started The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath in the early hours.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 16, 2010)

andy2002 said:


> It's one of the most evocative, atmospheric books I've read in a while - he's really good at mainlining his vision of the worlds he creates straight into your head. It can be hard work for the reader though - not that there's anything wrong with that.



Finished now.

This is unfamiliar territory for China but he still manages to make it Other, fantastical. The beauty lies in the way he crafts the world. As usual he really can't finish up so rushes an ending but this time it works. Having established the two cities that inhabitants are respectively trained to unsee and unhear you believe there could be a third on. A shadow-city that each assumes belongs to the other.

Breach is also a good invention. Real spook bogeymen ready to send you who-knows-where if you cross the myriad borders between Beszel and Ul Quma

It isn't a perfect work. China commits the same breach he is prone to. He textures a world rather than looking to a plot and so ends up with an unrealistic and open-ended finale. But still a novel well worth your time for sheer inventiveness and his uncanny knack of combining the weird with the political, the political with the realist and making a city _live_.


----------



## llion (May 16, 2010)

Jay Griffiths - Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time. Exuberantly written philosophical consideration of time and how different cultures and periods in history have thought about time.


----------



## Gym Beam (May 19, 2010)

Silverthorn - Part 2 of the Riftwar trilogy, Raymond E. Feist (Re-reading the trilogy after many years). Enjoying it as much as Magician (Part 1).


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (May 19, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> the chinaman by friedrich glauser. he was born in vienna in 1896, was a morphine and opium addict as well as being a diagnosed shizophrenic who spent most of his adult life in psychiatric wards, prison and the foriegn legion. a very enjoyable existentialist crime thriller, with a well trippy dick.


finally finished this, bit of a let-down in the end tbh, just seemed to go over the same ground in "revealing" the conclusion.

now started on _grotesque_ by natsuo kirino for some light relief, as well as _the world that never was: a true story of dreamers, schemers, anarchists and secret agents_ by alex butterworth which, on the basis of the intro at least, looks like it could be quite an entertaining and enjoyable piece of work.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 19, 2010)

Quincinx. A bit worthy and bookerish but it is eccentric and well written so far. I might have to dump it if it doesn't get more interesting quicker


----------



## Dillinger4 (May 19, 2010)

antwerp by roberto bolano


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## rollinder (May 20, 2010)

Mark Thomas - The People's Manifesto
James Goss - Torchwood: Almost Perfect

Phillip K Dick - Valis + the afterword from the Valis Trilogy omnibus talking about how much was auto-biographicall & a bit of The Divine Invasion (realised I've already read the part 



Spoiler: wtf?



where 'god'/Yah wipes the tapes, the tv soap opera turns out to be a real telepathic broadcast and the woman discovers she's not really sick from M.S & chemo but pregnant with the (re)incarnation of Yah


 somewhere before ...(

Valais = serious headfuck, so many concepts, making me feel like walls in my head closing in...


----------



## starfish (May 20, 2010)

Exile by Denise Mina. Started it last night & have just realised its the 2nd in her Garnethill trilogy  Hmm, might read another book until I get a hold of the first one.


----------



## ericjarvis (May 21, 2010)

Mary Gentle - Ancient Light

One of the most painfully unexpected finishes to a book ever. Still gets me even after having read it before.


----------



## nicksonic (May 22, 2010)

just finished 'we need to talk about kevin'. thought it was ok, not brilliant; it suffered from the cast having very few redeeming qualities plus the relationships were quite absurd and unbelievable.

now reading 'belching out the devil: global adventures with coca-cola' by mark thomas.


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## DotCommunist (May 22, 2010)

Ulster: Resistance to home rule 1912-1914


Just finished the prelude chapter and once again have been confronted by what MASSIVE MASSIVE cunts the Churchill line are. Man (not winnie) practically whipped up Orange fervour simply for political gain over Gladstone. Despicable fucking prick.


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 22, 2010)

My family and other animals, by Gerald Durrell. its about a family that move to Corfu in late 30's and very into nature. Tonnes of minute and miniscule detail about the animals, plants and rich fauna of the island, basking in the glorious sunshine. Plenty of family bickering and comedy thrown in. Its so brilliantly written you really do feel that you are in Greece with them.


----------



## Doctor Carrot (May 22, 2010)

The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.  The book is about what the title says really, it shows how on pretty much all important measures, crime, poverty, health etc, people are worse off in more unequal societies.


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## nicksonic (May 22, 2010)

Doctor Carrot said:


> The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.  The book is about what the title says really, it shows how on pretty much all important measures, crime, poverty, health etc, people are worse off in more unequal societies.



sounds really interesting, added to my list


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## ericjarvis (May 22, 2010)

Joseph Wambaugh - The Choirboys.

Brilliant and not at all what I was expecting. Hill Street Blues meets The Thin Blue Line, as Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson would have written it.


----------



## jeff_leigh (May 24, 2010)

The Little Girl and the Cigarette - Benoit Duteurtre


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## llion (May 24, 2010)

Jonathan Coe - The Rain Before it Falls. Gripping novel which has got a very different, much more melancholy tone than his other books like 'What a Carve Up'.


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## jeff_leigh (May 25, 2010)

Coraline - Neil Gaiman


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## flypanam (May 25, 2010)

The Broom of the system - David Foster Wallace. Which i'm finding pretty pointless and lacking in humour, except of course for Vlad the Impaler.


----------



## TruXta (May 25, 2010)

A Nation of Steel: The Making of Modern America - Thomas J. Misa. History of technology, reading it for PhD. Pretty good actually, and goes really well with Amy Slaton's Reinforced Concrete and the Modernization of American Building, 1900-1930. Should be said that Misa is less interested in the labour historical issues than Slaton, and more up on the political side of the rise of steel-making.

Also reading that old psycho Yukio Mishima's last novel - The Decay of the Angel, which is the last book in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy. Beautifully poetical, but I kinda wish I'd re-read the earlier books in the series. Spring Snow is ace.


----------



## ringo (May 25, 2010)

The Dead Yard - Ian Thompson. Very good travelogue/history of Jamaica, going into great detail on the causes of the country's descent into miserable squalor. Quite prescient given the current news from Kingston.


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## Captain Hurrah (May 25, 2010)

Not so much a book as an article from 1982 called Rethinking Emperor-System Fascism: Ruptures and Continuities in Modern Japanese History by Herbert P. Bix.  Bulletin for Concerned Asian Scholars.


----------



## Diamond (May 26, 2010)

Am just polishing off the last of The Little Stranger right now. What with the wind whistling outside, the ghost story reading conditions are perfect.


----------



## starfish (May 26, 2010)

While looking for a cheap copy of Garnethill im reading The Watchman by Robert Crais.


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## maldwyn (May 26, 2010)

THE LITTLE STRANGER Sarah Waters


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## nicksonic (May 27, 2010)

finished mark thomas' expose of coca cola's unethical busniess practices last night, glad i read that.

now reading - 'all the president's men' by bob woodward & carl berstein


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## Diamond (May 27, 2010)

maldwyn said:


> THE LITTLE STRANGER Sarah Waters



What did you thing?

I really enjoyed it.

Just started Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess.

It's pretty dense but in a really rich, witty way. Fantastic characters too.


----------



## Dan U (May 27, 2010)

Austerity Britain - David Kynaston

i saw Ern and (iirc but might be wrong) Mrs Magpie discussing it on here

tis proper interesting.


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## QueenOfGoths (May 27, 2010)

Diamond said:


> What did you thing?
> 
> I really enjoyed it.
> 
> ...



One of my favourite novels ever.

I am still perservering with "The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters" - nearing the end now. I can't say I've not enjoyed it - the characters are interesting as is the plot plus the writing is very good - but somehow it is just doesn't all gel and is not compelling


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 28, 2010)

Children of Mao: Personality Development and Political Activism in the Red Guard Generation by Anita Chan.


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## jeff_leigh (May 28, 2010)

Funland - Richard Laymon


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## ericjarvis (May 28, 2010)

Re-read of two Pratchetts. Wyrd Sisters and Guards Guards. Then Science of Discworld 3, Darwin's Radio by TP, Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart. Time I got around to reading it.

Next up Michael Moore - Stupid White Men. Again one I really should have read ages ago.


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## DotCommunist (May 28, 2010)

heh, I am re-reading Pratchett's Soul Music as some light relief in amongst the informative but somewhat anger-inducing Ulster: Resistance to Home Rule.

History books wind me up something rotten but you have to know. The shit that went on enables you to identify the enemies in the present era


----------



## Kid A (May 29, 2010)

Richard Dawkins: The Greatest Show on Earth. I'm interested to know people's opinions on it if they've read it, and on Dawkins generally. I've been wondering whether to post in some of the threads where he gets mentioned.


----------



## Prince Rhyus (May 30, 2010)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Enemy-Gate-Habsburgs-Ottomans-Battle/dp/1844137414

The story of the conflict between the Habsburgs of Austria and the Ottoman Empire - and an insight into some of the longstanding cultural hostilities of today between central Europe and Turkey re: EU entry.


----------



## stethoscope (Jun 4, 2010)

David MacKenzie and Michael Curran - A History of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Beyond


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jun 5, 2010)

Blonde Roots - Bernardine Evaristo


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## ericjarvis (Jun 5, 2010)

Vernor Vinge - A Deepness In The Sky

Brilliant.


----------



## ChrisC (Jun 7, 2010)

Buddha's Brain by Rick Hanson PH.D


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## starfish (Jun 7, 2010)

Im going to start reading, The Moment She Was Gone by Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain) in a few minutes.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jun 8, 2010)

Neil Gaiman - American Gods


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## Cheesypoof (Jun 8, 2010)

Charles Chaplin - My Autobiography

and thats what it is. first published in 1964 this is his own life story and written by the great man himself (when he was 75), it is an incredible read. Brilliantly written, eloquent, intriguing and just full of amazing stories, tales and anecdotes about London and early 20th century New York (where I am now). Gorgeous pictures too. I am LOVING this book. I think I might marry it.


----------



## colbhoy (Jun 8, 2010)

Cheesypoof said:


> Charles Chaplin - My Autobiography
> 
> and thats what it is. first published in 1964 this is his own life story and written by the great man himself (when he was 75), it is an incredible read. Brilliantly written, eloquent, intriguing and just full of amazing stories, tales and anecdotes about London and early 20th century New York (where I am now). Gorgeous pictures too. I am LOVING this book. I think I might marry it.



Had a quick look on Amazon and it certainly has good reviews. I will keep this in mind.

I am currently reading Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor. It is fascinating stuff. I am always struck when reading these kind of books of the enormous heroism and resilience of the ordinary soldier, no matter what side they are on.


----------



## Shevek (Jun 8, 2010)

Eric Hobsbawm Age of Extremes


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 8, 2010)

Perdido Street Station - am really, really liking it. Keep trying to imagine where in New Crobuzon I would live


----------



## sojourner (Jun 9, 2010)

Picked up Elmore Leonard's The Complete Western Stories again - just read Three-Ten to Yuma


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 9, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Perdido Street Station - am really, really liking it. Keep trying to imagine where in New Crobuzon I would live





> *Howl Barrow *
> Noted for its homosexual, transvestite and theatre community. The Pretty Brigade who fought valiantly for the Collective during the return of the Iron Council come from here.


http://www.curufea.com/games/crobuzon/crobuzon.php

hth etc


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## andy2002 (Jun 9, 2010)

My sister lent me the first Sookie Stackhouse book (Dead Until Dark). It's alright but seems rather bland compared to the gory, sexy madness of the True Blood TV show.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jun 9, 2010)

Elmore Leonard - Tishomingo Blues.

High diving, blues, casual and ruthless murder, civil war re-enactments, weird nicknames. Could only be Elmore Leonard. Or possibly Carl Hiaassen on a very good day.


----------



## andy2002 (Jun 9, 2010)

jeff_leigh said:


> Neil Gaiman - American Gods



It's a terrific book – took me a while to get into it but I loved it by the end.


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## flypanam (Jun 10, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Perdido Street Station - am really, really liking it. Keep trying to imagine where in New Crobuzon I would live



I'm reading China's new one 'Kraken'. Set in London but well strange. Finding his political bits a little annoying though.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jun 10, 2010)

andy2002 said:


> It's a terrific book – took me a while to get into it but I loved it by the end.



There's nothing pulling me in just yet but, I'll stick with it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 10, 2010)

flypanam said:


> I'm reading China's new one 'Kraken'. *Set in London but well strange*. Finding his political bits a little annoying though.



This pretty much describes his entire output except The City & The City which I'm starting to wonder if he based the idea of around Belfast then dressed it up in post-communist clothes


----------



## tastebud (Jun 10, 2010)

'Paris Trance' by Geoff Dyer. it's good but also not at the same time. i read reviews of his books and i agree with people that hate him but also people that love him. it's making me feel weird, it's depressing.. but i quite like it too.


----------



## cursed (Jun 11, 2010)

' The Winner Stands Alone ' by Paulo Coelho ..Wonderful insight into the world of glitz and glamour... What was mesmerizing is the rollercoaster ride in the book ,, At some point you feel the protagonist is just a normal person dealing with love on how everyone would if in his shoes ,, then you feel he is mentally ill and threatening such a wonderful ex-OH .... And again the views change... 

Tis true though : Winner Stands Alone when there are no boundaries to worry about..

It is a dark piece though and a very hard hitting quote : 

"How can we be so arrogant? The planet is, was, and always will be stronger than us. We can't destroy it; if we overstep the mark, the planet will simply erase us from its surface and carry on existing. Why don't they start talking about not letting the planet destroy us? "


----------



## sojourner (Jun 11, 2010)

Started The Female Man by Joanna Russ last night.  Very interesting, feminist sci-fiey - reminds me a bit of Doris Lessing, only less spacey

Published in the UK in 1975, and as with all good sci-fi, there are moments of startling recognition of stuff that hadn't happened then but have now


----------



## belboid (Jun 11, 2010)

The White Lioness - the third Wallander book.  Very good, cracking writer, very entertaining and pretty decent politics.

Followed by The Burley Cross Post Box Theft by Nichola Barker.  I got it as it looked quite entertaining, especially as it is based just by where I grew up, so was looking forward to how she catpured t'local voice.  Sadly, she didn't even bother trying.  okay, tho got bored towards the end and only carried on to see how it played out.

Now on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.   Larsson doesnt seem as good a writer as Mankell, but it's a darned entertaining read from the first hundred pages.


----------



## llion (Jun 11, 2010)

Jonathan Coe - The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim - Very funny, in parts, new novel about a middle-aged man having a breakdown, partly inspired by Reggie Perrin. Some of the minor characters are even named after characters from the Perrin books/tv series!


----------



## D'wards (Jun 11, 2010)

Rereading Naked Pueblo by Mark Poirier, its a book of short stories that are superb. He's like a Douglas coupland with less limp characters, more bollocks they have.


----------



## rollinder (Jun 12, 2010)

Jim Pollard - Rotten in Denmark 
found some punk related books I'd scored from oxfam online while sorting/clearing out yesterday - had a quick dip in /flick through them, ended up obsessively reading and rereading parts of this one. Amazing description of the replaying and editing of memories, the effect of certain songs, places, sweets... and your mates at/from school. 



Spoiler: for spoiler



poor Cal, and Frankie turns out to be a total, total cunt. Makes his monologue on true evil bitterly ironic. Just realised it kinds of equals The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 13, 2010)

_Doctoring the mind Why psychiatric treatments fail_ by Richard P. Bentall, very accessible and enjoyable so far, and _Yellow Blue Tibia_ by Adam Roberts for some light relief, a group of sci fi writers are told by stalin to write a dystopic threat to the ussr following the end of ww2, then subsequently told to forget about all they've written before it all started strangely coming true...sounds like a blast


----------



## nicksonic (Jun 13, 2010)

just finished 'all the president's men', an excellent account of watergate by the reporters that wrote most of the articles on it for the washington post. intriguing stuff  

now reading - 'the child in time' by ian mcewan.


----------



## live_jayeola (Jun 15, 2010)

cobweb by neal stephenson. s' ok. 6/10


----------



## ericjarvis (Jun 15, 2010)

John Pilger - Hidden Agendas


----------



## llion (Jun 15, 2010)

Studs Turkel - Working - Oral history classic adapted by Harvey Pekar into comic/graphic form and aided by brilliant cartoonists like Terry LaBan and Peter Kuper.


----------



## tastebud (Jun 15, 2010)

a lot of geoff dyer at the moment.


----------



## kittyP (Jun 15, 2010)

Toast. Nigel Slater's kinda autobiography.
Funny, tragic and mouth watering all in one go.
Plus it's a quickly read (even for me) filler kinda book.


----------



## andy2002 (Jun 15, 2010)

*On Writing - Stephen King*: part-autobiography, part 'How To Write' guide. Lots to enjoy either way...


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 15, 2010)

tastebud said:


> a lot of geoff dyer at the moment.



ooh which ones? i read the ongoing moment and though i sometimes didn't understand what he was driving at, he never struck me as pretentious, just a lot clever than me. his writing style is very engaging and made me like him as a personality, or at least what personality of his he that reveals through his writing.


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## idioteque (Jun 15, 2010)

Recently finished:

Haruki Murakami- Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Douglas Coupland- Generation A
Kazuo Ishiguro- Nocturnes

and I'm about to start Hey Nostradamus by Coupland as well.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 15, 2010)

i'm aboout to start on david kynaston's austerity britain and am currently reading benedict levay's eccentric london of which more later. it's really quite extraordinary and i should take more time to write about it later on. the same applies to will self's the book of dave, which i finished last night. it's such a good book, it deserves a few more words than 'it was ace'. too tired right now though. as WoW would put it, 'moar later'.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 15, 2010)

Irish Folk and Fairy Tales by michael Scott

Slowly working my way though the stash of irish history/sociocal/myths books I garnered at a house clearance


----------



## mentalchik (Jun 15, 2010)

The Great And Secret Show - Clive Barker


bit dry on the new books to read front so doing some re-reading !


----------



## Shevek (Jun 15, 2010)

still reading Eric Hobsbawn Age of Extremes... have got stuck at chapter 2: Revolution.

Have read several books on post-modernism

a book about the philosophy of samuel beckett

started reading Beckett's 'Krapps Last Tape'

Also part read Alan Watts 'Psychotherapy East and West' 

shev


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 15, 2010)

i think you should read some flashman or something else that's fun next


----------



## Shevek (Jun 15, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> i think you should read some flashman or something else that's fun next



thanks  what is flashman. I fancy reading a graphic novel or something.

Yeah I do read a lot of heavy stuff.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 15, 2010)

i've not actually read any, but he's a character in a series of novels by george mcdonald fraser. check him out on wiki. 
but you should deffo try something light from time to time.


----------



## Kid A (Jun 16, 2010)

idioteque said:


> Recently finished:
> 
> Haruki Murakami- Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
> Douglas Coupland- Generation A
> ...



Cool screen name. What did you think of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman? Murakami is one of my favourite writers. Coupland, I keep meaning to get into but haven't so far. Ishiguro, I read one book and thought it was pretty overrated. Not sure I'll go back to him. 

Just finished Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, now reading Drown by Juno Diaz. Good, evocative short stories, so far.


----------



## idioteque (Jun 16, 2010)

Kid A said:


> Cool screen name. What did you think of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman? Murakami is one of my favourite writers. Coupland, I keep meaning to get into but haven't so far. Ishiguro, I read one book and thought it was pretty overrated. Not sure I'll go back to him.
> 
> Just finished Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, now reading Drown by Juno Diaz. Good, evocative short stories, so far.



Thanks, you too  Murakami is probably my favourite writer, I put off reading BW,SW as after I read 'after the quake' I felt as though I preferred his novels to short stories, but I absolutely loved BW,SW. It was cool to read some of the stories which he later developed into full novels like Firefly/ Norwegian Wood. What did you think?

Coupland is excellent. He has a lot of little introspective moments and insightful observations that make his stories very vivid, in a way that I think you'd really like if you enjoy Murakami. Maybe not the first book by him you should read, but I highly recommend Life After God. It's a really beautiful book, I won't say too much but lots of things in it have really stuck with me and come into my head all the time in everyday life.

I thought the same about Ishiguro. Not a bad book, but not amazing either. Definitely over hyped I think.

I'd quite like to read more Juno Diaz, I read Oscar Wao and really liked it.


----------



## belboid (Jun 16, 2010)

belboid said:


> Now on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.   Larsson doesnt seem as good a writer as Mankell, but it's a darned entertaining read from the first hundred pages.



well that was cracking.  There's a nice little bit near the end talking about the book Blomkvist writes which pretty much sums up the actual novel - something like 'it was uneven stylistically, and in some places the writing was actually poor, but it was written with such a passion and a fury that it didnt matter.'


Now starting David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, about which I know absolutely nothing.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 17, 2010)

Relegated Ulster Crises: Resistance to Home Rule to the bog as it is a bit...narrative rather than numbers and background. Will read a chapter at a time and finish it with my morning shite.

Started 'Ireland since the Famine' which is dense but very informative wrt numbers and specifics.

Then on to 'Ulster: The Facts' by Rev Ian Paisely which looks like it will be an incredibly partisan look at the situation by a certifiable loon.


----------



## tastebud (Jun 17, 2010)

'The Road' - Cormac McCarthy

This book is so freaking dark!


----------



## ericjarvis (Jun 18, 2010)

Jeff Noon - Vurt

Started brilliantly. Needless to say it's weird shit involving drugs, virtual reality, and Manchester.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 18, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> Jeff Noon - Vurt
> 
> Started brilliantly. Needless to say it's weird shit involving drugs, virtual reality, and Manchester.


yes, it's a darned good book.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Jun 20, 2010)

andy2002 said:


> *On Writing - Stephen King*: part-autobiography, part 'How To Write' guide. Lots to enjoy either way...



that's a great book. The best _home to write _book ever written imo


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Jun 20, 2010)

Mailer's An American Dream


----------



## Bakunin (Jun 20, 2010)

Just finished 'Mon Ami, Mate': The Brief, Brilliant Lives Of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins' by Chris Nixon. Am now on 'Mafia: The First 100 Years' and have a biography of Juan Manuel Fangio to peruse when the Mafia book is done and dusted.


----------



## Ron Merlin (Jun 22, 2010)

Just finished "Junk Mail" by Will Self - collected articles and reviews. Now starting "Oblomov" by Ivan Goncharov (David Magarshack translation). Good so far. 40 pages in and he still hasn't got out of bed


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 22, 2010)

Just finished "Perdido Street Station" which I loved - now on with "The Scar". Was going to break up the Mieville's with something else but I have to get The Scar back to the library by 5th July


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jun 22, 2010)

I'm at that stage of my masters where my reading is either: the same novels I've read a million times before and am writing on; criticism; theory; or nothing. I don't seem to be able to separate out 'work' reading and 'leisure' reading  This makes me massively unhappy, but there you go. I prefer to spend my downtime doing other thoroughly frivolous things, like the internet or gaming.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jun 22, 2010)

Just finished Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett, which was highly entertaining. For somebody who claims not to have the football gene he thoroughly understands what it means to people.

Just started another Elmore Leonard. Out Of Sight.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 22, 2010)

just picked up wolf hall - o wow - this is going to be a joy


----------



## Kid A (Jun 22, 2010)

Junot Diaz: Drown. Really enjoying it, despite (or because of?) the fact that it's about immigrants from the Dominican Republic to the USA, something I know nothing about and have never been very interested in.


----------



## tastebud (Jun 22, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> just picked up wolf hall - o wow - this is going to be a joy


oh that was my last book club one.... must read it.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 22, 2010)

Fatty Batter by Michael Simpkin, a true tale about a fat lad's love affair with cricket, from the 60's to present day.

Excellent so far, has made me chuckle out loud a few times.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Jun 22, 2010)

Just finished Andrew Marr's excellent "A history of modern Britain", and "K2 - The savage mountain" by Charles Houston and Robert Bates. Tonight I start the second volume of Michael Palin diaries, "Halfway to Hollywood - 1980-88".


----------



## starfish (Jun 22, 2010)

Im going to give The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo a go, my first Kindle book.


----------



## danny la rouge (Jun 23, 2010)

_The Wall_, by John Hersey.  It's started off well.  I read his _Hiroshima_ as a kid, and it profoundly affected me.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 23, 2010)

Des Ekin - The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates.

Excellent book on the little known sacking of Baltimore, West Cork in the 17th century.


----------



## danny la rouge (Jun 23, 2010)

danny la rouge said:


> _The Wall_, by John Hersey.  It's started off well.  I read his _Hiroshima_ as a kid, and it profoundly affected me.


I should have said, it's about the Warsaw ghetto.


----------



## flypanam (Jun 24, 2010)

George Pelecanos - The way home. Very good it is too!


----------



## ericjarvis (Jun 24, 2010)

Greg Egan - Incandescence

Fabulous book. If you like science in your sf it doesn't get better than this.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Jun 25, 2010)

The Reluctant Pornographer by Bruce LaBruce. 
 a journey inside the head of gay marxist porn director Bruce LaBruce, and there's never a dull moment, part biographical part manifesto - everyone should read this book
http://www.squashduck.com/ltd/reviews/reluctant%20pornographer.htm


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 25, 2010)

tastebud said:


> oh that was my last book club one.... must read it.



do it - it's very very enjoyable - mantel is just too good - the reviews in and on it are all from other writers who don't even try to diguise their envy of her skill


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jun 28, 2010)

The latest copy of The Russian Review.


----------



## Lea (Jun 28, 2010)

Re-reading Till We Have Faces - A myth retold by CS Lewis.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 28, 2010)

Inklings. Just read about C S Lewis' conversion to the faith. C S Lewis is a bit of a bellend.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jun 28, 2010)

PD James - Devices And Desires


----------



## mentalchik (Jun 29, 2010)

Stone -Adam Roberts


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2010)

On is the better story but Stone is good. His professed wish now is to write a sci fi novel in every genre he can think of. A ledge, basically. IIRC he has done a mighty tome of encyclopedia for Science Fiction. Next, try Land of the Headless. A brilliant unreliable narrator in that, leaves you asking more questions than it leaves you with answers.


----------



## nicksonic (Jun 29, 2010)

i've had 'salt' on my varying bookshelves for years, is it worth a read?


----------



## kittyP (Jun 29, 2010)

Like half the other people on the tube, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest.
Yes everyone is reading them but I've quite enjoyed them.
I'm quite a slow reader buy I've flown through these.
I only read on my commute and they've made them fly by so that's good yes


----------



## mentalchik (Jun 29, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> On is the better story but Stone is good. His professed wish now is to write a sci fi novel in every genre he can think of. A ledge, basically. IIRC he has done a mighty tome of encyclopedia for Science Fiction. Next, try Land of the Headless. A brilliant unreliable narrator in that, leaves you asking more questions than it leaves you with answers.



Got On as well.....got the two for 50p in a charity shop yesterday......perfect condition !


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> i've had 'salt' on my varying bookshelves for years, is it worth a read?



still on my 'to read' list. But yes, it is worth a go because even badly flawed AR stories are well written intelligent failures. Swiftly is an example of that (I have a review copy that predates even first edition :smug: oh that it was one of his better). A good sequel to Gulliver Travels and even mimics it stylistically but you know when Roberts aint done it. Halfway through, when the plot goes up a faecal creek sans paddle.

Unlike proper rubbish authors who live and trade in shit creek and have made shit creek an attractive place for other cunts to peddle shit.


----------



## marty21 (Jun 29, 2010)

Guillermo Del Toro/ Chuck Hogan - The Strain

vampire/epidemic genre (is that a genre?) enjoying it , although it started a but slow.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2010)

mentalchik said:


> Got On as well.....got the two for 50p in a charity shop yesterday......perfect condition !



Jammy cow! you've a result there mate.


----------



## mentalchik (Jun 30, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> *Jammy cow!* you've a result there mate.



*looks smug*




am quite chuffed (got Daywatch as well) as i haven't bought any sci-fi for a while....need to get my sci head on again.........like the explanations about quantum physics in Stone !


----------



## little_legs (Jun 30, 2010)

_The Sportswriter_ by Richard Ford

Only a few pages in. The main character Frank Bascombe is a tad nihilistic, but I feel like there is a bit of Frank in all of us. 

Ford is very good with descriptions. 

I was taken slighlty aback with how Ford describes Frank Bascombe's tennant and black children in the neighbourhood as 'negros', but Ford does not do it with any malice. On the contrary, Ford is probably doing this to make these characters real. Ford is also from Mississippi, where present day African Americans often refer to themselves as 'negro man/negro woman', so he just about gets away with it for me. 

This is phony, but my favourite quote so far from the book: 'Sometimes we do not really become adults until we suffer a good whacking loss, and our lives in a sense catch up with us and wash over us like a wave and everything goes.'


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jun 30, 2010)

Junk Mail. Will Self
God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain. Rosemary Hill


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jul 2, 2010)

'Oscar Wilde,' by Richard Ellmann. The man, this biographer is seamless, he is said to delve into the interior character of Oscar Wilde with a fine toothcomb (oh believe, having last year read the 900-page behemoth which was his magnum opus on James Joyce). That was beyond the pale of incredible - and this - from the critics reviews dancing off the pages, is a great masterpiece of insight and wisdom. Richard Ellmann is regarded as the best literary biographer of all time, and I humbled to read this biography. I would say it will take me a few months, and I wont be on Urban much. But its worthwhile, and something to inspire and further enrich my hungry mind


----------



## quimcunx (Jul 2, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> now reading - 'the child in time' by ian mcewan.



What did you think?   I hated it.  Although I did finish it.  I've come to the conclusion the only one of his books I'll ever like is The Daydreamer..... 


.... written for children. 


I'm reading William Boyd Ordinary Thunderstorms, bought at the train station...


----------



## spliff (Jul 2, 2010)

I read 'Oscar Wilde,' by Richard Ellmann about 10-15 years ago and concur it is a very well written book. 
Probably worth a re-read on my part but I've got a backlog of stuff I need to get through. 
I've just searched the bookshelves and found it filed between '120 days of Sodom' and a bunch of Kathy Lette stuff. 
Must be the wife's doing, I file by colour and size. 

I'm reading a biography of Alexis Korner atm.


----------



## nicksonic (Jul 2, 2010)

quimcunx said:


> What did you think?   I hated it.  Although I did finish it.  I've come to the conclusion the only one of his books I'll ever like is The Daydreamer.....
> 
> 
> .... written for children.



i'm glad you asked since i finished it a couple of weeks ago and had failed to post my thoughts.

i enjoy his writing style, i find myself reading sentences and really savouring them. however he does have a tendency for focusing on the minutae of situations, the most extreme example probably being 'saturday'. i liked that but i can understand why many wouldn't.

with regard to 'the child in time', i thought it was ok - an interesting premise - but quite fantastical with a slightly ridiculous ending. i'll read more mcewan, most of his efforts are sub-300 pages so don't take long.

you didn't like 'atonement' then? i loved that.

about to finish - 'duma key' by stephen king. on page 650 with 50 to go and it's probably the weakest of his i've encountered unfortunately. there's glowing praise from 'the co-creator of lost' on the back cover so i should've known really  

hugely looking forward to starting 'the age of wonder' by richard holmes, a history of science in the enlightenment.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 2, 2010)

Guy Gavriel Kay - Ysabel

Wonderfully weird, and strangely gripping. He's got a great line in combining the fantastic and the mundane.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jul 2, 2010)

Richard Laymon - The Beast House Trilogy


----------



## marshall (Jul 4, 2010)

marty21 said:


> Guillermo Del Toro/ Chuck Hogan - The Strain
> 
> vampire/epidemic genre (is that a genre?) enjoying it , although it started a but slow.



I really enjoyed that! In a similar vein - groan - anyone else read the much-hyped 'The Passage', Justin Cronin, yet? 

800 pages, but finished in a matter of days, real page-turner.


----------



## Bakunin (Jul 4, 2010)

Diary Of A Hangman - John Ellis.

A personal account of Ellis's 23 year career as a public executioner (1901-1924) during which he hanged some of the most prominent and notorious felons of the time. His victims included Dr. Crippen, Sir Roger Casement, the 'Brides In The Bath' murderer George Smith, Edith Thompson and a host of others, totalling 203 victims in all.

On retiring after hanging Edith Thompson, Ellis's fortunes took a severe turn for the worse. He took to a serious alcohol habit and eventually attempted suicide a couple of times before finally cutting his own throat with a razor.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 4, 2010)

Just finished Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh, next up is Drown by Junot Diaz.


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Jul 4, 2010)

"The Island Of Lost Maps - A True Story of Cartographic Crime" by Miles Harvey. Actually I've not started it yet but it looked interesting when I saw it in the library.

Also "The Savage Detectives" by Roberto Bolaño, which so far has a lot more shagging in it than i had expected.


----------



## Corax (Jul 5, 2010)

Neil Gaiman's _American Gods_

Took around 100 pages to get me properly interested, but now it's got me hooked.

An interesting mix of ancient mythology and contemporary grit.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Jul 5, 2010)

James Herbert - The Dark

He's a much better writer than I was led to believe.  I had heard that he was a hack, but I can't see it myself.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jul 5, 2010)

FridgeMagnet said:


> "The Island Of Lost Maps - A True Story of Cartographic Crime" by Miles Harvey. Actually I've not started it yet but it looked interesting when I saw it in the library.
> 
> Also "The Savage Detectives" by Roberto Bolaño, which so far has a lot more shagging in it than i had expected.


the first one did look interesting when i read some of it. be interested to know what you think if/when you start it.


----------



## idioteque (Jul 5, 2010)

Just about to start reading The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland.


----------



## nicksonic (Jul 6, 2010)

urb said:


> James Herbert - The Dark
> 
> He's a much better writer than I was led to believe.  I had heard that he was a hack, but I can't see it myself.



'the dark' is great from what i remember, i recall a letter being sent to my parents by my school since they didn't think it was appropriate reading material for a 12 year old  

'sepulchre' is also good, his most recent stuff is awful though.


----------



## marty21 (Jul 6, 2010)

idioteque said:


> Just about to start reading The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland.



read that a few weeks ago, really enjoyed it

currently reading 

'With the Old Breed'   E B Sledge  

 WW2 Marine memoir, one of the books they based the recent 'Pacific' mini-series


----------



## belboid (Jul 6, 2010)

belboid said:


> Now starting David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, about which I know absolutely nothing.



very good indeed.  probably.

Clearly a magnificent stylist, with a love of the beauty of language and its intricacies and vagaries.   I'm not really sure he gave a toss about any of his characters tho.  

A booky Coen Brothers


Now torn between one of a selection of short stories:  W Somerset Maugham, Doris Lessing, or Katherine Mansfield


----------



## el topo (Jul 7, 2010)

All three have some really interesting short stories. I'd vote for Maugham though, simply because he offers more variety, and is interesting from a writing point of view.


Mason & Dixon - Pynchon. The man knows how to make the brain work, that's for sure.


----------



## nicksonic (Jul 7, 2010)

el topo said:


> Mason & Dixon - Pynchon. The man knows how to make the brain work, that's for sure.



another i have on my bookshelf to read, i think i probably need to in the 'right' frame of mind to start it.


----------



## el topo (Jul 8, 2010)

Yup, Pynchon requires concentration and persistence, so right frame of mind is a must. Have you read anything else of his?


----------



## nicksonic (Jul 8, 2010)

el topo said:


> Yup, Pynchon requires concentration and persistence, so right frame of mind is a must. Have you read anything else of his?



i have 'V' and read about the first 10 pages, but again didn't think i was sufficiently adjusted to see it through.

the time may well be approaching to have a proper go at it...


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 8, 2010)

Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese Model, Vol.1 by Stephen Heder.


----------



## i-am-your-idea (Jul 9, 2010)

i read the bell jar. thanks urban for recommending it. it was brilliant!


----------



## Dr_Herbz (Jul 9, 2010)

Rogers profanasaurus... it's a right riveting read!!!


----------



## el topo (Jul 9, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> i have 'V' and read about the first 10 pages, but again didn't think i was sufficiently adjusted to see it through.
> 
> the time may well be approaching to have a proper go at it...



When/if you decide to, yell, I may join in; support in the form of a fellow reader may be a good thing.


----------



## nicksonic (Jul 9, 2010)

el topo said:


> When/if you decide to, yell, I may join in; support in the form of a fellow reader may be a good thing.



it's a when not if situation so i'll give you plenty of notice


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 9, 2010)

Another long overdue for reading.

Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 9, 2010)

Finished Inklings- a really fascinating look at the writers. Most unlikable of all was CS Lewis although to a certain degree they all came off as unlikable upper class shits obsessed with thier own versions of piety while safely ensconced in upper academia.

Nan is sending me a science fiction book she found. Dunno what it is


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 9, 2010)

charles burns - black hole
i've only read the first page, but i had a flick through and the drawings are wicked.
interesting subject matter. i don't read many graphic novels but this looks up my street


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 10, 2010)

Just finished Mieville's "The Scar" wgich I really, really enjoyed.

Not sure now - I think it will be one of my charity shop bargains so either Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher", "Child 44" (Tom Rob someone?), Rushdie's "The Enchantress of Florence" or Iain M. Banks' "The State of The Art".

Probably go for Stephen King as a fancy a good, involving but not too difficult read


----------



## nicksonic (Jul 10, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Just finished Mieville's "The Scar" wgich I really, really enjoyed.
> 
> Not sure now - I think it will be one of my charity shop bargains so either Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher", "Child 44" (Tom Rob someone?), Rushdie's "The Enchantress of Florence" or Iain M. Banks' "The State of The Art".
> 
> Probably go for Stephen King as a fancy a good, involving but not too difficult read



i really enjoyed 'dreamcatcher' although the film was absolutely atrocious.


----------



## kittyP (Jul 10, 2010)

urb said:


> James Herbert - The Dark
> 
> He's a much better writer than I was led to believe.  I had heard that he was a hack, but I can't see it myself.



I have a big soft spot for James Hebert.

Some of his books are really cheesy but some are brilliant. 

The fog is an excellent read and so so far removed from the film that I can't belive that they actually stated they had based it on it.
It's much more 28 days later.


----------



## kittyP (Jul 10, 2010)

nicksonic said:


> 'the dark' is great from what i remember, i recall a letter being sent to my parents by my school since they didn't think it was appropriate reading material for a 12 year old
> 
> 'sepulchre' is also good, his most recent stuff is awful though.



Oh I loved Once but in a outlet self indulgent way though so I understand why you may not have liked it.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jul 10, 2010)

I am reading They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple. I've read one Whipple book before and it gave a really insightful look at women and how they form relationships. This one looks set along the same lines bt enjoyably so. Plainly written but that's very much welcomed at the moment.


----------



## Pinette (Jul 10, 2010)

I have been reading Simon Grey's diaries and I urge any of you out there who love honesty, irony, bravery and humour to go out and buy them pronto .....


----------



## Shevek (Jul 11, 2010)

I am currently about 2/3 of the way through The Philosophy of Samuel Beckett by John Calder which I got out of my local university library. 

It really is a fascinating read. Beckett was a genius and his work is so rich it is like a lesson in philosophy and theology. I am learning loads and it is posing lots more questions than answers. Very good book


----------



## Shevek (Jul 11, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> Finished Inklings- a really fascinating look at the writers. Most unlikable of all was CS Lewis although to a certain degree they all came off as unlikable upper class shits obsessed with thier own versions of piety while safely ensconced in upper academia.
> 
> Nan is sending me a science fiction book she found. Dunno what it is



lololol you always making me laugh dot com


----------



## Greenfish (Jul 11, 2010)

fierce dancing by c.j stone. it's okay.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jul 11, 2010)

No fiction for me atm (although need to re-read Percival Everett's _American Desert_ this week). Just started reading _Distinction_ by Pierre Bourdieu. He's the dude


----------



## Shevek (Jul 12, 2010)

finished the Samuel Beckett book now reading What I Mean When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami which I got out from the new central library in Manchester.


----------



## jlasserton (Jul 12, 2010)

I am currently reading "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave. It is such an amazing book. It is a novel, but the writing makes you feel like the story is actually true. I highly recommend picking up a copy.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 12, 2010)

Terry Brooks. Some shannara druid thing. He cannot write. Or have an original thought.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 13, 2010)

PD James - The Black Tower


----------



## Urbanblues (Jul 13, 2010)

'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' - Hunter S Thompson.


----------



## i_got_poison (Jul 14, 2010)

i've ordered 'the hellbound heart' by clive barker. i find whenever i'm compelled to read clive barker it's because i want inspiring. that or comfort in the familar.
i don't know which.


----------



## Shevek (Jul 14, 2010)

reading Emile by Jean Jacque Rousseau. Finished reading What I Talk About When I Talk About Running which is halfly about long distance running and partly about the creativity involved in writing.

Murakami's ideas on writing are very interesting psychological theories. There seems to be a lot of mysticism around writing  but Murakami's ideas reminded me of some of the descriptions of poets and madmen in Kay Radfield Jamieson's Touched by Fire. He describes creativity as a poison and that is why he runs. 

Overall a very interesting and touching book.


----------



## Kid A (Jul 15, 2010)

Interesting. I'm looking forward to reading it. 

Currently reading Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks. Anyone else like the Culture novels? I'm not that into this kind of sci-fi but I think they're brilliant.


----------



## fractionMan (Jul 15, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> Terry Brooks. Some shannara druid thing. He cannot write. Or have an original thought.



stop reading it then


----------



## fractionMan (Jul 15, 2010)

Kid A said:


> Interesting. I'm looking forward to reading it.
> 
> Currently reading Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks. Anyone else like the Culture novels? I'm not that into this kind of sci-fi but I think they're brilliant.



I love em


----------



## fractionMan (Jul 15, 2010)

Greenfish said:


> fierce dancing by c.j stone. it's okay.



I just read the last of the hippies and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Also discovered I was picking litter out of the mud the year he was there and he really isn't exagerating about the vegan slop they fed us.  beans on toast for breakfast, beans on toast for lunch followed by beans in watery stew with brown rice for dinner.  5 days solid.  fucking horrible.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 15, 2010)

Kid A said:


> Interesting. I'm looking forward to reading it.
> 
> Currently reading Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks. Anyone else like the Culture novels? I'm not that into this kind of sci-fi but I think they're brilliant.



I think that is my favourite Iain M. Banks of the one's I have read


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 15, 2010)

Having read every single one I still rate Look to Windward as his finest piece of work. It has a poignancy the others do not.

For sheer coolness I rate Excession.


----------



## fractionMan (Jul 15, 2010)

I loved the player of games most, but that could be because it was the first one I read.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 15, 2010)

I love all the Ian and Ian M Banks books. The few that I didn't like on first reading have all become favourites on re-reading.

Currently on Irvine Welsh, The Acid House. Some of the shorts are brilliant, some are utter crap, just started the novella.


----------



## CosmikRoger (Jul 16, 2010)

HG Wells, The War of the Worlds
Good stuff


----------



## mentalchik (Jul 17, 2010)

The Night Watch -Sergei Lukyanenko


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jul 17, 2010)

The London Monster by Jan Bondeson.
I pretty much agree with the crit in the link below.

www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=164874&sectioncode=22


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 17, 2010)

Mrs Magpie said:


> The London Monster by Jan Bondeson.
> I pretty much agree with the crit in the link below.
> 
> www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=164874&sectioncode=22



I have heard Jan Bondeson speak at a couple of Fortean Times conferences, he is an interesting speaker and this book sounds like the sort of thing he specialises in (medical and other curiositries for instance) however i can quite understand then tone being a little gratuitous, as is edin the review, as much as I really enjoy the Fortean Times it does fall somewhere above the lurid but below the academic iyswim.


----------



## Kid A (Jul 17, 2010)

Glad there are some Banks fans around  Gotta say Inversions is my favourite Culture novel of the few I've read. The State of the Art was fantastic as well. Consider Phlebas was not so good, it was a bit like watching an alright-but-nothing-special film, like Serenity or something.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 17, 2010)

Inversions is very, very subtle. Not my favourite though but almost non-m with its treatment of subject.


----------



## andy2002 (Jul 18, 2010)

I'm a few chapters into Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry. It's a trashy zombie novel with an annoying smartass Yank protagonist. I'll be surprised if I make it to the end...


----------



## audiotech (Jul 18, 2010)

Re-reading _Gramsci's Politics_ by Anne Showstack Sassoon and _Marx Before Marxism_ by David McLellan


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 18, 2010)

Making Revolution: The Insurgency of the Communist Party of Thailand in Structural Perspective by Tom Marks.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jul 18, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I have heard Jan Bondeson speak at a couple of Fortean Times conferences, he is an interesting speaker and this book sounds like the sort of thing he specialises in (medical and other curiositries for instance) however i can quite understand then tone being a little gratuitous, as is edin the review, as much as I really enjoy the Fortean Times it does fall somewhere above the lurid but below the academic iyswim.



All the same, as someone who has a large collection of London-themed books because it's where I was born and brought up and have lived in for nearly all my life* it's an extremely interesting story. There's just the odd moment when I think hmmm, this really is a bit over the top. The research is good, but he does twiddle about a bit with some comments he makes.





*bar 1 year in Brighton when I lived with my granny and great-granny as a baby and 2 years in and around Wales.


----------



## Bakunin (Jul 18, 2010)

Bomber - Len Deighton.

A fictional account of a British saturation bombing raid on the Ruhr (heart of German industry and known to Allied aircrew, by no means fondly, as 'Happy Valley'), it's a book I've read a few times but have always enjoyed. It doesn't pull its punches in any respect.


----------



## toblerone3 (Jul 18, 2010)

Philip Dick - Confessions of a Crap Artist.  Philip Dick is mainly famous as a Sci Fi writer and author of Blade Runner and Minority Report. This is one of his very few published novels which is not in this vein. Its a story of autism in California in the late 1950s. At least one of the major narrators is autistic. He is obsessed with collecting rocks and a local UFO group which is predicting the end of the world as well as his sister having an affair and the end of her marriage.


----------



## belboid (Jul 21, 2010)

Started _The Girl Who Played With Fire_ yesterday, and am already a quarter of the way through it. Another rip-roaring read, unsurprisingly, and we've only just got onto what is the (ostensible) main plot.

Surprised at how Lisbeth starts off in this one, I wouldn't have expected her to do that.  Or that.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 21, 2010)

Ireland Since The Famine by some bloke called Lyons. It is good, if a little dry. Might skip ahead to the details of violence.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jul 22, 2010)

Finished Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann, it was very moving,  incredibly detailed, with amazing photographs and a very long and extensive bibliography, footnotes, epilogue, and even an appendix which is his lecture on art, offering a detailed account of his speaking manner of accenting and pausing. The symbols would be hard to work out (and probably unnecessary!).

the biography itself was a masterpiece. I feel quite shaken after reading it.

now ive started Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. On page 12 and enjoying it so far


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 22, 2010)

Last two:
Terry Pratchett - Thud
Greg Bear - Vitals

Now on Paul Davies - Other Worlds.

Taking me back to where quantum physics had got to when I left IC before I take a crack at getting up to date again.


----------



## pennimania (Jul 22, 2010)

Malevil Robert Merle

I am still on my apocalyptic novel jag

I have been wanting to read this for an eternity and finally got a copy while in France - so am ploughing through it with much dictionary use. It's surprisingly funny and much better than a lot of the tosh I've read lately.

And it is taking me much longer to read - which is very good.


----------



## chooch (Jul 23, 2010)

cursed said:


> ' The Winner Stands Alone ' by Paulo Coelho ..Wonderful insight into the world of glitz and glamour...


Did you not find your enjoyment dampened by the sure and certain knowledge that he's an utter tool?

Recently good:

Wells Tower -_Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned_ 
Slawomir Mrozek -_ The Elephant_

Recently meh:
Gary Shteyngart _Absurdistan_


----------



## Shevek (Jul 24, 2010)

Reading 4 books at the moment

1) In the Palm of Your Hand - The Poet's Portable Workshop by Steve Kowit

2)How I Write - The Secret Lives of Authors edited by Dan Crowe

3) Propa Propaganda - By Benjamin Zephaniah (poetry)

4) Writing Poetry - creative and critical approaches by Chad Davidson and Gregory Fraser

The Benjamin Zephaniah book I bought from Waterstones, all the rest are from the library.


----------



## Spion (Jul 24, 2010)

The Fermata by Nicholson Baker.


----------



## chooch (Jul 24, 2010)

And now:

Yevgeny Zamyatin - _We_; early soviet-era dystopia; 

and

Witold Gombrowicz - _Bacacay_; short stories.


----------



## phildwyer (Jul 24, 2010)

Just finished _The Book of Dave_ by Will Self.  Halfway through _The Enchantress of Florence _ by Salman Rushdie.  Both good ideas that work for 100 or so pages and then get repetitive.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 24, 2010)

Jesus this Terry Brooks book is awful, absolute trash. Its like it is aimed at 3 year olds. I'm sacking it off and going back to my irish history text. What a fucking hack that Brooks is. No effort, no flair and no plot.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jul 25, 2010)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. £1 in a charity shop. 

Nearly finished. It's pretty good, I've never read any of Thompsons books before.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 25, 2010)

Try Kingdom of Fear, one of his last as I recall. You may also enjoy his writing on the Hells Angels


----------



## revol68 (Jul 25, 2010)

"Caliban and The Witch" Silvia Federici

A very excellent analysis of the Witch Trials of the 16th century and the crushing of the heretical and peasant movements just preceding them.


----------



## belboid (Jul 25, 2010)

belboid said:


> Started _The Girl Who Played With Fire_ yesterday, and am already a quarter of the way through it. Another rip-roaring read, unsurprisingly, and we've only just got onto what is the (ostensible) main plot.


 
damn that was good!  now, how long can i manage to hold off before starting the next one?


----------



## D'wards (Jul 25, 2010)

Just started Eon by Greg Bear.

Ages since i read a good Sci Fi yarn, and have never read any Greag Bear before, tho have read loads of Arthur C and the styles/themes seem quite similar


----------



## belboid (Jul 25, 2010)

Well, lasted two hours...


----------



## madzone (Jul 26, 2010)

I'm reading, 'F**k It - the ultimate spiritual way by John Parkin. It's ace 


http://www.amazon.co.uk/F-k-Ultimat...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280133936&sr=8-1


----------



## live_jayeola (Jul 26, 2010)

"Shantaram" Gregory David Roberts

Good read but a bit too much detail for me. They really needed an editor for this book


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 26, 2010)

Colons and Coolies - Margaret Slocomb


----------



## goldenecitrone (Jul 26, 2010)

Just finished the Enigma of Capital by Harvey. Some interesting stuff but a fairytale ending. Now reading Among the Believers by Sir Vidia Naipaul. Never fully grasped what kind of a country Pakistan is. Or was thirty years ago. Also good on post revolutionary Iran.


----------



## Ron Merlin (Jul 27, 2010)

chooch said:


> And now:
> 
> Yevgeny Zamyatin - _We_; early soviet-era dystopia



Ooo, that's on my wish list. How are you finding it so far?

Am still on Oblomov by Goncharev. He's just heard Olga sing, was moved to tears and declared his love for her. He then grabbed his hat and ran out of the room! Lovely scene.


----------



## chooch (Jul 28, 2010)

Ron Merlin said:


> Ooo, _We_ is on my wish list. How are you finding it so far?


Finished it now. Yes. I liked it, though it's very difficult to get through without seeing _1984_ and _Brave New World_ all over the place, and a good chunk of 30s, 50s and 70s cinema. 

It's well worth reading. Doesn't 100% work, but then it was pretty bold stuff for the time.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 28, 2010)

Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie

I'm rooting for the Incas to stick it to those Spanish bastards.  I'm not very optimistic about it though


----------



## Ron Merlin (Jul 28, 2010)

chooch said:


> Finished it now. Yes. I liked it, though it's very difficult to get through without seeing _1984_ and _Brave New World_ all over the place, and a good chunk of 30s, 50s and 70s cinema.
> 
> It's well worth reading. Doesn't 100% work, but then it was pretty bold stuff for the time.



Ta for that  Sounds a good'un. Won't be getting it for a while, though - so many books sitting here nagging me. Really must have a go at Zola's Germinal first.


----------



## stethoscope (Jul 28, 2010)

Derek Wall - Babylon and Beyond


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 28, 2010)

Just finished Ian Rankin's Doors Open, which is a neat enough yarn. Now on to another Elmore Leonard, Bandits, which is criminals and contras in New Orleans. And undertakers and nuns.


----------



## starfish (Jul 28, 2010)

Shotgun by Ed McBain, another 87th Precinct novel. Need something short & snappy after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which, although, i thought was very good, it did drag on a bit.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jul 29, 2010)

Bandits was brilliant.

Next up is Distress by Greg Egan. Plus a certain amount of panic induced by the possibility of running out of new books to read.


----------



## no-no (Jul 29, 2010)

the dispossed - ursula leguin.

Not bad, a bit of an anarchists primer for me. Will def read more of her stuff


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 29, 2010)

I've got two history books on the go. Powering through the last few chapters of a book on the Reformation that I started ages ago and never finished. Battling through a dense but informative history of Ireland since the Famine.

For light relief I am getting much lulz from re-reading the Magna Farta Proffanisaurus.


----------



## Shevek (Jul 29, 2010)

Some books on Japan, Japanese Culture and Literature and 2 ethnographies, Born and Bred by Jeanette Edwards and The Traveller Gypsies by Judith Okeley


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 30, 2010)

Dipping into "The Best British Mysteries 2005" (£1.00 from a charity shop ) which has short stories by Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, Mark Billigham and others.

Also got Mieville's "The City and the City" from the library to talk on the Eurostar with me


----------



## andy2002 (Jul 30, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Also got Mieville's "The City and the City" from the library to talk on the Eurostar with me



I admired *The City and The City* more than I liked it - it's very evocative and really pulls you into its world, but I found the characters and plot a bit uninvolving.

It's infinitely better than the book I've just finished though - *Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry*. It's a zombie novel with a reasonably clever, modern twist but the characters are all '80s action movie stereotypes and too much of it reads like someone describing a shoot-'em-up video game. 

*Guillermo del Toro's The Strain* is next, which is either about vampires or a difficult bowel movement.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 30, 2010)

the characters and plot aren't the point in meivilles work. Although he can do them well the real character is his city fantastic, his other london/urban space. EVERY book he has written details strange and baroque cityscapes.


----------



## AndyFilo (Jul 30, 2010)

I started reading David Mitchell - Ghostwritten yesterday having just finished John Boyne - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.


----------



## andy2002 (Jul 30, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> the characters and plot aren't the point in meivilles work. Although he can do them well the real character is his city fantastic, his other london/urban space. EVERY book he has written details strange and baroque cityscapes.


 
I get that totally - unfortunately, it's the characters and plot I'm most interested in so maybe Mieville isn't a great fit for me.

That said, I have Kraken and Perdido Street Station, too, so maybe I'll become more used to his style once I've ploughed through them.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Jul 30, 2010)

Just started _Ticktock_ by Dean Koontz, so far so good.


----------



## Motown_ben (Aug 2, 2010)

andy2002 said:


> I admired *The City and The City* more than I liked it - it's very evocative and really pulls you into its world, but I found the characters and plot a bit uninvolving.
> 
> It's infinitely better than the book I've just finished though - *Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry*. It's a zombie novel with a reasonably clever, modern twist but the characters are all '80s action movie stereotypes and too much of it reads like someone describing a shoot-'em-up video game.
> 
> *Guillermo del Toro's The Strain* is next, which is either about vampires or a difficult bowel movement.



Ive just finished reading "the strain" actually. Its deinately about vampires and not shitting lol. Not a great book by any standards but its entertaining in a flim flam kinda way and not taxing in the least.


----------



## andy2002 (Aug 2, 2010)

Motown_ben said:


> Ive just finished reading "the strain" actually. Its deinately about vampires and not shitting lol. Not a great book by any standards but its entertaining in a flim flam kinda way and not taxing in the least.


 
I'm only about 50 pages in but am enjoying The Strain so far - very nice, tense build up before all hells breaks loose I suspect.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 2, 2010)

Harare North by Brian Chikwava. Zanu PF type ends up in Brixton squat living the life of an illegal.


----------



## marty21 (Aug 2, 2010)

almost finished 'With the Old Breed' -  E B Sledge - a marine memoir from the pacific campaign in WW2, very good (it was one of the source novels for the recent telly series 'Pacific'.

just started ' Matterhorn' - Karl Marlantes - epic Vietnam war novel , took him 30 years to write - supposed to be a classic, I've read a lot of vietnam war history/fiction, so will be interested to see how it compares to other classics of the period.


----------



## Motown_ben (Aug 3, 2010)

Im just starting The Buddah of Suburbia, Only about 10 / 12 pages in. Very funny so far. I vaugely remember seeing bits of it on TV years and years ago but cant really remember what happens in it.


----------



## Urbanblues (Aug 4, 2010)

'The Belly of Paris' Emile Zola

Selected Poems of Federico García Lorca


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 4, 2010)

Ian Rankin - Bleeding Hearts

A thriller written mostly from the POV of a hitman, which is a nice change.

Now starting another PD James, A Taste For Murder.


----------



## audiotech (Aug 4, 2010)

The Tolpuddle Martyrs - Joyce Marlow.

William Cobbett asked a labourer:

'How do you live upon half a crown a week?'
'I don't live upon it, said he.'
'How do you live then?'
'Why' said he, 'I poach, it is better to be hanged than to be starved to death.'


----------



## starfish (Aug 4, 2010)

One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night by Christopher Brookmyre.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Aug 4, 2010)

Have recently read The Afternoon Men by Anthony Powell, which was shite, Black Mischief, which is E Waugh's worst book, and The Great War & Modern Memory by Paul Fussell, which is a beautiful piece of work, even if some of it no longer really holds.

Now it's The Assistant by Robert Walser.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 7, 2010)

Just started The Road


----------



## chooch (Aug 9, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Have recently read The Afternoon Men by Anthony Powell, which was shite,


You still plodding through those? Why, man? Why?



> Now it's The Assistant by Robert Walser.


Interesting. Know nothing about him. 

Me: some short stories by James Lasdun, which I don't rate so far, and the last Simon Louvish Avram Blok book, picked up for all of fuck all.


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 9, 2010)

Just finished another Patrick O'Brian, Desolation Island. Just started Reef by Romesh Gunesekera.


----------



## stupid dogbot (Aug 9, 2010)

Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian Esslemont


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 9, 2010)

better than Night of Knives


----------



## stupid dogbot (Aug 9, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> better than Night of Knives



Which was pretty good in itself. Too early to judge so far, but I was good n confused by its setting until I worked out the timeline.

Just finished Dust of Dreams, too - boy, he can pack a LOT into the last 100 pages of a book!


----------



## madzone (Aug 9, 2010)

Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 9, 2010)

SWEEET you'll enjoy that, although his writing is markedly better by the next book the sheer fission of ideas and twisten on its head fantasy darkness works so well, even with that first.

Oh and Dogbot, Erikson HIMSELF told me that he has read Camerons latest entry to the Malazan world and he thought it good.

So there will be more Cameron penned esselmont coolness at some point! We hope! you know how sometimes publishers promise books and they never get published, but if Erikson recons it is worth the time it will surely be so? I took some Paul J=Kearney maratime fantasy on the recc quote he gave for the front of the book and that was ace. Plus he knows the World and knows where Cam will have placed the coolness in.

I'm still reading dour Irish history books but I have been promised Dust of Dreams as payment for doing a weeks dogsitting.


----------



## madzone (Aug 9, 2010)

Yeah, I figured I may as well give in. I'm liking it so far. I'm just amazed he can hold that whole place in his head.


----------



## stupid dogbot (Aug 10, 2010)

madzone said:


> Yeah, I figured I may as well give in. I'm liking it so far. I'm just amazed he can hold that whole place in his head.


 
That's a good start - my copy's been to two people who've given up a few chapters in because it didn't coddle them enough and ease them in.

Don't do that - it's worth it. The boy can write an epic...

DC...  And *jealous*, naturally.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Aug 10, 2010)

A Pirate Of Exquisite Mind: The life of William Dampier, Explorer, Naturalist and Buccaneer by Diana & Michael Preston
I shall then move onto the ships log of Francis Drake which looks amazing. Can't remember who edited it.


----------



## Blagsta (Aug 10, 2010)

Just finished Paul Mason's "Live Working or Die Fighting" and am now reading his "Meltdown - the end of the age of greed".


----------



## madzone (Aug 10, 2010)

stupid dogbot said:


> That's a good start - my copy's been to two people who've given up a few chapters in because it didn't coddle them enough and ease them in.
> 
> Don't do that - it's worth it. The boy can write an epic...
> 
> DC...  And *jealous*, naturally.



I have to finish it - he knows I'm reading it


----------



## stupid dogbot (Aug 10, 2010)

It's worth it.

Personally, I'm a bit worried about Fiddler.


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Aug 10, 2010)

2 peter watts books - starfish (easy read, this far...) and blindsight.  From a dotcommie reccomendation on a thread ages ago, found both books have been put on a creative commons liscence and are free to download here...

http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm

Blindsight is a bit heavy going - try starfish and its sequels first.  Annoyingly for me, though good for the planet, I have no printer. This means I can only read these from my laptop - not as easy as I thought it would be, a real strain on the eyes.  Anyway, I can't say it nearly as well as others already have, so here are some quotes and shit about the books...

Blindsight


> Two months have past since a myriad of alien objects clenched about the Earth, screaming as they burned. The heavens have been silent since until a derelict space probe hears whispers from a distant comet. Something talks out there: but not to us.Who should we send to meet the alien, when the alien doesn't want to meet?Send a linguist with multiple - personality disorder and a biologist so spliced with machinery that he can't feel his own flesh. Send a pacifist warrior and a vampire recalled from the grave by the voodoo of paleogenetics. Send a man with half his mind gone since childhood. Send them to edge of the solar system, praying you can trust such freaks and monsters with the fate of a world. You fear they may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find - but you'd give anything for that to be true, if you knew what was waiting for them...



Starfish


> So when civilization needs someone to run generating stations three kilometres below the surface of the Pacific, it seeks out a special sort of person for its Rifters program. It recruits those whose histories have pre-adapted them to dangerous environments, people so used to broken bodies and chronic stress that life on the edge of an undersea volcano would actually be a step up. Nobody worries too much about job satisfaction; if you haven't spent a lifetime learning the futility of fighting back, you wouldn't be a rifter in the first place. It's a small price to keep the lights going, back on shore.But there are things among the cliffs and trenches of the Juan de Fuca Ridge that no one expected to find, and enough pressure can forge the most obedient career-victim into something made of iron. At first, not even the rifters know what they have in them - and by the time anyone else finds out, the outcast and the downtrodden have their hands on a kill switch for the whole damn planet.



Quote about Watts


> "Whenever I find my will to live becoming too strong, I read Peter Watts."


----------



## andy2002 (Aug 10, 2010)

Just started a book of Neil Gaiman short stories, called Fragile Things - there's a Sherlock Holmes/HP Lovecraft crossover in there called 'A Study In Emerald' that's just brilliant.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 10, 2010)

I just picked up a book of Neil Gaiman short stories, called M is for Magic


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 10, 2010)

Jon-of-arc said:


> 2 peter watts books - starfish (easy read, this far...) and blindsight.  From a dotcommie reccomendation on a thread ages ago, found both books have been put on a creative commons liscence and are free to download here...
> 
> http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm
> 
> ...


 
Blindsight is ace.


----------



## Idris2002 (Aug 10, 2010)

The Flounder by Gunter Grass. 

A retelling of relations between men and women since prehistory, as they have been influenced by the dubious machinations of a magic, talking flatfish. 

Look it's better than it sounds.


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 11, 2010)

Just sprinted through Charlie Stross's The Fuller Memorandum, which is the most entertaining book I've read all year. He's still getting better.

Now on to Transitions by Iain Banks, which has started very promisingly.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 11, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> Just sprinted through *Charlie Stross's The Fuller Memorandum*, which is the most entertaining book I've read all year. He's still getting better.
> 
> Now on to Transitions by Iain Banks, which has started very promisingly.


 
I am quite tempted by this, never heard of him until I saw a small review, coinciding with the paperback release I presume, in the paper this weekend.


----------



## stethoscope (Aug 11, 2010)

Henry Mayhew - London Labour and the London Poor.


----------



## Red Paul (Aug 11, 2010)

A short walk in the Hindu Kush


----------



## Thraex (Aug 11, 2010)

The Poet's Wife - Judith Allnatt. Based on the poet John Clare's wife (novel).


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 13, 2010)

YESSSS Dust of Dreams just turned up. Starts with an apology from Steven Erikson that the book isn't novel structured and really should have been all one book but 'you've stuck with me this far, right?' 

long journey as well. From pentonville library to todays latest amazon ordered doorstop of a tome. I'm going to tuck into it after I've done the kitchen cleaning


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 13, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I am quite tempted by this, never heard of him until I saw a small review, coinciding with the paperback release I presume, in the paper this weekend.


 
Stross is a great author- I think he works better in shorts (as do many sci fi writers). If you look online his Accelerando novel is free to read under creative commons. It is cobbled together from half a dozen shorts but still works.


Also try the wonderfully paranoiac Glasshouse. I think you have to pay cash money for that though.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Aug 13, 2010)

"Michael Foot: A life" - _Kenneth O. Morgan_


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 14, 2010)

I follow Saint Patrick, by Oliver Gogarty. It from 1938 and is 'a colourful and scholarly narrative about one of the most brilliant and accomplished Irishmen of our time. All the places where St Patrick dwelt and all the roads he followed in his wanderings have been visited and surveyed by Dr Gogarty from land and air.' Its full of maps and topograpy.


----------



## Lakina (Aug 14, 2010)

just finished candice


----------



## stethoscope (Aug 14, 2010)

Nicholas Saunders - Ecstasy and the Dance Culture

I thought my copy of this was long lost, but parents found it during a tidy up in their loft a few months back. A bit battered, but great to read it again.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Aug 14, 2010)

nearly finished 





it's blindin, a real saga


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 14, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> Stross is a great author- I think he works better in shorts (as do many sci fi writers). If you look online his Accelerando novel is free to read under creative commons. It is cobbled together from half a dozen shorts but still works.
> 
> 
> Also try the wonderfully paranoiac Glasshouse. I think you have to pay cash money for that though.



Cheers dotty - will look into that, Has a scout round the library this morning but they didn't seem to have owt by him, however, the library in the Head don't always seem sure whwre to put sci-fi/fantasy books unless they have spaceships on the cover

Came away with "Cryptonomicon" (from the General Fiction section) because I've never read any Neal Stephenson and also I saw it for £2.00 in a charity shop in Scarborough earlier this week but for some reason couldn't be arsed to break into a tenner to buy it 

Just finished "The City and the City" which I really, really enjoyed but just did my imagination in trying to visualise what it might be life to live in Beszel  or Ul Qomo, plus walking along Baker Street attempting to "unsee" is possibly dangerous Hopefully be ordering "Iron Council" from amazon soon, or the library if my finances are a bit stretched!


----------



## tastebud (Aug 14, 2010)

am reading geoff dyer 'the colour of memory' and completely love it. all brixtonians should read it.
have been going through a non fiction phase over the last few months, and am glad to now also be back in the land of fiction.
picked up 'brave new world' by huxley this morn at a mate's, and started reading that also - think i will return to it every time i go visit.


----------



## Illyrian (Aug 15, 2010)

The E-Myth by Michael Gerber


----------



## Bajie (Aug 15, 2010)

Just finished V for Vendetta, it has been sitting on my book shelf for 15 years after someone gave it to me and I never read it until now, I had no idea how good it is.


----------



## goldenecitrone (Aug 15, 2010)

India, a million mutinies now - VS Naipaul. Comparing it to Theroux's descriptions of the country.


----------



## chooch (Aug 16, 2010)

Raymond Queneau - _Exercises in Style_


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 16, 2010)

Decided "Cryptonomicon" was a bit daunting for the moment so have started Matthew Pearl's "The Poe Shadow" instead.


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 16, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I am quite tempted by this, never heard of him until I saw a small review, coinciding with the paperback release I presume, in the paper this weekend.


 
Don't start with that one. It's a follow up to The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue, and whilst you don't have to have read the others to follow it, there's a lovely build up through the three books that deserves savouring.


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 16, 2010)

Transitions was brilliant. Banks at his best. Now reading another Len Deighton, An Expensive Place To Die.


----------



## stupid dogbot (Aug 17, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> YESSSS Dust of Dreams just turned up. Starts with an apology from Steven Erikson that the book isn't novel structured and really should have been all one book but 'you've stuck with me this far, right?'
> 
> long journey as well. From pentonville library to todays latest amazon ordered doorstop of a tome. I'm going to tuck into it after I've done the kitchen cleaning


 
In spite of his warnings, I really quite enjoyed it. He had me guessing most of the way, and then blindsided me.


----------



## marty21 (Aug 17, 2010)

still reading 'Matterhorn' - Karl Malantes - it's an epic book, 'nam and all that - utterly brilliant, and I've read most of the major 'nam novels - this one ranks as one of the best ,  (based on about half the book being read so far)


----------



## Gingerman (Aug 17, 2010)

1848: Year of Revolution by Mike Rapport


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 17, 2010)

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson has arrived but must wait till I have finished dust of dreams


----------



## xenon (Aug 17, 2010)

Just finished The Reality Disfunction - Peter F hamilton. Wow, That was fun. A large but not flabby story with a multiplicity of characters. Space opera, horror, laddish adventure stuff, with a bit of political observation. I'm waiting a while before burying myself in the second of the trilogy.

Now reading Cryptography: A Very Short Introduction - Fred Piper, Sean murphy. Caught my eye. Not entirely unrelated to the networking stuff I'm slowly learning. Doesn't go too heavy on the maths, fortunately.


----------



## little_legs (Aug 18, 2010)

marty21 said:


> still reading 'Matterhorn' - Karl Malantes - it's an epic book, 'nam and all that - utterly brilliant, and I've read most of the major 'nam novels - this one ranks as one of the best ,  (based on about half the book being read so far)


 
i am waiting for a PDF download of this book to appear. i've heard marlantes' interview on radio 4 in which he mentioned that because it's taken him years to get the book published, the hollywood types have tried convincing him to sell the rights to put the book into a film about iraq and later to afghanistan conflicts simply by changing the lingo a bit and the names of the weapons, which come to think of it underlines the madness and the brutality behind sending kids to fight for the causes they are not entirely sure of/have faith in. 

just finished 'the fifth child' by doris lessing, it's a short book, i was hoping for a good end, but i don't think lessing believes in the good endings.


----------



## little_legs (Aug 18, 2010)

little_legs said:


> i am waiting for a PDF download of this book to appear.



got the _'Matterhorn'_ 

there is an extensive _Glossary of Weapons, Technical Terms, Slang, and Jargon_ at the end of the book. 



> *fragging * - murdering someone, usually an unpopular officer or sergeant, by throwing a fragmentation grenade into his living quarters or fighting hole. The Marine Corps had forty-three fragging incidents during the Vietnam War, although not all ended in fatalities.


----------



## starfish (Aug 18, 2010)

Rubicon Beach by Steve Erickson. First tried it 4-5 years ago. Thought it was about time i gave it another go.


----------



## vauxhallmum (Aug 18, 2010)

Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan. So far really loving it..


----------



## miss minnie (Aug 18, 2010)

The Slap.  Only the first (long) chapter so far... so good.


----------



## vauxhallmum (Aug 18, 2010)

Anyone read Ghost Light by Joseph O'Connor yet? I'm waiting for it to come out in paperback but am a big fan of his and am very curious.


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 18, 2010)

CJ Cherryh - Gate Of Ivrel


----------



## flypanam (Aug 19, 2010)

Twenty thousand streets under the sky - Patrick Hamilton


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Aug 19, 2010)

flypanam said:


> Twenty thousand streets under the sky - Patrick Hamilton



Good choice.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 19, 2010)

M is for Magic - Neil Gaiman


----------



## feerd (Aug 19, 2010)

matterhorn- karl malantes

lives up to the hype. fascinating and terrifying


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 19, 2010)

Back to more Elmore Leonard. Cat Chaser, which has retired torturers, con artists, private detectives, and the Dominican Republic.


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 24, 2010)

Is nobody else reading anything? Or are you all spending August reading A Suitable Boy or something else enormous?

Finished another CJ Cherryh, Well of Shiuan. Followed that with my first read of any Geoff Dyer, Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It. Which reminded me of Bill Bryson, in that Geoff Dyer has absolutely none of Bryson's faults. I'll be reading more of his stuff.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 24, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> *Is nobody else reading anything? Or are you all spending August reading A Suitable Boy or something else enormous?*
> 
> Finished another CJ Cherryh, Well of Shiuan. Followed that with my first read of any Geoff Dyer, Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It. Which reminded me of Bill Bryson, in that Geoff Dyer has absolutely none of Bryson's faults. I'll be reading more of his stuff.


 
Still on with "The Poe Shadow" - I am enjoying it but am lacking a bit of motivation to read at the moment plus I am trying to learn lines for "As You Like It" and so am spending reading time i.e. on the train, doing that.

However i did find "Iron Council" in a charity shop for £1.10 the other day which is handy as I was about to order it from amazon so am trying to spur myself on to finish The Poe Shadow so I can start on that


----------



## Thraex (Aug 24, 2010)

"Curse of the Wolf Girl" - Martin Millar, utterly brilliant.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Aug 24, 2010)

I'm about 70 pages into Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, which is great daytime reading.

But at bedtime I'm reading Nercronomicon by H.P. Lovecraft.


----------



## yield (Aug 24, 2010)

I'm about 100 pages into "In Defense of Lost Causes" by Slavoj Zizek.

Good so far. He's mauling that Nazi Martin Heidegger at the moment.

To be fair there could be some twist I ain't expecting.


----------



## feerd (Aug 25, 2010)

Followed that with my first read of any Geoff Dyer, Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It. Which reminded me of Bill Bryson, in that Geoff Dyer has absolutely none of Bryson's faults. I'll be reading more of his stuff.[/QUOTE]

Geoff Dyer rules - try his novels too- Jeff In Venice, Death in Varanasi and the absolutely awesome Paris Trance


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Aug 28, 2010)

I'm reading Benazir Bhutto's last book before she was blown half way to allah. An exercise in arrogance par excellence. "The people flocked to see me, the herald of democracy, yadda..." I got the hardback from the pound shop. I also got some Kinder Bueno.


----------



## tar1984 (Aug 28, 2010)

I'm reading 'Belle and Sebastian: A Modern Rock Story'.  I love this band and I'm finding it gripping.  And I don't usually read non-fiction/biography type stuff, but this is great.


----------



## zeedoodles (Aug 30, 2010)

Coastliners by Joanne Harris, really liking her at the moment this will be the fourth book by her in a row


----------



## the button (Aug 30, 2010)

"Secret Affairs: Britain's collusion with radical Islam" by Mark Curtis.

I've read all of his, and it's as brilliant as you might expect.

http://markcurtis.wordpress.com/


----------



## Blagsta (Aug 30, 2010)

david harvey - a companion to marx's capital


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 30, 2010)

Shit sci-fi. Drew Karpyshyn's Mass Effect: Retribution. I've read the other two ME novels, and they're not bad. Pretty good actually, if you're a fan of the games. Which I am.

I'm also reading a million other things atm, in fits and starts, but that's for uni, so I'm not sure it counts.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 30, 2010)

feerd said:


> Geoff Dyer rules - try his novels too- Jeff In Venice, Death in Varanasi and the absolutely awesome Paris Trance


 
I've got his But Beautiful (about jazz) and The Ongoing Moment (about photography). Haven't read them all the way through. Seems to be a good writer, but a pretentious one.


----------



## the button (Aug 30, 2010)

Blagsta said:


> david harvey - a companion to marx's capital



You might be interested in this: -

http://davidharvey.org/2010/08/the-enigma-of-capital-and-the-crisis-this-time/

A chapter of his "The enigma of capital" turned into a lecture.


----------



## Blagsta (Aug 30, 2010)

the button said:


> You might be interested in this: -
> 
> http://davidharvey.org/2010/08/the-enigma-of-capital-and-the-crisis-this-time/
> 
> A chapter of his "The enigma of capital" turned into a lecture.



cheers!

Enigma of Capital is next in my pile to read!


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 30, 2010)

Michael de Larrabeiti - The Borrible Trilogy

As recommended by some here; so far, so good.


----------



## Mikey77 (Aug 30, 2010)

How to win friends and influence people, by Dale Carnegie.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 1, 2010)

Charles Dickens - Our Mutual Friend.

Can't believe it's taken me so long to read some Dickens. Am so enjoying this!


----------



## jeff_leigh (Sep 1, 2010)

Charlie Huston - My dead body


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 1, 2010)

Mikey77 said:


> How to win friends and influence people, by Dale Carnegie.



why you reading that?


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 1, 2010)

rite now,its 160 pages into Boy George' autobiography, 'Take it like a man'

its great. and being a book geek, got a very cool hardback original from 1994


----------



## idioteque (Sep 1, 2010)

I'm reading The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Sep 2, 2010)

May Kasahara said:


> Charles Dickens - Our Mutual Friend.
> 
> Can't believe it's taken me so long to read some Dickens. Am so enjoying this!



 Dickens was entertaining and very perceptive.


----------



## The Octagon (Sep 2, 2010)

My local library has started stocking Raymond Chandler novels 

Half-way through The Big Sleep now, love the style of writing and dialogue.


----------



## marty21 (Sep 6, 2010)

just finished a load of books,  
Matterhorn - Karl Marlantes - utterly brilliant - the best Vietnam war novel I have read (and I've read a lot of them) 
 Diamondhead - Patrick Robinson - cracking beach novel - stupid plot but rattles along at a good place 
 Bryant and May - Off the Rails - Christopher Fowler - love him, this detective series is great - 
The Aachen Memorandum - Andrew Roberts - Truly awful, bought it for £2, feel violated at having spent that much - Tory alternative history novel - warning of the perils of a European Super-state - possibly the worst novel I have ever read.
Washington Shadow - Aly Monroe -  WW2 espionage - ok, not great.
- Low Life - Alexander Baron - 60s  Hackney based novel, pretty good.


----------



## andy2002 (Sep 6, 2010)

Just started *Kraken by China Mieville* – seemingly much lighter in tone than the last Mieville book I read, The City & The City. Good fun so far.


----------



## ringo (Sep 7, 2010)

The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson. Started reading this just because it makes a change to read something about Jamaica which isn't all guns, cocaine and violence, but so far it's a pretty uninspiring summer blockbuster romance novel. Trying to persevere but boredom may not allow it.


----------



## ericjarvis (Sep 7, 2010)

Just read Neil Gaiman's American Gods for the second time, and noticed a hell of a lot I missed first time through. Started on The Road by Cormac McCarthy.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 7, 2010)

Cheesypoof said:


> rite now,its 160 pages into Boy George' autobiography, 'Take it like a man'


 

it's entertaining  isn't it


----------



## Vintage Paw (Sep 8, 2010)

The other night I finished Banks' _Excession_. I'm not ashamed to say I started it OVER 10 YEARS AGO  Anyway, great book. When I grow up, I want to be a Mind. (Have we had a thread where people say what their Mind/Culture ship name would be?)

Now reading Banks' _Look to Windward_. I'm on a sci-fi kick.

After that, it'll either be _The Algebraist_ or _Red Mars_.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Sep 8, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Came away with "Cryptonomicon" (from the General Fiction section) because I've never read any Neal Stephenson and also I saw it for £2.00 in a charity shop in Scarborough earlier this week but for some reason couldn't be arsed to break into a tenner to buy it


 
In terms of Stephenson, I had _The Diamond Age_ recommended to me several times. I bought it years ago, haven't read it yet though.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 8, 2010)

Finished _Lush Life _by Richard Price, which was very fine. Now onto _If The Dead Rise Not_ by Philip Kerr. This is the second of his Berlin novels I've read and I'm liking Bernie Gunther very much.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Sep 8, 2010)

Generation A by Douglas Coupland I love it.


----------



## starfish (Sep 8, 2010)

Just finished Rubicon Beach by Steve Erickson, that was a tough read. Still not sure what it was about really, something to do with America? 
Back to the 87th Precinct now with Jigsaw by Ed McBain.


----------



## D'wards (Sep 9, 2010)

Just started The Prostrate Years by Sue Townsend - will always give Adrian Mole books a go, despite how bitter Townsend gets and used her comic creation to express her disgust at the government.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Sep 11, 2010)

Just read The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland I'm obsessed by Douglas Coupland gonna read Hey Nostradamus next. Anyone else read any of his books? what do you think?


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 11, 2010)

Just finished Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household. Excellent book for what it is. I haven't seen any of the film versions. Are they any good


----------



## little_legs (Sep 12, 2010)

ilovebush&blair said:


> Just read The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland I'm obsessed by Douglas Coupland gonna read Hey Nostradamus next. Anyone else read any of his books? what do you think?


 
i thought _the gum thief_ was a 'poorly written derivative nerd shovelware'. i like coupland, i like how he makes _small_ peole meaningful, but i hate him for playing always safe. just follows the same formula book in book out. i've read most of his stuff except for the _generation a_. it's on the list.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Sep 12, 2010)

little_legs said:


> i thought _the gum thief_ was a 'poorly written derivative nerd shovelware'. i like coupland, i like how he makes _small_ peole meaningful, but i hate him for playing always safe. just follows the same formula book in book out. i've read most of his stuff except for the _generation a_. it's on the list.


 
I've only read about four maybe five of his book and I really like them, the gum thief made me laugh quite a lot. I'm more than half way through hey nostradamus and im finding it a lot darker than the other books ive read of his, still really funny though. I'm gonna plough through all his books in the next few weeks I wonder if I feel the same after I have read them all.


----------



## thriller (Sep 12, 2010)

Finished "Hard Time. A Brit in America's Toughest Jail".


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 15, 2010)

rubbershoes said:


> it's entertaining  isn't it


 
finished it (Boy Georges autobiography 'Take it like a man'). Absolutely brilliant. 

ordered part two, called 'Straight' which i will read when i finish my holiday.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 15, 2010)

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. It's good, very baroque


----------



## Gym Beam (Sep 15, 2010)

Reading the Millenium series by Stieg Larssen - I've just started part II. I love Lisbeth Salander.


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 15, 2010)

Finished Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground.

Rereading Pratchett's Small Gods.

Looking at some stuff on the relationship between immigrant communities in Ireland and the Irish education system, which makes for depressing reading.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 15, 2010)

what did you think of notes from underground?


----------



## Santino (Sep 15, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. It's good, very baroque



Santino *likes* this.


----------



## fogbat (Sep 15, 2010)

Just finished re-reading Warren Ellis's _Crooked Little Vein_.

It's still excellent.


----------



## Infidel Castro (Sep 15, 2010)

I am reading The Book of Lost Things by John Conolly (not the Australian rugby ex-coach).  I've finished the story and I'm now reading the background to all the Fiary Tales.  Very interesting.  A solid book.  Did a good job.


----------



## Structaural (Sep 15, 2010)

Wastelands - a book of post-apocalyptic short stories and Neil Gaiman's American Gods to start after. Also so extremely slowly reading The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's nest but I'm finding it easy to put down.


----------



## ericjarvis (Sep 15, 2010)

Had to take a break halfway through The Road as it was too bleak for my state of mind. I'll go back to it later as it's excellent, but in the meantime I polished off Original Sin by PD James, Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre, and Permutation City by Greg Egan.

The Brookmyre was immense fun, even more blood and guts than he usually manages, and often extremely funny in a completely tasteless way. I was disappointed with Permutation City though, a good enough book, but skipped over too many things I wanted explanations for.


----------



## The Octagon (Sep 16, 2010)

About a third of the way through Consider Phlebas, my first attempt at a Banks novel.

Interesting, but can't help feeling that some more detailed scientific knowledge would probably help in visualising some of his descriptions.

I shall persevere.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 16, 2010)

Infidel Castro said:


> I am reading The Book of Lost Things by John Conolly (not the Australian rugby ex-coach).  I've finished the story and I'm now reading the background to all the Fiary Tales.  Very interesting.  A solid book.  Did a good job.



I really, really enjoyed that. I like his Charlie Parker series of books as well, the combination of thriller and supernatural horror, but was very impressed by "The Book of Lost Things".

Talking of lost things I cannot believe that after weeks of frustration and perseverance in the face of frustration I have lost, 100 pages before the end, my copy of The Poe Shadow. I left it on the train or something idiotic 

The borough libraries don't stock it so either I pony up £3.00 for them to order it or buy another copy for £2.50 from amazon!

In the meantime I am reading Jo Nesbo's "Nemesis" which is very good.


----------



## crustychick (Sep 17, 2010)

Vintage Paw said:


> In terms of Stephenson, I had _The Diamond Age_ recommended to me several times. I bought it years ago, haven't read it yet though.


 
The Diamond Age is probably my favourite book. was the second Neal Stephenson book I read and it is way better than Snow Crash. As I'm off work at the moment I've embarked on the mighty tombe which is Anathem. I'm about half way through and it isn't disappointing! awesome! he's a genius.


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 20, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> what did you think of notes from underground?



Absolutely excellent, and uncomfortably close to my own reality.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 20, 2010)

haha - i was ashamed to identitfy with him so much!


----------



## discokermit (Sep 20, 2010)

every time i read anything by neal stephenson, i end up thinking 'get on with it, you cunt.'.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 20, 2010)

you should probably read notes from underground!


----------



## ChrisFilter (Sep 20, 2010)

Just finished The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett. Loved it. Best fantasy I've read in ages.


----------



## discokermit (Sep 20, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> you should probably read notes from underground!


 
sounds shit. 'monday: new trains on the victoria line, seats a little uncomfortable. tuesday: saw a mouse, yay!'.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 20, 2010)

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

It shows what life was like in North Korea in the 90s during the famine.All the information in it is from people who have managed to  get out to South Korea

Or is this book propaganda trying to shake our faith in the glorious revolution of the workers' party


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 20, 2010)

discokermit said:


> sounds shit. 'monday: new trains on the victoria line, seats a little uncomfortable. tuesday: saw a mouse, yay!'.


badoom tish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_from_Underground


----------



## softybabe (Sep 20, 2010)

'Eats, shoots and leaves' by Lynne Truss


----------



## starfish (Sep 20, 2010)

Going to start Dead Simple by Peter James shortly.


----------



## killer b (Sep 20, 2010)

the mrs is reading a book called 'everyday stalinism', which is unfortunately not one of those little books of uplifting quotes they stack next to the till in bookshops.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Sep 20, 2010)

Pretty good that.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 21, 2010)

baka-tsuki.org  has  loads  of translations of japanese light novels    currently  i'm  making my way through  maria-sama ga miteru (the virgin mary is watching) however i know the story quite well as  i'm a fan of the anime  adaptation  

also i'm waiting  for my kindle to turn up...   can't wait to load  up stuff on it   as   i have  more  reding time as of late   due  to uni  stuff


----------



## Structaural (Sep 21, 2010)

Just starting Transition by Iain Banks...


----------



## heinous seamus (Sep 21, 2010)

I'm reading a book called 'Stargazing' by a guy called Peter Hill. It's a memoir from his time as lighthouse keeper in the early seventies. I have already been onto the Northern Lighthouse Board website to see if they have any jobs going


----------



## N_igma (Sep 21, 2010)

Das Kapital - the word "value" means nothing to me now.


----------



## marty21 (Sep 22, 2010)

'Duane's Depressed' - Larry McMurtry - enjoying it, but then a writer who gave us 'Lonesome Dove' can do no wrong in my eyes


----------



## Lea (Sep 22, 2010)

Rocky Road Maine by Anne Stuart. Part of the Men Made in America series! LOL! It's a romance written in the 80s. Has a very tacky front cover but Anne Stuart is a favourite author of mine and I am now ordering her back list of books. Now out of print so I have to buy them used on Amazon.


----------



## maya (Sep 22, 2010)

Vintage Paw said:


> (Have we had a thread where people say what their Mind/Culture ship name would be?)



Yes  
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/threads/282120-The-long-overdue-favourite-Culture-ship-name-thread
(  )


----------



## colbhoy (Sep 22, 2010)

I'm reading The Given Day by Dennis Lehane  - it's very good.


----------



## alex.s (Sep 23, 2010)

Just finished The Shadow of the Wind by Zafon. Was a cracking read, not at all what I expected (although I am not 100 percent sure what I was expecting).


----------



## THE WHELK (Sep 23, 2010)

The COMplete MAUS by ARt SPIEgelman. Awesome


----------



## flypanam (Sep 24, 2010)

A supposedly fun thing I'll never do again - David Foster Wallace


----------



## belboid (Sep 24, 2010)

Finally got round to finishing Dylans Chronicles.  Started it years ago, but couldnt get into it.  Picked it up this time, and, damn, but its a fine read.

Now on Wolf Hall. Bloody great, always knew Thomas More was a tosspot.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Sep 24, 2010)

Finished If The Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr, cracking. About to finish The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.


----------



## D'wards (Sep 24, 2010)

Just started The Damned United by David Peace. I'm really enjoying it, but have found myself thinking in a northern accent and saying "bloody" in every sentence.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Sep 25, 2010)

I finished Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland and I have just started All Families Are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland.


----------



## redsnapper (Sep 26, 2010)

Priceless by Charlie Daniels......s'not bad for this sort of book (real life account of Charlie daniels life as one of the UK's top Madams).


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Sep 26, 2010)

Book about the Knights Templar.


----------



## redsnapper (Sep 26, 2010)

and an M&S tights n knickers catalogue


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 26, 2010)

italo calvino - invisible cities - mind-blowing!


----------



## G. Fieendish (Sep 30, 2010)

Just finished William Gibson's latest work Zero History...


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Oct 1, 2010)

Just finished Jo Nesbo's "Nemesis" which was a godd thriller. Now back onto "The Poe Shadow" as a friend kindly bought me a cheap copy he saw in Amsterdam.


----------



## Jon-of-arc (Oct 1, 2010)

Just finished Zoe Hellers The Believers, a family tragi-comedy about a bunch of New York Socialist/radicals. Really funny.  The mysanthropic mother charecter gets all the best lines (recently converted-to-juadaism-daughter; "I'm going to a shaddab." mother; "And what the fucks that when its had its hair washed?").  A really believable portrait of a dysfunctional family....


----------



## Mikey77 (Oct 1, 2010)

Cheesypoof said:


> why you reading that?


 
Oh, because I want to win friends and influence people. Or rather manipulate people into being nice. Anyway, I've finished that. I'm now reading "The seven habits of highly effective people" by Stephen R Covey.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 1, 2010)

Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades by Jonathan Phillips. Very enjoyable and seemed to be reasonably balanced from my ignorant viewpoint.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. Suspend reason and just have fun with a nonsensical romp through time, space, books, and basketballs.
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. Brilliant. A read-out-loud-book ime.
The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence by Martin Meredith. Strangely gripping and depressing.
Ham On Rye by Charles Bukowski. Even more brilliant. One of my favorite books ever.
Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley. Very disappointing tbh, got 200 pages in and then bailed.
In The Kitchen by Monica Ali. Awful badly written tosh, gave up after 6 pages. Utter cobblers.
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Surprisingly fun after the previous 2 pieces of rubbish. Bit flowery but getting a bit more scary as we speak.


----------



## Cat Baloo (Oct 3, 2010)

Jules Verne - From Earth to the Moon.  One of those books you always THINK you read ages ago.
Fielding's Tom Jones - another one I thought I'd read.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Sonnets from the Portugese (strickly speaking, a re-read)
The Most Dangerous Animal - David Livingston Smith - the cultural reinforcement of man's biological propensity to inflict gross damage on our own species (depressing - but very well thought out and argued) 
^..^


----------



## heinous seamus (Oct 4, 2010)

murphy - samuel beckett


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Oct 4, 2010)

The latest issue of _The Russian Review_.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Oct 4, 2010)

i've loaded up a load of  cheap and free books  on my new kindle 

but mainly i'm reading teaching today by geoff petty


----------



## Sunray (Oct 4, 2010)

Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, this is without any doubt the basis for Lost, I see its one of the books that was in the show.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 4, 2010)

finished The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell, started The Valley of Bones by same, but left it in a bag with some bad grapes so I'm waiting for it to dry out.


----------



## ringo (Oct 5, 2010)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - Stieg Larsson


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 5, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> finished The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell, started The Valley of Bones by same, but left it in a bag with some bad grapes so I'm waiting for it to dry out.


 
Sound like a fab lyric, to me


----------



## no-no (Oct 5, 2010)

I was recommended Enders Game for my son to read, it's a bit of a tough read for him so I read it instead.

excellent stuff, great ending, where's the hollywood adaptation?

I'll get the boy to try it again in 6 months time.......


----------



## jeff_leigh (Oct 5, 2010)

Soulless - Gail Carriger


----------



## rover07 (Oct 5, 2010)

Norwegian wood - Haruki Murakami

I loved his 'What i talk about when i talk about running', great, descriptive and engaging read.

But this is a very dull love affair about university students. Just waiting for something/anything to happen. Will probably not finish it.


----------



## the button (Oct 5, 2010)

rover07 said:


> Norwegian wood - Haruki Murakami
> 
> I loved his 'What i talk about when i talk about running', great, descriptive and engaging read.
> 
> But this is a very dull love affair about university students. Just waiting for something/anything to happen. Will probably not finish it.



To make a sweeping generalisation, everyone's favourite Murakami is the first one they read. Because they're all basically the same.  Oooo, an enigmatic child, oooo, a cat, etc.


----------



## the button (Oct 5, 2010)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> i've loaded up a load of  cheap and free books  on my new kindle



Me too. 

Was reading "A study in scarlet" this morning on the way to work. (Complete Sherlock Holmes stories, 72p).


----------



## Gromit (Oct 5, 2010)

ringo said:


> The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - Stieg Larsson


 
Me too. Though I've been reading in in the original Swedish to make it more challenging.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Oct 5, 2010)

properly started on  the barsoom / mars books   it's my first real read on the kindle  and  it's  good  both the book (although in my head all the lines have a slight southern drawl )  and the device.,...  after upgrading to granny sized font


----------



## Apathy (Oct 6, 2010)

just started to read 'The Road'


----------



## Urbanblues (Oct 6, 2010)

Just finished John McGahern's 'The Dark' - very dark, indeed.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Oct 6, 2010)

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare ~ G K Chesterton.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 6, 2010)

the button said:


> Was reading "A study in scarlet" this morning on the way to work. (Complete Sherlock Holmes stories, 72p).


i've got a lovely holmes anthology of a similar quality i reckon. and what a lovely story scarlet is as well eh?


----------



## waylon (Oct 7, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. Brilliant. A read-out-loud-book ime.
> Ham On Rye by Charles Bukowski. Even more brilliant. One of my favorite books ever.



Two good uns there. Riddley's got a map in the front and a glossary in the back, which tends to put me off. I'm glad I didn't let it put me off old Ridders though.

Just finished The Company of Liars by Karen Maitland - Historical fiction (which, again, I'm not really into, but proper enjoyed this) set in the time of the plague, but the lurgy's more of a backdrop to the main story.  Was sorry to finish this.

Started Negative Space by Zoe Strachan now, that's shaping up to be pretty good as well, I liked her other one about the laundrette birds.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Oct 8, 2010)

A mate gave me a poetry book by James Fenton, called Memory of War.  But, I know fuck all about poetry, so I feel like a bumpkin.  Pretty words and that.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 8, 2010)

george grossman - the diary of a nobody - funny and revealing. quite an antidote to the likes of dickens.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 8, 2010)

waylon said:


> Two good uns there. Riddley's got a map in the front and a glossary in the back, which tends to put me off. I'm glad I didn't let it put me off old Ridders though.
> 
> Just finished The Company of Liars by Karen Maitland - Historical fiction (which, again, I'm not really into, but proper enjoyed this) set in the time of the plague, but the lurgy's more of a backdrop to the main story.  Was sorry to finish this.
> 
> Started Negative Space by Zoe Strachan now, that's shaping up to be pretty good as well, I liked her other one about the laundrette birds.


yes, the riddley walker one should be a compulsory curriculum book i reckon. thanks for the recommendations


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 9, 2010)

Caleb Williams by William Godwin


----------



## Gingerman (Oct 10, 2010)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-War-C...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286723460&sr=1-1
Just ordered this,1392 pages  should keep me going for a while


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 10, 2010)

Finished 'Straight' which was part two of Boy Georges autobiography and carries on from 1994 where the other one left off. Straight was great, and full of opinions and a thorough account of his musical Taboo. I must say I enjoyed it.

after that I read 'Hellraisers, the live and inebriated times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O Toole and Oliver Reed.' It was described as a 'rollicking read' which it was! These guys were unbelievable pissheads, they just dont make them like that anymore. The book was written in a laddish way but made for cheerful morning train reading. Also facinating was the beautiful relationship between Peter O Toole and his son lorcan. I cried when I read about it, so the book was worth a blast just for that. 

Now I am reading 'Six Feet Over: Adventures in the afterlife' by scientist Mary Roach. She explores whether there is the possibility of an afterlife through visiting all sorts of daft clarvoyants, and even 'reincarnated children. ' Her style is very tongue in cheek and humourous, yet scientific. I absolutely loved her other book, 'Stiff: The curious lives of human cadavers' and recommend that book to anyone. This is quite similar.


----------



## penderyn2000 (Oct 11, 2010)

Coincidentally I'm reading Melvyn Bragg's biog of Richard Burton, 'Rich'.  Engrossing, as long as you can stomach Liz Taylor's piles.  No celeb couple today can compare.
If you've got kids, don't miss http://ssbounty.wordpress.com btw.


----------



## marty21 (Oct 11, 2010)

Brendan Behan - Ulick O'connor


----------



## Lo Siento. (Oct 11, 2010)

Victor Hugo - Les Miserables. The story and the characters are magnificent. Needed a good editor though.


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Oct 12, 2010)

Neal Stephenson - Anathem


----------



## stupid dogbot (Oct 13, 2010)

Greg Graffin's new book, "Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God".


----------



## marty21 (Oct 14, 2010)

The American Civil War - John Keegan


----------



## The Octagon (Oct 14, 2010)

Finished Consider Phlebas, disappointing ending. Some decent ideas but didn't grab me, are the other Banks' Culture books better than this?

Any recommendations on which one to read next?


----------



## ericjarvis (Oct 14, 2010)

The Octagon said:


> Finished Consider Phlebas, disappointing ending. Some decent ideas but didn't grab me, are the other Banks' Culture books better than this?
> 
> Any recommendations on which one to read next?


 
I agree that the ending is a bit naff. Without knowing why it didn't "grab you" I'm not sure how to recommend where to look next. In my view the best two culture novels are Use Of Weapons and The Player Of Games. However I wouldn't say they are distinctly different in style from Consider Phlebas.


----------



## yield (Oct 14, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> I agree that the ending is a bit naff. Without knowing why it didn't "grab you" I'm not sure how to recommend where to look next. In my view the best two culture novels are Use Of Weapons and The Player Of Games. However I wouldn't say they are distinctly different in style from Consider Phlebas.



I reckon  there are some differences as Horza is looking at the Culture from the outside.

The Octagon some threads you might like.
Iain Banks Sci-Fi stuff
Best Iain M Banks to start off with
wiki


> Science Fiction as Iain M. Banks
> The Culture novels
> 
> * Consider Phlebas (1987)
> ...



Like ericjarvis I'd suggest Player of Games next. One of my favourites.


----------



## yardbird (Oct 14, 2010)

I've just started 
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

See the film and just had to read it.


----------



## starfish (Oct 14, 2010)

Looking Good Dead by Peter James.


----------



## Ceej (Oct 16, 2010)

American Rust by Phillip Meyer. Bloody spectacular in a post-mordern, Steinbeck-y sort of way. Beautiful and disturbing.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 16, 2010)

Tokyo by Mo Hayder. Not bad, in an airport book kinda way.


----------



## Shevek (Oct 16, 2010)

I'm reading a book of Pushkin's poetry in translation. Can't really say anything without it being hash but very beautiful words.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Oct 16, 2010)

Just started _Man Gone Down_ by Michael Thomas. About a black college professor who is also a frustrated author, who likes woodworking, and whose marriage is breaking down because of financial worries. Pretty much the exact premise of the last book I read too, without the marriage breakdown bit.

Also reading _Star Authors: Literary Celebrity in America_ by Joe Moran, and skimming a whole bunch of odd stuff about Victorians and reading practices.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Oct 16, 2010)

Ceej said:


> American Rust by Phillip Meyer. Bloody spectacular in a post-mordern, Steinbeck-y sort of way. Beautiful and disturbing.


 
I've just ordered this from Amazon! Are you enjoying it?


----------



## Vintage Paw (Oct 16, 2010)

The Octagon said:


> Finished Consider Phlebas, disappointing ending. Some decent ideas but didn't grab me, are the other Banks' Culture books better than this?
> 
> Any recommendations on which one to read next?


 
I agree _The Player of Games_ is excellent. I've recently finished _Excession_ as well, which is mental because of the hilarious Minds talking shit at each other all the way through. Really great book. However, I started it over 10 years ago and only finished it last month  Very near the end of _Look to Windward_ which is pretty good too.


----------



## Ceej (Oct 18, 2010)

Vintage Paw said:


> I've just ordered this from Amazon! Are you enjoying it?


 
I thought it was great - small-town America coming of age - two very distinct characters who for various reasons both feel they've ended up with the brown end of the sick...brutal and lyrical at the same time. Hope you enjoy it.


----------



## Ceej (Oct 18, 2010)

jer said:


> Tokyo by Mo Hayder. Not bad, in an airport book kinda way.



I found this really memorable, with a lot more depth than the usual airport book. I only had the vaguest knowledge of the Rape of Nankin...I thought Tokyo was prety original and a bit disturbing!


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 19, 2010)

kazuo ishiguro - never let me go. for some reason i never read it when it came out, but the film's out soon, so it's about time. i'm gripped - ishiguro certainly has style and it's not all what i expected, storywise.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 19, 2010)

Whoops! Why everyone owes everyone and no on can pay by John Lanchester, a very straightforward account of how the financial industry has taken the whole world up the shitter and walked away laughing essentially, should be compulsory reading in schools atm.


----------



## The Octagon (Oct 19, 2010)

ericjarvis said:


> I agree that the ending is a bit naff. Without knowing why it didn't "grab you" I'm not sure how to recommend where to look next. In my view the best two culture novels are Use Of Weapons and The Player Of Games. However I wouldn't say they are distinctly different in style from Consider Phlebas.


 


yield said:


> I reckon  there are some differences as Horza is looking at the Culture from the outside.
> 
> The Octagon some threads you might like.
> Iain Banks Sci-Fi stuff
> ...


 
Excellent, cheers.

Just started The Player of Games, I see what you mean about the shift in perspective to firmly inside the Culture, makes it seem weird that Consider Phlebas was the first book of the series.


----------



## heinous seamus (Oct 19, 2010)

Gulliver's Travels


----------



## TruXta (Oct 20, 2010)

The Gormenghast trilogy. Just at the end of Gormenghast (nr. 2) now - the flood and the hunt. Great stuff. When's that new book co-written by his wife out? It can't be as shit as the Dune pre-/sequels surely?


----------



## Vintage Paw (Oct 20, 2010)

Ceej said:


> I thought it was great - small-town America coming of age - two very distinct characters who for various reasons both feel they've ended up with the brown end of the sick...brutal and lyrical at the same time. Hope you enjoy it.


 
Thanks  It just arrived today ... looking forward to it.


----------



## yield (Oct 20, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Whoops! Why everyone owes everyone and no on can pay by John Lanchester, a very straightforward account of how the financial industry has taken the whole world up the shitter and walked away laughing essentially, should be compulsory reading in schools atm.



Looks good thanks. I'll try and find a copy.



The Octagon said:


> Just started The Player of Games, I see what you mean about the shift in perspective to firmly inside the Culture, makes it seem weird that Consider Phlebas was the first book of the series.



Of the sci-fi I've not read The Algebraist. I love the change of perspective in Excession.

Against a Dark Background is plain bleak.

I'm envious that you get to read them for the first time.


----------



## D'wards (Oct 22, 2010)

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk - and very good it is too.


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Oct 24, 2010)

Just finished 1984 and Breakfast at Tiffany's, and have spent the weekend working my way through Catcher in the Rye. Clockwork Orange next week.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Oct 25, 2010)

Finished Caleb Williams, which was great; now it's The Various Lives of Keats and Chapman by Flann O'Brien.


----------



## The Octagon (Oct 25, 2010)

Finished The Player Of Games last night, felt the ending went by a little quickly again, but much preferred the book as a whole to Consider Phlebas. Think I may need to re-read POG though, I'm guilty of skim reading ahead at times without realising it, so certain descriptions didn't sink in fully  Loved the concept of the Fire Planet, would pay to see that visualised well on screen / canvas.

Nice little reveal at the end, I'm enjoying the personalities of the machines / Minds.

With that in mind (no pun intended), should I go with Excession next or Use of Weapons (those are the two I currently have sat on my shelves looking all shiny )?


----------



## andy2002 (Oct 25, 2010)

Just started *Horns by Joe Hill* – dark, funny, unpredictable horror.


----------



## yield (Oct 26, 2010)

The Octagon said:


> Nice little reveal at the end, I'm enjoying the personalities of the machines / Minds.



Then you'll probably enjoy Excession. I must avoid spoilers.



The Octagon said:


> With that in mind (no pun intended), should I go with Excession next or Use of Weapons (those are the two I currently have sat on my shelves looking all shiny )?



Use of Weapons next though. Great book it flows well from Player of Games.


----------



## stethoscope (Oct 28, 2010)

Clive Bloom - Violent London


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 28, 2010)

stephj said:


> Clive Bloom - Violent London


i read a review of this and thought it looked very interesting.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 28, 2010)

Yiyun Li - A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.

It's an excellent collection of short stories, contemporary and also about the horrors endured living under Mao.


----------



## DaRealSpoon (Oct 28, 2010)

'The Testament of Yves Gundron' by Emily Barton

Arrived today, only just started it. Anyone read it?


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Oct 28, 2010)

I'm reading Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire by Marlene Laruelle.

Again.


----------



## blueplume (Oct 31, 2010)

Have finished Point Omega from Delillo: too slow and hermetif for me, without emotion; i began the Maupin's More tales of the city: not bad!


----------



## stethoscope (Nov 2, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i read a review of this and thought it looked very interesting.


 
Yeah, it's worth checking. It covers a hell of a lot of ground for one book. I've got the first edition, but it's just been re-issued I think and updated with stuff about the G20 protests amongst other things.


----------



## Voley (Nov 2, 2010)

I'm reading this at the moment. It's fucking brilliant. I've never read anything by him before but am about to go on a binge, I think.


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 2, 2010)

Kapuscinski is fab

His one on the Shah is good as well


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 2, 2010)

Just finished Anthony Beevor's The Battle for Spain . Without wishing to give the ending away it doesn't go well for the republicans does it?. Though they hardly did themselves any favours with the political way they conducted the war.


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Nov 2, 2010)

Gave up on Clockwork Orange after about two pages - it makes (more) sense when it comes out of Malcolm McDowell's gob - and started on my first Jeeves instead.


----------



## jiggajagga (Nov 3, 2010)

I have just read Khaled Hosseini's "Kite Runner" and its follow up "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and I can honestly say it is many many years since I have read two better books, maybe even ever!
Hosseini is a staggering storyteller and I can assure you that if you are lucky enough to not have read these yet then you have a wonderful time to come. I envy you reader. Put these two books on your Christmas lists and a good Christmas is assured.


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 3, 2010)

Just finished a collection of short stories by Robert Drewe - The Bodysurfers 
Started "Nothing to Envy" by Barbara Demick about life in North Korea. Grim.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Nov 3, 2010)

Funnily enough I'm about to read an old _Monthly Review_ article written by economist Joan Robinson on DPRK, called _Korea, 1964: Economic Miracle_.  I very probably won't understand a word of it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 3, 2010)

james ellroy - the cold six thousand
kept putting this down cos his style is so mnml yet crammed with plot, so you really have to pay attention to what's going on. now i have headspace for this sort of thing, i'm digging ellroy's jazz.
amazing stuff.
 i also just finished stewart lee's how i escaped my certain fate, which is essentially a deconstruction of three of his stand up acts over the past ten years, interweaved with biographical detail and his views on how stand up comedy works and his aspiration for it to be regarded as an art.
fascinating and funny.


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 3, 2010)

jer said:


> Started "Nothing to Envy" by Barbara Demick about life in North Korea. Grim.


 

It's a real eye opener but well worth the read


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 3, 2010)

stephj said:


> Yeah, it's worth checking. It covers a hell of a lot of ground for one book. I've got the first edition, but it's just been re-issued I think and updated with stuff about the G20 protests amongst other things.


ray! just picked up a copy of the reissue, my too-read pile is getting dangerously high.....


----------



## Voley (Nov 3, 2010)

rubbershoes said:


> Kapuscinski is fab
> 
> His one on the Shah is good as well


 
Yep, just ordered that as the follow-up. I'd like to read a book about Kapuscinski himself. Very interesting fella - got condemned to death four times for stuff he's written, according to the intro to The Emperor.


----------



## love2stay@ (Nov 3, 2010)

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.   The book is SO much better than the movie!


----------



## starfish (Nov 3, 2010)

Hail, Hail the Gangs All Here by Ed McBain. Another 87th Precinct novel.


----------



## maya (Nov 9, 2010)

Dirty Martini said:


> Finished Caleb Williams, which was great;


Good call- an excellent book. 

I've almost finished Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year', which for me is a bit heavy-going 'cos I'm no good at old-fashioned english. But I persevered, and it's not too bad for its time.


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 9, 2010)

rubbershoes said:


> It's a real eye opener but well worth the read



Finished it the other day; absolutely stunning book. I can see why it won awards - very moving, very informative and you thank your lucky stars that you don't live under such a regime.

In the meantime; just started "Riding the Rap" by Elmore Leonard - cracking dialogue; Raylon Givens is an excellent character.


----------



## becki1701 (Nov 10, 2010)

Shake hands with the devil - the failure of humanity in Rwanda.  Heartwrenching and infuriating


----------



## buzzworthy (Nov 10, 2010)

*Fragile Things*

Herro! 

I have been trying to finish reading Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things. It's a compilation of short stories. Kinda like his Smokes and Mirrors book only darker. I think I've read 5 stories so far. 

I feel bad that I have not finished reading the book. 'Been busy lately. I have also started reading a book that my mother-in-law lent me called Venus on Fire, Mars on Ice by John Gray. It's supposed to be a self-help and info book to help you understand you and your partners through our hormonal levels. So far, it's not helping hehe.


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 12, 2010)

Some people nod along to self help books. I think that all they help is the authors bank balance


----------



## ringo (Nov 12, 2010)

NVP said:


> I'm reading this at the moment. It's fucking brilliant. I've never read anything by him before but am about to go on a binge, I think.


 
That's a great book, he's done loads of books worth reading.


----------



## lopsidedbunny (Nov 12, 2010)

Just got a Christine Keeler Bio' book the girl on the chair photoshoot job, I had a visit to Cock St in london at the Mayor Gallery lots of nudie shoots and prison letter. She actually rather hot looking  So I figure I buy the book.


----------



## MysteryGuest (Nov 12, 2010)

Jan Potocki - The Manuscript Found in Saragossa.  Every bit as fantastically strange and weird as I hoped it would be (yay! \o/ ) but mercifully easy to read.  Bit of a page-turner in fact.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 12, 2010)

Transition by Iain Banks. Quite liking it so far.


----------



## buzzworthy (Nov 14, 2010)

rubbershoes said:


> Some people nod along to self help books. I think that all they help is the authors bank balance



I'm ditching the book now. Haha! Replacing it with Maya Angelou's complete collected poems. Just ordered it on Amazon


----------



## andy2002 (Nov 14, 2010)

*Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You by Marcus Chown*: it's meant to be a gentle introduction to the atomic world and quantum theory. I'm a total non-scientist and didn't even study physics and chemistry to o-level standard, so it's still a bit of a head fuck. Fascinating, amazing stuff though.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 14, 2010)

The Fallen - Book about all the people who have been in the Fall. Great idea for a book and really interesting stuff. It is however annoying written by a berk, who want's to talk about himself all the time and has some really annoying repeated lines for 'effect' Ugh. He pads out loads of the book with an awful music press journalism style. You know the kind where they have to fill four feature pages but only had five minutes in the pub with the artist and submit something printable by Monday lunchtime.


----------



## andy2002 (Nov 14, 2010)

buzzworthy said:


> Herro!
> 
> I have been trying to finish reading Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things. It's a compilation of short stories. Kinda like his Smokes and Mirrors book only darker. I think I've read 5 stories so far.


 
It isn't as inventive as Smoke & Mirrors but there are still a few gems in there. I really liked Monarch Of The Glen (which continues Shadow's story from American Gods).


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Nov 14, 2010)

Federalism and Local Politics in Russia - Cameron Ross & Adrian Campbell. 

Yeah, I know what you're thinking, but one man's grey, is another man's technicolour.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2010)

Pacifism as pathology.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Nov 15, 2010)

Me Cheeta - James Lever


----------



## kittyP (Nov 15, 2010)

The Janissary Tree.
A detective novel set in Istanbul during the time of the Ottoman Empire, seen through the eyes of a court Eunuch. 
Great fun with lots of historical stuff.


----------



## Bobness (Nov 15, 2010)

the gathering. by Anna something. 

not quite connecting with it though.


----------



## armysurplus (Nov 16, 2010)

I just finished reading "The Purpose Driven Life".  I am currently on the 6th chapter of "Be A People Person" by John Maxwell.  I love this book! This book will definitely mold you to become a good leader and a good person.  You will be one of a kind..perfect 10 for me!


----------



## TruXta (Nov 18, 2010)

The "Orcs" omnibus. Fast, dirty and pretty decent mindcandy.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Nov 18, 2010)

elenor rigby by douglas coupland on about page 80 and its quite good, never read anything by him that i didnt like.


----------



## little_legs (Nov 18, 2010)

ilovebush&blair said:


> elenor rigby by douglas coupland on about page 80 and its quite good, never read anything by him that i didnt like.


 
i liked this one. have you reached the fascinating explanation about the mattress industry?


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Nov 18, 2010)

little_legs said:


> i liked this one. have you reached the fascinating explanation about the mattress industry?


 
not yet, should get it finished in the next few days.


----------



## Corax (Nov 18, 2010)

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

American Gods was great, but only 40 odd pages in, I think this may be better.


----------



## andy2002 (Nov 19, 2010)

*Carrie – Stephen King:* seen the film loads of times but had never read the book (King's first) until now. I probably enjoy King's short, sharp stuff more than his 800-page 'epics'.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 19, 2010)

The Stand is very very good. Very long but very good. Christine was pretty fine as well iirc. If you like a bit of King. Misery isn't bad either.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 19, 2010)

I always felt some sympathy and connection with the mad-bomber trashcan man


----------



## Strumpet (Nov 19, 2010)

Just started Fry Chronicles.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 19, 2010)

Corax said:


> Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.
> 
> American Gods was great, but only 40 odd pages in, I think this may be better.


 
it isn't you know, and you must follow it with Mievilles Un Lun Dun for more great Other London fantasy.


----------



## machine cat (Nov 19, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> I always felt some sympathy and connection with the mad-bomber trashcan man



That right Happy Clappy?


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 19, 2010)

drcarnage said:


> That right Happy Clappy?


 
well, yeah, minus the fact that I don't build the fucking things cos I am far too mild mannered.


----------



## rollinder (Nov 19, 2010)

currently in the middle of rereading
Richard Milward - Ten Storey Love Song 

great book but the one breathless paragraph with no breaks format make it fucking hard not to read the whole thing in one go, and the plotlines don't slip into following another person at a sensible point like the end of a page either.

and 
Roald Dahl - My Uncle Oswald (filthy )


----------



## machine cat (Nov 19, 2010)

you just blow those fuckers up, right Happy Clappy?


The Kid and Trashcan Man were the best characters in that novel. Closely followed by Harold and Nadine.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 19, 2010)

yes, that is entirely my MO come the end of the world.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Nov 19, 2010)

the book no dog wants it's owner to read






actually it really is a fascinating insight. I've had this book for years but have only now got round to starting it.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 19, 2010)

drcarnage said:


> you just blow those fuckers up, right Happy Clappy?
> 
> 
> The Kid and Trashcan Man were the best characters in that novel. Closely followed by Harold and Nadine.


harold was well dark. i always pictured roland from grange hill as harold for some reason.

whereas nadine was probably imelda may in a few years


----------



## machine cat (Nov 20, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> harold was well dark. i always pictured roland from grange hill as harold for some reason.
> 
> whereas nadine was probably imelda may in a few years


 
The whole character development of Harold was brilliantly constructed imo. I loved the way he turned from a geeky kid during his the first part of the novel, into something 'evil' while in Boulder.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 20, 2010)

pfft his evil was a pale echo of flaggs badness and he renounced his badness at the moment of death as I recall. Crap judas.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 20, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> pfft his evil was a pale echo of flaggs badness and he renounced his badness at the moment of death as I recall. Crap judas.




he was a nice lad at heart, turned bad by society's reaction to him....or something.


----------



## machine cat (Nov 20, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> pfft his evil was a pale echo of flaggs badness and he renounced his badness at the moment of death as I recall. Crap judas.


 
Of course he was. Who could ever compete with "the walking dude"?


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 20, 2010)

he was clint eastwood of course.

chewing a cheroot.


----------



## machine cat (Nov 20, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> he was a nice lad at heart, turned bad by society's reaction to him....or something.


 


A pure snake and political genius - advocating the council of boulder in order to blow them up in one go


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 20, 2010)

god, it is years since I read it. All I can recall is him having a bitter wank when he realises he will never get the girl and then plotting badness. I read a chunky version that was apparently expanded from the initial publication. God love that fucker flagg though, what a stone cold badman.


----------



## machine cat (Nov 20, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> god, it is years since I read it. All I can recall is him having a bitter wank when he realises he will never get the girl and then plotting badness. I read a chunky version that was apparently expanded from the initial publication. God love that fucker flagg though, what a stone cold badman.


 
I preferred Flagg when he was the evil fucker everybody had nightmares about rather than the denim-clad cowboy in LV.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 20, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> god, it is years since I read it. All I can recall is him having a bitter wank when he realises he will never get the girl and then plotting badness. I read a chunky version that was apparently expanded from the initial publication. God love that fucker flagg though, what a stone cold badman.


the bitter wank is a brilliant piece of writing innit 

i think i thought the bigger version was better.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 20, 2010)

never clocked the shorter version- I just recall Kings somewhat 'AND NOW AS I TOLD YE SO, HERE IS A BETTER VERSION OH GROVELLING PUBLICATIONERS' intro.

Needful Things must be the next best, a real sinister take on the 'mysterious disappearing shop' trope played out in his territory of small town NA.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 20, 2010)

never heard of that one dotty so will keep a look out if you recommend.


----------



## machine cat (Nov 20, 2010)

lol 

 I just read the big version


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 20, 2010)

you should both also see Danse Macarbe. It is a how to on horror fiction. Do look.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 20, 2010)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> the bitter wank is a brilliant piece of writing innit
> 
> i think i thought the bigger version was better.


 
the drying crust of semen cooling on his belly..


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Nov 20, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> you should both also see Danse Macarbe. It is a how to on horror fiction. Do look.


 
A bit like his later book 'On Writing' which is excellent too
the first part is an autobiographical  account of that accident he had, then the second part of the book is  one of the best 'how to write' books I've ever read


----------



## starfish (Nov 20, 2010)

The Girl Who Played With Fire. (Kindle)


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 20, 2010)

do you need to sign some contract to continually promote your electronic reading thingie?

and its a shite book anyhow.

(paper)


----------



## starfish (Nov 20, 2010)

No. Its only the second book ive read on the device & its not mine. Getting a bit bored with all the maths stuff already.


----------



## newharper (Nov 21, 2010)

Deaf Sentence by David Lodge.

About 50 pages in, definately up to standard. Funny, but plenty of pathos.  Shame that pathetic has become so debased.

(As I buy 90% of my books from Charity shops or ABE I'm always a couple of years behind.)


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Nov 23, 2010)

ive just finished girlfriend in a coma by douglas coupland really liked it but the ending wasnt so great. not sure which book to read next either crime by irvine welsh or life after god by douglas coupland.


----------



## colbhoy (Nov 23, 2010)

I very much enjoyed The Dead Zone, the first Stephen King book that I read. Also enjoyed Christine and found Cujo very gripping as well. 

I am currently reading his latest (it's been many years!), Under the Dome.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Nov 24, 2010)

life after god by douglas coupland shampoo planet is next then i have almost read them all


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 26, 2010)

This. Holy Hindu sci-fi!

But I imagine a film about the film adapatation that was never made - would be just as far out. Something to do with Jack Kirby, the CIA and hostages.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Nov 26, 2010)

_Leigh Bowery, The Life and Times of an Icon,_ by his best friend, Sue Tilley.

Cost me 35 quid and worth every penny! Started it last night and will be finished tomorrow.


----------



## andy2002 (Nov 27, 2010)

colbhoy said:


> I am currently reading his latest (it's been many years!), Under the Dome.


 
I love Under The Dome, although I half expect the one-dimensional main bad guy to start twirling his moustache and cackling evilly at any moment.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Nov 27, 2010)

'God is not great' by Christopher Hitchens.


----------



## Mr Retro (Nov 27, 2010)

Corax said:


> Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.
> 
> American Gods was great, but only 40 odd pages in, I think this may be better.


 
I thought that Neverwhere was a fantastic book.

Just finished A Very Private Gentleman (now known as The American since became "A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE"). It was very good.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Nov 28, 2010)

just finished shampoo planet by douglas coupland i really enjoyed it.


----------



## andy2002 (Nov 28, 2010)

Just started *Stephen King*'s latest short(ish) story collection, *Full Dark, No Stars*.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 28, 2010)

Renegade - the autobiography of mark e smith. He's a mentalist. It's more like a rambling crazy rant that a biography. "neighbors is good, I like the doctor" "there was a time when I only watched Dallas, it was brilliant. I watched some Dynasty too". 

he also comicaly contradicts himself all the time within  a few sentences. 
"I had no friends at school"
Then on the next page after he wore glasses
"my friends at school stopped talking to be"
Then a few lines later
"It was ok because I had lots of irish friends."


----------



## belboid (Nov 29, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Renegade - the autobiography of mark e smith.


 
Terrible book, mostly. The one he did with Mick Muddles is much better.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 29, 2010)

belboid said:


> Terrible book, mostly. The one he did with Mick Muddles is much better.


 
I'm finding it quite funny and actually quite enthralling in its own way, but yes it is a bit of a mess. I'm not a Fall fan by the way, I just thought it might be interesting.

I recently read 'the fallen' and found that incredibly irritating. Interesting idea with some good insights into the workings of the fall, trouble is it was executed by a tool.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Nov 29, 2010)

just started reading bedroom secrets of the master chefs by irvine welsh only 50 pages in. just bought grit by niall griffiths off ebay.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Nov 29, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Renegade - the autobiography of mark e smith. He's a mentalist. It's more like a rambling crazy rant that a biography. "neighbors is good, I like the doctor" "there was a time when I only watched Dallas, it was brilliant. I watched some Dynasty too".
> 
> he also comicaly contradicts himself all the time within  a few sentences.
> "I had no friends at school"
> ...



that sounds like a book i would enjoy!


----------



## Cheesypoof (Nov 29, 2010)

Another book I read last week was 'Feast of friends' which is a collection of essays by 15 of Jim Morrisons closest friends (none of whom are The Doors). Its put together by his friend Frank Lisciandro and the intimate  portraits people paint of Jim and unposed photographs are intriguing and completely unpretentious, as was the man. There's pics of him having fun with his mates, fishing, always hairy and bearded, often looking tired, definitely someone who didnt care much for his appearance. All his friends say that he was a quiet individual who saw people accurately and knew how to bring out the best in others, or crush them crudely. A hard liquor drinker, and not into drugs (just into occasionally getting loaded, probably like any of us would). Very scruffy person who wouldnt even bother washing that much cos he was too lazy, often to his female friends disgust. But a really cool, funny and generous man who was very uncomfortabe with his own fame. Wise is a word a few of them also use, as he could read through people accurately. Not really tortured, he loved living.  The psychadelic obsessive narcissist Oliver Stone so innaccuately painted (a vision derived from Stone's own failed rock aspirations and inner egotism) is also very far removed from the Jim of these essays (and to be honest, the photographs).


----------



## tastebud (Nov 30, 2010)

I am currently enjoying 'The Crimson Petal & the White' by Michel Faber. I hope it stays good as it is extremely long.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Nov 30, 2010)

"Heartstone" the new Matthew Shardlake novel by C.J. Sansom - very good so far!


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 30, 2010)

tastebud said:


> I am currently enjoying 'The Crimson Petal & the White' by Michel Faber. I hope it stays good as it is extremely long.


it's pretty rollicking


----------



## tastebud (Nov 30, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> it's pretty rollicking


 
I suspected you would like it.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 30, 2010)

Cheesypoof said:


> that sounds like a book i would enjoy!


 
I think you probably would. I think it helped that I read a book from the other members points of view before hand, it gives a bit of an insight to his odd rambling, plus it highlights when he is probably lying / just plain making weird shit up.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Nov 30, 2010)

Andrew G. Walder, _Fractured Rebellion: The Beijing Red Guard Movement._


----------



## colacubes (Nov 30, 2010)

Chris Mullin - Decline & Fall.  2nd volume of his political diaries.  Not enjoying it as much as the first one, but a very interesting insight into the last days of new labour nonetheless


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 1, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> I think you probably would. I think it helped that I read a book from the other members points of view before hand, it gives a bit of an insight to his odd rambling, plus it highlights when he is probably lying / just plain making weird shit up.


 
am gonna buy it.


----------



## waylon (Dec 1, 2010)

Kieron Smith, Boy by James Kelman. You simply can't whack a bit of Kelmo.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 2, 2010)

Cheesypoof said:


> am gonna buy it.


 
Just go to the library.


----------



## MissAlice (Dec 6, 2010)

1984. It's taking a while as it only gets a look in when I'm not procrastinating or working.


----------



## mrkikiet (Dec 6, 2010)

London Belongs to Me by Northern Collins

Lights out for the territory by Iain Sinclair

Having been in London for over 18 months I felt i should read some books about it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 6, 2010)

River of Gods- set in a near future india that has fragmented into regions politically. Good stuff so far, excellent use of the hindu pantheon as AI hunting programs


----------



## stupid dogbot (Dec 6, 2010)

I'm about to start the 12th Robert Jordan (ish) Wheel of Time novel.

Low hopes for the last two of the series, tbh, after his death and the ghost writing, but we'll see....


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 6, 2010)

history of the world in 100 objects - fascinating stuff


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 6, 2010)

stupid dogbot said:


> I'm about to start the 12th Robert Jordan (ish) Wheel of Time novel.
> 
> Low hopes for the last two of the series, tbh, after his death and the ghost writing, but we'll see....


 
I've got the Gathering Storm for christmas if my hinting has worked. Lets hope the new guy keeps with the strange bdsm subtext Jordan so loved..


----------



## rollinder (Dec 6, 2010)

Sean Egan - Jimi Hendrix and the Making of Are You Experienced.

The intro early biography leading up to the formation of The Jimi Hendrix Experience is a bit dry but it gets much better exploring the recording & influence of the album. Good use of contradictory quotes (nobody who was there seems to know exactly which London club (or which day) Jimi got talent spotted at)


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Dec 6, 2010)

waylon said:


> Kieron Smith, Boy by James Kelman. You simply can't whack a bit of Kelmo.


Indeed, picked up a copy of The Busconductor Hines for 30p from local MIND shop last week and very much looking forward to enjoying it shortly.


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 7, 2010)

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.

The first Neil Gaiman I've read. Lent to me by a friend who thought I'd enjoy it - he was right


----------



## jakethesnake (Dec 8, 2010)

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler (again)... brilliant!


----------



## Rollem (Dec 8, 2010)

One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, by whats-his-face...


----------



## stupid dogbot (Dec 8, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> I've got the Gathering Storm for christmas if my hinting has worked. Lets hope the new guy keeps with the strange bdsm subtext Jordan so loved..


 
I've just slogged my way through the last 11... it's been hard work with the drop off in the middle this time, but they pickup again around #9.

I just want to know the end, tbh...



Spoiler: stuff



Does he die and live again? How? Does he save the world and break it, what happens to the girls, the tower, Matt and his Empress... etc etc etc etc??


----------



## starfish (Dec 8, 2010)

Rollem said:


> One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, by whats-his-face...


 
I really liked that.


----------



## Corax (Dec 8, 2010)

BoatieBird said:


> Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.
> 
> The first Neil Gaiman I've read. Lent to me by a friend who thought I'd enjoy it - he was right


 
I've read Neverwhere and American Gods recently.  Both were really well written and thoroughly enjoyable.  I get the feeling a missed a fair amount in American Gods by not paying enough attention so might give it a re-read at some point.

Good Omens is great too, or at least I thought so when I read it when I was 13ish.  Very different though - it's a collaboration with Terry Pratchett.


----------



## vauxhallmum (Dec 9, 2010)

Just finished Ghost Light by Joseph O'Connor. I loved Star of The Sea and Redemption Road but this one was rubbish. An A'level thesis on JM Synge


----------



## Corax (Dec 9, 2010)

I finished the Booker prize nominated Darkmans by Nicola Barker yesterday.  All 800 odd pages.

What a fucking waste of time.  It's a load of meaningless tripe.  I wondered if it was just me, but many reviewers concur it seems.

Just 800 and something pages of bollocks.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 10, 2010)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Just go to the library.



no !!! that involves queuing/ signing documents/ proof of address that stuff= deathly pain.  

i am also likely to lose/damage/ spill wine on it, so ALWAYS buy books (also tend to refer to a book again and again after reading it, so keep all books I read)


----------



## Blagsta (Dec 10, 2010)

David Harvey - The Enigma of Capital


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Dec 13, 2010)

just finished bedroom secrets of the master chefs by irvine welsh, i love irvine welsh and he got slated for this book but i cant understand why.


----------



## feyr (Dec 14, 2010)

Rollem said:


> One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, by whats-his-face...



i liked that too . All fun and games till someone loses an eye was good too

i have just finished reading two for sorrow by Nicola Upson  and am in the process of deciding if i want to read a james patterson novel or Fragile things by Neil Gaimain


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 14, 2010)

Barrack Obama - Dreams from my Father. Just started this morning; like it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 14, 2010)

ilovebush&blair said:


> just finished bedroom secrets of the master chefs by irvine welsh, i love irvine welsh and he got slated for this book but i cant understand why.


 
after trainspotting, filth and porno it was a nosedive back to the sort of woeful quality seen in 'e is for ecstasy'.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Dec 14, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> after trainspotting, filth and porno it was a nosedive back to the sort of woeful quality seen in 'e is for ecstasy'.


 
i thought it was way better than filth but not as good as marlboro stork nightmares or glue. havent read ecstasy what is that one like?


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 14, 2010)

I enjoyed it, it is three short stories. Not as good as filth imo.


----------



## kropotkin (Dec 14, 2010)

Just finished "The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver, which was good.

Now having a scifi interlude with "The Dreaming Void" by Peter F. Hamilton


Can anyone recommend some historical fiction with a revolutionary bent like (alternative history) "Resurrections from the Dustbin of History", or Italo-groupwrite "Q"?


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Dec 14, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> I enjoyed it, it is three short stories. Not as good as filth imo.


 
what did you like so much about filth? have you read marlboro stork nightmares or crime?


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 14, 2010)

The relentless sick bastadry of the main character. I've not read MSN. Acid House is another short story one you might like, was also adapted into a shoestring budget short film.


----------



## nuffsaid (Dec 14, 2010)

kropotkin said:


> Just finished "The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver, which was good.
> 
> Now having a scifi interlude with "The Dreaming Void" by Peter F. Hamilton
> 
> ...



Read 'Fatherland' by John Harris for an alternate history where the nazis won the war and made peace with the US. It takes place in the 60s when a mid-ranking ss officer starts to ponder what happened to the Jews, very good. They made arubbish film of it with Rutger Hauer in. 

What's 'Dreaming Void' like? I'm currently reading 'Crpytonomicon' by Neal Stephenson, a weighty tome at 900 pages that I've only just started but its all about code-breakers of WW2 and some linkage to a plot in the present I haven't fathomed yet.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Dec 14, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> The relentless sick bastadry of the main character. I've not read MSN. Acid House is another short story one you might like, was also adapted into a shoestring budget short film.


 
yeah ive seen the film and  read some of the book. i got most of irvine welsh's books off ebay for £8 ages ago it was like this super deal and the postage cost more than 8 quid the seller was well pissed off. i wanted to read all the novels before i read the short stories and i wanted to read them in order but i skipped porno and read bedroom secrets. glue is really good have you read that? ive just started reading Grits by Niall Griffiths


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 14, 2010)

donkeys ago, it deals with some of the characters seen in trainspotting and porno but in thier growing up years iirc. Quite good, some damning stuff about the failure of the schemes etc.


----------



## TruXta (Dec 14, 2010)

Currently enjoying M. John Harrison's Nova Swing. I read his novel Light a year or two ago and really liked it. This one's solidly in the Roadside Picnic/Stalker genre, at least for the first 50 pages or so that I've read. Good writing, good characters. Happy days.


----------



## kropotkin (Dec 14, 2010)

nuffsaid said:


> Read 'Fatherland' by John Harris for an alternate history where the nazis won the war and made peace with the US. It takes place in the 60s when a mid-ranking ss officer starts to ponder what happened to the Jews, very good. They made arubbish film of it with Rutger Hauer in.
> 
> What's 'Dreaming Void' like? I'm currently reading 'Crpytonomicon' by Neal Stephenson, a weighty tome at 900 pages that I've only just started but its all about code-breakers of WW2 and some linkage to a plot in the present I haven't fathomed yet.



Cheers.
Cryptonomicon is great- it was the first of his not-strictly-sci-fi scifi books, and the beginning of his terribly edited Massive Tome series. The Baroque cycle have some of the same characters as Cryptonomicon.

I'm only 50 or so pages into the Dreaming Void so far- but it looks like it will have some grandiose speculative technology in it, a guilty pleasure for the holiday season!


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 14, 2010)

jer said:


> Barrack Obama - Dreams from my Father. Just started this morning; like it.



Been meaning to read this - will in 2011. 

Finished *'God is not great' *which is marvellous. Im very glad I read this and the case against religion is very strong. Christopher Hitchens deals with every religion under the sun including Buddhism - there's plenty of cynicism thrown in, and (religious scholars) say loads of mistakes, but he states his case brilliantly and eloquently. You feel as though he is your friend holding your hand, guiding you - and a wonderful friend at that.  I was diappointed that he didnt cover the phenomena of angels, the occult or apparitions, but he couldnt cover everything.

I particularly loved the last chapter which called for the need for a new enlightenment. He quotes philosopher Gotthold Lessing (no, me either), and I couldnt agree more:
‎'The true value of a man is not determined by his posession, supposed or real, of Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get to the Truth' 

Now I am reading *'Conversations with God, an uncommon dialogue' *by Neale Donald Walsche. So far, comm-ci- comm-ca.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 14, 2010)

just read a brilliant graphic novel called fun home by alison bechdel.
tis about her childhood, her closeted gay father and her own sexual awakening.
unexpectedly moving!


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 14, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> just read a brilliant graphic novel called fun home by alison bechdel.
> tis about her childhood, her closeted gay father and her own sexual awakening.
> unexpectedly moving!



its so great when you read an unexpectedly brilliant book, nice one.

The best book I have read this year which is utterly BRILLIANT is this:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.details.com/images/celebrities-entertainment/music-and-books/201010/Bizarro_washermouth_VSS.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/vip/profile/CaliCoyote/blog/page2.html&usg=__3TCZNc_S7nUdmDuQGXv993iltf0=&h=506&w=385&sz=41&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=hOJ6NXKqevf3iM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=68&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwasher%2Bmouth%2Bthe%2Bman%2Bwho%2Bwas%2Ba%2Bwashing%2Bmachine%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26biw%3D933%26bih%3D470%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=171&ei=DuAHTeqZIoqyhAehw-ztBw&oei=DuAHTeqZIoqyhAehw-ztBw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0&tx=39&ty=53


----------



## discokermit (Dec 14, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> just read a brilliant graphic novel called fun home by alison bechdel.
> tis about her childhood, her closeted gay father and her own sexual awakening.
> unexpectedly moving!


 
porno comics? haha!


----------



## discokermit (Dec 14, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> unexpectedly moving!


i bet it was! you get a twitch on? lol!


----------



## big eejit (Dec 17, 2010)

Just finished "The Underground Man" by Mick Jackson. It was so good that I started reading it again from the back when I finished it. Which you can do as it's in diary form.


----------



## belboid (Dec 17, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> just read a brilliant graphic novel called fun home by alison bechdel.
> tis about her childhood, her closeted gay father and her own sexual awakening.
> unexpectedly moving!


 
aah, the creator of the marvellous Bechdel Test.  It's good stuff it is


----------



## lopsidedbunny (Dec 17, 2010)

Some people have all the luck 'Christina Keeler' how come I never get to go to these sex parties... feels slightly miffed!


----------



## nastybobby (Dec 18, 2010)

Love All The People [Letters, Lyrics and Routines]- Bill Hicks

[Scared the top deck of the bus the other day when I laughed out loud at a routine where he's talking about the Rodney King Trial.]


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 18, 2010)

Have started 'Stuart, a life backwards' by Alexander Masters on the recommendation of sojourner ages ago on this thread. (its great so far,thank you soj)


----------



## andy2002 (Dec 19, 2010)

Just started *Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman*.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Dec 19, 2010)

Cheesypoof said:


> Have started 'Stuart, a life backwards' by Alexander Masters on the recommendation of sojourner ages ago on this thread. (its great so far,thank you soj)


that's a fantastic book. so very enjoyable.


----------



## Scaggs (Dec 21, 2010)

I think they did a dramatisation of that on Radio 4 a while back. Pretty upsetting stuff IIRC. 

I'm reading (struggling through) Ken Macleod's 'The Sky Road' at the moment. Doesn't help that I dropped it halfway to read Banks's latest culture novel and now I've forgotten who all the different factions are.


----------



## starfish (Dec 22, 2010)

Sadie When She Died by Ed McBain (another 87th Precinct novel)


----------



## little_legs (Dec 23, 2010)

I am reading _*Gilead*_ by Marylin Robinson. I’ve read Robinson’s _Home_, so some of you will know that Gilead is based around the same characters. Very moving. 

A couple of books I've read recently: 

_*The Secret River*_ by Kate Grenville. It’s a story about William Thornhill, a Londoner who ends up in Australia. Essentially, it’s a story about immigrants and their tragedy. Grenville’s writing is beautiful; despite the unfaltering positivism of the protagonist, a sense of loss and sadness never goes away. Heartbreaking and violent in places. Thornhill’s relationships with his children (especially Dick) will make you cry. 6/10

_*Generation A*_ by Douglas Coupland. A little bit slow in the beginning; The characters deliver a few funny & acerbic punch lines; Coupland skilfully takes the piss out of Abercrombie & Fitch, Ikea, Monsanto. 5/10

_*The Human Stain*_ by Philip Roth. My first Roth book.  His irony made me feel a bit uneasy. The story is essentially a ‘fuck you’ to the _homo sapiens_, who are capable of irrepressible hatred. The brilliant professor Silk, who happens to be the Classics professor, ends up being subjected to humiliation and betrayal by the very _freedom_ he so relentlessly pursued. I did not really get Roth’s obsession with the crows. And no way would a Russian Jew be named _Silberzweig_. I had no idea who Matthew Henson, Dr. Chalres Drew, and Tenzing Norgay were, but now I do! 5/10

Can anyone recommend another Roth book? Thank you.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 23, 2010)

geoff dyer - yoga for people who can't be bothered to do it - cracking read!


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 23, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> geoff dyer - yoga for people who can't be bothered to do it - cracking read!



hehe! that sounds intriguing - i actually love yoga (bikram) but will be checkin that book out!


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 24, 2010)

BoatieBird said:


> Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.
> 
> The first Neil Gaiman I've read. Lent to me by a friend who thought I'd enjoy it - he was right



I thoroughly enjoyed this so I'll definitely be looking out some other Neil Gaiman books soon.
All the talk of Irvine Welsh on here reminded me that I had _Crime _sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read so I've just started on that.


----------



## mentalchik (Dec 27, 2010)

Surface Detail - Iain M Banks


----------



## chazegee (Dec 29, 2010)

Keith's book and Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie.


----------



## andy2002 (Dec 29, 2010)

ilovebush&blair said:


> just finished bedroom secrets of the master chefs by irvine welsh, i love irvine welsh and he got slated for this book but i cant understand why.


 
I liked it a lot too – not perfect by any means but a really interesting modern mash-up of ideas explored in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and Portrait Of Dorian Gray. I know Welsh books tend to plough a similar furrow (booze, drugs, sex, dog killing, misogyny, ultra-violence etc) but I don't think he deserves half the shit he gets from critics. I've read a lot of his books and never read anything I'd class as genuinely poor by him. I even enjoyed stuff like Porno and Filth.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Dec 29, 2010)

just read ham on rye by charles bukowski well i have the last chapter to read in a bit, but its so depressing and henry chinaski is such a fucking dick i dont get why he always gets drunk and attacks his friends or starts fights for no reason. chose to read this book over xmas and it just made me depressed never gonna read another bukowski book ever again.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Dec 29, 2010)

andy2002 said:


> I liked it a lot too – not perfect by any means but a really interesting modern mash-up of ideas explored in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and Portrait Of Dorian Gray. I know Welsh books tend to plough a similar furrow (booze, drugs, sex, dog killing, misogyny, ultra-violence etc) but I don't think he deserves half the shit he gets from critics. I've read a lot of his books and never read anything I'd class as genuinely poor by him. I even enjoyed stuff like Porno and Filth.


 
there wasnt a dog killing in bedroom secrets which was a bit of a dissapointment i thought he killed a dog in every book.


----------



## feyr (Dec 29, 2010)

king death by toby litt.


----------



## andy2002 (Dec 30, 2010)

Just a few pages into *The Colour Of Magic* – my first *Terry Pratchett* novel.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Dec 30, 2010)

ilovebush&blair said:


> just read ham on rye by charles bukowski well i have the last chapter to read in a bit, but its so depressing and henry chinaski is such a fucking dick i dont get why he always gets drunk and attacks his friends or starts fights for no reason. chose to read this book over xmas and it just made me depressed never gonna read another bukowski book ever again.


i think you're missing something. it's more or less an account of bukowski's upbringing, it has some brilliant dark humour about the outsider, and it's an exercise in terse, tense and a quite wonderful bunch of reminiscences imo.


----------



## Pip (Dec 31, 2010)

Tidied my room to impress a boy and managed to lose my copy of De Profundis    so moved on to Restoration London.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 31, 2010)

andy2002 said:


> Just a few pages into *The Colour Of Magic* – my first *Terry Pratchett* novel.


 
my first too. it was also my last.


----------



## wtfftw (Dec 31, 2010)

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I've read it before but aaaaaages ago.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Dec 31, 2010)

ilovebush&blair said:


> just read ham on rye by charles bukowski well i have the last chapter to read in a bit, but its so depressing and henry chinaski is such a fucking dick i dont get why he always gets drunk and attacks his friends or starts fights for no reason. chose to read this book over xmas and it just made me depressed never gonna read another bukowski book ever again.


 
I've been reading Bukowski over xmas too, Notes of a Dirty Old Man. A collection of articles. The  very first page opens with one of Chinaki's alcohol  fuelled scraps,some dispute over gambling that he can't quite remember. I love the violence,drinking and sex in these stories, it always takes me an age to get to the end of anything by Bukowski because each paragraph is  such genius that I just have to reread and reread.


----------



## PETER.PHIL (Dec 31, 2010)

I agree a little bit on the vampire bit being a little over used now and that time where he doesn't is very Twilight-Edward. There are a couple things I would fix grammatically, all in all-I would read it anyways-played out idea or not  your descriptive writing is pretty good,.


----------



## andy2002 (Dec 31, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> my first too. it was also my last.


 
Not a fan, Orang? It's nothing special but I'm quite enjoying it.


----------



## isvicthere? (Jan 2, 2011)

"Life" by Keith Richards


----------



## kropotkin (Jan 3, 2011)

kropotkin said:


> Just finished "The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver, which was good.
> 
> Now having a scifi interlude with "The Dreaming Void" by Peter F. Hamilton
> 
> ...




BUMP

Finished "The dreaming Void" last night, now 15% (thanks, Kindle) through "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"
*Can anyone recommend some historical fiction with a revolutionary bent like (alternative history) "Resurrections from the Dustbin of History", or Italo-groupwrite "Q"?*
Or indeed any novels about European (east or west)  partisans in WW2? I liked "If not now, when?" by Primo Levi, if that helps...


----------



## starfish (Jan 4, 2011)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. Have read the first 2, felt Dragon Tatoo dragged on a bit but really got into Played with Fire after a slow start.


----------



## Part 2 (Jan 4, 2011)

I've not read a book in ages so I picked up Hells Angel, The life and times of Sonny Barger. It's pretty shit really.


----------



## ringo (Jan 5, 2011)

Cannery Row - John Steinbeck

Almost finished it in one sitting but had to put it down to sort the nippers out so looking forward to the end tonight.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jan 5, 2011)

Chip Barm said:


> I've not read a book in ages so I picked up Hells Angel, The life and times of Sonny Barger. It's pretty shit really.


 
should have read hunter s thompson's book hells angels.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 5, 2011)

Finished Jo Nesbo's enjoyable "The Redeemer" while in Yorkshire and am now reading the excellent "Field Grey" Philip Kerr's latest Bernie Gunther novel


----------



## Part 2 (Jan 5, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> should have read hunter s thompson's book hells angels.


 
Read that years ago. He doesn't get a good write up in Barger's book.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 5, 2011)

I'm reading Vintage Stuff by tom sharpe- the usual farce that slowly builds. I'd forgotten how upper middle england he writes.


----------



## belboid (Jan 5, 2011)

just starting Ian Banks' _Transition_.

Will he manage his first decent ending for ten years or so?  We shall see.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jan 6, 2011)

just read crime by irvine welsh it was an amazing book and he is a genius.


----------



## fen_boy (Jan 7, 2011)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Holmes is getting on my tits, the smart arsed fop.


----------



## marty21 (Jan 7, 2011)

Kraken - China Mieville


----------



## andy2002 (Jan 7, 2011)

marty21 said:


> Kraken - China Mieville


 
It goes on a bit but it's great fun.

I've just started *The Final Programme* – my first *Michael Moorcock* novel.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 7, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> just read crime by irvine welsh it was an amazing book and he is a genius.



I've just finished this and I have to agree, I think I'm going to have to buy Bedroom Secrets when I get paid.

Now I'm reading The Minotaur by Barbara Vine.


----------



## Paul Russell (Jan 7, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> geoff dyer - yoga for people who can't be bothered to do it - cracking read!



Yes, it's great, especially the Amsterdam chapter. I love books of short stories, maybe it's something to do with my attention span though...

@cheesypoof - although there's nothing about yoga in it. A collection of travel essays really.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jan 7, 2011)

BoatieBird said:


> I've just finished this and I have to agree, I think I'm going to have to buy Bedroom Secrets when I get paid.
> 
> Now I'm reading The Minotaur by Barbara Vine.


 
bedroom secrets is real good, i only have porno left to read and then ive read all his novels. still got all his short story collections to read. skagboys wont be out until 2012 

I started the book of dave last night by will self, never read any will self before and so far its pretty good.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 8, 2011)

I'm making yet another attempt to read _this is serbia calling_. Quite why i want to read a book about the Belgrade underground radio scene in the 1990s is beyond me. I dont know why i bought the book in the first place.

I've tried it  few times before but have never got past page 10.  But this time..


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 8, 2011)

Paul Russell said:


> Yes, it's great, especially the Amsterdam chapter. I love books of short stories, maybe it's something to do with my attention span though...
> 
> @cheesypoof - although there's nothing about yoga in it. A collection of travel essays really.


 
he is a fantastic writer but eventually my admiration was overwhelmed by the fact of him being a massive bellend.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jan 8, 2011)

I'm reading The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. It's quite good,some of it is quite densely written though; it does require attention.
Dealing with anarchism, espionage and terrorism but in a quite amusing way. I think I'm going to like this one.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 8, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> just read ham on rye by charles bukowski well i have the last chapter to read in a bit, but its so depressing and henry chinaski is such a fucking dick i dont get why he always gets drunk and attacks his friends or starts fights for no reason. chose to read this book over xmas and it just made me depressed never gonna read another bukowski book ever again.



Ham on Rye is definitely one I will be reading this year. Strange, I bet I wont see it that way. I didnt think Chinaski was a dick in 'Women'


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 8, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm reading Vintage Stuff by tom sharpe- the usual farce that slowly builds. I'd forgotten how upper middle england he writes.



I read 'Wilt' last year, which regularly features on 'funniest boooks of all time' lists. It was good, but I didnt find it that funny.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 8, 2011)

Paul Russell said:


> @cheesypoof - although there's nothing about yoga in it. .



Um, i guessed that


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 8, 2011)

Just finished reading Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts, which was a cracking read, sci-fi tale about a russian sci-fi writer cum translator who is required to participate in co-writing an alien invasion tale with 5 other authors by Uncle Joe, then told to forget that it's ever happened. Life subsequently becomes very peculiar in a way that really does draw you in, make you laugh at times and then ties it all up brilliantly at the end. recommended.

Now deciding whether to start on Hollywood by Chuck Bukowski or The Place of Dead Roads by Bill Burroughs, the pair of which i picked up for a fiver this avvie.


----------



## colbhoy (Jan 9, 2011)

Right Ho, Jeeves by P G Wodehouse. Perfect for this cold and depressing time of year.


----------



## ivebeenhigh (Jan 9, 2011)

Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in Its Downfall by Luke Haines.  It's a fun read.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 9, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> Right Ho, Jeeves by P G Wodehouse. Perfect for this cold and depressing time of year.



Its brilliant and extremely funny


----------



## waylon (Jan 10, 2011)

ringo said:


> Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
> 
> Almost finished it in one sitting but had to put it down to sort the nippers out so looking forward to the end tonight.



I've read that, I'm not sure about Steinbeck, still I did enjoy it though and that's what counts, Mack & the boys n that.

I'm currently halfway through Dogboy by Eva Hornung. Fuckin shit hot.


----------



## The Octagon (Jan 10, 2011)

Just finished Use Of Weapons (Iain M. Banks), feel like I've been punched in the stomach 

I think I need to read it again now, I may have skimmed some important things....

Next up is Excession, which people seem to like whenever Banks' work is discussed, so looking forward to it.


----------



## Badgers (Jan 10, 2011)

Out of the Ordinary by Jon Ronson 

It is harmless reading on the bus


----------



## tastebud (Jan 10, 2011)

Am reading 'My sister's keeper' by Jodi Picoult, and enjoying!


----------



## girasol (Jan 10, 2011)

I started *'You are not a gadget' by Jaron Lanier* and what a good read it is!  

Anyone working in the computer software/IT field would well to read it.  Not sure if non-techies would get all of it, but it might be worth a try too!  Fascinating stuff, including his views on technological singularity, which I'm glad to read that he has a similar distaste for is as I did!  Except I didn't know why I felt uncomfortable about it, until he put it into words for me...

I'm still at the beginning of it but I can already tell this will be a book I won't forget!  My mum bought for herself but as she found it too hard to follow she gave it to me


----------



## big eejit (Jan 10, 2011)

Just finished *Dark Matter* by* Michelle Paver*. Scary tale of a 1930s expedition to the 'haunting wilderness of the dark north'.

I've never read any of her stuff before but it's very good. Gripping story, well told. Fear and loneliness creep up on you as the dark time - 24 hour night - approaches. Gave it to my 14 yr old son who stayed up half the night to read it - he obviously scares less easily than I do.


----------



## Chris P Duck (Jan 10, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> ...am now reading the excellent "Field Grey" Philip Kerr's latest Bernie Gunther novel


Nice to know.. I read a Bernie Gunther novel a few weeks back and really enjoyed it ... I need to pop down my local Oxfam book shop to see if there is one in yet ..

In a sorta similar vein I'm reading *Alone In Berlin - Hans Fallada* which is which an incredible book... and a quick scan of the back cover reveals a quote from Philip Kerr '_An unrivaled and vivid portrait of life in wartime Berlin_' which it is and more.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 10, 2011)

Chris P Duck said:


> Nice to know.. I read a Bernie Gunther novel a few weeks back and really enjoyed it ... I need to pop down my local Oxfam book shop to see if there is one in yet ..
> 
> In a sorta similar vein I'm reading *Alone In Berlin - Hans Fallada* which is which an incredible book... and a quick scan of the back cover reveals a quote from Philip Kerr '_An unrivaled and vivid portrait of life in wartime Berlin_' which it is and more.


 
 Below is a list of all his Bernie Gunther novels. I've picked up "Alone in Berlin" a couple of times so would be interested to hear what you think as it is on my"to read" radar 

# Berlin Noir" "Bernie Gunther" trilogy

    * March Violets. London: Viking, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82431-3
    * The Pale Criminal. London: Viking, 1990. ISBN 0-670-82433-X
    * A German Requiem. London: Viking, 1991. ISBN 0-670-83516-1

# Later "Bernie Gunther" novels

    * The One From the Other. New York: Putnam, 2006. ISBN 978-0399152993
    * A Quiet Flame. London: Quercus, 2008. ISBN 978-1847243560
    * If The Dead Rise Not. London: Quercus, 2009. ISBN 978-1847249425
    * Field Grey. London: Quercus, 2010. ISBN 978-1849164122


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 10, 2011)

Chris P Duck said:


> Nice to know.. I read a Bernie Gunther novel a few weeks back and really enjoyed it ... I need to pop down my local Oxfam book shop to see if there is one in yet ..
> 
> In a sorta similar vein I'm reading *Alone In Berlin - Hans Fallada* which is which an incredible book... and a quick scan of the back cover reveals a quote from Philip Kerr '_An unrivaled and vivid portrait of life in wartime Berlin_' which it is and more.


i'm reading that too - great stuff!


----------



## Chris P Duck (Jan 10, 2011)

Had a quick look on Amazon for Phillip Kerr before you replied and a quick look to see which of the Bernie Gunther books I had, The One From the Other... I will pick up the others sometime. I have read other Philip Kerr books ages ago without realising he wrote the Bernie Gunther ones..

Alone in Berlin is just a very good book, easy to read even though the subject matter is saddening. It's like a mixture of the films 'Das Leben Des Anderen' (The Lives of Others) and 'Sophie Scholl -Die Letzen Tage' where ordinary german folk live in fear of the state but refuse to accept their lot.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 10, 2011)

waylon said:


> I'm currently halfway through Dogboy by Eva Hornung. Fuckin shit hot.



just looked it up - great reviews!


----------



## OneStrike (Jan 10, 2011)

The Collaborator - Gerald Seymour.  I chose to read this as i have a hard-on for Naples and it's underworld (and it was 50p in my local pub swap shop thing).  I am near the end and it is enjoyable enough, he has researched the area and history of the local mafia so props for that.  To be honest, the book is too long for what it is and there are areas of repetition, but if you have an interest in the subject matter and want a thriller to indulge yourself with, it's worth a go.


----------



## N_igma (Jan 10, 2011)

23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism - far too simplistic for my liking.


----------



## Badgers (Jan 11, 2011)

Just started reading Tales from the Perilous Realm by J. R. R. Tolkien which is so far very pleasing.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jan 11, 2011)

Hate: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party by William H. Schmaltz.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 11, 2011)

I'm re-reading a few of zipes essays on fairy tales and dipping in and out of an encyclopedia of magical creatures. Was amused to find a 'P'eng' giant bird because peng refers to top quality skunk in yoot circles.

Something of a proper book wasteland atm, need a good novel. Last night I was so stuck I went for a history 'Ireland since the famine' and was asleep in paragraphs.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jan 11, 2011)

Haven't been able to get into novel reading for ages.


----------



## big eejit (Jan 11, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> i'm reading that too - great stuff!


 
Letter in today's Guardian not impressed with Alone in Berlin. A morally compromised third-rate novel by a second-rate writer.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/11/alone-in-berlin-morally-compromised?INTCMP=SRCH


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 11, 2011)

big eejit said:


> Letter in today's Guardian not impressed with Alone in Berlin. A morally compromised third-rate novel by a second-rate writer.
> 
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/11/alone-in-berlin-morally-compromised?INTCMP=SRCH


That is a bit damning isn't it?


----------



## goldenecitrone (Jan 11, 2011)

big eejit said:


> Letter in today's Guardian not impressed with Alone in Berlin. A morally compromised third-rate novel by a second-rate writer.
> 
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/11/alone-in-berlin-morally-compromised?INTCMP=SRCH


 
Entartete Kunst?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 11, 2011)

i shall read both articles when i've finished the book, don't want to see any spoilers
i seem to have lost the book though, and it has a cheque in it.


----------



## belboid (Jan 12, 2011)

about halfway through _Transition_ now, and thoroughly enjoying it.

also dipping into a couple of other light reads, Captain Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, most amusing.

And the Leon Book of Naturally Fast Food, whicjh is just wonderfully sexy n delicious.


----------



## big eejit (Jan 12, 2011)

Recently read *Harbour* by *John Ajvide Lindqvist*, which I really enjoyed, tho it adds to the enjoyment if you have some knowledge of The Smiths! I thought it was a better story than Let the Right one in and much better than Handling the Undead which didn't really go anywhere for me.

Then today I finished *Revolutionary Road* by *Richard Yates*, which I picked up cos I saw it for £2 in HMV. Really enjoyed this - it's almost as old as me! Great study of the 'hopeless emptiness' at the heart of modern existence. Which is a lot more amusing than it sounds. Apparently it's recently been made into a film. Any good?


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 13, 2011)

Finished *'Stuart, A life backwards' *which was good, but didnt deserve all the fawning recommendations from Zadie Smith and so on on the cover. It is worth reading though, an interesting insight into homelessness.

Yesterday I started *The Picture of Dorian Gray *which I can't believe I never read. Well, its strange I had read many sentences from it before in popular culture, newspapers and the web. So far, its glorious, every sentence is magic and lives up to its reputation.


----------



## vauxhallmum (Jan 13, 2011)

big eejit said:


> Just finished *Dark Matter* by* Michelle Paver*. Scary tale of a 1930s expedition to the 'haunting wilderness of the dark north'.


 
That is right up my alley. going to order that now


----------



## jakethesnake (Jan 13, 2011)

I'm reading *Killing Johnny Fry by Walter Mosely. He usually writes sort of noir detective fiction so i was somewhat surprised to find that this one is pretty much non-stop sex. Its good tho' and horny as fuck!*


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jan 13, 2011)

Stalin ate my homework, Alexi Sayle

Ejoying it - a nice memoir piece with a slant on the old Eblok


----------



## Greebo (Jan 14, 2011)

"Eins, zwei, drei und du bist frei" (German version done by Thomas Stegers of "Three to get deadly" by Janet Evanovich).  A relatively quick enjoyable read, IMHO smoothly translated, and something to get me thinking in German again.


----------



## campanula (Jan 14, 2011)

Just finished 'The Slap' - tedious and something of a rip off, apart from the casual misogyny, hateful characters and  - the 'many points of view' model often is disappointing, especially when there is only a tenuous connection between characters and events.  Got a new Richard Powers (Prisoners Dilemma and he has a new book too - Miss Generosity)


----------



## Badgers (Jan 14, 2011)

The London Pigeon Wars, by Patrick Neate


----------



## Pjotr (Jan 14, 2011)

Wheel of Time - Towers of Midnight. Might recommend you to read a few of the books in the series though before you go to the last one  You will probably get stucked somewhere between book 7 and 11 since they totally suck but if you get past them you are rewarded!


----------



## PopCulture (Jan 14, 2011)

I just finished Terry McMillian's "Getting to Happy." I'm about to jump into Daniel Black's "Perfect Peace" and I really wanna read this new sci-fi thrilled called "Matched."


----------



## ringo (Jan 18, 2011)

campanula said:


> Just finished 'The Slap' - tedious and something of a rip off, apart from the casual misogyny, hateful characters and  - the 'many points of view' model often is disappointing, especially when there is only a tenuous connection between characters and events.  Got a new Richard Powers (Prisoners Dilemma and he has a new book too - Miss Generosity)


 
I picked that up but then haven't felt any urge to read it. Not sure I'll bother.


----------



## marty21 (Jan 18, 2011)

South The Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition - Ernest Shackleton

got it free on the Kindle - it's gripping - I've read a few accounts before, this is in his own words - amazing story of survival


----------



## discokermit (Jan 18, 2011)

marty21 said:


> South The Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition - Ernest Shackleton
> 
> got it free on the Kindle - it's gripping - I've read a few accounts before, this is in his own words - amazing story of survival


 
monday - walked around a bit, sat in tent, very cold.




sounds shit.


----------



## marty21 (Jan 18, 2011)

discokermit said:


> monday - walked around a bit, sat in tent, very cold.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



they were stuck on an iceberg for several months - so there's lots of stuff about eating penguins and seals - their ship got busted up by the iceberg, so they had to stay on the berg til it melted enough to allow their lifeboats to get to the nearest land which was uninhabited, then 5 of them sailed 800 miles to South Georgia and spent 3 days climbing mountains and getting over glaciers to get to the Whaling station - then they had to rescue 3 from the other side of South Georgia and get back to the Island where the rest of the crew (about 20 men) had been stuck for several months 

but yes, it was a bit cold and that


----------



## Santino (Jan 18, 2011)

Dune, because DotCommunist told me to.


----------



## belboid (Jan 18, 2011)

belboid said:


> Iain Banks' _Transition_. Will he manage his first decent ending for ten years or so?  We shall see.


 
hmmm, not entirely.  Better than the last few tho, and the epilogue bit is nicely done.  All in all well worth a read.  If you like that kind of thing.


Can't decide now between Brick's Depresso (or how I learned to stop worrying and embrace being bonkers!), or John Waters' Role Models.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 18, 2011)

Santino said:


> Dune, because DotCommunist told me to.


 
Finally. 

I'm re-reading a copy of IA Esselmonts Return of The Crimson Guard, his second book in the Malazan world. Annoyed to find a massive 200 page misprint of repeated text and remembered why I hadn't re-read the bastard for a year.


----------



## machine cat (Jan 18, 2011)

Santino said:


> Dune, because DotCommunist told me to.


 
Brilliant book


----------



## Santino (Jan 18, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Finally.
> 
> I'm re-reading a copy of IA Esselmonts Return of The Crimson Guard, his second book in the Malazan world. Annoyed to find a massive 200 page misprint of repeated text and remembered why I hadn't re-read the bastard for a year.


 
You have to read The Confusion now. That was the deal.


----------



## andy2002 (Jan 18, 2011)

*Stories* - a book of short stories edited by *Neil Gaiman and Al Sarratonio*. Contributors include Roddy Doyle, Chuck Palahniuk, Michael Moorcock, Joe Hill, Joyce Carol Oates, Joanne Harris, Walter Mosley, Jodi Picoult, Peter Straub and Lawrence Block. There are also contributions from Gaiman and Sarratonio themselves. I'm only a few stories in but it's all good stuff so far, especially Gaiman and Doyle's stories.


----------



## machine cat (Jan 18, 2011)

I started Banks' 'State of the Art' this morning. Really loved 'A Gift From the Culture' and 'Road of Skulls'. Just about to start Piece and looking forward to the novella.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 19, 2011)

finished hollywood by bukowski, which was enjoyable but not as good as when he's on fire (altho interesting trying to guess who he's really writing about as its very faux-fiction from when barfly was filmed).

now onto the place of dead roads by burroughs which is pretty bonkers but beautifully imaginative so far. can't plough through it, very abstract and obtuse.


----------



## big eejit (Jan 20, 2011)

marty21 said:


> South The Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition - Ernest Shackleton
> 
> got it free on the Kindle - it's gripping - I've read a few accounts before, this is in his own words - amazing story of survival


 
Last week I read *The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge* which is an account of Scott's doomed expedition told by different members of the expedition, inc Scott himself. There are a couple of scathing references to Shackleton in it, tho most anger is reserved for the treachorous Norwegian, Amundsen.

Today just finished *Macbeth*. Haven't read a play for years, and probably never read one outside of school / university. 

I'd forgotten how fast moving Macbeth is. <spoiler alert!> One minute he's the hero of the day, next he's murdered Duncan in his bed! Then Macduff's chopped his head off!


----------



## Cat Baloo (Jan 20, 2011)

Just finished "Ruling Your World" by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and have started "Shambhala, the Sacred Path of the Warrior" by Trungpa Rinpoche.  Have a long list of more to get thru.  Brushing up on the Dharma as I am going on retreat this Spring.

Also still plowing thru Fieldings "Tom Jones."  Don't know why it is taking me so long as I find his satire laugh out loud funny. Must be the 18th century grammar and syntax.

^..^


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jan 22, 2011)

just finished the book of dave by will self loved it going to read more will self.


----------



## waylon (Jan 23, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> finished hollywood by bukowski, which was enjoyable but not as good as when he's on fire (altho interesting trying to guess who he's really writing about as its very faux-fiction from when barfly was filmed).
> 
> now onto the place of dead roads by burroughs which is pretty bonkers but beautifully imaginative so far. can't plough through it, very abstract and obtuse.



Anything by Bukowski's worth a look, even when not firing on all cylinders he still pisses on most. I never managed to get into Burroughs, I find his style to be something approaching unreadable - I wanted to like him but can't seem to. When it comes to literary bagheads, Trocchi's my man.

Just finished this bangin book called Dogboy by Eva Hornung. It's set in contemporary Moscow and is about this abandoned kid who falls in with a pack of feral dogs. It's better than I'm makin it sound, and the last quarter is not far short of magnificent.


----------



## waylon (Jan 23, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> just finished the book of dave by will self loved it going to read more will self.



He's alright, but you've got to be in the mood for the cunt, and have a dictionary to hand - Although TBF, the obscure words he uses tend to be repeated throughout his work - See _epicine_  and_etoliated._ 

Still, I enjoyed his novel(la?) Cock and Bull immensely & My Idea Of Fun as well.


----------



## Part 2 (Jan 23, 2011)

I'm reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists after the recent thread. Had it sat there for ages, imagined it would be much more heavy and hard going than it is, especially having only read one book in the last 9 months.


----------



## machine cat (Jan 23, 2011)

The Running Man


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jan 23, 2011)

waylon said:


> He's alright, but you've got to be in the mood for the cunt, and have a dictionary to hand - Although TBF, the obscure words he uses tend to be repeated throughout his work - See _epicine_  and_etoliated._
> 
> Still, I enjoyed his novel(la?) Cock and Bull immensely & My Idea Of Fun as well.


 
I'm reading my idea of fun at the moment. read polaroids from the dead by douglas coupland yesterday Part One: Polaroids from the Dead and Part Two: Portraits of People and Places were pretty good but the third part Brentwood Notebook was so boring.


----------



## waylon (Jan 23, 2011)

drcarnage said:


> The Running Man


 
The Running Man's bangin, if it's the Steven King "Bachman Books" effort I'm thinking of. That cunt, along with Sven Hassel, James Herbert and Shaun Hutson, got me into reading.


----------



## waylon (Jan 23, 2011)

Chip Barm said:


> I'm reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists after the recent thread. Had it sat there for ages, imagined it would be much more heavy and hard going than it is, especially having only read one book in the last 9 months.


 
You ever read Children Of The Dead End by Patrick McGill or Child Of The Jago by Arthur Morrison?


----------



## Part 2 (Jan 23, 2011)

As I say, I'm not a great reader. Are they worth a look then?


----------



## waylon (Jan 23, 2011)

I'd give the fuckerz a go.


----------



## Mikey77 (Jan 24, 2011)

Conversations with God by Neal Donald Walsch.


----------



## chazegee (Jan 24, 2011)

Great Expectations. Amazingly readable for an old one.


----------



## machine cat (Jan 24, 2011)

waylon said:


> The Running Man's bangin, if it's the Steven King "Bachman Books" effort I'm thinking of. That cunt, along with Sven Hassel, James Herbert and Shaun Hutson, got me into reading.


 
It is the one you're thinking about. Fucking loving it so far


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 24, 2011)

Just started John Connolly's "The Whisperers" - big fan of his Charlie Parker books


----------



## boing! (Jan 24, 2011)

Just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Some nice ideas and moments of brilliance, but I got more and more annoyed by it as it went on. Too many pictures and typography gimmicks that eventually just distracted from the whole thing.


----------



## Part 2 (Jan 24, 2011)

waylon said:


> I'd give the fuckerz a go.


 
Cheers for the heads up then, had a read of some reviews and put them on my birthday list.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 25, 2011)

boing! said:


> Just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Some nice ideas and moments of brilliance, but I got more and more annoyed by it as it went on. Too many pictures and typography gimmicks that eventually just distracted from the whole thing.


 

i gave up with it half way as it was getting on my nerves. He's a good writer and probably meant for it to be annoying.

currently reading _A fraction of the whole_ by Steve Toltz.  It's got a stereotypical matey aussie style but is quite entertaining all the same.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 25, 2011)

_A. Reynolds_ - *Revelation Space*. Read Redemption Ark over Xmas, and after finishing it realised it was the middle part of a trilogy  Ah well, good hardcore SF either way.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 26, 2011)

Patrick Kavanagh's _The Green Fool_.

The stony grey soil etc...


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 26, 2011)

reading a lolsome Readers Digest condensed version of a Ken Follett story about a pre ww1 treaty between UK and Russia. It has an anarchist with bombs in it and displays all of Kens cheap, hammy melodrama.


----------



## stupid dogbot (Jan 26, 2011)

Pjotr said:


> Wheel of Time - Towers of Midnight. Might recommend you to read a few of the books in the series though before you go to the last one  You will probably get stucked somewhere between book 7 and 11 since they totally suck but if you get past them you are rewarded!


 
Just finished the two Sanderson ones and _loved_ them. 

So, now reading the first of his own books, _Mistborn: The Final Empire_.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 26, 2011)

TruXta said:


> _A. Reynolds_ - *Revelation Space*. Read Redemption Ark over Xmas, and after finishing it realised it was the middle part of a trilogy  Ah well, good hardcore SF either way.


 
Exactly where I started the Rev. Space books. Shiny trade paperback with an embossed spaceship on the cover. They are _relatively_ standalone anyway. Try Chasm City next, it has a noirish feel and is set in pos-melding plague Yellowstone society


----------



## TruXta (Jan 26, 2011)

BOSSED spaceships on covers has a man in shivers. I think I'll finish the trilogy first if only because I've borrowed the first and last without really asking


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 26, 2011)

stupid dogbot said:


> *Just finished the two Sanderson ones* and _loved_ them.
> 
> So, now reading the first of his own books, _Mistborn: The Final Empire_.


 
how true are they to prose style,better or worse? Jordan could plod at times. I am considering buying as father christmas didn't come through.


----------



## stupid dogbot (Jan 26, 2011)

He's really good. It may have been that I knew the characters so well, and that I was desperate to get on with the story... but I absolutely _ripped_ through them, and was really pleased that some of that plodding prose was gone. Ok, so there was an element of him ticking off a list of prophecies (if you know what I mean) and saying "right, done that, done _that_!", but I smiled and laughed more than at any other time in Jordan's books (possibly excepting a few Matt moments), and the way he's chosen to progress the storyline is spot on imo.

I don't think I could've hoped for a better hand taking over, honestly.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jan 26, 2011)

My Idea of Fun by Will Self, really impressed with this book so funny and disturbing.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 26, 2011)

Mikey77 said:


> Conversations with God by Neal Donald Walsch.



An interesting book. I read it, drunk over Christmas, loved it.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 26, 2011)

Having finished *'The Picture of Dorian Gray' *its hard to come down - Oscar Wilde is unbeatable

Now reading *'Life' by Keith Richards*, which is effortless, eloquent and beautiful, flying through it, I highly recommend, just (quint)essential.


----------



## starfish (Jan 27, 2011)

Lets Hear it for the Deaf Man, another Ed McBain 87th Precinct novel.


----------



## Jenerys (Jan 28, 2011)

Room by Emma Donoghue - completely unputdownable - will have to finish it tonight, having started it yesterday evening. Then it's back to finish Cloud Atlas.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 30, 2011)

Just finished "Pyongyang - A Journey in North Korea" by Guy Delisle.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jan 30, 2011)

jer said:


> Just finished "Pyongyang - A Journey in North Korea" by Guy Delisle.



You might like Siberia by Nikolai Maslov.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 31, 2011)

Finished Amnesia Moon and remambered why lethams endings piss me off. Moved onto a Peter Radcliff atobio about him smiting communist insurgents in some oil rich province and cussing andy mcnab as a pussy. Have now moved onto 'Warrior' a book I read when I was knee high. It's the story of a disparate science/military team who wake from cryo 500 years after total apocalypse and fail to survive the new fuedal/tribal world.


----------



## Psychonaut (Feb 1, 2011)

"the last wish" - Andrzej Sapkowski

1st of what looks set to be a great medieval/high-fantasy saga from poland (source material for 'the witcher' games) wish someone would hurry up and translate the rest..


----------



## ringo (Feb 1, 2011)

Complete Stories - Flannery O'Connor

Started with A Good Man is Hard to Find, what a great writer.


----------



## kalidarkone (Feb 2, 2011)

I'm reading 'Woman on the edge of time' by Marge Piercy-Its one of my favourite books ever!! This is the third time I have read it and it is still amazing.

It is set in the late 70's in New York and is about 'Connie' a mexican woman in her late 30's with a percived history of mental health issues. Connie has a tough life, she is very poor and anyone she has ever loved has died or been taken away. This is the story of her contact with people 300 years into the future and of her struggle to be free in her own time.

I want to live in the future world that is described by Marge Piercy!! Unfortunately it is way too idealistic to ever be a reality unless it was on a small scale.


----------



## ericjarvis (Feb 2, 2011)

Just coming to the end of What A Carve Up by Jonathan Coe (thanks orang utan). Absolutely brilliant. Serious politics AND some genuine LOL moments.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Feb 3, 2011)

kalidarkone said:


> I'm reading 'Woman on the edge of time' by Marge Piercy-Its one of my favourite books ever!! This is the third time I have read it and it is still amazing.
> 
> It is set in the late 70's in New York and is about 'Connie' a mexican woman in her late 30's with a percived history of mental health issues. Connie has a tough life, she is very poor and anyone she has ever loved has died or been taken away. This is the story of her contact with people 300 years into the future and of her struggle to be free in her own time.
> 
> I want to live in the future world that is described by Marge Piercy!! Unfortunately it is way too idealistic to ever be a reality unless it was on a small scale.


it's very good isn't it? 

damn, another one on the reading pile...

trust you're doing good, in the future and that


----------



## Ron Merlin (Feb 3, 2011)

Having been housebound (with bloody sciatica ) I've been getting through books at a rate of knots lately. Finished *Oblomov* by Goncharov - excellent take on the indolent Russian gentry. Oblomovitis!

Moved on to *Red Plenty *by Francis Spufford, about cybernetics, optimal planning and the bright, Soviet future that would ensue. Unusual and absolutely marvellous, I'd recommend this one. Anyone read it?

Now I'm tackling *Crime and Punishment *by Dostoevsky. Such a grubby portrayal of St Petersburg. Good so far, and he hasn't even done the deed yet.


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 3, 2011)

Ron Merlin said:


> Now I'm tackling *Crime and Punishment *by Dostoevsky. Such a grubby portrayal of St Petersburg. Good so far, and he hasn't even done the deed yet.


 
I'm having some minor surgery next week and I'll be off work for a week so I've lined up a stack of books to read.
This is at the top of the pile (a recommendation from Lizzieloo) 

I'm currently reading A Demon in my View by Ruth Rendell


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Feb 3, 2011)

Ron Merlin said:


> Having been housebound (with bloody sciatica ) I've been getting through books at a rate of knots lately. Finished *Oblomov* by Goncharov - excellent take on the indolent Russian gentry. Oblomovitis!



The name Oblomov was used as an insult among the radical intelligentsia (the sons rather than the fathers).


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## Ron Merlin (Feb 3, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> The name Oblomov was used as an insult among the radical intelligentsia (the sons rather than the fathers).


 
I bet. I know Lenin used it in a speech:
"Russia has made three revolutions, and still the Oblomovs have remained... and he must be washed, cleaned, pulled about, and flogged for a long time before any kind of sense will emerge."


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Feb 3, 2011)

Ron Merlin said:


> I bet. I know Lenin used it in a speech:
> 
> "Russia has made three revolutions, and still the Oblomovs have remained... and he must be washed, cleaned, pulled about, and flogged for a long time before any kind of sense will emerge."



Aye, he was making reference to the nineteenth-century critic Nikolai Dobrolyubov's review of Goncharov's novel, which amounted to an attack on indecisive members of the hand-wringing gentry.



> The word is - Oblomovism.
> 
> If I see now the landlord, talking about the rights of humanity and the need for personal development - I find in these first words that he is an Oblomov.
> 
> ...


----------



## october_lost (Feb 3, 2011)

Well into Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin, which is proving the best thing I have picked up for sometime.


----------



## Ron Merlin (Feb 4, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Aye, he was making reference to the nineteenth-century critic Nikolai Dobrolyubov's review of Goncharov's novel, which amounted to an attack on indecisive members of the hand-wringing gentry.



Ah, marvellous. I think my Russian's too rusty to make a lot of sense out of that site. I'll get Translate.ru on the case.

Nicholas Goodlove - great name!


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## Captain Hurrah (Feb 4, 2011)

Like Dimitry Pisarev, he died before he reached the age of thirty.  Another iconoclastic writer referenced by Lenin.


----------



## Voley (Feb 4, 2011)

"Walden" by Henry David Thoreau. Been meaning to read this for years.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 4, 2011)

I have just finished _Occult London_ by Merlin Coverly, and I also read _Psycogeography_ by him this week. I have also read _Insufferable Gaucho_ by Roberto Bolano.

I have also read all these fairly recently: 

_Late Victorian Holocausts_ by Mike Davis
_Our Band Could be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991_ by Michael Azerrad
_NATO's Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and terrorism in Western Europe_ by Daniele Ganser
_The Last Supper_ by Philip Willan
_The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris_ by Edmund White
_The Lily of the Valley_ by Honore de Balzac
_The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers_ by Richard McGregor
_Ingmar Bergman, Cinematic Philosophe_r by Irwin Singer
_Beyond a Boundary _by C.L.R. James
_Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the "Phenomenology of Spirit"_ by Alexandre Kojeve
_Mexican Dream: Or, the Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations_ by JMG Le Clezio
_Remainder_ by Tom McCarthy
_Walter Benjamin's Grave_ by Michael Taussig
_Small Hours of the Night: Selected Poems of Roque Dalton_ by Roque Dalton
_Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History_ by Susan Buck-Morss

and a quite a few more besides. when I say recently I mean the last few months or so.


----------



## stethoscope (Feb 4, 2011)

Hiya Dill!


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 4, 2011)

_yo_


----------



## killer b (Feb 7, 2011)

i'm reading tony allen's _a summer in the park_, a book about speakers corner... it's not the best written book, but it's very enjoyable so far.


----------



## october_lost (Feb 7, 2011)

Picked up Zola's _Germinal_ and very impressed by what I have read so far. The early prose isn't the easiest but it mentions the International Workingmens Association more than in passing


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 7, 2011)

october_lost said:


> Picked up Zola's _Germinal_ and very impressed by what I have read so far. The early prose isn't the easiest but it mentions the International Workingmens Association more than in passing



Always meant to read that. I think I will get it.


----------



## starfish (Feb 7, 2011)

Just started The Road.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Feb 7, 2011)

starfish said:


> Just started The Road.


 
have you read anything else by cormac mccarthy? ive just finished blood meridian.


----------



## starfish (Feb 7, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> have you read anything else by cormac mccarthy? ive just finished blood meridian.


 
No. If i like this i will though.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 7, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> have you read anything else by cormac mccarthy? ive just finished blood meridian.


 
Blood Meridian is a great book.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Feb 8, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> Blood Meridian is a great book.


 
yeah i loved it, ive also read all the pretty horses which was also good which is part of a trilogy. i would like to read the other two books the crossing and cities of the plain.


----------



## Citizen66 (Feb 8, 2011)

Currently reading The Wonga Coup and got Nothing to Envy lined up to read next after it was mentioned on a thread about North Korea.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 8, 2011)

Re Reading Reapers Gale, an Erickson high fantasy soaked in blood and filth.

House clearance  job to do on friday so all books are belong to me


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 8, 2011)

About to buy _Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World_ by Nicholas Shaxson.

I love reading about deep economic and political corruption.


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 8, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> yeah i loved it, ive also read all the pretty horses which was also good which is part of a trilogy. i would like to read the other two books the crossing and cities of the plain.


 
do. that trilogy is magnificent. he uses language beautifully


----------



## little_legs (Feb 9, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Aye, he was making reference to the nineteenth-century critic Nikolai Dobrolyubov's review of Goncharov's novel, which amounted to an attack on indecisive members of the hand-wringing gentry.


 
Some good writing in this Dobrolyubov piece, Ooora. Thanks for pointing this out. He rips into Oblomov cleverly by annihilating Onegin, Pechorin, Rudin and Beltov. Well done. We had to read Onegin and 'The Hero' when I was 10, so I could not help but fall in love with them. But Rudin and Bazarov from 'Fathers & Sons' came a year later, I could never understand the vapid bastards. We only had to read parts of 'Oblomov', thank God for that, Goncharov never suffered from having nothing to say. But we had to write a short essay about Oblomovschina.

Oh wait... your other reference is talking about Chernishevsky's Kirsanov. Yes! What a man.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Feb 9, 2011)

I read What Is to be Done? (_Chto delat_) a while ago, but didn't get all the references he was making and ideas he was putting across (the French utopian socialism stuff and also references to western European works of literature).  I also realise that I shouldn't project my own present-day prejudices and/or dislike and transpose the social attitudes and ideas in the novel.  After all, Chernyshevsky was a man of his class, and a class of its time (not now).  There is also, of course, the ascetic, self-denying revolutionary who is talked about more than he actually appears in the novel; that is, Rahkmetov the "bogatyr of the intelligentsia."

I have also very much loved getting to know about the real-life exploits of people who couldn't live up to it.  Sergei Gennadiyevich Nechaev!

Have you heard of a Russian Jacobin by the name of Pyotr Tkachev?  Very interesting, and even though I find his politics unattractive he was one of the most honest among the radical intelligentsia when it came to the gulf between themselves and the peasants (sneered at any romantic projections).  As a minor figure he wasn't treated well in Soviet histories, maybe hidden away considering also his un-Marxist views (there was even a sharpening of the quills and a letter-writing bitch fight between him and Engels), and the treatment he did receive was to discredit and sever links between the political tradition he represented and Lenin's Bolshevism.


----------



## little_legs (Feb 9, 2011)

Ok, I can sort of understand your issue with 'Chto Delat?'. I read it a while ago too, but I think overall I liked it. We were always told that the 'new people' are the revolutionaries, people who want to run everything by themselves, not to be ruled by a minority. I don't think we were given enough background information about the background, ideas and aspirations of the authors themselves, and the things we were told were always good. Doesn't mean they were right though. I haven't finished reading Pisarev's piece on Chto Delat' yet, maybe I'll get more ideas from it. 

No, I had no idea about Nechaev. He sounds like an uncontrollable hooligan a bit. And I don't think I've ever come across Tkachev. You are a yaschik s dragotsennostyami. I am going to work now, but I know whose names I'll be googling when I get to my desk!


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 9, 2011)

Back to the Culture for me, Iain M. Bank's "Matter"


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Feb 9, 2011)

little_legs said:


> Ok, I can sort of understand your issue with 'Chto Delat?'. I read it a while ago too, but I think overall I liked it. We were always told that the 'new people' are the revolutionaries, people who want to run everything by themselves, not to be ruled by a minority. I don't think we were given enough background information about the background, ideas and aspirations of the authors themselves, and the things we were told were always good. Doesn't mean they were right though. I haven't finished reading Pisarev's piece on Chto Delat' yet, maybe I'll get more ideas from it.
> 
> No, I had no idea about Nechaev. He sounds like an uncontrollable hooligan a bit. And I don't think I've ever come across Tkachev. You are a yaschik s dragotsennostyami. I am going to work now, but I know whose names I'll be googling when I get to my desk!



Spasibo, but I think I could only ever be a rough diamond to the people we're talking about.  One that needs a good polishing.

On Chernyshevsky, the Rational, Enlightened Men would steer the dumb masses along the correct path.   He was not separate from that tendency among the intelligentsia.  He felt that change needed to be made, that large popular unrest was coming, inevitable even, but that the peasants could only destroy.  They needed a guiding hand.  I don't like that arrogant self-regard, and reject the idea of selflessness in such endeavours.  But again with what I mentioned earlier, about my struggle to read it differently, and in an appropriate context.

You had no idea about Nechaev!?  I thought you were a fan of Dostoevsky?  Or do you mean not when you were at school in the Soviet Union.  Tkachev has been called the first Bolshevik, proto-Bolshevik, foreunner of Leninism etc, and whether those are accurate is still up for debate I suppose.  He was a brief associate of Nechaev's, both in Russia and exile in western Europe, and a drinking pal of Blanquists when he lived in Paris.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 9, 2011)

having a Jo Nesbo month - now on Nemesis, before that was The Redeemer, The Snowman, The Devil's Star - very enjoyable detective thrillers - all bought for the Kindle.


----------



## Dr Dolittle (Feb 9, 2011)

I've just started Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition, which I picked out more or less at random. Not sure that I'll be able to get into it tho' - I don't get on well with 'experimental' literature. It's very 1960s - I get the feeling you can appreciate it better if you're old to remember that time. I tried A Clockwork Orange a few years ago and returned it to the library after just the first chapter.

Recently finished Peter Ackroyd's 'Hawksmoor' - another very unconventional novel but at least it's got a plot. Some people (Amazon reviewers) have complained about the eighteenth century English he uses, but I like it - it's easy enough to read.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Feb 9, 2011)

just finished microserfs by douglas coupland, loved it infact i have loved everything he has written. ive only got player one left to read now, which i just got on ebay for £2.10.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Feb 9, 2011)

Dr Dolittle said:


> I've just started Ballard's *The Atrocity Exhibition*, which I picked out more or less at random. Not sure that I'll be able to get into it tho' - I don't get on well with 'experimental' literature. It's very 1960s - I get the feeling you can appreciate it better if you're old to remember that time. I tried A Clockwork Orange a few years ago and returned it to the library after just the first chapter.
> 
> Recently finished Peter Ackroyd's 'Hawksmoor' - another very unconventional novel but at least it's got a plot. Some people (Amazon reviewers) have complained about the eighteenth century English he uses, but I like it - it's easy enough to read.


 
i started watching the film of that the other day, couldnt get into it and switched it off. maybe anoter time i will watch it.


----------



## little_legs (Feb 9, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Spasibo, but I think I could only ever be a rough diamond to the people we're talking about.



Well, that makes me a full-on dura then... 



Captain Hurrah said:


> You had no idea about Nechaev!?  I thought you were a fan of Dostoevsky?  Or do you mean not when you were at school in the Soviet Union.  Tkachev has been called the first Bolshevik, proto-Bolshevik, foreunner of Leninism etc, and whether those are accurate is still up for debate I suppose.  He was a brief associate of Nechaev's, both in Russia and exile in western Europe, and a drinking pal of Blanquists when he lived in Paris.


 
They never mentioned Nechaev in my school. Poor man, demonised by the entire intelligence squad, icluding Dostoyevsky, damn it  I am a fan of Dostoyevsky (of course, now I have to actually read his 'Besy'), we only read 'Poor Folk', 'Crime & Punishment', and big chunks of the 'Brothers K'. I am just going through Tkachev's stuff, he calls Dostoyevsky _belles-lettres_ whoops... I've been pleasantly put to shame.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Feb 10, 2011)

little_legs said:


> Well, that makes me a full-on dura then...



Ah, so I take it you're a devushka, or baryshnya.



> They never mentioned Nechaev in my school. Poor man, demonised by the entire intelligence squad, icluding Dostoyevsky, damn it  I am a fan of Dostoyevsky (of course, now I have to actually read his 'Besy'), we only read 'Poor Folk', 'Crime & Punishment', and big chunks of the 'Brothers K'.



As for Nechaev, he's been puffed up with a reputation perhaps undeserved in some respects (he was a bullshitter), and he was always seen as a third-rate ideologue by better-educated members of the intelligentsia, people who only took his energy, tenacity and lack of scruples in opposition to  Tsarism seriously.  But seriously, in that they saw him as dangerous in that regard.  As for the crudity of his theoretical offerings, they pretty much ended up evolving into a "barracks communism."  

And then there's that episode with the drunken anarchist embarrassment, Bakunin, and the time he unsuccessfully tried to get into stuck-up Natalie Herzen's knickers.



> I am just going through Tkachev's stuff, he calls Dostoyevsky _belles-lettres_ whoops... I've been pleasantly put to shame.



As for Thkachev's politics, he belonged in part to the left-wing of the French revolutionary tradition, and its Jacobinism transposed onto the social terrain of Russia where the Slavophile and Westerniser debates had provided differing interpretations of the old peasant _obshchina_, and a closing window of opportunity to save the country from capitalism.  

He remained consistent with his Jacobinism even when it was unpopular with the romantic fools who "went to the people" for a rude awakening.  Mind you, things eventually went full circle.   

He had his own non-deterministic ideas on history, including what he called historical skips or _istorichesky skachky_, and the shared idea that Russia was uniquely placed to bypass capitalism.  It is impossible to claim influence in a linear fashion, like some Cold War intellectuals seeking to discredit socialism have done with Nechaev too for example, but it is fair to say that, in general terms, Lenin when theorising his own party of a new type, had been drawn into the Jacobin tradition of the revolutionary movement of which Tkachev was a small but significant part (only as as a writer and theorist with his journal _Nabat_), for their attitudes to capitalism and what it meant for socialism were quite at odds (Tkachev was of a different time).  As can be seen in his earlier mentioned argument with Engels, covering similar ground to what Marx had to say to Vera Zasulich in 1881, but without the bitching and name-calling. Engels referred to Tkachev as Simple Simon.


----------



## little_legs (Feb 10, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Ah, so I take it you're a devushka, or baryshnya.



yes, sir



Captain Hurrah said:


> As for Nechaev, he's been puffed up with a reputation perhaps undeserved in some respects (he was a bullshitter), and he was always seen as a third-rate ideologue by better-educated members of the intelligentsia, people who only took his energy, tenacity and lack of scruples in opposition to  Tsarism seriously.  But seriously, in that they saw him as dangerous in that regard.  As for the crudity of his theoretical offerings, they pretty much ended up evolving into a "barracks communism."
> 
> And then there's that episode with the drunken anarchist embarrassment, Bakunin, and the time he unsuccessfully tried to get into stuck-up Natalie Herzen's knickers.



Ok, I've managed to read a few articles on Nechaev. He was very committed and an _energetic_ guy, that's for sure. I don't condone the murder that he was accused of, but this is happening in 1870's, way before 1905, I am kind of proud of him. Sorry. 

The articles in Russian mention Nechaev resorted to blackmail and had arguments with Bakunin who later rejected the poor man, no information about sexually charged actions towards Herzen's daughter (they do mention that Herzen never liked Nechaev though). 



Captain Hurrah said:


> As for Thkachev's politics, he belonged in part to the left-wing of the French revolutionary tradition, and its Jacobinism transposed onto the social terrain of Russia where the Slavophile and Westerniser debates had provided differing interpretations of the old peasant _obshchina_, and a closing window of opportunity to save the country from capitalism.
> 
> *He remained consistent with his Jacobinism* even when it was unpopular with the romantic fools who "went to the people" for a rude awakening.  Mind you, things eventually went full circle.



Good man, I am all for it. I am beginning to like him more and more. 



Captain Hurrah said:


> He had his own non-deterministic ideas on history, including what he called historical skips or _istorichesky skachky_, and the shared idea that Russia was uniquely placed to bypass capitalism.  It is impossible to claim influence in a linear fashion, like some Cold War intellectuals seeking to discredit socialism have done with Nechaev too for example, but it is fair to say that, in general terms, Lenin when theorising his own party of a new type, had been drawn into the Jacobin tradition of the revolutionary movement of which Tkachev was a small but significant part (only as as a writer and theorist with his journal _Nabat_), for their attitudes to capitalism and what it meant for socialism were quite at odds (Tkachev was of a different time).  As can be seen in his earlier mentioned argument with Engels, covering similar ground to what Marx had to say to Vera Zasulich in 1881, but without the bitching and name-calling. Engels referred to Tkachev as Simple Simon.



This bit I need to read on; thanks for pointing this out. 

Just a couple of things I noticed: he rightly, in my view, criticises the unfairness and prejudices of the judicial system of that time (hell, it still goes on ), but it's probably the first time I've read someone crticise Dostoyevsky for preaching the _mood of natual obidience_ to the Russian krestyanins, to wilfully accept the humiliation.  

Just an observation, if one of your works is called _Terrorism as the only means of moral and social revival of Russia_, it's highly unlikely you end up on the Soviet school curriculum. I wish they'd mentioned him to us, his 'active minority' and 'ni dieu, ni maitre' views would fit right in. I am certain the _institut_ students cover him extensively. 

Let me ask you something: one of the lib.ru biographical entries says Tkachev was admitted to a mental hospital the day Louis Blanc was burried. Do you know what happend?


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Feb 10, 2011)

little_legs said:


> Ok, I've managed to read a few articles on Nechaev. He was very committed and an _energetic_ guy, that's for sure. I don't condone the murder that he was accused of, but this is happening in 1870's, way before 1905, I am kind of proud of him. Sorry.



Well he does have a certain reputation, but then here is what the Third Department had to say about him, following his death:



> Nechaev cannot be called an average personality. The deficiency of his original education is continually evident, but it is covered over by an astonishing pertinacity and will-power manifesting themselves in the mass of knowledge that he acquired afterwards. This knowledge and the effort that was necessary to acquire it, have developed in him all the advantages of the self-taught man in the highest degree : energy, habitual self-reliance, complete command of the subjects with which he deals. At the same time they have also developed in him all the disadvantageous traits of the self-taught : contempt for everything that he does not know, complete lack of critical evaluation of his knowledge, envy and relentless hatred of all who have received by their good fortune the education which cost him such an effort, recklessness. He is unable to distinguish sophistry from logic and deliberately ignores any facts which do not accord with his views. He is full of suspicion, contempt and enmity against all who, by their means, their social position, or their education enjoy a higher standing. Even if they pursue the same aims, they gain nothing in his eyes. He distrusts their sincerity and finds their activities silly and dilettantist. They are for him an obstacle that must be overcome as quickly as possible. Only men of equal upbringing and of the same views as his are for him real servants of the people and deserve trust and sympathy. All others who stand out of the masses are regarded as enemies of the people, and peaceful, fruitful and manifold development can only ensue after their liquidation. Although he several times rejected violent overthrow, because that would be only a reaction without creating anything positive, he considers violence necessary, because the upper classes must be liquidated at any price. Hatred is for him one of the most important driving forces of social development. Often persons in the position of the author deserve to be respected by their adversaries, but this author does not produce such a feeling of esteem. None of his notes were written with a view to publication, and nevertheless he describes himself as surrounded by privations which he has in fact not suffered. There is no trace of sincerity in the reasons given for this or that action, and one finds no sign of recognition of the right of others to self-defence. On purpose he develops in himself instincts which drive him into blind enmity against the present state order without questioning the justification of these instincts. He finds satisfaction in cherishing his hatred for all higher placed persons. With egotistic pleasure he describes himself as a revolutionary not by conviction but by temperament. He must exercise a seductive influence upon less educated people, particularly upon such who started at the same level but did not reach his standard: but also upon better educated people who are critically disposed towards their own opinion.





little_legs said:


> Good man, I am all for it. I am beginning to like him more and more.



And,



little_legs said:


> Just a couple of things I noticed: he rightly, in my view, criticises the unfairness and prejudices of the judicial system of that time (hell, it still goes on ), but it's probably the first time I've read someone crticise Dostoyevsky for preaching the _mood of natual obidience_ to the Russian krestyanins, to wilfully accept the humiliation.



He might have picked fights with other bigshots in journal articles over their views on the capacities of Russian peasants, but his criticisms were against those who idealised the peasantry and projected all manner of silly romantic rubbish onto people who, he felt, they didn't really understand.   He was filled with a pessimistic elitism and took a very dim view.  To him they were, to quote, a "coarse material" to be reshaped by people like him.  Pavel Axelrod once in a dispute with a Tkachevist, asked him: "Do you, as a member of a minority, consider it right that you force the people to be happy?"  His answer:  "Of course!  Since the people themselves do not understand their own good, what is truly good for them must be forced upon them."

From the horses mouth:



> If you leave the people to themselves they will build nothing new.  They will only spread the old way of life to which they are already accustomed.





> The average representative of the people is a dispassionate person; this is particularly true of the Russian people.  Slave-like impulses have been encouraged in the Russians by centuries' old slavery.  Secretiveness, untrustworthiness, servility ... have all served to atrophy the energy of the Russian people.  They are phlegmatic in nature.  It is impossible to place any hope in their enthusiasm.  Their stoical passivity is like the encrusted shell of a snail.



Not my cup of tea.



little_legs said:


> Let me ask you something: one of the lib.ru biographical entries says Tkachev was admitted to a mental hospital the day Louis Blanc was burried. Do you know what happend?



He fell victim to some illness that eventually killed him or contributed to his death, but I'm not sure exactly what it was.  In contemporary writings a "paralysis of the brain" or "disease of the mind."  I don't know  what that means in proper medical terms now or what it could be diagnosed as, but his condition rapidly worsened and he ended his days in, as you say, an asylum.  And yes, he first started showing signs of his illness at the time of Blanqui's (not Blanc's) death.

Some salient points of Tkachev's programme for an un-Marxist "pre-emptive" political then social revolution (quickly before capitalism takes hold and erodes what he thought was Russia's special situation) are:

1. Formation of a band or party of declasse intellectual-conspirators who would teach socialism to the masses;

2. Seizure of power by this small group (in the midst of mass unrest) in military fashion in the urban “power centres” of Russia;

3. Extreme centralism within the elitist political party;

4. Establishment of a powerful, post-revolutionary “socialist dictatorship” headed by the same declasse intellectuals who had “made” the revolution;

5. Carrying out of “permanent revolution,” remaking society into a new socialist order;

6. Postponement or lack of definition of the withering away of the state;

7. Intolerance of political opposition after the revolution; scorn for “liberal bourgeois democracy”; establishment of a punitive Commission for Public Safety (the _Kommisiya Obschestvennaya Bezopasnosty_, or K. O. B.) to protect the dictatorship;

8. Distinction between agitation and propaganda and the use-any-means-to-reach-the-ends tactic in designing agitation;

9. Quasi-Marxist economic theory;

10. Russia as a special case, an especially suitable “weak link” in the bourgeois chain where revolution could be made and socialism undertaken.

Some bog-standard criticisms have been made in all that, and levelled at the Bolsheviks.  Soviet historiography begged to differ.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 10, 2011)

marty21 said:


> having a Jo Nesbo month - now on Nemesis, before that was The Redeemer, The Snowman, The Devil's Star - very enjoyable detective thrillers - all bought for the Kindle.


 
I am a big fan of Jo Nesbo - The Snowman is next on my list and then his most recent one (The Leopard I think)


----------



## marty21 (Feb 10, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I am a big fan of Jo Nesbo - The Snowman is next on my list and then his most recent one (The Leopard I think)


 
I want to be Harry Hole


----------



## Termite Man (Feb 10, 2011)

I am reading Crash by J G Ballard . If you haven't read it then basically it's about car crashes and lots of sex


----------



## sojourner (Feb 10, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> yeah i loved it, ive also read all the pretty horses which was also good which is part of a trilogy. i would like to read the other two books the crossing and cities of the plain.


 
Horses is the best of the trilogy, imo.  by the last one you're struggling to understand half the fucking book, unless of course you know Spanish.

I'm still reading the Bible - onto the gospels now and finding them inspiring, exciting, massively interesting and diverse, and provoking no end of debate and poetry!

Also reading Roots by Alex Haley, and the Narrative of Sojourner Truth


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 10, 2011)

George Pelecanos - The Way Home; best crime fiction writer there is


----------



## marty21 (Feb 10, 2011)

maldwyn said:


> Earth Abides By George R. Stewart. A mysterious plague has destroyed the majority of the human race, published 1949


 
I might check that one out.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 10, 2011)

Termite Man said:


> I am reading Crash by J G Ballard . If you haven't read it then basically it's about car crashes and lots of sex


 
It proper fetishises crashes and resulting disability doesn't it?  Fascinating book


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Feb 10, 2011)

Just finished "The System Of The World" by neal stephenson.
Currently reading "the tipping point" then will read "blink" and "outliers" all by Malcolm Gladwell.
I reread Jim Thompson "the getaway" between chapter 1 and 2 of the tipping point for some fiction relief.
I've also got "mason and dixon" by Thomas Pynchon on a lengthy pause at the moment.


----------



## mentalchik (Feb 11, 2011)

A Dark Matter - Peter Straub.............(haven't actually started it yet)


----------



## Cheesypoof (Feb 13, 2011)

sojourner said:


> I'm still reading the Bible - onto the gospels now and finding them inspiring, exciting, massively interesting and diverse, and provoking no end of debate and poetry!



am very impressed, and agree - the Bible is full of poetry, lots of inspiration to be found in Dub reggae 

Im reading *'Booky Wook 2'* by Russell Brand -which is stompingly funny. I am amazed at how good it is!  If you like his full on, intense, saturated style which jumps all over the place with about 6 tangents per paragraph, this is for you. It's very much an ADHD-readers kind of book, from a warped, hyperactive, and occasionally  brilliant comic mind.


----------



## Part 2 (Feb 13, 2011)

I've started GB84 for the second time. I think Peace's writing demands a bit more concentration than I can manage currently, can see myself giving up again.


----------



## tar1984 (Feb 13, 2011)

Chip Barm said:


> I've started GB84 for the second time. I think Peace's writing demands a bit more concentration than I can manage currently, can see myself giving up again.


 
I enjoyed that book, really interesting subject matter, but frankly I was getting pissed off with the writing style by the end.  

He uses that same style in all his books I think, the damned united is that same.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 13, 2011)

_The Unknown Masterpiece_ by Honore de Balzac


----------



## fiannanahalba (Feb 13, 2011)

Rupert the Bear.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 13, 2011)

fiannanahalba said:


> Rupert the Bear.


 
Everyone knows his name


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Feb 13, 2011)

been reading less than zero by bret easton ellis this afternoon and its quite interesting so far, the only other book ive read by him is american psycho which i enjoyed.


----------



## Part 2 (Feb 13, 2011)

tar1984 said:


> I enjoyed that book, really interesting subject matter, but frankly I was getting pissed off with the writing style by the end.
> 
> He uses that same style in all his books I think, the damned united is that same.


 
Glad someone else had the same experience...I'm interested enough in the subject matter to try and stick with it but don't think I'll read any of his other books.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 13, 2011)

The Redeemer - Jo Nesbo, my fifth Jo Nesbo of the year - all on the kindle - enjoying them a lot.


----------



## tar1984 (Feb 13, 2011)

Chip Barm said:


> Glad someone else had the same experience...I'm interested enough in the subject matter to try and stick with it but don't think I'll read any of his other books.


 
Yeah I read it because I was interested in the miners strike, and it does give a great account of what went on.  Worth sticking with it to the end.


----------



## chazegee (Feb 14, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> been reading less than zero by bret easton ellis this afternoon and its quite interesting so far, the only other book ive read by him is american psycho which i enjoyed.



Glamorama is worth a read, I thought.


----------



## chazegee (Feb 14, 2011)

Rimbaud poems, dunno, poetry's pretty shit, preferred his winging letters home when he was a trader.
Also into the wild, better than the film.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 14, 2011)

I read Michel Faber's Under The Skin which is just brilliant. Less said about the plot the better, but it's incredibly well written and very compelling and strange.
I also read The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell - the title reads like a fantasy novel, and indeed, it reads like one with Mitchell describing the dealings 'alien' societies have with each other (though these 'alien' cultures are from Earth and from the late 18th century). It's also a heartbreaking love story. Very very good and totally different from his others. He's not playing games with the reader anymore.
Also, the 2nd and 3rd books of the Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy -   - shit but exciting - shitciting if you will.
You groan at the clunkiness and obsession with insignificant detail (done in an OCD way rather than cleverly, like in American Psycho). I don't care what kind of trousers a middle-aged journalist wears and I don't care what he eats while he's working on his 37cm Powerbook. There are some astoundingly badly written passages that should never have been printed and some stultifyingly boring bits of exposition about things like the price fixing of Swedish construction materials. But I can't stop reading them. 
Larsson is also clearly the worst kind of sleaze - pretending to be a new man, but luridly revelling in his fantasy figure lisbeth's sexploits. 
Moving onto the complete adventures of Sherlock Holmes soon for some proper writing.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 14, 2011)

I think you'll like Jo Nesbo, Orang Utan - another scanda thriller series - get into Harry Hole!


----------



## andy2002 (Feb 14, 2011)

This afternoon I started *The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi* about which I've heard many good things.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Feb 14, 2011)

chazegee said:


> Glamorama is worth a read, I thought.


 
cool will check it out, i just started the wasp factory by iain banks


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 14, 2011)

marty21 said:


> I think you'll like Jo Nesbo, Orang Utan - another scanda thriller series - get into Harry Hole!


 
Agree with this - I feel much as you do about Steig Larsson OU, terribly written at times but addictive nonetheless. Jo Nesbo has the same level of addiction but is also much better written and Harry Hole is a far more rounded and interesting character that whatisname from the Millennium trilogy


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Feb 15, 2011)

Dying Words 
white knuckle page turner by Shaun Hutson the author who gave us Slugs, Spawn, Exit Wounds etc
Haven't read any of his stuff for years but judging by the first few chapters of this he hasn't lost his touch or mellowed with age

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/shaun-hutson/dying-words.htm


----------



## stupid dogbot (Feb 15, 2011)

Watchmen graphic novel (which is like going back 20 years + in time!) 
Our Band Could Be Your Life


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 15, 2011)

stupid dogbot said:


> Our Band Could Be Your Life


 
I read that not so long ago. Excellent book. The Minutemen are so fucking cool.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 15, 2011)

Half way through re-reading The Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton. Brilliant story.


----------



## tufty79 (Feb 15, 2011)

just finished 'other stories and other stories' and re-read 'the accidental' by ali smith - god, i love that woman.. 
now onto 'a week in december' by sebastian faulks


----------



## starfish (Feb 15, 2011)

Hail to the Chief by Ed McBain.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 16, 2011)

About half way through _Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole_ the World by Nicholas Shaxson.

It is fascinating to learn about the history of capital and how it actually operates through financial mechanisms or whatever. Fucking shocking and disgusting at the same time. I thought I knew how bad it was before.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 16, 2011)

Also reading a lot of poetry by Stéphane Mallarmé


----------



## PopCulture (Feb 16, 2011)

I just got an e-reader. What are some good books to download?


----------



## TruXta (Feb 16, 2011)

Try looking thru some of the 4500 posts here mebbe?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 17, 2011)

This is the next book I want to read: 



> The Crisis of the Twelfth Century: Power, Lordship, and the Origins of European Government by Thomas Bisson
> 
> In an era when bold syntheses are still too rare, Bisson has taken on 12th-century government in the whole of western Europe, from Poland to Spain, to show with unusual clarity how the period was one of violence and exploitation and how 'government' was inseparable from the exercise of personal power. Bisson's take is controversial and will stir up opposition (it's part of the attraction of the book), but his vision, and his delight in showing patterns of real structural change, make his work refreshing; and I found his nearly 600 pages hard to put down. -- Chris Wickham, History Today
> 
> ...



It is basically putting forward the case that the people who formed states in the 12th century are the medieval equivalent of gangsters. 

I have been meaning to read it for some time but always put off buying it. It will be the very next one I buy. It ties in with the direction a lot of my reading seems to be taking.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 17, 2011)

15 quid! It sounds fascinating but that'll be a birthday present wish

I'm re-reading Return of the King but skipping over the neverending heroism of sam gamgee and the trials of frodo because its just old old hat and annoying. Scouring of the Shire (root out the evil at home!) captains last debate and the pellenor fields stuff is still great I never realised how unintentionally hilarious aragorn could be 'it will sound less ill in the elvish, telcontar shall be the name of my line'*

*not 100% verbatim


----------



## stupid dogbot (Feb 17, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> I read that not so long ago. Excellent book. The Minutemen are so fucking cool.


 
Yeah, they were awesome. Tbh, I reckon that whole scene, I could have stood to be in a band in, probably the only one!

Really, really need to watch _We Jam Econo_ again, soon.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 17, 2011)

stupid dogbot said:


> Yeah, they were awesome. Tbh, I reckon that whole scene, I could have stood to be in a band in, probably the only one!
> 
> Really, really need to watch _We Jam Econo_ again, soon.



I find that whole LA/South California/80s/hardcore scene fascinating, and a lot of my favourite punk bands come from that time/place. 

It has got to be one of the few punk scenes I wish I could have been a part of. And with my musical skills, probably one of the few were I could have been in a band. 



There is a cool film about LA Punk called _The Decline of Western Civilization_, it is pretty cool.


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 17, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Agree with this - I feel much as you do about Steig Larsson OU, terribly written at times but addictive nonetheless.



I agree with this too, I'm reading Girl with Dragon Tattoo at the moment and I nearly gave up half way through the first chapter.  I'm glad I persevered though as I'm enjoying it now.


----------



## Thraex (Feb 18, 2011)

"The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire - mysteries of the unconquered Sun" - Roger Beck.

It's OKish, but I don't really agree with him. I much prefer Ulansey's theories.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Feb 18, 2011)

Finished *'Monk habits for everyday people'* by Dennis Olkholm. It's a facinating look at how monk's vows can be integrated into anyone's life.

Now reading *'My life with Chaplin' *by his second wife, Lita Grey Chaplin. Its an explosive insight from the girl who played the flirting angel in the dream sequence of Chaplin's 1921 masterpiece, 'The Kid.' First released in 1966 she later had it banned, and rewrote a tamer copy in the 80's. This is the original though. I could not believe when it arrived in the post that i have a signed copy!! It says in bright red pen and flamboyant American handwriting, 'To Dee Ricard. With my compliments. Lita Grey Chaplin. Dec 1966.'


----------



## dilute micro (Feb 18, 2011)

Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Feb 18, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> Finished *'Monk habits for everyday people'* by Dennis Olkholm. It's a facinating look at how monk's vows can be integrated into anyone's life.
> 
> Now reading *'My life with Chaplin' *by his second wife, Lita Grey Chaplin. Its an explosive insight from the girl who played the flirting angel in the dream sequence of Chaplin's 1921 masterpiece, 'The Kid.' First released in 1966 she later had it banned, and rewrote a tamer copy in the 80's. This is the original though. I could not believe when it arrived in the post that i have a signed copy!! It says in bright red pen and flamboyant American handwriting, 'To Dee Ricard. With my compliments. Lita Grey Chaplin. Dec 1966.'


i used charlie chaplin as a quiz answer today


----------



## Cheesypoof (Feb 19, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i used charlie chaplin as a quiz answer today



Good man. I hope you were right


----------



## Pip (Feb 19, 2011)

The Castle


----------



## Greebo (Feb 19, 2011)

"Mondscheintarif" by Ildiko von Kuerthy - so far seems a bit Bridget Jonesish


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 19, 2011)

Pip said:


> The Castle


 
Kafka?


----------



## Pip (Feb 19, 2011)

Yer.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 19, 2011)

Pip said:


> Yer.


 
Kafka is the best.


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Feb 19, 2011)

Read logicomix graphic novel and quite enjoyed it.
Moved onto Blink by gladwell.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Feb 20, 2011)

read player one by douglas coupland today and ive just started porno by irvine welsh.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Feb 20, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> Good man. I hope you were right


oh yes 


Pip said:


> The Castle


very good book, and completely frustrating. magnus mills owes more than a big nod to this type of thing imo.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Feb 21, 2011)

Now I'm reading *'Saint Patrick' by Jonathan Rogers. * 'Separating the many myths from the facts, Rogers weaves a wonder-filled tale of courage, barbarism, betrayal and hope in God's unceasing faithfulness. Countless miracles have been attributed to St Patrick, but perhaps one of the simplest and most amazing is that he won the hearts and souls of the same fierce and indomitable  people who had enslaved him.' - that is, the Irish people (Patrick was Welsh).


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 21, 2011)

At Home by Bill Bryson - perfect undemanding and distracting holiday fare.
Midnight's Children - an ideal time for a reread. I don't reread books as a rule but my appreciation of this incredible book will be different this time around


----------



## starfish (Feb 22, 2011)

The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris. Set in post war Glasgow, looks quite promising so far.


----------



## Belushi (Feb 22, 2011)

'War with the Newts' Karel Capek. Wonderful fantasy/satire written in 1936.


----------



## Part 2 (Feb 23, 2011)

Just finished GB84...hands up I confess I haven't got a clue what happened.

I've got a Michael Chabon or a Christopher Brookmyre to read next.


----------



## heinous seamus (Feb 23, 2011)

I'm reading The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. Finding it hard to follow exactly what's going on.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Feb 23, 2011)

heinous seamus said:


> I'm reading The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. Finding it hard to follow exactly what's going on.


don't try and do anything, other than just release your mind and read it. its a very good book.


----------



## Fingers (Feb 23, 2011)

I have just launched myself into 'A Week in December' by Sebastian Faulks. Good so far.


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 24, 2011)

Out - Natsuo Kirino. 4 factory gals and their blood spattered retribution on some wrong uns.


----------



## tufty79 (Feb 24, 2011)

Fingers said:


> I have just launched myself into 'A Week in December' by Sebastian Faulks. Good so far.


 
i've nearly finished that - really enjoying it


----------



## ringo (Feb 24, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> don't try and do anything, other than just release your mind and read it. its a very good book.


 
I expected The Sound & The Fury to be the greatest book I'd ever read as some of my literary heroes (Cormac McCarthy for one) are heavily influenced by him, but I couldn't get into it and gave up quite quickly. Will be trying again when I've finished some more Flannery O'Connor (another who writes in similar style).

Never a good idea to get too many preconceptions about how much like you'll like a book.


----------



## The Octagon (Feb 24, 2011)

_State of the Art_ (Iain M. Banks)

Interesting for the way The Culture looks upon Earth, but as a story pretty crap.

Best bits were the nutty ship fucking about with song requests, creating lightsabres and displacing historical dinnerware for a party 

Next on the Banks train (I've devoured 5 of them in no time at all ), either _Look to Windward_ or _Inversions_, does it matter which one first?


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 24, 2011)

no, but I'd go with Look to Windwards because it is a) fucking great (what do you do with a caste system where the afterlife is a real and vocal thing?) and b) Inversions is not really a culture novel although it is about two displaced sc agents. It is probably the most subtle of the culture novels but if you are coming straight from SOTA then Look To Windward is the better choice.

e2a

Look to Windwards is all the more enjoyable if you have already done Consider Phlebas. Echoes and loose associations


----------



## The Octagon (Feb 24, 2011)

Yeah, I've so far read them in publication date order, but figured Look to Windward would be a call back to Phlebas with the Idiran War blurb on the back.

Was wondering if Inversions was set in the Culture universe actually (no mention of it on the book), interesting.

Also, just going back to SOTA, I think the main problem I had with it was that I really wanted them to Contact 'us'   Leaving us as a 'control group' seemed a little pat.


----------



## heinous seamus (Feb 24, 2011)

ringo said:


> I expected The Sound & The Fury to be the greatest book I'd ever read as some of my literary heroes (Cormac McCarthy for one) are heavily influenced by him, but I couldn't get into it and gave up quite quickly. Will be trying again when I've finished some more Flannery O'Connor (another who writes in similar style).
> 
> Never a good idea to get too many preconceptions about how much like you'll like a book.



Have you read As I Lay Dying? It's also written from many different perspectives, but I found it easier to follow.


----------



## ringo (Feb 24, 2011)

heinous seamus said:


> Have you read As I Lay Dying? It's also written from many different perspectives, but I found it easier to follow.


 
No but I bought it about a month ago and it's sat in my "to read" pile. Maybe I'll try that first then, thanks.


----------



## Greebo (Feb 24, 2011)

Finished Phillip Pullman's "the good Jesus and the scoundrel Christ" and Matt Seaton's "the escape artist", now starting "gebissen" by Boris Koch.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 24, 2011)

The Octagon said:


> Yeah, I've so far read them in publication date order, but figured Look to Windward would be a call back to Phlebas with the Idiran War blurb on the back.
> 
> Was wondering if Inversions was set in the Culture universe actually (no mention of it on the book), interesting.
> 
> Also, just going back to SOTA, I think the main problem I had with it was that I really wanted them to Contact 'us'   Leaving us as a 'control group' seemed a little pat.


 
I still want the Culture to come in hard and fast with a total crash program. Watch tyrants turn purple as the nuke buttons are replaced by smilie faces etc.

Inversions is set on a fuedalist 16th-17th century planet and largely ignores all whizz bang. It is the stories of two estranged SC agents. You'll actually only clock the (very very few) culture references because you knowe it is in the Universe.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Feb 24, 2011)

jer said:


> Never a good idea to get too many preconceptions about how much like you'll like a book.


no, I completely agree. but the sound and the fury is worth giving another go.

i've got 15 pages of the place of dead roads to finish, it's taken about a month to read, you can't take too much because it is so multi-layered and mellifluous that it quickly becomes mentally overwhelming


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Feb 25, 2011)

finished reading porno by irvine welsh and it was so good, one of the funniest book i have ever read. i enjoyed it so much that i went to the library after work and got reheated cabbage and if you liked school youll love work, i think irvine welsh is such a good writer.


----------



## tar1984 (Feb 25, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> finished reading porno by irvine welsh and it was so good, one of the funniest book i have ever read. i enjoyed it so much that i went to the library after work and got reheated cabbage and if you liked school youll love work, i think irvine welsh is such a good writer.


 
Porno is great.  Reheated Cabbage is also great.  If you liked school... is mainly pish except for the novella at the end, which is fucking superb.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Feb 25, 2011)

tar1984 said:


> Porno is great.  Reheated Cabbage is also great.  If you liked school... is mainly pish except for the novella at the end, which is fucking superb.


 
im quite enjoying reheated cabbage, ive read all his novels now so im working my way through his short stories. i think juice terry is one of the best characters ever.


----------



## tar1984 (Feb 25, 2011)

Agreed, juice is a great character.


----------



## chazegee (Feb 26, 2011)

Stanley. Biography on the explorer. It's going to be juicy.


----------



## Phil K (Feb 27, 2011)

Simon Scarrow books, and JJ Norwich's "Byzantium" trilogy for the umpteenth time - but at this precise moment, Im just finishing the excellent Harry Sidebottoms "Lion of the sun" 3rd in his Warrior of Rome series
(Yes, Im a huge fan of Roman history)


----------



## marty21 (Feb 27, 2011)

Dark Times - Daniel Kramb - a Hackney novel!! Just started it, seems a bit cliched Hackney so far tbh, hoping it improves.


----------



## ringo (Feb 28, 2011)

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly - Anthony Bourdain


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 28, 2011)

I am going to re-read some of my IWW books, all the stuff in Wisconsin has moved me.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 28, 2011)

I'm 2/3 through Dark Times, and I'm still not sure what it is about - keeps me reading as all will probably be revealed at the end (and unlike Mrs21, I don't read the ending first )


----------



## marty21 (Feb 28, 2011)

well, Dark Times was all talk, no real plot, the reason I wasn't sure what it was about, was that it was not about anything really.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 1, 2011)

True Grit - Charles Portis - it's a great read, probably finish it later tonight.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 1, 2011)

Succumbed to the Pratchett bug again, so it's Lord and Ladies, only a day after I finished Witches Abroad. Luckily L&L is the sequel of sorts to WA - I didn't even realise at the time. Since I'm also racing to finish my MPhil upgrade chapter I've been simul-skimming about 50 others, chief among them

# The Culture of Building, H. Davis
# At Risk, Wisner et al.
# Promoting Risk, RA Stallings
# Fundamentals of Earthquake Engineering, R. Villaverde

The Davis one isn't too bad, the rest are fairly dry.


----------



## andy2002 (Mar 1, 2011)

Recently finished *The Windup Girl* by *Paolo Bacigalupi* which was superb. Just started *Elric Of Melnibone* by *Michael Moorcock*.


----------



## machine cat (Mar 1, 2011)

Spent most of today on the train reading Feersum Endjinn, which was quite difficult to get into but I'm enjoying it now.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 1, 2011)

drcarnage said:


> Spent most of today on the train reading Feersum Endjinn, which was quite difficult to get into but I'm enjoying it now.


 
It is aces.


----------



## machine cat (Mar 2, 2011)

TruXta said:


> It is aces.


 
The Bascule parts are the best


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 2, 2011)

The Chronicles of Castle Brass by Michael Moorcock. Lent to me by a recent addition to the circle of trust. Has a 'Save the NHS!' TGWU sticker on the inside and a militant 'General strike!' sticker

Will find out if the lender is an ex trot next time I see her.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Mar 3, 2011)

A Nick Sharman thriller

Stay Another Day.

http://www.noexit.co.uk/titles.php/itemcode/524


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 3, 2011)

The Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer.


----------



## tufty79 (Mar 3, 2011)

fay weldon - down among the women


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 5, 2011)

Have ditched moorcock for 'The Ladies of Grace Audie' a short story collection from Susan Clarke (who wrote Jonathon Strange and Mr Norell) all set in her victorian faerie world.

the pithiest summation so far is 'like jane austen re wrote grimms fairy tales'


----------



## Samwich (Mar 6, 2011)

I just finished the third Steig Larsson book, was pretty good. Got a couple of books incoming from Amazon:

Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin and The Last Block In Harlem by Christopher Herz. Hoorah.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 6, 2011)

Got three new books on the go:

Bartleby the Scrivener by Melville
Factory Girls: Voices from the Heart of Modern China by Leslie Chang
Dreaming in Chinese: And Discovering What Makes a Billion People Tick by Deborah Fallows

And I am going through another Edgar Allan Poe phase at the moment as well.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 6, 2011)

Oh and dipping in and out of The Divine Comedy. 

For research purposes.


----------



## october_lost (Mar 7, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> Dreaming in Chinese: And Discovering What Makes a Billion People Tick by Deborah Fallows


 
LOL I have read this. I can still recall the chapter on lao baixing 
Are you learning chinese?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2011)

october_lost said:


> LOL I have read this. I can still recall the chapter on lao baixing
> Are you learning chinese?


 
Yeh.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 7, 2011)

china mieville's king rat - i loved perdido street station but this was utter trash. maybe he was just finding his feet as a writer and was lucky to get this published but the writing is terrible with sixth form similes that made me bite my knuckles and his use of the drum n bass scene as a backdrop to the plot was so cringeworthy. the characters were paper thin and the whole thing was just like an episode of the mighty boosh but with no jokes.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 7, 2011)

king rat is his worst novel. compare with City & the City and irts like a totally different author


----------



## fractionMan (Mar 7, 2011)

I just found a copy of city and the city and am looking forward to it.

Currently got "Dark Benediction" - Walter M. Miller JR on my desk for lunchtime reads.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2011)

I think I must be one of the only people on here who thinks that China Mieville is just not that good.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 7, 2011)

I love him, but I can see how people would hate him as well. In a nutshell, if you don't like it baroque and byzantine (and fantastic obv), he ain't for you. Also if you're a Tory or neo-lib he SHOULDN'T be for you.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2011)

TruXta said:


> I love him, but I can see how people would hate him as well. In a nutshell, if you don't like it baroque and byzantine (and fantastic obv), he ain't for you. Also if you're a Tory or neo-lib he SHOULDN'T be for you.


 
But I do like baroque and byzantine. I don't hate him, I just don't think he is a very good writer.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 7, 2011)

Might be where you are coming from on this one- you, as I recall Dillenger, are pretty well grounded in books of politics and philosophy and the shadings of fictions that do (or don't but are remarkable because they don't iyswim) handle the themes. For someone who dips his toe outside of genrte fiction or srs bssns non-fiction texts China is a breath of fresh air. He does belong to a certain tradition of the fantastic that glories in the otherness of cityscapes )borrovilles, neverwhere, Jonathon Strange & Mr Norell etc) but I'm refering to the broader point that he belongs to a tradition of fantasy writers who express dissidence through well crafted tales- that they often set these fables in fantasy worlds is how they explore the themes of this dissidence without the constraints of a real world setting. A setting which hobbles from the outset because you can't write a fantasy story in the real world. In fantasy stories evil is vanquished and good wins.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 7, 2011)

Can't write a fantasy story in the real world? That's an interesting proposition... 

Can't it be fantastic even if it's not literally otherworldly or supernatural? In a way any James Bond or action movie is much more of a fantasy than the proper genre stuff, which often deals with tremendously boring characters in great settings.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 7, 2011)

The fantastic by necessity deals with the themes from which it springs- often the folk traditions are essentially stories about how we do well in the face of overwhelming absolutes. From the horrible real comes the tale, and from the horrible real it finds real traction with the audience.

Yes a modern wirier can look at those fantasies of the bygone but he/she has to pay regard to the tradition. If you are going to exercise themes from the vladmir-propp scale then, well, having one ghost character isn't going to cut it. Not with me. 

Faery, folk and and oral mystery tales are not yours. You are riffing on a vast tradition if you even try for a tale about the Other. Use an existing tradition for clever tale-telling yes, but you don't own the tradition and you'll never make any money from it.


----------



## mentalchik (Mar 7, 2011)

The Technician - Neal Asher


----------



## TruXta (Mar 7, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> The fantastic by necessity deals with the themes from which it springs- often the folk traditions are essentially stories about how we do well in the face of overwhelming absolutes. From the horrible real comes the tale, and from the horrible real it finds real traction with the audience.
> 
> Yes a modern wirier can look at those fantasies of the bygone but he/she has to pay regard to the tradition. If you are going to exercise themes from the vladmir-propp scale then, well, having one ghost character isn't going to cut it. Not with me.
> 
> Faery, folk and and oral mystery tales are not yours. You are riffing on a vast tradition if you even try for a tale about the Other. Use an existing tradition for clever tale-telling yes, but you don't own the tradition and you'll never make any money from it.


 
Isn't that a bit like saying all stories are riffs on other stories, and everyone stands on the shoulders of giants? Yes, but so what?

On the other hand there's the inevitable and trite question of genre, what is it? What *is* it? I'm increasingly sick of that question, though it's obviously unavoidable at some point in one's thinking about these matters.

SF is at heart about something new and shiny that breaks or bends the rules of (folk) physics. But fantasy, does it have to be about the supernatural other? Ulysses reads to me as much fantasy as LOTR, even if it's set in Dublin streets I've walked myself. Or Hunger by Hamsun, set in a city I lived in for 6 years. Rather than magic per se, I think that the very much realistic qualities of glamour and weirdness can evoke the feeling of awe and bewilderment that at least I seek in fantasy.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 7, 2011)

Ulysses is bobbins though, and I speak as someone who got some mileage of personal enjoyment from dubliners. And no it isn't really- I'm struggling to express my opinion on _how faery should be told_ without looking like some elitist shit but then it isn't ever the preserve of geeks or compilers. Those stories live and thrive independent of us. Don't bring sci fi in! that is a totally different tradition that comes from scientific romance and while based initially in the tropes of the fantastical has become a distinct, many faceted genre.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2011)

A long shot, but can anybody recommend me any Australian Gothic fiction?


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 7, 2011)

Muriels Wedding is pretty fucking bleak but it isn't meant to be and it is a film...


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 8, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Muriels Wedding is pretty fucking bleak but it isn't meant to be and it is a film...


 
What I am looking for is (preferably colonial) Australian Gothic fiction. All I can really find so far is an anthology of short stories. 

I mentioned it on another thread, but Australia seems ripe for 'Victorian' style Gothic fiction. 

I found this: 



> Colonial Australian popular fiction embraced the Gothic from very early on in its development, with tales such as John Lang's 'The Ghost Upon the Rail' (1855) giving us ghosts or spectres whose activities seem to conspire with the isolation of the bush setting. What Marcus Clarke famously termed the 'weird melancholy' of the Australian bush readily lent itself to a host of well-worn gothic motifs inherited from the old world, but in the new country these were transformed or reinvented: the archetypal haunted house appearing as the derelict colonial homestead, the ruined bell-tower as a remote, bat-infested cave, the hermit as the solitary settler or miner and so on. The adaptation of such recognisable themes and motifs to the colonial setting, as well as the creation of new ones, helped to mark both similarities and differences to the major metropolitan centres, defining a developing colonial culture through its anxieties and nightmares as much as its aspirations.



http://www.apfa.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/biogs/E000001b.htm

I have always thought there would be more than there seems to be. This should be a celebrated genre. Or something.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 8, 2011)

crocodile dundee?


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> A long shot, but can anybody recommend me any Australian Gothic fiction?


 
patrick white might fit the bill. a friend of my parents was a professor of australian fiction and i think he mentioned him as a gothic writer when i was studying gothic fiction at uni - iirc he said he was an aussie faulkner. wish i could ask him but he died two years ago.
if you're interested in _antipodean_ rather than australian fiction, read maurice gee's under the mountain - scared the shit out of me when i was a kid


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2011)

btw the above discussion about mieville misses the point entirely - it's about bad writing not the particularities of genre fiction. 
reading king rat just kept making me think of king rat as a combination of tony harrison and the hitcher - such poor dialogue and big issue short story style writing


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 8, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> patrick white might fit the bill. a friend of my parents was a professor of australian fiction and i think he mentioned him as a gothic writer when i was studying gothic fiction at uni - iirc he said he was an aussie faulkner. wish i could ask him but he died two years ago.
> if you're interested in _antipodean_ rather than australian fiction, read maurice gee's under the mountain - scared the shit out of me when i was a kid



I had a look at a Patrick White one on Amazon last night, called The Tree of Man. I don't know if it was quite what I was looking for, but I am going to give it a go anyway. 

I am looking for Australian fiction in particular, but I am open to other stuff. What is Under the Mountain about?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 8, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> btw the above discussion about mieville misses the point entirely - it's about bad writing not the particularities of genre fiction.
> reading king rat just kept making me think of king rat as a combination of tony harrison and the hitcher - such poor dialogue and big issue short story style writing


 
Exactly.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2011)

it's a creepy kids' book about twins who have telepathic powers. then they meet a very strange man. best not say any more if you're gonna read it


----------



## TruXta (Mar 8, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Ulysses is bobbins though, and I speak as someone who got some mileage of personal enjoyment from dubliners. And no it isn't really- I'm struggling to express my opinion on _how faery should be told_ without looking like some elitist shit but then it isn't ever the preserve of geeks or compilers. Those stories live and thrive independent of us. Don't bring sci fi in! that is a totally different tradition that comes from scientific romance and while based initially in the tropes of the fantastical has become a distinct, many faceted genre.


 
I merely brought it up to point to the fact that it seems easier to define what's special about that genre as opposed to fantasy. A little amateur etymology reveals that the word _fairy_ comes from the Latin "fata", ie fate, but refers in Anglo-Saxon initially to enchantment and magic and only later to supernatural beings. Fantasy on the other hand relates to the Greek _phantasia_, which means roughly "appearance, image, perception, imagination". (all taken from the Online Etymology Dictionary)

I'm not sure what you mean by saying that the stories live and thrive independent of us. Do you mean that they are collective myths that follow some archetypal pattern ala Jung and Eliade? Or do you mean in a Dawkinsian sense - like they're memes? Either way I think you're wrong - stories aren't stories unless they're told and retold, and in those tellings they inevitably change and morph according to both the quirks of the teller and the audience to which they're told.

I'm not saying that my definition is better than yours, but at least I've got one eh?


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 8, 2011)

pretentiously enough I meant 'independent from us as writers' although I didn't define that properly because I was astride my high horse. The oral tradition being something that writers compile or borrow from rather than being the inventors of. Although in todays highly literate society I think there is a feedback loop going on. IYSWIM.


----------



## andy2002 (Mar 8, 2011)

Recently finished Elric Of Melnibone (brilliant) and today started *Salt by Adam Roberts*. The first chapter's great as he details the truly shitty journey a group of colonists endure on their way to a new planet. It's bloody dark already and I'm not even 20 pages in yet!


----------



## starfish (Mar 8, 2011)

Bread by Ed McBain.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 8, 2011)

andy2002 said:


> Recently finished Elric Of Melnibone (brilliant) and today started *Salt by Adam Roberts*. The first chapter's great as he details the truly shitty journey a group of colonists endure on their way to a new planet. It's bloody dark already and I'm not even 20 pages in yet!


 
Adam Roberts is a very, very good author of sci fi. I don't mean that he spins a good yarn or thrill you with concepts and cool language like Stross. He doe the former and latter in buckets but their is a patina of care to how he writes. 'A male Le Guin' would be inaccurate but they do share a certain....deftness allied with writerly geekishness. Thats a shit description tbf. I suppose. In prose style they ring the same bell in my head. Niether self consciously cool and space-jack retro fit cyberpunk nor trad sci fi Questing. He has stated that he wishes to write a sci fi novel in every genre and that is an admirable aim- how he defines genre and sci fi are another thing entirely of course. I really, really want his History of Science Fiction ( http://www.bsls.ac.uk/reviews/general-and-theory/adam-roberts-the-history-of-science-fiction/ ) because he has a touch that knows the genre so well it can only be from applied skill and years spent reading in his room.

 . I have a reviewers copy of 'Land of the Headless' complete with spelling and format errors. After _Salt_ try _On_.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 8, 2011)

Just finished 1974 by David Peace

I reckon every review will describe it as visceral and shocking. But it's a fantastic book. Not easy to read at times but very rewarding


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 8, 2011)

Adam Robert can also be seen doing the wonderfully weird sequel to Gullivers Travels 'Swiftly'

A very poor ending indeed bu fuck, the journey. He apes swifts style remarkably well. He is one of your more literary skiffy geeks. There is a feeling from him that you might get that he is quite clearly playing the themes to see where he goes. I re-read Jonathon Lethams 'Amnesia Moon' the other day and it is the perfect example to contrast with Adam Roberts. Letham is genre tourism to contain his thinking. Ditto ballard and ditto vonnegut. Thet aren't bad authors but they don't engage with science fiction in the way Adam Roberts does.

I'll stop or else this will just be me singing his praises for another five paragraphs


----------



## tar1984 (Mar 8, 2011)

I'm just starting Iain Banks 'Transition' picked it up today.

Also I'm halfway through re-reading Orwells '1984' just reading the odd chapter now and again.  Realised I haven't read much Orwell, just this and Animal Farm.  Any recommendations?  I think his account of the Spanish Civil War might be interesting but what about his other novels?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 8, 2011)

tar1984 said:


> I'm just starting Iain Banks 'Transition' picked it up today.
> 
> Also I'm halfway through re-reading Orwells '1984' just reading the odd chapter now and again.  Realised I haven't read much Orwell, just this and Animal Farm.  Any recommendations?  I think his account of the Spanish Civil War might be interesting but what about his other novels?



For the most part, I wouldn't bother. I will never get back the time I spent reading _Keep the Aspidistra Flying_. 

Definitely read _Homage to Catalonia_. Read Down and Out in Paris and London as well. Those are books everybody should read. And _Road to Wigan Pier_. 

His essays are good as well. He wrote loads of good essays.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 8, 2011)

Essays. 'Politics and the English language', 'the spike 'on tea and 'decline of the english murder' are alll good. Free to read here:

http://www.bsls.ac.uk/reviews/general-and-theory/adam-roberts-the-history-of-science-fiction/


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 8, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Essays. 'Politics and the English language', 'the spike 'on tea and 'decline of the english murder' are alll good. Free to read here:
> 
> http://www.bsls.ac.uk/reviews/general-and-theory/adam-roberts-the-history-of-science-fiction/


 
_Why I Write_ is the one that always springs to mind for me.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 8, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> For the most part, I wouldn't bother. I will never get back the time I spent reading _Keep the Aspidistra Flying_.
> 
> Definitely read _Homage to Catalonia_. Read Down and Out in Paris and London as well. Those are books everybody should read. And _Road to Wigan Pier_.
> 
> His essays are good as well. He wrote loads of good essays.


 

Aspidistra was a novel about how orwell struggled with his own shabby genteel youth. It certainly isn't representative of the works he produced after he'd lived a bit more


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 8, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Aspidistra was a novel about how orwell struggled with his own shabby genteel youth. It certainly isn't representative of the works he produced after he'd lived a bit more



It's not very good. And whilst I am at it, neither is _A Clergyman's Daughter_ or _Coming Up for Air_. I didn't mind _Burmese Days_ though.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 8, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> _Why I Write_ is the one that always springs to mind for me.


 
mmm. It chimes doesn't it. 'the habits of the objectionable child' and so on. One contemporary essayist I find an interesting contrast is Huxely. I think I have compared the two before. Huxely is as total total shit. But his essays bear the reading so that you can know your enemy


----------



## tar1984 (Mar 8, 2011)

Thanks for that chaps.

Yes I'm definitely going to read homage to catalonia, the spanish civil war is fascinating and it amazes me how many brits went to fight, it would be good to get an insight into that.  I also enjoy a good essay so I'll have a go at those too.

Actually can't see the essays on that link  but they're all over the web anyway I got them on google.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 8, 2011)

tar1984 said:


> Thanks for that chaps.
> 
> Yes I'm definitely going to read homage to catalonia, the spanish civil war is fascinating and it amazes me how many brits went to fight, it would be good to get an insight into that.  I also enjoy a good essay so I'll have a go at those too.
> 
> Actually can't see the essays on that link  but they're all over the web anyway I got them on google.


 
That's always something that got me about the Spanish Civil War as well. Those people were heroes, virtuous ones, going to fight for humanity. 

This is an aside, but thinking about the Spanish Civil War just reminded me of a quote by Buenoventura Durruti:



> "It is we the workers who built these palaces and cities here in Spain and in America and everywhere. We, the workers, can build others to take their place. And better ones! We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth; there is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world here, in our hearts."
> 
> — Buenaventura Durruti


----------



## tar1984 (Mar 9, 2011)

That's a fantastic quote.  And you're right, those men were heroes.  It takes courage to put yourself on the line like that for what you believe is right.  It feels like in those days people really stood by their principles.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 9, 2011)

tar1984 said:


> That's a fantastic quote.  And you're right, those men were heroes.  It takes courage to put yourself on the line like that for what you believe is right.  It feels like in those days people really stood by their principles.


 
They weren't just any principles. They were not fighting for greed, they were not fighting for king and country, they were fighting for for humanity, freedom, and against fascism. They were fighting for the very highest ideals.


----------



## tar1984 (Mar 9, 2011)

Oh I agree.  That's what I'm getting at... these days soldiers are labelled heroes when, at best, it's just a job to them.  In those days men were risking their lives (and dying) in a foreign land in the name of freedom and equality.  It wasn't just lip service, they left their families behind and went off to possibly die.  Crazy shit.

On a similar subject can you recommend any good reading material on the paris commune?  That's another one that's always interested me.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2011)

They were fucked by NKVD forces running mobile prisons or by people they had actually come there to oppose. The spanish civil war is a tragedy, not only did they fail in the face of the enemy they fell because they were divided. And the reprisals numbered in the tens of thousands. If there is any greater appeal to unity I have yet to see it. 'when your house is divided they will eat you piecemeal'

This is why we have to win first.


----------



## tar1984 (Mar 9, 2011)

Ah, I've heard of this - Did Anarchist and Communist battalions end up fighting each other?  That really is the sharp end of sectarianism on the left.

I don't really know enough about this, it's something I need to read up on while I have a lot of free time.


----------



## andy2002 (Mar 9, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Adam Roberts is a very, very good author of sci fi. I don't mean that he spins a good yarn or thrill you with concepts and cool language like Stross. He doe the former and latter in buckets but their is a patina of care to how he writes. 'A male Le Guin' would be inaccurate but they do share a certain....deftness allied with writerly geekishness. Thats a shit description tbf. I suppose. In prose style they ring the same bell in my head. Niether self consciously cool and space-jack retro fit cyberpunk nor trad sci fi Questing. He has stated that he wishes to write a sci fi novel in every genre and that is an admirable aim- how he defines genre and sci fi are another thing entirely of course. I really, really want his History of Science Fiction ( http://www.bsls.ac.uk/reviews/general-and-theory/adam-roberts-the-history-of-science-fiction/ ) because he has a touch that knows the genre so well it can only be from applied skill and years spent reading in his room.
> 
> . I have a reviewers copy of 'Land of the Headless' complete with spelling and format errors. After _Salt_ try _On_.


 
I read 'Yellow Blue Tibia' last year and really enjoyed it. As you say, he clearly knows the genre inside out - he can therefore rip up the rule book from time to time and really have fun with his stories. I love the fact that his protagonists in YBT are a morbidly obese Mormon woman and an elderly Russian man who seems likely to snuff it at any moment.


----------



## october_lost (Mar 9, 2011)

tar1984 said:


> Ah, I've heard of this - Did Anarchist and Communist battalions end up fighting each other?  That really is the sharp end of sectarianism on the left.


 
To be sectarian, they would have to belong to the same movement.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 9, 2011)

Lustrum - Robert Harris - enjoying it.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 9, 2011)

_Factory Girls: Voices from Modern China_ by Leslie Chang is really good, I cant stop reading it!


----------



## tufty79 (Mar 9, 2011)

alice sebold - lucky
(i've got through the hardest bit at the beginning, i think)


----------



## imposs1904 (Mar 9, 2011)

tar1984 said:


> I'm just starting Iain Banks 'Transition' picked it up today.
> 
> Also I'm halfway through re-reading Orwells '1984' just reading the odd chapter now and again.  Realised I haven't read much Orwell, just this and Animal Farm.  Any recommendations?  I think his account of the Spanish Civil War might be interesting but what about his other novels?



I'd also recommend Down and Out in Paris and London. Reread it a couple of years back and it stands up well. Unlike others on the thread, I didn't mind Keep the Aspidistra Flying but I did read it many, many years ago. I thought Orwell's miserablism was funny in places.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 9, 2011)

I now have a copy of Earth Abides - it will be the next book I read.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Mar 9, 2011)

imposs1904 said:


> I'd also recommend Down and Out in Paris and London. Reread it a couple of years back and it stands up well. Unlike others on the thread, I didn't mind Keep the Aspidistra Flying but I did read it many, many years ago. I thought Orwell's miserablism was funny in places.





imposs1904 said:


> I'd also recommend *Down and Out in Paris and London*. .



fantastic book - read it around 7 years ago and recall he's workin 14 hours a day washing dishes and heading straight to the bistro straight after to get sloshed, describing his existence as a 'contented beast.'

i read *'Buddhism Pure and simple,' *by Steve Hagen, which I loved, for its reminder to continuously focus on reality, fact, objectivity and external surroundings. It reminds you that Buddhist ideas are very down to earth and without bells and whistles. Awareness, being the key. As I naturally lean towards fantasy this kind of grounding is incredibly good for me, and  I have tried very hard to integrate these principles into my life when understanding myself and my problems. A very healthy read!

Now I'm reading *'Too big to fail' *the mammoth story of the financial crisis by New York Times journalist Andrew Sorkin. I was actually dreading this and figured I'd force myself to read it, if only for my education. But lo and behold, its actually NOT HARD to read and set up like a gripping novel with a cast of characters and easy to grasp explanations. There's freaked out bankers, their private meetings with the Federal Reserve, sweaty palms and phonecalls and each character (there are around 200 but shockingly so far, its all comprehensive). Each person is described and you remember them. Its around 550 pages and Im on page 120, I will finish it in around 3 weeks.

am punctuating this with *short stories by Oscar Wilde*. Read Lord Arthur Saviles Crime, A sphynx without a secret, The Canterville ghost, and A Model Millionaire the past few days. Staggeringly brilliant work, obviously.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 9, 2011)

I got that Buddhism book a while ago cheesy! 

Its always good to read about and try and practice mindfulness I reckon.


----------



## DrRingDing (Mar 9, 2011)

A very short introduction to Nietzsche.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Mar 9, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> I got that Buddhism book a while ago cheesy!
> 
> Its always good to read about and try and practice mindfulness I reckon.



yes, its a book to read and re-read and read and re-read over and over again.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 9, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> I got that Buddhism book a while ago cheesy!
> 
> Its always good to read about and try and practice mindfulness I reckon.


To _try and practice_, is to fail your _practise_.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 9, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> To _try and practice_, is to fail your _practise_.


 
I have read that quote somewhere. 

Is it Shunryu Suzuki?


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 9, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have read that quote somewhere.
> 
> Is it Shunryu Suzuki?


No, Paulie Tandoori, hth


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 9, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> No, Paulie Tandoori, hth


 
roshi tandoori


----------



## blueplume (Mar 9, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Muriels Wedding is pretty fucking bleak but it isn't meant to be and it is a film...


 
a very good movie


----------



## blueplume (Mar 9, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> What I am looking for is (preferably colonial) Australian Gothic fiction. All I can really find so far is an anthology of short stories.
> 
> I mentioned it on another thread, but Australia seems ripe for 'Victorian' style Gothic fiction.


 
Picnic at Hanging rock, i saw the Peter Weir movie, liked it a lot, but it's also an Australian mystery novel written by Joan Lindsay, didn't read it
not gothic but a fiction with such an intriguing atmosphere, i really felt strange, it's happening at the beginning of the 20th... an enigma... a fight between 2 worlds, the colonial british originated upper class and the million years old australian nature; you could try the movie, really worth while!


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 9, 2011)

blueplume said:


> Picnic at Hanging rock, i saw the Peter Weir movie, liked it a lot, but it's also an Australian mystery novel written by Joan Lindsay, didn't read it
> not gothic but a fiction with such an intriguing atmosphere, i really felt strange, it's happening at the beginning of the 20th... an enigma... a fight between 2 worlds, the colonial british originated upper class and the million years old australian nature; you could try the movie, really worth while!



I've seen the film, I really liked it. I might put the book on my list, it definitely counts.


----------



## BoatieBird (Mar 10, 2011)

Just finished _Girl with the Dragon Tattoo_, I'm so glad I didn't give up after the first chapter!  I'll search the charity shops for the other 2 now.

Next on the list is _Truecrime _by Jake Arnott. It's the 3rd in a series, the first 2 being _The Long Firm _and _He Kills Coppers_ - both of which I thoroughly enjoyed


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 10, 2011)

Just finished Iain M. Bank's "Matter" which I really enjoyed. It was nice to get back to the Culture for a bit  Possibly Jo Nesbo next but not sure.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 10, 2011)

nearly finished the snowman by jo nesbo - only marginally better than stieg larsson - poor writing, really obvious twists you can see a mile off and that strange obsessiveness with square footage of modern apartment blocks, people's exact height in centimetres and the heroes' liking of retro Americana music that seems to be characteristic of scandinavian detective fiction.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 10, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> nearly finished the snowman by jo nesbo - only marginally better than stieg larsson - poor writing, really obvious twists you can see a mile off and *that strange obsessiveness with square footage of modern apartment blocks,* people's exact height in centimetres and the heroes' liking of retro Americana music that seems to be characteristic of scandinavian detective fiction.



Lol - I hadn't thought of that until you mentioned it but you are right!


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 10, 2011)

A book an ex wrote about a society murder in Dublin.


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 11, 2011)

BoatieBird said:


> Next on the list is _Truecrime _by Jake Arnott. It's the 3rd in a series, the first 2 being _The Long Firm _and _He Kills Coppers_ - both of which I thoroughly enjoyed


 
An excellent read. I have the trilogy as a single volume and I'll probably take it on holiday with me in June.

I've just started Daniel Carney's 'The Wild Geese' on which the Richard Burton film was based. As always seems to be the case for me, the book is proving better than the film.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 11, 2011)

just finished 'books of magic' a graphic novel that has the loveliest intro:



> 'The worlds glue is a story
> 
> Picture this: the skald, whose grandfather was a berserker and a werewolf, sits by the side of his chief. The skald is a big man, big as a troll, and as ugly, with wolf grey hair. His teeth are sharp. He is halfway through a story that has taken all night and into the rind of the day. No one moves, except to drink a cup of mead. To move is to miss a part of the tale.
> 
> ...



Jane Yolen fuckin knows. even if she does run on with commas rather than starting a new sentence


----------



## Random (Mar 11, 2011)

Why, or how, could a dressing room be thatched? Books of Magic looked like kiddy fairy nonsense when I first looked at it, and it's still bursting with twee from that quote you've posted.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 11, 2011)

by thatch, i'd presume.

and by posting the phrase 'kiddy fairy' you've completely misunderstood the nature of a fairy tale, put yourself on my list and dismissed the earliest examples of working class story tellling. Congratulations, you have a perfect champion called disney. Go and watch him- he is yours.


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 12, 2011)

I'm reading With the Old Breed by E B Sledge, one of the books on which the series The Pacific was based. Very good so far.


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 12, 2011)

'How To Kill:  The Definitive History Of The Assassin' by Kris Hollington. The esteemed Mr Hollington also runs the website www.assassinology.org which provides all manner of interesting info on the history, technology and statistics of the art and science behind assassination as political, criminal and commercial practice. I'm hoping to use it for an article if my editor is up for that.


----------



## Sweet FA (Mar 12, 2011)

Bit late to the party but just finished Chabon's 'Kavalier & Clay'. Fantastic


----------



## marty21 (Mar 12, 2011)

just started Earth Abides - George R Stewart, after reading about it on here, just finished Lustrum, Robert Harris.


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 12, 2011)

marty21 said:


> just finished Lustrum, Robert Harris.



Did you enjoy it? I've read a few of Harris's books but not this one.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 12, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> Did you enjoy it? I've read a few of Harris's books but not this one.


 
I did enjoy it, it was all about Roman Politics - Caesar, Cicero, Pompey, Crassus, etc - lots of plotting, political shenanigans, etc -


----------



## ringo (Mar 12, 2011)

Murder In The Dark - Margaret Atwood
French Country Cooking - Elizabeth David
The Kitchen Diaries - Nigel Slater


----------



## Boppity (Mar 12, 2011)

Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources.

Not my first choice.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 14, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> I'm reading With the Old Breed by E B Sledge, one of the books on which the series The Pacific was based. Very good so far.


 
I enjoyed that, and the other book 'Helmet for my Pillow' Robert Leckie 

Just finished Earth Abides - George R Stewart - which several people have mentioned on this thread - loved it!

Just starting - Diaries 1942-1954 James Lee Milne.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 14, 2011)

Reading the last third of Hackney: That Rose Red Empire by Iain Sinclair. I put it down ages ago.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 14, 2011)

finished a david brin U[plift book.

Onto Steel Locusts by R.Bradbury


----------



## BoatieBird (Mar 15, 2011)

Bakunin said:


> An excellent read. I have the trilogy as a single volume and I'll probably take it on holiday with me in June.
> 
> QUOTE]
> 
> ...


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 15, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> finished a david brin U[plift book.
> 
> Onto *Steel Locusts by R.Bradbury*


 
this short story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ma..._the_Middle_of_the_Air_.28June_2003.2F2034.29

really strikes me so far. The previous ones were clever short pieces about martian exploration but this is not. From a 1950's writer of sci fi this is brave writing. It has fuck all to do with a journey to mars. And the wiki article is innacurate- the young black kid returns property before leaving. There is no chase. It's a pretty bold statement for a 50's sci fi writer to say things like this- as a white owner is denying a 50's black man his passage to the rockets:

'You don't move untill I get my money' Teecee laughed inside. He felt very warm and good

A small crowd of dark people had gathered to hear all this. Now, as Belter stood head down, trembling, an old man stepped forward
'mister?'
'how much does this man owe you mister?'

the crowd pay the mans debt and the attempted owner is left cursing.

Now it is pretty offensive to see 'did you hear about the niggers?' as common discourse- but Bradbury has written a tale that is pretty fucking challenging for its time. From a white, 50's sci fi author. I begin to fall in love with him., not least because he has a character so driven mad by the desolation and mass deaths caused on the existing martian populace by chicken pox from previous expiditions to mars he even kills his own crewmates for not feeling the gut wrenching horror of visiting a tomb-planet your own disease killed.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Mar 16, 2011)

im reading one flew over the cuckoos nest by ken keysey, its pretty good. had this on my shelf for years and havent read it dont know why.


----------



## cliche guevara (Mar 16, 2011)

Coupland's 'All Families Are Psychotic'. It's not his best.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Mar 16, 2011)

cliche guevara said:


> Coupland's 'All Families Are Psychotic'. It's not his best.


 
not his worst either


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2011)

cliche guevara said:


> Coupland's 'All Families Are Psychotic'. It's not his best.


 
It's not very good is it


----------



## cliche guevara (Mar 16, 2011)

I'm about 35% of the way through so I'll try to reserve judgement for now, but it's certainly not as instantly gripping as some of his other books, and is nowhere near as introspective as I've come to expect.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2011)

cliche guevara said:


> I'm about 35% of the way through so I'll try to reserve judgement for now, but it's certainly not as instantly gripping as some of his other books, and is nowhere near as introspective as I've come to expect.


 
It's not one I think I would bother reading again. 

Some of his 'mid-career' books seem like experiments in style, with a lot of it not being that successful (and by that I mean all the books published after microserfs and before J-pod). 

In fact, looking at that list, I don't really rate any of those books. His latest ones are good, his earliest ones are good, but the ones in the middle seem a bit confused and rubbish.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Mar 16, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> It's not one I think I would bother reading again.
> 
> Some of his 'mid-career' books seem like experiments in style, with a lot of it not being that successful (and by that I mean all the books published after microserfs and before J-pod).
> 
> In fact, looking at that list, I don't really rate any of those books. His latest ones are good, his earliest ones are good, but the ones in the middle seem a bit confused and rubbish.


 
nah you are wrong.


----------



## cliche guevara (Mar 16, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> It's not one I think I would bother reading again.
> 
> Some of his 'mid-career' books seem like experiments in style, with a lot of it not being that successful (and by that I mean all the books published after microserfs and before J-pod).
> 
> In fact, looking at that list, I don't really rate any of those books. His latest ones are good, his earliest ones are good, but the ones in the middle seem a bit confused and rubbish.



I wonder what style he's going for with this then, so far there's not a lot that would differentiate it from a bunch of other authors.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> nah you are wrong.


 
Which one of these is very good:



> Girlfriend in a Coma (1998)
> Miss Wyoming (2000)
> All Families Are Psychotic (2001)
> God Hates Japan (2001) (Published only in Japan, in Japanese with little English. Japanese title is 神は日本を憎んでる (Kami wa Nihon wo Nikunderu))
> ...



????


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2011)

cliche guevara said:


> I wonder what style he's going for with this then, so far there's not a lot that would differentiate it from a bunch of other authors.


 
I think most of the books of that period are an attempt to sort of write books that could appeal to everyone, sort of watered down re-hashed versions of his earlier stuff.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Mar 16, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> Which one of these is very good:
> 
> 
> 
> ????


 
i liked them all, obviousley havent read god hates japan as i dont speak japanease.


----------



## cliche guevara (Mar 16, 2011)

I was gonna say that The Gum Thief is my favourite of his between between Microserfs and J-Pod, but now I realise it was after J-Pod and has completely validated your point.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Mar 16, 2011)

cliche guevara said:


> I was gonna say that The Gum Thief is my favourite of his between between Microserfs and J-Pod, but now I realise it was after J-Pod and has completely validated your point.


 
what did you think of player one and generation a?


----------



## cliche guevara (Mar 16, 2011)

Generation A was the first Coupland I read, other than Life After God. It started really well, but lost the plot with the group therapy/mini stories bit, and the ending felt like it was trying too hard to be surreal, and drowned the message. I haven't read Player One yet.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2011)

cliche guevara said:


> I was gonna say that The Gum Thief is my favourite of his between between Microserfs and J-Pod, but now I realise it was after J-Pod and has completely validated your point.


 
I love The Gum Thief. A very excellent book.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Mar 16, 2011)

i love douglas coupland he is one of my favourite writers. i dont think he has written a rubbish book, some are obviousley weaker but i think its impossible to make every book as consistently good as shampoo planet. take chuck palahniuk for example his early books were amazing then he just lost it and started writing really bad books. this hasnt happened to coupland i have enjoyed every book he has written.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> i love douglas coupland he is one of my favourite writers. i dont think he has written a rubbish book, some are obviousley weaker but i think its impossible to make every book as consistently good as shampoo planet. take chuck palahniuk for example his early books were amazing then he just lost it and started writing really bad books. this hasnt happened to coupland i have enjoyed every book he has written.


 
I am not saying they are rubbish. They are OK. If you like that sort of thing. I don't. I still read each and everyone, and mildly enjoyed them at the time. I wouldn't read them again though. I do love Douglas Coupland, even if there are a few of his books I don't think that much of.  

And personally speaking, Shampoo Planet isn't one of my favourites. Generation X, Life After God and The Gum Thief are my favourites.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2011)

I have read almost everything by Douglas Coupland btw. That includes pretty much all of his non-fiction as well, (Poloroids from the Dead, City of Glass, Terry, etc), even including a lot of articles by him, like when he interviewed Morrissey. I think highly of him as a writer, but I maintain that the ones I mentioned above don't really do him any favours, they are watered down and bland, and I think it was an attempt on his part to become a bestseller kind of writer. 

The only one I have not read is the very latest one, Player One.


----------



## Voley (Mar 16, 2011)

I've only read Generation X. I hated it.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2011)

NVP said:


> I've only read Generation X. I hated it.


 
Probably because your old.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Mar 16, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have read almost everything by Douglas Coupland btw. That includes pretty much all of his non-fiction as well, (Poloroids from the Dead, City of Glass, Terry, etc), even including a lot of articles by him, like when he interviewed Morrissey. I think highly of him as a writer, but I maintain that the ones I mentioned above don't really do him any favours, they are watered down and bland, and I think it was an attempt on his part to become a bestseller kind of writer.
> 
> The only one I have not read is the very latest one, Player One.


 
what writers do you rate then?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> what writers do you rate then?


 
Dunno, loads of them.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 16, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> Probably because your old.


 
I've read loads of Douglas Coupland and enjoyed them - and I might be older than NVP


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2011)

marty21 said:


> I've read loads of Douglas Coupland and enjoyed them - and I might be older than NVP


 
I was only joking. 



I can definitely see why people wouldn't like him though - particularly Generation X.


----------



## Numbers (Mar 16, 2011)

John L.Sullivan and His Times by Michael T.Isenberg

What an interesting book, he was the first recognised gloved heavyweight champion of the world but was also a drunkard, a wastrel, an adulterer, a wife beater, a bully, an outlaw in an outlawed sport (barenuckle) in the late 1800's, allegedley earned a million quid in his life and was seen, although vilified also, as some type of hero by the masses at the time.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Mar 16, 2011)

I'm reading:

Paranormality 
The Equality Illusion
Don't Think of an Elephant

All great reads!


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 16, 2011)

Numbers said:


> John L.Sullivan and His Times by Michael T.Isenberg
> 
> What an interesting book, he was the first recognised gloved heavyweight champion of the world but was also a drunkard, a wastrel, an adulterer, a wife beater, a bully, an outlaw in an outlawed sport (barenuckle) in the late 1800's, allegedley earned a million quid in his life and was seen, although vilified also, as some type of hero by the masses at the time.


 
He was the classic example of someone who has a great talent that sadly didn't come with a great personality. He was also a racist who refused to ever fight black opponents as well. If you're looking for a great champion who was also something of a gentleman then Cornishman Bob Fitzsimmons (from Helston and nicknamed either 'Ruby Robert' or 'Speckled Bob' on account of his red hair and freckles) would be your man. Which reminds me, I have a copy of the Fitzsimmons biography 'The Fighting Blacksmith' to read at some point.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 16, 2011)

Bakunin said:


> He was the classic example of someone who has a great talent that sadly didn't come with a great personality. He was also a racist who refused to ever fight black opponents as well. If you're looking for a great champion who was also something of a gentleman then Cornishman Bob Fitzsimmons (from Helston and nicknamed either 'Ruby Robert' or 'Speckled Bob' on account of his red hair and freckles) would be your man. Which reminds me, I have a copy of the Fitzsimmons biography 'The Fighting Blacksmith' to read at some point.


I know where the thatched cottage that Bob was born in. Shame that the pub that carries his name in Helston is such a shithole.


----------



## chazegee (Mar 17, 2011)

Read an Andy Mcnab. 
Thoroughly enjoyed it's total lack of literary pretensions.
Crack on.


----------



## chazegee (Mar 17, 2011)

Unlike Jay McInerney's Brightness Falls. 
Awful sub bonfire hipster bollocks.


----------



## chazegee (Mar 17, 2011)

Numbers said:


> John L.Sullivan and His Times by Michael T.Isenberg
> 
> What an interesting book, he was the first recognised gloved heavyweight champion of the world but was also a drunkard, a wastrel, an adulterer, a wife beater, a bully, an outlaw in an outlawed sport (barenuckle) in the late 1800's, allegedley earned a million quid in his life and was seen, although vilified also, as some type of hero by the masses at the time.



Bit like Tyson then.


----------



## chazegee (Mar 17, 2011)

That Stanley Biography was fucking brilliant.
It turns out the heir to the Jameson's whiskey fortune was on one of his Africa missions.
He bought a native girl and saw her beheaded boiled and eaten for fun before himself dying of fever.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Mar 17, 2011)

Laurell K Hamilton - The Killing Dance


----------



## october_lost (Mar 20, 2011)

NVP said:


> I've only read Generation X. I hated it.


 
Seconded


----------



## marty21 (Mar 22, 2011)

James Lees Milne - Diaries 1984-1997 - 

finsihed his 1942-54 diaries yesterday, had already read the 70s diaries - now it the last one - he dies in the end


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 23, 2011)

Just bought:

The Rosicrucian Enlightenment - Frances Yates
On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism - Gershom Scholem
The White People and Other Stories - Arthur Machen
Wordsworth Dictionary of the Occult

I seem to be going on a bit of an occultist bent at the moment 

And reading at the moment

The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 1870-71 - Alistair Horne
The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte - Karl Marx


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 23, 2011)

Factory Girls: Voices from the Heart of Modern China was excellent btw, and if anybody is even half interested in China, I would recommend it, I have read loads of books recently about China and this one is by far the best.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 23, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> Just bought:
> 
> The Rosicrucian Enlightenment - Frances Yates
> *On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism - Gershom Scholem*
> ...


 
Ooo Bob's got that - all to do with his PHD re Blake.  He's got a fuckton of stuff about occultism if you fancy a few suggestions.

I am still reading the Bible - onto the Gospel of John now which is fucking *brilliant*.  I love that opening SO much 

I have just finished Carlos Castaneda - A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, which was by turns interesting and hysterically funny.  Only read it cos I described a trip/lucid dream I had once when coming down off pills to someone and they said it was very similar to what CC went through (transmutation dream - I became a bird and flew over the ocean).

I am also reading Quentin Crisp's How To Become A Virgin again, as a lazy bedtime read, I Can Make You Sleep by Paul McKenna (picked it up for our lass), and just bought Male Impersonators by Mark Simpson about the representation of men in popular culture, from the charity shop.  Lots of stuff about queer connections, misogyny and homophobia.  A little light reading


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Mar 23, 2011)

been reading grits by niall griffiths, its pretty good.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 23, 2011)

Ireland in the 20th Century by John A Murphy. You know it'll be good when he apologises for using the terms north and south in his preface.

For my toilet book I'm re reading Neverewhere- toilet book.


----------



## DrRingDing (Mar 23, 2011)




----------



## 5t3IIa (Mar 23, 2011)

Reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler _very very slowly_. Don't want to miss anything!


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 23, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> been reading grits by niall griffiths, its pretty good.


i love that book, i've read it a few times, very powerful stuff and humorous, although very grim at times also


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Mar 23, 2011)

_Divided Kingdom _by Rupert Thomson. It's good, very good, but the suspension of belief required is a bit tough. Thomson could have got away with it if the machinery of the state was incidental to the plot - as it is, say in Ishiguro's _Never Let Me Go_, where S of B isn't problematic at all - but I can't really buy the Rearrangement.


----------



## starfish (Mar 23, 2011)

The Reluctant Tommy by Ronald Skirth (Edited by Duncan Barrett) Its the reminisces of a soldier during WW1 & how he became a conscientious objector while being part of an artillery battalion.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 23, 2011)

also just got:

Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition - Frances Yates
Tax Havens: How Globalization Really Works (Cornell Studies in Money) - Ronen Palan


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 23, 2011)

Banco - The sequel to Papillon by Henri Charriere.

The Raiders - A selection of accounts of commando and guerilla units by Richard Garrett.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Mar 23, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i love that book, i've read it a few times, very powerful stuff and humorous, although very grim at times also


 
yeah lots of people shitting themselves, anal sex and dead sheep


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 23, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> yeah lots of people shitting themselves, anal sex and dead sheep


butt


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 24, 2011)

1977 by David Peace

It hasn't grabbed me the way 1974 did. It's just as brutal but the multiplicity of narrators seems to dilute the impact. i

 it's one story but told from different views

maybe i'll feel different when i've finished it


----------



## Corax (Mar 24, 2011)

'Calculus in Plain English' - because it's about time I at least knew what it is and why it's important.


----------



## cliche guevara (Mar 24, 2011)

I have never read any Vonnegut before, but am about to start Slaughterhouse 5


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 25, 2011)

cliche guevara said:


> I have never read any Vonnegut before, but am about to start Slaughterhouse 5


 
so it goes.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Mar 25, 2011)

cliche guevara said:


> I have never read any Vonnegut before, but am about to start Slaughterhouse 5


 
his books are amazing


----------



## cliche guevara (Mar 25, 2011)

I fell asleep about ten pages in and haven't had a chance to pick it up at work today... Although I have an hour long conference call this afternoon so that gives me a good chance to get stuck in


----------



## marty21 (Mar 25, 2011)

Scaggs said:


> Loved that book!



I love it too, bought it after reading people raving about it on this thread - it didn't disappoint.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 25, 2011)

Corax said:


> 'Calculus in Plain English' - because it's about time I at least knew what it is and why it's important.


 
I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the book or the author, but I remember seeing this old book recommended written in the early 20thC by an English chap that really started from the very beginnings and took it from there up to integration. Apparently it's still ranked as one of the best calc textbooks of all time.


----------



## Thraex (Mar 25, 2011)

Reading "Symbols of Ancient Gods" by Rhiannon Ryall. Some useful bits, but she's a bit cack really.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 26, 2011)

This Arthur Machen book has the worst cover of any book I own:


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 26, 2011)

marty21 said:


> I enjoyed that, and the other book 'Helmet for my Pillow' Robert Leckie



I will read Leckie's book at some point. Sledge's book was superb, makes you feel humble and a bit inadequate when you consider what so many men had to endure through so many different wars. 

I have got The Tunnels of Cu Chi waiting in the wings as my next war read.


----------



## Bakunin (Mar 26, 2011)

I'll soon be starting:

'Dispatches' by Michael Herr, about the role of war correspondents during the Vietnam War.

'The Lost Generation' by David Tremaine, about the tragically short careers of three British racing drivers of the 1970's (Tony Brise, Roger Williamson and Tom Pryce).

'Mon Ami Mate' by Chris Nixon, about the equally short, but every bit as spectacular, careers of Mike Hawthorn (Britain's first F1 World Champion) and his great friend and team-mate at Ferrari, Peter Collins.


----------



## andy2002 (Mar 27, 2011)

Recently finished 'Salt' by Adam Roberts (terrific) and have now started 'On' by the same author.

It'll be 'Perdido Street Station' or more Elric next...


----------



## ViolentPanda (Mar 27, 2011)

Electric Eden - Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 28, 2011)

Currently learning lines for "The Winter's Tale" however I also have Phil Rickman's "The Man in the Moss" with me. Never read any of his stuff but a friend - who is a bit of a pagan and a lover of horror! - recommends him.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 28, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Currently learning lines for "The Winter's Tale" however I also have Phil Rickman's "The Man in the Moss" with me. Never read any of his stuff but a friend - who is a bit of a pagan and a lover of horror! - recommends him.


 
too hot,too hot, to mingle friendship far is mingling blood 

I studied Winters Tale for A Level - still remember that quote! 

I'm guessing you won't have to use that line - unless you are playing Leontes ?

Did you get the part of that minx Hermione?


----------



## marty21 (Mar 28, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> I will read Leckie's book at some point. Sledge's book was superb, makes you feel humble and a bit inadequate when you consider what so many men had to endure through so many different wars.
> 
> I have got The Tunnels of Cu Chi waiting in the wings as my next war read.



true - I speak to my father-in-law a lot about the war now - he's 90, served in the Canadian Air force during WW2 - and then in the Australian Army - he was in Nam!  must speak to him more about Nam.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 28, 2011)

marty21 said:


> too hot,too hot, to mingle friendship far is mingling blood
> 
> I studied Winters Tale for A Level - still remember that quote!
> 
> ...


 
Nah I am playing the seemingly always angry Paulina. I get to shout a lot. And my husband gets eaten by a bear


----------



## marty21 (Mar 28, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Nah I am playing the seemingly always angry Paulina. I get to shout a lot. And my husband gets eaten by a bear


 
exit - pursued by bear


----------



## Corax (Mar 28, 2011)

My brief foray into Tom Holt is rapidly wearing thin...

Why are there so few decent comic fantasy authors?  I can't see it as being an unusually challenging genre.


----------



## ringo (Mar 28, 2011)

As I Lay Dying  - William Faulkner. Enjoying it so far, and unusually there's a character called Cora, same as my youngest daughter.


----------



## idumea (Mar 28, 2011)

I'm trying to make it through Scar Culture by Toni Davidson. It's a bit grim even by my standards, I might give up. I've got Brasyl by Ian McDonald lined up next.


----------



## Thraex (Mar 29, 2011)

Corax said:


> My brief foray into Tom Holt is rapidly wearing thin...
> 
> Why are there so few decent comic fantasy authors?  I can't see it as being an unusually challenging genre.


 
I thought Tom Holt a bit shit....well more repetetive and boring TBH 

Currently reading: "Spirit of the Hare - in folklore, mythology and the artist's landscape" by Karen Cater.

Am enjoying this one.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 31, 2011)

Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies


found it free to read on THE INTERNETS as well so bonus


----------



## marty21 (Mar 31, 2011)

Still reading James Lees Milne - Diaries 1984-97 - getting towards the end, fascinating stuff - awful snob who knew loads of  other snobs.

Just started Jar City - Arnaldur Indridason - Icelandic detective stuff.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 31, 2011)

Corax said:


> My brief foray into Tom Holt is rapidly wearing thin...
> 
> Why are there so few decent comic fantasy authors?  I can't see it as being an unusually challenging genre.


 

try Robert Rankin for the lulz


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 31, 2011)

tc boyle's wild child - my first encounter with him. this is a collection of short stories and they're damned fine. think i shall be reading him a lot in future.
rereading william sutcliffe's are you experienced? it's pretty shit but it has a bit more resonance this time around.


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 1, 2011)

Jah Wobble - Memoirs of a Geezer


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2011)

_Robinson Crusoe_ and _Diary of a Plague Year_ by Daniel Defoe, and _Mythologies_ by Roland Barthes.

And I have been re-reading _The Conference of the Birds_ again. It is beautiful.


----------



## tastebud (Apr 2, 2011)

I have finally (after a few gos) really getting in to 'the doors of perception' by Huxley today. Superb book.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 2, 2011)

krtek a houby said:


> Jah Wobble - Memoirs of a Geezer


didn't enjoy this at all, strangely


----------



## Bakunin (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm torn between which Guns'n'Roses book I should start now and which one I should save for my French trip in a few weeks time.

Do I start Stephen Davis's 'Watch You Bleed' or 'Slash: The Autobiography'?


----------



## Thraex (Apr 5, 2011)

Reading "Snake Fat and Knotted Threads - an introduction to Finnish traditional healing magic" by K.M.Koppana. Well, English is certainly not her first language, but other than that it contains some really interesting stuff (for me, that is).


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Apr 5, 2011)

Bakunin said:


> I'm torn between which Guns'n'Roses book I should start now and which one I should save for my French trip in a few weeks time.
> 
> Do I start Stephen Davis's 'Watch You Bleed' or 'Slash: The Autobiography'?


 
i wouldnt read either as guns and roses suck, maybe read a book about nirvana instead


----------



## marty21 (Apr 5, 2011)

Just started 'Mind of the Raven' - Bernd Heinrich, which was a surprise gift from Mrs21


----------



## Thraex (Apr 6, 2011)

Now reading "Dragons of the West" by Nigel Pennick. All about dragon mythology. Just started so no real opinion as yet.


----------



## mentalchik (Apr 7, 2011)

Game Of Thrones - George R. R. Martin......


really enjoying this


----------



## TruXta (Apr 7, 2011)

mentalchik said:


> Game Of Thrones - George R. R. Martin......
> 
> 
> really enjoying this


 
It only gets better. Just started The Windup Girl yesterday, looking good so far!


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2011)

I'm taking some time of the srs books to read Superman: Red Son.


----------



## TruXta (Apr 7, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm taking some time of the srs books to read Superman: Red Son.


 
Make sure you've got lots of tissue then, for your sad wanks.


----------



## mentalchik (Apr 7, 2011)

TruXta said:


> It only gets better. Just started The Windup Girl yesterday, looking good so far!


 
Oh the Windup Girl is on my to do pile by the bed !


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Make sure you've got lots of tissue then, for your sad wanks.


 
hardly, this is freemans catalouge bra pages material compared to the book on the rote armee faktion I have on the go


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 7, 2011)

just started nine lives by william dalyrymple describing the lives of 9 people he met in india. its better than i made it sound there.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 7, 2011)

Adam Roberts - Yellow Blue Tibia
Looks like an interesting read and is being raved about by a couple of mates


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 8, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> Adam Roberts - Yellow Blue Tibia
> Looks like an interesting read and is being raved about by a couple of mates


yes, loved it. and it is sci-fi btw


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Apr 8, 2011)

With Stalin!


----------



## stethoscope (Apr 8, 2011)

Andy Worthington - Stonehenge: Celebration & Subversion.


----------



## colbhoy (Apr 10, 2011)

Just started Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Apr 10, 2011)

Finished 'Too big to fail' the other day - a very long book about the financial crisis, which, although 537 pages, had very small print and it was a BIG book. There were hundreds of characters so required much patience and concentration...i enjoyed it but found it quite tough going. Well worth reading though for general understanding of what led to what happened.

Now almost finished 'Dandy in the Underworld' by the late Sebastian Horseley. Revolting, rivetting, daring, shocking, ranting, rubbish. Quite brilliant. A few lines directly thieved from Oscar Wilde appear occasionally, but he doesnt profess the memoir to be gospel truth. He admits that the rich can be a disgusting and vile, wasteful species, but there's no doubt that the man had a compassionate streak and a keen eye. Very entertaining.


----------



## xenon (Apr 10, 2011)

The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie. Love all his stuff thus far. I don't usually read fantasy, more into SF. But if I can find more with a similar flavour, I'll give it a go. Non fiction wise, Cisco LAN switching Fundementals. A real page turner, aye.


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 10, 2011)

Halfway through The Good Fairies Of New York by Martin Millar, which is quite breathtakingly wonderful.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 11, 2011)

i thought it was horrendous!


----------



## ericjarvis (Apr 11, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> i thought it was horrendous!


 
You either have no soul, or you haven't taken anywhere near enough drugs.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 11, 2011)

well no one has a soul. but i thought it was terribly written crap.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 11, 2011)

Has anybody read _Infinite Jest_ by David Foster Wallace? His final book has just come out, and he is getting the hype treatment. I had heard quite a few good things about him anyway. I like big long messy books.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 11, 2011)

ericjarvis said:


> Halfway through The Good Fairies Of New York by Martin Millar, which is quite breathtakingly wonderful.


 
Ah, have a fondness for that book  

I am just finishing Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry.  S'alright.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 11, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> Has anybody read _Infinite Jest_ by David Foster Wallace? His final book has just come out, and he is getting the hype treatment. I had heard quite a few good things about him anyway. I like big long messy books.


 
I am tempted now, read that stuff at the weekend


----------



## marty21 (Apr 11, 2011)

currently reading on the Kindle

Eye of the Red Tsar - Sam Eastland - quite enjoying it - Tsarist assassin/detective - is released temporarily from a prison camp by Stalin in order to find out who killed the Tsar and his family.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 11, 2011)

marty21 said:


> I am tempted now, read that stuff at the weekend


 
It is inevitable that I am going to read it. Its been on my radar for a long time. It does sound like the kind of book that I would love.


----------



## andy2002 (Apr 12, 2011)

Recently finished *On by Adam Roberts* which built very nicely before going off the rails a bit towards the end. Still, I like Roberts – he's always got good ideas and his world building is exemplary.

Just started *The Sailor On The Seas Of Fate* – more Moorcock.


----------



## dylans (Apr 13, 2011)

Just finished "*Uranium. War, Energy and the rock that shaped the world*" by Joe Zoellner. A fascinating and very layman's history of this incredible mineral and its impact on the whole world. As a non scientific type I usually stay away from books like this but this one is very journalistic and socio-political in its approach. Great book


----------



## Urbanblues (Apr 13, 2011)

'La Bête Humaine' Émile Zola.


----------



## Corax (Apr 13, 2011)

Earth, Air, Fire & Custard - Tom Holt
Matter - Iain M Banks
An Utterly Impartial History of Britain - John O'Farrell
Sick Notes: True Stories from the Front Lines of Medicine - Dr Tony Copperfield
The Lazy Project Manager - Peter Taylor
The Hot Zone - Richard Preston
How I Clobbered Every Bureaucratic Cash-Consficatory Agency Known to Man - Mary Elizabeth Croft


I really need to stop starting books until I've finished some...


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 13, 2011)

Corax said:


> I really need to stop starting books until I've finished some...


 
I have that problem as well. I buy books, start reading them, find something interesting, buy some more books about whatever I am interested in, start them, and so on.


----------



## Corax (Apr 13, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have that problem as well. I buy books, start reading them, find something interesting, buy some more books about whatever I am interested in, start them, and so on.


 
Yep.  I also loathe not finishing a book.  So once I've started something (like the Tom Holt one in this instance) I keep plodding through it even when it turns out to be 83% meh.

This is why I shall hate Nicola Barker forever.  'Darkmans' is 838 fucking pages, I insisted on finishing the fucking thing, and it turns out to be pointless drivel.  She lulls you into thinking that there's a really clever plot somewhere, about to be revealed, and then it finishes and you realise there isn't, it's just shite.  How the fuck it got shortlisted for the Man Booker I have no idea.


----------



## sparkling (Apr 13, 2011)

Sebastian Faulks - Human Traces.  At early stages but quite enjoying it so far.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Apr 13, 2011)

Wise Blood - Flannery O'Connor.


----------



## Thraex (Apr 14, 2011)

"The Origin of Satan - how christians demonised jews, pagans and heretics" by Elaine Pagels. Very interesting.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Apr 16, 2011)

Groupie, by Jenny Fabian and Johnny Byrne.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 17, 2011)

A People's Tragedy. The Russian Revolution 1891-1924 - Orlando Figes

massive book, 900 odd pages - won't be carrying it about too much, interesting so far.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 17, 2011)

The Num8er My5teries: A Mathematical Odyssey Through Everyday by Marcus Du Sautoy, one-week-read through some fun maths writing.

then back to bukowski, butterworth and the others....


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Apr 17, 2011)

One Day by David Nicholls, only on Chapter 2 so far but I think this is the sort of book I'm going to get totally into to...


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Apr 18, 2011)

marty21 said:


> A People's Tragedy. The Russian Revolution 1891-1924 - Orlando Figes
> 
> massive book, 900 odd pages - won't be carrying it about too much, interesting so far.



I haven't read it for a while, and I don't think it's favoured by your old M-Ls, but he does include the recorded thoughts of working class people and peasants, from memoirs etc, to provide a wider picture of the social forces that made the revolution.  

But the main thread running through it all, though, the 'tragedy' for him, seems to be that Russia hadn't developed enough of an educated, civic-minded liberal culture (impossible under intransigent Tsarism) to fully sustain a democratic system capable of defending itself against both extremes - with the obstinate absolutism of the Romanovs on one side, and Lenin's Bolsheviks on the other.  And that this, with the turn of events and the 'war communism' of the civil war period, among other things facilitated another kind of dictatorship.  

You'll notice that he uses Maxim Gorky as a peg on which to hang this stuff - of poor peasant stock, a self-taught writer and intellectual talent who came to loathe what he saw as the backwardness, violence and servility still present in the conditions of life he was born into.   In relation to the above, he also tells the story of a peasant farmer, Sergei Semenov, who tried to take advantage of the agricultural reforms undertaken during Pyotr Stolypin's stint in government, meeting opposition from his local community. 

He describes some events interestingly, such as the Moscow uprising of December 1905 in the 'red' Krasnaya factory district, and paints the storming of the Winter Palace in October 1917 as an ad hoc farce, with the failure of trying to find a lantern to use as a signal for the attack, and directionless militia firing machine guns pointlessly at a wall of the building.


----------



## ringo (Apr 18, 2011)

stephj said:


> Andy Worthington - Stonehenge: Celebration & Subversion.


 
Any good?


----------



## ringo (Apr 18, 2011)

Meat - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall


----------



## marty21 (Apr 18, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> But the main thread running through it all, though, the 'tragedy' for him, seems to be that Russia hadn't developed enough of an educated, civic-minded liberal culture (impossible under intransigent Tsarism) to fully sustain a democratic system capable of defending itself against both extremes - with the obstinate absolutism of the Romanovs on one side, and Lenin's Bolsheviks on the other.  And that this, with the turn of events and the 'war communism' of the civil war period, among other things facilitated another kind of dictatorship.
> 
> .



I'm getting that from the first 50 pages, if only he hadn't sacked the efficient ministers, they would have introduced reforms to stop the revolution, etc etc 

sounds a bit familiar with the current Arab revolutionary fervour.


----------



## flypanam (Apr 18, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> Has anybody read _Infinite Jest_ by David Foster Wallace? His final book has just come out, and he is getting the hype treatment. I had heard quite a few good things about him anyway. I like big long messy books.



Yup, I have. A quality novel that has wheelchair bound Quebecois terrorists. The Enfield Tennis academy, The Darkness who loses his face and the merits of polish as a sunscreen. Long passages about video phones destroying any illusions of you holding the attention of the person on the other line. And a film so brilliant that people enter a state of coma/bliss. It's well written and very very funny. My progress was very slow taking me three months to complete. Am looking forward to the Pale King. I went to the book launch on Friday and the passages that Paul Murray read out were beautiful. Shame he was such an unhappy man.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 18, 2011)

Erickson- Dust of Dreams

The penultimate in the Malazan saga. Good so far.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Apr 18, 2011)

the kindness of women by jg ballard pretty good so far.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Apr 18, 2011)

*Small Gods* - Terry Pratchett

Very funny.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Apr 18, 2011)

*A terrible beauty is born,* by Ulick O Connor. A beautiful little gem about the Irish troubles from 1800's onwards. Takes its title from Yeats' poem, Easter, 1916


----------



## TruXta (Apr 18, 2011)

Still on The Windup Girl, which I do like a lot. Hovering over a Burroughs book or Easton Ellis' Imperial Bedrooms. Is it pointless to read the latter without having read Less Than Zero?


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 19, 2011)

Finidhed "The Man In The Moss" which was okay but was a little slow I felt. Now back to fantasy with Joe Abercrombie's "The Heroes"


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Apr 19, 2011)

*Weaveworld* - Clive Barker.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Apr 19, 2011)

marty21 said:


> I'm getting that from the first 50 pages, if only he hadn't sacked the efficient ministers, they would have introduced reforms to stop the revolution, etc etc
> 
> sounds a bit familiar with the current Arab revolutionary fervour.



Yeah, you get that early on, with the likes of Prince Georgy Lvov and the limited power of the Zemstvo movement, and other examples of Tsarism's inability to change itself and allow some form of open, civil society, the kind of which he holds up.  While at the same time budging a little, for some tentative tweeking here and there.

Such as the introduction of Stolypin's land and Peasant Bank reforms, to head off potential peasant unrest, and to encourage the creation of a larger land-owning section of 'middle' peasants supportive of  the government, and to aid the better development of Russian agriculture.  But then, there was his ruthlessness in dealing with political opposition.  The hangman's noose in the country was called the 'Stolypin Necktie,' (to use Fedor Roditcheff's phrase) and the train carts taking convicts to katorga were called Stolypin Carriages, and still called that during the Stalinist period.


----------



## Cat Baloo (Apr 20, 2011)

Sing You Home - Jodi Picoult (Very intense - she really has a problem with evangelical Christians.)

Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy - Barrington Moore, Jr. (OK as far as it goes, but it was written 30 years ago and many, many things have changed in China and India - and Russia - that I think would alter some of his conclusion.  But it is interesting.)

We'll Always Have Paris - Ray Bradbury (Have loved his stories since I was a child and still hope to wake up one morning and find my eyes have turned golden.)

Good As Gold - Joseph Heller (Thought it would be another Catch 22 but doesn't seem to be working out that way.)

I'm another person who needs to finish a book before I start the next one.
^..^


----------



## nuffsaid (Apr 20, 2011)

*Blindsight* Peter Watts, you can download it for free here http://www.manybooks.net/titles/wattspother06Blindsight.html

It seemed a standard SF plot where humans have a future encounter with aliens, or more specifically an alien artifact at the edge of the solar system, and a spaceship is sent to investigate. But there are many background philosophical questions that get tackled in this book it's become the best read I've had on the kindle to date. Highly recommended for a bit of cerebral exercise.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 21, 2011)

An Irish Navvy - The Diary of an Exile. Donall MacAMHLAIGH

Diary of an Irish Navvy who came over the England in the 50s, which my dad did as well, he seems a lot more polite than my Dad is or would have been, but I guess the wild paddys wouldn't have kept a diary.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 21, 2011)

I am about 15% of the way through the 1000+ pages of Infinite Jest. It is start to feel like a feat of endurance.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 21, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> I am about 15% of the way through the 1000+ pages of Infinite Jest. It is start to feel like a feat of endurance.


 
will you finish it before Christmas?


----------



## andy2002 (Apr 21, 2011)

*A Game Of Thrones - George RR Martin:* enjoyed the first episode of the TV show and some of the recent interviews I've read/seen with Martin himself so thought I'd give this a go.


----------



## andy2002 (Apr 21, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Still on The Windup Girl, which I do like a lot.



I loved that book – some great characters and a world so believable you could almost touch it.


----------



## Will2403 (Apr 24, 2011)

Dillinger4 said:


> also just got:
> 
> Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition - Frances Yates
> *Tax Havens: How Globalization Really Works (Cornell Studies in Money) - Ronen Palan*


 
Richard J Murphy also co-wrote that
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/...rks-a-new-book-from-cornell-university-press/


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 24, 2011)

Will2403 said:


> Richard J Murphy also co-wrote that
> http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/...rks-a-new-book-from-cornell-university-press/


 
Have you read it?


----------



## Thraex (Apr 28, 2011)

"Brigid. Goddess, Druidess and Saint" by Brian Wright. Well written and very well researched...so far fascinating.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 28, 2011)

Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds. I had it from the library over four years ago now but got a copy from the charity shop (a pound, score!) thusly completeing my Rev. Space collection. Still after House of Suns.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 28, 2011)

nuffsaid said:


> *Blindsight* Peter Watts, you can download it for free here http://www.manybooks.net/titles/wattspother06Blindsight.html
> 
> It seemed a standard SF plot where humans have a future encounter with aliens, or more specifically an alien artifact at the edge of the solar system, and a spaceship is sent to investigate. But there are many background philosophical questions that get tackled in this book it's become the best read I've had on the kindle to date. Highly recommended for a bit of cerebral exercise.


 

it's really very good isn't it? You might also enjoy Maelstrom and the other Rifters books (free on his website along with some interesting shorts. Here he is getting all upset over Margaret atwood in the lolsome essay 'Hierarchy of Contempt-



http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&so...FZbB9J0KYFlcNpYbA&sig2=DB0KYNKMRqAdwOOBHGGnzA


(pdf)


----------



## starfish (Apr 28, 2011)

Back to Ed McBains 87th Precinct with "Blood Relatives". I will read/own them all.


----------



## Zeppo (May 1, 2011)

The book I am reading is one I have finished writing. Called Junk Man it is great but then I am biased.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (May 1, 2011)

Reading the rough guide to the velvet underground. Not sure why as I have never really been a fan. It's an interesting read (and an interesting Reed) though.


----------



## TruXta (May 3, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds. I had it from the library over four years ago now but got a copy from the charity shop (a pound, score!) thusly completeing my Rev. Space collection. Still after House of Suns.


 
I quite liked that series. Is the rest any good? Over Easter I've been reading not too much - finished Charles Stross' _Jennifer Morgue_ and picked up a Jack Reacher novel at JFK for the return leg. A proper man's read that.


----------



## krtek a houby (May 3, 2011)

Cover is a bit Reservoir Dogs but actually an insightful history into these people and how they operate


----------



## TruXta (May 3, 2011)

krtek a houby said:


> Cover is a bit Reservoir Dogs but actually an insightful history into these people and how they operate


 
If you like that kind of stuff you really should check out some of Diego Gambetta's books.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 3, 2011)

TruXta said:


> I quite liked that series. Is the rest any good? Over Easter I've been reading not too much - finished Charles Stross' _Jennifer Morgue_ and picked up a Jack Reacher novel at JFK for the return leg. A proper man's read that.


 
_Pushing Ice_ is a good read and in its own way _Prefect_ is good for details on how belle epoque Demarchist society looked. The story is not so great.


----------



## TruXta (May 3, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> _Pushing Ice_ is a good read and in its own way _Prefect_ is good for details on how belle epoque Demarchist society looked. The story is not so great.


 
Worrabout _Chasm City_, read that?


----------



## DotCommunist (May 3, 2011)

Chasm City is a Rev. Space novel set just before the first novel 

It's also the best of the series imho. Think Richard Morgan but done _better_. Sci Fi noir in the ruins of post-plague yellowstone society. Well worth it because it's like but unlike anything else he has done. It's from the perspective of Tanner Mirabel, a Sky's Edge veteran with an axe to grind. Or is he?


----------



## Idris2002 (May 3, 2011)

Darwin's _Voyage of the Beagle._

Really good stuff, including some hard words against slavery and a brilliant evocation of early nineteenth century South American society - that's on top of all the natural history.

Seriously, it's really good.


----------



## idumea (May 4, 2011)

I've got several books on the go that I'm switching between. It's a bit ridiculous now. They are: Grits by Niall Griffiths (loving it), Alan Warner's The Man Who Walked (brilliant), Frances Yates' The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age (not quite digging it), Disgrace by JM Coetzee (sure I'll get there eventually).


----------



## machine cat (May 4, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Worrabout _Chasm City_, read that?


 
I'm half way through Chasm City right now. I'm enjoying it more than the others I've read (Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap).


----------



## big eejit (May 5, 2011)

Just finished The Observations by Jane Harris. Really good book. Narrated by a wickedly funny young Irish girl called Bessy. Some brilliant turns of phrase that had me laughing out loud.


----------



## burnage (May 5, 2011)

just bought myself one of these....







and just finished reading....






I didn't think much of the film when it came out but having read the book I've re-watched the film a couple of times and like it a lot more now. PKD was a genius....

I've also just started this one....






I saw Mark Thomas' "Extreme rambling" live show a few weeks ago and the book is a fascinating (but inevitably somewhat depressing) read so far....


----------



## ViolentPanda (May 6, 2011)

Currently re-reading Karl Dietrich Bracher's "The German Dictatorship" and Tim Mason's "Social Policy in the Third Reich", alongside K.E. Mills' "Witches Incorporated" for light relief.


----------



## sojourner (May 6, 2011)

The Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf

It's fucking GREAT! Never expected to enjoy it this much!


----------



## belboid (May 6, 2011)

not currently reading, but not long since I finished it, and it's so fucking good it really needs a  mention.

Michael Chabon's _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay_ is probably the best novel I've read in the last decade, a work of stunning wonder, laughter with more than a touch of heartbreak. All about the Golden Age of comic books and jewishness before and after the second world war.  Everyone with any semblance of a heart should read it.  Stunningly good.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 6, 2011)

belboid said:


> not currently reading, but not long since I finished it, and it's so fucking good it really needs a  mention.
> 
> Michael Chabon's _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay_ is probably the best novel I've read in the last decade, a work of stunning wonder, laughter with more than a touch of heartbreak. All about the Golden Age of comic books and jewishness before and after the second world war.  Everyone with any semblance of a heart should read it.  Stunningly good.


 


Have you read  the Yiddish Policemen's Union. It's a cracker. 

I haven't read Kavalier & Clay yet ,but it's on the pile


----------



## Part 2 (May 6, 2011)

I read K&C after the many recommendations here. I'd not read anything for ages; couldn't put it down and it was finished in a week. 

Been thinking about which one to try next, YPU sounds a good enough bet, aren't the Cohen's making the film?


----------



## sojourner (May 7, 2011)

belboid said:


> not currently reading, but not long since I finished it, and it's so fucking good it really needs a  mention.
> 
> Michael Chabon's _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay_ is probably the best novel I've read in the last decade, a work of stunning wonder, laughter with more than a touch of heartbreak. All about the Golden Age of comic books and jewishness before and after the second world war.  Everyone with any semblance of a heart should read it.  Stunningly good.


 
It is a brilliant book


----------



## belboid (May 7, 2011)

rubbershoes said:


> Have you read  the Yiddish Policemen's Union. It's a cracker.
> 
> I haven't read Kavalier & Clay yet ,but it's on the pile


 
haven't read any other Chabon before, only in part because the film of Wonderboys annoyed me.

I will put this right tho.



sojourner said:


> It is a brilliant book


 
you recommend any particular other of his?


----------



## xenon (May 8, 2011)

Have a couple on the go.

Just started the Fuller Memorandam, Charles Stross. Part of the Laundry series. Also Beyond Boundries, Miguel Nicolelis. Speculation about the increasing development of brain / technology interfaces and what it could mean for ssociety.


----------



## xenon (May 8, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> _Pushing Ice_ is a good read and in its own way _Prefect_ is good for details on how belle epoque Demarchist society looked. The story is not so great.


 

Read the Prefect recently. Revelation Space is a bit pedestrian in parts. I recommended it to someone and he hated it. Big ideas and prone to info dumping. But still pretty mind blowing. The Prefect though, written later, he's got plot pace sorted out. Really enjoyed it.

Been listening to AR's Galactic North on audiobook recently. Still need Diamond Dogs and Turquoise Days to complete the series.


----------



## Jon-of-arc (May 8, 2011)

Just reading the Bachman Books (started with The Running Man and have dipped into a couple of chapters of The Long Walk).  's ok, but the charecters seem a bit dry.  I'll persevere.

Also about 2/3 of the way through Bill Brysons "A Short History of Nearly Everything", a kind of popular-science/history of scientific discovery combo.  Liking all the stories about the lives of the scientists - they often are very weird little men, and Newton is particularly interesting - but the actual attempts to put science into easily understandable words are a bit hit and miss in terms of the interest they inspire.  10 years old now, as well, so loads of the theories being put forward as the most up to date could be old-hat now.

Last Exit to Brooklyn is up next, but I'm gonna finish everything I've started before moving on.


----------



## JayneAir (May 8, 2011)

Im reading Marian Keyes - The Brightest Star in the Sky. Nowhere near as funny as her other books but still good. A bit dark in places but I think thats to do with the fact she was in the depths of depression writing it. Iv a bit to go yet so will keep posted on how i feel at the end


----------



## Part 2 (May 8, 2011)

Just finished From Hell, it's the graphic novel masterpiece I was led to believe, excellent.

Read Gypsy Boy this morning, it's okay, learnt a few things.

I've also got We need to talk about Kevin and The likes of us on the go but neither has me that interested after a few chapters each.


----------



## TruXta (May 9, 2011)

Finished the Windup Girl - ace - plodding on with Red Mars, which isn't quite the gripper I was led to believe. Tight plotting and all that, but not quite the characters to really push it forward.


----------



## fractionMan (May 9, 2011)

xenon said:


> Have a couple on the go.
> 
> Just started the Fuller Memorandam, Charles Stross. Part of the Laundry series. Also Beyond Boundries, Miguel Nicolelis. Speculation about the increasing development of brain / technology interfaces and what it could mean for ssociety.


 
It's part of a series?

I quite enjoyed it


----------



## fractionMan (May 9, 2011)

Currently reading 

dark light - some scifi bloke.


----------



## purves grundy (May 9, 2011)

Whathisname Thoreau - Walden


----------



## xenon (May 9, 2011)

fractionMan said:


> It's part of a series?
> 
> I quite enjoyed it


 


Yep. Reading order's listed in his blog www.antipope.org January's archive IIRC.

Starts with The Atrocity Archives, - Jennifer Morg - Fuller Memorandam, - (couple of others in pipeline.)


----------



## fractionMan (May 9, 2011)

Ah, I wish they'd put that bloody info in the book somewhere.  Other writers just as guilty - Alastair reynolds does this too.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 9, 2011)

Kate Atkinson - Started Early, Took My Dog - like a mumlit David Peace. Probably only of interest if you are from Leeds.


----------



## Garek (May 10, 2011)

Pursuit of Italy by David Gilmour - still trying to finish. No longer has its hooks in me.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - Superb, but hard after a day at work 

and just about to start the Borrible Trilogy tonight.


----------



## BoatieBird (May 10, 2011)

Finished _The Long Firm _trilogy at the weekend - deepy satisfying, I'm glad I went back and re-read the 1st 2 before I started on the 3rd.

A few weeks ago I had a discussion with a couple of colleagues at work about the books in the BBCs Big Read Top 100, and we agreed to recommend a couple of books that we'd read but the others hadn't , so as a result of this I've read _Of Mice and Men _and I'm just starting _Love in the Time of Cholera_, and they are reading The Wasp Factory.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml


----------



## DotCommunist (May 10, 2011)

The Bloody Road to Death. Good old sven, I've lost my bodycount already and I'm only forty pages in.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 11, 2011)

Just finished Blacklands by Belinda someone.

About a boy trying to find the body of his uncle who was murdered by a serial killer when a child

Not a lot of laughs


----------



## starfish (May 11, 2011)

The Glitterdome by Joseph Wambaugh. Have read a few of his later novels, this is one from the 70s.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 13, 2011)

Before the Shining Path: Politics in Rural Ayacucho, 1895-1980 by Jaymie Heilman.  

Published fairly recently (July 2010), it examines the historical antecedents of the PCP-SL People's War of the 1980s to early 90s.

PDF copy here.


----------



## belboid (May 13, 2011)

Things the Grandchildren Should Know, by Mark 'E' Everett.

Really well written, with some interesting insights into the writing and album delivery process, and just a quite fascinating life that shows why the Eels are such a cracking band. Best line - 'Or act like a twat.'  Just perfect.


----------



## marty21 (May 13, 2011)

Got 3 on the go, the Russian Revolution one - Orlando Figes, about a quarter of the way through the massive 800 pages - I read it when I'm having a fag on my door step - and shake my fist at counter revolutionaries who walk past with their imperialist dogs 

Mind of a Raven - Bernd Heinrich -is by the bed 

and my commute read is Berlin - Pierre Frei - and detective thriller post WW2  -  a serial kikker is on the loose in divided berlin - chased by Americans, Russians and Germans - enjoying it


----------



## blueplume (May 14, 2011)

Just starting A darker domain by Val McDermid, never read any of her books, didn't ever know her!


----------



## marty21 (May 14, 2011)

blueplume said:


> Just starting A darker domain by Val McDermid, never read any of her books, didn't ever know her!



she's very good, I've read loads of her books.


----------



## hawk007 (May 14, 2011)

None, books have no basis in reality. They are as everything either control mechanisms or so called stars that burn as bright as my dogs droppings bragging about what they have.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (May 14, 2011)

hawk007 said:


> None, books have no basis in reality. They are as everything either control mechanisms or so called stars that burn as bright as my dogs droppings bragging about what they have.


cor, well edgy.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 14, 2011)

hawk007 said:


> None, *books have no basis in reality*. They are as everything either control mechanisms or so called stars that burn as bright as my dogs droppings bragging about what they have.


 
the a-z of kettering begs to differ


----------



## marty21 (May 14, 2011)

hawk007 said:


> None, books have no basis in reality. They are as everything either control mechanisms or so called stars that burn as bright as my dogs droppings bragging about what they have.



true, FICTION is made up stuff


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 15, 2011)

lol.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 15, 2011)

I have finished Dust of Dreams (erickson). Will digest before buying the final one. Bloody Road To Death got finished during work lunchbreaks so I have decided to start A Canticle for Liebowitz which post apoc. fans always rave about.


----------



## ringo (May 16, 2011)

Struggling to read either of the 'proper literature/fiction' books I have on the go. Needed something light on the iphone for occasional time-filling and having plumped for Ken Follett's 'Pillars Of The Earth'  realised that what I really needed what an easy to read epic. Its actually not bad.


----------



## fractionMan (May 16, 2011)

flowers for algernon.

It's good so far


----------



## ilovebush&blair (May 16, 2011)

im reading another roadside attraction by tom robbins, its really good, never even heard of this guy and just randomly stumbled upon it on amazon.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (May 16, 2011)

Kink - Dave Davis.

It's like it's written by a child telling a story about what he did over the summer. Quite a fun read though. 

"And then I plugged in two guitars, and then I ripped the speaker. It sounded nice. And then I wrote you really got me. The Doors copied it and I laughed, it was funny so I didn't sue. And then I had sex and drank a lot over and over and over again in every chaper. I was on a bus this one time and David Jones was on it, he was later going to call himself David Bowie. I didn't talk to him, but I did work in a shop with Derrick Griffiths. The rolling stones wanted to steal our songs and the beatles were jealous of us. Whats Tom Jones all about?


----------



## Thraex (May 17, 2011)

"The Colosseum" by Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard. Well researched and written in a lively fasion. 

Also started "Lord of the Cosmos - Mithras, Paul, and the Gospel of Mark" by Michael Patella, not got too far into it, the only reason I started it was because I left the other book at work last night


----------



## ilovebush&blair (May 20, 2011)

just got my hands on a copy of a crack up at the race riots by harmony korine, just about to get stuck into it. wanted to read this book for so long but its so rare and really expensive that i have never been able to get my hands on a copy.


----------



## little_legs (May 21, 2011)

I want to thank Captain Hurrah for the final post on Tkachev. Despite his contempt for the peasants, I kind of get him. And this actually sounds very familiar: 





> "Of course! Since the people themselves do not understand their own good, what is truly good for them must be forced upon them."


 and I broadly agree with it . Thank you, CH, for mentioning Pisarev and Tkachev.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 21, 2011)

He isn't my cup of tea.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 21, 2011)

A bit late with this, but the better book about him in the English language, as far as I know, is Petr Tkachev: The Critic as Jacobin by Deborah Hardy.  Failing that, there's an older and outdated biography from the 1960s (from a Cold War 'let's have a look at our enemy's origins' perspective) called The First Bolshevik by Albert L. Weeks.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 21, 2011)

don't you ever read a thriller or summink light, captain?


----------



## little_legs (May 21, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> A bit late with this, but the better book about him in the English language, as far as I know, is Petr Tkachev: The Critic as Jacobin by Deborah Hardy.  Failing that, there's an older and outdated biography from the 1960s (from a Cold War 'let's have a look at our enemy's origins' perspective) called The First Bolshevik by Albert L. Weeks.



many thanks, CH, I'll put Hardy's book on my 'to read' list.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 21, 2011)

Hardy's book concentrates more on the development of his own thinking and political positions, than trying to find kinship with the Russian Jacobin-Blanquist tendency he represented to dome degree, and Lenin's Bolshevism.  Unsurprisingly, Soviet ideologues would have disliked the other book, which is more comprehensive but has that kinship as its theme.  

Franco Venturi in his excellent book on the 19th century revolutionaries mentions debates between Soviet historians in the 1920s and 30s, but which were discontinued in favour of the Lenin cult and the legitimacy of socialism in the USSR - which placed emphasis on the uniqueness of his thought and politics, with the Stalinists being dismissive of the non-Marxist content of Tkachev's work.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 21, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> don't you ever read a thriller or summink light, captain?



I read a few of the supermarket paperback crime thrillers my mother discards.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 21, 2011)

shelf stacking on nights is a thieves pass to rob any of the life-changing important works of quality literature available from tescos


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 22, 2011)

Actually I was inaccurate with my description of Week's book, in that he does explicitly state it is folly to try and find links in a linear fashion, and wrench things from their specific historical contexts.  There is plenty of suggestion though.  I was confusing myself with another outdated book from the 1960s that does try and do just that, from the outset, but which is on another figure - The Unmentionable Nechaev: A Key to Bolshevism.


----------



## Thraex (May 23, 2011)

Almost finished Peter Brett's "The Painted Man" a real page turner for me. I read it about two years ago and have been waiting for "The Desert Spear" (sequel) to come out in paperback, bought it as soon as it did but wanted to revisit the first book as my memory's shit.


----------



## marty21 (May 23, 2011)

Still on the Russian Revolution one - Orlando Figes, - an epic book

Mind of a Raven - Bernd Heinrich -is still by the bed - very enjoyable 

Just finished Berlin - Pierre Frei - and detective thriller post WW2. 

And my new commute read is Peter Ackroyd - London Under.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 23, 2011)

Started 'The making of the english working class' 

have given up on Canticle for liebowitz temporarily as I have an Octavia Butler dystopian sci fi book as my fiction read


----------



## The Octagon (May 24, 2011)

Finally finished 'Look To Windward' (had a lot of breaks and probably need to read it again to remember some bits).

Interesting, if a little anti-climactic (although I suppose that was kind of the point).


----------



## andy2002 (May 24, 2011)

Just started *Ubik* by *Philip K Dick*.


----------



## Bakunin (May 24, 2011)

I've just started 'Aces Falling' which is a study of the the role of air power, particularly the overinflated role of the fighter pilot, during the final year of WWI. The most important role of air power in WWI was that of artillery spotting and recon flights rather than the far more media-friendly dogfighting of Richthofen, Fonck, Mannock, Hawker, Guynemer, Boelcke and the other fighter aces. It also highlights the fact that fighter pilots did more damage in terms of affecting enemy casualties and morale during ground attack missions than by simply shooting down enemy aircraft.

It's a very different view to the conventional approach to the subject matter.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (May 24, 2011)

im reading even cowgirls get the blues by tom robbins


----------



## DotCommunist (May 24, 2011)

The Octagon said:


> Finally finished 'Look To Windward' (had a lot of breaks and probably need to read it again to remember some bits).
> 
> Interesting, if a little anti-climactic (although I suppose that was kind of the point).


 

his culture best, I think.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 25, 2011)

Re-reading Pol Pot Plans the Future: Confidential Leadership Documents from Democratic Kampuchea, 1976-1977.

Bigger, better, _faster_.  

More the hubristic dream of building steel mills in a compressed time-scale, than anti-modern primitivist savages wanting to put the clock back.


----------



## The Octagon (May 25, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> his culture best, I think.


 
It had some of the best ideas, but meandered a little too much for me.

Use Of Weapons is probably my favourite thus far (still got Inversions, Matter and Surface Detail to go).


----------



## Thraex (May 25, 2011)

On "The Desert Spear" (Peter Brett) now....'tis a good one.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 25, 2011)

Just finished The secret River by Kate Grenville

It's quite depressing


----------



## chazegee (May 25, 2011)

Dracula was a woman. All about the Hungarian Lady Bathory, who used to bathe in peasant girls's blood to keep her young.


----------



## temper_tantrum (May 25, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> Kate Atkinson - Started Early, Took My Dog - like a mumlit David Peace. Probably only of interest if you are from Leeds.


 
I just read that too ^^^
Quite good, I thought, in a 'quick and easy read' kinda way - polished the whole thing off in 24 hours.

Now reading 'Dancing In The Glory Of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo & the Great War of Africa' by Jason Stearns. Very good so far, although I get the impression that the editing was a little rushed.


----------



## machine cat (May 25, 2011)

My paperback copy of Iain M Banks' 'Surface Detail' turned up a day early (go the internet!) so will start that tonight.


----------



## sojourner (May 27, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> shelf stacking on nights is a thieves pass to rob any of the life-changing important works of quality literature available from tescos


 
If they had any


----------



## stethoscope (May 28, 2011)

Matt Mason - The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism

(pdf available here)


----------



## Thraex (May 31, 2011)

Just started "Hadrian's Wall" (4th Ed.) by David Breeze and Brian Dobson, in preparation for going up there next week.


----------



## Piggy (Jun 1, 2011)

I have just restarted reading No Logo by Naomi Klein. It is a bit of a battle, not gonna lie. But I shall plough through it!


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 1, 2011)

The Crippled God- the final in the Malazan book of the Fallen.

it has been nine odd years and about 10 absolute fuck off doorstops but this is finally the last one.


----------



## somantics (Jun 1, 2011)

*Conversations on Collapse*

I've just bought a cheap copy of Conversations on Collapse by 'KMO' from a small independent. 

The book is a series of transcripts from a podcast called the C-Realm. They have some pretty good guests..

The place to buy the book from the UK is here: http://www.beetrootbooks.com/product/4885/40/conversations-on-collapse


----------



## pianissimo (Jun 1, 2011)

The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard.


----------



## andy2002 (Jun 1, 2011)

Recently finished PKD's *Ubik *(amazing) and just started *The Kings Of Eternity* by Eric Brown.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jun 1, 2011)

andy2002 said:


> Recently finished PKD's *Ubik *(amazing) and just started *The Kings Of Eternity* by Eric Brown.


 
yeah its a well good book isnt it.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jun 1, 2011)

pianissimo said:


> The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard.


 
have you read the drought by j g ballard? i really liked that one.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 1, 2011)

Recent books:

A Portrait of the Artist as a young man, by Joyce. Read it on a beach somewhere sunny, it was a blissful read and masterfully executed. Young Stephen Dedaleus, a schoolboy at Clongowes college in Dublin (1906) is a deep and serious boy (just like Joyce was). He doesnt feel like he belongs anywhere and does have the quiet confidence that he is an artist. The bulk of this short book covers some deeply disturbing rants by the priests at school about HELL!! and SIN!!! which put the fear of God into Stephen and make him all pious and deeply religious for a while....but eventually, he experiences his own epiphany, his own incarnation, his own personal 'harvest' and eventually discards all religion and decides to live the free and beautiful life of an artist. I really loved this book, also very appreciative of the Parnell debate at the start which was very exciting to read as an irish reader. Joyce, although in exile, had a certain facination with Ireland, and his words, feelings, paranoias and piousness and expression are thoroughly Irish.

also read Ham on Rye, Factotum, and Post Office by Charles Bukowski. The lech, like most genius's is a sociopath, but also has a huge heart, and generosity of spirit - very important traits in people. 

now Im reading St Francis of Assisi, by Omer Englebert, which is (so far) very enjoyable.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jun 4, 2011)

ive got ten days off work now so im going to get stuck into infinite jest by david foster wallace


----------



## Bakunin (Jun 5, 2011)

The Butcher: Anatomy Of A Mafia Psychopath by Philip Carlo.

Carlo is also the author of 'The Ice Man' about another notorious hitman named Richard Kuklinski. 'The Butcher' is about New York Mafioso Tommy 'Karate' Pitera, a made man in the Bonanno family. A martial arts obsessive, major drug dealer and Mob hitman with a serious penchant for dismembering his many victims, Pitera even had his own personal graveyard in a New York wildlife reserve and is currently doing a number of life sentences. He's believed to have personally killed at least 60 people.

Not a very nice man, IMHO.


----------



## katie_biscuit (Jun 7, 2011)

I've just started Playing With The Grown Ups by Sophie Dahl.  Before that I read Ghost Children by Sue Townsend which was surprisingly dark and very good (although rather disturbing).


----------



## TruXta (Jun 8, 2011)

Still on K.S. Robinson's _Red Mars_, which is finally picking up some pace after a rather humdrum first half.


----------



## 5t3IIa (Jun 8, 2011)

Just ate Lord Emsworth and Others by PG Wodehouse. Took approx. 3 weeks commute and contained approx. 12 Laugh Out Louds.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 8, 2011)

Just finished John Dickie's Cosa Nostra and onto lighter fair; Charlie Brooker's The Hell of it All. Made me smile like a lunatic on the tube this morning!


----------



## 5t3IIa (Jun 8, 2011)

I've got _*literally*_ 3 pages left of The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler left to read for the last 3 weeks ^ but it's not enough for the commute and besides I don't quite want to know the ending.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 8, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Still on K.S. Robinson's _Red Mars_, which is finally picking up some pace after a rather humdrum first half.


 

yeh, the ending is shit and the book never grows out of its trad-sci fi boilerishness. Sack it off and get on with your malazan.

I'm finishing octavia butlers 'parapble of the sower' in spare minutes. I'm really only sticking with it because it portrays an america totally fucked by climate change and capitalism dying into savagery. Which is how it might well end


----------



## TruXta (Jun 8, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> yeh, the ending is shit and the book never grows out of its trad-sci fi boilerishness. Sack it off and get on with your malazan.


 
Well thanks a lot baby-face!  Just to spite you I'll start reading the Twilight books. And tell you all about it.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jun 8, 2011)

half way through infinite jest by david foster wallace, its really good hopefully i can get it finished by the end of the week.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 8, 2011)

katie_biscuit said:


> I've just started Playing With The Grown Ups by Sophie Dahl.  Before that I read Ghost Children by Sue Townsend which was surprisingly dark and very good (although rather disturbing).


i fucking hate poshie dahl tbf


----------



## Greebo (Jun 8, 2011)

"Gebissen" by Boris Koch (vampire story, duh) and "Jesabel" by Irene Nemirovsky on audio book - aiming for immersion.


----------



## Piggy (Jun 9, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i fucking hate poshie dahl tbf


 
ME TOO. that 'cookery' programme she did. what the hell was that about??


----------



## idumea (Jun 9, 2011)

Near the end of Embassytown by China Mieville. I was disappointed with it at first and found it rather slow going (it didn't grab me as immediately as The City & The City, or Kraken, or any of his Bas-Lag books), but it picked up about halfway through. Appropriately enough given the subject matter (language, translation, difficulty communicating) his lexis seems deliberately obscure at times,, in a weirdly stilted way. It'd probably be much better on a second read-- he drops a lot of concepts and terms in at the beginning that aren't explored properly until later, so the start of the book was a little confusing. Like a much less extreme Riddley Walker.


----------



## little_legs (Jun 11, 2011)

*Freedom *by Jonathan Franzen, it's pretty good.


----------



## andy2002 (Jun 13, 2011)

Just started *The Time Machine* by *HG Wells*. Recently finished Eric Brown's The Kings Of Eternity which was superb - in one sense, it's traditional sci-fi with aliens, intergalactic battles and spaceships, but 95 per cent of all that takes place 'off-screen'. The story focuses instead on the effect encountering aliens has on the human characters and is all the better for it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 13, 2011)

idumea said:


> Near the end of Embassytown by China Mieville. I was disappointed with it at first and found it rather slow going (it didn't grab me as immediately as The City & The City, or Kraken, or any of his Bas-Lag books), but it picked up about halfway through. Appropriately enough given the subject matter (language, translation, difficulty communicating) his lexis seems deliberately obscure at times,, in a weirdly stilted way. It'd probably be much better on a second read-- he drops a lot of concepts and terms in at the beginning that aren't explored properly until later, so the start of the book was a little confusing. Like a much less extreme Riddley Walker.


 
two chapters in, looks like he is channeling ursula le guin. Quite interesting though.


----------



## marty21 (Jun 13, 2011)

reading the second book in that game of thrones series - hopelessly hooked now 

still got the Russian Revolution one on the go, and a book about ravens


----------



## idumea (Jun 13, 2011)

Finished Embassytown. Currently alternating The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell with the Usborne children's picture book The First One Thousand Words in French. I've got Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness ready waiting if I get bored of either (can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to it...)


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Jun 14, 2011)

almost finished infinite jest, hopefully i can get it finished tomorrow. such a good book.


----------



## starfish (Jun 18, 2011)

The Grudge by Tom English. Its about the Grand Slam match between Scotland & England in 1990 (when we kicked your arses) & of the characters involved & how the political climate of the time created such an antagonistical atmosphere.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 18, 2011)

i'm reading a bio of patrick hamilton atm, its not bad.


----------



## starfish (Jun 18, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i'm reading a bio of patrick hamilton atm, its not bad.


 
Ive read Hangover Square which he wrote. Good book.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 18, 2011)

starfish said:


> Ive read Hangover Square which he wrote. Good book.


brilliant book. well deserving of the hype.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Jun 18, 2011)

read all of the song of ice and fire books over the last few days


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 18, 2011)

hot and cold?


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 18, 2011)

or mebbe cold and hot...


----------



## starfish (Jun 18, 2011)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> read all of the song of ice and fire books over the last few days


 
How many are there?


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 18, 2011)

fucking hundreads....


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jun 18, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i'm reading a bio of patrick hamilton atm, its not bad.



Through a Glass Darkly?  Thought about getting hold of that myself.


----------



## sytico (Jun 18, 2011)

I'm reading Duma key by Stephen King. Its very interesting


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 18, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Through a Glass Darkly?  Thought about getting hold of that myself.


yes, by nigel jones.


----------



## yield (Jun 19, 2011)

The Octagon said:


> It had some of the best ideas, but meandered a little too much for me.
> 
> Use Of Weapons is probably my favourite thus far (still got Inversions, Matter and Surface Detail to go).


Use of Weapons is my favourite too. The chairmaker was sick. I got given Surface Detail for Xmas but not got around to reading it yet. 



DotCommunist said:


> The Crippled God- the final in the Malazan book of the Fallen.
> 
> it has been nine odd years and about 10 absolute fuck off doorstops but this is finally the last one.


I finished Crippled God yesterday. What did you think?


Spoiler: Crippled God



What the? 10 books! What happened to Silverfox, Kallor, Caladan Brood etc etc? So many loose threads. What did the rest of the eleint do at the end?
Why can't anyone stay dead! Endless pages of thirsty Boneshunters. Too many undisguisable characters. Kept confusing Silchas Ruin and Draconus amngst others. A real let down.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 19, 2011)

sacked it off mid desert to read embassytown. will return after that but if there is no Karsa Orlong in the finale I'll be livid


----------



## TruXta (Jun 20, 2011)

Poul Anderson's _Three Hearts and Three Lions._ Liking it a lot so far, very easy read too.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 20, 2011)

Back into "The Death Instinct" by Jed Rubenfeld. It's okay but I find myself feeling distanced from the characters, they don't really engage me.


----------



## heinous seamus (Jun 20, 2011)

The Wild Ass's Skin by Balzac


----------



## TruXta (Jun 20, 2011)

I like the title - never read any Balzac. Any good?


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Jun 20, 2011)

I'm reading a book called "The Wilder Life."   It's about the real story of the Ingels family from the Little House books.  I've always had mixed feelings about those cute little books and it turns out I had reason to.  That little house on the prairie was smack in the middle of Osage treaty land.  Pa was a squatter and betting that the Indians would be moved off by the army.  They were.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Jun 20, 2011)

im reading ' The good man Jesus and the scoundrel christ ' by Phillip Pullman, its alrighty so far

also slowly but surely getting through ' life ' by Keith Richards which is good but huge..


----------



## The Octagon (Jun 20, 2011)

Just got back from holiday (I tend to get the majority of my year's reading done in a week or two laid by a pool ) - 

_Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets_ (David Simon) - Great book, like being thrown back into The Wire but with added nuances of how the detectives view themselves and the world around them. Suffers a little from not showing the other side too much (but I guess that's not the focus of the book, I can get that from The Corner).

_Matter _(Iain M. Banks) - Another good read, the whole Shellworld concept was great (would love to see if artists have tried to depict some of the key structures / ships in Culture novels, anyone?), but the tech suits were a bit overpowered and it yet again ended far too abruptly. As great as his books sometimes are, Banks' endings hardly ever seem to match the build-up 

_A Game Of Thrones_ (George Martin) - Only a third of the way through, but enjoying it (both for itself and as a companion to the series), not sure whether to spoil myself by reading ahead once I've finished tho...)


----------



## belboid (Jun 20, 2011)

Just started Joe Haldeman's _The Forever War_.  Bouth it for me briother in law after recomendations on here a couple of years back, and he finally read it and said I  should too!  Good start, should be entertaining.


----------



## TruXta (Jun 20, 2011)

Only read the first one so far, pretty good.


----------



## Thraex (Jun 20, 2011)

Reading 'Green Rider' by Kristen Britain. First in a series, went out yesterday and got the second book, so you could say I'm enjoying it. An easy fantasy read.


----------



## maya (Jun 20, 2011)

I'm struggling to concentrate at the moment, but trying to read 'Pensées'(sp?) by Pascal (in translation, not the french version) and 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat' by Oliver Sacks (strange tales from a neurologist, very interesting)


----------



## andy2002 (Jun 20, 2011)

Having read and enjoyed The Time Machine, I'm now cracking on with HG Wells' *The Island Of Doctor Moreau*.


----------



## pigtails (Jun 22, 2011)

Just finished the second book in Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy about to start the third..... Love love love these books!


----------



## marty21 (Jun 22, 2011)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> read all of the song of ice and fire books over the last few days


 
I'm on the 3rd, reading about one a week


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 22, 2011)

Finished *'Im with the band. Confessions of a groupie'* by supergroupie Pamela Des Barres, which was shockingly good and very well written. Upbeat, perky, forthy and flamboyant, she has an extremely engaging writing style that makes for a rollicking read. She expresses herself very joyously and is not one bit apologetic about her conquests (who include Jim Morrison, Gram Parsons, Mick Jagger, Keith Moon, and Jimmy Page). She was a big protege of Frank Zappa, and a member of the GTO's (Girls Together Outrageously) which was one of 'Mr Zappa's pet projects (a bunch of girls - not honeyz, she was the only looker) reciting poetry, singing badly and doing performance art....

Although she is somewhat frivolous she is also self depreciative about her own lack of talent for music or acting, and definitely seems like a very sweet person with a very lucid mind. Her descriptions are extremely vivid and she now teaches creative writing workshops in LA and you can believe it. 

' Led Zeppelin live in 1969 was an event unparalleled in musical history. They played longer and harder than any group ever had, totally changing the concept of rock concerts. They flailed around like dervishes, making so much sound that the air was heavy with metal. Two hours after the lights went out, as the band sauntered offstage, the audience was a delirious, raving, parched mass, crawling through the rock and roll desert thirsting for an encore. Twenty long minutes later, mighty Zeppelin returned to satiate their famished followers...'


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 23, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> ' Led Zeppelin live in 1969 was an event unparalleled in musical history. They played longer and harder than any group ever had, totally changing the concept of rock concerts. They flailed around like dervishes, making so much sound that the air was heavy with metal. Two hours after the lights went out, as the band sauntered offstage, the audience was a delirious, raving, parched mass, crawling through the rock and roll desert thirsting for an encore. Twenty long minutes later, mighty Zeppelin returned to satiate their famished followers...'




Sounds like ...








... purple patches


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 23, 2011)

finished embassytown, was good if the ending was little weak, well then his often are.

re-started crippled god, got past the long tense build up of strands and am near the tipping point before the best bit in all the malazan books. Convergence


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 23, 2011)

Starting* 'Tricks of the Mind'* by *Derren Brown, *which is pretty good so far. I doubt he will reveal any secrets, but will come back with the shiznit when im done.


----------



## andy2002 (Jun 24, 2011)

I'm a couple of chapters into *Lightborn: Seeing Is Believing* by *Tricia Sullivan*

Finished HG Wells' The Island Of Doctor Moreau earlier in the week and thought it was brilliant – surprisingly visceral.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 24, 2011)

Just finished War of the Rats by  David Robbins.  It covers the same ground as the film Enemy at the Gates - a sniper duel between Vasily Zaytsev and a german brought in to kill him.  It bears little relation to the film. Much of the book is in the protagonists' heads and would be a very slow moving film.  

Started Solar by Ian McEwan. He's one of my favourite writers. as soon as I start any of his books I feel I'm in the hands of someone who knows their craft very well. Good stories, well plotted and written with a lightness of touch


----------



## Thraex (Jun 24, 2011)

Now onto Kristen Britain's second novel: "First Rider's Call"...s'ok, although I should've probably started something else rather than do the second part of a series straight after finishing the first. Got a stack of unreads on my table...probably read "The Secret History Of Mary Magdalene" (or whatever it's called) after this one.


----------



## Bakunin (Jun 25, 2011)

I'm in the middle of 'The American Civil War' by John Keegan. Accessible, readable without being too simplistic and comprehensive without becoming bogged down in unnecessary minor detail. Possibly the best single volume history of the Civil War since Bruce Catton's effort a good few years ago now.

Highly recommended.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 27, 2011)

Atwoods 'orynx and crake'

good stuff


----------



## starfish (Jun 27, 2011)

So Long As You Both Shall Live by Ed McBain from his 87th Precinct series.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 28, 2011)

orynx and crake was shorter than I thought. Read using stanza on the netbook. a useful program.

Have started 'Doctor Bloodmoney or How We got along after the Bomb' which looks to be another decent PK Dicks short. He's so prolific I keep finding more of his shorts and novels I haven't read.

Will re-start Canticle for Liebowitz after that. On a post-apoc trip atm.


----------



## somantics (Jun 29, 2011)

Just a little bit of happy summer reading, (but un-put-downable!): Living in the end times - out last month http://www.beetrootbooks.com/product/5754/0/living-in-the-end-times/cdb5b4b966f323a387ac4123ca1617ae


----------



## BoatieBird (Jun 29, 2011)

Have started _The Girl Who Played with Fire_.  Skipping over all the equation stuff (I hope there's not too much of it!), but enjoying it apart from that.


----------



## Thraex (Jun 29, 2011)

"Necropolis - London and its dead" by Catherine Arnold. Only started it this morning, but it looks to be well written and researched.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Jun 29, 2011)

Laughter in the Dark by Nabokov.


----------



## belboid (Jun 29, 2011)

dragonwolf said:


> "Necropolis - London and its dead" by Catherine Arnold. Only started it this morning, but it looks to be well written and researched.


 
it is, its good that. I love my necropoli, such fun places


----------



## Thraex (Jun 29, 2011)

belboid said:


> it is, its good that. I love my necropoli, such fun places



Have you done one of those Kensall Rise (I think) cemetery tours, where they take you into the crypts? 

C.A's also got another book about the London Mad. Was quite tempted by that the other day. Will probably get it this weekend as I need to go book shopping.


----------



## belboid (Jun 29, 2011)

No, never done any properly in that London, I always mean to, but mrs b insists on going to see her bloody family.  Me saying I'll happilly accompany her as long as they are in cemeteries doesn't tend to go down well....


----------



## ericjarvis (Jun 29, 2011)

Ian Watson - Oracle.

Boadicea, a roman centurion, the IRA, Milton Keynes, outlaw MI5 operations, a mad mathematical genius, Brussels, Latin, and guns. What more could you possibly want?


----------



## TruXta (Jun 29, 2011)

Elves.


----------



## ericjarvis (Jun 29, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Elves.


 
No elves, though I seem to recall Elvis getting a brief mention.


----------



## TruXta (Jun 29, 2011)

Not even remotely the same thing. I love Elvis, but he's no elf.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2011)

Philip K Dicks is haunting me again with his knowing plastic-america addy script and grim content, all with that underlying cruel observation.

He is also not depicting nuclear holocaust properly but you can forgive that as the horror fantasies of nuclear death weren't quite so well developed when he was writing. They didn't even have that scene from Terminator where Weaver is holding the playground chain fence when the bombs hit and turn her into a screaming skelleton


----------



## TruXta (Jun 29, 2011)

In deference to DC I've finally started the first book in the Malazan series. Quite liking it so far, only about 100 pages in so far mind. Talk about being shoved in at the deep end tho, first 50 pages was like some 19t C Russian novel. It even had a list of dramatis personae (sic?) at the start.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2011)

it makes Game of Thrones look like Ludo to Malazans  AD&D. The main structural complications is that the mythic structures are as convoluted and twisty as the character plots. Wheels within wheels within wheels.

Ian C Esslemont (his co writer) has a few more Malazan books to release, hopefully clearing up some of the ambiguities from Chain of Dogs and wrapping loose ends up from Crippled God ( for clarity, Esslemont has written two malazan books wheras Erik has written ten. they write in the same universe, but as seperate authors. Close collaboration, no doubt. They came up through the Idaho writers school together and MBOTF was initially an RPG project )


----------



## TruXta (Jun 29, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> it makes Game of Thrones look like Ludo to Malazans  AD&D. The main structural complications is that the mythic structures are as convoluted and twisty as the character plots. Wheels within wheels within wheels.
> 
> Ian C Esslemont (his co writer) has a few more Malazan books to release, hopefully clearing up some of the ambiguities from Chain of Dogs and wrapping loose ends up from Crippled God ( for clarity, Esslemont has written two malazan books wheras Erik has written ten. they write in the same universe, but as seperate authors. Close collaboration, no doubt. They came up through the Idaho writers school together and MBOTF was initially an RPG project )


 
Huh. My edition had a long foreword where Erikson went into all that. The only thing that pisses me off is that the cunting cheap publishers made a p/b where the pages are so narrow that the text almost vanishes into the binding.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2011)

Stole my copy from Woodhill jail library. Thereafter I bought hardback, save Crippled God which I torrented and Erikson can't moan cos I've pimped his shit long and hard to allcomers plus I've paid top dollar for all the eight ones I did not steal. 

can you post a cover pic? My edition is well old and has a crap cover.


----------



## TruXta (Jun 29, 2011)




----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2011)

I've this, somewhere.






the typeface of and imagery of yours looks like a re-issue from the later style a la Reapers Gale, Bonehunters.

Geek shame on me for this digression


----------



## 100% masahiko (Jun 29, 2011)

How I Escaped My Certain Fate - Stewart Lee - loving it so far.


----------



## TruXta (Jun 29, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Stole my copy from Woodhill jail library. Thereafter I bought hardback, save Crippled God* which I torrented* and Erikson can't moan cos I've pimped his shit long and hard to allcomers plus I've paid top dollar for all the eight ones I did not steal.
> 
> can you post a cover pic? My edition is well old and has a crap cover.


 
What, ebook reader or did you print it on your inkjet?


----------



## 8115 (Jun 29, 2011)

I'm trying to read Last Order's by Graham Swift, it's good but I've been reading it for ages.  Also reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, struggling a bit to get through it.  Also just started Once in a house on fire by Andrea Ashworth, not as good as I remember it.  The title could well be the best thing about it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 30, 2011)

TruXta said:


> What, ebook reader or did you print it on your inkjet?


 
my little red netbook sees most use as an e-reader at work.


----------



## TruXta (Jun 30, 2011)

Ah right. I've done the print thing in the past, way before all these netbooks and e-readers showed up. Makes for pretty big and unwieldy "books", but who cares?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 2, 2011)

A clash of fucking kings - what an awesome read


----------



## TruXta (Jul 2, 2011)

The fuck have you been, ape?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 2, 2011)

studying innit


----------



## TruXta (Jul 2, 2011)




----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 2, 2011)

aye, getting fed up with reading about pseudo-cleft sentences and subjunctive clauses


----------



## TruXta (Jul 2, 2011)

I've got a cleft if you want a look.


----------



## tufty79 (Jul 2, 2011)

^^ DON"T DO IT, OU!

currently reading the gum thief (douglas coupland)


----------



## tufty79 (Jul 2, 2011)

(so shocking, i double posted )


----------



## TruXta (Jul 2, 2011)

Jesus, was it so bad you had to say it twice? OK, no more starfishes from me then. In book-related news I managed to soak my Malazan book. It now looks like a wet tramp has been reading it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 2, 2011)

I'm on 'The Genocides' by Thomas Disch. Might have to take a post-apocalypse break after this one and read some theory stuff. Might go for Western Marxism and the Soviet Union by van der Linden- not sure.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Jul 2, 2011)

In the Case of Labour by Rob Sewell






bought  from a stall after the J30 demo on Thursday, and got it signed by the author.


----------



## Bakunin (Jul 2, 2011)

I'm taking a break from the more heavyweight crime and military history stuff for a while. I've just finished 'Liqudate Paris' (an enjoyably trashy Sven Hassel novel) and have started 'The Cardinal Of The Kremlin' (another equally enjoyably trashy Tom Clancy novel).


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jul 2, 2011)

Currently enjoying "Off The Rails" by Andrew Murray (turn-of-the-century book on the Tory privatisation of British Rail, and the effects), "Miners On Strike" by Andrew Richards (an analysis of the '84-'85 strike) and "The Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch, a nice bit of detective/occult fiction.


----------



## r0bb0 (Jul 3, 2011)

I found this book by the trash last nite and it's cool... Undiscovered Tolkien! Roverandom, read 21 pages on the way to Streatham Fest


----------



## xenon (Jul 3, 2011)

Just finished Embedded - Dan Abnett. Military SF. Pretty good jaunt, involving a renound reporter embedded in a US (United Status) marine unit, to cover a supposed minor operation against small group of terrorist upstarts. 

Currently, Economics in One lesson - Henry H Hazlitt. 

Next, not sure. Sticking with the theme, possibly Wealth of Nations. Have a few Project Gutenburg classics from Ibooks to pick up too.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 3, 2011)

James Ellroy's Blood's A Rover, which is two tons of shit in a five ton  crate, and John Braine's Room at the Top, which still packs a punch almost sixty years after it was first written (published in 1957, but it seems to be set in the late '40s).


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 3, 2011)

i can't see how any ellroy book can be shit. the cold six thousand before it was amazing


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 3, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> i can't see how any ellroy book can be shit. the cold six thousand before it was amazing


 
He's got his famous EllroySpeak down to a formula, IMO, to the point that it teeters on the brink of self-parody.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 3, 2011)

i couldn't get with it when i first picked up the cold six thousand. picked it up a couple of years later and totally dig that patter now. it's like bebop. bewildering and annoying at first but entrancing after a few listens/reads.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 3, 2011)

Also, the Communist Women in this book manage to be both Madonnas and Whores at the same time - which is probably Ellroy working out his own feelings about his murdered mother, but which gets a bit weird and icky after a while. I don't think he researched the far left milieu thoroughly enough for the task he set himself, as well.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 4, 2011)

Having read a couple of indifferent books recently have gone back to a tried, trusted and liked author, Alastair Reynolds and "Chasm City". Not started it yet but is in my bag and nagging at me to begin reading it!


----------



## marty21 (Jul 4, 2011)

George R R Martin - A Storm of Swords: 2 Blood and Gold 

the 4th in the saga - can't put them down! will probably start the 5th next week!


----------



## Greebo (Jul 4, 2011)

rereading "Oven-ready chaos" by Phil Hine


----------



## cliche guevara (Jul 4, 2011)

The Attack Of The Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre. A little way in, it's entertaining so far but not as funny or as clever as it thinks it is. It's the first one of his I've read, and apparently a bit of a radical departure from his usual stuff.


----------



## r0bb0 (Jul 4, 2011)

on "zero history" by william gibson, pretty enjoyable as they're are a few descriptions of London init


----------



## Mungy (Jul 5, 2011)

MASH by richard hooker; Bad Science by Ben Goldacre; new earth by eckhart tolle; Soul Music by Terry Pratchett.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 5, 2011)

Greebo said:


> rereading "Oven-ready chaos" by Phil Hine


 
Haha, haven't seen him around for a long time.. Never take what he says to seriously. Also, have you checked out his blog - http://enfolding.org/ ?


----------



## Greebo (Jul 5, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Haha, haven't seen him around for a long time.. Never take what he says to seriously. Also, have you checked out his blog - http://enfolding.org/ ?


 
He's certainly a trickster (in person, that is), but readable IMHO, as long as you allow for him being what he is (as I would do with any writer).  It was a bit of light relief after forcing myself to wade through most of "Gebissen".  

BTW thanks for the link, found that blog a good few months back, but IMHO nothing special


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 5, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> i couldn't get with it when i first picked up the cold six thousand. picked it up a couple of years later and totally dig that patter now. it's like bebop. bewildering and annoying at first but entrancing after a few listens/reads.


 

I finished BAR last night, and I stand by my original comment. It's a gigantic Mary-Sue story.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 5, 2011)

Greebo said:


> He's certainly a trickster (in person, that is), but readable IMHO, as long as you allow for him being what he is (as I would do with any writer).  It was a bit of light relief after forcing myself to wade through most of "Gebissen".
> 
> BTW thanks for the link, found that blog a good few months back, but IMHO nothing special


 
Set him straight in the comments then!


----------



## TruXta (Jul 7, 2011)

Damn you DotC! You've got me hooked on the bloody Malazan series now. I just bought the second book - 960 pages!!!!!! I'm not even half-way on the first mind you. Really getting under my skin now as I start to see just how bloody epic the scale of the story is.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 7, 2011)

I like how some ascendant characters go by differing versions of their names depending on where and when they are. Just to fuck you about.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 7, 2011)

Yeah, it took me about 150 pages before I'd nailed down the main characters. THEN the action shifts to Daruhjistan... just to fuck with you.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 7, 2011)

a poster on here (wishface) used to complain bitterly that nothing gets explained- and it's true that nothing is hand -hold explained. Which is why I hadn't sussed out the aims and motives of the gods/ascendants and elder races untill Chain of Dogs (absolutely the most pivotal book).

Moranth munitions though


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 7, 2011)

Getting on really well with "Chasm City" - only a little way into it but already hooked and after my last two rather indifferent reads it is good to be back on familiar, well written sci-fi ground


----------



## tufty79 (Jul 7, 2011)

cliche guevara said:


> The Attack Of The Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre. A little way in, it's entertaining so far but not as funny or as clever as it thinks it is. It's the first one of his I've read, and apparently a bit of a radical departure from his usual stuff.


 ooh i really enjoyed it. especially the duke nukem bit


----------



## TruXta (Jul 7, 2011)

Dots: I don't mind that tho - too often genre books are overladen with dull exposition, and I find it usually pays off when the author starts in media res. Dhalgren springs to mind as a particularly egregious example of that.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 7, 2011)

still Reynolds best imho. He'd lost it by The Prefect, and I'm loathe to pay cash money for House of Suns if it is of the same standard


----------



## TruXta (Jul 7, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Getting on really well with "Chasm City" - only a little way into it but already hooked and after my last two rather indifferent reads it is good to be back on familiar, well written sci-fi ground


 
He's a decent writer he is. Really like what I've read of him so far, although he's still got a bit of catching up to do vs. Banks.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 8, 2011)

Decent? He's unreadable.

And Banks last efforts have been so dim, I'm reluctant to take a chance on his new one.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 8, 2011)

Snob.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 8, 2011)

Idris2002 said:


> Decent? He's unreadable.
> 
> And Banks last efforts have been so dim, I'm reluctant to take a chance on his new one.


 
Well I'm enjoying it. Plus I read "Matter" earlier this year and rather liked that, not Iain M's best but still better than a lot of other stuff.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 8, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Snob.


 
How does snobbery come into it? I'm too old to take a chance on writers who write shit books - and I've given Reynolds too many chances already. He does have the sensawunda thing going on, but he doesn't have the chops to maintain tension over the full length of a novel, and his characterisation is generally poor, and in the case of his female characters sometimes laughably poor.


----------



## fractionMan (Jul 8, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> still Reynolds best imho. He'd lost it by The Prefect, and I'm loathe to pay cash money for House of Suns if it is of the same standard


 
House of suns was ok imo.  His latest is crap.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 8, 2011)

Idris2002 said:


> How does snobbery come into it? I'm too old to take a chance on writers who write shit books - and I've given Reynolds too many chances already. He does have the sensawunda thing going on, but he doesn't have the chops to maintain tension over the full length of a novel, and his characterisation is generally poor, and in the case of his female characters sometimes laughably poor.


 
Chill out Mr. Shah, it wasn't all that serious. TBF I can see where you're coming from. Only thing is I'm extremely lenient about the writing when it comes to sci-fi, fantasy and horror. If the ideas are good I'll swallow crap writing.

As for Banks I've not read his latest, but Matter was, if enjoyable, still a few notches below his best.


----------



## xenon (Jul 12, 2011)

Found via Ibooks, just read
Contradictions of Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics -  Lenny Flank

Understanding Capitlism - R G Price

I don't know who these authors are. Self published or what. But I'm playing catchup far as economics and political theory goes and found both those very good reads. not massive accademic tomes. Though I've made a start on reading in chunks, Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, which is pretty accessable considering. Also grabbed a translation of Das Capital to have a go at, at some point.

Mind you, I've also just started reading Game of Throwns as everyone seems to be reading George R R Martin, due to the TV series.


----------



## xenon (Jul 12, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> still Reynolds best imho. He'd lost it by The Prefect, and I'm loathe to pay cash money for House of Suns if it is of the same standard


 

Disagree with you over the Prefect. I thought it had a lot more plot tention and flow than much of the earlier stuff. Chasm City, I think is my favourite though.

Read Terminal World not long ago and have to say, found it a bit boring. Though packed full of interesting ideas. And that's from someone who really liked Revelation Space. Which some find a drag.


----------



## xenon (Jul 12, 2011)

Idris2002 said:


> How does snobbery come into it? I'm too old to take a chance on writers who write shit books - and I've given Reynolds too many chances already. He does have the sensawunda thing going on, but he doesn't have the chops to maintain tension over the full length of a novel, and his characterisation is generally poor, and in the case of his female characters sometimes laughably poor.


 

Have you read The Prefect, re faster pace, plot tention?


----------



## sojourner (Jul 12, 2011)

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

Thought I'd already read this, but turns out I haven't.  Am halfway through and have sobbed my fucking eyes out approximately 6 times already.  What a fucking BRILLIANT piece of writing this is, I can't articulate quite how much I love this book...presses every single one of my personal buttons


----------



## machine cat (Jul 12, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Getting on really well with "Chasm City" - only a little way into it but already hooked and after my last two rather indifferent reads it is good to be back on familiar, well written sci-fi ground


 
My favourite of his and a quality read 

I have The Prefect on my 'to read' pile and wondering if I should read it next


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 12, 2011)

machine cat said:


> My favourite of his and a quality read
> 
> I have The Prefect on my 'to read' pile and wondering if I should read it next


 
I enjoyed it but I think dotty wasn't/isn't too keen from what he said earlier in the thread. Tbh indifferent Reynolds is still a lot better than other stuff I have read recently!


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 12, 2011)

sojourner said:


> The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
> 
> Thought I'd already read this, but turns out I haven't.  Am halfway through and have sobbed my fucking eyes out approximately 6 times already.  What a fucking BRILLIANT piece of writing this is, I can't articulate quite how much I love this book...presses every single one of my personal buttons





I recently read Of Mice and Men on the recommendation of a friend and I loved it.
I'll add The Grapes of Wrath to my list.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 12, 2011)

BoatieBird said:


> I recently read Of Mice and Men on the recommendation of a friend and I loved it.
> I'll add The Grapes of Wrath to my list.


 
  Of Mice and Men is up next! MOAR Steinbeck!!


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 12, 2011)

This evening I read
Teddy and rabbit's runaway washing
That's not my bunny
a bit of Alice in Wonderland


----------



## machine cat (Jul 12, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I enjoyed it but I think dotty wasn't/isn't too keen from what he said earlier in the thread. Tbh indifferent Reynolds is still a lot better than other stuff I have read recently!


 
Humm, I think I'll leave it for a while. I have a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring next to me which I attempted to read a few times when I was younger. May as well get all three over and done with now I suppose.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 12, 2011)

Dance with Dragons: Or how I padded out my fantasy series a bit more


----------



## colbhoy (Jul 12, 2011)

I am reading Pronto by Elmore Leonard, inspired by the superb TV series Justified.


----------



## jodal (Jul 13, 2011)

Just finished _True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor_ by David Mamet

Not sure what to read next.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 13, 2011)

_Two Little Boys_, Duncan Sarkies.

This was a big hit when I was in New Zealand, but I didn't read it until now. The two little boys of the title are typical 20something children in men's bodies. They've been friends since childhood, but one of them is dim and easily led, and the other is a textbook charming sociopath. When the dim one kills a Norwegian backpacker in a car accident, their attempt to conceal the crime leads their relationship to an ultimate crisis.

Also Arnaldur Indridason's _Hypothermia_, a typically grim bit of Scando crime writing. The lead character investigates a suicide - at least, that's what it appears to be at first.


----------



## machine cat (Jul 13, 2011)

rubbershoes said:


> This evening I read
> Teddy and rabbit's runaway washing
> *That's not my bunny*
> a bit of Alice in Wonderland


 
'That's not my Monkey' and 'That's not my Tiger' are much better


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 13, 2011)

rubbershoes said:


> This evening I read
> Teddy and rabbit's runaway washing
> That's not my bunny
> a bit of Alice in Wonderland





That's reminded me that I keep meaning to start a 'what book are you reading to your kids' thread and not getting round to it.
I'll go and do it now.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 13, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> I am reading Pronto by Elmore Leonard, inspired by the superb TV series Justified.


 
Elmore Leonard is a fucking genius and can do NO wrong


----------



## flypanam (Jul 13, 2011)

Idris2002 said:


> _Two Little Boys_, Duncan Sarkies.
> 
> This was a big hit when I was in New Zealand, but I didn't read it until now. The two little boys of the title are typical 20something children in men's bodies. They've been friends since childhood, but one of them is dim and easily led, and the other is a textbook charming sociopath. When the dim one kills a Norwegian backpacker in a car accident, their attempt to conceal the crime leads their relationship to an ultimate crisis.



I loved it. Funny as hell. Sad too. A real pick me up kind of book. If you would like another good NZ read try Alan Duff's 'Once were warriors.'

I'm presently reading a P.G. Woodhouse - Stiff upper lip, Jeeves.


----------



## marty21 (Jul 13, 2011)

George R R Martin - A Feast for Crows - the 5th in the never ending saga - it's a monster 900 odd pages! 

also dipping into Hitch 22 - Christopher Hitchins - a bit of a misery auto-biog at the momennt


----------



## flypanam (Jul 13, 2011)

marty21 said:


> George R R Martin - A Feast for Crows - the 5th in the never ending saga - it's a monster 900 odd pages!



Be intersted in what you think of that tome. Amazon have just shipped A dance with dragons.


----------



## marty21 (Jul 13, 2011)

flypanam said:


> Be intersted in what you think of that tome. Amazon have just shipped A dance with dragons.


 
I'm hooked - I've read 4 in a row and now on the 5th - seems a lot of new characters in this one - I guess because he has a habit of killing major characters off


----------



## Roadkill (Jul 16, 2011)

Owen Jones - _Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class_

I thought it'd probably be rubbish, but actually rather enjoying it so far.


----------



## colbhoy (Jul 16, 2011)

sojourner said:


> Elmore Leonard is a fucking genius and can do NO wrong



Finished Pronto, thoroughly enjoyed it - I have discovered a new writer!


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 17, 2011)

marty21 said:


> I'm hooked - I've read 4 in a row and now on the 5th - seems a lot of new characters in this one - I guess because he has a habit of killing major characters off


 
I think I'm going to have to reread it before I get my copy of Dance with Dragons, because it's been so fucking long in between books. But then I think, well, might as well read the first three again too...aaarrghh.

I have recently read:

Iain Pears - An Instance Of The Fingerpost (fascinating historical fiction, although not quite as great as everyone said it would be)
Emily Maguire - The Gospel According To Luke (terrible torrid teen shite, hilariously bad, had the benefit of being over quickly!)

Still haven't finished Our Mutual Friend, but thankfully it forgives being left on the shelf for other books.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 18, 2011)

Just finished book 1 of the Malazan Empire series, on to mammoth 950-page book 2. DAMN YOU DOTCOMMUNIST!


----------



## andy2002 (Jul 18, 2011)

*Boudica's Last Stand - John Waite:* Interesting stuff about the famous revolt of AD60/61. Waite tries to dismantle some of the lazy assumptions and downright inaccuracies that have grown up around the Boudican legend. Very readable and fascinating if you're interested in that particular event or era.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 18, 2011)

*Stephen Fry - Moab is my Washpot*

The first book at a weekend carboot sale which caught my eye. As it happens I have just finished it, and he certainly has a way with words. I enjoyed it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 18, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Just finished book 1 of the Malazan Empire series, on to mammoth 950-page book 2. DAMN YOU DOTCOMMUNIST!


 
only another 100K pages to go till you've done the whole lot 

watch Quick Ben, watch Shadowthrone/Kellanved and watch Mael. It's like a fucking braid re-braided and knotted so many times the story becomes that complex.

I've started Dance with Dragons. Theived from the net, again.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 18, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> only another 10K pages to go till you've done the whole lot
> 
> watch Quick Ben, watch Shadowthrone/Kellanved and watch Mael. It's like a fucking braid re-braided and knotted so many times the story becomes that complex.
> 
> I've started Dance with Dragons. Theived from the net, again.


 
Haven't seen any Maels around yet. Liking Quick Ben and Tattersail. Also had a bit of a soft spot for Adjunct Lorn. 10k pages you say.... should keep me going for a while then.


----------



## yield (Jul 18, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Haven't seen any Maels around yet. Liking Quick Ben and Tattersail. Also had a bit of a soft spot for Adjunct Lorn. 10k pages you say.... should keep me going for a while then.



Without spoiler codes Truxta what did you think of the siege of Pale? It reverberates through the rest of the series.

@DotCommunist - Mael doesn't appear until the Letharas books. Also what did you think of Crippled God?


----------



## TruXta (Jul 18, 2011)

Don't fucking spoil it yourself dude! "It reverberates through the rest of the series"? Thanks man!

I quite liked it as it happens. And it's fairly obvious that something that powerful (I'm speaking in terms of "game mechanics" - amount of magic tonnage spent) is gonna set things up for later. How much later? SHUT YOUR MOUTH.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 18, 2011)

it was a big finish but as you pointed out there are many untied ends. Karsa was sorely underused. There was a lot that worked very well but one massive annoyance:



Spoiler: stuff



she marched the Bonehunters near to breaking across a lethal wasteground when she had the shaved knuckle of mael in her back pocket? why?



tbh I think he is leaving the strands for Esselmont to tidy up. I'll ask Erikson via proxy on certain untied strands sooner rather than later.


----------



## yield (Jul 18, 2011)

How's that a spoiler? Chill out. 


Spoiler: siege of Pale



What do you think happened with the exchange between Tattersail, Tayschrenn and Anomander Rake at the Pale Enfilade?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 18, 2011)

Taschrenn is a total fucking question mark. One person in RotCG describes him as 'the finest mage of our generation, lost to hermetics' (or something on those lines)


----------



## TruXta (Jul 18, 2011)

yield said:


> How's that a spoiler? Chill out.


 
It's close enough!  Anyway, there I just discovered that if you quote and reply to spoiler-coded posts the reveal is in the quote. 
Just to clarify, I've read the whole first book, so there was no spoilage in that regard.


----------



## yield (Jul 18, 2011)

Spoiler: Truxta don't read



Yeah I think Tavore Paran left it too late but it was a big desert and I can understand. I was more frustrated by the lack of Silverfox who I was waiting for to  be honest. The whole Karsa/Fener thing was too little and very annoying. Also the *thing* with Mappo Runt let a sour taste in my mouth after everything. (If you've read this Truxta you're a stupid viking.)


----------



## yield (Jul 18, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Taschrenn is a total fucking question mark. One person in RotCG describes him as 'the finest mage of our generation, lost to hermetics' (or something on those lines)


 Yeah really liked Return of the Crimson Guard. I hope Esslemont ties up the loose ends.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 18, 2011)

Not to worry yield, I'm a big boy, I can keep my fingers away from the cookie jar.
















Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm cookies.....


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 18, 2011)

Spoiler: stuff



on the fener angle its the same as treach, rhat giant bear and so on. Karsa complained once 

'there are to many gods of war'

when the witch told him he was rich to say such he just said

'there need be only one'

theres a few strands un written yet I think.


----------



## yield (Jul 18, 2011)

I'm jealous Truxta Deadhouse Gates is my favourite of the series. 



Spoiler: don't read truxta



Good call on the quote Dotty. With Gruntle dead it changes things. 
Regarding Tayschrenn and Tatersail I though telas & thyr were antagonistic?(stupid viking)


----------



## TruXta (Jul 18, 2011)

I love how I've forced you two to use spoiler tags for every bleedin post. Take it to PMs, lovahs.


----------



## tufty79 (Jul 18, 2011)

just finished and loved a s byatt's 'possession'.  now re-reading (after many years) clive barker's 'weaveworld'.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 18, 2011)

Barker's best after Books of Blood. Don't bother with anything later IMO.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 18, 2011)

Spoiler: mythos



seperate only because of the race using them. Liosan for pure form humans for lesser. Look at how that poor kid kindled it pure enough in reapers gale and again when a mage with that unmasked segulah refugee opened it up in the middle of the former temple where it was worshipped. They all bleed into each other, from serc to meanas it is all tiams blood and the aspected nature is an overlay for users. Holds and warrens.


----------



## revol68 (Jul 18, 2011)

Just finishing Harvey's Enigma of Capital, very very good, a very concise clear writer, if anything a bit of flowery posturing could aid him a bit. Finished that The Genuis in All of Us which deals mostly with arguments about genetics and intelligence, pretty good but a bit journo like in parts, interesting bits on genes explained in layman terms.


----------



## yield (Jul 18, 2011)

TruXta said:


> I love how I've forced you two to use spoiler tags for every bleedin post. Take it to PMs, lovahs.


 



DotCommunist said:


> Spoiler for mythos


Didn't think of that. Thanks.  I understand what you are saying. 

It still says in Garden of the Moon about the antagonism. Why is that? I noticed that on a reread.



revol68 said:


> Just finishing Harvey's Enigma of Capital, very very good, a very concise clear writer, if anything a bit of flowery posturing could aid him a bit.


Just started reading that. Good so far.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 19, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Barker's best after Books of Blood. Don't bother with anything later IMO.


 
So true.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 19, 2011)

Still getting through Indridason's book, also enjoying John Donne's poems.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Jul 20, 2011)

Deadfolk - Charlie Williams. The lead character, Blakey, is the dumbest narrative voice I have ever come across. 2 more chapters to go.


----------



## marty21 (Jul 20, 2011)

Still on A Feast for Crows - George R R Martin, about half way through the 900 odd pages 

but dipping into some Kindle reads - Hitch 22 - Christopher Hitchin, and The Searchers - Alan Le May (the book of the film, or the book they made the film about)


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 20, 2011)

yield said:


> Didn't think of that. Thanks.  I understand what you are saying.
> 
> *It still says in Garden of the Moon about the antagonism. Why is that? I noticed that on a reread.
> 
> ...



I need to re-read the first three but as I understand it thyr is the lesser, the upstart new warren that is in competition with the older, purer telas (which iirc is the elder warren and connected to Father Light and the Liosan but accesible to humans only by absurdly powerful High Mages like Beak)

There is also the problem with inconsistencies of mythic structure and names between GotM and the rest of the series. Some one did a whole run down on this issue over on the Malazan forums *geek*


http://forum.malazanempire.com/index.php?showtopic=7760
looks like the issue of telas-thyr lies with the elder warren being Kurald Thyrllan (life?) and branching into telas/thyr as aspected fire/light dependent on the race using it

this is what I'm talking about when I emphasise the complexity of the mythic structure btw Truxta.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Jul 21, 2011)

*I Love You More Than You Know* - Jonathan Ames.

My type of writing  
Self-deprecation is a style I can admire.


----------



## Thraex (Jul 22, 2011)

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman. Back in print after 17 years and bigged up by Neil Gaiman (why I bought it).

I appreciate the concept, but not too sure it's as good as some of the reviews suggest...s'OK, I guess.


----------



## stethoscope (Jul 22, 2011)

The Irish Troubles Generation of Violence 1967-92 - J Bowyer Bell.

Just about to read this. Picked it up in a s/h from Halycon in Greenwich and it looks pretty substantial. Anyone else read it? Thoughts?


----------



## Pingu (Jul 22, 2011)

currently reading a book about the private security industry called "the circuit".

whilst not exaxtly an in depth analysis of the middle east there have been a couple of eye openers for me


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 22, 2011)

Comintern and World Revolution 1928-1943: The Shaping of Doctrine, by  Kermit E. McKenzie (lol).


----------



## marty21 (Jul 22, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Comintern and World Revolution 1928-1943: The Shaping of Doctrine, by  Kermit E. McKenzie (lol).


 
any sex scenes in that ?


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 22, 2011)

Nyet, tovarisch.


----------



## CosmikRoger (Jul 24, 2011)

Flash for Freedom by George McDonald Fraser.  Up until a couple of weeks ago I'd never read any Flashman stuff, the first couple were an amusing read, somewhere between Wodehouse and Tom Sharpe, but this, the third in the series, is harder going. I don't suppose there are to many belly laughs to be had in a tale centred on the slave trade


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 24, 2011)

If you read the Flashman books in the order they were written in, it's noticeable that the misogyny of the first book gradually disappears and the female characters get stronger and stronger. . .


----------



## cliche guevara (Jul 24, 2011)

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu. I'm about half way through and so far its kind of like a sci-fi version of 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveller', with added philosophical debate on determinism vs free will. Very possibly nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is, but I'm trying to leave judgements until the end.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 25, 2011)

*Riotous Assembly (Tom Sharpe)* 

Just started it, but I am enjoying it so far..


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 25, 2011)

I'm getting close to finishing _Bedroom Secrets of the Masterchefs _by Irvine Welsh.  No dead dog yet 

For my next book I have an important choice to make, for it will be my holiday reading.
It's a choice between _The Secret History _by Donna Tartt, or _Whit _by Iain Banks


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 25, 2011)

undoubtedly you should take the Tartt book. Non m Banks is never as good as his SF and Secret History is a great read.


----------



## idumea (Jul 25, 2011)

Pick the Tartt. Whitt is amongst the best non-SF Banks, but The Secret History is better.


----------



## belboid (Jul 25, 2011)

Take them both, neither are very long or difficult reads.

Iain Banks is vastly better han that tedious bore Iain M Banks, or at least he is when he manages to actually come up with an ending, and he does in Whit.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 26, 2011)

Tartt it is then. 
With Whit in reserve in case a small miracle happens and I have time to read more than one book.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 26, 2011)

"Alone in Berlin" - Hans Fallada, only just started it really but it is already brilliant though I also get the feeling it is going to be heartbreaking


----------



## marty21 (Jul 26, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "Alone in Berlin" - Hans Fallada, only just started it really but it is already brilliant though I also get the feeling it is going to be heartbreaking


 
I have that on my to read list - which is rather long 

I'm still on that George R R Martin book, - A feast for Crows - it's dragging - into the last 100 pages - not my fave of the series - I'll be glad to finish it - I'll leave it a while for the next one - 5 in a row now


----------



## weltweit (Jul 26, 2011)

Under Milk Wood (Dylan Thomas) 

I like to be amused.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 26, 2011)

Just finished 1980 by David Peace. The third in the Red Riding Quartet.  I'm finding the series quite hard going. It would be nice if there was just one character in the books that didnt end up dead, mad or with their life in tatters.  

On to 1984 soon.Something light first.


----------



## Kippa (Jul 27, 2011)

I don't know why but I can never seem to get into reading story books.  Technical/science books on the other hand I have no problem with.


----------



## marty21 (Jul 27, 2011)

Finally finished - A feast for Crows - thought it was the worst of them so far, will leave it a while until I go the the next one - I've had enough of the Lannisters for now 

reading The Searchers on my kindle atm


----------



## tufty79 (Jul 28, 2011)

Will Self: junk mail


----------



## madzone (Jul 28, 2011)

The End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas.


----------



## nuffsaid (Jul 28, 2011)

Inspired by the recent Adam Curtis documentary I found this in kindle format..... and it's great:

 Oren Harman's biography, 'The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness'.


----------



## little_legs (Jul 29, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "Alone in Berlin" - Hans Fallada, only just started it really but it is already brilliant though I also get the feeling it is going to be heartbreaking


 
I am reading this now too, 260 pages in. It's good so far. I knew nothing about the German resistance during the WW2. Glad I came across this book.


----------



## andy2002 (Jul 29, 2011)

*Imperial Governor by George Shipway* – The Boudican revolt, this time from the Romans' point of view.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 29, 2011)

*Down Under (Bill Bryson)* I have only read 50 pages so far and I know I am going to love it, Bryson has a very amusing writing style..


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Jul 29, 2011)

I'm reading Ghost Story by Jim Butcher.  It's the latest bit of Harry Dresden mind candy.  I even took a road trip to Kansas City for the release party on Wednesday.


----------



## colbhoy (Jul 30, 2011)

Cuba Libre by Elmore Leonard. Enjoying very much.


----------



## colbhoy (Jul 30, 2011)

weltweit said:


> *Down Under (Bill Bryson)* I have only read 50 pages so far and I know I am going to love it, Bryson has a very amusing writing style..



Have read a few of his but not this one although my uncle recently recommended it. He writes very easy and amusing books.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 30, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> Have read a few of his but not this one although my uncle recently recommended it. He writes very easy and amusing books.


 
Yes, I have read a good bit more since my post above, he is quite easy to read indeed and I have had quite a few laugh out loud moments which I am not sure I was expecting


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jul 30, 2011)

*'Healing with the angels: how angels can assist you in your everyday life' *by Doreen Virtue (her real name i kid thee not). Erm, for its 48-hour daftness it was quite interesting, the chapter at the end charted elemental beings, star people (usually small folks with almond shaped eyes and prophetic vibes) and 'walk ins' and 'walk outs' which is when a soul chooses to leave the body, and is replaced by another one.So when one has a life changing experience and completely changes afterwards, its because the original soul has actually departed but given *full* permission for another to enter and take on the baggage of the former. Theres guff about crystal therapy but i was only interested in the heavy stuff about souls shifting and the afterlife and so on. Worth reading for two chapters.

for the plane today and on monday, its the 176 page novella *'The alchemist' by Paolo Coelho*.  should finish on Tuesday.

Alongside this, i have started *Tim Coogans masterpiece 'Michael Collins' *which im 20 pages in. Will get stuck into this next week and probably get off Urban for 3 weeks with no youtubular so i can read in peace. 

all will be interrupted by the book i am more excited by than any other *'Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud'* by Martin Gayford. I became obsessed with Lucian Freud two weeks ago, when i was hopelessly and fruitlessly scavenging for information about him last Monday.  The genesis of this obsession originated in reading about Leigh Bowery sitting for him and the amazing conversations Freud has with his subjects. We are talking sit for two years, eat woodcock and champagne all day, get paid 20 quid and have lunch with him the the River cafe.  I know Freud died last week but my obsession was bordering on madness the week before. For a freud thread, go to my facebook from two weeks ago or no, go >>>thataway, to the new occupancy Syd Barrett has shifted since he welcomed Amy into Heaven


----------



## 8115 (Aug 1, 2011)

Never let me go, by Kazuo Ishiguro.  It's brilliant.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 2, 2011)

The movie was meh.


----------



## 8115 (Aug 2, 2011)

TruXta said:


> The movie was meh.


 
Haven't seen it.  The book's great, I really like him anyway.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 2, 2011)

third book in Ken Macleod's 'Engines of Light' trilogy. Am rooting for Volkov


----------



## machine cat (Aug 3, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "Alone in Berlin" - Hans Fallada, only just started it really but it is already brilliant though I also get the feeling it is going to be heartbreaking


 
May have to look into this


----------



## marty21 (Aug 3, 2011)

nearly finished Christopher Hitchen's autobiograpy - Hitch 22, enjoying it.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 3, 2011)

Jesus, The Son of Man by Khalil Gibran.  Very interesting narrative structure - different 'accounts' from people such as Mary's mother, Caiaphas, John the Baptist


----------



## The Octagon (Aug 3, 2011)

weltweit said:


> Yes, I have read a good bit more since my post above, he is quite easy to read indeed and I have had quite a few laugh out loud moments which I am not sure I was expecting


 
I found Down Under to be one of his less funny books, he's better when he's interacting with people (particularly his fellow Americans )

A Short History Of Nearly Everything is brilliant though.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 3, 2011)

machine cat said:


> May have to look into this


 
Nearly finished it. I think it is one of those books that will stay with me for a long time. An amazing description of living in Nazi-Germany by someone who had been there through that time


----------



## 100% masahiko (Aug 3, 2011)

Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 3, 2011)

sojourner said:


> Jesus, The Son of Man by Khalil Gibran.  Very interesting narrative structure - different 'accounts' from people such as Mary's mother, Caiaphas, John the Baptist


 
i would like that. Actually, also love the 'Love' piece by Khalil Gibran often read at weddings. The one that is philosophical and logical. If anyone gets to read that at a wedding, they are probably very special to the bride/ groom.


----------



## starfish (Aug 3, 2011)

Have recently read, Long Time No See, Ghosts & am now reading Heat. All by Ed McBain.


----------



## machine cat (Aug 3, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Nearly finished it. I think it is one of those books that will stay with me for a long time. An amazing description of living in Nazi-Germany by someone who had been there through that time


 
Just ordered it


----------



## darkfootfairy (Aug 4, 2011)

Nikkormat said:


> Nietzsche's _Thus Spoke Zarathustra_. I've been trying to wade through it, on and off, for a year now.


 
I tried starting this about a month ago but got thoroughly bogged down after about a chapter - how is it going? 

Currently I'm reading Dickens 'Great Expectations' and I've just finished Huxley's 'Eyeless in Gaza'


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 4, 2011)

sojourner said:


> Jesus, The Son of Man by Khalil Gibran.  Very interesting narrative structure - different 'accounts' from people such as Mary's mother, Caiaphas, John the Baptist




this sounds deliciously heretical, have added it to the pile for purchase.

I read Anno Dracula in a whole night, nasty and funny and better than anne rice


----------



## TruXta (Aug 4, 2011)

Anne Rice is arse. Almost on to book Tres of El Imperio Malazan now. Book 2 is like...... massive. What is it with fantasy, scifi and horror authors that make them unable to stop writing? I'm not even complaining. Still.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 4, 2011)

Anne Rice is purple prose and tragic vampires done well, if purple prose can be done well.

Anno Dracula is very different, comes from a world where the dracula of bram stokers story won, married Victoria and turned half the english nobility while mounting van helsings head on a spike. We enter this world during the Jack the Ripper murders where half the working girls in whitechapel are blood addict vamps. Good stuff.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 4, 2011)

Rice just got very tedious after a book or two. Might try AD one day, I love the Stokeresque vampires.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 4, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Rice just got very tedious after a book or two. Might try AD one day, I love the Stokeresque vampires.


 
First 3 Rice ones are page turners after that... just got stale. Finished the third Millennium book today. I'm glad there isn't a fourth one, after all. I think the Salander tale ended where it should have. Have just started "Cider with Roadies" by Stuart Maconie.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 4, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> i would like that. Actually, *also love the 'Love' piece by Khalil Gibran* often read at weddings. The one that is philosophical and logical. If anyone gets to read that at a wedding, they are probably very special to the bride/ groom.


 
From 'The Prophet', yeh, one of my favourite books that.  Just wrote a poem referencing it actually, the Joy and Sorrow part


----------



## sojourner (Aug 4, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> this sounds deliciously* heretical*, have added it to the pile for purchase.


 
It's actually not, at all! It is hugely interesting though chuck so you should deffo give it a read 

edit to add - have just read one of the accounts and that really IS, hehe


----------



## Thraex (Aug 4, 2011)

"Blackveil" Kirsten Britain. It's the fourth in her Green Rider series (last one?). It's been an OK series, perhaps a little too 'easy'.

E2A: I read Anno Dracula last week...it didn't really sit right with me, but was alright I guess.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 4, 2011)

TruXta said:


> *Rice just got very tedious after a book or two.* Might try AD one day, I love the Stokeresque vampires.


 
I read all of them desite this being true. Even the Lives of the MAyfair Witches ones 

drew the line at her erotica though


----------



## Idris2002 (Aug 4, 2011)

_An Essay on the Principle of Population_, T.R. Malthus.

It turns out that Malthus was an even bigger, more obnoxious prick than I expected.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 4, 2011)

Saves me reading that then. Thinking about doing one of Adam Smith's books. Is it worth it?


----------



## TruXta (Aug 4, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> I read all of them desite this being true. Even the Lives of the MAyfair Witches ones
> 
> drew the line at her erotica though


 
You were desperate. I forgive you. I just hope you stayed clear of PZ Brite?


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 5, 2011)

i'm still deep in westoros - i don't reckon i'll read owt else til dance of dragons is over. i'm still getting towards the last quarter of a clash of kings though, so a long way to go.
"*A man should never refuse to taste a peach*"


----------



## TruXta (Aug 5, 2011)

Hey ape! Long time no speakie! How's the course going?


----------



## weltweit (Aug 5, 2011)

The Octagon said:


> I found Down Under to be one of his less funny books, he's better when he's interacting with people (particularly his fellow Americans )



The person who gave it to me knows that I have a thing about Australia, it fascinated me how deeply he had researched his book, he had read loads and wove all that knowledge into the book. It is the first Bryson book I have read though I know my late dad enjoyed his books. I read it straight through and enjoyed his writing style very much. 



The Octagon said:


> A Short History Of Nearly Everything is brilliant though.


 
I will see if I can get my hands on a copy, thanks for the tip.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 5, 2011)

sojourner said:


> From 'The Prophet', yeh, one of my favourite books that.  Just wrote a poem referencing it actually, the Joy and Sorrow part


 
Good skillz . I will definitely read the Jesus, The son of man too. Please let us know how you get on.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 5, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Hey ape! Long time no speakie! How's the course going?


 great thanks! it's well hard but it's great! can't stick around much - will be back in full force in a couple of weeks!
i want to go teach in a cold country so might ask for your advice at a later date


----------



## TruXta (Aug 5, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> great thanks! it's well hard but it's great! can't stick around much - will be back in full force in a couple of weeks!
> i want to go teach in a cold country so might ask for your advice at a later date



Good to hear. Yeah, ask away, no probs.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 5, 2011)

I am currently reading Bad Science by Ben Goldacre.

I am finding it a bit frustrating because he assembles some convincing evidence on things like homeopathy and then when you think he is going to deal it the argumentative killer blow, he relaxes and proceeds on to the next topic.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 5, 2011)

Really? Are you sure you're following his arguments correctly? The lack of evidence from RCTs and the like is pretty much all it takes.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 5, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Really? Are you sure you're following his arguments correctly? The lack of evidence from RCTs and the like is pretty much all it takes.


 
Well to give you an example, in the chapter about homepathy he pretty resoundingly disproves that there is any active element in homeopathic medicine (which is obvious and I already know about that) but in the very next chapter, about Placebo, he also explains quite convincingly why homeopathy works


----------



## TruXta (Aug 5, 2011)

weltweit said:


> Well to give you an example, in the chapter about homepathy he pretty resoundingly disproves that there is any active element in homeopathic medicine (which is obvious and I already know about that) but in the very next chapter, about Placebo, he also explains quite convincingly why homeopathy works


 
Two entirely different things. Surely you know that?


----------



## weltweit (Aug 5, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Two entirely different things. Surely you know that?


 
Au contraire, sometimes homeopathy works because the patient expects it to work, i.e. the placebo effect, the bedside manner, the pseudoscience of the medicine (non). There is also pretty much no need for medical randomised trials to prove that because there is absolutely nothing in the medicine that homeopathy provides so it stands to reason that if people get better, it was not the medicine!


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 5, 2011)




----------



## weltweit (Aug 5, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


>


 
If that relates to my above post then it is a copout!


----------



## TruXta (Aug 5, 2011)

weltweit said:


> Au contraire, sometimes homeopathy works because the patient expects it to work, i.e. the placebo effect, the bedside manner, the pseudoscience of the medicine (non). There is also pretty much no need for medical randomised trials to prove that because there is absolutely nothing in the medicine that homeopathy provides so it stands to reason that if people get better, it was not the medicine!


 
Sure, but that doesn't mean that BG "relaxes" on the evidence. And disproving, via RCT, that homeopathy works, whilst proving elsehwere that placebos work is not the same thing in the slightest.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 5, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Sure, but that doesn't mean that BG "relaxes" on the evidence. And disproving, via RCT, that homeopathy works, whilst proving elsehwere that placebos work is not the same thing in the slightest.


 
Perhaps I am not yet at home with his writing style, I do think he could be more I don't know what, amusing? punchy? argumentative? it seems he is worried about the reponse of people who are mentioned in the book. Anyhow I am only half way through it atm, perhaps I will enjoy it more later.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 5, 2011)

Report back when you're done, private ww.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 5, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Report back when you're done, private ww.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 5, 2011)

halfway through 'engines of light' now and Volkov is egging them on to build the Peoples Bomb. Legend


----------



## TruXta (Aug 5, 2011)

Sucker.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 5, 2011)

the spider ape aliens are coming and the saurs will not protect humanity. Terrible necessaries


----------



## big eejit (Aug 5, 2011)

Fahrenheit 451. I read it when I was young but probably didn't do it justice. Saw it in a charity shop yesterday and really enjoying it.


----------



## Thraex (Aug 5, 2011)

TruXta said:


> I just hope you stayed clear of PZ Brite?


 
I've read a couple of hers....odd books. Oh, and I've read all of Ann Rice's books apart from the one about Jesus....I enjoyed them 

Currently: "Mary Magdalene. Christianity's Hidden Goddess". Only just started it this morning but it seems to be shaping up to be an interesting and thought provoking read.


----------



## xenon (Aug 5, 2011)

I read A Game of Thrownes and  just now finished A Clash of Kings - George R R Martin. I've a few other books I mean to start but I'm now anxious to continue the Song of Fire and Ice story. Dam you Martin


----------



## xenon (Aug 5, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Saves me reading that then. Thinking about doing one of Adam Smith's books. Is it worth it?


 

Made a concerted start with Wealth of Nations. Worth picking up IMO. If like myself, you're trying to acquaint yourself with founding principles and the sauce of much economic theory. I mean to have a go at Marks too.  (Fiction and coursework getting most of my reading attention ATM.)


----------



## xenon (Aug 5, 2011)

weltweit said:


> Well to give you an example, in the chapter about homepathy he pretty resoundingly disproves that there is any active element in homeopathic medicine (which is obvious and I already know about that) but in the very next chapter, about Placebo, he also explains quite convincingly why homeopathy works


 

He explains placebo effect can be medically benneficial. This goes for sugar pills etc. . i.e. everything else about homeopathy aside the incedental placebo effect it may engender, is crap and at best, a waste of money.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 5, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> the 176 page novella *'The alchemist' by Paolo Coelho*.


 
Massively disappointing book. Didnt stir inspiration in me at all, left me flat. There is a lesson to be learned but its really not this modern classic i expected it to be, rather, something mildly enlightening you might read about in a Guardian supplement.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 5, 2011)

i sold so many copies of the alchemist when i was a bookseller - very popular with models/celebrities/insecure types. i flicked through it. looked like vapid toss.


----------



## StoneRoad (Aug 5, 2011)

just got up to book 19 in the Aubrey/Maturin series (for about the third time) as I have just got a copy of book 21 (the unfinished one)


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 5, 2011)

it's very ummm....psuedo spiritual.

There is a far better book called alchemist about a man who defeats this uber satanist bringing Hell onto our plane


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 5, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> i sold so many copies of the alchemist when i was a bookseller - very popular with models/celebrities/insecure types. i flicked through it. looked like vapid toss.


 
i wouldnt go that far, but really disappointing. left me very 'meh' as ye say around here. I am so disappointed and was absolutely open and excited about reading it. ah well.


----------



## trampie (Aug 7, 2011)

The last book I read was 'The Goddess and the American Girl', which is a story about possibly the two greatest and most admired sports stars that ever lived.


----------



## Klaatu (Aug 8, 2011)

"The Possessed--Adventures with Russian Books and the People who Read Them" (Elif Batuman)

it's a scream. As much about people (Russian, Turks, Uzbeks) as about Tolstoy, Pushkin, Chekhov.


----------



## Klaatu (Aug 8, 2011)

"Strong Opinions" by V. Nabokov.  Excellent read. Even more so if you're a V.N. fan.

A pleasure of becoming older is discovering things I'd missed earlier. Like reading Vladimir Nabokov. How *could* I?

If all you've read is his fiction (his STORIES are excellent, too) or all you know AT ALL of Nabokov is having seen the movie
"Lolita" (dir. by Kubrick, screenplay by Nabokov), first start with his fabulous autobiography "Speak, Memory," and then read
"Strong Opinions," a collection of his interviews in Q & A form. Gems, both of them.


----------



## campanula (Aug 9, 2011)

having a joan slonczewski feast (Door into Ocean), just finishing Brain Plague after the Children Star and Daughters of Elysium


----------



## TruXta (Aug 9, 2011)

Onto Malazan book no 3, and this is even more mammoth than the last one, easily over 1000 pages.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 9, 2011)

Deadhouse Gates?

pay close attention. incredible as it may seem the two preceding were very much world building. Deadhouse Gates is the pivotal one- it all flows from the events therein


----------



## TruXta (Aug 9, 2011)

That's the one I just finished - DG. I did cop on to what you're saying about things only now kicking off. Memories of Ice here we come.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 10, 2011)

John Ajvide Lindqvist - "Harbour". It's very good.


----------



## maya (Aug 11, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> i sold so many copies of the alchemist when i was a bookseller - very popular with models/celebrities/insecure types. i flicked through it. looked like vapid toss.


It's absolutely horrible. You should feel lucky you haven't read it- That's one precious hour of my life, wasted.

Even fifteen years later, I shudder in disgust whenever I hear this book mentioned... If there ever was a more worthy candidate for being pulped, recycled and/or run over with a bulldozer/shredded and used as padding in cardboard boxes, this is it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 11, 2011)

The Gathering Storm.

it's the end of the wheel of time sequence (well, one of the last three penned by someone after robert jordan so selfishly went and died)

years seence I've been in this world, remember why it was so epic now.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 12, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> The Gathering Storm.
> 
> it's the end of the wheel of time sequence (well, one of the last three penned by someone after robert jordan so selfishly went and died)
> 
> years seence I've been in this world, remember why it was so epic now.



WoT is shit through and through. Jeez, honestly disappointed in you now DC, you're letting the side down.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 12, 2011)

Elmore Leonard "Pronto", still wish I hadn't read "Riding the Rap" first, mind


----------



## marty21 (Aug 12, 2011)

nearly finished  Killer Move - Michael Marshall - techno thriller, conspirarloon stuff - alright, moving on to Alone in Berlin - Hans Fallada - which I've had for months and haven't started yet - been mentioned here glowingly - so I'll give that one a go next


----------



## blossie33 (Aug 12, 2011)

Just started to read The Hacienda; How not to run a Club by Peter Hook - bought from a bargain bookshop for £3 - think it will be a fun read.


----------



## flypanam (Aug 12, 2011)

Due to the Dotty Truxta dialogue I'm reading Gardens of the Moon.

Endgame - biography of Bobby Fisher
DFW -  The Pale King.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 12, 2011)

flypanam said:


> Due to the Dotty Truxta dialogue I'm reading Gardens of the Moon.
> 
> Endgame - biography of Bobby Fisher
> DFW - The Pale King.



Persevere! It was a bit of a hard going at first, lots and lots of names, places, half alluded to history etc., but it's a cracking story once it gets going properly. Couple of hundred pages into the third one at the moment, it's amazing to see how Erikson is able to continually notch it further up the epicness scale.


----------



## flypanam (Aug 12, 2011)

139 pages in and a little lost but enjoying it alot.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 12, 2011)

flypanam said:


> 139 pages in and a little lost but enjoying it alot.



It probably took me until p.200-250 before it really clicked plot-wise. Not that Erikson ever resolves everything in one go, there be threads and sub-threads weaving, woofing and warping all over the shop. BTW the next book is over 1000 pages, the one after that over 1100!!!!


----------



## flypanam (Aug 12, 2011)

Really? Shit. I guess I'll have to put 'Endgame' down as I think Erikson is going to demand as much attention as David Foster Wallace does.

Next set of books I'm buying will be the Mr Men series!


----------



## phildwyer (Aug 14, 2011)

Donald Sassoon, _One Hundred Years of Socıalısm: The West European Left ın the Twentıeth Century._

Very convıncıng, very long.


----------



## xenon (Aug 14, 2011)

Blood and Gold, second part of A Storm of Swords. No spoilers but suffice to say, it's pretty hard going. Neat, just endings are scarce to say the least. 

Also about half way through 23 Things They Don't Tell you About Capitlism. - Ha-Joon Chang. I like the fact he sites specific examples that controdict fre market authodoxy.


----------



## Ax^ (Aug 16, 2011)

Just finished the girl who kicked the hornet nest, must admit the series  was not as bad as I was expecting.... Picked it up for pure holiday trash material


----------



## StraightOuttaQ (Aug 16, 2011)

It's Only A Movie - Mark Kermode.


----------



## machine cat (Aug 17, 2011)

Just started Alastair Reyond's The Prefect.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 22, 2011)

Still on 'Jesus the son of man' by Gibran, slow going due to lunchtime-in-work-only reading, and have also started a collection of his love letters to May Ziadah   'Blue Flame'


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 22, 2011)

Halfways through "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"


----------



## sojourner (Aug 22, 2011)

krtek a houby said:


> Halfways through "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"


The book is fantastic


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 22, 2011)

sojourner said:


> The book is fantastic


It is. Can't believe I waited so long to read it. Chief's madness is much more apparent than in the film.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 22, 2011)

sojourner said:


> The book is fantastic


Second this - excellent book


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 22, 2011)

Started 'Towers of Midnight', penultimate in the wheel of time cycle. I'm rooting for the Dark one and his minions to win because eveyone else in it is a cunt


----------



## marty21 (Aug 22, 2011)

several on the go, but main ones currently are -

Alone in Berlin - Hans Fallada - which is wonderful

and One Day - David Nicholls - which is strangely familiar - moving to London in the late 80s - yep - full of ambition - yep - doesn't quite work out - yep  - what happened in those 20 years - life happened


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 22, 2011)

Just started "The Five Greatest Warriors" by Matthew Reilly. I know I've spoken about him before on here - he's my guilty pleasure. An absoluetly appaling writer, his dialogue is chunky, he uses _italics and question marks to emphasise anything exciting or important!!_, his characters are stereotypes and his action set pieces are laughably unbelievable, as are his plots.

However I love it. When I don't need to think about what I'm reading and I don't need much space taken up in my brain by a book then one of his novels is exactly what I need.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Aug 22, 2011)

krtek a houby said:


> It is. Can't believe I waited so long to read it. Chief's madness is much more apparent than in the film.



Kesey's best book by a long chalk IMO.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Aug 22, 2011)

Re-reading Richie Unterberger's "Urban Spacemen and Wayfaring Strangers" about some brilliant musicians and music that never made it as big as it should have.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 22, 2011)

ViolentPanda said:


> Kesey's best book by a long chalk IMO.


I can't think of any other titles by the man, tbh


----------



## ViolentPanda (Aug 22, 2011)

That's because they're crap compared to "Cuckoo's Nest", to be frank.


----------



## wallsendbranch (Aug 23, 2011)

Am busy reading porno by Irvine Welsh the sequel to Trainspotting, wich i pesonally thought was an amazing read, just started it today,


----------



## sojourner (Aug 23, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> However I love it. When I don't need to think about what I'm reading and I don't need much space taken up in my brain by a book then one of his novels is exactly what I need.


I'm like that with Fannie Flagg.  Her novels aren't exactly world-changing, but when I need a bit of a rest, and some real old-fashioned happy clappy storytelling, she's my gal


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 23, 2011)

sojourner said:


> I'm like that with Fannie Flagg. Her novels aren't exactly world-changing, but when I need a bit of a rest, and some real old-fashioned happy clappy storytelling, she's my gal


I laughed out loud earlier when I was reading Mr. Reilly's description of the Gobi Desert "flatter than flat, vaster than vast" 

His band of intrepid heroes, out to save the world of course, have to find - amongst other things - the real burial place of Jesus, whose body is still there I gather!

Oh, I love it!!


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 23, 2011)

Double post


----------



## lizzieloo (Aug 23, 2011)

Have just dowloaded Accelerando by Charles Stross, I am about to be come a Sci Fi nerd


----------



## ringo (Aug 23, 2011)

Just finished Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett. Got bored a couple of times so it took months, but then got back into it. First of these huge blockbusting best sellers I've read, not sure I'll bother again for a while, but they do a job.

Now onto Gabriel García Márquez' "100 Years Of Solitude", which, thinking about it, probably is another huge blockbusting best seller really


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 23, 2011)

lizzieloo said:


> Have just dowloaded Accelerando by Charles Stross, I am about to be come a Sci Fi nerd


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 23, 2011)

ringo said:


> Just finished Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett. Got bored a couple of times so it took months, but then got back into it. First of these huge blockbusting best sellers I've read, not sure I'll bother again for a while, but they do a job.
> 
> Now onto Gabriel García Márquez' "100 Years Of Solitude", which, thinking about it, probably is another huge blockbusting best seller really



I took a break from reading that 15 years ago, I think I should start again...


----------



## ringo (Aug 23, 2011)

krtek a houby said:


> I took a break from reading that 15 years ago, I think I should start again...



Blimey, I hope it won't become another 'Zen and the art of motorcycle tedium' for me as well then.


----------



## starfish (Aug 23, 2011)

Truth Dare Kill by Gordon Ferris.


----------



## madzone (Aug 24, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Persevere! It was a bit of a hard going at first, lots and lots of names, places, half alluded to history etc., but it's a cracking story once it gets going properly. Couple of hundred pages into the third one at the moment, it's amazing to see how Erikson is able to continually notch it further up the epicness scale.


Do you know he knew how the series was going to end when he started the first book?


----------



## marty21 (Aug 24, 2011)

Just about finished One Day - David Nicholls - enjoyed it as I am the same age as the main characters so it had a familiar feel to it - graduating in 1988 - moving to London - shitty jobs, etc but depressing in a way - as they seemed to do more stuff than I have done


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Aug 24, 2011)

Cuban Santeria: Walking With the Night.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 24, 2011)

ringo said:


> Blimey, I hope it won't become another 'Zen and the art of motorcycle tedium' for me as well then.


Oh no! I have that one to read as well!


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 24, 2011)

madzone said:


> Do you know he knew how the series was going to end when he started the first book?


 
I suspected that good would defeat evil


----------



## madzone (Aug 24, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> I suspected that good would defeat evil


You know that's not what I meant


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 24, 2011)

madzone said:


> You know that's not what I meant


 
was being flippant- serious answer, no, the events that culminate in the final book- the major arc- doesn't really cohere untill midnight tides. The characters and sub-plots etc are all important in the ones before that but they are self contained. So there is no way at all of knowing how it ends when you start except for that as it is a fantasy book....see above


----------



## madzone (Aug 24, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> was being flippant- serious answer, no, the events that culminate in the final book- the major arc- doesn't really cohere untill midnight tides. The characters and sub-plots etc are all important in the ones before that but they are self contained. So there is no way at all of knowing how it ends when you start except for that as it is a fantasy book....see above


He _did_ know how it was going to end before he started writing it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 24, 2011)

he might have done. i didn't have an inkling till midnight tides.


----------



## madzone (Aug 24, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> he might have done. i didn't have an inkling till midnight tides.


Well, that's testament to his skill 
I was really impressed by that. I can't even read them because they're too complicated and yet he has it all percolating round his head and knew how it was going to end before he started.


----------



## foamy (Aug 24, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> However I love it. When I don't need to think about what I'm reading and I don't need much space taken up in my brain by a book then one of his novels is exactly what I need.



I am feeling very much like this at the moment with my baby brain and had to give up on the chamomile lawn (again!) so last week i bought and devoured some easy reading:
A little bit marvellous by Dawn French which I really enjoyed and the mum& daughter characters were a lotlike me & my mum.
A visit from the goon squad by Jennifer Egan which was hailed by a respected friend as awesome and has won the Pulitzer prize but I thought it was a bit *meh*
I'm now on Bill Brysons latest 'at home' which isn't 'easy' reading but is fun and factual.
Then I've got Solar by mcewan and 'when god was a rabbit' lined up next.


----------



## madzone (Aug 24, 2011)

I just finished The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas. I really liked it. I don't quite know what I'm going to read next


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 24, 2011)

marty21 said:


> Just about finished One Day - David Nicholls - enjoyed it as I am the same age as the main characters so it had a familiar feel to it - graduating in 1988 - moving to London - shitty jobs, etc but depressing in a way - as they seemed to do more stuff than I have done


i just finished it. thought it was rather good, despite my initial misgivings. couldn't get on with his other one. found both characters rather, er, resonated with me in their situations, characters and behaviour. it really got to me, which i hated, cos i wanted to dismiss it as another one of those unfunny, shallow blokelit books.


----------



## marty21 (Aug 24, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> i just finished it. thought it was rather good, despite my initial misgivings. couldn't get on with his other one. found both characters rather, er, resonated with me in their situations, characters and behaviour. it really got to me, which i hated, cos i wanted to dismiss it as another one of those unfunny, shallow blokelit books.



yep, I read it in a couple of days - I did like his Starter for Ten - Which had similar themes tbf - the author is about the same age as me, so I guess he would write about stuff I'm familiar with.


----------



## colbhoy (Aug 24, 2011)

I'm reading Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig by Jonathan Eig. Very good.


----------



## machine cat (Aug 25, 2011)

Almost finished The Prefect, which I've enjoyed but it isn't a patch on Chasm City or the Relevation Space trilogy.

Any other Reynolds books worth a read?


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 25, 2011)

Pushing Ice. Prefect is weak imho


----------



## machine cat (Aug 25, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Pushing Ice. Prefect is weak imho



Weaker than the rest of the RS novels yes, but enjoyable nonetheless. I just wish he could have explored some more of the Glitter Band's societies and politics.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 25, 2011)

I wanted to know more about the voluntary tyrannies


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 25, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> I wanted to know more about the voluntary tyrannies


Me too!

I have "Pushing Ice" on my bookshelf to read


----------



## machine cat (Aug 25, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> I wanted to know more about the voluntary tyrannies



Yeah, they were only once mentioned briefly iirc


----------



## Mation (Aug 25, 2011)

Room by Emma Donoghue, in one of my occasional efforts to read something other than science fiction. It's very good.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 25, 2011)

machine cat said:


> Yeah, they were only once mentioned briefly iirc


 
I wanted to know if reynolds was make a smartass comment on universal democracy, tyranny of the people etc. The giant robotic war weevils were an acceptable distraction though.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 25, 2011)

Finished '*Man with a blue scarf. On sitting for a portrait by Lucian Freud'* by Martin Gayford. Wow what a treasure - it was this guy who sat for the notoriously idiosyncratic and intriguing Freud documenting his experience of posing for him, every day for 9 months, and their conversations. Some of them you couldnt make it up, hanging with the Krays in the 40's, why Freud didnt like real models, his thoughts on horses, his grandfather, why he radically changed his artistic style overnight in the 50's, love of game meats and claret. I would recommend this book to anyone, it was a joy from start to finish, also illustrated with his paintings and all about them on the opposite page. 

also finished* 'I was Bono's doppelganger'* - hilarious and absolutely a must read if you HATE Bono, but also if you are a music geek that loves reading all about the wankers at record labels.

i read a book on *Amy Winehouse,* the official biography too, cant even remember the name of the triple barrelled author....it wasnt that good. I was hoping for an indepth analysis of jazz and her lyrics, but it didnt do any of that. Anyone on Urban could have written it in about three weeks.

finishing* St Francis of Assisi* at the moment, by Omer Englebert....ive been reading it on and off for months, its nuts.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 25, 2011)

just finished adam roberts' salt. i was so impressed by yellow blue tibia, i got all his others, so thought it would be best to start with his first. it's about the dispute between two opposing political ideologies in the setting of a beautifully described yet inhospitable colony planet and it's seriously impressive for a first novel. all his other books look very different, but all seem to be politically engaged and with intriguing premises. he's been likened to doris lessing, ian banks, margaret atwood and ursula k leguin. clearly i need to read more science fiction!


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 25, 2011)

Don't expect his level of quality throughout the genre 

I reccomend On, Land of the Headless and his sequel (ish) to gullivers travels 'swiftly'


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 25, 2011)

yep, on is next. doing it chronographically innit


----------



## Pinette (Aug 27, 2011)

I'm reading the memoire of Hector Berlioz. A month ago I went to a jumble sale and picked out a book that I liked the look of and it was the biography (vol 1) written by David Cairns.  I was completely bewitched by it and tried to find vol 2 at the library but no luck!   Then, in the 'music' section I found Berlioz's memoire. I'm reading it as slowly as I can because I don't want to lose him. It is a revelation (to me).  His writing style is racy, imaginative and very up-to-date (though I know that the prose is in translation and therefore the translator deserves the credit for that, probably - or not). He, Berlioz was a great friend of Liszt, Pagannini, Mendelsohn and he carried a banner for Beethoven when everyone thought his music was incredibly radical. His memoire provides an invaluable little window of that world during the early nineteenth century and brings a lot of things to life.  For instance, he says that one evening, whilst walking along the avenue a sweet old boy engaged him in conversation and it happened to be Honore de Balzac. Many of the people mentioned in the memoire have touched hands with Mozart and Beethoven and I am loving this. The description of the conservatoire and its rigid old-fashioned views could well be transposed to the present day's rigid rules in many colleges of music.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Aug 27, 2011)

i picked up a copy of the oddysey, translated by t.e.lawrence, in the mind shop for £2 today. that's lawrence of arabia btw. way past cool


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Aug 27, 2011)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> Cuban Santeria: Walking With the Night.


who/what dat?


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Aug 27, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> who/what dat?



It's a book about Santeria.


----------



## Tankus (Aug 27, 2011)

99p from the heart foundation charity shop

Halfway through ....God , It reads like an overly long episode of  "the thick of it "




> A minister "The Treasury is like Fallujah. We have no idea what's going on in there, we have no control over it, and all we know is that it's full of fundamentalists who are fanatically loyal to their leader."


 
Its a jaw dropper , if your mildly interested in politics


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Aug 27, 2011)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> It's a book about Santeria.


no shit


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Aug 27, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> no shit



If you knew that, why did you post this:



> who/what dat?


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Aug 27, 2011)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> If you knew that, why did you post this:


the book has "santeria" in the title. i ask you who wrote it, and/or a bit more about what it's about. you reply "santeria".

you're one of the most tiresome people i come across sometimes. why not swap logins with rory, at least he was funny?


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Aug 27, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> the book has "santeria" in the title. i ask you who wrote it, and/or a bit more about what it's about. you reply "santeria".
> 
> you're one of the most tiresome people i come across sometimes. why not swap logins with rory, at least he was funny?



No, you didn't ask who wrote it. You put:  'who/what dat?' What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You're a teacher, aren't you? Just write it out: 'Who wrote it?' Not hard in the least.

You might think me tiresome, but at least I'm not incoherent.


----------



## campanula (Aug 27, 2011)

Have just finished Solar (McEwen) about three days ago - I had to stop and think for a minute what it was about - not auspicious then but at least I finished it A customer foisted it on me. Same customer also gave me an Iain M Banks one (fat book, beginning with M) - dreading this as, despite many attempts, I have never managed to finish one (feeling certain I must be missing something or a bit thick) Tbf, only read 2 but Feersum Endjinn finished me off. The Infinite Jest is another I ought to like, I want to like but its too tediously opaque and random for my attention span to last more than a couple of pages.


----------



## andy2002 (Aug 28, 2011)

*The Last Werewolf - Glen Duncan*. I've read and enjoyed a couple of Duncan's previous books (I, Lucifer is great) so have high hopes for this.


----------



## marty21 (Aug 28, 2011)

The Corner: A year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood - David Simon and Ed Burns


----------



## ViolentPanda (Aug 29, 2011)

"How Black Was Our Sabbath" by Dave Tangye and Graham Wright, amusing anecdotage from '70s-vintage Sabs roadies.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 29, 2011)

"The Fifth Woman" - Henning Mankell


----------



## Idris2002 (Aug 29, 2011)

_Chronic City - _Jonathan Lethem.


----------



## maya (Aug 29, 2011)

campanula said:


> an Iain M Banks one (fat book, beginning with M) - dreading this as, despite many attempts, I have never managed to finish one (feeling certain I must be missing something or a bit thick) Tbf, only read 2 but Feersum Endjinn finished me off.


Player Of Games is a bit more accessible than Feersum Endjinn, if you want a place to start/finish with him (re: Iain M Banks)


----------



## wallsendbranch (Aug 29, 2011)

Glue - irvine welsh


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Aug 29, 2011)

to what? the ceiling?


----------



## chazegee (Aug 30, 2011)

Hitchens. God is not great and Hitch 22.
Very readable, an interesting guy. His concern for the little guy shtick is slightly shafted by his vainglory though.


----------



## Dr Dolittle (Aug 30, 2011)

Brave New World - for the second time after thirty years. Like a lot of those kinds of books - The Time Machine, Nineteen-Eighty-Four etc, it's very much of it's time - the ideas sound very 1930s. 'We' seems to be the other of the Big Four Dystopias, but I've yet to read that. Is it good?

I've also been reading about the film Metropolis, and watched extracts from it on YouTube. It seems very H G Wells influenced - workers living underground etc.


----------



## N_igma (Aug 31, 2011)

Gabriel García Márquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude. Definitely one of those "hard to put down once you pick up" books. Usually not a fan of magic realism but this works well with the general theme of isolation.


----------



## flypanam (Sep 2, 2011)

campanula said:


> The Infinite Jest is another I ought to like, I want to like but its too tediously opaque and random for my attention span to last more than a couple of pages.



That's a shame because it is worth it. Took me 6 months but it was the most enjoyable read.


----------



## little_legs (Sep 3, 2011)

Independence Day - Richard Ford


----------



## CosmikRoger (Sep 3, 2011)

andy2002 said:


> *The Last Werewolf - Glen Duncan*. I've read and enjoyed a couple of Duncan's previous books (I, Lucifer is great) so have high hopes for this.



Just finished this and loved it.
Feel free to recommend anything similar


----------



## abstract1 (Sep 3, 2011)

Frida - A biography of Frida Kahlo (Hayden Herrera)

Thoroughly immersed in it, which is surprising, and pleasing


----------



## savoloysam (Sep 4, 2011)

The scond book of general ignorance.


----------



## baldrick (Sep 4, 2011)

assassins quest, robin hobb.

needed something absorbing to read while i recover from a monstrous red wine hangover.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 4, 2011)

_Looking for Jake_ by China Mieville. Some damned good stories in there, some more middling in quality.


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 4, 2011)

chosen soldier by dick couch about the creation of a us special forces soldier. interesting enough.


----------



## andy2002 (Sep 4, 2011)

SmellyGusset said:


> Just finished this and loved it.
> Feel free to recommend anything similar



Have you read any of Duncan's other stuff? If not, 'I Lucifer' is a great place to start.


----------



## machine cat (Sep 4, 2011)

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami


----------



## MBV (Sep 4, 2011)

machine cat said:


> Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami



Would you recommend this? I'm considering reading Norwegian Wood next but am yet to purchase.


----------



## machine cat (Sep 4, 2011)

dfm said:


> Would you recommend this? I'm considering reading Norwegian Wood next but am yet to purchase.



Yeah, it's pretty good. I wasn't so sure at first but once the plot kicks in it's a decent read.

Haven't read Norwegian Wood so can't compare.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Sep 4, 2011)

machine cat said:


> Yeah, it's pretty good. I wasn't so sure at first but once the plot kicks in it's a decent read.
> 
> Haven't read Norwegian Wood so can't compare.


swap ya. norwegian wood is very good. will even throw in wind up bird chronicles if you like?


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 4, 2011)

the wind up bird chronicle is the best by far IMI, though i haven't read kafka on the shore yet.
anyone read underground by him?


----------



## machine cat (Sep 4, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> swap ya. norwegian wood is very good. will even throw in wind up bird chronicles if you like?



Sure. I'll let you know as soon as I've finished it.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 6, 2011)

marty21 said:


> The Corner: A year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood - David Simon and Ed Burns


 
have you seen the series?

best to read the book first  of course


----------



## chazegee (Sep 6, 2011)

Round the world in 80 days by Jules Verne, a very quick and fun read. Phileas Fogg, they don't make names like the used to...
And The Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin is so fucking lovable, he had to put a spider out of it's misery after it came off worse with a wasp in a fight he was watching. 
Compared to all the old Testament arrogance of modern scientists like Dawkins, Hawkings and Gould, he's brilliant company.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Sep 7, 2011)

machine cat said:


> Sure. I'll let you know as soon as I've finished it.


ah, i remember now. managed to dig them both out.


----------



## andy2002 (Sep 7, 2011)

Just started *Philip K Dick - Time Out Of Joint*.


----------



## maya (Sep 8, 2011)

andy2002 said:


> Just started *Philip K Dick - Time Out Of Joint*.


Have you read a lot of PKD or is that the first PKD book you're reading?
'Ubik' and especially 'The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch' are both really really good...and a great place to start

(I envy the ones who discover those books for the first time, reading him at a crucial time in my life was such an eye-opening moment for me- the way he endlessly constructs false realities, then tears things down again and you get more and more confused and wonder what is real and what's just paranoid delusions...)


----------



## andy2002 (Sep 8, 2011)

maya said:


> Have you read a lot of PKD or is that the first PKD book you're reading?
> 'Ubik' and especially 'The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch' are both really really good...and a great place to start
> 
> (I envy the ones who discover those books for the first time, reading him at a crucial time in my life was such an eye-opening moment for me- the way he endlessly constructs false realities, then tears things down again and you get more and more confused and wonder what is real and what's just paranoid delusions...)



I've read a few of his books over the years, but probably not nearly as many as I should have. Loved Ubik, am really enjoying Time Out Of Joint and have a few others knocking about to read (I think Palmer Eldritch is one of them).


----------



## campanula (Sep 9, 2011)

just ordered the Red Wolf conspiracy. have also been looking (again) at the Erikson Book of the Fallen series (noted earlier discussion here) but have been a bit put off by these really endless SF epics - have never bothered with Jordan and as for rubbish like the Thomas Covenant drivel.....what is this business with trilogies? Can't they manage a decent stand alone novel or summat?
Anyhow, drawn back into trilogyland and slightly annoyed since I am STILL waiting for the final Scott Lynch book - rumours abound that there are going to be 6 or 7 of them but I will probs be dead by the time they come out unless the publishers are just holding back until we are all sucked in over a couple of years. Feh.
Oh yeah, reading Anno Dracula (cheers)


----------



## colbhoy (Sep 9, 2011)

I'm reading The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo - very good.

Have finished the Stieg Larsson trilogy and am currently watching the original The Killing just now - the Scandanavians are taking over my world of crime fiction!


----------



## Fedayn (Sep 9, 2011)

A social history of the Third Reich' by Richard Grunburger.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 9, 2011)

campanula said:


> just ordered the Red Wolf conspiracy. have also been looking (again) at the Erikson Book of the Fallen series (noted earlier discussion here) but have been a bit put off by these really endless SF epics - have never bothered with Jordan and as for rubbish like the Thomas Covenant drivel.....what is this business with trilogies? Can't they manage a decent stand alone novel or summat?
> Anyhow, drawn back into trilogyland and slightly annoyed since I am STILL waiting for the final Scott Lynch book - rumours abound that there are going to be 6 or 7 of them but I will probs be dead by the time they come out unless the publishers are just holding back until we are all sucked in over a couple of years. Feh.
> Oh yeah, reading Anno Dracula (cheers)



Go for the Erikson series. Not a trilogy, rather a...  decalogy??? I think it's up to ten books by now. Great and seriously plot-heavy stuff.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 9, 2011)

eriksons done his 10 and finished with it, Ian C Esselmont has done two, with a few more to come


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 9, 2011)

A Storm Of Swords - George RR Martin
best, most page-clicking, rip-roaring belter so far


----------



## little_legs (Sep 10, 2011)

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin.

My first Baldwin book, chose it specifically because it's less than 160 pages and he has not disappointed me. He is very good at discribing human discomfort and fragility.


----------



## maya (Sep 10, 2011)

andy2002 said:


> I've read a few of his books over the years, but probably not nearly as many as I should have. Loved Ubik, am really enjoying Time Out Of Joint and have a few others knocking about to read (I think Palmer Eldritch is one of them).


His short stories are pretty good aswell... It's always fun to see how much he can cram into one short piece, sometimes it works better than the novel format. A recent(-ish) anthology called "Human is: A Philip K. Dick Reader"(IIRC) collects some of the best of his short stories, from the early days to later pieces... Recommended.

(And Palmer Eldritch is one of his best novels, IMO- it's really really terryfying, like a bad trip where you meet the devil... and I think that was exactly how he intended it to be. It still scares the crap out of me)


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 10, 2011)

sounds like a good trip to me


----------



## maya (Sep 10, 2011)

Pickman's model said:


> sounds like a good trip to me


Especially that bit where



Spoiler



he's been trapped/soul-morphed into a stone or wooden plaque or some other inanimate object(can't remember the details), with the prospect of having to stay like that for another thousand years, experiencing it in realtime, being alive but trapped and unable to move...Shudder


----------



## TruXta (Sep 10, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> eriksons done his 10 and finished with it, Ian C Esselmont has done two, with a few more to come



Same time-spans or what's the story with the ICE books?


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 10, 2011)

maya said:


> Especially that bit where
> 
> 
> 
> ...


no no the meeting the devil bit


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 10, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Same time-spans or what's the story with the ICE books?



set within the same times but in different places following different eents.

Except Night of Knives which details that night where kellaned and Dancer became Shadowthrone and Cotillon. it is quite short.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 10, 2011)

maya said:


> Especially that bit where
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
It's the bit at the end that does me, where everyone



Spoiler: stuff



is becoming PAlmer K with the arm etc. brr


----------



## maya (Sep 10, 2011)

Pickman's model said:


> no no the meeting the devil bit


I understood that, PM  Just quoted you so you knew which book I was talking about.


DotCommunist said:


> It's the bit at the end that does me, where everyone
> 
> 
> Spoiler: stuff
> ...


That was actually quite cool, I thought... It illustrates his point quite nicely (if you relate the metaphor to Gnosticism, and how we all have a bit of good and evil inside us, but how the material world is basically evil and a trap)


----------



## Belushi (Sep 11, 2011)

Khalil Gibran 'The Prophet'. Absolute arse.


----------



## campanula (Sep 11, 2011)

yep, you couldn't go to a wedding (or funeral) in the 70's without someone reading out some toss from the Prophet


----------



## Frances Lengel (Sep 11, 2011)

little_legs said:


> Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin.
> 
> My first Baldwin book, chose it specifically because it's less than 160 pages and he has not disappointed me. He is very good at discribing human discomfort and fragility.


 
Superb, isn't he? I read "Another Country" a few weeks ago, my first Baldwin too.


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 12, 2011)

Read M. John Harrison's _Light _over the weekend. Not sure what to make of it, really. . . .


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Sep 12, 2011)

maya said:


> Have you read a lot of PKD or is that the first PKD book you're reading?
> 'Ubik' and especially 'The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch' are both really really good...and a great place to start
> 
> (I envy the ones who discover those books for the first time, reading him at a crucial time in my life was such an eye-opening moment for me- the way he endlessly constructs false realities, then tears things down again and you get more and more confused and wonder what is real and what's just paranoid delusions...)


I'm pretty sure I've read them all, sad about it too.

Currently going through the ender saga and associated, interspaced with a bunch of L Ron Hubbard books I got given.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 12, 2011)

Just started Stephen King's "Under the Dome" - which is exercising my arm muscles to carry around!

Have lost my reading mojo a bit - one of the most depressing aspects of MS is that is can afffect your concentration and cognative abilities and my current relapse has done just this meaning that even with two weeks doing nothing at home I just couldn't read anything longer than a newspaper article withough my mind wandering or becoming too tired 

Happily it is a lot better now so I decided to dive back in with a massive 1000's of pages book  But which I hope will be entertaining and not too trying to read.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Sep 12, 2011)

The Extra Man - Jonathan Ames.


----------



## ringo (Sep 12, 2011)

N_igma said:


> Gabriel García Márquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude. Definitely one of those "hard to put down once you pick up" books. Usually not a fan of magic realism but this works well with the general theme of isolation.



Same here, loving it so far, it should be classic


----------



## colbhoy (Sep 12, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Just started Stephen King's "Under the Dome"



I read this at the start of the year. Hadn't read a Stephen King book for years and I did enjoy it.


----------



## N_igma (Sep 12, 2011)

ringo said:


> Same here, loving it so far, it should be classic



Yeh I just purchased Love in the Time of Cholera, it's meant to be just as good!


----------



## andy2002 (Sep 13, 2011)

Just started *Supergods *by* Grant Morrison*.


----------



## tufty79 (Sep 13, 2011)

a magick life: a biography of alesteir crowley by martin booth


----------



## machine cat (Sep 13, 2011)

Half way through The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and it's fucking banging


----------



## campanula (Sep 14, 2011)

crawling thru Anno Dracula but have first 3 Eriksons coming in post. Eldest son has stolen Red Wolf Trilogy in payback for forcing Cyteen (C J Cherryh) on him.


----------



## Randy Leppink (Sep 15, 2011)

I'm ready WWGD - What Would Google Do. I'd recommend it

Editor: spammy link hoofed off.


----------



## crustychick (Sep 15, 2011)

Currently on the 2nd half of Nelson Madela's autobiography - The Long Walk to Freedom - darn good it is too.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 15, 2011)

'Stalin Ate My Homework'

Alexie Sayles biography. very funny.


----------



## Thraex (Sep 15, 2011)

Have just finished reading the first two books in 'The Ancient Blades' trilogy (can't remember the author); good tales but full of irritating grammatical and editorial errors, I shall be reading the last one soon 'tho.

Currently reading The Iron Council - China Mieville, 'nuff said really, the guy's a genius.


----------



## starfish (Sep 15, 2011)

The Corner by Simon David & Ed Burns. Think i might have to watch The Wire again once ive finished.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 15, 2011)

David Simon, not Simon David


----------



## Picadilly Commando (Sep 15, 2011)

Joe Abercrombie's first law trilogy. It's rather good.


----------



## Thraex (Sep 15, 2011)

Picadilly Commando said:


> Joe Abercrombie's first law trilogy. It's rather good.



Which one are you on? I did them earlier this year and found they started to get a bit 'samey' iykwim?


----------



## Picadilly Commando (Sep 15, 2011)

Third one, Last Argument of Kings and I am half way through. I read the stand alone 'Heroes' first. They are a bit samey but I love how deep he goes with some of the characters, such as the complicated Glokta.

Bloody Nine is probably my favourite. The misunderstood monster.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 15, 2011)

i've just finished jon ronson's the psychopath test.
it's very funny and quite thought-provoking, esp about pyschiatry's need to label strange behaviour as disorders and about journalism's similar tendencies to focus on the extremes.
he's also a very likeable person, or at least the persona he projects is.


----------



## starfish (Sep 15, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> David Simon, not Simon David





It was upstairs when i posted.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Sep 15, 2011)

don quixote


----------



## andy2002 (Sep 15, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> don quixote



Or 'Donkey Coleman' as someone I used to know once called it.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Sep 15, 2011)

it was hard to get into at first but im enjoying it now.


----------



## miniGMgoit (Sep 18, 2011)

Life by Keef Richards  I love a good rock 'n' roll tale and there are none more roch 'n' roll than he.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 18, 2011)

_The City of Bohane_ by Kevin Barry. Just a couple of chapters in, and I'm already gobsmacked by the lyricism of the language. It's like China Mieville decided to write a mafia novel set in the West of Ireland.

_The Caste Question - Dalits and the Politics of Modern India_ by Anupama Rao. Historical anthropology, the title says it all really.

Finally I'm re-reading _At Risk - Natural Hazards, People's Vulnerability and Disasters_ by Ben Wisner et al. Stone cold classic in the disasters field and a book I need to know much better.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 18, 2011)

Picadilly Commando said:


> Third one, Last Argument of Kings and I am half way through. I read the stand alone 'Heroes' first. They are a bit samey but I love how deep he goes with some of the characters, such as the complicated Glokta.
> 
> Bloody Nine is probably my favourite. The misunderstood monster.



I loved the trilogy, just loved it. His other more stand alone books, like "Heroes" haven't, I feel, been as strong.

Glokta was my favourite I think, with the Bloody Nine a close second, one of those characters I just wanted to be real 

I'm still enjoying Stephen King's "Under the Dome" but I perhaps should have read it at a time when I was feeling a bit less paranoid, nervy and fractious as it is just increasing those feelings - and it is a long book (I'm about half way through I think)


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 18, 2011)

I have just read julian barnes' the sense of an ending. it's been nominated for a booker and it's so very very bookerish. despite this, it's a great read. i do not have anything intelligent to say about it right now cos i'm still ruminating on it. it's the kind of book to make you do that.

so now i'm reading george rr martin's a feast for crows now. and what a great pleasure it is to read.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 19, 2011)

*'The allure of chanel'* which is her memoirs by Paul Morand....what a blazing read. Coco Chanel in her own words, what a massively disturbed and occasionaly brilliant thinker. a cold, stony bint with very controversial views on things like fashion, money, and art. She was clear that fashion is not art, it was for her, simply a way of making money. She also disliked women and had no women friends as she reckoned they were silly, frivolous. She also didnt admire passion in relationships (seriouly disturbed lady and she knew it too) The thing that drove her throughout her life was pride, and that was the key to her success.

have also finished Leonard Cohens *Book of Mercy* and now reading *Jesus, the Son of Man*, by Kahil Gibran (thank you Sojourner) xx


----------



## avu9lives (Sep 19, 2011)

*The Tibetan book of living and dying*    Were all here to go! So you better start dealing wiv it! Eh, innit.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Sep 19, 2011)

Marxism and the Crisis of Development in Prewar Japan - Germaine A. Hoston.


----------



## craigxcraig (Sep 19, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> don quixote



I've just put this down having struggled to get past the first quarter of the book - the one i'm reading seems to be a bad translation (downloaded on to Kindle) and really struggled to get in to it. How you finding it?


----------



## craigxcraig (Sep 19, 2011)

ilovebush&blair said:


> it was hard to get into at first but im enjoying it now.



ah, maybe I should stick with!


----------



## craigxcraig (Sep 19, 2011)

Having put down don quixote, my wife had just got me Shaun Ryders new biog, Twisting my Melon - starting tonight!


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Sep 19, 2011)

craigxcraig said:


> I've just put this down having struggled to get past the first quarter of the book - the one i'm reading seems to be a bad translation (downloaded on to Kindle) and really struggled to get in to it. How you finding it?



well i was just going to read the first book, then read a few other books, then go back to it. but ive just finished part one and continued on to part two. i think ive got a bad translation, but im still going to finish it.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 20, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> *'*now reading *Jesus, the Son of Man*, by Kahil Gibran (thank you Sojourner) xx



What do you think of it so far?

I have just finished Sebastian Faulks 'A Week in December' cos a mate lent it to me.  Fuck me it was turgid, and the introduction to the characters (too fucking many!) was cringeworthy, clumsy, and embarrassing.  There was some interest in it - the banker and details of stuff he got up to.

Just started 'The Timewaster Letters' by Robin Cooper, which was hysterically funny very quickly


----------



## campanula (Sep 20, 2011)

a cheerful thank you for the nudge to get into the Erikson books (you know who you are). Usually, anything which involves horses and swords (instead of spaceships and rayguns) gets tossed on the 'when I am really bored' pile. Even so, page 103 and I am gripped. Should keep me going till chrimbo.
Gets cloak.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 20, 2011)

Crimbo? You a fast or slow reader?


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 20, 2011)

Hoods balls! more recruits to the epic reading challenge that is malazan book of the fallen. I enjoy saying to people 'yeah it is the malazan book of the fallen. Here is chapter one and waving a tome of biblical proportions at them.

I'm enjoying Glen Duncans 'The Last Werewolf' in between Alexie Sayles biography. He is very amusing 'I was never interested in joining the Woodcraft Folk. They seemed like the paramilitary wing of the co-operative society' and also 'although everyone knew he was a member of a party seeking to bring about a dictatorship of the proleteriat through state oppression of the former rulers, my dad was well liked'


----------



## veracity (Sep 20, 2011)

Am currently on 'All the Pretty Horses' by Cormac McCarthy (after coming late to the McCarthy party via 'The Road'). Finding his writing style quite compelling.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 20, 2011)

I've taken a break from Book of the Fallen. Four, or was it five? books in a couple of months. Too much.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 21, 2011)

When you find yourself wondering if you could take Balmoral with two Claws and a squad of moranth munition equiped sapper-marines (complete with a squad mage natch) you have probably overdosed.

I read them over about 10 years as they were released, so had plenty of other reading room between doses of malazan


----------



## TruXta (Sep 21, 2011)

Too many story-lines! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


----------



## campanula (Sep 21, 2011)

i got the first three(nearly halway in on the first now....much insomnia.... and am hoping Republic of Thieves is finally released (Scott Lynch) to have a break in between. Nights drawing in and all that means lots more reading (idling) time for me so a juicy epic is just right.
The last time I read a long series of books straight off  was back in the early 90s with the Amtrack Wars (7 of them) think I was losing heart by the end tho'.  My son keeps thrusting Stephen King's Dark Tower at me (he also thrusts Pratchett so i remain unimpressed).


----------



## campanula (Sep 21, 2011)

Anno Dracula tossed aside...even though I ploughed through 260 pages of it. These historians waffle on, no?


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 21, 2011)

Yeah don't touch Dark Tower with a shitty stick. Stephen King is deft in only one genre, and it isn't sci fi


----------



## marty21 (Sep 21, 2011)

Picked up a couple of translated French Detective novels when I was in Hay on Wye a few weeks ago, so they were cheap

reading the first one now

Dead Horsemeat - Dominque Manotti - early doors yet - not grabbing me so far - merde!


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 21, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Yeah don't touch Dark Tower with a shitty stick. Stephen King is deft in only one genre, and it isn't sci fi


i thought the dark tower was fantasy?


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 21, 2011)

Sort of. Decayed future fantasy in the ruins of a once glittering tech society


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 21, 2011)

avu9lives said:


> *The Tibetan book of living and dying*  Were all here to go! So you better start dealing wiv it! Eh, innit.



is it a heavy read? i like the sound of it.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 21, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> i've just finished jon ronson's the psychopath test.
> it's very funny and quite thought-provoking, esp about pyschiatry's need to label strange behaviour as disorders and about journalism's similar tendencies to focus on the extremes.
> he's also a very likeable person, or at least the persona he projects is.



you are not a psychopath. there one on here though!!! not sayin.

Hares 'The Mask of Sanity' more of an academic study, is a great read tho.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 21, 2011)

of course i'm not a psychopath. didn't think i was.
i've met someone who is (according to the hare test). i think. might just be a psychobitch though.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 21, 2011)

sojourner said:


> What do you think of it so far?



ahhh soj, im two chapters in but thank you for this wonderful recommendation. i love it so far.


----------



## Picadilly Commando (Sep 21, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I loved the trilogy, just loved it. His other more stand alone books, like "Heroes" haven't, I feel, been as strong.
> 
> Glokta was my favourite I think, with the Bloody Nine a close second, one of those characters I just wanted to be real
> 
> I'm still enjoying Stephen King's "Under the Dome" but I perhaps should have read it at a time when I was feeling a bit less paranoid, nervy and fractious as it is just increasing those feelings - and it is a long book (I'm about half way through I think)



Heroes was my introduction to Abercrombie and I've worked my way through his stuff since I discovered him about six weeks ago. Glokta is brilliant, an absolute shit of a man but I can't help myself liking him. Ferro, Ardee and Bayaz are my least favourite.

I got a lump in my throat in the third book when The Bloody Nine asked Jezal if he was an evil man and Jezal said he was the best man he knew. I want to hug that northerner


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 21, 2011)

my next book (ive read two chapters) is 'Irish blood English heart' which is an academic look at the Irish songwriters in london, channelling Kevin Rowland, Shane Magowan, Morrissey and so on. I have taken a look at this book....it has about 160 pages of actual text and 100 pages of footnotes. Will be a mare to read but will revert....erm, in due course.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 21, 2011)

i didn't realise morrissey was an irish singer in london


----------



## TruXta (Sep 21, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> is it a heavy read? i like the sound of it.



Pretty heavy I'd say, unless you have a particular interest in Buddhist/Bon thanatology.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 22, 2011)

veracity said:


> Am currently on 'All the Pretty Horses' by Cormac McCarthy (after coming late to the McCarthy party via 'The Road'). Finding his writing style quite compelling.



 it's a great book. better than the Road IMO.


----------



## big eejit (Sep 23, 2011)

Just finished The Second Coming by John Niven about Jesus coming back to 21st century USA. Very funny. Lays it on a bit thick with the God loves fags and hates Christians bit, but very funny over all.


----------



## KeeperofDragons (Sep 23, 2011)

At the moment
The Reluctant Traveller (on my kindle)
Bill Bryson - in the sitting room
Summat I can't remember the title of in the bedroom
A QI book in the bathroom
And a book about capitalism that I can't remember the title of in the dining room
All the above subject to change 

KoD


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 24, 2011)

just finished atrocity archives by Charles Stross, am now moving on to Singularity Sky by the same author


----------



## maya (Sep 25, 2011)

I'm re-reading the Cornelius Quartet by Michael Moorcock. (The scary horror books I borrowed from the library were too much to stomach, so I need something a bit lighter to cheer me up...) Keep hearing a camp narrator voice in my head when I read it, but I'm hooked... No-nonsense entertainment! (&I read it such a long time ago that it's like reading it for the first time, ...which is nice.)


----------



## craigxcraig (Sep 25, 2011)

Just finsihed Twisting my Melon, Shuan Ryder - quite a good read, did enjoy reading.

Now reading Stalin ate my homework by Alexei Sayle having seen it read earlier in this thread.


----------



## ringo (Sep 27, 2011)

The Terror Of Living - Urban Waite


----------



## belboid (Sep 27, 2011)

Cant decide between Patti Smith's _Just Kids_, and _Zugwang_ by Ronan Bennett. Always one of my fave words 'zugwang', it both sounds good and has such a great definition, a double plus winner.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Sep 27, 2011)

Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture  - Marvin Harris.


----------



## Mikey77 (Sep 27, 2011)

Dare to connect, by Susan Jeffers. I love you all.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 27, 2011)

Just finished 'Voyage of the Sable Keech' by neal asher, onwards to 'Prador Moon' by the same author.


----------



## campanula (Sep 27, 2011)

ah, Asher. Yep, read em all but after the first half dozen (loved the Line of Polity), there is a distinct sense that he is just churning them out by number. Prador Moon not as bad as Orbus, Hilldiggers, Linewar or the Gabble but not great either. The Technician seemed like a return to form but still terribly formulaic. Horrible to find a fave author has gone off the boil. Don't mind the odd clunker but imo, Asher has got lazily complacent.


----------



## ringo (Sep 28, 2011)

_Fear of Stones_ and Other Stories - _Kei Miller_


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 28, 2011)

"Sacred Games" by Vikram Chandra - been on my shelf for ages. Tried reading it ages ago but it wasn't the right time.

Enjoyed Stephen King's "Under the Dome" he really is a consummate storyteller, however, it was let down by a deeply unsatisfying ending sadly.


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Sep 28, 2011)

finished a couple more from the ender saga.
Just read Savage Night - Jim Thompson (one of my fave noir author it has to be said)
Now pondering whether I want to start Zola's - La Debacle or read a couple of l ron hubbard project earth volume for some light-hearted entertainment.


----------



## maya (Sep 28, 2011)

100% masahiko said:


> Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture - Marvin Harris.


This sounds intriguing, can you describe it? Ah, but the title says it all already, it seems- I want to read it now!


----------



## 100% masahiko (Sep 28, 2011)

maya said:


> This sounds intriguing, can you describe it? Ah, but the title says it all already, it seems- I want to read it now!



Okay so far.
I was expecting it to be condensed but it really is a light read...
too early to comment. I'll give a better verdict in the final third.


----------



## Greebo (Sep 29, 2011)

"Heimatkunde Berlin" and "Kaltduscher"

The first one is sort of a geopoliticalhistoryof Berlin written by somebody who lives there - comparable to Mark Thomas writing about South London.

The second one is about a handful of men in a shared flat.


----------



## chazegee (Sep 29, 2011)

*Walden - Thoreau.*

To be fair, he gave it a much better go than me. The only thing I planted in Slovakia was Basil.  

*Orientalism - Said.*

Cunt's swallowed a dictionary...

*Ivanhoe - Scott.*

Much more like it.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Sep 29, 2011)

chazegee said:


> *Orientalism - Said.*



...is a bore.


----------



## ringo (Sep 29, 2011)

ringo said:


> _Fear of Stones_ and Other Stories - _Kei Miller_



Brilliant , I generally keep an eye on Jamaican literature and occasionally it comes up trumps. Not just a great collection of Caribbean writing but a seriously talented short story writer. Quite young still, hope he gets down to a novel next.


----------



## ringo (Sep 30, 2011)

Zero History - William Gibson. Opened it up to see that it's a signed 1st edition, £2.99 from Oxfam.

Second charidee shop bargain of the month - Keith Richards new biog for £6.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 30, 2011)

This. It's taking a while to get through & something's lost in translation. It's the author's first fictional book and it kind of shows, IMHO. Historical events are over and done with in a paragraph and many of the characters lean towards cliche.


----------



## Kidda (Sep 30, 2011)

Im now reading 'Soldier Five- the real truth about the bravo two zero mission' by Mike Coburn

In the past few weeks ive read

'Bravo Two Zero' By Andy Mcnab
'Immediate Action' By Andy Mcnab
'Seven Troop' By Andy Mcnab
'The one that got away' By Chris Ryan
'The REAL bravo two zero' by Michael Asher

and after this one ill probably read 'Eye of the storm' by Peter Radcliffe
and i havent got a fucking clue why, something about trying to identify what's true or not about the story is quite compelling.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 30, 2011)

Eye of the storm is largely concerned with the authors brave and noble struggle as a fucking loan job from the british state to the autocrat rulers of oman suppressing a legitimate communist insurgency. Thats where he made his first kill, plugging revolutionaries on behalf of some sultan. The man comes across as the most arrogant cockwipe imaginable, although I probably wouldn't say that to the old bastards face.

The bravo two zero stuff is confined to the latter portion of the book and can be summed up as 'I told them to take landrovers and hide them in case they needed fast exfiltration, they didn't. I was right, they were wrong and also they made up loads of bollocks in their books'


----------



## Kidda (Sep 30, 2011)

Cheers Dot, eye of the storm is pretty weighty and the writings really small, so you may have just saved me a lot of eye strain


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 30, 2011)

It's the memoir of a wanker. Lofty Large has a far better SAS memoir. before he was SAS he fought in korea and was captured etc, gives a far more reflective and honest account- talks of a little bit more than how he was ALWAYS RIGHT and every one else WAS ALWAYS WRONG. Actually comes across as someone who you can have a begrudged admiration for just because he appears to be exceptionally hard to kill.


----------



## ilovebush&blair (Sep 30, 2011)

the idiot by fyodor dostoevsky


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 30, 2011)

*The Joy of Sex* by Alex Comfort. some people have asked if its the original from 1972, yep, with bearded illustrations. it is an amazing book!!!


----------



## TruXta (Oct 1, 2011)

India after Ghandi. 800 pages but a surprisingly easy read.


----------



## avu9lives (Oct 3, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> is it a heavy read? i like the sound of it.



Don't no about heavy but it sure irritated the feck outta me! These so called bhuddist teachers are just as bad as the bloody Christians an all the other ilk! Preaching their sanctimonious bullshit  on the world. Definitely not one of my carboot bargains thats fer sure!


----------



## JimW (Oct 3, 2011)

Finally got a copy of Misha Glenny's McMafia, so reading that.
In Chinese, a novel by Lu Yao, 平凡的世界 (usually translated as _The Common World_), massive three volume largely autobiographical tale of poor peasant life in Shaanxi from the late Cultural Revolution to early 80s (I think, not got that far yet). Pedestrian writing in a lot of ways but pretty extraordinary just for what it is and not had as much problem as I expected keeping with it.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Oct 3, 2011)

The only Glenny book I've read is his comprehensive narrative history of the Balkans.


----------



## JimW (Oct 3, 2011)

I read bits of that in a cafe that had a copy but not the whole thing. What do you reckon? You can tell he's on home ground when he's dealing with the former Yugoslavia in this McMafia book.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Oct 3, 2011)

I can't remember that much about it of note, to be honest. It was a while ago, and I only read it once, and quickly.


----------



## andy2002 (Oct 3, 2011)

maya said:


> I'm re-reading the Cornelius Quartet by Michael Moorcock. (The scary horror books I borrowed from the library were too much to stomach, so I need something a bit lighter to cheer me up...) Keep hearing a camp narrator voice in my head when I read it, but I'm hooked... No-nonsense entertainment! (&I read it such a long time ago that it's like reading it for the first time, ...which is nice.)



I've only read the first one - The Final Programme - which I really enjoyed. Are the other stories as good/mad/clever/inventive?


----------



## maya (Oct 3, 2011)

andy2002 said:


> I've only read the first one - The Final Programme - which I really enjoyed. Are the other stories as good/mad/clever/inventive?


Well, he (Moorcock) isn't quite my cup of tea, to be honest- He's one of those writers people either love or loathe, I reckon. (It's his writing style I'm not 100% thrilled about- But compared to other 'genre' authors, he's among the best, IMO- so perhaps I'm being unfair...)

Don't remember much of it, but anyway it's great fun- Lots of the story reads like a good ol' pageturner, no-nonsense/gung-ho, boy's own adventure story, or parodying that sort of literature more likely... And fashionable blips about open-mindedness (psychedelics, bisexuality) and 'psychedelic' music (beatles! har har) blasting in his car... Very sixties, but still great fun to read.

But there's more than that. Bubbling under the surface we have satire (the chaotic landscape of decay and political conflicts), all the weird bits about identity, surface(and surfacing), metamorphoses, mirror images/echoes across the multiverse (shown quite literally, as when Jerry Cornelius appears in the second book as an exact photographic negative of himself with black skin and white hair, etc.), the odd archetypal figures of the characters and their mirror images/second selves... The eternal myth of Jerry killing his sister Una, only for her to reappear elsewhere in the story alive again (a trick borrowed by the creators of the 'Aeon Flux' animated shorts where she dies at the end of every episode, only to return in the next)... All sorts of weird things are going on in there, and it takes a while to digest it.*

((*Actually, the non-linear narrative is rearranged so cleverly that you don't really see the big picture until the end of the last book in the series, then everything starts to make more sense (or- at least some sense). I'm glad I stuck with it to the bitter end, because when I at the last page got that 'aha!' moment when the inner structure of the storylines revealed itself, it was a moment of true beauty... Like he intended it to be, I suppose.))


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 3, 2011)

got some good solid holiday reading done over past couple of weeks.

*flow my tears, said the policeman*, by philip k dick, enjoyable read about a celebrity who wakes one morning to find he doesn't exist.
*aunt julia and the scriptwriter*, by mario vargas llosa, loved this, completely loved it, great story, well constructed, gently funny and would read it again.
*the oddysey, *by homer, translated by s.e. lawrence, what can you say? not the best translation i would imagine though.
*rogue male*, by geoffrey household, concerned with an assassination attempt on an unnamed fuhrer and some chasing action set in the dorset countryside, it was ok
*bounce* by matthew syed, fascinating read about the myth of innate talent and the possibility of practice in success, amongst other things.
*i am legend*, by richard matheson, about the last man on earth and the vampires that surround his solitary existence, a great read.
*the soft machine*, by william s burroughs, one of his more dense novels, good to dip in and out of with some superlative sections but little narrative structure of any description really.
*a rocket in my pocket*, by max decharnes, a brilliant overview of the history of rockabilly, recommended.


----------



## belboid (Oct 3, 2011)

The Cornelius Quartet were always my favourite Moorcock's.  I've been put off re-reading them tho, after reading some of his more recent stuff, which is always rave reviewed, but actually rather crap


----------



## districtline (Oct 3, 2011)

Halfway through Siri Hustvedt's latest, The Summer Without Men. It's not her best book and certainly isn't very gripping. Just feel like she's written it better before. Shame, because she's one of my favourites.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 4, 2011)

"Hell's Angel" by Ralph "Sonny" Barger.

This pic from 50 years ago (could pass for today)


----------



## The Octagon (Oct 5, 2011)

Just finished Surface Detail (Banks).

Another great read followed by a shit ending, why can't he end his books well? It's all 2-3 sentences rounding off each character American Graffiti style, very irritating.

That said, loved the slightly pschyopathic ship mind and the various plots in isolation.

The 'twist' at the end was kind of pointless though - "oh, a name I recognise, meh"

Only Inversions to go now and that's all the Culture books done and I can have my reading life back


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 5, 2011)

inversions is very subtle and almost not a culture book at all


----------



## Kidda (Oct 5, 2011)

krtek a houby said:


> "Hell's Angel" by Ralph "Sonny" Barger.
> 
> This pic from 50 years ago (could pass for today)



That book made me want to be violent, i would have had more respect for him if he'd just been honest about what a scum bag he really is.

Angels of Death- inside the bikers global criminal empire by William Marsden
and No Angel- my undercover journey into the heart of the Hells Angels by Jay Dobyns are much better books.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 5, 2011)

Kidda said:


> That book made me want to be violent, i would have had more respect for him if he'd just been honest about what a scum bag he really is.
> 
> Angels of Death- inside the bikers global criminal empire by William Marsden
> and No Angel- my undercover journey into the heart of the Hells Angels by Jay Dobyns are much better books.


 Cheers for that, will make a note of them


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 5, 2011)

I'm reading A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane. It's really pretty good.


----------



## starfish (Oct 5, 2011)

Lightning by Ed McBain.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 5, 2011)

book i am no longer reading...

for whom the bell tolls, e.hemingway. just realised that i've left the bastard thing down the pub. fingers crossed the landlady will keep it safe now...


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 5, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> book i am no longer reading...
> 
> for whom the bell tolls, e.hemingway. just realised that i've left the bastard thing down the pub. fingers crossed the landlady will keep it safe now...


Crops up in charity shops fairly regular, if worst comes to worst


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 5, 2011)

krtek a houby said:


> Crops up in charity shops fairly regular, if worst comes to worst


its not that, its more that the bloke who lent it me had just extended _his_ library loan by 4 weeks to let me read it. d'oh...


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 5, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> its not that, its more that the bloke who lent it me had just extended _his_ library loan by 4 weeks to let me read it. d'oh...


oops!


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 5, 2011)

krtek a houby said:


> oops!


innit


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 5, 2011)

anyway, just realised i forgot to say i also read the busconductor hines by james kelman, and it was fucking brilliant, a really really good fucking book ya cunt ye. lovely little story.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 6, 2011)

Just finished Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (thanks Boatiebird!) - fucking brilliant.  I cannot believe it's taken me, a voracious reader of almost 40 years standing, all this time to get round to Steinbeck's genius.  And it is genius.

Now halfway through The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.  I'd only ever seen the TV series years ago.  Really enjoying it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 6, 2011)

I'm on 'The Wind up Girl' by Paulo Bacigalupi

interesting post-oil story


----------



## Zabo (Oct 6, 2011)

_The Heart Of A Dog - Mikhail Bulgakov_ A terrific little book. It is a very funny parable of the Russian revolution and the creation of a 'new man'. Minimalist style of writing with lots of sharp observations. The dog is hilarious.

A definite read again.


----------



## andy2002 (Oct 6, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm on 'The Wind up Girl' by Paulo Bacigalupi
> 
> interesting post-oil story



I fucking love that book.


----------



## andy2002 (Oct 6, 2011)

Just started *The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie*.

Recently finished *Super Gods by Grant Morrison*. It's an odd book in that it's a history of superhero comics as well as a kind of autobiography. There's also some batshit crazy stuff in there about Morrison's interaction with various kinds of magic, plus the full story of his 'alien abduction' in Kathmandu. He's such an engaging writer, though, that you're happy to indulge his eccentricities.


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 6, 2011)

sojourner said:


> Just finished Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (thanks Boatiebird!) - fucking brilliant. I cannot believe it's taken me, a voracious reader of almost 40 years standing, all this time to get round to Steinbeck's genius. And it is genius.



I read that when I was at school (many years ago!) and remember enjoying it. I really must read it again.

Talking of books I want to read again I really must get round to re-reading The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw - a stunning book!


----------



## little_legs (Oct 6, 2011)

Zabo said:


> _The Heart Of A Dog - Mikhail Bulgakov_ A terrific little book. It is a very funny parable of the Russian revolution and the creation of a 'new man'. Minimalist style of writing with lots of sharp observations. The dog is hilarious.
> 
> A definite read again.



*Abirvalg!*


----------



## xenon (Oct 7, 2011)

Damage Time by Collin Harvey. A sadly recently deceased local SF author. I'd met him a couple of times and thought I should probably check out his stuff. This ones a future noir cop type thriller. Set in post peak oil New york. Lot of familiar tropes but I'm enjoying it. Some evocative descriptions of what such a setting might look like and new twist on recognisable genre.


----------



## StraightOuttaQ (Oct 8, 2011)

"Razors Edge : The Unofficial History of The Falklands War" by Hugh Bichen. A fascinating read about the conflict with a tremendous amount of detail on its buildup, especially when you see the comparisons between the current conservative govt defence review and the John Nott defence review of 1981.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 8, 2011)

started reading *Caitlin Morans* book *'How to be a woman'* which was basically foisted into my hands by a flatmate. I am reading it as a favour and i am hating it. It is vile and each chapter is headlined with things like 'i start bleeding!' and 'I get furry!' in a cheap, crass manner.It is definitely not about 'how to be a woman' but rather 'how to be Caitlin Moran' a woman i dont relate to or connect with. firstly, i was never an ugly, fat teenager who had a bigoted mother. I was a pretty, skinny really chilled out teen who was bang into music with uberchilled parents (especially my mother). I never slammed doors and got on with the folks like a house on fire. I know she was messed up and fat but fuck her, not all women were like this. so fuck off Caitlin Moran. I never masturbated. I indulged, delightedly in George Orwell and Kurt Cobain. i was so, so happy as a teenager, and really skinny too and i really dont feel the way she bags on. i might shoot her. i dont know if she, like me, drank cos i started very heavily from age 15. It was an interior, insecurity thing that goes with a love of reading - the two, for me went hand in hand. anyway, i will read this book to revert to flatmate. to be fair, it is quite funny

i cant stand it though i will finish it. am proudly interrupting with *Paul Ferrara's Flash of Eden*, which is a memoir of a friend of Jim Morrisons and pal at LA film school reading like a beauty so far.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 8, 2011)

i think you share many qualities with ms moran, cheesy


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 8, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> got some good solid holiday reading done over past couple of weeks.
> 
> *flow my tears, said the policeman*, by philip k dick, enjoyable read about a celebrity who wakes one morning to find he doesn't exist.
> *aunt julia and the scriptwriter*, by mario vargas llosa, loved this, completely loved it, great story, well constructed, gently funny and would read it again.
> ...



i am amazed and astonished that you read that much in two weeks!


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 8, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> i think you share many qualities with ms moran, cheesy



thanks for that, bitch. Im sure you are trying to offend me about being self absorbed or something.....I know i am very self absorbed but am not gonna apologise to you. I am what i am. Just like you are who you are, with your own flaws and weaknesses.


----------



## Bakunin (Oct 8, 2011)

Sharpe's Eagle - The first in Bernard Cornwell's 'Sharpe' series. Most enjoyable if perhaps a little lowbrow for some. I just like a rollicking good yarn with little thniking required, lots of violence and a bit of sauce, that's all.

The Green Mile - One of Stephen King's best works, IMHO.

Firefox - Craig Thomas's breakthrough yarn set during the Cold War and detailing an Anglo-American attempt to steal a Soviet jet fighter prototype. Interesting to look at from what's no a more historical perspective rather than the topical fiction it was at the time. Don't be put off by the fact that it was made into one of Clint Eastwood's lesser films, the book is, as books tend to be IMHO, far better than the film.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 8, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> thanks for that, bitch. Im sure you are trying to offend me about being self absorbed or something.....I know i am very self absorbed but am not gonna apologise to you. I am what i am. Just like you are who you are, with your own flaws and weaknesses.


i was just commenting on the irony of your post. it made me laugh.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 9, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> i was just commenting on the irony of your post. it made me laugh.



thats kinda how i feel when you post shameful remarks about junkies on in the DF, and then try and worm your way out of it....


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 9, 2011)

you'll have to remind me. doesn't sound like me


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 9, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> you'll have to remind me. doesn't sound like me



you made wildly righteous remarks which were dismissive of heroin addicts on a thread about two years ago and it exposed you for the redneck ignoramous that you are. i whupped your ass pretty bad and i think i quoted your posts saying they reminded me of George Bush. The editor was saying stuff too and pissing people off. Once you saw that your remarks about heroin users were highly unpopulist, you tried to turn it around but the truth had already been told. Your problem is this righteous redneck side you have that rears its head on here sometimes along with your desperate need for popularity and tendency to follow the herd.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 9, 2011)

get back to books...sorry folks OU was being a bitch and had a go at me, so i have whupped his righteous redneck ass as deserved.

Paul Ferrara's book, 'Flash of Eden' is indeed great - packed with insights into 50's and 60's life in California and UCLA film school. Its jammed with anecdotes and is quite a snapshot of 60s in particular.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 9, 2011)

another cheesypoof fact


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 9, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> i am amazed and astonished that you read that much in two weeks!


it was why i went on holiday. to read a bit. it was lovely to switch off that much and just lose yourself for a while. in amongst the swimming, eating, drinking dilemmas  haven't actually finished the rockabilly book, but have found for whom the bell tolls, which is a relief.


----------



## october_lost (Oct 9, 2011)

After finishing the excellent Day of the Triffids and the okay Kindred by Octavia Butler, I am now on James Kelman's A Chancer.


----------



## lizzieloo (Oct 10, 2011)

Started reading_ "Retrieved Riches: The History of Social Investigation in Britain"_ by David Englander and Rosemary O'Day

That referred to "London Labour and the London Poor" by Henry Mayhew so much in the introduction that I'm now reading that. It's all fascinating.
_
_


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 12, 2011)

lizzieloo said:


> Started reading_ "Retrieved Riches: The History of Social Investigation in Britain"_ by David Englander and Rosemary O'Day
> 
> That referred to "London Labour and the London Poor" by Henry Mayhew so much in the introduction that I'm now reading that. It's all fascinating.


 
Out ogf interest, how did you get on with Accelerando?


----------



## TruXta (Oct 12, 2011)

Back in Malazan territory with _Midnight Tides_. Very enjoyable so far.


----------



## lizzieloo (Oct 12, 2011)

@dottie. I've not read it yet, I go through phases, I was trying to get out of my social history phase but I can't seem to.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 12, 2011)

lizzieloo said:


> @dottie. I've not read it yet, I go through phases, I was trying to get out of my social history phase but I can't seem to.


 
I know how you feel. I've been stuck in a sci fi/fantasy phase with short excursions elsewhere for most of my life.

Am currently intespersing 'Wind up Girl' with bits from 'Dirty War' (a book about the history of the NI conflict.)


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 12, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Back in Malazan territory with _Midnight Tides_. Very enjoyable so far.


 
It is very hard to like the Tiste Edur


----------



## ringo (Oct 12, 2011)

Supernanny - Jo Frost.  Good, sensible advice. Sometimes you need reminding that tantrums are natural and not to be taken too seriously


----------



## TruXta (Oct 12, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> It is very hard to like the Tiste Edur



Trull seems OK?


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 12, 2011)

the sengars are the best of a bad lot


----------



## ringo (Oct 12, 2011)

The Sunset Limited - Cormac McCarthy


----------



## october_lost (Oct 12, 2011)

Pedagogy of the Oppressed -Paulo Freire and Anarchism and its Aspirations - Cindy Milstein


----------



## campanula (Oct 12, 2011)

finished the third Malazan (memories of ice) and am ready for a rest - not least because my wrists are aching after carting round these huge chunks of print....oh yeah, very small print at that - had to buy some cheapo specs from poundland.
Annoyed to hear Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards third delayed yet again (March 2012 now - thought it was out this month. Slacker, taking advantage of SF readers particularly fervent loyalties.


----------



## ringo (Oct 14, 2011)

Heavy Water and other stories - Martin Amis. I have a feeling I read this when it came out.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 14, 2011)

Started
Kraken by China Mieville


----------



## TruXta (Oct 14, 2011)

Kraken is good fun, not as sharp as Embassytown perhaps.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 15, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> it was why i went on holiday. to read a bit. it was lovely to switch off that much and just lose yourself for a while. in amongst the swimming, eating, drinking dilemmas  haven't actually finished the rockabilly book, but have found for whom the bell tolls, which is a relief.



 an incredible amount read, like 7 books or something?


----------



## campanula (Oct 15, 2011)

Asher's The Departure arrived in post yesterday so read the first 100 or so pages. Set in a corrupt Earth somewhat before Earth Central A!. The usual lack of characterisation which always makes it hard to feel pulled in but some fairly grim dystopian violence.
Got a huge stash of old gardening books from Stepmother in law's mum(?) so am alternating the SF with Arthur Hellyer, Graham Stuart Thomas and Reginald Farrer (truly lurid prose from Farrer).
The garden porn arriving almost daily now - seed catalogues oho.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Oct 15, 2011)

Reading Michael Moore's 'Here comes trouble', Nerd do well by Simon Pegg and just started Snuff by Terry Pratchett which is pretty good so far!


----------



## ringo (Oct 15, 2011)

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 17, 2011)

Bakunin said:


> Sharpe's Eagle - The first in Bernard Cornwell's 'Sharpe' series. Most enjoyable if perhaps a little lowbrow for some. I just like a rollicking good yarn with little thniking required, lots of violence and a bit of sauce, that's all.



the flashman books are equally lowbrow but far more entertaining IMO


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 17, 2011)

october_lost said:


> After finishing the excellent Day of the Triffids and the okay Kindred by Octavia Butler, I am now on James Kelman's A Chancer.


 
there's also the less well know Night of the Triffids.  It's not by John Wyndham but is worth a read


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 17, 2011)

Just started Rebel by Bernard Cornwell.


----------



## october_lost (Oct 17, 2011)

rubbershoes said:


> there's also the less well know Night of the Triffids. It's not by John Wyndham but is worth a read


Is it the same calibre as the original？


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 18, 2011)

not as good but good enough


----------



## Bakunin (Oct 18, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> Just started Rebel by Bernard Cornwell.



Good call, he's only written four books in the Starbuck Chronicles and sadly he probably won't be doing any more.


----------



## october_lost (Oct 18, 2011)

Just finished Pedagogy of the opressed. Good but very flawed leftist politics, also a bit turgid in parts.


----------



## Bang to Rights (Oct 20, 2011)

"Stupid White Men" Michael Moore


----------



## little_legs (Oct 21, 2011)

400 pages into Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, still waiting for something gripping to happen. Although it's my 1st Rushdie book, a thought that he might be overrated has crossed my mind a couple of times.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 21, 2011)

nothing happens in rushdie books. It is all prose poesy.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2011)

wotchoo talking about dotty. loads happens. they are packed with plot.

i now have all ten Books Of The Fallen BTW

i am also reading George RR Martin's A Dance With Dragons, Steven Pinker' The Better Angels Of Our Nature and Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 21, 2011)

just started submarine by joe dunthorpe


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Oct 22, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Bernie Gunther novels.[...]
> If The Dead Rise Not.



I'm reading this at the moment. Philip Kerr writes a lot of very memorable lines that I shall doubtless pinch for my own use eg.
"He looked like an uninvited guest at a Bruegel peasant wedding."


----------



## Zabo (Oct 22, 2011)

_The Elephant - Sławomir Mrożek._ Truly wonderful. A short book with lots of short stories - some very short! Lots of imagery, humour, satirical asides and absurdity at its best. This I like:

"Everybody should wear a hat for if in the event they fall in a lake it will be easier for the rescuers to find them!"

The story of _The Co-Operative_ is a hoot.  Essentially it matches up people who have money and alcohol and are lonely with those who have no money but want some alcohol in return for giving companionship. It could catch on!

It should be _de rigeur_ for all members of Urban.


----------



## marty21 (Oct 22, 2011)

White Fang - Jack London


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 22, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> wotchoo talking about dotty. loads happens. they are packed with plot.
> 
> *i now have all ten Books Of The Fallen BTW*
> 
> i am also reading George RR Martin's A Dance With Dragons, Steven Pinker' The Better Angels Of Our Nature and Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.


 
You got them all without reading the first one to see if you liked it?

I hope you do like them, else you'll have squandered money on 10 doorsteps and it will be all my fault.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 23, 2011)

but you said they were ace! i shall send you a bill if i don't like them


----------



## lau1981 (Oct 23, 2011)

Heartless by Gail Carriger.

Just finished a book off of iBooks called Wasted which was superb, not sure of authors name & can't be arsed to check atm.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 24, 2011)

kafka on the shore by murakami, about 8 chapters in and enjoying it a lot.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 24, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> but you said they were ace! i shall send you a bill if i don't like them


 
Also you don't have Ian Cameron esselmonts ones which are weird in that it is the same universe but a markedly different authorial voice
I do hope you enjoy them, from GOT to Malazan is like tickling the flaps with your end and then going balls deep.

I've finished Kraken by China meiville and am contemplating starting either 'snuff' by pratchett for a slaggy easy read or 'Helliconia: Winter' which is the third in an epic sci/fantasy trilogy I read the first two of years and years ago but never got around to buying the third one as it didn't show its spine in charity shops


----------



## TruXta (Oct 24, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Also you don't have Ian Cameron esselmonts ones which are weird in that it is the same universe but a markedly different authorial voice
> I do hope you enjoy them, from GOT to Malazan is like tickling the flaps with your end and then going balls deep.
> 
> I've finished Kraken by China meiville and am contemplating starting either 'snuff' by pratchett for a slaggy easy read or 'Helliconia: Winter' which is the third in an epic sci/fantasy trilogy I read the first two of years and years ago but never got around to buying the third one as it didn't show its spine in charity shops



The Helliconia ones I've not read for nigh on 20 years. Seemed pretty epic at the time. I think I quite liked them.

What did you make of Kraken?


----------



## belboid (Oct 24, 2011)

just finished Ronan Bennetts Zugzwang, which was a most entertaining tale of love, politics asnd chess


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 24, 2011)

TruXta said:


> The Helliconia ones I've not read for nigh on 20 years. Seemed pretty epic at the time. I think I quite liked them.
> 
> What did you make of Kraken?


 
An enjoyable pottage- deffo not as sharp as embassytown and given to meanderings but I like his meanderings. Wati and his unionised familiars made me laugh quite a bit.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 24, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Also you don't have Ian Cameron esselmonts ones which are weird in that it is the same universe but a markedly different authorial voice
> I do hope you enjoy them, from GOT to Malazan is like tickling the flaps with your end and then going balls deep.


i illegally downloaded them anyway


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 24, 2011)

*Kosher sex,* by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach


----------



## starfish (Oct 24, 2011)

More McBain, Eight Black Horses. Looks like the Deaf Man is back for more fun & games.


----------



## Pickman's model (Oct 24, 2011)

snitch! a history of the modern intelligence informer


----------



## purenarcotic (Oct 24, 2011)

Cheesypoof said:


> *Kosher sex,* by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach



Haha is that for real?


----------



## Pickman's model (Oct 24, 2011)

purenarcotic said:


> Haha is that for real?


i wonder how it compares to ulysses or portrait of the artist as a young man.


----------



## TruXta (Oct 24, 2011)

Pickman's model said:


> snitch! a history of the modern intelligence informer



Any good?


----------



## machine cat (Oct 26, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> kafka on the shore by murakami, about 8 chapters in and enjoying it a lot.



Started Norwegian Wood today and liking it so far


----------



## october_lost (Oct 26, 2011)

I receive all the new AK titles, so I decided I would read the controversial f_ear of the animal planet. _Finding it very flawed, hinting towards misanthropic in its detail but its readable.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Oct 27, 2011)

Reading Small Island atm. Hortense is quite annoying in the begining of the book, which has made it a bit difficult to get in to. But now I'm reading about another one of the main characters called Queenie, she's a bit easier to like and getting on with the book better.

GoT yet to arrive *sigh*


----------



## Thraex (Oct 27, 2011)

Currently reading "The Dwarves" by Markus Heitz, so far seems well translated from German, and is picking up as a good read. Also dipping into: Spectacular Vernacular and Tombs, Tunnels and Towers by the same author (can't remember who) which are both coffee-table types about odd, interesting places around London; as well as Secret London.


----------



## ringo (Oct 27, 2011)

ringo said:


> Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger



Quite annoying. The premise of the last section of the book doesn't really work, even taking into account the fact that it's a ghost story and therefore not based on reality anyway. Hard to explain without spoiling and I can't be bothered to learn the spoiler code just for this book 'cos it's _already_ annoying


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Oct 27, 2011)

MrsDarlingsKiss said:


> Reading Small Island atm. Hortense is quite annoying in the begining of the book, which has made it a bit difficult to get in to. But now I'm reading about another one of the main characters called Queenie, she's a bit easier to like and getting on with the book better.
> 
> GoT yet to arrive *sigh*


i think Hortense's character is meant to be that way, so it's actually quite a skillful piece of writing. i enjoyed this book a lot.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 27, 2011)

ringo said:


> Quite annoying. The premise of the last section of the book doesn't really work, even taking into account the fact that it's a ghost story and therefore not based on reality anyway. Hard to explain without spoiling and I can't be bothered to learn the spoiler code just for this book 'cos it's _already_ annoying


the spoiler code isn't rocket science, just use brackets, like with the img or quote code. piece of piss


----------



## ringo (Oct 27, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> the spoiler code isn't rocket science, just use brackets, like with the img or quote code. piece of piss



Yeah, but as I say, it's just annoying.


----------



## ringo (Oct 27, 2011)

In The Country Of Last Things - Paul Auster


----------



## porp (Oct 27, 2011)

The Balkan Trilogy, by Olivia Manning -  again!

Comfort reading for me, and Prince Yakimov is a character close to my heart, i.e. I share his constant yearning for rich food.

Only this time, I've noticed that OM's female characters (other than the narrator) are pretty weak. It's as if she's not that interested in them.

In all good libraries and charity shops.


----------



## imposs1904 (Oct 28, 2011)

little_legs said:


> 400 pages into Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, still waiting for something gripping to happen. Although it's my 1st Rushdie book, a thought that he might be overrated has crossed my mind a couple of times.



Did you see the latest episode of Fresh Meat? Vod reached the same conclusion after a few pages.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Oct 28, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i think Hortense's character is meant to be that way, so it's actually quite a skillful piece of writing. i enjoyed this book a lot.



I get that she's meant to be that way but it doesn't make her more likeable, in the begining.


----------



## ringo (Oct 28, 2011)

ringo said:


> In The Country Of Last Things - Paul Auster



Oh great, another really cheery little number I've picked up here. Short though, half way through already.


----------



## belboid (Oct 28, 2011)

little_legs said:


> 400 pages into Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, still waiting for something gripping to happen. Although it's my 1st Rushdie book, a thought that he might be overrated has crossed my mind a couple of times.


You are deeply wrong, it's one of the finest books in the english language.  That and Satanic Verses are masterpieces

His last couple are kinda toss tho


----------



## little_legs (Oct 29, 2011)

imposs1904 said:


> Did you see the latest episode of Fresh Meat? Vod reached the same conclusion after a few pages.



Sorry, I am not familiar with Fresh Meat but I'll check it out.


belboid said:


> You are deeply wrong, it's one of the finest books in the english language. That and Satanic Verses are masterpieces
> 
> His last couple are kinda toss tho



English is not my native language, so I can’t comment on your remark that it’s one of the finest books written in English but I appreciate your viewpoint. IMHO, I think the book was intended for a Western reader, the only thing Rushdie really does is sort of expose India specifically to make you go ‘My goodness…; Fuck me…’ each time he _reveals_ something and that’s where he, undoubtedly a talented writer, sells himself short.

Most of all though, he frustrated me with his _there are no limits to what I can say_ _and that makes me awesome_ attitude, as if _saying anything I want to say _is art worthy of praise. Well, it isn’t. Obnoxious statements and revelations are a copout, say something useful or offer something meaningful FFS!

First of all, what’s this fascination with omnipresent snot, urine and blood? He talks about it paragraph after paragraph. This is inflated with bizarre sex stuff: a boy watching his mother masturbate, a teen having sex with a 512 yo, sister-mother-aunt fancying, father’s continual impotence, musings on sterilisation. Now add to this layer upon layer of meaning (_perforated sheet, verrucas_), throw some shocking remarks in a casual manner (_Taj Mahal actually smells of piss; Children’s knees are smashed by their parents constantly for begging purposes; Soldiers entered houses and the women in them;_) and don’t forget to add that _my people are like_ _a monster with several heads_… and you get Midnight’s Children but no hope and no answers. Are hope and a sense of responsibility too much to ask from a writer? I don’t think so. 

In defence of Rushdie, I have a feeling magical realism is not for me.


----------



## mona88 (Nov 1, 2011)

I'm reading the English Chinese bilingual version of "Gone with the Wind". Gosh! I've still got a long way to go. I've been reading it since three months ago. I love the movie, so I decide to read the book. I can also improve my English Chinese translation skills.


----------



## ringo (Nov 1, 2011)

Life - Keith Richards


----------



## no-no (Nov 1, 2011)

Just gave up on China Mieville's Perdidio Street Station. I just couldn't get into it, don't know why. Will come back to it later maybe.....

Anyhow, moving on to Olaf Stapledon - Starmaker.


----------



## little_legs (Nov 1, 2011)

_*Atomised*_ by Michel Houellebecq

It's a bit depressing but I can't put it down.


----------



## Greebo (Nov 1, 2011)

Plum Spooky - Janet Evanovich


----------



## TruXta (Nov 1, 2011)

Greebo said:


> Plum Spooky - Janet Evanovich



I just read the synopsis on the authors' page and all I can say is  Any good?


----------



## Greebo (Nov 1, 2011)

So far so good, but I'm only up to the 4th chapter.  Fast & light reading (as are most of her books).  If you've read "Visions of Sugar Plums" by the same author, that one introduced Diesel and the sort-of superheroes.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 1, 2011)

Right. Haven't heard of her.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Nov 1, 2011)

Family Britain 1951 - 1957 by David Kynaston


----------



## Greebo (Nov 1, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Right. Haven't heard of her.


Okay, then I wouldn't start with Plum Spooky (too many bits you might not get), "One for the Money" is the first in the series.  Definitely not chick lit, humourous in parts, and not a writer you could recommend to the sort of person who doesn't like sex or swearing being mentioned.


----------



## silverfish (Nov 2, 2011)

They fuck you up, How to survive family life. Oliver James
Games people play, Eric Berne
Dave Gorman vs the rest of the world


----------



## belboid (Nov 4, 2011)

The Prague Cemetery - Umberto Eco

I do like the smell and feel of a brand new hardback. And I've read the first page and not needed the dictionary once, which is a pleasant change for an Umberto.


----------



## Ax^ (Nov 4, 2011)

Catch-22 which reminds me to reprimand meself for not reading any more of it this week

*shakes fist at self*


----------



## jesuscrept (Nov 4, 2011)

I'm reading ''The dark side of christian history'' at the moment. It's a pretty simple read, not very deep or taxing on the brain, but I like to reaffirm my opinion of religion every now and again.

And before that ''the gun and the olive branch''


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 4, 2011)

ringo said:


> In The Country Of Last Things - Paul Auster



one of my favourites of his

it's not the best written but it appeals nonetheless


----------



## baldrick (Nov 4, 2011)

the end of mr y - scarlett thomas

it started veeerrrry slowly.  but now interdimensional mind-travel, Derrida, God, ex-CIA agents and homeopathy.  it's getting fun.


----------



## ringo (Nov 5, 2011)

rubbershoes said:


> one of my favourites of his
> 
> it's not the best written but it appeals nonetheless


Dark isn't it? Immediately had me wondering if McCarthy read it before starting The Road. Similar relentlessly bleak post-apocalyptic style. I find that style that tells the story through letters (what are they called again?) a bit trying, but this one worked, though I might have given up if it was a longer novel.

Looked it up - epistolary! Good word.


----------



## weltweit (Nov 5, 2011)

I have just finished Bad Science by Ben Goldacre..

It was interesting, I feel he spent a long time repeating himself to be sure he got his main point across, that journalists are not scientists. But that said, I would recommend it to others. The only thing is that I think the title is misleading, it says bad science so you expect a wide range of scientific endevaour wheras in fact Goldacre is interested primarily in medicine and to the exclusion of others. I think the title should read "bad medicine" ...


----------



## andy2002 (Nov 6, 2011)

Recently read Alan Moore's 'Neonomicon' graphic novel and it put me in the mood for some *HP Lovecraft* so have just started a massive book of his stories. Thinking of devising a drinking game for every time HPL describes the moon as being "gibbous" or uses the word "ichor".


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 6, 2011)

ringo said:


> Dark isn't it? Immediately had me wondering if McCarthy read it before starting The Road. Similar relentlessly bleak post-apocalyptic style. I find that style that tells the story through letters (what are they called again?) a bit trying, but this one worked, though I might have given up if it was a longer novel.
> 
> Looked it up - epistolary! Good word.


what book is this?
sounds intriguing, but i couldn't find the post that the above is an answer to.


----------



## N_igma (Nov 6, 2011)

Ulysses. It took me 2 hours to read 29 pages today!


----------



## pianissimo (Nov 7, 2011)

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.  Loving it at the moment


----------



## lau1981 (Nov 7, 2011)

Greebo said:


> Plum Spooky - Janet Evanovich



Janet Evanovich is hilarious! Shamed myself many a time on the train by giggling away.

Not read that one tho - any good?


----------



## ringo (Nov 7, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> what book is this?
> sounds intriguing, but i couldn't find the post that the above is an answer to.



It's this one: In The Country Of Last Things - Paul Auster


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 7, 2011)

ringo said:


> It's this one: In The Country Of Last Things - Paul Auster


thanks. i'm a fan of paul auster, but haven't read his last few


----------



## ringo (Nov 7, 2011)

N_igma said:


> Ulysses. It took me 2 hours to read 29 pages today!



Are enjoying it? I read the first page in Minet Library on Saturday, just to see if I'd like it. I think I'd get a lot out of it, but I'm not sure I'd actually enjoy it. I'd have to have a dictionary next to me and no small children running about shouting.


----------



## Greebo (Nov 7, 2011)

lau1981 said:


> Janet Evanovich is hilarious! Shamed myself many a time on the train by giggling away.
> 
> Not read that one tho - any good?


Enjoying it so far.


----------



## toblerone3 (Nov 7, 2011)

A book written by a former Google employee called "I'm Feeling Lucky"


----------



## lau1981 (Nov 7, 2011)

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite.  Very dark.


----------



## N_igma (Nov 7, 2011)

ringo said:


> Are enjoying it? I read the first page in Minet Library on Saturday, just to see if I'd like it. I think I'd get a lot out of it, but I'm not sure I'd actually enjoy it. I'd have to have a dictionary next to me and no small children running about shouting.



Yeh I am enjoying it, but it can be incredibly frustrating at times. He uses lots of latin phrases too which can piss you off but generally it's a wild journey. Your best bet is to have some kind of guide for it though as there's quite a lot of allussions that aren't easily noticed. It will take you a long time to read it though because it's so demanding!


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Nov 8, 2011)

Just finished Vikram Chandra's "Sacred Games" - really enjoyed it, excellent chracters, including Mumbai which is as much a character as the people, beautiful descriptive passages and a very good story.

Think I will head back to fantasy land with "The Lies of Locke Lamora" next.


----------



## ringo (Nov 8, 2011)

N_igma said:


> Yeh I am enjoying it, but it can be incredibly frustrating at times. He uses lots of latin phrases too which can piss you off but generally it's a wild journey. Your best bet is to have some kind of guide for it though as there's quite a lot of allussions that aren't easily noticed. It will take you a long time to read it though because it's so demanding!



Yes, I've no idea how many of the literary links I'd get. It's a bit like jazz for me, I'm sure it's great but will leave it until I'm grown up


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 8, 2011)

finished kafka by the shore last night, enjoyed it a great deal, a lot to think about once it's done.

now onto flat earth news by nick davies and then going to read submarine by joe dunthorne


----------



## campanula (Nov 8, 2011)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Just finished Vikram Chandra's "Sacred Games" - really enjoyed it, excellent chracters, including Mumbai which is as much a character as the people, beautiful descriptive passages and a very good story.
> 
> Think I will head back to fantasy land with "The Lies of Locke Lamora" next.


Oho QoG, we (my sons and I) have been waiting for years for the third book out of a proposed cycle of 7. Annoyingly, this has been promised for 3 years. Was under the impression that Republic of Thieves was finally arriving this November, only to hear it is again delayed till next March. Lynch - you lazy slacker - get with it. Can only imagine publishers are hanging on till all 7 books are produced. Infuriating as the first 2 were an excellent read.
For an easy alternative, with 7 books actually available, you could try Adrian Tchaikovskys insectile fantasies Shadows of the Apt.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Nov 8, 2011)

campanula said:


> Oho QoG, we (my sons and I) have been waiting for years for the third book out of a proposed cycle of 7. Annoyingly, this has been promised for 3 years. Was under the impression that Republic of Thieves was finally arriving this November, only to hear it is again delayed till next March. Lynch - you lazy slacker - get with it. Can only imagine publishers are hanging on till all 7 books are produced. Infuriating as the first 2 were an excellent read.
> For an easy alternative, with 7 books actually available, you could try Adrian Tchaikovskys insectile fantasies Shadows of the Apt.


Oh that is annoying! Started "The Lies...." on the train and am enjoying it, I like his style of writing.


----------



## Mation (Nov 8, 2011)

Game of Thrones book 4: A Song of Ice and Fire.

Completely hooked, despite (or possibly because of) it being written as a children's book of parables with (lots and lots of) added extreme sex and gore. I had been thinking that this is the worst of the serial I've read thus far (too many new, relatively isolated characters) but I'm beginning to change my mind, given what he's doing with Cersei...


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Nov 9, 2011)

Cult & Canon: The Origins and Development of State Maoism - Helmut Martin

Got this one along with a battered, well-read pile of other China-related stuff I got for cheap, some of which seems to have been outdated/superseded.  This book is from 1982, and goes into the various definitions of Mao Tse-Tung Thought, his prolific writings of political and philosophical literature, and their official and orthodox uses by the Chinese state during his life and after his death.  The author was apparently the editor of a German edition of Mao's works after 1949.  This book was kind of a side-project based on the notes he made.


----------



## colbhoy (Nov 9, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> Just started Rebel by Bernard Cornwell.



Still reading the above but also dipping into The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, downloaded for free on my daughter's brand new Kindle. Enjoying it, have never read any Sherlock Holmes stories before.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 10, 2011)

Just started Prayers of the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz.  It's a 'reinterpretation of the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes from the vantage of Middle Eastern mysticism' and fuck ME, I've only read the intro and the 'organisation' bits and am totally sucked in already! Hugely exciting, for me, in tons of ways.  Finding out that Aramaic texts should be read using 3 levels - intellectual, metaphorical, and universal (mystical), and that the Greek translations of the Bible are all pretty much wrong/misleading as they have a strict division between mind, body and spirit!

Get this, 'heaven' in Aramaic is translated as 'light and sound shining through all creation' - oooOOOOoo.

AND, 'God' comes out as 'El', and 'Al', amongst others (so, that's Elohim and Allah for starters) plus, my favourite, 'that One which expresses itself uniquely through all things'.  Fuck ME - gave me shivers that did!


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 10, 2011)

flat earth news was well boring, given up after 100 pages and going to dive into submarine.....geddit?


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 10, 2011)

Flat Earth News was good man! could do with a re-issue with added info in light of the millie dowler phone hacking scandal.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 10, 2011)

i duuno, finding out that newspapers don't print the unvarnished truth wasn't exactly revelatory.

dunno, after murakami, i think i'm on a bit of a fictional tip again mebbe?


----------



## TruXta (Nov 10, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i duuno, finding out that newspapers don't print the unvarnished truth wasn't exactly revelatory.
> 
> dunno, after murakami, i think i'm on a bit of a fictional tip again mebbe?



Try the one I'm reading at the moment, Kevin Barry's _The City of Bohane_. Beautifully written about a fictional west Irish city full of crooks.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 10, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Try the one I'm reading at the moment, Kevin Barry's _The City of Bohane_. Beautifully written about a fictional west Irish city full of crooks.


cool, nice one, might just do that.


----------



## Thraex (Nov 10, 2011)

Currently reading "Pigeon English" by Stephen Kelman(was a nominee for the Man Booker Award). It's OK, I think, not too sure to be honest.


----------



## starfish (Nov 10, 2011)

After the mammoth & epic The Corner, im giving Homicide by David Simon a go.


----------



## belboid (Nov 11, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> i duuno, finding out that newspapers don't print the unvarnished truth wasn't exactly revelatory


that's very true, but i thought the precise details of just how the process doesnt work was intriguing. Bits like there actually being more journo's than ever now, and how been journo's got just five minutes to write three versions of the same story, were well worth knowing


----------



## audiotech (Nov 13, 2011)

Just finished _Reading Lolita in Tehran_ by Iranian author Azar Nafisi. An insight of life in Iran in the aftermath of the Islamic revolution.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 13, 2011)

Buchelain and Korbal Broach,a three novella collection from Steven Erikson. Set in the Malazan world and slightly whimsical but grim following the misadventures of two disgusting necromancers


----------



## chazegee (Nov 13, 2011)

Bury me standing.

A really interesting read about Romany Gypsies.

I've discovered that they didn't work the land in Slovakia because they retained parts of the Hindu caste system and considered it beneath them.


----------



## flypanam (Nov 14, 2011)

The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Micheal Chabon.
Midnight tides - Steve Erikson (just started this one, hoping its as good as 'House of Chains')


----------



## pianissimo (Nov 16, 2011)

According to the kindle, I'm almost half way through.
1Q84 it's freaking me out with its 'little people'.


----------



## stethoscope (Nov 16, 2011)

Grant Goddard - Kiss FM: From Radical Radio to Big Business.


----------



## weltweit (Nov 16, 2011)

Can you guess which book I am reading..

"Hush, the babies are sleeping, the farmers, the fishers, the tradesmen and pensioners, cobbler, schoolteacher, postman and publican, the undertaker and the fancy woman, drunkard, dressmaker, preacher, policeman, the webfoot cocklewomen and the tidy wives. "


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 16, 2011)

Baudrillard?


----------



## Greebo (Nov 16, 2011)

weltweit said:


> Can you guess which book I am reading..
> 
> "Hush, the babies are sleeping, the farmers, the fishers, the tradesmen and pensioners, cobbler, schoolteacher, postman and publican, the undertaker and the fancy woman, drunkard, dressmaker, preacher, policeman, the webfoot cocklewomen and the tidy wives. "


Under Milk Wood - Dylan Thomas?


----------



## weltweit (Nov 16, 2011)

Greebo said:


> Under Milk Wood - Dylan Thomas?



Yes.. I love "the webfoot cocklewomen and the tidy wives." - I have no clue exactly what he meant by that but I love it


----------



## Greebo (Nov 16, 2011)

weltweit said:


> Yes.. I love "the webfoot cocklewomen and the tidy wives." - I have no clue exactly what he meant by that but I love it


To walk on the muddy sand without sinking, some of the cocklers wore things on their feet which splayed out,  As for the tidy wives - keeping a clean & tidy house with everyone in clean, well-pressed clothes in a state of good repair (even if they were handmedowns) was a way of showing you were respectable no matter what your income was.  It might also explain why "tidy" is used in Welsh English the way that it is.


----------



## weltweit (Nov 16, 2011)

Greebo said:


> To walk on the muddy sand without sinking, some of the cocklers wore things on their feet which splayed out, As for the tidy wives - keeping a clean & tidy house with everyone in clean, well-pressed clothes in a state of good repair (even if they were handmedowns) was a way of showing you were respectable no matter what your income was. It might also explain why "tidy" is used in Welsh English the way that it is.



Aha, makes sense. Ta .. It was years ago that I saw Under Milk Wood so it is very nice to be able to read it and remember the charachters.


----------



## belboid (Nov 16, 2011)

the welsh actually fits closer with the original (13Cish) meaning of 'tidy', which was 'in season, timely, or excellent'


----------



## Greebo (Nov 16, 2011)

belboid said:


> the welsh actually fits closer with the original (13Cish) meaning of 'tidy', which was 'in season, timely, or excellent'


Thanks for that.  Funny how words change so much.


----------



## little_legs (Nov 16, 2011)

little_legs said:


> _*Atomised*_ by Michel Houellebecq




*Atomised* was good albeit odd. It’s about two brothers Bruno, a sex-obsessed overweight alcoholic, and Michel, a work-obsessed microbiologist who cannot feel pleasure in anything. Both men are completely incapable of relating to the outside world and people in it. Their efforts to connect with one another fail miserably.

I felt strange reading about these 2 men. I thought I could not relate to them but I kept coming to the conclusion that in some fucked up way I am just like them. I hate Houellebecq for his _people are horrible and the society is fucked_ view. He also rambled on about Aldous Huxley for too long. 

Started *My Name is Red* by Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk refers to willies as the ‘manly reeds’


----------



## Hulot (Nov 16, 2011)

_Sketches by Boz_. My, it's fresh!


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 17, 2011)

The Human Factor by Graham Greene

I've always shied away from Graham Greene.I'm not sure why but thought his books would be turgid and old fashioned . It's anything but, even if many of the characters are redolent of the 1950s


----------



## Zabo (Nov 17, 2011)

Currently reading _White Walls - Tatyana Tolstaya_. A big change from the concision and brevity of Bulgakov.

I'll let you know more when completed.


----------



## colbhoy (Nov 20, 2011)

starfish said:


> After the mammoth & epic The Corner, im giving Homicide by David Simon a go.


Are you enjoying it, I've got it in my "to be read" pile?


----------



## starfish (Nov 20, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> Are you enjoying it, I've got it in my "to be read" pile?



Very much so. I tend to read a lot of detective fiction so its interesting to see how close they get it to real life police procedures.


----------



## ringo (Nov 21, 2011)

rubbershoes said:


> The Human Factor by Graham Greene
> 
> I've always shied away from Graham Greene.I'm not sure why but thought his books would be turgid and old fashioned . It's anything but, even if many of the characters are redolent of the 1950s



Astonishing writer, I try and only read one a year so that I can stretch them out, otherwise I'd do them all in one go.


----------



## no-no (Nov 21, 2011)

Just flew through olaf stapledons star maker, that bloke just doesn't know when to stop imagining, amazing stuff. He takes the history of the universe right through to the final energy death and then out the otherside. He gets a bit involved during the last few chapters, not sure I understood it at all but the journey is blinding.

next - alfred bester - the dark side of the earth


----------



## colbhoy (Nov 22, 2011)

I've just started 52 Pickup by Elmore Leonard.

A gripping story already.


----------



## andy2002 (Nov 22, 2011)

Still working my way through the mammoth Lovecraft tome. Once you strip out the casual racism, the purple prose and the repetitive nature of some of the stories (HPL's a bugger for his underground tombs/lairs/chambers/vaults), you realise just how ahead of his time he was. Some of it is terrific and must have scared the shit out of his audience when it was first published.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 22, 2011)

The Man In The High Castle - Philip K Dick
Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
Handling The Undead - John Ajvide Lindqvist

Enjoying all three.
I'm not sure about Dick's writing style but he sure makes me think.
Franzen sure can write and he writes about unhappy insufferable damaged people so very well
Lindqvist I am less sure about. Not quite as compelling as Let The Right One In, but I haven't given it the chance to get off the ground yet really.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Nov 22, 2011)

little_legs said:


> *Atomised* was good albeit odd. It’s about two brothers Bruno, a sex-obsessed overweight alcoholic, and Michel, a work-obsessed microbiologist who cannot feel pleasure in anything. Both men are completely incapable of relating to the outside world and people in it. Their efforts to connect with one another fail miserably.
> 
> I felt strange reading about these 2 men. I thought I could not relate to them but I kept coming to the conclusion that in some fucked up way I am just like them. I hate Houellebecq for his _people are horrible and the society is fucked_ view. He also rambled on about Aldous Huxley for too long.
> 
> Started *My Name is Red* by Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk refers to willies as the ‘manly reeds’


i really liked my name is red, very good reading, loved it.

she read atomised and hated it, so i never bothered tbf


----------



## TruXta (Nov 22, 2011)

One of Dick's more worthy efforts, I think. Freedom too was very good. Really need to read all of JAL's books, but can't decide whether I'll do them in Swedish or English.

ETA @ the ape.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Nov 23, 2011)

"Prague Fatale" - Philip Kerr - I really like Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels but am finding it strange in that having taken Bernie through the war and into the 1950's this novel is back in 1941. His descriptions of life in Berlin at that time though are very effective.


----------



## ringo (Nov 23, 2011)

_Life of Pi_ by Yann Martel


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 25, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> Handling The Undead - John Ajvide Lindqvist



 It's  shit, isn't it?  Though I don't know whether it's badly written or badly translated


----------



## Zabo (Nov 25, 2011)

_Mikhail Bulgakov - Black Snow_

A fascinating and comical insight into his early playwriting days and theatre experiences as well as a savage attack on Stanislavski, the dickhead father of method acting.

Wonderful foreword by Terry Gilliam - another hater of method acting. He seems haunted by the fact that he's not directed _The Master and Margarita_ - I wish he would.

I could read Bulgakov each day.


----------



## 100% masahiko (Nov 25, 2011)

Damp Squid: the English Language Laid Bare - Jeremy Butterfield


----------



## southside (Nov 25, 2011)

I read Gullivers Travels a while ago, checking out it's satirical author has brought me a lot of joy. I've known the story for years as most kids growing up probably do. I had no idea my research would lead me to the idea of swiftian satire and some of it's champions, none other than David Icke of all people.







The wheel's going round but the hampster's dead.


----------



## andy2002 (Nov 27, 2011)

*Mark Billingham - Blood Line:* I've read a few of Billingham's Tom Thorne books over the years and enjoyed them (especially the early ones, like 'Sleepyhead' and 'Scaredy Cat', which were quite disturbing). This is very readable and its central mystery intriguing but it's all become a bit formulaic and cosy.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 27, 2011)

taking a third run at Canticle for Liebowitz. Managed more than 3 pages this time and will finish it. It has a sly sense of humour and lots of priest latin


----------



## Thraex (Dec 2, 2011)

Just finished "When God Was A Rabbit" (I forget the author) which was lovely; like coming in from playing in the snow as a child and being handed a cup of Hot Chocolate.

Now on "A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates" by Captain Charles Johnson (1774).


----------



## marty21 (Dec 2, 2011)

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens  on the kindle
Embassytown - China Mieville in proper hardback book form


----------



## 5t3IIa (Dec 2, 2011)

Dr Johnson's London by Liza Picard.

It's one of those I almost wish I hadn't started as I can't put it down and keep thinking about it.


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 2, 2011)

5t3IIa said:


> Dr Johnson's London by Liza Picard.
> 
> It's one of those I almost wish I hadn't started as I can't put it down and keep thinking about it.



Cheers Stella, you've just solved a present problem for me


----------



## 5t3IIa (Dec 2, 2011)

BoatieBird said:


> Cheers Stella, you've just solved a present problem for me



It's got some physical size and weight to it.... starting to see the attraction of a Kindle....


----------



## 100% masahiko (Dec 2, 2011)

Booze and Burn - Charlie Williams


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 2, 2011)

Cherie Priest- Boneshaker

Steampunk alt. history in america. Good ideas, poor execution. Needs to improve if I am to continue wasting my precious life hours on it.


----------



## TruXta (Dec 2, 2011)

Just about to finish Reaper's Gale. Me gusta. Only 2500+ pages to go before the show is over.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 2, 2011)

There's still Ian C's books, and the Buchelain/Korbal Broach shorts to go.


----------



## TruXta (Dec 2, 2011)

I might need a break after finishing the Malazan series. Not to worry, I'll get around to them.


----------



## andy2002 (Dec 2, 2011)

More *Mark Billngham* – *From The Dead* this time.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Dec 3, 2011)

I've not read anything for pleasure in weeks but I came across this today and thought that i really must


> All the scientists hope to do is describe the universe mathematically, predict it, and maybe control it. The philosopher, by contrast, seems unbecomingly ambitious. He wants to understand the universe; to get behind phenomena and operation and solve the logically prior riddles of being, knowledge, and value. But the artist, and in particular the novelist, in his essence wishes neither to explain nor to control nor to understand the universe. He wants to make one of his own, and may even aspire to make it more orderly, meaningful, beautiful, and interesting than the one God turned out. What's more, in the opinion of many readers of literature, he sometimes succeeds."
> 
> -John Barth


----------



## colbhoy (Dec 4, 2011)

Reading The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Dec 6, 2011)

"The Complaints" - Ian Rankin. Enjoying it!


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Dec 6, 2011)

The Bloody White Baron - James Palmer.

He's pretty much a footnote, or gets a fleeting mention in relation to wider things, but this is a colourful, if slightly inaccurate book about the life of Baron Roman Fyodorovich von Ungern-Sternberg.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 6, 2011)

rubbershoes said:


> It's shit, isn't it? Though I don't know whether it's badly written or badly translated


yep, i think it's both. 'the ambulance arrived like a thief in the night'? wtf?


----------



## andy2002 (Dec 11, 2011)

*Looking For Jake and other stories - China Mieville:* Good stuff, very Lovecraft at times.


----------



## xenon (Dec 11, 2011)

At the moment between.
Thriving Beyond Sustainability by Andrés R. Edwards.

Which I think is gonna leave me feeling synicle and angry. I probably need to read something afterwards, that tackles head on how vested interests can be subverted to give an opportunity to scale up some of those ideas. Or maybe just go for fiction again.

Also reading Ventus by Karl Schroder. Post singularity humanity, collonies. Things have gone a bit wrong with nanotech and godlike computers.


----------



## colbhoy (Dec 12, 2011)

Just started Copperhead by Bernard Cornwell.


----------



## Bakunin (Dec 13, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> Just started Copperhead by Bernard Cornwell.



Good choice.

I'm falling back on a couple of old favourites at the moment. I've got Frederick Forsyth's 'The Fourth Protocol' (a novel, obviously) on the go and, for something a little more heavyweight I'm reading 'Aces Falling' which is a fine read about the final year of the air war during WWI.


----------



## marty21 (Dec 13, 2011)

Richard Morgan - The Steel Remains

Starts off all Games of Thrones, then throws a curveball with some warrior gaying up action - quite enjoying it - it is clearly influenced by Game of Thrones though - which isn't a bad thing.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Dec 13, 2011)

marty21 said:


> Richard Morgan - The Steel Remains
> 
> Starts off all Games of Thrones, then throws a curveball with some warrior gaying up action - quite enjoying it - it is clearly influenced by Game of Thrones though - which isn't a bad thing.



Ah not read that, but loved the Altered Carbon books. Is it one of a series of does it stand alone?


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 13, 2011)

the collected stories of philip k dick vol 1 - all his earliest stories from the 50s.
what a brain!


----------



## marty21 (Dec 13, 2011)

Global Stoner said:


> Ah not read that, but loved the Altered Carbon books. Is it one of a series of does it stand alone?


totally different to the Altered Carbon stuff - sword and sorcery stuff - I think this might be a series, I think there may be another one already out.


----------



## october_lost (Dec 14, 2011)

Festive reads - Work (Crimethinc), Reclaiming the F word, Quite Right Mr Trotsky and Enemy is Middle Class


----------



## Bakunin (Dec 14, 2011)

The autobiography of Ozzy osbourne entitled 'I Am Ozzy.'

Although I'm surprised he can remember that much if I'm honest.


----------



## StraightOuttaQ (Dec 14, 2011)

The best comic strip ever made, (with the possible exception of Watchmen). Absolutely stunning story of the First World War - subversive, full of subtext, detail and lacking in the usual derring do rubbish. I can't recommend it enough.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 14, 2011)

Andrea Camilleri - The Shape of Water

A Montalbano crime mystery, usual Sicilian blend of murder, food, farce and mystery


----------



## colbhoy (Dec 14, 2011)

StraightOuttaQ said:


> The best comic strip ever made, (with the possible exception of Watchmen). Absolutely stunning story of the First World War - subversive, full of subtext, detail and lacking in the usual derring do rubbish. I can't recommend it enough.



Superb, I agree that it is the best comic strip I have ever read. I got Battle for years and it was mainly because of this story. I really need to acquire these books.


----------



## colbhoy (Dec 14, 2011)

Bakunin said:


> Good choice.



I have read (for me) quite a lot of it already in the last couple of days. In Rebel, you have to wait ages for the battle but Copperhead just starts with a bang. Cornwell really knows how to grip the reader.


----------



## StraightOuttaQ (Dec 14, 2011)

colbhoy said:


> Superb, I agree that it is the best comic strip I have ever read. I got Battle for years and it was mainly because of this story. I really need to acquire these books.



Even now, the name "Captain Snell" gives me the fears.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Dec 14, 2011)

october_lost said:


> Quite Right Mr Trotsky



Good man.


----------



## kittyP (Dec 14, 2011)

Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite
Cheesyish vampire stuff but she has a great way of describing sensory stuff.
I really want to buy a bottle of Chartreuse now 

I have been given a copy of Rebecca by Daphne Du Daurier (that has written in it Kathleen Adams 1945 ) which I have not read for ages and its such a lovely old book full of lovely old book smell that I am looking forward to it.

Also been given the Ring of Bright Water trilogy which I have not read and am really looking forward to that too


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Dec 14, 2011)

Domestic and International Perspectives on Kyrgyzstan's 'Tulip Revolution' - various (special issue of Central Asian Survey, which is pricey for a prole to subscribe to outside of academia).


----------



## kittyP (Dec 14, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Domestic and International Perspectives on Kyrgyzstan's 'Tulip Revolution' - various (special issue of Central Asian Survey, which is pricey for a prole to subscribe to outside of academia).



Oh I see, your going on a beach holiday soon ?


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Dec 15, 2011)

Well, aside from the cynicism, greed, corrupt scoundrels and George Soros, in 2010 I spent a lovely early morning walking along a shore of lake Issyk-Kul, with the Tien Shan mountains in the background.


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 15, 2011)

kittyP said:


> Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite
> Cheesyish vampire stuff but she has a great way of describing sensory stuff.
> I really want to buy a bottle of Chartreuse now
> 
> ...



Rebecca is on the list of books that I want to read.  I read loads of her books when I was younger but I missed this one out.

I'm currently reading The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 15, 2011)

Rebecca is a brilliant book. I can't believe I've never seen the fillum of it.


----------



## kittyP (Dec 15, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> Rebecca is a brilliant book. I can't believe I've never seen the fillum of it.



Oh my goodness the film is totally amazing!
Laurence Olivier at his best.
Watch over Christmas!
I'll lend you the DVD if need be


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 16, 2011)

Joe Abercrombie's "The Heroes".
Patrick Rothfuss's "The Wise Man's Fear
and
Paul White's "Primitive Rebels or Revolutionary Modernisers: The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey".


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 16, 2011)

Restarted Glen Duncans 'The Last Werewolf' and so far it at least as good as his 'I,lucifer'


----------



## Thraex (Dec 16, 2011)

Just finished a book about Pirates, written in 1725. Now onto "The Gladiators - History's Most Deadly Sport" by Fik Meijer.


----------



## PlaidDragon (Dec 17, 2011)

Just finishing the New York Trilogy. Very good book, I think Ghosts is my favourite story.


----------



## Bakunin (Dec 17, 2011)

dragonwolf said:


> Now onto "The Gladiators - History's Most Deadly Sport" by Fik Meijer.



An excellent choice, it debunks many of the popular myths around the Games and the Colosseum while still retaining enough hideously gory stuff to entertain any reader.

And who'd have thought that Romans were such artists in the field of theatrically-impressive public executions, eh?


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Dec 17, 2011)

Finished "A child Of The Jago" a couple of days ago, now getting started with deliverance as I only saw the movie before.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 18, 2011)

Barbara Cartland's debut from 1925, *Jig-Saw* - shockingly good.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 18, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> Rebecca is a brilliant book. I can't believe I've never seen the fillum of it.



its amazing x


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 18, 2011)

im reading *Michael Collins* by Tim Pat Coogan.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 20, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> Rebecca is a brilliant book. I can't believe I've never seen the fillum of it.


The film is fucking BRILLIANT - Mrs Danvers still scares the shit out of me all these years later

I am currently reading:

The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman (a re-read after 13 or so years - still brilliant)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown.  Have previously skimmed it, and read his other one about the American West, but reading it properly now.
Prayers of the Cosmos: Reflections on the Original Meaning of Jesus's Words - Neil Douglas Klotz.  Really need to pay some proper attention to this - over crimbo I reckon.
The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy.  I have never really read any poetry apart from Paradise Lost, so thought it was about time I did, being a fucking poet n all.
The Best of Manchester Poets Vol 2 - mainly cos I'm in it and I thought I'd best check out everyone else's contributions


----------



## TruXta (Dec 20, 2011)

Structures - or why things don't fall down.


----------



## pianissimo (Dec 22, 2011)

I was hooked on 1q84 book 1.

Book 2 started to drag. And began to read like a Japanese porn/fantasies. What the heck with 10 year old girls having sex with adult men! And the plot is trying to justify is ok to do so. It really annoys me.

Downloaded sample of book 3 and thinking should I waste my time on it. Hate not knowing the ending.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 22, 2011)

"Paranoia - The 21st Century Fear" by Daniel and Jason Freeman
"Business And Industry in Nazi Germany" by Francis R. Nicosia and Jonathan Huener


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 22, 2011)

Soj - I just started reading Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee too. I was waiting on the phone for the fucking bank to sort something out and saw it on my dad's shelf. Twenty minutes later, I'm enthralled and banky bloke is going 'Mr Taylor? Mr Taylor? Are you there?'


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 22, 2011)

I am also reading Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch. It's well good.


----------



## Thraex (Dec 23, 2011)

"Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch, thoroughly enjoying it at present. I was waiting for another book about Gladiators but it hasn't arrived yet.


----------



## ringo (Dec 24, 2011)

Game Of Thrones, but trying not to look at it until after Xmas Day in case it takes over.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 24, 2011)

charles stross 'Iron Sky'

Good far future mentalism.


----------



## purenarcotic (Dec 24, 2011)

Orang Utan said:


> Rebecca is a brilliant book. I can't believe I've never seen the fillum of it.



Cannot recommend enough her other ones, Jamaica Inn and My Cousin Rachel in particular.  Bloody brilliant books.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 24, 2011)

dragonwolf said:


> "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch, thoroughly enjoying it at present. I was waiting for another book about Gladiators but it hasn't arrived yet.



Just about to read the sequel "Moon Over Soho".


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Dec 24, 2011)

dragonwolf said:


> "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch, thoroughly enjoying it at present. I was waiting for another book about Gladiators but it hasn't arrived yet.


i'm glad to hear that, i bought this for her indoors as a present this year.


----------



## Thraex (Dec 25, 2011)

ViolentPanda said:


> Just about to read the sequel "Moon Over Soho".



Just started Moon Over SoHo this morning. Definately a good read. A little puzzled over the references to Dr Polidori's 'esoteric' works...artistic licence?? I knew about him before in the context of Shelly and his suicide (born and died in a house on SoHo square) but can't find and 'magikal' works...and haven't come accross him in my own 'witchy' research...any offers?


----------



## Dandred (Dec 25, 2011)

Been reading quite a lot of Terry Pratchett's books lately, I just bought one on a whim and find myself keep going back to him whenever I'm in the book shop here....Really enjoying them, think I've gone through about 12 in the last three months.


----------



## toggle (Dec 25, 2011)

something on 19th century political reform and the british responses to the home rule debate. at least that is what i'm supposed to be reading. i'm probably going to end up picking up either a biog of napoleon or one of the books bakunin lent me on the spanish civil war


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 25, 2011)

dragonwolf said:


> Just started Moon Over SoHo this morning. Definately a good read. A little puzzled over the references to Dr Polidori's 'esoteric' works...artistic licence?? I knew about him before in the context of Shelly and his suicide (born and died in a house on SoHo square) but can't find and 'magikal' works...and haven't come accross him in my own 'witchy' research...any offers?



Polidori's sister censored his diaries, so we'll never know for certain whether he was esoterically-inclined as "The Fall of Angels" might lead readers to believe. That said, Polidori's sister probably wouldn't have been censoring because of Polidori's sexuality. He was heterosexual, so censoring due to esotericism would be as good a guess as any.


----------



## phildwyer (Dec 25, 2011)

Peter Carey, _The History of the Kelly Gang_.  Very interesting, made me want to track down Kelly's own letters.


----------



## TruXta (Dec 25, 2011)

Iain M. Banks - Surface Detail, not many pages in, bit slow start perhaps but intriguing nonetheless.


----------



## Thraex (Dec 26, 2011)

ViolentPanda said:


> Polidori's sister censored his diaries, so we'll never know for certain whether he was esoterically-inclined as "The Fall of Angels" might lead readers to believe. That said, Polidori's sister probably wouldn't have been censoring because of Polidori's sexuality. He was heterosexual, so censoring due to esotericism would be as good a guess as any.



Thanks for that


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 27, 2011)

The Tao of Muhammad Ali - Davis Miller. Hero worshipping Miller obssesses about Ali, stalks him and launches his writing career on the back of Ali's generosity.

At least, that's the impression I get so far.


----------



## baldrick (Dec 27, 2011)

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer - Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin.

I am on page 275, about halfway through.  I bought it yesterday!  I don't think I have ever read a biography as good as this.  The research must have taken decades.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Dec 28, 2011)

phildwyer said:


> Peter Carey, _The History of the Kelly Gang_. Very interesting, made me want to track down Kelly's own letters.


its a damned good book isn't it? i can remember enjoying it immensely. i should probably re-read it this year.


----------



## starfish (Dec 28, 2011)

Started I, Partridge but i got The Sisters Brothers for Christmas so i think i'll read that instead.


----------



## idumea (Dec 28, 2011)

Cyclonopedia by Reza Negarestani. Really brilliant and a bit baffling-- sort of a mash-up of Middle Eastern academia, hardcore theory, H P Lovecraft and Borges. But less shittily trendy than that sounds.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Dec 29, 2011)

The latest from Alan Sokal?

Rethinking Mao: Explorations in Mao Zedong's Thought - Nick Knight


----------



## Thraex (Dec 29, 2011)

"Spectacle in the Roman World" by Hazel Hodge.


----------



## phildwyer (Dec 29, 2011)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> its a damned good book isn't it? i can remember enjoying it immensely. i should probably re-read it this year.



Yes it is excellent.  Apparently it's based on Kelly's own writing, and it gives him a personality and an idiosyncratic voice, while also being very informative about Australian history.


----------



## phildwyer (Dec 29, 2011)

Now I'm deep into _Gringo Revolutionary: The Amazing Adventures of Caryl ap Rhys Pryce _by John Humphries.  It's a biography of one of the most remarkable Welshmen of the twentieth century.  He's pretty much unknown in his native land, though he is one of the most hated men in Mexico (among other reasons, he was responsible for the events recorded in my avatar).  A wonderful and frightening footnote to history,


----------



## JimW (Dec 29, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> The latest from Alan Sokal?
> 
> Rethinking Mao: Explorations in Mao Zedong's Thought - Nick Knight



How you finding that? Not heard of it, but from a swift Google looks interesting. I'm having another go at Joel Andreas' Rise of the Red Engineers as I didn't finish it last time round, and one thing that comes through is how basically spot on Mao's identification of the problems of cultural capital and anti-rural bias in China were and the prescience concerning capitalist restoration, but combined with a Leninist praxis that he never gets past even during movements like the CR where the bureaucracy is ostensibly the target.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Dec 29, 2011)

It's good so far on his consistency, at least in textual (and Leninist) terms, on the central role he accorded the Chinese working class. Away from this erroneous view held by communists, M-L and otherwise, as well as non-communists, that he put forward a peasant-centric conception of revolution in which the peasantry is elevated to a leading role, functioning as some kind of autonomous social force. This aside from (or perhaps confused by) the strategic needs of the CCP before 1949.

On the GPCR, have you read Mobo Gao's The Battle for China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution? Not a history, offering a counter-narrative of that period, but rather a polemic against recent attempts by the political elite, as well as the emerging, privileged middle class, to describe the Mao era only in negative terms, and the real advances and social benefits the working class and peasantry enjoyed. Such things that have been sliding into reverse since capitalist reform. Is Gao part of the Chinese 'new left'? To avoid confusion I'm not meaning it in the western European or north American sense, from the middle of the last century.


----------



## JimW (Dec 29, 2011)

I've got that and read chapters - feel like Gao is on the right side of the argument but his argumentation falls a bit short at times, though he's up against the fact that domestically you have the post-reform elite line and overseas it's mostly liberal tosh, so you end up sounding a bit more anecdotal if you go against the grain.
He pops up on new left mailing lists but he's clearly a bit more sophisticated than the more nationalistic and nostalgic so-called neo-Maoists - saw him taking a good line over that Wukan village incident for example.
Nick Knight thing sounds well worth a read - I googled him and saw he wrote that one on Chinese Marxism that has also been recommended to me.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Dec 29, 2011)

Was thinking of buying that rather than the one I have now.  Expensive though.

Some of the nuttiest Maoists are in the US.


----------



## mentalchik (Dec 30, 2011)

Just finished The Waters Rising - Sheri Tepper, which is a sequel to A Plague Of Angels


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Dec 31, 2011)

JimW said:


> Nick Knight thing sounds well worth a read - I googled him and saw he wrote that one on Chinese Marxism that has also been recommended to me.



Found this.  Might be of interest.


----------



## Termite Man (Dec 31, 2011)

I've just finished the last book that was in my 'to read' pile (The Unlimited Dream Company - J G Ballard ) If anyone can recommend some books to re-populate the to read list it would be much appreciated.


----------



## teahead (Dec 31, 2011)

1000 Splendid Suns - excellent re-read


----------



## JimW (Dec 31, 2011)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Found this. Might be of interest.


Excellent, cheers. Poking around there, found this too by the excellent Maurice Meisner, so getting that as well.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Dec 31, 2011)

I've spotted four of the massive ten-volume Mao's Road to Power (work in progress) uploaded there.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Dec 31, 2011)

A book about the American Civil War. Frankly, I didn't know squat about the subject before.


----------



## machine cat (Jan 1, 2012)

Murakami - The Elephant Vanishes. Quite enjoying it so far as I haven't read a short story collection for a while.

I also have Neal Asher's 'Orbus' next on the list but after a bit of research it looks like it's the last book of a trilogy. Does it matter if I read this first or do I need to read the other two?


----------



## andy2002 (Jan 2, 2012)

*In The Dark – Mark Billingham:* I like Billingham's crime novels, his plotting is often meticulous and ingenious. Unfortunately, in this book, he's decided to have a go at writing some young black 'street' characters. It doesn't go well.


----------



## blueplume (Jan 2, 2012)

some poems from The Legend of the Ages (Victor Hugo): fuckingly beautiful and terrible


----------



## Thraex (Jan 3, 2012)

"The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" Mr. Pullman. Not too sure about this to be honest, about a third of the way through.


----------



## weltweit (Jan 3, 2012)

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Was a crimble present, just finished it.


----------



## Greebo (Jan 3, 2012)

"Bertie sings the blues" Alexander McCall Smith
and "Kalt Duscher" Matthias Sachau


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jan 3, 2012)

Killer Tune by Dreda Say Mitchell. I'm finding it a bit annoying but I'm only a few pages in.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 4, 2012)

"The Impossible Dead" - Ian Rankin, am enjoying it. The characters are much more established, at least in my mind, than in the first book and the storyline is very good


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 4, 2012)

"Anno Dracula" by Kim Newman. Reminds me of Alan Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 4, 2012)

krtek a houby said:


> "Anno Dracula" by Kim Newman. Reminds me of Alan Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"



Fuck, I remember reading that when it was first published. They must have re-printed it!

E2A. Ah, they have. Much better cover than the '90s version, too.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 4, 2012)

Reaper Man by Pratchett. Bought it for the flight home from Dublin. Middle of the road effort.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 4, 2012)

I think they've reprinted all the old anno dracula stuff-I've read the first one and will torrent the others when I find them.


----------



## Thraex (Jan 5, 2012)

Moar Gladiators  "The Gladiator - the secret history of Rome's warrior slaves" - Alan Barker.


----------



## ringo (Jan 5, 2012)

A Clash Of Kings - George R. R. Martin


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 5, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> I think they've reprinted all the old anno dracula stuff-I've read the first one and will torrent the others when I find them.


I'm seriously enjoying this book, great fun! I think it actually pre-dates Moore's take on the era. How did I miss this the first time round?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 5, 2012)

Ken Macloeds new one, The Restoration Game.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 5, 2012)

Started reading John Holland's _Emergence_ last night at 3 am. Not really light bed-time reading.


----------



## Roadkill (Jan 5, 2012)

I've just started Alan Greenspan, _The Age of Turbulence_.  Picked it up in a charity shop, more out of curiosity than anything else.  I'm only a few pages in and I've caught myself muttering 'bollocks' and 'told you so' a few times already, but it's very interesting and he does write well.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 5, 2012)

I Am Alive And You Are Dead: A Journey Into The Mind Of Philip K Dick - Emmanuel Carrere
This is ace, It's told almost as if it's a Dick story itself - a partly fictional/imagined biography of the writer, intertwining his personal life with his development as a writer. I'm just in the beginning stages so far but so far he's cutting a pretty tragic if sympathetic figure, with events in his life portrayed as surreally as the situations in his stories (strange visits from government agents, use of i-ching to make major life choices, the writer's troubling grip on reality).


----------



## killer b (Jan 5, 2012)

I'm reading Noreen Branson's _Poplarism, 1919-1925: George Lansbury and the councillors' revolt. _It's actually something of a pageturner. 

it's about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poplar_Rates_Rebellion


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jan 6, 2012)

Commie historian and former Comintern agent.

Me ...

Kim Il-Sung in the Khrushchev Era: Soviet-DPRK Relations and the Roots of North Korean Despotism, 1953-1964 - Balazs Szalontai

A very very good comparative study from a Hungarian, using old communist diplomatic archives from his country to help track the path of DPRK's political development and chimaeric push for heavy industry, through its dynamic interactions with other communist-ruled countries and South Korea, to explain why the government became more and more repressive and nationally solipsistic, as other countries underwent varying degrees of de-Stalinisation, often imposed externally by Moscow. It covers developments from the Sino-Soviet split, and offers comparisons with other countries, like China, North Vietnam, Albania etc.

It includes amusing anecdotes from the Hungarian diplomats, one discovering that his telephone had been tapped at the embassy in Pyongyang, when after finishing a conversation with a Polish colleague was promptly called by a dimwitted surveillance officer, asking to repeat the bits he didn't understand because they'd been partly speaking in Russian.


----------



## D'wards (Jan 6, 2012)

Gonna soon start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Do the three books need to be read consecutively, or can you read others in between?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 6, 2012)

What do you mean? He only wrote the three books before dying


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 6, 2012)

D'wards said:


> Gonna soon start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
> 
> Do the three books need to be read consecutively, or can you read others in between?



I read them over a year or so with other books in between 

Currently reading Tigerlilly's Orchids by Ruth Rendell


----------



## TruXta (Jan 6, 2012)

Finished the Pratchett book and restarted David Edgerton's The Shock of the Old. Very interesting piece of science/technology history.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 6, 2012)

D'wards said:


> Gonna soon start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
> 
> Do the three books need to be read consecutively, or can you read others in between?


 
You can leave a gap.

There is a gap in time between the first and second. The third starts when the second finishes


----------



## Mikey77 (Jan 6, 2012)

No Comebacks, by that Urban favourite Frederick Forsyth. Quite a mixture of short stories. Either very good or quite lame, but nothing in between out of the first five or so.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 6, 2012)

^^I re-read Day of The Jackal in november. Still a cracking, taut piece.


----------



## starfish (Jan 6, 2012)

Just started The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.


----------



## Greebo (Jan 6, 2012)

The Handmaid's Tale
and Kalt Duscher


----------



## D'wards (Jan 7, 2012)

Just started reading the Machine Gunners by Robert Westall.

Yes, its a kids book, but i remember the tv series fondly and saw it in a charity shop, and thought "why not?"


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 7, 2012)

where you goin' now?


----------



## D'wards (Jan 7, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> where you goin' now?


That's just what i remember, plus other snippets like when they shoot the Luftwaffe plane down and salute as it goes down, and don't celebrate as a man has just died (so they thought) regardless of the fact he was the enemy.
Isn't it strange that nearly 40 years after the book was written, that attitude is not the norm in regards to the killings of Bin Laden et al, well not in the US anyway.


----------



## Mikey77 (Jan 8, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> ^^I re-read Day of The Jackal in november. Still a cracking, taut piece.



I might try one of his novels. I would otherwise have been put off by these short stories. Some of them are just lame.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 8, 2012)

Mikey77 said:


> I might try one of his novels. I would otherwise have been put off by these short stories. Some of them are just lame.



"Day of the Jackal" is probably his best writing. A lot of the other stuff is well-informed, but a bit one-dimensional.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 8, 2012)

Currently reading Craig Cabell's bio of Terry Pratchett "The Spirit of Fantasy". Amusing and informative, but not hagiographic (thank fuck!).
Also, Adlam _et al's_ "Face to Face: Bakhtin in Russia and the West", which is an eye-opener on just how influential Bakhtin's theories have been.


----------



## xenon (Jan 8, 2012)

Worlds at War - Anthony Pagden.


----------



## xenon (Jan 8, 2012)

Mikey77 said:


> I might try one of his novels. I would otherwise have been put off by these short stories. Some of them are just lame.



Dogs of War is good IMO. Actually I read a lot of Forcyth when I was younger and liked most of it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 8, 2012)

I was cheering for the Jackal mainly


----------



## Thraex (Jan 9, 2012)

And yet more Gladiator schizzle: "The Lure of the Arena - Social Psychology and the Crowd at the Roman Games" by Garrett G. Fagan.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 9, 2012)

"The Holy Thief" - William Ryan. Started well and I'm enjoying it


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 9, 2012)

D'wards said:


> Just started reading the Machine Gunners by Robert Westall.
> 
> Yes, its a kids book, but i remember the tv series fondly and saw it in a charity shop, and thought "why not?"


I read that about 5 times when I was a kid, I loved it


----------



## colbhoy (Jan 9, 2012)

ViolentPanda said:


> "Day of the Jackal" is probably his best writing. A lot of the other stuff is well-informed, but a bit one-dimensional.



Superbly gripping book, read it over a weekend when I was about 18 - could not put it down.


----------



## D'wards (Jan 9, 2012)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I read that about 5 times when I was a kid, I loved it


Just finished it - brilliant book. Certain sentences came back to me as i read it, so i must have read it before, albeit not for about 30 years


----------



## chazegee (Jan 10, 2012)

The Great Game. All about the spy versus spy shenanigans between Victorian England and Tsarist Russia played out in the steppes of the Himalaya.
 Fucking great, loads of bushy mustachioed British officers dressed up as Tibetan Yak herders infiltrating various tribes.


----------



## chazegee (Jan 10, 2012)

D'wards said:


> Just finished it - brilliant book. Certain sentences came back to me as i read it, so i must have read it before, albeit not for about 30 years


Going to have to re-read it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 10, 2012)

Brin, Brightness Reef. The uplift novels aren't good writing by a long shot but I found the first two compelling enough to keep on reading more of them. Ideas and plot ennit, you don't need to be nabukov to write well in genre fiction, you just need tight plotting and ideas


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 10, 2012)

Just finished *The worst hard time* by Timothy Egan.  It's a decent history of the dust bowl in America.  It's not much of a surprise that it was caused largely by greed and unrestrained capitalism.

And the plight of the people there was exacerbated by the Depression going on at the time. Which itself was of of course caused largely by greed and unrestrained capitalism.

Hmmm...
*
*


----------



## flypanam (Jan 10, 2012)

The Game - Ken Dryden. The Canadiens goal keeper talking about the fears and worries of one the greatest teams ever to play NHL.


----------



## chazegee (Jan 12, 2012)

A lion called Christian.


----------



## Perroquet (Jan 12, 2012)

Rereading 'The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith' by Peter Carey. Not as good as it was first time around, about ten years ago, but still entertaining.


----------



## andy2002 (Jan 12, 2012)

Just started *'Perdido Street Statiion' by China Mieville*.


----------



## belboid (Jan 13, 2012)

Last few things:

Crackpot:  the Obsessions of John Waters.  Great wee book, some of it surprisingly insightful, as well as very funny.

All Points North - Simon Armitage.  Very enjoyable, amusing, and as precisely written as one might expect/hope for from a poet.

Mad Men & Philosophy - entertaining diversion, even if it seems to think there are only about three episodes of the series that are really worth talking about.

A Visit From The Goon squad - Jennifer Egan. Largely enjoyable, with some very touching and deliciously written parts, but not as clever as it likes to think it is.  And she obviously wasn't an '80's DK's fan.


----------



## Greebo (Jan 13, 2012)

"The People's Manifesto"  by Mark Thomas
(still wading through "Kalt Duscher")


----------



## TruXta (Jan 13, 2012)

andy2002 said:


> Just started *'Perdido Street Statiion' by China Mieville*.



Usually a love/hate thing with that, let us know how you get on.


----------



## andy2002 (Jan 13, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Usually a love/hate thing with that, let us know how you get on.



Loving it so far but only 60 pages or so in. I was put off picking it up for a long time by the book's 900-page length.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 13, 2012)

andy2002 said:


> Loving it so far but only 60 pages or so in. I was put off picking it up for a long time by the book's 900-page length.



It gets better!


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 13, 2012)

it's a stupidly quick 900 pages


----------



## andy2002 (Jan 13, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> it's a stupidly quick 900 pages



That's a fair comment - I'm zipping through it. Although I do keep stopping to look up place names on the map in the front.


----------



## stethoscope (Jan 13, 2012)

Craig Taylor - Londoners.


----------



## Rainbow Socks (Jan 14, 2012)

'A Game of Thrones' by George R.R. Martin.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 15, 2012)

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

Good book. A taut ghost story though It takes no time to read


----------



## machine cat (Jan 15, 2012)

andy2002 said:


> Just started *'Perdido Street Statiion' by China Mieville*.



My favourite of his


----------



## The Octagon (Jan 17, 2012)

Carte Blanche, latest James Bond novel written by Jeffrey Deaver.

Tries to bring Bond up to date as a deniable spy and seems a little silly as a result.

Also filled with descriptions of the things he owns and drives - "Bond slipped on his expensively tailored Savile Row suit and adjusted his platinum Omega diving watch, before setting off in his Bentley Continental GT" 

Nice necrophiliac villain though.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 17, 2012)

The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories edited by Malcolm Bradbury.

This is a _fantastic_ collection of short stories - fucking brilliant!!  Such interesting tales in there.  'Ping' by Samuel Beckett is unlike anything I've read in my life, and almost had me spending hours analysing the structure and layout of the words  (and I have just this second found a page which has done it for me!).  The Doris Lessing one is completely awesome and really painful to read.  The John Fowles one is in that category of self-aware experimentation with storyline, but my god, it's so perfectly done that you can totally forgive him.  Am now in the middle of another bit of genius - Memories of the Space Age by JG Ballard, doing his usual thing of completely blowing my mind with his originality.

It's been aaaages since I read a really good collection of short stories and this really is brilliant, totally recommend it to anyone


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 17, 2012)

"Cosmanaut Keep" - Ken MacLeod. Only about 70 pages on but am really enjoying it


----------



## Roadkill (Jan 18, 2012)

I should have had more sense than to go into Blackwell's yesterday afternoon. Their three-for-two deal is ridiculously good atm and I walked out seven books richer and more money than I care to think about poorer.  I will, however, be making a start on David Kynaston's history of the City of London and Eric Hobsbawm's _Ideas to Change the World_, as soon as I've finished my current read, which is dear old C.P. Kindleberger's _Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises_. Can't imagine why I'm so preoccupied with economic history atm...


----------



## Thraex (Jan 18, 2012)

Yet more gladiatorial related stuff: "The Spartacus War" by Barry Strauss.


----------



## ringo (Jan 18, 2012)

sojourner said:


> The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories edited by Malcolm Bradbury.
> 
> This is a _fantastic_ collection of short stories - fucking brilliant!! Such interesting tales in there. 'Ping' by Samuel Beckett is unlike anything I've read in my life, and almost had me spending hours analysing the structure and layout of the words  (and I have just this second found a page which has done it for me!). The Doris Lessing one is completely awesome and really painful to read. The John Fowles one is in that category of self-aware experimentation with storyline, but my god, it's so perfectly done that you can totally forgive him. Am now in the middle of another bit of genius - Memories of the Space Age by JG Ballard, doing his usual thing of completely blowing my mind with his originality.
> 
> It's been aaaages since I read a really good collection of short stories and this really is brilliant, totally recommend it to anyone



I've got that, years since I read it but yes, really good collection. Reminds me I read all of Fowles books as a teenager but nothing in over 20 years, not sure if I'd still like him, will have to have another go.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 18, 2012)

ringo said:


> I've got that, years since I read it but yes, really good collection. Reminds me I read all of Fowles books as a teenager but nothing in over 20 years, not sure if I'd still like him, will have to have another go.


 I didn't know he'd written French L/ts Woman - was knocked out by his story though.


----------



## ringo (Jan 18, 2012)

sojourner said:


> I didn't know he'd written French L/ts Woman - was knocked out by his story though.



I remember that as being the only traditional love story, the others like The Collector and The Magus were much stranger (and better).


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jan 18, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
> 
> Good book. A taut ghost story though It takes no time to read



I love her series for children featuring Toruk & Ren. Fantastic characters, plot and research. Wolf Brother is one of my favourite books of all time.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 18, 2012)

stephj said:


> Craig Taylor - Londoners.


Any good?


----------



## belboid (Jan 18, 2012)

Iron Man by Tony Iommi.

I really think it is the worst written book I’ve ever read! Quite entertaining tho


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 18, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> I love her series for children featuring Toruk & Ren. Fantastic characters, plot and research. Wolf Brother is one of my favourite books of all time.



What age children are they for?


----------



## toggle (Jan 18, 2012)

belboid said:


> Iron Man by Tony Iommi.
> 
> I really think it is the worst written book I’ve ever read! Quite entertaining tho



Bakunin posting.

Ozzy's autobiography, entitled 'I am Ozzy', although his ghostwriter probably had to remind him who he is owing to his having been permanently hammered since about 1964, is also a great read.

I'm currently reading 'Hunt' a biography of former F1 champion James Hunt and it#s a massive book at least four inches thick,although I suspect this may include a list of all his many female conquests (Hunt having had somewhere in the region of 4000 partners during his lifetime).

He was quite a lad, really.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 18, 2012)

Andre Gide - The Vatican Cellars. Not sure yet whether it's a satire on religion, atheism and class. Or all?


----------



## Greebo (Jan 18, 2012)

"Faust und Gretchen" by Susanne Alberti  (to balance out "Kalt Duscher")
and "The People's Manifesto" by Mark Thomas


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jan 18, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> What age children are they for?


Say 10 or 11 upwards, but you could read them to any child from about 5 or 6, but to be honest they are just a cracking good read.


----------



## stethoscope (Jan 18, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Any good?



I'm enjoying it OU - it's a collection of short pieces which you can dip in and out of, and the contributors make for varied and entertaining reading.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 18, 2012)

It's a coffee table book at the house I'm staying at right now. It was put there cos the cover goes well with the decor! Might as well dip into it then!


----------



## october_lost (Jan 18, 2012)

Finally getting round to reading Conquest of Bread by Kropotkin


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 19, 2012)

The Octagon said:


> Also filled with descriptions of the things he owns and drives - "Bond slipped on his expensively tailored Savile Row suit and adjusted his platinum Omega diving watch, before setting off in his Bentley Continental GT"
> 
> Nice necrophiliac villain though.



Brett Easton Ellis has a lot to answer for, both for starting the trend for "novel-as-list-of-consumption-items" and for starting the trend for necrophile villains.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 19, 2012)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "Cosmanaut Keep" - Ken MacLeod. Only about 70 pages on but am really enjoying it


 
Volkov is a fucking legend


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 19, 2012)

ViolentPanda said:


> Brett Easton Ellis has a lot to answer for, both for starting the trend for "novel-as-list-of-consumption-items" and for starting the trend for necrophile villains.



stephen kings a fucker for the product placement as well but I think he does it to genuinly scene set and get a sense of place and time.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 19, 2012)

krtek a houby said:


> Andre Gide - The Vatican Cellars. Not sure yet whether it's a satire on religion, atheism and class. Or all?



All. 

The Counterfeiters is good too.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 19, 2012)

.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 19, 2012)

october_lost said:


> Finally getting round to reading Conquest of Bread by Kropotkin



A most excellent exposition of what Kropotkin saw as Communism, and how to get there.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 19, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> stephen kings a fucker for the product placement as well but I think he does it to genuinly scene set and get a sense of place and time.



He's a bit more subtle, though, or at least he was in the last of his I read, which was "Dome".


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 19, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> stephen kings a fucker for the product placement as well but I think he does it to genuinly scene set and get a sense of place and time.


stieg larsson does this too. he seems to think we want to know how many square feet floorspace there is in the apartments of his characters


----------



## teqniq (Jan 19, 2012)

Have just read Veteran by Gavin Smith, presently reading War in Heaven. Very dark brutal vision of the future. More shoot 'em ups and bizzarre tech than you could ever possibly need (maybe).

lots of interesting ideas without which for me it would be a non-starter.

Just.


----------



## Greebo (Jan 19, 2012)

FWIW obsession with the footage of where you live is mainland Europe's equivalent of the UK's obsessions with house prices and CT banding.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jan 19, 2012)

Margaret Atwood's _Lady Oracle, _which is so good blokes can read it too, and (this is for work) _A History of Christianity, _by Diarmaid MacCullough. Also Edmund Hillery's memoirs.


----------



## binka (Jan 20, 2012)

finished 'the war of the worlds' last night. great book, brilliant in fact. makes me want to read everything else he wrote but i don't think anything else will be as good.

just started miroslav krleza's 'on the edge of reason'.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 20, 2012)

Back on _The Shock of the Old_. it's quite a brilliant book.


----------



## toggle (Jan 20, 2012)

Bakunin posting.

Gone for a literary classic this time in the form of Nicholas Monsarrat's epic 'The Cruel Sea.'


----------



## madzone (Jan 20, 2012)

Affective Neuroscience: the foundations of human and animal emotions by Jaak Panksepp.

I don't understand a fucking word of it but the diagrams are good.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 20, 2012)

madzone said:


> Affective Neuroscience: the foundations of human and animal emotions by Jaak Panksepp.
> 
> I don't understand a fucking word of it but the diagrams are good.



Try _Descartes' Error_ by Antonio Damasio instead. A much better populariser and a great scientist too. Panksepp is very interesting, but pretty hard going even for a lot of specialists.


----------



## madzone (Jan 20, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Try _Descartes' Error_ by Antonio Damasio instead. A much better populariser and a great scientist too. Panksepp is very interesting, but pretty hard going even for a lot of specialists.


This one was recommended by the person who lent it to me. He knows what I want it for. I'll keep on keeping on 

eta - that does look interesting though so I might give it a go later 

eta - eta - I just bought it 

Don't suggest I do anything else, ok?


----------



## TruXta (Jan 20, 2012)

madzone said:


> This one was recommended by the person who lent it to me. He knows what I want it for. I'll keep on keeping on
> 
> eta - that does look interesting though so I might give it a go later
> 
> ...



Only free and enjoyable things, OK?


----------



## starfish (Jan 20, 2012)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2011 guest edited by Harlen Coben (Series Editor Otto Penzler). 20 short stories by up & coming American/Canadian writers. Apparently its been going since the mid 90s, think ill need to seek out the one Ed McBain did.


----------



## Greebo (Jan 22, 2012)

Halfway through "Faust und Gretchen".
Finished "I Shall Wear Midnight" a few hours ago, starting Alexander McCall Smith's "The Forgotten Affairs of Youth".


----------



## toblerone3 (Jan 22, 2012)

The Dice Man by Luke Reinhart set in late 1960s New York - a hippy classic.


----------



## skyscraper101 (Jan 22, 2012)

'To End All Wars: How the First World War Divided Britain' by Adam Hothschild. Very good it was too. Extremely eye opening stuff which goes far beyond all I ever learned about WWI in school.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 22, 2012)

Blood Memories

Unusual vampire fic. No great shine to the prose but the vamp were niether beatiful godlike nor ruined monsters. They were scared shitless night hunters. Will read the second in the series. Some nice touches- a vampires mental talents are only an extreme sharpening of what they did best in real life- scaring others, encouraging warmth, turning them on. Whichever trait was dominant becomes a Talent.


----------



## machine cat (Jan 22, 2012)

ViolentPanda said:


> Brett Easton Ellis has a lot to answer for, both for starting the trend for "novel-as-list-of-consumption-items" and for starting the trend for necrophile villains.



As readers of American Psycho we respond to the endless tedious lists of expensive products by craving the next violent scene. We become more enraged by Bateman's obsessive consumerism than his murders as we allow the latter to acts as a form of relief to what is sold to us as 'every day life'.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 22, 2012)

Sounds like the author's played more than a little RPGs, Dotsy.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 22, 2012)

machine cat said:


> As readers of American Psycho we respond to the endless tedious lists of expensive products by craving the next violent scene. We become more enraged by Bateman's obsessive consumerism than his murders as we allow the latter to acts as a form of relief to what is sold to us as 'every day life'.



You did? Psycho. I just found it boring, much preferred the movie.


----------



## machine cat (Jan 22, 2012)

TruXta said:


> You did? Psycho. I just found it boring, much preferred the movie.



Haven't read it for years. I had to write bullshit like that for an essay once so it's all I can remember.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 22, 2012)




----------



## machine cat (Jan 22, 2012)

from what i remember the movie was ok.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 23, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Sounds like the author's played more than a little RPGs, Dotsy.


 
maybe, but it doesn't read like the outpourings of a Vampire: Masquerade player. The characters aren't cool enough. They're just...dysfunctional.


----------



## temper_tantrum (Jan 23, 2012)

Roadkill said:


> I should have had more sense than to go into Blackwell's yesterday afternoon. Their three-for-two deal is ridiculously good atm and I walked out seven books richer and more money than I care to think about poorer.  I will, however, be making a start on David Kynaston's history of the City of London and Eric Hobsbawm's _Ideas to Change the World_, as soon as I've finished my current read, which is dear old C.P. Kindleberger's _Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises_. Can't imagine why I'm so preoccupied with economic history atm...



I want to read the Kynaston book too, got a very good write-up in the Xmas issue of the Economist.

Currently reading 'School Wars: The Battle for Britain's Education' by Melissa Benn (fairly useful summary of the past 50 years or so, but her polemic and unsubstantiated judgements sometimes get in the way of setting out the facts), next up is Owen Hatherley's 'A Guide To The New Ruins Of Great Britain'.


----------



## xenon (Jan 24, 2012)

Been reading a bit of history lately. Someone up thread mentioned they've been reading a few books about gladiators, so I thought, oh yeah Rome, war, history and shit. Was browsing and picked up, By The Sword - Richard Cohen. History of swords, fencing and the surrounding culture. Also reading Basic Economics by Thomas Sowll.

editted .Correct title.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 24, 2012)

Ken Macloed 'Star Fraction'

future society where a us/un hegemony rules over a balkanised world of weird complexity. AI, trotskyism, Smart guns and stealth APCs. It's mental


----------



## teqniq (Jan 24, 2012)

@DC thanks for that I'll look out for it. You might like the ones (if you haven't already) I was reading just upthread.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jan 24, 2012)

Wodehouse At The Wicket edited by Murray Hedgecock

Loads of quirky cricketing facts and figures about PG W from Hedgecock and PG W's writing featuring cricket (which he abandoned with an eye on the American market for his stories). Great stuff.


----------



## Thraex (Jan 25, 2012)

"Slavery in the Roman World" by Sandra R Joshel. An examination of the Roman slave society and slaves in that society. Only just started it but it seems to be well researched and thought provoking.


----------



## D'wards (Jan 25, 2012)

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov - brilliant, and considering it was written over 60 years ago not dated at all.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jan 25, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> Ken Macloed 'Star Fraction'
> 
> future society where a us/un hegemony rules over a balkanised world of weird complexity. AI, trotskyism, Smart guns and stealth APCs. It's mental



Have you really not read this before?

(the robo-butler did it, btw)


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 25, 2012)

Idris2002 said:


> Have you really not read this before?
> 
> (the robo-butler did it, btw)



you cunt. Lol, no I suspected the gun already.

No I read the cosmonaut keep stuff and then restoration game and am now working through the star fraction books. They're a deal messier than his later works but a glorious mess of ideas.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 26, 2012)

"The Dirty Dozen" - the original book on which the movie is based


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 26, 2012)

D'wards said:


> I, Robot by Isaac Asimov - brilliant, and considering it was written over 60 years ago not dated at all.


 
Susan Calvin is every hot lab assistant who ever gave asimov the cold shoulder.


----------



## ringo (Jan 30, 2012)

Triksta by Nick Cohn - Brilliantly written book on New Orleans rap and its environs which transcends genre to just be a great book on music/race/divide between America's rich and poor. It was written just before New Orleans was devastated and lays bare the problems of the city the rest of the world only happened upon after Hurricane Katrina.


----------



## flypanam (Jan 30, 2012)

Toll the hounds - Steve Erikson. A disappointing chapter in a wonderful series.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 30, 2012)

Finished Star Fraction, moving on to Ken Maclouds second in the series Stone Canal


----------



## Idris2002 (Jan 30, 2012)

"He woke, and remembered dying". Probably the best thing Ken's done.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 2, 2012)

Finished Stone Canal, ripped through Cassini Division now onwards to Sky Road.


----------



## Bakunin (Feb 2, 2012)

'The Fall Of Saigon' by David Butler.

A very good account of the end of the Vietnam war in 1975 and the fall of what's now officially called Ho Chi Minh City.


----------



## ringo (Feb 2, 2012)

The Human Factor - Graham Greene

I try and restrict myself to one of his novels each year or I'd race through them all in one go. Fantastic writing as ever.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Feb 4, 2012)

Some mistakes of Moses, by Robert Ingersoll.


----------



## mentalchik (Feb 4, 2012)

D'wards said:


> I, Robot by Isaac Asimov - brilliant, and considering it was written over 60 years ago not dated at all.


 
I have an old copy of that from 1972.......it was 30p !


----------



## mentalchik (Feb 4, 2012)

Zoo City - Lauren Beukes
liking it a lot


----------



## quimcunx (Feb 4, 2012)

1000 years of annoying the French.  Quite enjoyable, irreverent history of French/English relations.


----------



## Idris2002 (Feb 4, 2012)

A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway.


----------



## Riklet (Feb 5, 2012)

Cuentos de Amor de Locura y de Muerte - Horacio Quiroga


----------



## Frances Lengel (Feb 7, 2012)

I'm rteading Tony Parker, this cunt, well, he's almost as good as studs terkel.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Feb 7, 2012)

i've been reading get shorty by elmore leonard and its fucking mint.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Feb 8, 2012)

tony Parker...this cunt it tgony parker, thouygh/


----------



## editor (Feb 8, 2012)

Frances Lengel said:


> tony Parker...this cunt it tgony parker, thouygh/


Right. That's it. That's enough annoying gibberish from you for the day. Take a 24hr ban.


----------



## andy2002 (Feb 8, 2012)

mentalchik said:


> Zoo City - Lauren Beukes
> liking it a lot


 
I got that for Christmas - haven't read it yet but have heard many good things.


----------



## N_igma (Feb 8, 2012)

Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Another masterpiece from Marquez, he's a master with words I can relate to a lot in this novel.


----------



## andy2002 (Feb 9, 2012)

Recently finished *Perdido Street Station* which I thought was wonderful. So many ideas and great characters. Brilliant ending, too.

Now reading *Empire State by Adam Christopher*. It's a superheroes-in-the-time-of-Prohibition tale but hasn't really grabbed me yet despite all the good reviews.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Feb 9, 2012)

The Violence Of Our Lives by Tony Parker...That's the one where he interviews people who've done life in American prisons. He did anotsher one called Life After Life in which he interviewed peeps who'd done life in British jail. Tony Parker's been compared to Studs Terkel & in my view that's a fair comparison, except that everyone's heard of Studs & no one's heard of Tony Parker. This being a London based board, does anyone know where Providence was..As in the People Of Providence?


----------



## Thraex (Feb 10, 2012)

The theme continues with:  "The World of the Gladiator" - Susanna Shadrake. So far, I'm enjoying this, and like the way the subject is presented, although I'm only into the first 30 pages or so. The author and her husband run a reconstruction/re-enactment society specialising in gladiatorial spectacles, which I hope will inform some of the techniques used in the arena.


----------



## ringo (Feb 10, 2012)

Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain, by Sue Gerhardt - Fascinating attempt to bring together various disciplines to understand how baby's brains develop and how that affects us for the rest of our lives. The scientific study of how areas of the brain develop is incredible, less impressed with the measurements of biochemicals on animals as they are systematically abused/experimented on and the new age mumbo jumbo.


----------



## belboid (Feb 10, 2012)

Just My Type - A Book About Fonts, by Simon Garfield.

Fascinating wee book, astounding just how much social and economic history you can get from a font. I will never use Arial again, bloody scab font that it is...


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 10, 2012)

belboid said:


> Just My Type - A Book About Fonts, by Simon Garfield.
> 
> Fascinating wee book, astounding just how much social and economic history you can get just from a font. I will nevr use Arial again, bloody scab font that it is...


i read your post in arial

Simon Garfield is a great writer - he's written on a ridiculously wide range of subjects: the colour mauve, Radio 1, AIDS, the first person to be killed by a train. Plus he edited a couple of books of diaries from the post-war austerity years, produced by the Mass Observation project. Talented bloke!


----------



## Bakunin (Feb 10, 2012)

Texas Death Row - Last Words, Last Meals, Last Rites, edited by Bill Crawford.

A potted history of the Texan approach to capital punishment since it was reinstated in the USA in 1976. Since then, the State of Texas has executed more inmates than any other legal jurisdiction in the Western world. An interesting read so far.


----------



## redsquirrel (Feb 12, 2012)

Children of Dynmouth - William Trevor
After that I think I might re-read A History of Western Philosophy by Bretrand Russell


----------



## mentalchik (Feb 12, 2012)

Just started EmbassyTown - China Miéville


----------



## Greebo (Feb 12, 2012)

The Devil in Amber - Mark Gatiss


----------



## machine cat (Feb 12, 2012)

Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds


----------



## belboid (Feb 14, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Simon Garfield is a great writer - he's written on a ridiculously wide range of subjects: the colour mauve, Radio 1, AIDS, the first person to be killed by a train. Plus he edited a couple of books of diaries from the post-war austerity years, produced by the Mass Observation project. Talented bloke!


Indeed, I will read more by him, Just sent off for his Expensive Habits: Dark Side of the Music Industry from ebay, looks like a laugh.

Meanwhile, I'm reading The Slap. Someone should just have bombed that barbie and blown every one of the shits off the face of the earth.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 14, 2012)

The Old Curiousity Shop - Charles Dickens


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 14, 2012)

The Story of O

pure filth


----------



## ViolentPanda (Feb 20, 2012)

"The Coming Anarchy - Shattering the Dreams of the Post-Cold War" by Robert D. Kaplan. Don't agree with the guy's analysis (that dictatorship isn't necessarily a bad thing in the 21st century), but it makes interesting reading.


----------



## crustychick (Feb 20, 2012)

I have just finished "A Woman in Berlin" by Anonymous. Brilliant. 

I'm just starting, History of Germany, 1780 - 1918: The Long Nineteenth Century. it's been a while since I read a factual book like this. It seems well written though which should be a help...


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 20, 2012)

George Orwell's Essays. 
I'm knocked over by his writing style. Plain and simple, but there's an art to it as well. His takedown of Dickens is masterful. He's a truly admirable writer. Inspiring stuff.
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman.
S'ok.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 20, 2012)

I particularly enjoyed Decline of the English Murder and Politics and The English Language. ^^


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 21, 2012)

Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 21, 2012)

Audiobook of *I, Partridge*

The life of Alan Partridge narrated by Alan Partridge


----------



## Idris2002 (Feb 21, 2012)

ViolentPanda said:


> "The Coming Anarchy - Shattering the Dreams of the Post-Cold War" by Robert D. Kaplan. Don't agree with the guy's analysis (that dictatorship isn't necessarily a bad thing in the 21st century), but it makes interesting reading.


 
Jesus fucking Christ, Panda. In African studies we spit on the name of Robert D. Kaplan. The guys a 24-carat twat.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Feb 22, 2012)

Idris2002 said:


> Jesus fucking Christ, Panda. In African studies we spit on the name of Robert D. Kaplan. The guys a 24-carat twat.


 
He does seem to have a rather simplistic view, doesn't he?  "Them there black people don't need democracy, just a firm hand" seems to be the basis of his prescriptions for Africa.  Like I said, don't agree with his analysis (too fond of Samuel Huntingdon, for a start!), but it's always interesting picking over another perspective.


----------



## quimcunx (Feb 22, 2012)

belboid said:


> Just My Type - A Book About Fonts, by Simon Garfield.
> 
> Fascinating wee book, astounding just how much social and economic history you can get from a font. I will never use Arial again, bloody scab font that it is...


 
If you are particularly interested this is on soon. 

http://www.ica.org.uk/31848/Talks/From-Visual-to-Textual-Typography-inas-Conceptual-Art.html


----------



## chazegee (Feb 22, 2012)

Yung Chang's book on Mao.
He seems a fairly average psychotic despot really.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Feb 23, 2012)

It's crap.


----------



## Bajie (Feb 23, 2012)

Child of God by Cormac Mccarthy, usual Mccarthy fare of creepy rural type doing odd things to people unfortunate enough to meet them but at the same time you end up feeling sorry for the main character.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 23, 2012)

Re-reading Toll The Hounds, one of Steven Erikson's Malazan books. I lost my first copy a while back and have only got around to picking up a new one now. Have the remainder of the series on the shelves, I imagine they will be next.


----------



## ringo (Feb 23, 2012)

Bajie said:


> Child of God by Cormac Mccarthy, usual Mccarthy fare of creepy rural type doing odd things to people unfortunate enough to meet them but at the same time you end up feeling sorry for the main character.


 
Might be my favourite McCarthy, terrible and beautiful at once.


----------



## Kaka Tim (Feb 23, 2012)

Just finished 'player of games' by Ian Banks. Hugely Imaginaitve, interesting ideas and decent plot/adventure but he never quite manages to fully realise his ideas and his endings always seem a bit lame. We never get a clear idea on what the game of Azad actually entails and the fall of the empire is a hurried post script when you as a reader want to revel it being brought down by its own people.


----------



## andy2002 (Feb 23, 2012)

*'Weird of the White Wolf' by Michael Moorcock*. I love Elric.


----------



## maya (Feb 26, 2012)

andy2002 said:


> *'Weird of the White Wolf' by Michael Moorcock*. I love Elric.


Not related in any way whatsoever, but by association (allitteration), have you read Stoker's 'Lair Of the White Worm'? Just saw the Russell film (with a young Hugh Grant, priceless ), and it was a bit shit- so I'm wondering whether the novel is any better (Stoker, Freudian repression and misogynism galore)

Could you recommend where to start with Moorcock? I've only read the Cornelius novels/short stories- which I liked, but whenever I try to read his other stuff, I give up. B/c of the seemingly interesting theme I've tracked down 'Gloriana', but seems like there's two different versions of it: In later editions he edited and changed the last scene because he with hindsight saw that it could be seen as justifying rape, which he didn't want and so re-wrote the entire thing (which versions to get?)


----------



## machine cat (Feb 26, 2012)

chazegee said:


> Yung Chang's book on Mao.
> He seems a fairly average psychotic despot really.


 
Chang and Halliday really like their unknown sources.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Feb 26, 2012)

Or facts selectively used, contradicting her earlier writing. It's a hatchet job.


----------



## Mungy (Feb 26, 2012)

I am reading Heidi to my daughter and I am reading HP and the Deathly Hallows.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Feb 26, 2012)

Bakunin said:


> Texas Death Row - Last Words, Last Meals, Last Rites, edited by Bill Crawford.
> 
> A potted history of the Texan approach to capital punishment since it was reinstated in the USA in 1976. Since then, the State of Texas has executed more inmates than any other legal jurisdiction in the Western world. An interesting read so far.


 
You might like this as well, then www.goodreads.com/book/show/1641821.The_Violence_Of_Our_Lives

Tony Parker interveiwing prisoners doing life in the states. He's done on about UK prisoners as well, I think that's just called Lifers.


----------



## andy2002 (Feb 27, 2012)

maya said:


> Not related in any way whatsoever, but by association (allitteration), have you read Stoker's 'Lair Of the White Worm'? Just saw the Russell film (with a young Hugh Grant, priceless ), and it was a bit shit- so I'm wondering whether the novel is any better (Stoker, Freudian repression and misogynism galore)
> 
> Could you recommend where to start with Moorcock? I've only read the Cornelius novels/short stories- which I liked, but whenever I try to read his other stuff, I give up. B/c of the seemingly interesting theme I've tracked down 'Gloriana', but seems like there's two different versions of it: In later editions he edited and changed the last scene because he with hindsight saw that it could be seen as justifying rape, which he didn't want and so re-wrote the entire thing (which versions to get?)


 
Haven't read Lair of the White Worm but certainly remember the film being as horrible as you describe. 

I'm no Moorcock expert either - in fact about a year ago I posted a thread on here asking people for their recommendations and am slowly working my way through them. So far I've read some Elric and Cornelius but haven't even scratched the surface of his work really. The thread is here, if you're interested...

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/michael-moorcock.266157/


----------



## chazegee (Feb 28, 2012)

Seem to remember chang's dad being a victim of mao in wild swans. If so, would definitely be a hatchet job.. . Lolita now. Worryingly i'm on team with a nonce. :-D


----------



## andy2002 (Feb 28, 2012)

*20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill *– just started this short story collection; enjoyably grim so far.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Feb 28, 2012)

The Woman in Black (want to finish  it before I go see the film)
and The Road Less Traveled  by M Scott Peck (a self help book - we were discussing  depression in our philosophy class the other week and the tutor recommended we read some of the chapters in this)


----------



## starfish (Feb 28, 2012)

Pigeon English by Stephan Kelman. ms starfish has just read it & found it charming & funny.


----------



## Belushi (Feb 28, 2012)

Herzog by Saul Bellow. I've never read any of his novels before but he really is very good.


----------



## Thraex (Mar 1, 2012)

Just fleeced through Matthew Reilly's 'Five Greatest Warriors' which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Now on 'Gladiators - Violence and Spectacle in Ancient Rome' by Roger Dunkle.


----------



## blossie33 (Mar 1, 2012)

A charity shop find - 'Chasing Che - A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend' by Patrick Symmes.

Enjoying it, I like travel books.


----------



## Belushi (Mar 2, 2012)

Belushi said:


> Herzog by Saul Bellow. I've never read any of his novels before but he really is very good.


 
jeez, Bellow can write:

_"She had aged__ a little-__she must be thirty-eight or thirty-nine, was his guess, but her dark, close-set eyes, which gave her a fluid and merged gaze (she had a delicate, lovely nose), were clearer than he had ever seen them. She was in the time of life when the later action of heredity begins, the blemishes of ancestors appear-a spot, or the deepening of wrinkles, at first increasing a woman's beauty. Death, the artist, very slow, putting in his first touches."_


----------



## Frances Lengel (Mar 3, 2012)

Just started House Mother Normal by BS Johnson...it's shaping up pretty good, Christy Malry's the only other one of his I've read. I do feel something of an affinity with old BS, though coz my initials are BS as well.


----------



## Greebo (Mar 3, 2012)

'A Discovery of Witches'  Deborah Harkness.  Need to get at least part of the way through it before the librarian comes.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Mar 3, 2012)

I like the name Deborah, I like all names that end in "ah"' , I like the name Rebecca, but, if I had a choice, I'd spell it Rebekah, coz I just do like that, sayin that though, if I was a bird, I'd want to be called Micheala, nobody'd get away with callin me Micci, though, nah, I'd be Kayla, with a name like that, pronounced the mancunian way, could anybody mess? I doubt it.


----------



## chazegee (Mar 4, 2012)

Dress your family in corduroy and denim. Very funny.


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 5, 2012)

_1421 - The Year China Discovered the Wor_ld - Gavin Menzies. Interesting theory on China's supposed dominance in exploration, long before the Europeans charted the globe.


----------



## Idris2002 (Mar 5, 2012)

krtek a houby said:


> _1421 - The Year China Discovered the Wor_ld - Gavin Menzies. Interesting theory on China's supposed dominance in exploration, long before the Europeans charted the globe.


Sadly, no.

http://www.1421exposed.com/


----------



## chazegee (Mar 6, 2012)

bloody good read though


----------



## belboid (Mar 7, 2012)

anyone read the'History of the NME' book?  Looks interesting, but if it's written as badly as the magazine has been for nigh on twenty years....


http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-NME...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331122189&sr=1-1


----------



## marty21 (Mar 7, 2012)

The Cold Commands - Richard Morgan - sequel to The Steel Remains - liking it


----------



## imposs1904 (Mar 7, 2012)

belboid said:


> anyone read the'History of the NME' book? Looks interesting, but if it's written as badly as the magazine has been for nigh on twenty years....
> 
> 
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-NME...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331122189&sr=1-1


 
How can you pack 60 years of a music magazine into 240 pages? I'm already disappointed.


----------



## belboid (Mar 7, 2012)

well, I imagine they want to forget most of the last two decades almost as much as the rest of us do....


----------



## purenarcotic (Mar 7, 2012)

Half way through 'Stuart: A Life Backwards' - it is bloody brilliant, one of those can't put down.  I can feel myself finishing it off tonight.


----------



## 8115 (Mar 7, 2012)

Just got Manufacturing Consent, going to give it another go.  It's pretty freaking topical so far.


----------



## Casual Observer (Mar 13, 2012)

belboid said:


> anyone read the'History of the NME' book? Looks interesting, but if it's written as badly as the magazine has been for nigh on twenty years....
> 
> 
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-NME...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331122189&sr=1-1


 
Read it last week and thoroughly recommend it. As expected, the mid 70s golden era of Farren/Kent/Murray rightly gets a prolonged celebration before a pisstaking boot is applied to the Penman/Morley age. Plonkers like Steve Sutherland, Boobie Gillespie and Damon Albarn also get their commuppance.


----------



## JasonHef (Mar 14, 2012)

Haruki Murakami - 1Q84 - part 2, awesome!


----------



## starfish (Mar 14, 2012)

Poison by Ed McBain. Its good to get back to the 87th.


----------



## Thraex (Mar 15, 2012)

More Gladiator stuff: "Emperors and Gladiators" by Thomas Wiedemann.


----------



## districtline (Mar 15, 2012)

Don DeLillo - Point Omega

Not sure I like his later work but it's a short one so should be able to finish it soon anyway.


----------



## Belushi (Mar 15, 2012)

Philip Larkin 'The Whitsun Weddings', very good so far.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 15, 2012)

i love larkin. i wonder what he would have made of the internet. he certainly wouldn't have like it


----------



## sojourner (Mar 15, 2012)

chazegee said:


> Lolita now. Worryingly i'm on team with a nonce. :-D


 That's why it's such a fucking clever book


----------



## Belushi (Mar 15, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> i love larkin. i wonder what he would have made of the internet. he certainly wouldn't have like it


 
Not until he found the porn.


----------



## Greebo (Mar 19, 2012)

Belushi said:


> Not until he found the porn.


He'd have approved of Project Gutenberg, though.


----------



## ringo (Mar 19, 2012)

Manhood - Stephen Biddulph. Interesting idea - that since feminism/modern thinking happened men have had to change the way they behave and their role in families/life and he offers a new way of thinking/behaving/being for men in the modern world encompassing family, work, sex, etc The premise is pretty shaky - that women 'did' feminism to men who stood idly by wondering how to react, but he does come up with some positive ways of dealing with life.


----------



## chazegee (Mar 19, 2012)

hard times for Open University
well I should be


----------



## andy2002 (Mar 19, 2012)

*A Cure For Cancer - Michael Moorcock *

Best back-cover blurb ever...

"Up from the ocean depths comes the jet-black caucasian transvestite champion. Resplendant in warpaint, wampum beads and silk suit by Cardin, armed only with a tomahawk and vibragun, he returns to the napalmed ruins of London to resurrect his sister and wrest from the disgusting Bishop Beesley and his formidable henchwomen the black box which has diffracted the cosmos and set the world spinning at super-speed towards its own final solution. Lock up your daughters, hide your stash, keep to the shadows. Jerry Cornelius is back."


----------



## belboid (Mar 19, 2012)

Casual Observer said:


> Read it last week and thoroughly recommend it. As expected, the mid 70s golden era of Farren/Kent/Murray rightly gets a prolonged celebration before a pisstaking boot is applied to the Penman/Morley age. Plonkers like Steve Sutherland, Boobie Gillespie and Damon Albarn also get their commuppance.


cool, I'll add it to me list.  Be a while before I get onto it I imagine, can't do too many music books in such a short succession.

Currently on Gil Scott-Heron's The Last Holiday, pretty good so far


----------



## Greebo (Mar 19, 2012)

Taking a short break from the somewhat irritating Deborah Harkness and instead getting my head around Peter Buettner's account of what led to Johanna Spyri writing Heidi.


----------



## Idris2002 (Mar 20, 2012)

Jack Kerouac's _Vanity of Duluoz. _Essentially an autobiographical account of his life in the 30s and 40s, it was his last published novel and written in the late 60s. By then he'd moved to the right politically (or at least was comfortable with being publicly on the right, I doubt if he was ever left in even the most vague sense of the word), and there's a strong tone of "these kids today with their long hair and their pot". But the man could write, there's no doubt about that.


----------



## flypanam (Mar 20, 2012)

Patrick de Witt's 'The Sisters Brothers' had it forced upon me by my other half's mother when i visted them in Canada. Pretty good.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Mar 20, 2012)

I'm reading epileptic atm. I'm quite enjoying it but it's a bit dark and sad at times. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epileptic_(comics)


----------



## marty21 (Mar 20, 2012)

A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain - Owen Hatherley

so far - Chapter 1 - Southampton is a shithole - basically . Chapter 2 Milton Keynes is not as bad as people think. Now reading about Nottingham.


----------



## BoatieBird (Mar 20, 2012)

marty21 said:


> A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain - Owen Hatherley
> 
> so far - Chapter 1 - Southampton is a shithole - basically . Chapter 2 Milton Keynes is not as bad as people think. Now reading about Nottingham.


 
What does he say about Milton Keynes?


----------



## marty21 (Mar 20, 2012)

BoatieBird said:


> What does he say about Milton Keynes?


 He likes the idea of it, the way the streets are laid out, but doesn't like the way it is dominated by the car - he also likes some of the architecture.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 20, 2012)

andy2002 said:


> *A Cure For Cancer - Michael Moorcock *
> 
> Best back-cover blurb ever...
> 
> "Up from the ocean depths comes the jet-black caucasian transvestite champion. Resplendant in warpaint, wampum beads and silk suit by Cardin, armed only with a tomahawk and vibragun, he returns to the napalmed ruins of London to resurrect his sister and wrest from the disgusting Bishop Beesley and his formidable henchwomen the black box which has diffracted the cosmos and set the world spinning at super-speed towards its own final solution. Lock up your daughters, hide your stash, keep to the shadows. Jerry Cornelius is back."


this intrigued me and I've been meaning to check out his Cornelius novels for years, so I took it as a sign when I saw the quartet when I joined the library today


----------



## andy2002 (Mar 20, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> this intrigued me and I've been meaning to check out his Cornelius novels for years, so I took it as a sign when I saw the quartet when I joined the library today


 
The first JC book - The Final Programme - holds together quite nicely as a traditional, linear(ish) novel, but A Cure For Cancer is batshit crazy; just all over the place. I bet Moorcock did so many drugs when he wrote it, they were still trying to scrape him off the ceiling in 1976.


----------



## purenarcotic (Mar 20, 2012)

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert Tressal.

Only 100 pages in so far but bloody amazing.


----------



## BoatieBird (Mar 20, 2012)

marty21 said:


> He likes the idea of it, the way the streets are laid out, but doesn't like the way it is dominated by the car - he also likes some of the architecture.


 
All fair points really, MK would have been much better if they'd thought about a tram system when they built it.


----------



## mentalchik (Mar 24, 2012)

The Quiet War - Paul McAuley


----------



## D'wards (Mar 24, 2012)

Life on Air by David Attenborough - halfway through and am really enjoying it - he has led such an interesting life and have such an enthusiasm and joy de vivre in all he does and all he meets (apart from Joy Adamson who he describes as a bit of an arsehole - my words, not his, he even kind of apologises for smoking in a 60 year old photo)

A must for anyone interested in animals and strange foreign lands


----------



## Greebo (Mar 24, 2012)

Halfway through A Discovery of Witches (still irritating), about halfway through Little Man What Now, and just starting Linksaufsteher (the sequel to Kaltduscher).


----------



## xenon (Mar 24, 2012)

Practicle Packet Analysis. (It's a computer networking thing. not scattology for beginners.)

Just finished Iron Council though. Not China Meiville's best. Too much wierd becomes sorta humdrum.


----------



## Thraex (Mar 26, 2012)

"The Gladiators" - Michael Grant. I was surprised at how small this is. Most of his theories and conjectures are now discredited, but as it's referenced in most of the other books I've been reading of late I thought I ought to read it.


----------



## Idris2002 (Mar 26, 2012)

andy2002 said:


> The first JC book - The Final Programme - holds together quite nicely as a traditional, linear(ish) novel, but A Cure For Cancer is batshit crazy; just all over the place. I bet Moorcock did so many drugs when he wrote it, they were still trying to scrape him off the ceiling in 1976.


 
The Warlord of the Air is my favourite Moorcock, still.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Mar 26, 2012)

Finished* 'Why Christianity must change or die'* by Bishop John Shelby Spong.

He's an Episcoplian bishop calling himself a "Christian in exile" who devises a new blueprint for the Christian church, including rejection of theism, rejection of the virgin birth and other radical measures. Constructive and controversial. The title of this book is heavy, but it does what it says on the tin.

last week started *'The Power of now'* by Eckhart Tolle. I know its immensely popular but wanted to check it out for myself. Pal had a copy, now mi readin it. Really not bad, espec since the need to be in the 'now' is also important in yoga, buddhism and other stuff i am into.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Mar 26, 2012)

belboid said:


> anyone read the'History of the NME' book?  Looks interesting, but if it's written as badly as the magazine has been for nigh on twenty years....
> 
> 
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-NME...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331122189&sr=1-1



My mate's Dad has it- mediocre news snippets and lots of pictures- still makes for a good sift through


----------



## Greebo (Mar 26, 2012)

Finished ADoW (a very "is that it?" ending), still getting through Little Man and Linksaufsteher.


----------



## love detective (Mar 26, 2012)

just finished umberto eco's prague cemetery - started off quite promising, but seemed to deteriorate once it found it's rhythm - overall fairly disappointed with it


----------



## belboid (Mar 27, 2012)

love detective said:


> just finished umberto eco's prague cemetery - started off quite promising, but seemed to deteriorate once it found it's rhythm - overall fairly disappointed with it


yeah, its pretty bloody obvious what is going to happen throughout.  And it does.  The early bits are enjoyable in part cos I knew/know very little about Italian unification, but after that.....All in all, it's a knock off of Foucaults Pendulum, albeit done rather better than the Da Vinci Code


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 27, 2012)

Robert Harris - "Lustrum". Not far into the book but am enjoying it, looks like it might be a good historical thriller which Robert Harris seems to do well.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 27, 2012)

QueenOfGoths said:


> Robert Harris - "Lustrum". Not far into the book but am enjoying it, looks like it might be a good historical thriller which Robert Harris seems to do well.


 
Archangel is hilarious. Zombie Stalin lol


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 27, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> Archangel is hilarious. Zombie Stalin lol


Years since I read that . I enjoyed "Fatherland", "Enigma" and  "Pompeii" and I do have a copy of "The Ghost" (a quid in a charity shop, same as "Lustrum" ) but the whole Tony Blair connection has rather put me off


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 27, 2012)

I'm losing patience with Jerry Cornelius and have started James Ellroy's Blood's A Rover. He is such an amazing writer. The beginning of the book is one the most exciting things I've ever read. Like The Cold Six Thousand, it takes a while to get into his groove, but once you're on it, there's nothing more thrilling than reading his prose.


----------



## andy2002 (Mar 27, 2012)

*'A Clash of Kings' - George RR Martin:* Only read the Prologue bit and am hooked again already.


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 27, 2012)

Nemesis by Jo Nesbo. These Scandanavians can write good crime fiction!


----------



## starfish (Mar 27, 2012)

As i hadnt read a McBain for a while, i finished Poison last night, i decided to read another, so i am now reading Tricks. I did think about starting Zeitoun by Dave Eggers but i think ill read that next.


----------



## flypanam (Mar 28, 2012)

Going to start Mordecai Richler's 'Barney's version' tonight. Duddy Kravitz makes an apperence I think. Love Richler's work.


----------



## Threshers_Flail (Mar 28, 2012)

Paul Gilroy's 'Ain't No black in the Union jack' I'm enjoying it so far.


----------



## Idris2002 (Mar 28, 2012)

Flann  O'Brien's At Swim Two-Birds.

Haven't read it since I was a pimply faced adolescent.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 28, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm losing patience with Jerry Cornelius and have started James Ellroy's Blood's A Rover. He is such an amazing writer. The beginning of the book is one the most exciting things I've ever read. Like The Cold Six Thousand, it takes a while to get into his groove, but once you're on it, there's nothing more thrilling than reading his prose.


Ellroy's a fucking fantastic writer


----------



## ringo (Mar 29, 2012)

God's Grace - Bernard Malamud.

Irreverent and funny dystopian post-nuclear apocalypse novel - kind of The Road meets Lord Of The Flies with monkeys. Written in 1982, excellent so far, will have to search out more from him. Don't know much but I see this was his last work and he won the Pulitzer and many other awards in his life. No idea how I came by the book, discovered it on my shelves while putting a Graham Greene back with its compadres.


----------



## astral (Mar 29, 2012)

andy2002 said:


> *'A Clash of Kings' - George RR Martin:* Only read the Prologue bit and am hooked again already.


 
I'm on a Clash of Crows.  I think I might have to take a break after this one, as I have GRRM overload at the minute, coupled with the ongoing desire to read until three in the morning.


----------



## Chemster (Mar 29, 2012)

Rinsed the George RR Martin shiznitz after Series 1 of the HBO show. His MHAAAAAASOOOOOIVE genealogies and family tree's are completely OTT.

Current ploughing through "Quartered Safe Out Here" by George MacDonald Fraser and "Iran: Empire of the Mind: A History from Zoroaster to the Present Day" by Michael Axworthy.


----------



## Thraex (Mar 30, 2012)

The obsession continues with: "Blood in the Arena - The Spectacle of Roman Power" by Alison Futrell. I've been looking forward to reading this and so far it's proving to be well written, and her views well researched, considered and argued.


----------



## N_igma (Mar 30, 2012)

Howard Zinn's _A People's History of the United States_. Excellent read so far and from my bit of background research it seems it's even being taught in high schools across the country which is illuminating considering how America tries to portray its past.


----------



## Meltingpot (Mar 30, 2012)

Cheesypoof said:


> *Finished 'Why Christianity must change or die' by Bishop John Shelby Spong.*
> 
> He's an Episcoplian bishop calling himself a "Christian in exile" who devises a new blueprint for the Christian church, including rejection of theism, rejection of the virgin birth and other radical measures. Constructive and controversial. The title of this book is heavy, but it does what it says on the tin.


 
Got that one and it's excellent (haven't finished it yet though). "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" also by Bishop J S Spong, is a good read too.

I was lucky, got them both secondhand and for a couple of quid each.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 30, 2012)

N_igma said:


> Howard Zinn's _A People's History of the United States_. Excellent read so far and from my bit of background research it seems it's even being taught in high schools across the country which is illuminating considering how America tries to portray its past.


 

I read that when he died. It's a fantastic book

I'm on Enver Hoxha 'With Stalin: Memoirs of meetings with Stalin'

is hilarious


----------



## belboid (Mar 30, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> I read that when he died. It's a fantastic book
> 
> I'm on Enver Hoxha 'With Stalin: Memoirs of meetings with Stalin'
> 
> is hilarious


that I have to read


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 30, 2012)

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hoxha/works/stalin/intro.htm


----------



## belboid (Mar 30, 2012)

cheers!


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 31, 2012)

Just finished a Jo Nesbo book. I likes.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Mar 31, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> is hilarious


 
Why? If you've read one thing like that, you've read them all.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 31, 2012)

Not my usual reading field Captain. It's like a love letter couched in Party cant.


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 3, 2012)

Idris2002 said:


> Flann O'Brien's At Swim Two-Birds.
> 
> Haven't read it since I was a pimply faced adolescent.


 
That's the only one of his books I couldn't finish


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Apr 3, 2012)

Just found a pristine copy of the Little Red Schoolbook in an old box of papers... cost 30p, now going for about £25


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Apr 3, 2012)

...I'm struggling to understand why it was done under the Obscene Publications Act.


----------



## belboid (Apr 3, 2012)

the sex and drugs... unless you've got the bawdlerised edition


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Apr 3, 2012)

Well, I have come across the word 'fucking'. I don't think it ever was bowdlerised, it just went underground.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Apr 3, 2012)

More here.
http://www.milesago.com/Press/lrs.htm


----------



## belboid (Apr 3, 2012)

'permitted to be published in the UK in a censored form.'


----------



## belboid (Apr 3, 2012)

krtek a houby said:


> Just finished a Jo Nesbo book. I likes.


just heard a thing on the radio about a film adaption of a Nesbo (didnt get which one), but was intrigued by one of the introductory lines:

"Crime fiction sells most in when the weather is cold and wintry"

I mean, why?  Gloominess and general despondency cos we dont like the weather?


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 3, 2012)

belboid said:


> just heard a thing on the radio about a film adaption of a Nesbo (didnt get which one), but was intrigued by one of the introductory lines:
> 
> "Crime fiction sells most in when the weather is cold and wintry"
> 
> I mean, why? Gloominess and general despondency cos we dont like the weather?


 
Hmm. I dunno, I was a big Pelecanos fan (which is set in warmer climes) so I dunno about weather influencing one's pereferences... I just enjoy a good crime novel


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 3, 2012)

That would be Headhunters, belboid. Sounds like an utterly ludicrous plot


----------



## belboid (Apr 3, 2012)

don't really care about the book, I was just intrigued by why we would buy more crime fiction in winter


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 6, 2012)

Joe Arbercrombie 'First law' trilogy.

its quite funny, and engaging. Unusually likeable torturer features


----------



## Reno (Apr 6, 2012)

Lee Server's biography of Ava Gardener _Love is Nothing_, which I picked up at a charity shop a while ago. Not that I'm huge fan of Ava Gardener, but she was tough as nails, a notorious booze hound and she led an interesting and vaguely scandalous life.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 6, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> Joe Arbercrombie 'First law' trilogy.
> 
> its quite funny, and engaging. Unusually likeable torturer features


I love this trilogy - Glotka is such a brilliant character who when I was reading the books I so wished was real 

His other books are okay but just not as good as the "First Law" ones


----------



## Bakunin (Apr 6, 2012)

Donnie Brasco - FBI Special Agent Joseph Pistone.

The inside story of how Joe Pistone became the FBI's longest-running undercover agent and spent over six years inside the Bonanno 'family' of the New York Mafia. He was only pulled out when another mobster proposed him for full membership (becoming a 'made man') and assigned him a contract killing as part of the initiation process. After testifying in trials that led to over 100 convictions against a large number of mobsters the Mob put out a 500,000 dollar open contract on him and also considered wiping out his entire family as revenge.

Pistone has a very large set of balls, and he's lucky he's still got them, IMHO.


----------



## N_igma (Apr 6, 2012)

Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5.

Bit disappointed with this, Tralfamadorians? Go fuck.


----------



## Meltingpot (Apr 6, 2012)

"Planethood" by Ken Keyes and Benjamin Ferencz; a book which presents and details the case for world federal government.


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 7, 2012)

James Ellroy - The Black Dahlia.
Enjoying it very much - thanks for the recommendation NVP


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2012)

N_igma said:


> Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5.
> 
> Bit disappointed with this, Tralfamadorians? Go fuck.


 

it's a funny old book that one. A strange cadence to it. So it goes.


----------



## Rogue_Leader (Apr 9, 2012)

re-reading Trainspotting. His later books weren't really up to the same standard (with the possible exception of Porno) so I'd forgotten how good it is. Although you can't imagine how delighted I was when I discovered that a film adaptation of Filth was in production, and expected later this year.


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 9, 2012)

Porno was utter, absolute bloody rubbish.

Trainspotting read like it was written by someone who gave a shit about what he was writing. Welsh chose not to go down the route of actually writing decent stuff after that one though. I also suspect that if I reread Trainspotting today I would find it not so good. But Porno. . . that was catastrophically bad.

I've just started Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics. Now that's literature.


----------



## Rogue_Leader (Apr 9, 2012)

Idris2002 said:


> Porno was utter, absolute bloody rubbish.
> 
> Trainspotting read like it was written by someone who gave a shit about what he was writing. Welsh chose not to go down the route of actually writing decent stuff after that one though. I also suspect that if I reread Trainspotting today I would find it not so good. But Porno. . . that was catastrophically bad.
> 
> I've just started Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics. Now that's literature.


 
I was talking relatively, I suppose. Have you read Ecstasy? Bedroom Secrets Of The Master Chefs? It's just plain embarrassing at times.

I was surprised that I wasn't disappointed re-reading Trainspotting.


----------



## binka (Apr 9, 2012)

just started norman mailer's the naked and the dead. big book. lot of pages. also annoyingly the typeface is rubbish and most of the 'e's looks like 'c's.


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 9, 2012)

Another Nesbo. I like this because the type is large.


----------



## badseed (Apr 10, 2012)

I just finished the Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan Strain trilogy.
I am about to try The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce, someone told me I'd like it.

Usually when people tell me I will like something I don't


----------



## marty21 (Apr 10, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> That would be Headhunters, belboid. Sounds like an utterly ludicrous plot


 I've read it , basically the lead character is a Recruitment consultant by day - an art thief by night and gets involved with an unhinged ex special forces mentalist who tries to kill him - and then the chase is on


----------



## marty21 (Apr 10, 2012)

I'm reading Outpost - Adam Baker  - zombie fiction - a group are trapped at an oil installation in the ice as the world goes Zombie crazy - possibly caused by alien zombie bomb or something - enjoying it


----------



## belboid (Apr 10, 2012)

belboid said:


> Currently on Gil Scott-Heron's The Last Holiday, pretty good so far


finished that. Great first half, talking about his early life. Once he's started recording, it's  a fairly straight forward rock bio, well written tho, with some nice one liners.  And it is a good tale, despite his last twenty years being covered with just some semi-random jottings hither and thither.

Followed it by Carol Birch's Jamrachs Menagerie, a Victorian tale of adventure on highways and seas.  Enjoying it so far


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 10, 2012)

Banks, Surface Detail. Shaping up to be a return to form after the dissapointing 'Matter'


----------



## Kidda (Apr 10, 2012)

I'm reading 'Autobiography of a recovering skinhead' by Frank Meeink 

100 pages in and loving it so far.  




Bakunin said:


> Donnie Brasco - FBI Special Agent Joseph Pistone.
> 
> The inside story of how Joe Pistone became the FBI's longest-running undercover agent and spent over six years inside the Bonanno 'family' of the New York Mafia. He was only pulled out when another mobster proposed him for full membership (becoming a 'made man') and assigned him a contract killing as part of the initiation process. After testifying in trials that led to over 100 convictions against a large number of mobsters the Mob put out a 500,000 dollar open contract on him and also considered wiping out his entire family as revenge.
> 
> Pistone has a very large set of balls, and he's lucky he's still got them, IMHO.


 
That sounds right up my street, i might check that out.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Apr 11, 2012)

Shining Path: Guerilla War in Peru's Northern Highlands - Lewis Taylor


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 11, 2012)

Well, Surface Detail was whack.

Moving on to fill in all the ones of missed from underrated classic fantasy series 'Chronicles of an Age of Darkness'

it's not as shit as it sounds, Cook writes with wit.


----------



## starfish (Apr 11, 2012)

Lullaby by Ed McBain. Got into a McBain groove at the mo.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 12, 2012)

stayed up all night finishing Cooks 'The women and the Warlords'

Strange man, strange tale.


While I wait for the rest of the books from Chronicles of an Age of Darkness to d/l I am going for Gene Wolfe: Pirate Freedom. Chapter one is prefaced by this quote:



> Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.


 
encouraging


----------



## bi0boy (Apr 12, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Kraken is good fun, not as sharp as Embassytown perhaps.


 
Kraken is 15% brilliance and 85% steaming horse shit.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 12, 2012)

Getting a bit bogged down with "Lustrum" even though I am nearing the end. I got "Krakon" from the library last week so might look at that


----------



## silverfish (Apr 13, 2012)

The Game by Neil Strauss

An odious and sad book about Pick up artists, basically nerds gimps and wierdos being trained in the art of breaking down/into women in social environments.

It makes me happy to know I have "No Game" when it comes to women ie I'm shit at approaching women I'm attracted to in the Pub

How ever good they are at the initial pick up, they are still just deficient social dwarfs

eta confirmation that I didn't buy this book wiyth my own pennies, it was found on a boat in west africa THAT IS ALL carry on


----------



## ringo (Apr 13, 2012)

Dirty South - Alex Wheatle.

Not brilliant. I quite like books set around Brixton, but this one just describes the shit I like least about the place. I don't need to read a book about mouthy youths fronting and playing badman, I can open the window and listen to my upstairs neighbour for that. He does make the odd attempt to inject a little humour and morality, but it's pretty hollow and he's not that great a writer. Need to get this finished quick so I can get into something on my new Kindle


----------



## Thraex (Apr 13, 2012)

"Gladiator" by Konstantin Nossov. Translation from Russian, good so far, with some nice illustrations of mosaics and frescoes that I've not seen before. Seems to continue the work of Junkelmann, which isn't too much of a bad thing at all.


----------



## belboid (Apr 13, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Just found a pristine copy of the Little Red Schoolbook in an old box of papers... cost 30p, now going for about £25


did you see the obituary for the English translator in todays Guardian?  Sounds like a fascinating woman.  And the originator of the phrase 'does he take sugar.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/19/berit-stueland-obituary?INTCMP=SRCH


----------



## marty21 (Apr 13, 2012)

Militant Modernism - Owen Hatherley - interesting, not a light read


----------



## Frances Lengel (Apr 14, 2012)

marty21 said:


> Militant Modernism - Owen Hatherley - interesting, not a light read


 

You read the ruins of modern britain? I liked it, me. The chapter on Manchester confirmed everything I kind of instinctively knew, but didn't have the facts to back up & Liz Naylor was in it - always a good thing. I knew from the year 2k that Urban splash would turn out to be wankers & that's a full decade before they ruined Ancoats. And the fuckin Green Quarter, I don't even have to say owt, just fuckin _look at it_. Though, just to avoid confusion, the green quarter was nowt to do with urban splash.

And the chapter on Sheffield was quite enlightening - I had no idea that it was such a foreward looking city in terms of corporation housing and such, nor that the current administration are doing their damndest to throw it all away (an there's the accursed Urban Slash again, fuckin up Park Hill), anyway, I'm not normally into non fiction, but I did like this (though it depressed the fuck out of me), and didn't find it particularly hard going - Is Militant Modernism tougher to get into?

Anyway, I'm readin Trawl by BS Johnson - Now there's a guy who saw it all coming.


----------



## Kidda (Apr 14, 2012)

I've just started 'Blood in Blood out- The violent empire of the Aryan Brotherhood' by John Lee Brook. 

Good so far


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 14, 2012)

Currently reading Massimo Banzi's "Getting Started with Arduino", about programming microcontrollers and prototyping devices, and re-reading Anton Pannekoek's "Workers Councils" (more "dipping into", tbf), and Annika Mombauer's "The Origins of the First World War: Controversies and Consensus".


----------



## ringo (Apr 17, 2012)

Soul Music - Terry Pratchett. First I've read of his since 1993/4, got bored with how similar they were, but it's OK and not too challenging while feeling ill.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 17, 2012)

Frances Lengel said:


> You read the ruins of modern britain? I liked it, me. The chapter on Manchester confirmed everything I kind of instinctively knew, but didn't have the facts to back up & Liz Naylor was in it - always a good thing. I knew from the year 2k that Urban splash would turn out to be wankers & that's a full decade before they ruined Ancoats. And the fuckin Green Quarter, I don't even have to say owt, just fuckin _look at it_. Though, just to avoid confusion, the green quarter was nowt to do with urban splash.
> 
> And the chapter on Sheffield was quite enlightening - I had no idea that it was such a foreward looking city in terms of corporation housing and such, nor that the current administration are doing their damndest to throw it all away (an there's the accursed Urban Slash again, fuckin up Park Hill), anyway, I'm not normally into non fiction, but I did like this (though it depressed the fuck out of me), and didn't find it particularly hard going - Is Militant Modernism tougher to get into?
> 
> Anyway, I'm readin Trawl by BS Johnson - Now there's a guy who saw it all coming.


 
I did, that's what prompted me to read this - the bit on Bradford was interesting - particularly given Galloway's recent by-election victory - the big hole in the centre of the city where they were supposed to build a massive Westfield - and didn't.

Militant Modernism is something I might have to read again, it's tough going (but fairly short about 130 pages) it's a series of essays - about modernism in architecture and also in cinema, a lot of stuff about Communist Russia thrown in, the buildings and the ideas behind them - communal living - communal families - and sexpol which is a term I haven't come across before - sexual politics in the cinema


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 17, 2012)

Read Jo Nesbo's Headhunters last night - a damn good read that keeps you guessing right to the very end. But my problem with him is that he can never resist throwing in more and more implausible plot twists.

I'd recommend Chad Taylor's books _Departure Lounge _and _Electric _as better crime novels, tbh.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 17, 2012)

Idris2002 said:


> Read Jo Nesbo's Headhunters last night - a damn good read that keeps you guessing right to the very end. But my problem with him is that he can never resist throwing in more and more implausible plot twists.
> 
> I'd recommend Chad Taylor's books _Departure Lounge _and _Electric _as better crime novels, tbh.


I enjoyed Headhunters, keep meaning to go and see the film


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Apr 18, 2012)

marty21 said:


> I did, that's what prompted me to read this - the bit on Bradford was interesting - particularly given Galloway's recent by-election victory - the big hole in the centre of the city where they were supposed to build a massive Westfield - and didn't.
> 
> Militant Modernism is something I might have to read again, it's tough going (but fairly short about 130 pages) it's a series of essays - about modernism in architecture and also in cinema, a lot of stuff about Communist Russia thrown in, the buildings and the ideas behind them - communal living - communal families - and sexpol which is a term I haven't come across before - sexual politics in the cinema


 
Both sound rather good.  Will have a gander.


----------



## ringo (Apr 18, 2012)

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald. One chapter in and already completely hooked. Breathtaking, inciteful, beautiful prose.


----------



## Thraex (Apr 19, 2012)

"The Roman Amphitheatre in Britain" by Tony Wilmott.


----------



## D'wards (Apr 19, 2012)

Third of the way through Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.

Loving it so far, utterly brutal and compelling.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 19, 2012)

ringo said:


> The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald. One chapter in and already completely hooked. Breathtaking, inciteful, beautiful prose.


 
I prefer "Tender Is The Night". Not as well-written/stylish, but a more solid story. If you're enjoying Gatsby, you'll enjoy Tender too.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 19, 2012)

Finished "Getting Started With Arduino", and have gone into fantasy fiction mode with Paul Hoffman's "The Last Four Things".


----------



## Belushi (Apr 19, 2012)

Just about to start 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' by Muriel Barbery, not sure if it's going to be my thing but it's for my book group.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 19, 2012)

that made me lol. sounds like a parody of an orange prize book


----------



## chazegee (Apr 19, 2012)

A couple of books which's films I'd seen first.
Jackie Brown
No country for old men

The films are so similar, it's a bit like putting up Ikea furniture or something.


----------



## Bakunin (Apr 19, 2012)

Fighter Heroes Of WWI by Joshua Levine. Looking good so far. It's not just the usual kind of book about WWI fighter pilots as it isn't devoted solely to the famous aces, adds a lot more than simply listing the dates/times/places of their victories and also offers plenty of colourful little anecdotes from journeyman pilots about their day to day lives. Definitely well well worth buying considering it was less than 3 quid from Amazon including postage.

On the same subject I'd also highly recommend 'Aces Falling' by Peter Hart which deals with the last year of the air war in WWI and also gives a detailed analysis of the earliest uses of air power and how it was made to relate to naval and land fighting. It also does a lot to dispose of the ace myths while not treating the early aces in a way that's in any way disrespectful. A very good read all round.


----------



## ringo (Apr 19, 2012)

ViolentPanda said:


> I prefer "Tender Is The Night". Not as well-written/stylish, but a more solid story. If you're enjoying Gatsby, you'll enjoy Tender too.


 
Cheers, I have tender ready to read too


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 20, 2012)

StoneWielder

Esselmonts third entry to the vast Malazan epic. Starting to fill gaps left by his fellow author...


----------



## 5t3IIa (Apr 20, 2012)

Life on Earth, with classic frog cover  

The swirling gases and lightning bit was thrilling! Now up to invertebrates ^_^

I think we, as a planet, have to start preparing to lose Attenborough. Things just won't be the same ever after


----------



## mentalchik (Apr 20, 2012)

Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 20, 2012)

Ian R. Macleod - House of Storms


----------



## contadino (Apr 21, 2012)

ringo said:


> The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald. One chapter in and already completely hooked. Breathtaking, inciteful, beautiful prose.


 
There's something quite beguiling about The Great Gatsby. I've never managed to figure out why it draws the reader in so quickly. One of my faves.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Apr 21, 2012)

Started Infinite Jest a couple of days ago. Compelling prose so far, not the hard work I thought it might be.


----------



## andy2002 (Apr 22, 2012)

mentalchik said:


> Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi


 
Any good?


----------



## Frances Lengel (Apr 22, 2012)

marty21 said:


> I did, that's what prompted me to read this - the bit on Bradford was interesting - particularly given Galloway's recent by-election victory - the big hole in the centre of the city where they were supposed to build a massive Westfield - and didn't.
> 
> Militant Modernism is something I might have to read again, it's tough going (but fairly short about 130 pages) it's a series of essays - about modernism in architecture and also in cinema, a lot of stuff about Communist Russia thrown in, the buildings and the ideas behind them - communal living - communal families - and sexpol which is a term I haven't come across before - sexual politics in the cinema


 

I'll give it a go.


----------



## mentalchik (Apr 22, 2012)

andy2002 said:


> Any good?


 
Interesting so far..........probably gonna be one of those that i enjoy but don't totally understand....iykwim !


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 23, 2012)

Just finished The Retribution by Val McDermid, and now I've started on Franz Kafka's The Trial.
It's got tiny print though, and my eyes were too tired last night to read more than 3 pages.
Which reminds me that I need to get a better reading lamp for the bedroom.


----------



## colbhoy (Apr 23, 2012)

colbhoy said:


> Nemesis by Jo Nesbo. These Scandanavians can write good crime fiction!


 
Also re-reading Ball Four by Jim Bouton, a highly controversial expose of being a Major League Baseball pitcher in the late 60’s. Written in a diary style and lasts a full season, is a good read. Don’t usually read two books at the one time but the diary style means I can dip in and read a few days worth of events when I feel like it.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 23, 2012)

The Honesty Index - Kelly James Enger

not my normal read, but I used to know the author - she's an ex  still in contact via FB, there is a character called Martin in it - who seems ok so far


----------



## 5t3IIa (Apr 23, 2012)

marty21 said:


> The Honesty Index - Kelly James Enger
> 
> not my normal read, but I used to know the author - she's an ex  still in contact via FB, there is a character called Martin in it - who seems ok so far


 
Let us know when he dies under mysterious circs in a sandwich shop, won't you?


----------



## marty21 (Apr 23, 2012)

5t3IIa said:


> Let us know when he dies under mysterious circs in a sandwich shop, won't you?


 will do - it's her third novel - read the other ones - the first one did have an English character in it (she's American)  She's also an inspirational speaker and a mentor - quite how she ended up with me for a while is a mystery


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 23, 2012)

Just finished Requiem for a Wren by Nevile Shute. A post-war tale of alienation and people failing to adjust to the fact that the war was the highlight and defining part of their lives.  

Does anybody read Nevile Shute any more?  It would be a shame if he was forgotten

Also a Child In Time by Ian McEwan. Not his best but an average McEwan is a lot better than most writers' best


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 23, 2012)

I've been thinking of reading Nevil Shute, yes. Brian Moore is someone else I want to read more of.


----------



## Bakunin (Apr 24, 2012)

Just finished 'Fangio - The Life behind The Legend' by Gerald Donaldson. An excellent read that tells you as much about the man as about his racing.

Just started 'Go Down Together - The Untold Story Of Bonnie and Clyde' by Jeff Guinn. Lovely stuff so far. Plenty of detail, very little in the way of myths passed off as fact or hokey sentiment about the gruesome twosome and their criminal careers. Well worth buying and a snip at only 3 quid.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Apr 29, 2012)

Key Players and Regional Dynamics in Eurasia: The Return of the 'Great Game' - various

The Vietnam War from the Other Side: The Vietnamese Communists' Perspective - Ang Cheng Guan


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 29, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> Just finished Requiem for a Wren by Nevile Shute. A post-war tale of alienation and people failing to adjust to the fact that the war was the highlight and defining part of their lives.
> 
> Does anybody read Nevile Shute any more? It would be a shame if he was forgotten
> 
> Also a Child In Time by Ian McEwan. Not his best but an average McEwan is a lot better than most writers' best


 
I've got half a dozen Shute novels that I re-read occasionally. Just good simple writing that fills an idle few hours.


----------



## Thraex (Apr 30, 2012)

"Spartacus and the Slave Wars - A brief history with documents" - Brent Shaw.

A, so far, well considered examination of the source material relating to slavery and the slave wars, but focussing on Spartacus.


----------



## baffled (Apr 30, 2012)

Finished Val McDermid - The Retribution while on holiday and have now started rereading Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 30, 2012)

Skag Boys, looks like Irvine is back to familiar ground


----------



## Zabo (Apr 30, 2012)

Just finished. Couldn't put it down._ Vasily Grossman - The Road_

_Outstanding._

_5/5_

_http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/27/road-stories-vasily-grossman-review _


----------



## chazegee (May 1, 2012)

Naked Lunch.
Err, all bumming and no continuity. 
Unique turn of phrase though.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 1, 2012)

Damned Utd by David Peace

Very good though I'd be interested to know how much of the behind the scenes stuff is based on reality or just his interpretation of Clough's irascible genius


----------



## starfish (May 1, 2012)

Just started Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. Im at the calm, just, before the storm part.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 3, 2012)

Heartlands of Eurasia: The Geopolitics of Political Space - Anita Sengupta

A study on Central Asia with past and contemporary Russian elite interpretations of English geographer Halford Mackinder's Heartland Theory.

Revolutionary Movements in Latin America: El Salvador's FMLN and Peru's Shining Path - Cynthia McClintock

A comparative analysis of both movements, including (externally) the differences in response by the United States government, and if I'm reading it right, puts forward as the essential ingredient of conflict in El Salvador political exclusion by an abusive elite over severe economic problems, while economic depression in Peru pulled the trigger for unrest and opened up an opportunity for the revolutionaries to exploit. McClintock draws from the 'subsistence crisis' (Eric Wolf, James Scott) explanation of her earlier work, but which isn't always convincing, given the diversity of Peruvian rural society, and also taking into account popular local political traditions, the relationships provincial elites have had with Lima, and systems of land tenure. The majority of the peasantry never really cared much for the domineering PCP-SL revolutionary project, its sanguinary tactics helping to bring about its own downfall in the countryside. Nor Abimael Guzman's plagiarising of Jose Carlos Mariategui, or forcing late twentieth-century Peruvian reality to fit that of Mao Tse-Tung's analysis of China's in the 1930s, so as to justify the dogmatic following of a People's War script. In comparison to the sectarian cult of Presidente Gonzalo, the FMLN was heterogeneous and in the context of the civil war, relatively democratic.


----------



## love detective (May 3, 2012)

pomper


----------



## BoatieBird (May 3, 2012)

Just finished Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test.  A great read, I really enjoyed it, must track down some of his other books.
I'm still dipping in and out of Kafka's The Trial, and I think I'm going to start on The Grapes of Wrath next.


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (May 3, 2012)

reading Dan Simmons Hyperion (omnibus version) at the moment and really enjoying it.


----------



## chazegee (May 4, 2012)

My friend Jules Evens has just published this one on using Ancient Philosophy to improve modern lives.
Here is a free chapter.
http://philosophyforlife.org/pol_pp25-29.pdf


----------



## Frazzlemac (May 4, 2012)

1776 - David McCullough


----------



## andy2002 (May 6, 2012)

*Anno Dracula – Kim Newman:* Dracula defeats Van Helsing and marries Queen Victoria. Great stuff.


----------



## Zabo (May 6, 2012)

Put aside _Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Short Stories_ and started on _Angels on the Head of a Pin by Iurii Druzhnikov_ and I'm damn glad I did! An outstanding story teller.


----------



## temper_tantrum (May 6, 2012)

'Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundation of China's Extraordinary Rise' by C. Walter & F. Howie. Fascinating. Anyone else read it? Would be interested to hear other people's views on it.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (May 6, 2012)

Zabo said:


> started on _Angels on the Head of a Pin by Iurii Druzhnikov_


 
Good man.  The end of the relatively liberal Thaw.


----------



## Red About Town (May 7, 2012)

I've just downloaded These Are the Days that Must Happen to You by Dan Walsh. Has been recommended to me by many so looking forward to getting into it. Has anyone on here read it?


----------



## Silverghost (May 8, 2012)

I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan ..again.


----------



## The Octagon (May 8, 2012)

Finished _A Game Of Thrones_ while on holiday, then read _Against A Dark Background._

AGOT was great stuff, leaves me with the dilemma of whether to read the rest and get ahead of the TV adaptation, hmmm.

Against A Dark Background started off well and had some great bits, but the ending was utterly shit. I've come to the conclusion that Banks simply can't end a book well, I struggle to think of ones (other than perhaps _Use of Weapons _and_ Look to Windward_) that felt satisfactory.


----------



## Thraex (May 10, 2012)

Just finished "The Hunger Games" by someone. Only the second fiction book this year and I just wanted some mindless shit to read. S'OK I guess...sort of; doubt I'll read the other two.

Now reading "A Don's Life" - excerpts from Mary Beard's blog. Loving it and her delightful turns of phrase. AA Gill can go fuck himself; she's brilliant


----------



## Greebo (May 10, 2012)

Still getting through "Linksaufsteher" (gradually), started "The Debt to Pleasure" by John Lanchester and "Thinking with Demons" by Stuart Clark.


----------



## sojourner (May 10, 2012)

I read The Perfumed Garden tother night - picked it up for 20p at a book stall.  Some good, some bad.  Golden rules are:  always snog a lot, don't have a wide vagina or a small dick, and you'll be reet 

Funny thing was the translator was disputing the ejaculation of the female, saying 'of course we know that's impossible' - haha!


----------



## rubbershoes (May 13, 2012)

Greebo said:


> started "The Debt to Pleasure" by John Lanchester


 
that's a good read. stick with it


----------



## ringo (May 14, 2012)

_Ska: An Oral History_ By Heather Augustyn

An unusually well written reggae book,  so far. Still wading through the much hackneyed introduction to Jamaican history all reggae writers feel they have to include, but at least she can write and her enthusiasm and respect for the music shines through already. Hope she keeps up the momentum as she interviews countless old duffers complaining about how they were ripped off and everyone else has become a millionaire from robbing their music. Have a feeling I won't enjoy the 3rd wave of ska bit so much.


----------



## starfish (May 14, 2012)

Drive by James Sallis. Seen the film, bought the CD, now reading the book.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 14, 2012)

Just read Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keayes
What a wonderful, but utterly devastating book.
The final line is possibly the saddest I've ever read


----------



## Thraex (May 15, 2012)

Just finished "Conscience" by Johnny Tait, which has also been adapted for the stage. I can see why it's been adapted as it reads like it was designed to be turned into a play. The ending was good, and I think the play would work very well, but...The only reason I bought the book was that Mr Johnny Tait was promoting it in Waterstones in St Albans when I went in last Saturday, and I'd had an enjoyable visit to the mixed edifice amphitheatre, and a couple of hostelries for refreshment afterwards. Bloody typical, I now have no book for the journey home from work.


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 15, 2012)

The Story of the Streets, by Mike Skinner. Great so far.


----------



## Mungy (May 15, 2012)

just started:
Subliminal: The Revolution of the New Unconscious and What it Teaches Us about Ourselves by Leonard Mlodinow
part way through book 2 of the dragonny eragon thingy
almost finished reading Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban  to my daughter.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 15, 2012)

Ted Chiang 'Stories of you life and Others'


----------



## Thraex (May 16, 2012)

Now reading Mary Beard's "Pompeii". I saw the documentary she did on Pompeii recently, which was very good, but unfortunately - for me -  didn't deal with the amphitheatre.


----------



## krtek a houby (May 19, 2012)

The God Delusion by Dawkins. Dunno why I didn't read it before, it leaves me alternating between wanting to punch the air yelling "yeah" & sighing in disbelief (pun intended)...


----------



## zoooo (May 20, 2012)

Thraex said:


> Just finished "The Hunger Games" by someone. Only the second fiction book this year and I just wanted some mindless shit to read. S'OK I guess...sort of; doubt I'll read the other two.


I quite enjoyed them! Much more than I expected to.


----------



## mentalchik (May 21, 2012)

finally got round to A Storm Of Swords -part 2........

has taken me an age to buy it....been re-reading some old favs in the meantime


----------



## twentythreedom (May 21, 2012)

I'm reading (nearly finished it tbh):

"Jesus, King Arthur And The Journey Of The Grail (The Secrets Of The Sun Kings)" 

by Maurice Cotterell

Despite the shit title it's a brilliant book. I've read a few of his previously. Have to say, this dude knows some mad shit - Google him. 

Not interested in any piss-taking replies, but interested to know if anyone else is aware of this guy and / or familiar with any of his work.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 21, 2012)

sounds legit


----------



## rubbershoes (May 21, 2012)

Ploughing my way through The Algebraist by Iain M Banks. it took me  a few goes to get going with it but I'm well in to it now.


----------



## Roadkill (May 23, 2012)

Daniel Yergin, _The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World_.  Bought this a while ago but only just started reading it, mainly because in hardback form it's a tome too weighty to slip into a bag and read whilst commuting, but it really is good.  Better, I think, than his previous book on oil, _The Prize_.


----------



## starfish (May 23, 2012)

A King of Infinite Space by Tyler Dilts. Was only 99p in the Kindle Daily Deal so i thought why not.


----------



## ringo (May 25, 2012)

American Tabloid - James Ellroy. First I've read by him and what a stormer. Incredible stuff.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (May 25, 2012)

*Rivers of London, Ben Aaronovitch*

as recommended by firky and supplied by BoatieBird*  *

I'm really enjoying it, very easy to read, endearing characters and just good fun


----------



## N_igma (May 25, 2012)

Just finished Catch 22 - Riotous laugh!

Now onto Skag Boys, shaping up to be a good one. I like how Welsh sets it against the backdrop of Thatcherite individualism and the miner's strikes.


----------



## purenarcotic (May 25, 2012)

Just started Hacienda: How Not To Run A Club.  Proving a good read so far!


----------



## Orang Utan (May 25, 2012)

I've just picked that up too. Can't say I like Peter Hook much so far.


----------



## dilute micro (May 26, 2012)

The Druids - peter berresford ellis


----------



## purenarcotic (May 26, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I've just picked that up too. Can't say I like Peter Hook much so far.


 
He seems a bit of a twat, but I like his writing style.  Easy to read.


----------



## tar1984 (May 27, 2012)

Just started on 'Lanark' by Alasdair Gray.  I was slightly put off by its rep as an artistic masterpiece, thought it would be all boring and dry, but I am enjoying it so far.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 27, 2012)

Moar subtle prose and giant hammering fantasy cliches from Hugo Cook in 'The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster'

better and far funnier than 'The Women and the Warriors'


----------



## andy2002 (May 27, 2012)

Just started *Dracula by Bram Stoker*.


----------



## Zabo (May 29, 2012)

9/10ths through Yann Martel's Beatrice and Virgil. It didn't take long to realise that he's trying to say how clever he is rather than the story being clever. Will I make the final tenth? I'll try but it will be a struggle.

It reminds me of  Benigni's awful film _La vita è bella_.

I'm just glad I've missed Martel's The Life Of Pi and Chips if this is anything to go by.


----------



## ringo (May 30, 2012)

Zabo said:


> I'm just glad I've missed Martel's The Life Of Pi and Chips if this is anything to go by.


 
I started Life Of Pi but found it annoying and unreadable. I then Googled it and found that he'd plagiarised someone else's story about a boy adrift at sea in a rowing boat with a tiger but claimed it was coincidence - gave up at that point.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 30, 2012)

Started Gibbon's _Decline and fall of the Roman empire. _ I'll report back in 2 years


----------



## krtek a houby (May 30, 2012)

Still reading the Dawkins book, also a biog on Chaplin and a book on the Bloody Mama film (real trashy, don't remember the film being that bad...)


----------



## DotCommunist (May 30, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> Started Gibbon's _Decline and fall of the Roman empire. _ I'll report back in 2 years


 


tried that, gave up on the a-to-b read and ended up dipping in and out at bits that interested me


----------



## Thraex (Jun 1, 2012)

Now on: Suetonius "The Twelve Caesars".


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 6, 2012)

fuck me, it's roman week here

Anyone for The Eagle of the Ninth?


----------



## Belushi (Jun 6, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> fuck me, it's roman week here
> 
> Anyone for The Eagle of the Ninth?


 
I loved Rosemary Sutcliffe as a kid, fantastic writer.


----------



## Belushi (Jun 6, 2012)

Stamboul Train - Graham Greene was the don.


----------



## quimcunx (Jun 6, 2012)

Belushi said:


> I loved Rosemary Sutcliffe as a kid, fantastic writer.


 
We were made to read one of her books when we were about 12.  Hated it. Didn't read the last chapter or two which was unfortunate as a disproportionate number of the questions on the test were from them.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jun 6, 2012)

I'm reading Tristram Shandy. 18 chapters in and I think I'm finally getting it.


----------



## temper_tantrum (Jun 7, 2012)

Finally getting round to reading 'The Weimar Republic' by Detlev Peukert, as recommended to me ages ago by Butchersapron on this thread:
http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/reading-recommendations-on-weimar-germany.276998/

It's very good. Really interesting. Particularly struck by some of the parallels with what's going on in Europe at the moment.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 7, 2012)

ringo said:


> I started Life Of Pi but found it annoying and unreadable. I then Googled it and found that he'd plagiarised someone else's story about a boy adrift at sea in a rowing boat with a tiger but claimed it was coincidence - gave up at that point.


I gave it up in disgust too - pile of fucking shite


----------



## temper_tantrum (Jun 7, 2012)

I quite liked Life Of Pi  - it was the ending, though. Up til then I'd got a bit jaded with it. But the ending was good.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 7, 2012)

I thought it was self-indulgent bollocks, that tried to be whimsical and magical realist but was just pants


----------



## Voley (Jun 7, 2012)

I fucking hated Life of Pi, too. Fist-bumps all round.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 7, 2012)

Too old for fist bumps.  Even ironically


----------



## Voley (Jun 7, 2012)

Gimme some skin, then.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 7, 2012)

Can we not just shake hands?


----------



## Voley (Jun 7, 2012)

High five?


----------



## sojourner (Jun 7, 2012)




----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 7, 2012)

Even toddlers can manage high fives!


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 7, 2012)

I'm reading a whimsical trot round great britain self-consciously waving the union flag by Stuart Maconie


----------



## Zabo (Jun 7, 2012)

Just finished _Luigi Pirandello's The Late Mattia Pascal_

An interesting story weaving existential angst, anomie, farce, satire, politics and absurdity. Not too unlike Dario Fo.

The funniest scene in the book was the seance.

Quite good once you get past the first few pages of seemingly forced humour.

NYRB version is the best.


----------



## Thraex (Jun 15, 2012)

"The Roman Forum" by David Watkin. I didn't realise just how much of it was built long after the Empire, and even last century. So far it's a well written and interesting read.


----------



## ringo (Jun 15, 2012)

The book with no name - Anonymous.

Silly but entertaining, would have loved it as a teenager.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jun 15, 2012)

Thomas Pynchon's _Against the Day._ Really weird steampunk version of Dos Passos' _USA. _It's pretty good, but the major problem is the sheer size of the damn thing - over a thousand pages long, it doesn't exactly fit easily in the reader's hand.


----------



## andy2002 (Jun 15, 2012)

Just started *The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova*, another Dracula-related novel. Much more of this and there's a good chance I'll die my hair black and take to wearing leather trousers.


----------



## marshall (Jun 15, 2012)

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn. Excellent, doesn't matter how much crime fiction you read, this one will keep you guessing.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jun 15, 2012)

Currently reading (actually, deciphering schematics) "Timer, Op-Amp & Optoelectronic Circuits & Projects: An Engineer's Mini-Notebook" by Forrest M. Mims III.


----------



## twistedAM (Jun 17, 2012)

Just started Bright's Passage by Josh Ritter.
It's his first novel but I've got high hopes for it as he's a great songwriter and it's apparently southern Gothic and McCarthyesque, and I like a bit of that.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jun 17, 2012)

A book called Bloodlands, by Timothy Snyder.


----------



## Newco anchorage (Jun 19, 2012)

I just started Snuff by Terry Pratchett.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 20, 2012)

Yay for Diocletian defeating those pesky persians


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 20, 2012)

"Roadside Picnic" - Arkady & Boris Strugatsky. Reminds me of District 9, Monsters, Fringe so far...


----------



## Thraex (Jun 21, 2012)

Now onto: "The Roman Triumph" by the wonderful Mary Beard. Only just started it but believe it will live up to my expectations .


----------



## Threshers_Flail (Jun 21, 2012)

One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Marquez. I've already read it but want to give it another whirl, gotta be one of my faves.


----------



## marty21 (Jun 21, 2012)

The People of The Abyss - Jack London - all about the homeless in early 20th Century London - fairly harrowing - and clearly something George Orwell must have read before he wrote about the same subject.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 21, 2012)

just finishing 'In Gods Name' by one yallow, about the death of pope john paul 1

he's convinced me that several people had powerful motivation to have offed the pope, and opportunity. Still not entirely convinced that it was murder though. Interesting stuff about one Geli who apparently ran ratline for former nazis including the butcher of lyon


----------



## Thimble Queen (Jun 21, 2012)

Let the right one in... The swedish film version was really good but the book is bloody amazing. The last few books I've read I've lost interest half through but I can't put this one down. The fella is having trouble getting a conversation out of me


----------



## Zabo (Jun 23, 2012)

_Day of the Oprichnik - Vladimir Sorokin_

Very dark and very outrageous. A dystopian Russia in 2028. A marvellous metaphor for Putin's Russia. The final caterpillar scene is hilarious.

Interview in _Spiegel_

http://www.spiegel.de/international...ck-into-an-authoritarian-empire-a-463860.html 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/b...-by-vladimir-sorokin.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jun 23, 2012)

Sounds a bit gash with the man of the 'dog's head and broom' reference.


----------



## Zabo (Jun 23, 2012)

It's not too bad. A few good lines here and there but not the usual biting satire as exemplified by a few other Soviet writers. I'd need to have a good flick through before I read any of his other works.


----------



## 8115 (Jun 23, 2012)

I'm reading "Green is the New Black, How to change the world with style" by Tamsin Blanchard.  Embarassingly, I'm really enjoying it and not finding it too hard or easy going.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jun 24, 2012)

Zabo said:


> It's not too bad. A few good lines here and there but not the usual biting satire as exemplified by a few other Soviet writers. I'd need to have a good flick through before I read any of his other works.


 
Not so marvellous then? 

Putinism back to the future as the Mongol-Byzantine Muscovite political tradition? The Siloviki as Ivan Grozny's enforcers, terrorising the nobility as the state is rearranged? A severed dog's head stuck on a red Mercedes instead of hanging from a black horse's saddle? Maybe I'm doing a Khrushchev vis-a-vis Pasternak, and I don't mean any personal offence here, but _yawn_.

Also, drop support for that cunt Alexei Navalny. Just because some naive Oxbridge morons at the friend of a friend BBC or Guardian say he's ace, he isn't. He happily holds hands with vile Holocaust deniers and the murderers of immigrant workers.


----------



## Zabo (Jun 24, 2012)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Also, drop support for that cunt Alexei Navalny. Just because some naive Oxbridge morons at the friend of a friend BBC or Guardian say he's ace, he isn't. He happily holds hands with vile Holocaust deniers and the murderers of immigrant workers.


 
Never heard of him or thought about him until you mentioned it. I take it he's not an author other than of his own demise?


----------



## silverfish (Jun 24, 2012)

The invisible Gorilla and other ways our intuition deceives us
http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/

A bit of pulp psychology but scary reading


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jun 24, 2012)

Zabo said:


> Never heard of him or thought about him until you mentioned it. I take it he's not an author other than of his own demise?


 
'A name to watch.'


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 26, 2012)

"Moon Over Soho" Ben Aaranovitch - fun, easy to read and enjoyable which is just what I want


----------



## PlaidDragon (Jun 27, 2012)

Started 'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest' this evening. Will probably have it finished by tomorrow afternoon, I devoured the other two. Excellent storylines.


----------



## Wilf (Jun 27, 2012)

Gene Wolfe, The Wizard.  Surprisingly few tricks played on the reader, for a Gene Wolfe novel, but the usual quality of writing.


----------



## marty21 (Jun 27, 2012)

England's Dreaming - Jon Savage - history of punk basically - quite enjoying it.


----------



## stuff_it (Jun 28, 2012)

I haz Kindle - squeeeeeee!!!

Just spanked about £15 on scifi in about 2 mins.   

I shall be starting with Greg Egan's 'The Clockwork Rocket' I reckon.


----------



## zoooo (Jun 29, 2012)




----------



## peterkro (Jun 29, 2012)

I'm not reading it now but someone above brought it to mind "the wolf and the philosopher " great book.At the mo I'm reading "Face Value" by Lia Matera,a kind of feminist detective thriller thing,god awful first half but coming together and making sense as I struggle through.


----------



## Roadkill (Jun 29, 2012)

John Quiggin - _Zombie Economics: How Dead_ _Ideas Still Walk Among Us_

Despite the title and the lurid cover it's a very serious book, and it's brilliant. I've been reading a load of economics tracts recently, mainly fairly Keynesian stuff, and this is the best one I've found yet. Despite the (at times) heavy subject matter, it's easily read, lively, punchy and extremely well argued. Strongly recommended, especially if you want some really good ammo to point out to Tory types just how horribly wrong pretty much everything they believe actually is.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jun 29, 2012)

Roadkill said:


> John Quiggin - _Zombie Economics: How Dead_ _Ideas Still Walk Among Us_


Thanks for that, just ordered it from abebooks.


----------



## Roadkill (Jun 29, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Thanks for that, just ordered it from abebooks.


 


In a similar - if more mathematical and less readable - vein, Steve Keen's _Debunking Economics_ is also well worth a read, as is Paul Krugman's _End This Depression Now!_, and - from a Marxist perspective - Chris Harman's _Zombie Capitalism_, although the anti-SWP types will probably pitchfork me to death for recommending the latter!


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 29, 2012)

Banana Yoshimoto - Asleep. Usual Banana fare, collection of short stories, quite moving.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jun 29, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> just finishing 'In Gods Name' by one yallow, about the death of pope john paul 1
> 
> he's convinced me that several people had powerful motivation to have offed the pope, and opportunity. Still not entirely convinced that it was murder though. Interesting stuff about one Geli who apparently ran ratline for former nazis including the butcher of lyon


 
David Yallo*p* has written a few good'uns (and a couple of wrong'uns, to be fair, including his stabs at fiction). His "To Encourage the Others", about the Craig/Bentley case, and "Deliver Us From Evil", about the Yorkshire Ripper, are definitely worth a read. "To the Ends of the Earth", about Carlos the Jackal, is a bit heavy-going, and more speculative than some of his others, but interesting *if* you're interested in Carlos.


----------



## campanula (Jun 30, 2012)

Blue Remembered Earth - Alistair Reynolds - about 100 pages in but noit yet gripped - but that is often the case with Reynolds.
bought night of knives et cetera (thank fuck for abebooks - I have not really worked out what to do with a torrent, Dot.C,  although have managed music),


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 4, 2012)

"Accelerando" - Charles Stross. really enjoying it but some of the ideas are leaving me a bit in their wake understanding-wise


----------



## starfish (Jul 5, 2012)

Vespers by Ed McBain.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 6, 2012)

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
I'm only a couple of chapters in and I'm hooked, marvellous stuff


----------



## golightly (Jul 6, 2012)

BoatieBird said:


> The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
> I'm only a couple of chapters in and I'm hooked, marvellous stuff


 
That's on my list.  I only read Of Mice and Men very recently to my shame.

Just started The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism by Philip Augur which looks at the impact of the deregulation of the banks following the Big Bang.  Interesting.


----------



## seeformiles (Jul 6, 2012)

"Winter in Madird" by CJ Sansom

Pretty good so far.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 6, 2012)

golightly said:


> That's on my list. I only read Of Mice and Men very recently to my shame.


 
I only read Of Mice and Men recently too.  There is no shame, the shame would come from not reading them at all


----------



## krtek a houby (Jul 6, 2012)

The City & The City - China Mievelle. Fascinating, bit confused as to how both cities function and the exact odd structure but am enjoying it.


----------



## Superdupastupor (Jul 7, 2012)

Just started Peter Hill's -Stargazing- 

I've had to put it down serveral times and say- my word that's exactly how I'd describe that well kent place .

E.g  Edinburgh's Scott monument - gothic rocket-  I thought I was the only one that thought that


----------



## Alexpete80 (Jul 10, 2012)

The Silent Man by Alex Berenson
The outclass thriller, the story based on spy(CIA). The author masters the skill of portraying and playing with words to make the events to be felt like happening in front of you. Excellent level of knowledge can be found. Suspense and overall plot of the Novel is magnificent, simply its brilliant.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 10, 2012)

Oh no. Emperor Julian is dead


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jul 11, 2012)

Just finished This Road Is Red by Alison Irvine, which is about Red Road flats in Glasgow, all true stories from people who lived there over the years made into a novel. Fuckin great.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 14, 2012)

Vietnam: The Politics of Bureaucratic Socialism - Gareth Porter

It's really good for info up until the early 1980s, before Doi Moi.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jul 15, 2012)

Finished On The Road, parts of it were beautiful, manly poetry and other were almost misogynistic. I'd say it was good but I didn't like it.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jul 16, 2012)

Finished Colm Toibin's The Blackwater Lightship, now on The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad. Desperately sad, both of them but even more so, the latter.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 16, 2012)

Shantaram. Pretty entertaining.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 16, 2012)

Chavs  the demonisation of the working class- just about to start. I've a feeling it might not tell me anything I'm not already aware of but everyones banged on about it so I shall give it a go


----------



## friedaweed (Jul 16, 2012)

My nippers school report. Very interest collection of bank statements it is too


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 16, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> Chavs  the demonisation of the working class- just about to start. I've a feeling it might not tell me anything I'm not already aware of but everyones banged on about it so I shall give it a go


Have you given up on the Gillian Freeman trash?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 16, 2012)

eh?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 16, 2012)

You were taking about it on that thread with random lines from books. The Nazi Lady book.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 16, 2012)

oh! no I see, those were excerpts from a war diary anthology called ' The Secret Annexe' some of her vile entries are included. There are loads in it from the boer war to the second world war and various others. All from high to low, from goebbels to spear carriers and so on.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 16, 2012)

I particularly despise the entry where she talks about having picked up a fur coat on the cheap cos it was left behind by jews forcibly removed from berlin. She makes my blood go cold.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 16, 2012)

She's not a real nazi! It's trash fiction


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 16, 2012)

she was an actress who used the pseudonym stahleberg according to the book, and her dalliance with josef goebbels was real- clarification needed! I'll check my sources after this sarnie


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 16, 2012)

Nah, she was a Brit who also wrote a gay porn book called Leather Boys


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 16, 2012)

thats not what it says here, says it was the psuedonym of a young german actress and nazi sympathiser

Diary published as Nazi Lady, as you say.

this source takes it at face value and is published 2004. SOURCE OFF! have you later evidence to show that its hoax/lies?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 16, 2012)

1979 according to Wikipedia:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Freeman


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 16, 2012)

In a way I'm almost relieved there isn't someone that fucknuted to have really existed, but if this anthology was done 2004 then some fact checking was not done. For shame etc. Still, there is always the bitch of buschenwald to to be the archetypal evil nazi woman


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 16, 2012)

http://www.trashfiction.co.uk/nazi_lady.html

A friend of mine has managed to get hold of a copy of Lord Horror, if you're into your trash. He won't let anyone, especially me, read it though!


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 16, 2012)

I feel betrayed.


----------



## andy2002 (Jul 17, 2012)

*Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis:* Super-powered Nazis versus plucky British warlocks in WWII. Some of his storytelling is a bit weak but I'm really enjoying this. Very pacy and pulpy.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 17, 2012)

The Cleanest Race - B. R. Myers.


----------



## Kate Hillier (Jul 17, 2012)

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7170627-the-emperor-of-all-maladies
 An epic Biography of the dreaded Big C, a book that is helping me prepare for Cancer should I join the 1 in 4 who are so afflicted.


----------



## starfish (Jul 17, 2012)

Widows by Ed McBain. 3rd book in an omnibus edition i bought. Will read someone else next.


----------



## magneze (Jul 18, 2012)

Kraken - China Mieville


----------



## ringo (Jul 18, 2012)

The Stories of Breeze D'j Pancake

Picked this up after reading in the Gruniad review that many considered it to be the finest collection of short stories ever written. thought that be a little be influenced by the fact that he tragically took his own life aged 26, but in fact they're brilliant. Read most of  the book last night, can't wait to get home and finish it. A must for any fans of Deep South writing, short stories or mebbe just books full stop.


----------



## colbhoy (Jul 18, 2012)

Just started City Primeval by Elmore Leonard.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jul 21, 2012)

Been reading some books about religion (The Portable Athiest and Rabbi Shmuley Boteachs books on Judaism - i love them both)

but YES yes and only yes, its Ulysses - im two chapters in and im loving it. Its very, very funny, and beautiful. im reading it straight , but there is the Declan Kibberd companion that helps with the Greek themes - the rest - earthy irish colloqualisms - understood!! the religious bits - profound, and if you understand the latin of the mass, you 'win some'  you make the rest up yourself. but the grand thoughts of Stephen Dedalus, typical of a forensically sensitive young lad....this book is so beyond the scope of any description or remote accoladei could dare to draw, so far this book....is incredible.....


----------



## nogojones (Jul 21, 2012)

Exile and Kingdom by Albert Camus and Ketamine dreams and realities by Karl Jansen


----------



## marty21 (Jul 21, 2012)

Just started Dark Market - Misha Glenny - all about on-line fraud shenanigans - very interesting so far.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 21, 2012)

He did that McMafia book a while ago.

The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View - Ellen Meiksins Wood


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 22, 2012)

Sebag Montefiores 'Stalin: Court of The Red Tsar'

dipping between that and the Owne Jones- nan lent me it, chunkier and older than his recentish hit 'Young Stalin' but looks just as full of trivia and insinuations amongst the factual stuff.


----------



## twentythreedom (Jul 23, 2012)

Not me doing the reading... Went to see my mum earlier, she's just started to read Fifty Shades Of Grey. Said it was very well written and "rather racey"


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 23, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> Sebag Montefiores 'Stalin: Court of The Red Tsar'
> 
> dipping between that and the Owne Jones- nan lent me it, chunkier and older than his recentish hit 'Young Stalin' but looks just as full of trivia and insinuations amongst the factual stuff.


 
There's loads of tittle-tattle in Sickbag's bio.  But instead of just the man,  read about his ism.


----------



## ringo (Jul 23, 2012)

Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje


----------



## marty21 (Jul 23, 2012)

Captain Hurrah said:


> He did that McMafia book a while ago.
> 
> The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View - Ellen Meiksins Wood


 quite enjoying it - half way through now - quite like the writing style - it's novel-like - will check out the mcmafia one - I think he's done stuff on the balkans too.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 23, 2012)

Yeah, from what I remember of it (admittedly vague), his history of the Balkans over two centuries was okay.


----------



## co-op (Jul 23, 2012)

Captain Hurrah said:


> There's loads of tittle-tattle in Sickbag's bio. But instead of just the man, read about his ism.


 
I thought the young Stalin one was a good read. Obviously SSM is a tory through and through (and doesn't seem to understand some pretty basic Marxist-Leninist theory) but it's a fascinating read. SSM has got hold of some pretty obscure historical stuff that doesn't seem to have seen the light of day elsewhere. I'll probably be denounced for this but I thought the young Stalin comes across as pretty remarkable and admirable.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 23, 2012)

I agree. Young Stalin was a pleasure to read, for the detail alone. I said recently in another thread that Sickbag certainly acknowledges him as being multi-faceted, and like in Robert Service's biography, he deems Stalin to be have been an impressive autodidactic intellectual.

His research has dug up some interesting details, but as you say, his grasp of Marxism-Leninism, later 'Stalinised' doctrine or otherwise, is lazy and crude.

I don't think ayatollah visits this thread, so it's safe to say you won't be denounced.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jul 23, 2012)

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseni


----------



## colbhoy (Jul 23, 2012)

Nearly half-way through City Primeval by Elmore Leonard. He is a superb storyteller.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 23, 2012)

Adam Roberts - On
Great so far.
A boy who lives in a world which is one big wall. A goat falls off, endangering his family's capacity to earn and he starts wondering about what's out there beyond the wall.


----------



## frogwoman (Jul 24, 2012)

"the strange case of the vanishing penis" by ray z. stritchlow


----------



## sojourner (Jul 24, 2012)

ringo said:


> Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje


I loved that


----------



## ringo (Jul 24, 2012)

sojourner said:


> I loved that


 
Only 30 pages in but very good so far. The last book was so good that I could only follow it with something from one of my favourite authors, anything else would have been too disappointing.


----------



## story (Jul 24, 2012)

Immersing myself in late 60's / earlier 70's New York at the moment:

Just Kids - Patti Smith.

Please Kill Me - Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.

Edie: American Girl - Jean Stein and George Plimpton


----------



## sojourner (Jul 24, 2012)

story said:


> Just Kids - Patti Smith.


Is this as good as I suspect it is?


----------



## story (Jul 24, 2012)

sojourner said:


> Is this as good as I suspect it is?


 

Really good, sojourner.

Some of it was a litany of names of the amazing people who were there but I didn't mind that because the book stands as an important document of who-what-where-when.

What a life she's led!

Not a lot of biographical detail, but a touching, insightful exploration of the mutual-muse thing Robert and Patti shared. It's been much in my mind since I finished it last week, and it gives terrific context for the other two, which I am reading side by side.

I got a real sense of the special connection they shared, and of their focused struggle to become Artists.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 24, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Adam Roberts - On
> Great so far.
> A boy who lives in a world which is one big wall. A goat falls off, endangering his family's capacity to earn and he starts wondering about what's out there beyond the wall.


 

Finally! He's a wordier dicks and I really want his sci fi history tome but its nigh on fifty quid

try Land of The Headless next, its a very subtle piece with an unreliable narrator as the 1st person voice


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Jul 24, 2012)

I'm on The dream of the Celt, Mario Vargas Llosa and I'm disappointed....it just seems to me badly edited with stylistic annoyances and a bad translation, I checked the name of the translator, she is an (American) English native speaker but she seems to have misplaced her dictionary. I've loved all Vargas Llosa's other books.

Anyway, interesting in a way: the life or Roger Casement, probably like most English people, I have no idea about Irish history and the Easter Rising


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jul 24, 2012)

Where Have All The Fascists Gone? - Tamir Bar-On


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 24, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> Finally! He's a wordier dicks and I really want his sci fi history tome but its nigh on fifty quid
> 
> try Land of The Headless next, its a very subtle piece with an unreliable narrator as the 1st person voice


I'm being geeky like I am with Dick and am reading his works chronologically, so it's Stone after On


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 24, 2012)

If stone was ever filmed it would be done by Cronenburg or Lynch. So much body horror


----------



## Reno (Jul 24, 2012)

Seems like the good people of Urban still spell Cronenb*e*rg as Cronenb*u*rg.

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/david-cronenburgs-best-film.189043/


----------



## frogwoman (Jul 25, 2012)

a series of books about the most unethical psychiatrist in the world and the stupidest policeman in the world.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 25, 2012)

What are they called and who wrote them?


----------



## frogwoman (Jul 25, 2012)

My grandma.


----------



## starfish (Jul 25, 2012)

Christopher Brookmyres A Snowball in Hell. Its the second of his ive read & am enjoying it so far. I think ill read more of him.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 25, 2012)

frogwoman said:


> My grandma.


That's helpful!


----------



## frogwoman (Jul 25, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> That's helpful!


My grandma wrote them. I'm going to have to promote them on urban in a few months' time.


----------



## frogwoman (Jul 25, 2012)

I shouldn't have actually told you that btw because I'm not supposed to be revealing "trade secrets".


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2012)

Reno said:


> Seems like the good people of Urban still spell Cronenb*e*rg as Cronenb*u*rg.
> 
> http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/david-cronenburgs-best-film.189043/


 

I think its cos of the lager


----------



## articul8 (Jul 27, 2012)

Just finishing Andy Kershaw's auto-biog "No off switch".  What a top bloke (if a self-destructively wondering eye for the ladies - as I'm sure he'd admit).

Thoroughly recommended.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm being geeky like I am with Dick and am reading his works chronologically, so it's Stone after On


 
he has stated an intention to do a science fiction book in every genre- a laudable aim. Sometimes it falls down though. His take on Gullivers Travels is especially weird as he overplays Swifts disgust for bodily functions by including an entirely unnecessary shit-fetish


----------



## Bakunin (Jul 27, 2012)

'Firepower' by Chris Dempster and Dave Tomkins. I'm writing an article on mercenaries and these two signed up to fight in the Angolan Civil War during the 1970's under the command of Costas Georgiou (AKA 'Colonel Callan'). 'Callan' was a homicidal maniac who went in for torturing prisoners, summary executions of both local civilians and his own men (he bumped off a dozen of his own mercs at the notorious 'Maquela Massacre') and once tested a shotgun by calling an Angolan private out of the ranks, sticking the shotgun in his mouth and firing it.

It's informative and interesting, but also so violent and gruesome that it's the kind of book I'd read for work and not for pleasure. It's essentially a litany of Callan's brutalities (and those of his equally psychopathic inner circle) linked together with a solid, accurate account of the mercs' recruitment and service with the FNLA faction led by Holden Roberto and funded by both the CIA and the SDECE (French Secret Service). One benefit is that it's given me an idea for another article on the first Private Military Company (in the sense that we know them today), the not-at-all-opportunistically-named Security Advisory Services (SAS) run by the nefarious John Banks.


----------



## Thraex (Jul 27, 2012)

"Selected Political Speeches" Cicero. Translated and introduced by Michael Grant. The man was a brilliant orator and wrote very well. These speeches were written up after the event, sometimes by a few years, so how accurate they are is debatable. Enjoying it so far, and it's filling in lots of missing pieces for me.


----------



## catinthehat (Jul 31, 2012)

The map and the territory - Michel Hollenbeque.  Best fiction I have read in ages.


----------



## Thraex (Jul 31, 2012)

Giving myself a break from those pesky Romans with "The Wreckers" by Bella Bathurst. Well written, and fascinating stuff.


----------



## andy2002 (Jul 31, 2012)

Just started *The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross* after seeing it discussed on another recent thread.


----------



## N_igma (Jul 31, 2012)

Finally decided to tackle War and Peace. Not only is there over a thousand pages but each page is about 2 times as long as a normal book so I'm in this for the long haul! I'll come back in a few months when I'm finished and let you know how I got on!


----------



## TruXta (Jul 31, 2012)

Nightside the long sun by Gene Wolfe. Wasn't as immediately thrilled as with the previous tetralogy, but it feels like a proper grower a 150 pages in.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jul 31, 2012)

Genus by Jonathan Trigell, he's the guy who wrote that Boy A that got made into a film. Genus is shaping up to be a pretty good book in which the world is run by genetically improved fuckers and anyone who is in a natural, unimproved state is despised as part of a barely human underclass - It's all very believable, the only minor quibble I've got is that it features a dance craze known as "salsco" - Fictional bands, music etc always sound corny, though. Mind you, nothing could be as bad as the fictional band name "Pus Casserole", as seen in Tom Wolfe's brick thick pile of steaming brown stuff "A man In Full".


----------



## revol68 (Jul 31, 2012)

One of Europe's leading intellectual historians deconstructs liberalism's dark side.
In this definitive historical investigation, Italian author and philosopher Domenico Losurdo argues that from the outset liberalism, as a philosophical position and ideology, has been bound up with the most illiberal of policies: slavery, colonialism, genocide, racism and snobbery. 

Narrating an intellectual history running from the eighteenth through to the twentieth centuries, Losurdo examines the thought of preeminent liberal writers such as Locke, Burke, Tocqueville, Constant, Bentham, and Sieyès, revealing the inner contradictions of an intellectual position that has exercised a formative influence on today’s politics. Among the dominant strains of liberalism, he discerns the counter-currents of more radical positions, lost in the constitution of the modern world order.

Pretty good but the author doesn't half labour his points over and over again, and though I understand it's a history of an intellectual tradition I think it would be better with more empirical data and a bit fewer quotes from Burke etc


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 31, 2012)




----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2012)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


>


How are you finding it?


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 31, 2012)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


>


 
I've got that in my pile of book to read.
Isn't it the 3rd in a trilogy?  Does it stand up on its own?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2012)

It stands on its own, but best start off with American Tabloid and ease yourself into that style. You'll know more about some of the characters too


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 31, 2012)

Cheers OU, I'll add American Tabloid to the wish list


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 31, 2012)

BoatieBird said:


> I've got that in my pile of book to read.
> Isn't it the 3rd in a trilogy? Does it stand up on its own?


 
I didn't realize it was part of a trilogy. I've just started it - maybe I'll put it aside and pick up the others to read first.


----------



## ringo (Aug 1, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> American Tabloid


 
Read that last month, my first novel by him and very impressed.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 1, 2012)

Duluth - Gore Vidal (RIP)


----------



## marty21 (Aug 1, 2012)

Voyage - Stephen Baxter - sci fi - an 80s voyage to Mars

also just started - The Fall of Yugoslavia - Misha Glenny.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 1, 2012)

marty21 said:


> Voyage - Stephen Baxter - sci fi - an 80s voyage to Mars
> 
> also just started - The Fall of Yugoslavia - Misha Glenny.


 
I enjoyed McMafia, but he's not exactly a great stylist is Glenny.


----------



## marty21 (Aug 1, 2012)

TruXta said:


> I enjoyed McMafia, but he's not exactly a great stylist is Glenny.


 I just finished his book about internet wrong uns - scam artists,etc - quite enjoyed it - it was almost novel-like in its style


----------



## TruXta (Aug 1, 2012)

marty21 said:


> I just finished his book about internet wrong uns - scam artists,etc - quite enjoyed it - it was almost novel-like in its style


 
Maybe there was some clunky editing in McM. Not read any of his other books.


----------



## Idris2002 (Aug 4, 2012)

I read _The Naked and the Dead _last week, and found it to be excellent.

Now I'm trying to read _Women in Love, _and am finding it. . . peculiar.

Surely even in D.H. Lawrence's time nobody talked like that in real life?


----------



## Addy (Aug 4, 2012)

Just back of my hols and read the following in 1 week.
King of the Gypsies - Bartley Gorman  (Memoirs of bare knuckle fighting champ) - Not a bad read
Escobar Drugs. Guns. Money. Power - Roberto Escobar (the life story of Pablo Escobar as told by his brother) - Great Read
Deep Black - Andy McNabb - A bit Meh
Brute Force - Andy McNabb - More Meh


----------



## revol68 (Aug 4, 2012)

Addy said:


> Just back of my hols and read the following in 1 week.
> King of the Gypsies - Bartley Gorman (Memoirs of bare knuckle fighting champ) - Not a bad read
> Escobar Drugs. Guns. Money. Power - Roberto Escobar (the life story of Pablo Escobar as told by his brother) - Great Read
> Deep Black - Andy McNabb - A bit Meh
> Brute Force - Andy McNabb - More Meh


 
You tell people you read these books?

Do you subscribe to Nuts or Zoo as well?


----------



## Addy (Aug 4, 2012)

revol68 said:


> You tell people you read these books?
> 
> Do you subscribe to Nuts or Zoo as well?


 
Huh?

Some people might enjoy reading the Beano, others might like 50 Shades of Grey.
I quoted what books I last read, who the fuck are you to judge me on what books i read?

I take it you have read these books to make your judgement?


----------



## revol68 (Aug 4, 2012)

Addy said:


> Huh?
> 
> Some people might enjoy reading the Beano, others might like 50 Shades of Grey.
> I quoted what books I last read, who the fuck are you to judge me on what books i read?
> ...


 
Andy McNabb and books about bare knuckle fighters and gangsters, it just seemed to me like the reading list of a laddish cliche.


----------



## Addy (Aug 5, 2012)

I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself then unless you know the person your commenting on.
I read the books, I gave an opinion of them. None of it indicates to who or what type of person I am.


----------



## revol68 (Aug 5, 2012)

Addy said:


> I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself then unless you know the person your commenting on.
> I read the books, I gave an opinion of them. None of it indicates to who or what type of person I am.


 
jesus you're a serious fuck.

and sorry but reading Andy McNabb suggests you are a fuckwit, or a really ironic fuckwit at best.


----------



## Pickman's model (Aug 5, 2012)

Pigeons from hell


----------



## Addy (Aug 5, 2012)

revol68 said:


> jesus you're a serious fuck.
> 
> and sorry but reading Andy McNabb suggests you are a fuckwit, or a really ironic fuckwit at best.


Commenting on someone you know fuckall about tells me YOU ARE A FUCKWIT.

I'd like to meet you for a beer somtime, see what you think of me.


----------



## revol68 (Aug 5, 2012)

Addy said:


> Commenting on someone you know fuckall about tells me YOU ARE A FUCKWIT.
> 
> I'd like to meet you for a beer somtime, see what you think of me.


 
Oh don't be a precious fanny, I was commenting on the fact your reading list is hilariously ZOO magazine not delving into the deepest recesses of your consciousness.

Ironically enough I'd have thought someone with such a reading list wouldn't take themselves so seriously.


----------



## Addy (Aug 5, 2012)

your the 1 making assumptions of who i am and what i'm like.
Even your 'get out of jail' posts are somewhat trying to take the piss..... grow a set FFS and realise that everyone is different to you, and thats not a bad thing.

I'd like to meet you for a beer for you to see that i'm not what you expect.
I'm a 6 Sigma Green belt, so dont try and play me as being a zoo/nutz numbo
Stop treating people as lowlife... your fuck all special to look down and criticise what others read.

For the record I think the Bible and the Koran wore the worst story books I ever read.


----------



## Addy (Aug 5, 2012)

nahhh fuck it..., your just a cunt with no life.!!!

And for the record I have never touched, let alone, read/looked at a Zoo or Nutz mag in my life

Maaan I reached your level and done the name calling thing....... see what you done there lowlife?


----------



## revol68 (Aug 5, 2012)

you're a bit highly strung...

oh and I googled six sigma green belt and I don't understand how it would undermine the impression you're a bit of a mach tit, who whilst having the reading list of Zoo's ideal market is infact lacking any kind of humour.

I'm guessing you're more a GQ man.


----------



## Addy (Aug 5, 2012)

your just a prick

I assume you read Zoo/Nutz to decipher my book list (which was a borrowed number of books by work collegues)


fecking A-hole

your words are turds and are from this point forth, ignored. (talk shit to someone else cunt. If you want to debate it i'll gladly buy you a pint)


----------



## revol68 (Aug 5, 2012)

I might add I made no comment on the intellectual properties of Zoo readers or those that read Bravo Two Zero books, that's your own over defensiveness. I do find it rather odd that a man who would happily announce reading Andy McNabb would get so offended at the notion of reading Zoo, afterall the latter atleast is interested in flattering portrayals of many tits rather than the one.


----------



## imposs1904 (Aug 5, 2012)

The 2012 Reading Challenge thread is so much more sedate.


----------



## Dr Nookie (Aug 6, 2012)

Am reading Patti Smith's memoir 'Just Kids', which is inspiring me to write my own Carry On memoir 'The Nookie Years'.


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Aug 7, 2012)

revol68 said:


> jesus you're a serious fuck.
> 
> and sorry but reading Andy McNabb suggests you are a fuckwit, or a really ironic fuckwit at best.


 
"As Jonno let rip with the stolen kalashnikov, I looked down at the towl head I'd just slotted...'


----------



## Greebo (Aug 7, 2012)

World War Z


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Aug 8, 2012)

Jeff Robinson said:


> "As Jonno let rip with the stolen kalashnikov, I looked down at the towl head I'd just slotted...'


----------



## TruXta (Aug 8, 2012)

Greebo said:


> World War Z


 
Any good?


----------



## colbhoy (Aug 8, 2012)

I have just started Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. Very good so far.


----------



## Greebo (Aug 8, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Any good?


Not bad so far.  The narrator/interviewer is a UN employee, compiling eye witness accounts (beginning with the doctor who met patient zero) 10 years after zombies have been wiped out worldwide.  Told in a deadpan tone, leaving the reader to fill in the gaps.


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Aug 8, 2012)

sojourner said:


> Now halfway through The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. I'd only ever seen the TV series years ago. Really enjoying it.


another vote for this, I just finished it and loved it.


----------



## twentythreedom (Aug 9, 2012)

I am reading "The Source Field Investigations" by David Wilcock. It's brilliant.


----------



## renegadechicken (Aug 9, 2012)

I'm reading One People ...again...by Guy Kennaway.

Pretty good book about a place called Cousin's Cove in Jamaica


----------



## BoatieBird (Aug 10, 2012)

I've finished The Grapes of Wrath which was beautiful, moving, and inspiring.
Now I'm on The Brimstone Wedding by Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell), she's one of my favourite authors and after reading something as good as The Grapes I had to read something I knew I would enjoy.


----------



## Mephitic (Aug 10, 2012)

Bright Lights, Big City ~ Jay McInerney - I found it slow and I nearly quit about a 3rd of the way through it, alough it got better and the scene involving a drug fueled late night office raid, a ferret and a drunk editor cracked me up. 

I've just finished Dorothy Alison's ~ Bastard of out of Carolina, at times it was rather difficult to read, but an excellent book, couldnt put it down.   

Half way through 'Carolyn Jessop's ~ Escape'.  Jessop’s life and her eventual escape from the evil clutches of the FLDS. Really, really wierd stuff & fuck the FLDS, bunch of pervy ol fuckers.


----------



## ringo (Aug 10, 2012)

renegadechicken said:


> I'm reading One People ...again...by Guy Kennaway.
> 
> Pretty good book about a place called Cousin's Cove in Jamaica


 
Very enjoyable book, reckon I could read that again if I ever get another holiday.


----------



## marty21 (Aug 10, 2012)

Mephitic said:


> Bright Lights, Big City ~ Jay McInerney - I found it slow and I nearly quit about a 3rd of the way through it, alough it got better and the scene involving a drug fueled late night office raid, a ferret and a drunk editor cracked me up.


 
I bought that when it came out ! Haven't read it in years - i think I have signed copy from going to see the author at a signing session


----------



## andy2002 (Aug 10, 2012)

*Vampires by John Steakley:* The novel that the film John carpenter's Vampires was based on. The cliched bad-ass dialogue grates a bit but I'm enjoying this - proper nasty bastard vampires too.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 13, 2012)

Room, by Emma Donoghue - interesting so far


----------



## Bajie (Aug 13, 2012)

A book about Sir Richard Burton, that great Victorian adventurer, linguist, monumental racist and all round nutter.


----------



## rubbershoes (Aug 15, 2012)

I'm still on _Decline and fall of the Roman empire.  _I'm half way through and the western empire has declined and fallen. 

Don't think I'll bother with the rest yet. I'l save it for another decade


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Aug 17, 2012)

make room make room by Harry Harrison which was turned into Soylent Green for the big screen.
Only 4 chapters in and it's already different from the movie so all good.


----------



## Belushi (Aug 19, 2012)

I'm not going to read it, but I'm in the study at my Mothers house and picked a copy of the Girls Companion (Blackie and Son Limited, London and Glasgow 1961 ) on the front page of which my 9 year old Mum has carefully written her name and address


----------



## xenon (Aug 19, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> I'm still on _Decline and fall of the Roman empire.  _I'm half way through and the western empire has declined and fallen.
> 
> Don't think I'll bother with the rest yet. I'l save it for another decade



Ha. Me to. Well, I've read volume 1. A bit into volume 2. It's all about the Christiains now.


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Aug 19, 2012)

big eejit said:


> The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles.
> 
> Surprised to find myself rather gripped by it.


I've just enjoyed it a lot, too.  I didn't know what to expect, having come to it via references by Isherwood.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 19, 2012)

Just finished Stross's latest Atrocity Archives one, Apocalypse Index. Quite funny if becoming a little familiar in the conclusions. Good face off between senior Laundry and the Black Chamber management


----------



## ringo (Aug 19, 2012)

Reggae Going International 1967-1976: The Bunny "Striker" Lee Story - Noel Hawks & Jah Floyd

Hotly anticipated biography of one of reggae's most important and colourful figures. We've arranged with Jah Floyd of the Jamaican Recordings label for he and Bunny Lee to come to my house on September 5th to be interviewed on my radio show


----------



## frogwoman (Aug 19, 2012)

"The retreat from class" by Ellen Meiksins Wood. It's a bit hard going and difficult to understand in places and I think I'll have to re-read bits of it but it's very interesting.


----------



## xenon (Aug 19, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> Just finished Stross's latest Atrocity Archives one, Apocalypse Index. Quite funny if becoming a little familiar in the conclusions. Good face off between senior Laundry and the Black Chamber management




It's  Apocalypse Codex. 

I've not read much of the stuff he pastiches in that series, so recently read an HP Lovecraft collection. Enjoyable. But he does go on and on and on, about the weird kingdoms of whatsit and the monsters there in. The Randolf Carter stories. 

Not sure what to read next. Need something else shortish and fun to go along side Decline and Fall which I'm picking through.


----------



## Mephitic (Aug 19, 2012)

Choose to lose: The 7 day carb cycle. ~ load of bollocks.


----------



## fractionMan (Aug 20, 2012)

I'm reading "God Bless You Mr Rosewater" by Kurt Vonnegut







It's bloody great so far


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 20, 2012)

Onto Alistair Reynolds 'Blue Remembered Earth'

heard poor feedback on this one from others but I'm enjoying it so far-  although one critic had it right about the africa setting not feeling particularly african. 1 heard of elephants does not an african setting make


----------



## nogojones (Aug 20, 2012)

Primo Levi - The Wrench


----------



## JimW (Aug 20, 2012)

Just started this Russian re-write of LoTR from an Orc's perspective: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer
Fan translation due to rights issues (but free e-book) but still pretty good so far, and must be about Sovietsvs West at some level:


> For example, Barad-dûr, Sauron's citadel, is described in chapter 2 as
> ...that amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle-earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic. The shining tower of the Barad-dûr citadel rose over the plains of Mordor almost as high as Orodruin like a monument to Man – free Man who had politely but firmly declined the guardianship of the Dwellers on High and started living by his own reason. It was a challenge to the bone-headed aggressive West, which was still picking lice in its log ‘castles’ to the monotonous chanting of scalds extolling the wonders of never-existing Númenor.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Aug 20, 2012)

"A Dirty Distant War" - by E.M. Nathanson, a kind of sequel to the Dirty Dozen. It's a bit hard going tbh but I don't want to give up on it


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 20, 2012)

JimW said:


> Just started this Russian re-write of LoTR from an Orc's perspective: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer
> Fan translation due to rights issues (but free e-book) but still pretty good so far, and must be about Sovietsvs West at some level:


 

oh this I have to read- gotta link to the epub?


----------



## JimW (Aug 20, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> oh this I have to read- gotta link to the epub?


It's first external link on that wiki page. Right up your street! From what I've read so far would bet the author was in the Red Army for a while, has squaddie talk that seems realistic.


----------



## pengaleng (Aug 20, 2012)

I'm reading a story about someone who was someone's mate then they got a sniff of skirt and ended up totally ignoring everyone around them and it turns out they was just bullshitting and lying when it turned out their mate actually needed someone to talk to and they were in a well bad way and the first person was just a selfish self absorbed cunt who subsequently had no mates left cus they'd cunted them all off for a bit of vag.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 20, 2012)

I smell subtext


----------



## imposs1904 (Aug 20, 2012)

tribal_princess said:


> I'm reading a story about someone who was someone's mate then they got a sniff of skirt and ended up totally ignoring everyone around them and it turns out they was just bullshitting and lying when it turned out their mate actually needed someone to talk to and they were in a well bad way and the first person was just a selfish self absorbed cunt who subsequently had no mates left cus they'd cunted them all off for a bit of vag.


 
I think I read that Irvine Welsh short story.


----------



## flypanam (Aug 20, 2012)

Mike Davis - Planet of Slums


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 20, 2012)

JimW said:


> It's first external link on that wiki page. Right up your street! From what I've read so far would bet the author was in the Red Army for a while, has squaddie talk that seems realistic.


 

just getting into this, is v. good stuff- the account of the battle of pellenor fields and Aaragorns role is hilarious


----------



## JimW (Aug 20, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> just getting into this, is v. good stuff- the account of the battle of pellenor fields and Aaragorns role is hilarious


Glad you liked it - that's about the bit I've got to as well.
ETA: Reckon you can tell the translator isn't a native speaker mind - mixes up colloquial registers here and there, but doesn't hide the cracking read beneath so far.


----------



## neonwilderness (Aug 23, 2012)

I'm about to try starting Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock, it's been on my to read list for ages


----------



## 89 Til Infinity (Aug 23, 2012)

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell. Quite an eye opener into the nature of the Spanish Civil war.


----------



## nogojones (Aug 24, 2012)

Walter Mosley - A Red Death


----------



## quimcunx (Aug 25, 2012)

I need a new book but because I've  spent so little time in bookshops for the past decade I never have much idea what there is out there.  

I've just finished reading The Ancestor's Tale by Dawkins so something light and holidayish.  Not a romance.  Something Brookmyrish maybe. Funny would be good, or thrillery. 

Not sure if I've read that Mosley.  Maybe I'll start there on Amazon and see where it gets me.


----------



## imposs1904 (Aug 25, 2012)

quimcunx said:


> I need a new book but because I've spent so little time in bookshops for the past decade I never have much idea what there is out there.
> 
> I've just finished reading The Ancestor's Tale by Dawkins so something light and holidayish. Not a romance. Something Brookmyrish maybe. Funny would be good, or thrillery.
> 
> Not sure if I've read that Mosley. Maybe I'll start there on Amazon and see where it gets me.


 
Colin Bateman's Mystery Man novels are both thrillery and funny. I prefer him to Brookmyre.


----------



## quimcunx (Aug 25, 2012)

is mystery man the first in the series?

i shall download a sample.  Thank you.


----------



## imposs1904 (Aug 25, 2012)

quimcunx said:


> is mystery man the first in the series?
> 
> i shall download a sample. Thank you.


 
Mystery Man ->The Day of the Jack Russell -> Dr. Yes 

In that order. I've still to read Dr. Yes but I enjoyed the first two.


----------



## frogwoman (Aug 25, 2012)

I'm reading Hitler - Hubris by Ian Kershaw. It is that fucking good


----------



## Greebo (Aug 25, 2012)

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 25, 2012)

Something L. Ron?


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Aug 25, 2012)

binka said:


> finished 'the war of the worlds' last night. great book, brilliant in fact.


I just finished War of the Worlds, it's amazing, and quite scary. I don't know why I didn't read it when I was young, but I'm catching up now. Just started Slaughterhouse Five


----------



## Greebo (Aug 25, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Something L. Ron?


No - just something which I'm reading more to prove a point than out of pleasure.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 25, 2012)

Greebo said:


> No - just something which I'm reading more to prove a point than out of pleasure.


----------



## Greebo (Aug 25, 2012)

TruXta said:


>


*shrug* It's no big deal - plenty of others will be read for pleasure or information (or both), and even this one may turn out to be enjoyable.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 25, 2012)

It's not Marx is it?


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 25, 2012)

The Bible?


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Aug 25, 2012)

Andy McNab.


----------



## Greebo (Aug 25, 2012)

pseudonarcissus said:


> I just finished War of the Worlds, it's amazing, and quite scary. I don't know why I didn't read it when I was young, but I'm catching up now. Just started Slaughterhouse Five


You probably didn't read it when younger because HG Wells's writing style makes his books quite heavy going at times.  Also, people expect anything written before a certain date to be boring.  Silly when you bear in mind that fiction writers didn't sit down to write a literary classic, most of the time they had a story which they thought would sell and might be worth telling.


----------



## TruXta (Aug 25, 2012)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Andy McNab.


 
What point would that prove?


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Aug 25, 2012)

Dunno. I'm bored, I guess?


----------



## Greebo (Aug 25, 2012)

TruXta said:


> It's not Marx is it?


No


Orang Utan said:


> The Bible?


Did that decades ago, so no.


Captain Hurrah said:


> Andy McNab.


Do me a favour! No. 

Now can you stop turning this thread into a guessing game, please?


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 25, 2012)

I'm on Irenicon

Alt history tale set in medieval Italy. In this version of history Herod succeeded in killing jesus so instead of crucifixes theres just loads of statues of Mother Mary holding a dead baby.

It's not managed to grab me yet


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 25, 2012)

Harry Potter?
Dan Brown?


----------



## Greebo (Aug 25, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Harry Potter?
> Dan Brown?


1, not this time. 2, certainly not.


----------



## izz (Aug 25, 2012)

Just re-read Suttree, Cormac McCarthy. Most splendid.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 26, 2012)

JimW said:


> Glad you liked it - that's about the bit I've got to as well.
> ETA: Reckon you can tell the translator isn't a native speaker mind - mixes up colloquial registers here and there, but doesn't hide the cracking read beneath so far.


 

I noticed a couple of slightly jarring usages like 'broad' or 'guys' where it really wasn't appropriate to the tone- but despite  this its a great book. Did it in two all nighters aided by coffee and obsession


----------



## mentalchik (Aug 26, 2012)

The Departure - Neal Asher

still manfully struggling through the last book of The Hunger Games.......fuck me it's badly written and i'm bored of it


----------



## Mephitic (Aug 26, 2012)

A Drinking Life: Pete Hamill.


----------



## frogwoman (Aug 27, 2012)

Am onto the second part of kershaw's hitler bio, the one that covers the war. i hadn't read anything in depth about the nazi regime for a long time, but what a fucking bastard. my hatred is renewed


----------



## Meltingpot (Aug 27, 2012)

"Sex, Bombs and Burgers; How War, Pornography and Fast Food Have Shaped Modern Technology," by Peter Nowak.

http://www.sexbombsburgers.com


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 27, 2012)

frogwoman said:


> Am onto the second part of kershaw's hitler bio, the one that covers the war. i hadn't read anything in depth about the nazi regime for a long time, but what a fucking bastard. my hatred is renewed


Just found out I've got that one in my Kindle folder


----------



## frogwoman (Aug 28, 2012)

jeff_leigh said:


> Just found out I've got that one in my Kindle folder


 
got onto the part about invading the soviet union now.


----------



## Idris2002 (Aug 28, 2012)

frogwoman said:


> got onto the part about invading the soviet union now.


 
Great idea, Adolf! That'll work!


----------



## frogwoman (Aug 28, 2012)

Idris2002 said:


> Great idea, Adolf! That'll work!


 
and rudolf hess's mission to scotland  

seriously, it's hard to see how such absolute evil could have coexisted with such ridiculousness


----------



## izz (Aug 28, 2012)

I got given a book today, huzzah ! The King's Speech Logue/Conradi.


----------



## belboid (Aug 31, 2012)

Jeanette Winterson - The Daylight Gate.

Her Hammer Horror book about the Pendle Witches, very Hammerry and very entertaining so far.


----------



## belboid (Sep 1, 2012)

And so it remained. Darned good read, fairly true to the known facts, should make for a deliciously bloody film


----------



## izz (Sep 2, 2012)

Am re-reading Bring Up the Bodies, Mantel. Stunningly good.


----------



## alsoknownas (Sep 2, 2012)

Just finished reading Franzen's Corrections, which was superb. 

I realise since finishing it that I kind of had a cast of characters from films as visualisations for the characters in the book - f'rinstance Alfred Lambert was played by Carl, the old man from Up!, and Denise Lambert was played by Maxine Lund (Catherine Keener's character in Being John Malkovich), and Robin was played by Lotte Schwartz (Cameron Diaz's character in the same film).

I don't know if I always do this unconsciously when reading.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 2, 2012)

Alfred = Jerry Stiller.


----------



## alsoknownas (Sep 2, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Alfred = Jerry Stiller.


Not bad, but he has a little too much sass for me.  Alfred is essentially reserved, no?


----------



## TruXta (Sep 2, 2012)

alsoknownas said:


> Not bad, but he has a little too much sass for me. Alfred is essentially reserved, no?


 
I reckon Stiller could do reserved. Anyway, I think that's who I saw when I read it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 2, 2012)

Dan Simmons-Drood


laudanum, dickens, catacombs, mesmerism and soon


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 3, 2012)

Faraway Fairies - Melody and the gemini locket by Enid Blyton


----------



## Greebo (Sep 3, 2012)

Paradise Lost - Milton
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Messieurs les Enfants - Daniel Penac
Fish and Fritz - Wolfgang Koydl
No, reading them one at a time wouldn't be a better idea.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 3, 2012)

first time with Paradise Lost? knotty work and I had to slog the fucker many years ago. Due a re-read perhaps


----------



## Greebo (Sep 3, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> first time with Paradise Lost? knotty work and I had to slog the fucker many years ago. Due a re-read perhaps


1st time.    Not bad so far.  The footnotes are distracting, so after the first couple of pages (it took me that long to realise that they were mainly there to state the bleeding obvious unless you're completely unfamiliar with the cultural references and older forms of English) they're being ignored.

FWIW almost every single book, play, or poem which I enjoyed while doing Eng Lit (and French Lit for that matter) was ruined by having to dissect it and then psychoanalyse (Freudian theory only, if you please!) the main characters.  This one is being taken as it is, for what it is.  No more, no less.


----------



## stethoscope (Sep 3, 2012)

Geoffrey Hosking - Russia People & Empire 1552-1917


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Sep 3, 2012)

So, I take it he see's a nascent empire after the Muscovites defeated the Tatars at Kazan and Astrakhan.


----------



## langand (Sep 5, 2012)

Right now I am reading
*Gone Girl: A Novel by Gillian Flynn*


----------



## Thraex (Sep 6, 2012)

Recently finished "Secrets of the Fire Sea" by Stephen Hunt - I've seen 'steampunk' attached to his work...whatever, his books are fairly well written and enjoyable.

Now onto "The Punic Wars" by Nigel Bagnall, an ex military chap who has a good understanding of tactics etc. It's OK...maybe I'm getting Romaned out.


----------



## belboid (Sep 6, 2012)

Eisenstein: A Life in Conflift by Ronald Bergan.   A more 'personal' biography than most, less bothered about his politics or technical wizardry, more about 'reclaiming' the man and his works as just really bloody good films, that tell amazing tales superbly and beautifully.  Surprisingly light reading, but very good.


----------



## Gavin Bl (Sep 6, 2012)

I am reading 'How Green Was My Valley?' which is fab - first time I've read a book in my 'own voice' IYSWIM. So lovely and rich it is.


----------



## Bassism (Sep 7, 2012)

I am reading Scar Tissue a biog about Anthony Kiedis a member of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Its good so far. I love to read books like this as it helps me in my recovery from drink and drug addiction.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 7, 2012)

Basswhore said:


> I am reading Scar Tissue a biog about Anthony Kiedis a member of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Its good so far. I love to read books like this as it helps me in my recovery from drink and drug addiction.


 
Wonderland Avenue  next?


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 7, 2012)

Pratchet & Baxter 'The long earth'

poor, baxters plodding does not go well with terry's flashes of humour. Interesting many-worlds concept let down by irritating characters


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 7, 2012)

Terry Pratchett's 'Snuff'

Also poor. Pratchett's always been one for recycling his jokes but not usually so often in the same book. The plot, such as it is, is pretty feeble and padded out with too much unbearably gentle social commentary.

Everything that makes other discworld books so good is still there somewhere, but in such a watered-down, phoned-in way that this will probably be the first Pratchett book I couldn't be arsed to finish.


----------



## xenon (Sep 7, 2012)

Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Only half way through but I can see I'll have to get the sequel.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 7, 2012)

SpookyFrank said:


> Terry Pratchett's 'Snuff'
> 
> Also poor. Pratchett's always been one for recycling his jokes but not usually so often in the same book. The plot, such as it is, is pretty feeble and padded out with too much unbearably gentle social commentary.
> 
> Everything that makes other discworld books so good is still there somewhere, but in such a watered-down, phoned-in way that this will probably be the first Pratchett book I couldn't be arsed to finish.


 
I thought it was fine, about the average for a later Pratchett book.


xenon said:


> Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Only half way through but I can see I'll have to get the sequel.


 
Starts well, goes down the shitter IMO. And the author's a fucking arsehole.


----------



## xenon (Sep 7, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> first time with Paradise Lost? knotty work and I had to slog the fucker many years ago. Due a re-read perhaps



Read that for A level English. Well, the first few volumes. Just up to where Satan crosses the chaotic void to Earth. Tutor was a bit serious and remember sorta having a diversionary discussion by asking him, just how big is Satan. The simmilies describing him were a bit controdictory.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 7, 2012)

TruXta said:


> I thought it was fine, about the average for a later Pratchett book.


 
I dunno, some of his recent ones are among my very favourites, Wintersmith, Nation and Thief of Time in particular.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 7, 2012)

SpookyFrank said:


> I dunno, some of his recent ones are among my very favourites, Wintersmith, Nation and Thief of Time in particular.


 
Are those in his YA series? Not read any of them I think.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 7, 2012)

TruXta said:


> I thought it was fine, about the average for a later Pratchett book.
> 
> 
> Starts well, goes down the shitter IMO. And the author's a fucking arsehole.


 

spot on, 



Spoiler: hyperion



introducing ressurectedKeats was fail


 

but why is he an arsehole? dirt!


----------



## TruXta (Sep 7, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> spot on,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
He's basically done a Frank Miller and gone hyperconservative batshit crazy with a strong sideline in islamophobia.

As for Hyperion, I just thought there was a complete plot meltdown, made no sense to me what happened, so I lost interest, but ploughed on regardless cuz I hate leaving books unfinished.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 7, 2012)

what a cunt


right after the dissapointment of Long Earth now finished (shan't be bothering with the sequels)- onwards to China Meiville's new one for young adults 'Railsea'


----------



## Bassism (Sep 7, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> Wonderland Avenue next?


thank u xx


----------



## porp (Sep 8, 2012)

"Rainbow Pie: a memoir of redneck America" by Joe Bageant. From the library.

Loved this. Growing up in the rural-urban transition of a poor white rural family in Blue Mountains Virginia, mixed in with plenty of on-target argument / polemic on the politically motivated and deliberate dumbing-down of the class he comes from.

Great stuff, but puzzled that he uses the word "arse" a lot rather than "ass". Is that clumsy editing for the UK edition or Virginian usage?


----------



## starfish (Sep 8, 2012)

Hartmann the Anarchist by Edwards Douglas Fawcett. Picked it up at a wee stall at a graffiti festival in Bristol a couple of weeks ago.


----------



## andy2002 (Sep 9, 2012)

*New Model Army by Adam Roberts* - Haven't read any Roberts in a while and had forgotten how good he is.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Sep 10, 2012)

Lemony Snicket's  A Series of Unfortunate Events


----------



## ringo (Sep 10, 2012)

Rub-A-Dub Style: The Roots Of Jamaican Dancehall - Beth Lesser.

Knowledgable and inimate story of early 80's Jamaican sound system culture and recorded music. Massively let down by poor proof reading. Looks like it was done with spell checker on auto correct because every two pages there's a glaring error which breaks up the flow of the read and becomes quite annoying. Just small things, like singer replaced with signer, but wearing if such things irritate you as they do me.

Otherwise very, very good and free to download in pdf format from her website:

http://theimportedgoods.com/2012/08...-of-modern-dancehall-beth-lesser-free-e-book/


----------



## dooley (Sep 10, 2012)

recently finished these two http://www.troubleandstrife.org/new-articles/brain-wars/

now reading evolutions rainbow by joan roughgarden


----------



## belboid (Sep 10, 2012)

just about finished Miranda July's book of short stories _No One Belongs Here More Than You._

And ordered the new Michael Chabon book, Telegraph Avenue, which has lots about the joys of record shops_, _and was, apparently, written whilst listening to Yes!


----------



## porp (Sep 11, 2012)

X-teen years after it was on my university course reading list...I have got around to Raman Selden's "Readers' Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory". I find literary theory very slippery and ungraspable, and Selden is a clear writer and good explainer of difficult stuff. I've read the chapter on New Criticism and Leavis (_boo hiss?_),and now on to Russian Formalism.

At some point, I'll work out why I am subjecting my self to this.


----------



## flypanam (Sep 13, 2012)

Chris Ealham - Anarchism and the city. Wonderful book.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Sep 15, 2012)

Got two on the go at the moment.
Rachel Hewitt's Map Of A Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey & J.H. Andrews's A Paper Landscape: the Ordnance Survey in Nineteenth-Century Ireland.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 15, 2012)

coming to the end of Railsea, the steampunk moby dick.

After that onwards to Mary Gentles 'Grunts'


----------



## suenos (Sep 15, 2012)

Free Rides by John Edale.

Short stories about hitch-hiking, mixed with anarchist / anti-fascist politics.


----------



## izz (Sep 15, 2012)

A biography of Wilkie Collins by Peter Ackroyd. What a life the man had. Collins, not Ackroyd.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 15, 2012)

Although I've heard some stories about Ackroyd. Well one. But it's a blinder.


----------



## toblerone3 (Sep 16, 2012)

The City of London - Volume IV (1945-1980) David Kynaston.  Interesting to read about the history of the City in the 1940s and 50s.


----------



## colbhoy (Sep 16, 2012)

Darkness Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane.


----------



## Yu_Gi_Oh (Sep 16, 2012)

I'm reading The Odyssey.  Odysseus is starting to piss me off now.


----------



## JimW (Sep 16, 2012)

Yu_Gi_Oh said:


> I'm reading The Odyssey. Odysseus is starting to piss me off now.


Ur-archetype of the taxi driver who takes you the long way home.


----------



## Yu_Gi_Oh (Sep 16, 2012)

JimW said:


> Ur-archetype of the taxi driver who takes you the long way home.


 
This is why I prefer buses!


----------



## JimW (Sep 16, 2012)

Yu_Gi_Oh said:


> This is why I prefer buses!


If they'd had Easyjet back then, Homer would have had no story.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Sep 20, 2012)

sojourner said:


> Room, by Emma Donoghue - interesting so far


 
What did you make of it? I read a couple of reviews that said Jack was too articulate for a five year old but I'm not having that - He was still childish, but his circumstances had given him a unique voice. IMO Emma Donoghue did a superb job in making Jack entirely believable. In a way Room reminds me of a novel called Dogboy by Eva Hornung about a kid in Moscow raised by dogs - Partly because there are some similarities in the subject matter but mainly because both books caused me to think how the _fuck_ did someone think this up - Both staggering works of the imagination. Well, I think so anyway.


----------



## kittyP (Sep 21, 2012)

I have just ordered this The Teleportation Accident
Found a National Book Tokens gift card that the FIL gave me for my birthday about 2 years ago and it worked on line yay!

I can't remember where I heard about it now, maybe the radio... 



> HISTORY HAPPENED WHILE YOU WERE HUNGOVER When you haven't had sex in a long time, it feels like the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone. If you're living in Germany in the 1930s, it probably isn't. But that's no consolation to Egon Loeser, whose carnal misfortunes will push him from the experimental theatres of Berlin to the absinthe bars of Paris to the physics laboratories of Los Angeles, trying all the while to solve two mysteries: whether it was really a deal with Satan that claimed the life of his hero, the great Renaissance stage designer Adriano Lavicini; and why a handsome, clever, charming, modest guy like him can't, just once in a while, get himself laid. From the author of the acclaimed Boxer, Beetle comes a historical novel that doesn't know what year it is; a noir novel that turns all the lights on; a romance novel that arrives drunk to dinner; a science fiction novel that can't remember what 'isotope' means; a stunningly inventive, exceptionally funny, dangerously unsteady and (largely) coherent novel about sex, violence, space, time, and how the best way to deal with history is to ignore it. LET'S HOPE THE PARTY WAS WORTH IT


----------



## kittyP (Sep 21, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Rachel Hewitt's Map Of A Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey


 
I would love to read this. 

OS maps make me feel all tingly inside


----------



## Biddlybee (Sep 21, 2012)

kittyP said:


> I have just ordered this The Teleportation Accident
> Found a National Book Tokens gift card that the FIL gave me for my birthday about 2 years ago and it worked on line yay!
> 
> I can't remember where I heard about it now, maybe the radio...


sounds interesting 

I'm reading The Sisters Brothers... really enjoying it, third book in as many weeks


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 21, 2012)

Just finished "Whispers Underground" - Ben Arranovitch's latest. Okay but not as good as his others, less scary.

Not sure what next, will have to look at what is laying round at home.


----------



## kittyP (Sep 21, 2012)

Biddlybee said:


> sounds interesting
> 
> I'm reading The Sisters Brothers... really enjoying it, third book in as many weeks


 
Even though I think it is nothing like it really, the blurb and cover reminded me of The End of Mr Y. 
Did you get around to reading that at all?


----------



## Biddlybee (Sep 21, 2012)

I don't have it, so nope 

I've got a huge pile of books but keep seeing new ones I want to read.


----------



## andy2002 (Sep 21, 2012)

I really enjoyed Kim Newman's 'Anno Dracula' a few months ago, so have just started the sequel, 'The Bloody Red Baron'.


----------



## BoatieBird (Sep 21, 2012)

I'm reading Ian McEwan's Solar, interspersed with bits of David Crystal's The Stories of English.


----------



## tommers (Sep 21, 2012)

I'm reading "Riding Through the Dark", which is David Millar's autobiography.  And I've got the complete works of Lovecraft on the go too.


----------



## xenon (Sep 21, 2012)

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scot Linch. It's fucking brilliant.


----------



## redsquirrel (Sep 21, 2012)

frogwoman said:


> Am onto the second part of kershaw's hitler bio, the one that covers the war. i hadn't read anything in depth about the nazi regime for a long time, but what a fucking bastard. my hatred is renewed


Superb book


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 22, 2012)

Dozois 2011 collection of the years best sci fi shorts. A mixed bag. Dozois year review at the start is thorough and interesting as ever. This year  there seems to be quite aa few american entries who don't get how a short story works, its not write to word limit then leave a few ellipses. That will not do in place of an ending

and Alisdair Reynolds entry was proper lazy, but I think he spent most of the year on Blue Remembered Earth


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Sep 22, 2012)

toblerone3 said:


> The City of London - Volume IV (1945-1980) David Kynaston. Interesting to read about the history of the City in the 1940s and 50s.


I've got a few of his books. Never dull.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Sep 22, 2012)

kittyP said:


> I would love to read this.
> 
> OS maps make me feel all tingly inside


 
I like A - Z's, me.Fuck google maps, A to Z's are far more detailed, someone must have to walk about town mapping all these tiny little paths and such.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 22, 2012)

Ian C. Esslemont - Return of the Crimson Guard. His second in the Malazan universe. About 40 pages in, so far so good.


----------



## kittyP (Sep 22, 2012)

Biddlybee said:


> I don't have it, so nope
> 
> I've got a huge pile of books but keep seeing new ones I want to read.


 
I am pretty sure I leant it to you one night after being at ours at BWL. 
Me and Kam were arguing about who's copy you should borrow  

Don't worry if not, I have probably leant it to someone else.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 22, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Ian C. Esslemont - Return of the Crimson Guard. His second in the Malazan universe. About 40 pages in, so far so good.


 

did you do Night of Knives?

was lightweight I thought,didn't quite show Ians skill. RoTCG  is an improvement


----------



## TruXta (Sep 22, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> did you do Night of Knives?
> 
> was lightweight I thought,didn't quite show Ians skill. RoTCG is an improvement


 
Nope, just picked this up. Got the new Erikson book too, first in the Kharkanas series. Rake, Draconus, Mother Dark mmmmmmmmmmmm.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 22, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Nope, just picked this up.* Got the new Erikson book too, first in the Kharkanas series*. Rake, Draconus, Mother Dark mmmmmmmmmmmm.


 

OMG i didn't not know of these.ta.


----------



## Biddlybee (Sep 22, 2012)

kittyP said:


> I am pretty sure I leant it to you one night after being at ours at BWL.
> Me and Kam were arguing about who's copy you should borrow
> 
> Don't worry if not, I have probably leant it to someone else.


Nope not me, maybe the Cptn? I do have your Philip Pullman books though


----------



## frogwoman (Sep 22, 2012)

redsquirrel said:


> Superb book


 
aye, i also read Michael Burleigh's "Death and Deliverance" as well about the aktion-t4 programme

both really good, if burleigh's one was slightly spoilt by slagging off marxism every now and again


----------



## kittyP (Sep 22, 2012)

Biddlybee said:


> Nope not me, maybe the Cptn? I do have your Philip Pullman books though


 
Ah it's all swings and roundabouts innit  I have some books of yours too. 
Maybe I leant it to Cass...


----------



## Frances Lengel (Sep 22, 2012)

frogwoman said:


> Am onto the second part of kershaw's hitler bio, the one that covers the war. i hadn't read anything in depth about the nazi regime for a long time, but what a fucking bastard. my hatred is renewed


 
Hitler? A bastard? Surely not.

You ever heard of this book - Swastika Night by Katherine Burdekin?

https://solarbridge.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/swastika-night-katherine-burdekin/


----------



## frogwoman (Sep 22, 2012)

Frances Lengel said:


> Hitler? A bastard? Surely not.
> 
> You ever heard of this book - Swastika Night by Katherine Burdekin?
> 
> https://solarbridge.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/swastika-night-katherine-burdekin/


 
i've heard of it aye, didn't realise it was written in 1937. worth a look?


----------



## Frances Lengel (Sep 22, 2012)

I don't know - I've got it, but not got round to it yet. Just thought it might be the kinda thing you might be into. And Dot as well - It's not exactly science fiction, but it's in the future init?


----------



## starfish (Sep 22, 2012)

March Violets by Phillip Kerr. The first Bernie Gunther novel.


----------



## frogwoman (Sep 23, 2012)

didn't know our bernie was into science fiction


----------



## magneze (Sep 23, 2012)

I'm still trying to read Kraken. About halfway through but it's tougher going than any of his other books so far.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 23, 2012)

John Connolly "The Burning Soul". It's started well.


----------



## izz (Sep 23, 2012)

Just finished 'Laughter in the Dark' by Nabokov. I desperately want either a new Proulx, McCarthy or Mantel but it'll be ages yet. Dang.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 23, 2012)

I'm reading Bringing Up The Bodies, izz. It is utterly brilliant! Of course.


----------



## belboid (Sep 24, 2012)

belboid said:


> And ordered the new Michael Chabon book, Telegraph Avenue, which has lots about the joys of record shops_, _and was, apparently, written whilst listening to Yes!


Finished that. An entertaining read, well written, rounded characters blah blah. But all felt just a little trite in the end, it's certainly no Kavalier and Clay. 

Onto Compton McKenzies Whisky Galore now. Great film, but never read the book, and I'm off to ( roughly) where it's set later today, so it seems like a good time to correct my oversight.


----------



## BoatieBird (Sep 24, 2012)

BoatieBird said:


> I'm reading Ian McEwan's Solar, interspersed with bits of David Crystal's The Stories of English.


 
Solar was boring me so I've fucked it off in favour of James Ellroy's Blood on the Moon.
Much more readable


----------



## izz (Sep 24, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm reading Bringing Up The Bodies, izz. It is utterly brilliant! Of course.


 
I held my breath for the ENTIRE TIME the first time i read it, even tho i was pretty sure who dies.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 24, 2012)

BoatieBird said:


> Solar was boring me so I've fucked it off in favour of James Ellroy's Blood on the Moon.
> Much more readable


Solar is ace I thought! 
Though the protagonist is an insufferable bellend.

Is Blood On The Moon Ellroy's attemp at sci-fi?


----------



## 8115 (Sep 24, 2012)

I thought Solar was absolutely terrible.

I bought a book the other day, can't remember what it's called.


----------



## BoatieBird (Sep 24, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Solar is ace I thought!
> Though the protagonist is an insufferable bellend.
> 
> Is Blood On The Moon Ellroy's attemp at sci-fi?


 
I think that was the trouble with Solar, I had no patience or sympathy with the protagonist.
And I couldn't be bothered with all the physics in it.
I might give it another go at some point.



8115 said:


> I thought Solar was absolutely terrible.


 
or maybe I won't bother


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 25, 2012)

The Drowned Cities by Paulo Bacigalupi

high hopes for this after enjoying 'Wind Up Girl so much. Another post eco crash tale, in america. looking good


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 26, 2012)

Steven Erikson - Gardens Of The Moon - A Tale Of The Malazan Book Of The Fallen
It's the first of ten books.
Guess what genre it is?
Bit daunted by the maps and dramatis personae - those names! - but I'm getting stuck in nonetheless.


----------



## districtline (Sep 26, 2012)

Solar really isn't one of his best books. The idea behind it was decent enough but it just didn't work as a piece of fiction. There's only one word to describe that book: boring.

I've just started Boomerang by Michael Lewis. Let's see how that turns out.


----------



## Thraex (Sep 26, 2012)

More Roman schizzle: "The Gods of Roman Britain" - Miranda J Green. Only 75 pages with quite a few illustrations/photos. Fairly interesting, but I've already spotted a couple of mistakes regarding Mithras.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 28, 2012)

The Long walk by Slawomir Rawicz

Gruelling story about Polish army officers who escaped from a Siberian labour camp in 1941 and tried to escape to India  . It seems that if it happened , it wasn't him who did it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 28, 2012)

Hitler :Hubris by Kershaw

first of a two part bio of the naughty man


----------



## TruXta (Sep 28, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Steven Erikson - Gardens Of The Moon - A Tale Of The Malazan Book Of The Fallen
> It's the first of ten books.
> Guess what genre it is?
> Bit daunted by the maps and dramatis personae - those names! - but I'm getting stuck in nonetheless.


 
You'll either love it or hate it. It does get better, the first book isn't the best IMO. As for all the names and places and people - it just gets worse! I've read them all, loved them, but it's a proper commitment.


----------



## Mephitic (Oct 1, 2012)

Sudhir Venkaresh: Gang Leader for a Day.   Brilliant!



*http://www.sudhirvenkatesh.org/books/gang-leader-for-a-day*


----------



## Arlarse (Oct 5, 2012)

I'm reading Lustrum by Robert Harris. Yes it's popularist, fiction and follows a certain formula yet it also makes the Roman Empire accessible to people who probably wouldn't delve in to a dry academic study of the Romans. Previously I read Imperium by Harris  and thoroughly enjoyed it. Again another work of fiction that draws on Roman and Greek historical documents and presents them within a work of fiction.


----------



## Zac Stardust (Oct 5, 2012)

Stephen King's Skeleton Crew (Collection of short stories).

One of the finest short story collections I've ever read.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 6, 2012)

Then you've never read Chekov


----------



## Manter (Oct 6, 2012)

Mephitic said:


> Sudhir Venkaresh: Gang Leader for a Day.   Brilliant!
> 
> 
> 
> *http://www.sudhirvenkatesh.org/books/gang-leader-for-a-day*


I loved that! Apparently he is in proper trouble with the anthropologist/ sociologist community for methodological issues, but I thought it was illuminating.  Have you read The Corner?


----------



## Manter (Oct 6, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> The Drowned Cities by Paulo Bacigalupi
> 
> high hopes for this after enjoying 'Wind Up Girl so much. Another post eco crash tale, in america. looking good


That has been on my bedside table for about 6 months. Maybe time to get stuck in....


----------



## Zac Stardust (Oct 6, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Then you've never read Chekov


 
I own Chekhov's A Journey to Sakhalin.


----------



## magneze (Oct 7, 2012)

I've given up on Kraken for now. Annoying book. Really didn't care who or what nicked a giant squid. Wati was the only character I liked. 

Now reading Don Norman's Living with Complexity.


----------



## 8115 (Oct 9, 2012)

I'm reading The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell.  It's ok, bit superficial but a fairly easy read so far.  It's not turning my world upside down.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Oct 11, 2012)

"The House of Silk" - Anthony Horowitz's Sherlock Holmes novel. Easy to read and quite enjoyable


----------



## sojourner (Oct 11, 2012)

'Just Kids' by Patti Smith

Just fucking brilliant. I LOVE how she writes.  So many moments of identification in there for me too, which surprised me.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 11, 2012)

TruXta said:


> You'll either love it or hate it. It does get better, the first book isn't the best IMO. As for all the names and places and people - it just gets worse! I've read them all, loved them, but it's a proper commitment.


 Got halfway through and ditched it. I don't have the time for this shit and I have plenty of time.
Have nearly finished Stone by Adam Roberts - my favourite of his so far. Absolutely brilliant writer. Proper sci-fi that makes you think.
Next up is Polystom, if I can't track own Polar Park.
I have just started Martin Amis' Lionel Asbo, though I don't think I'll make til the end. It seems to be an examination of the 'underclasses' by an upper middle class snob who has done his research from his mansion by watching Jeremy Kyle and observing tracksuited people in supermarkets or from street cafes. There's even a pic of him on the dust cover sat at a street cafe with a pen, watching the scum parade by him. The book should be called _These People_.


----------



## marty21 (Oct 11, 2012)

Austerlitz - W G Sebald


----------



## 8115 (Oct 11, 2012)

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, proper hardcore popular science/ psychology.  It's all about decision making and presents a very persuasive argument for the brain having two systems to make decisions with, also packed full of research and quirky trials.  It took me a little while to get into but it's great.


----------



## Mephitic (Oct 11, 2012)

Manter said:


> I loved that! Apparently he is in proper trouble with the anthropologist/ sociologist community for methodological issues, but I thought it was illuminating. Have you read The Corner?


 

Nope, not read it, i've added it to my list thx


----------



## starfish (Oct 11, 2012)

Judge Dredd Year One: City Fathers by Matthew Smith. Its a murder mystery set towards the end of Dredds first full year on the streets. A smile was raised at an early mention of those ICU pussies. Full Mentals rule ya bass.


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 11, 2012)

I have just started reading The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw. I read it years and years ago and have always intended reading it again. It is one of the best novels I have ever read. It shows how long ago it is since I read it because I really can't remember any of what I have read so far.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 12, 2012)

Ian m Banks tenth Culture novel 'Hydrogen Sonata'


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 12, 2012)

i'm gonna have a bash at that again from the beginning - think i only read the first three


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 13, 2012)

The Busconductor Hines by James Kelman


----------



## Zac Stardust (Oct 13, 2012)

Franz Kafka's The Castle (again)


----------



## izz (Oct 14, 2012)

The Matchmaker by Stella Gibbons, the only thing of hers I've read other than Cold Comfort Farm. Quite interesting.


----------



## mentalchik (Oct 14, 2012)

Veteran - Gavin G Smith


----------



## Frances Lengel (Oct 15, 2012)

Mephitic said:


> Nope, not read it, i've added it to my list thx


 
Yeah the Corner's alright. The chapter dealing with welfare dependancy's quite enlightened especially considering the book was written by Americans. A lot of the time even otherwise quite sensible Americans seem to have a bit of a blind spot regarding the necessity of adequate social security provision. Definitely worth a look anyway.


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 17, 2012)

Matterhorn  by Karl Malantes. Easily the best book about the Vietnam war I've ever read. Actually, it's the only Vietnam book i've read but I don't feel the need to read any more

It's moving and sounds very authentic.  we all know war is hell, but this tells us exactly why

8/10


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 18, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> Matterhorn  by Karl Malantes. Easily the best book about the Vietnam war I've ever read. Actually, it's the only Vietnam book i've read but I don't feel the need to read any more
> 
> It's moving and sounds very authentic. we all know war is hell, but this tells us exactly why
> 
> 8/10


 
Read this fairly recently and agree it was very good. If you haven't read it then I think you would also enjoy With the Old Breed by E B Sledge, one of the two books on which the TV series The Pacific was based.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 18, 2012)

Bloody Red Baron. Second in Kim Newmans re-issued alt. history vampire tales


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 18, 2012)

colbhoy said:


> Read this fairly recently and agree it was very good. If you haven't read it then I think you would also enjoy With the Old Breed by E B Sledge, one of the two books on which the TV series The Pacific was based.


 
thanks

got that one in the pile


----------



## Perroquet (Oct 20, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I have just started Martin Amis' Lionel Asbo, though I don't think I'll make til the end. It seems to be an examination of the 'underclasses' by an upper middle class snob who has done his research from his mansion by watching Jeremy Kyle and observing tracksuited people in supermarkets or from street cafes. There's even a pic of him on the dust cover sat at a street cafe with a pen, watching the scum parade by him. The book should be called _These People_.


 
It has a sneering vibe to it, no doubt. Poorly researched (council flat bedrooms the size of squash courts?!), and did he really have to spend the entire book phonetically explaining how hilarious Lionel's _craaaazy _london accent is?
Having said that, I persevered and I'm not entirely sorry. I'd probably still hesitate to recommend it though.

Just gave up on the new Will Self book (for a while anyway) and am currently calming my melted head with some Jeeves and Wooster.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Oct 21, 2012)

Pandaemonium - Christopher Brookmyre


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Oct 21, 2012)

North Korean Cinema: A History - Johannes Schonherr


----------



## marty21 (Oct 21, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> Matterhorn  by Karl Malantes. Easily the best book about the Vietnam war I've ever read. Actually, it's the only Vietnam book i've read but I don't feel the need to read any more
> 
> It's moving and sounds very authentic. we all know war is hell, but this tells us exactly why
> 
> 8/10


it is excellent, and I've read loads of stuff about 'nam - there are other great novels and books of that era -

such as

The 13th Valley - John Del Vecchio - he was also a vet but wrote his a bit quicker than Malantes did 

and

A Bright Shining Lie - Neil Sheehan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bright_Shining_Lie


----------



## Dandred (Oct 21, 2012)

Reading crime and punishment at the moment, really enjoying although the names are quite confusing.
Might move on to war and peace next.

I've just finished reading nearly all of Terry Prattchet's disk world books and they have been really enjoyable. He isn't given enough credit.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

Eh? He's given loads (too much) credit. He's loved by millions for some strange reason


----------



## TruXta (Oct 21, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Eh? He's given loads (too much) credit. He's loved by millions for some strange reason


 
Dandred might've meant credit given by the literary establishment. Overall I get the sense they think he's a lightweight. YMMV


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

I see. 
They are right though


----------



## Dandred (Oct 21, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Eh? He's given loads (too much) credit. He's loved by millions for some strange reason


 
I'd actually never read a book of his until about a year ago. Just thought he was a crack pot fantasy writer.
I'm surprised at how intelligent his books are at taking old stories and incorporating them into his own world. He is close to genius in this respect in my view.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

It's not the worlds he creates that annoy me about him, it's his nerd humour. I just don't find it funny to the point of annoyance. It's like Red Dwarf. I just will never get it.


----------



## Dandred (Oct 21, 2012)

To be honest I've never really laughed at his humour, I just admire the world he has created.

Can you give an example to one of his jokes and a red dwarf joke or humour? I'm not trying to pick at you, I just can't see the connection.


----------



## imposs1904 (Oct 21, 2012)

Perroquet said:


> It has a sneering vibe to it, no doubt. Poorly researched (council flat bedrooms the size of squash courts?!), and did he really have to spend the entire book phonetically explaining how hilarious Lionel's _craaaazy _london accent is?
> Having said that, I persevered and I'm not entirely sorry. I'd probably still hesitate to recommend it though.
> 
> Just gave up on the new Will Self book (for a while anyway) and am currently calming my melted head with some Jeeves and Wooster.


 
Martin Amis being a sneering wanker? Never!


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

Dandred said:


> To be honest I've never really laughed at his humour, I just admire the world he has created.
> 
> Can you give an example to one of his jokes and a red dwarf joke or humour? I'm not trying to pick at you, I just can't see the connection.


It's what I see as adolescent nerd humour with stupid unfunny oaths and daft names. Not my sort of thing at all.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

dp 
Dandred - if you're impressed with Pratchett's world building, you may enjoy George RR Martin. There really is a lot better out there!


----------



## Greebo (Oct 21, 2012)

A scanner darkly


----------



## Dandred (Oct 21, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> dp
> Dandred - if you're impressed with Pratchett's world building, you may enjoy George RR Martin. There really is a lot better out there!


Read all of them already. That last one was a bit boring.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

Agreed there!


----------



## TruXta (Oct 21, 2012)

Dandred said:


> Read all of them already. That last one was a bit boring.


 
You could have a go at the Malazan books. I've picked up the bug from Dotty, if you're into massive worlds and full on gods, demons and magic, and moreso lots of battles and grime, then these could well be your ticket. OU hated them, so there's that.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

I didn't hate them. I just didn't enjoy reading it. And it was too much of a time investment to commit to


----------



## Dandred (Oct 21, 2012)

I liked Brent weeks the way of shadows, but again the later books were not up to standard.

Any other recommendations?


----------



## TruXta (Oct 21, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I didn't hate them. I just didn't enjoy reading it. And it was too much of a time investment to commit to


 
Fairy nuff. And it is indeed a giant investment in time.


----------



## Dandred (Oct 21, 2012)

I can't believe how much I've enjoyed crime and punishment, it was always one of those books that looked dull, I quite like fantasy stuff but stuff that is too far out there I'm not keen on.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

I'm whizzing through Consider Phlebas and have all the other Culture novels stacked up next.
A Scanner Darkly too.
And i'm just about to start on that Bunny book by Nick Cave.
And I've just read the introduction to Jerzy Kominski's The Painted Bird and am looking forward to reading that very soon too.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

Dandred said:


> I can't believe how much I've enjoyed crime and punishment, it was always one of those books that looked dull, I quite like fantasy stuff but stuff that is too far out there I'm not keen on.


I loved it too and was surprised by how easy it was to read and how gripping it was for such a reputedly 'heavy' novel. It made me do a hella lotta soul searching. I wouldn't recommend reading it to anyone who had a guilty burden from the past plaguing them.


----------



## TruXta (Oct 21, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I loved it too and was surprised by how easy it was to read and how gripping it was for such a reputedly 'heavy' novel. It made me do a hella lotta soul searching. I wouldn't recommend reading it to anyone who had a guilty burden from the past plaguing them.


 
So pretty much no-one then?


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

I don't know. I think there are loads of people who never dwell on things they shouldn't have done. When I read I was feeling very guilty about a relatively minor social misdemeanour and it made me catastrophise it and dwell on it much in the way Raskalnikov does over his crimes. It really needled me.
But on reflection, it was a healthy thing to do


----------



## TruXta (Oct 21, 2012)

Oh, I do have a recommendation. Atwood's _Crake and Oryx_ was really very good.


----------



## Dandred (Oct 21, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I loved it too and was surprised by how easy it was to read and how gripping it was for such a reputedly 'heavy' novel. It made me do a hella lotta soul searching. I wouldn't recommend reading it to anyone who had a guilty burden from the past plaguing them.


 
I've ripped through it, the copy I have has very small print and it's taken nearly a week of sitting on the bus half an hour each way, bloody names keep getting me confused though, will finish it either tomorrow or Tuesday.

I was thinking of getting the hunter games set next as they are quite cheap here in Korea, but not sure. War and peace is something I would like some advice on, is it worth it? I didn't think crime and punishment would be...


----------



## Dandred (Oct 21, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Oh, I do have a recommendation. Atwood's _Crake and Oryx_ was really very good.


 
Will try and get a copy if I can


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

War & Peace is massive! Puts me off a bit. I would give Anna Karenina a try as that is shorter (and brilliant).

Do you mean The Hunger Games? I've got those three books lined up to read soon too. Too many books, so little time!
My flatmate thinks they're brilliant and he's usually right


----------



## TruXta (Oct 21, 2012)

Saw the movie _Hunger Games_, didn't exactly inspire me to get the books. YA aren't they? Nothing wrong with that in itself of course.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Oh, I do have a recommendation. Atwood's _Crake and Oryx_ was really very good.


That's ace. I keep meaning to read Year Of The Flood too. Have you read it?

Forgot to mention that I also just finished Jo Nesbo's The Leopard. It was gripping but it was shite really.

I am so glad I've pulled myself out of a quagmire of despondency and got my reading mojo back - I'm reading shitloads now to make up for the last two years.


----------



## Dandred (Oct 21, 2012)

yes, hunger games.


----------



## TruXta (Oct 21, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> That's ace. I keep meaning to read Year Of The Flood too. Have you read it?
> 
> Forgot to mention that I also just finished Jo Nesbo's The Leopard. It was gripping but it was shite really.
> 
> I am so glad I've pulled myself out of a quagmire of despondency and got my reading mojo back - I'm reading shitloads now to make up for the last two years.


 
Nah, read only that O&C of hers. I think. If I've read aught else I must've forgotten.


----------



## N_igma (Oct 21, 2012)

_Voices from the Grave_ by Ed Moloney. Basically a collection of interviews done by Boston College with IRA man Brendan Hughes and UVF man David Ervine before they died that show their insights into the conflict. There's a lot of historical/social/political backgrounds and events thrown in there so people who know nothing can be brought up to speed on things that I could do without but all in all it's a fascinating read so far.


----------



## renegadechicken (Oct 22, 2012)

Belching Out the Devil: Global Adventures with Coca-Cola by Mark Thomas - only just read the intro, but i liked his People's Manifesto, and i have watched his TV programs on Coca Cola, so I'm hoping its a good read.


----------



## ringo (Oct 22, 2012)

Dandred said:


> I can't believe how much I've enjoyed crime and punishment, it was always one of those books that looked dull


 
Brilliant book, should be forced upon all wannabe gangsters


----------



## marshall (Oct 22, 2012)

Reading Orange Sunshine, story of the Hippie Mafia based in Laguna Beach mid to late 60s, boys-own style adventures of epic hash runs from Afghanistan to the west coast, springng Tim Leary from jail with help of the Black Panthers, how 'orange sunshine' their own brand of acid influenced Manson to Altamont to Hendrix; all very exciting, well worth a read.


----------



## Thraex (Oct 22, 2012)

Currently on "The Letters of the Younger Pliny", very good too. Did read The Hunger Games a while back, as a bit of a break, the other books depart from the 'Games' thing and focus on the disutopian society (in a YA style), I think...may give them a go at some point.


----------



## Zac Stardust (Oct 23, 2012)

I am Legend by Richard Matheson


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Oct 23, 2012)

C.J. Sansom's new book "Dominion" which I won in a competition!!

Looks like it is going to be an alternate history novel - Churchill never became PM, Britain sued for peace after Dunkirk and though not under German rule does have a facistic government.


----------



## TruXta (Oct 23, 2012)

Think I'll bring Tartt's _Secret History_ with me on this flight.


----------



## Idris2002 (Oct 23, 2012)

Started Agatha Christie's _Crooked House _last night. Also hacking through _Best New SF 25, _which is a really cracking collection this year.


----------



## marty21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Just started 'Out Stealing Horses' by Per Petterson , recommended by a TruXta! Quite enjoying it so far


----------



## TruXta (Oct 23, 2012)

marty21 said:


> Just started 'Out Stealing Horses' by Per Petterson , recommended by a TruXta! Quite enjoying it so far


 
Good man. I think you'll like it. It's short anyways.


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 23, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> And i'm just about to start on that Bunny book by Nick Cave.


 
Don't bother. It starts off  rambling and  doesn't improve


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 23, 2012)

QueenOfGoths said:


> C.J. Sansom's new book "Dominion" which I won in a competition!!
> 
> Looks like it is going to be an alternate history novel - Churchill never became PM, Britain sued for peace after Dunkirk and though not under German rule does have a facistic government.


 

Just finishing his "Revelation". I've no idea how it came to be on my bookshelf but it's passed the time.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 23, 2012)

rubbershoes said:


> Don't bother. It starts off  rambling and  doesn't improve


Not what I heard


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 23, 2012)

Just finished _Man in the dark _by Paul Auster.  Where did it all go wrong, Paul?  

His early stuff was excellent. _New York Trilogy_ and the _County of Last Things _were both superb.  

_Man in the dark  _is just self-indulgent.  It has the same questioning of reality and identity but he doesn't seem to know what to do with it this time


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 23, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Not what I heard


 

I read it when sober. Maybe I was doing it wrong


----------



## idumea (Oct 23, 2012)

I just finished Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. I've got The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain Banks and A Place of Greater Safety by Mantel botht somewhere in the post, and nothing new to read until then. *taptaptaptaptap*

Bring up the Bodies was incredible.


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Oct 23, 2012)

Sybil, or two nations
Benjamin Disreali
7% through, and it's interesting. A political novel about a bit of British history I know nothing about. At the moment he's slagging off the Duke of Wellington and his coalition government.."the administration entered with arrogance and left in panic". Familiar?


----------



## starfish (Oct 23, 2012)

I was going to read Frankenstein but i picked up Kiss by Ed McBain instead last night.


----------



## Zac Stardust (Oct 24, 2012)

I'm embarrassed to say, but I've finally got around to starting an Iain M Banks book, _Consider Phlebas_.


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 24, 2012)

idumea said:


> I just finished Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. I've got The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain Banks and A Place of Greater Safety by Mantel botht somewhere in the post, and nothing new to read until then. *taptaptaptaptap*
> 
> Bring up the Bodies was incredible.


 
I haven't read any of her books, is Bring up the Bodies a good place to start?


----------



## jeff_leigh (Oct 24, 2012)

Let the Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 24, 2012)

Adam Roberts 'New Model Army'


----------



## marshall (Oct 24, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Not what I heard



Personally, enjoyed that, very twisted, loved the bit where he has to stop the car and crack one off every time Kylie came on the radio, whaaat was that about? Very funny.


----------



## idumea (Oct 24, 2012)

BoatieBird said:


> I haven't read any of her books, is Bring up the Bodies a good place to start?


 
Definitely not the best place, in my opinion-- it's a sequel to Wolf Hall, so definitely gains a lot of power being read after that. There's a lot of stylistic quirks, in-jokes, backstory that will only make sense reading Wolf Hall first. Yes, it's about a well-known period in history, but with a very particular spin on things. 

If you like this review you'll like Wolf Hall / BUTB. 



> Mantel’s chief method is to pick out tableaux vivants from the historical record – which she has worked over with great care – and then to suggest that they have an inward aspect which is completely unlike the version presented in history books. The result is less a historical novel than an alternative history novel. It constructs a story about the inner life of Cromwell which runs in parallel to scenes and pictures that we thought we knew.


 
If you don't want to dive into Wolf Hall, I'd suggest Beyond Black if very very painfully dark/psychologically acute and hilarious modern fiction is your thing.


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 25, 2012)

idumea said:


> Definitely not the best place, in my opinion-- it's a sequel to Wolf Hall, so definitely gains a lot of power being read after that. There's a lot of stylistic quirks, in-jokes, backstory that will only make sense reading Wolf Hall first. Yes, it's about a well-known period in history, but with a very particular spin on things.
> 
> If you like this review you'll like Wolf Hall / BUTB.
> 
> ...


 
Thanks for that.
Painfully dark/psychologically acute and hilarious sounds right up my street

Oooh, I've just found a 2nd hand copy on Amazon for £2.80


----------



## Yu_Gi_Oh (Oct 25, 2012)

Just started Sexual/Textual Politics  by Toril Moi.


----------



## Perroquet (Oct 25, 2012)

The new Jon Ronson one. It's a collection of articles, nice and light. 
Just finished the bit about Insane Clown Posse, what a couple of morons.


----------



## marty21 (Oct 25, 2012)

jeff_leigh said:


> Let the Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist


 I enjoyed that


----------



## jeff_leigh (Oct 25, 2012)

Perroquet said:


> The new Jon Ronson one. It's a collection of articles, nice and light.
> Just finished the bit about Insane Clown Posse, what a couple of morons.


 Out of the Ordinary ?  I've got The Psychopath Test lined up for my next read


----------



## Perroquet (Oct 25, 2012)

No, Lost at Sea. It's a collection of his articles. 
Really liked the first half of The Psychopath Test, but it kind of lost momentum after that.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 25, 2012)

Adam Roberts 'Salt'


e2a


sack that I read the blurb for Adam Roberts 'Yellow Blue Tibia' and thats getting read, first


----------



## kalidarkone (Oct 25, 2012)

I am reading 'Freedom Through Football' The story of The Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls' I love it!! It is about how my local amateur footie team came about-from a bunch of punks and hippies (most of whom I know) and the links and networks that were created with other footy, cricket,and netball teams round the world, including the Zapatista rebels, Homies from Compton LA, South Africa......and the camaraderie. It is also very funny and makes me feel very connected to my locality and envious that I have missed out over the years....making up for it now however!!

Just an amazing and inspirational story about people pulling together, community spirit, inclusion and internationalism.


----------



## Manter (Oct 25, 2012)

Just finished the German Boy (Wastvedt) and the Collini Case (von Schirach)

Both v good but both just sort of petered out at the end.  Maybe its a german thing


----------



## izz (Oct 28, 2012)

Started The Garden of Evening Mists, Tan Twan Eng.  First couple of chapters i loved, not as sure about the book now i'm a bit further into it but not even entertaining the idea of stopping.


----------



## blossie33 (Oct 28, 2012)

I'm reading Deep in a Dream, a biography about the trumpeter Chet Baker by James Gavin.
I'd heard of him but knew nothing about him personally.
What a lifestyle, he was a heroin addict with a really dark personality.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Oct 29, 2012)

Practical Demon keeping - Christopher Moore


----------



## Mark Fullar (Oct 29, 2012)

Been lurking on here for a while. Quite new to books I hate to say (didn't really start reading till 30's lol)
Not a fan of Historical Fiction, like Mantel but love Christopher Moore, funny books are my thing. Practical Demon Keeping was great, as was lamb and You suck - all great. I'm a bit mad on Malice in Blunderland by Gibbings at the mo. Only book I've started again right after reading it. It's not for the weak, but my christ it is so funny. If any of you are fans of his, you might be shocked by this: http://www.thunderdomemag.com/stori.../187-dad-taught-me-to-laugh-i-hate-him-for-it

Pretty heavy. I've read a lot of Palahniuk. any more suggestions for the funnier/darker I'd love. done some Amis and Franzen (that was dull!). But if any have any ideas!


----------



## Yu_Gi_Oh (Oct 29, 2012)

I'm reading Ways of Seeing by John Berger.  I'm really loving how blunt and critical he is, and how how clear his writing is.    Just realised it's a TV series too.


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 29, 2012)

Mark Fullar said:


> done some Amis and Franzen (that was dull!). But if any have any ideas!


 
I'm guessing Martin Amis rather than Kingsley Amis.  If you haven't read Money, put it on your list


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 30, 2012)

Mark Fullar said:


> Pretty heavy. I've read a lot of Palahniuk. any more suggestions for the* funnier/darker* I'd love. done some Amis and Franzen (that was dull!). But if any have any ideas!


 
Have you read any Iain Banks?
The Wasp Factory is deliciously dark.


----------



## Mark Fullar (Oct 30, 2012)

Yeah Marin Amis. Asbo I didn't finish, awful. Thanks BoatieBird, I keep meaning to get The Wasp Factory, but it is never there lol. I like to go in and buy from Indy book shops rather than Amazon, but might have to. I hear it is a brilliant read.


----------



## Voley (Oct 30, 2012)

Yu_Gi_Oh said:


> I'm reading Ways of Seeing by John Berger. I'm really loving how blunt and critical he is, and how how clear his writing is.  Just realised it's a TV series too.


Been years since I read it but I really enjoyed the bit where he discusses this painting:





I shan't say any more in case you've not reached that bit yet but it's partly due to 'Ways Of Seeing' that I have a print of it on my wall.


----------



## Yu_Gi_Oh (Oct 30, 2012)

NVP said:


> Been years since I read it but I really enjoyed the bit where he discusses this painting:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
No, I have got to that bit. Brilliantly done.    It's recommend reading for my English degree which I was a bit wtf about at first but it's interesting how the theories overlap.


----------



## nogojones (Oct 30, 2012)

James Ellroy - the Hilliker Curse and Graham Green - The Quiet American


----------



## yield (Oct 30, 2012)

I'm four or five stories into Borges's Labyrinths. Mental thought provoking short stories.


> Ten years ago any symmetry with a resemblance of order - dialectical materialism, anti-Semitism, Nazism - was sufficient to entrance the minds of men. How could one do other than submit to Tlön, to the minute and vast evidence of an orderly planet? It is useless to answer that reality is also orderly.





DotCommunist said:


> Adam Roberts 'Salt'


Great read Salt. Stone washed over me though.


DotCommunist said:


> sack that I read the blurb for Adam Roberts 'Yellow Blue Tibia' and thats getting read, first


I'll get a copy of this soon.


----------



## Voley (Oct 30, 2012)

Yu_Gi_Oh said:


> No, I have got to that bit. Brilliantly done.


 Brilliantly done, you're right. You turn the page and everything changes. As you can probably tell, I'm still trying not to give anything away for anyone that's not read it here.


----------



## idumea (Oct 30, 2012)

Switching between A Place of Greater Safety and The Hydrogen Sonata is interesting.


----------



## renegadechicken (Oct 30, 2012)

Currently reading Narcomania - it's by some guys or at least one that posts on here. It studies the drug trade etc in the uk good read so far. And 'Ed' is in it as the owner of an 'underground' message board


----------



## Yu_Gi_Oh (Oct 31, 2012)

NVP said:


> Brilliantly done, you're right. You turn the page and everything changes. As you can probably tell, I'm still trying not to give anything away for anyone that's not read it here.


 
I'm trying not to give it away too.    I'm glad we discussed this a little, I've ended up using it as an example in a tutorial of how our knowledge of an author can colour what we read by them and shape our interpretations of the text.

Have you seen the TV series?


----------



## Voley (Oct 31, 2012)

Yu_Gi_Oh said:


> I'm trying not to give it away too.  I'm glad we discussed this a little, I've ended up using it as an example in a tutorial of how our knowledge of an author can colour what we read by them and shape our interpretations of the text.
> 
> Have you seen the TV series?


I did a very similar thing when I was at college too. I'll PM you about it though or it'll give it away. I was a bit young when Ways Of Seeing came out. My Mum was well into it so had the book so I read that many years later.


----------



## xenon (Oct 31, 2012)

Tiger Tiger by Alfred Bester.


----------



## ringo (Nov 1, 2012)

A Storm of Swords - George R R Martin


----------



## ViolentPanda (Nov 3, 2012)

Just finished Ian Bone's "Bash the Rich". Very funny.
Halfway through "Red Orchestra" by Anne Nelson, a biography of the "Rote Kapelle " anti-Nazi resistance ring centred in Berlin. Made somewhat poignant by having visited the site of execution (Plötzensee prison) of many of the members last year.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Nov 4, 2012)

The Psychopath Test - Jon Ronson


----------



## starfish (Nov 4, 2012)

Driven by James Sallis. Its his sequel to Drive.


----------



## dylans (Nov 4, 2012)

"Uncle Tungsten. Memories of a chemical boyhood" by Oliver Sacks. 

By the author of "the man who mistook his wife for a hat"  A memoir of his childhood love of chemistry and science.


----------



## Thraex (Nov 6, 2012)

"Pompeii" by Robert Harris, which I'm enjoying. Bonus: I picked it up in a second hand shop (Skoob) and just discovered it's been signed.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 6, 2012)

Thraex said:


> "Pompeii" by Robert Harris, which I'm enjoying. Bonus: I picked it up in a second hand shop (Skoob) and just discovered it's been signed.


Ooo, haven't been to Skoob for ages. Judd's up the road is great for non-fiction.


----------



## Thraex (Nov 6, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Ooo, haven't been to Skoob for ages. Judd's up the road is great for non-fiction.


 
Cheers, I'll give that a look sometime soon.


----------



## belboid (Nov 6, 2012)

Utopia, edited by Ross Bradshaw.  'The second annual themed compendium of writing by Five Leaves’
authors and friends.'  Some very good stuff, new and old, and some predicatable bits to skip over.


----------



## nogojones (Nov 6, 2012)

The Movement of the Free Spirit - Raoul Vaneigem. Nicely written, but I'm not convinced by the content yet.


----------



## idumea (Nov 8, 2012)

I've decided to suck it up and finally read some Deleuze. Hold me. 

I fell down a googling rabbithole after reading this article by Simon Reynolds on the antics of the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit and now I've got a to-read list a mile long


----------



## Thraex (Nov 9, 2012)

Now reading: "Mosaics In Roman Britain - stories in stone" by Patricia Witts.


----------



## Thraex (Nov 16, 2012)

Finished ^ a couple of days ago, now reading Simon Scarrow's "Under the Eagle". An enjoyable Roman romp.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 16, 2012)

^^^ obsessed


----------



## starfish (Nov 18, 2012)

The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr, the 2nd Bernie Gunther novel.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Nov 18, 2012)

Thraex said:


> Now reading: "Mosaics In Roman Britain - stories in stone" by Patricia Witts.


Oooh, nice...I'm not sure how she wangled it but my Gran took me to see the mosaics at Fishbourne when they were still being excavated.


----------



## Thraex (Nov 18, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Oooh, nice...I'm not sure how she wangled it but my Gran took me to see the mosaics at Fishbourne when they were still being excavated.


 
Wonderful   the pictures in the book were mainly B&W and not very good quality TBH. I was surprised at just how many have been 'lost' (lots of the pics were of paintings made when the mosaics were first discovered. And loads were damaged being lifted then 'restored' according to how they thought they should be ie they thought various images of one god were of something else etc and 'restored' accordingly  Very sad.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Nov 18, 2012)

Thraex said:


> Wonderful


Oh it was. I know it was before the museum opened so it must have been the early 1960s. I was aware of what an amazing find it was. My gran really enriched my childhood with stuff I just wouldn't ever have done with my parents.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Nov 18, 2012)

Emperor the death of Kings - Conn Iggulden


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Nov 19, 2012)

re-reading Neal Stephenson - cryptonomicon


----------



## colbhoy (Nov 19, 2012)

La Brava by Elmore Leonard.


----------



## Thraex (Nov 21, 2012)

"Nero - The Man Behind The Myth" - Richard Holland.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 21, 2012)

Are you only interested in one thing, thraex?


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 21, 2012)

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel.
Thanks for the recommendation idumea, I'm really enjoying it


----------



## Thraex (Nov 21, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Are you only interested in one thing, thraex?


 
Has been a bit of an obsession this year, admittedly, but I'm still only getting to grips with it all, and still finding it fascinating and absorbing. I did spot Scott's "Discoverie of Witchcraft" on the shelf as I was leaving and thought about picking that up (not read it yet)...that's another 'interest' that I can get very focussed on as well, ah well


----------



## Greebo (Nov 21, 2012)

Thraex said:


> <snip>I did spot Scott's "Discoverie of Witchcraft" on the shelf as I was leaving and thought about picking that up (not read it yet)...that's another 'interest' that I can get very focussed on as well, ah well


Oh yes, I remember that one; take in small doses and with almost as much salt as you'd take Uncle Al.


----------



## gosub (Nov 21, 2012)

Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, & Selected Stories by Nikolai Gogol after listening to *http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nt3y0*


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 21, 2012)

Thraex said:


> Has been a bit of an obsession this year, admittedly, but I'm still only getting to grips with it all, and still finding it fascinating and absorbing. I did spot Scott's "Discoverie of Witchcraft" on the shelf as I was leaving and thought about picking that up (not read it yet)...that's another 'interest' that I can get very focussed on as well, ah well


I get obsessed with subjects a bit too, but my attention soon wonders, and I always need to have something else to read that is unrelated


----------



## Greebo (Nov 21, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I get obsessed with subjects a bit too, but my attention soon wonders, and I always need to have something else to read that is unrelated


FWIW I approach that with a similar way to handling a toddler refusing to get dressed.  ie don't even give yourself the option of reading or not reading, instead it's "either read this one which needs to be finished before next week, or get a bit further through that one which so-and-so recommended".


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 21, 2012)

Thraex said:


> Has been a bit of an obsession this year, admittedly, but I'm still only getting to grips with it all, and still finding it fascinating and absorbing. I did spot Scott's "Discoverie of Witchcraft" on the shelf as I was leaving and thought about picking that up (not read it yet)...that's another 'interest' that I can get very focussed on as well, ah well


Have you had a look at glanville's work?


----------



## Greebo (Nov 21, 2012)

Pickman's model said:


> Have you had a look at glanville's work?


Who he?  Google doesn't seem to have much about him or his work.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 21, 2012)

This Glanvill? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Glanvill


----------



## spawnofsatan (Nov 21, 2012)

Kim Philby - My silent war


----------



## Greebo (Nov 21, 2012)

TruXta said:


> This Glanvill? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Glanvill


Another one to read if I become insomniac then,  or need a far less appealing option than whatever unpleasant or boring thing which I'm supposed to be doing.


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 21, 2012)

TruXta said:


> This Glanvill? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Glanvill


That's the one


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 21, 2012)

Greebo said:


> Who he?  Google doesn't seem to have much about him or his work.


Wrote c17 defence of belief in witchcraft, saducisimus triumphatus or similar


----------



## Greebo (Nov 21, 2012)

Pickman's model said:


> Wrote c17 defence of belief in witchcraft, saducisimus triumphatus or similar


Really not that much in need of sleep right now.  More in need of a 36 hour day.


----------



## Thraex (Nov 21, 2012)

Pickman's model said:


> Have you had a look at glanville's work?


 
I haven't, thanks for the heads up. I can sense that the veil will slip again sometime soon then I'll be off in that direction; various threads (ropes more like) in my tapestry that have consistently cropped up since childhood


----------



## marty21 (Nov 21, 2012)

Christopher Hitchens - Arguably - selected prose - enjoying it


----------



## Remmet (Nov 21, 2012)

Have finally got round to reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac: Really enjoying it so far, I can't believe I haven't read it before it's my ideal kind of book.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Nov 23, 2012)

Halfway through "Spooks - The Unoffocial History of MI5 From Agent ZIGZAG to the D-Day Deception 1939-45" by Hennessey and Thomas. Interesting, especially where they've avoided getting too melodramatic about the likes of ZIGZAG and GARBO.
Skimming Ralph Payne Gallwey's "The Book of the Crossbow", and just starting on Coyle, Campbell and Neufeld's "Capitalist Punishment", which looks to have some promising essays in it.


----------



## spawnofsatan (Nov 23, 2012)

Squeaky - Lynette Fromme's biography


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 27, 2012)

Ulster & the British connection


Its a bit sprawling and keeps to-ing and fro-ing from one century then back again. Still at least I found out what happened to James 1st.


----------



## mentalchik (Nov 27, 2012)

The Hydrogen Sonata - Iain M Banks


----------



## Manter (Nov 27, 2012)

gosub said:


> Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, & Selected Stories by Nikolai Gogol after listening to *http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nt3y0*


Love


----------



## Manter (Nov 27, 2012)

The blue afternoon, William Boyd and Mountains of Crumbs by Elena Gorokhova


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Nov 27, 2012)

"Red Country" - Joe Abercrombie. Kind of his take on a frontier Western story. It's good


----------



## nogojones (Nov 27, 2012)

Reich by Charles Rycroft. A sort of critical review of Wilhelm Reichs work by a Tavistock Institute shrink.

Looks like it may skirt around his work on fascism, but it's got potential.


----------



## magneze (Nov 28, 2012)

Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World - Nicholas Shaxson


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 29, 2012)

I am reading some biography of that drummer chap out of Nirvana. Like a good music biography (but prefer an auto biography) and I don't really care who they are about. I quite enjoyed Midge Ure's for instance.

It reads like the author tried really damn hard to shoehorn Ghrol himself into the story of his own life. It's almost like this zero enterty just happened to be at some interesting places and some interesting things went on around him. Actually a large amount of the book focuses on things that happened while Ghrol wasn't around.
It's a crap book but a fat one, I can't understand how I have managed to nearly finish it's crapness in only two days.

Anyway I now appear to have put Nevermind on while doing my work. I don't think I have done that since 1992.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 29, 2012)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> I am reading some biography of that drummer chap out of Nirvana. Like a good music biography (but prefer an auto biography) and I don't really care who they are about. I quite enjoyed Midge Ure's for instance.
> 
> It reads like the author tried really damn hard to shoehorn Ghrol himself into the story of his own life. It's almost like this zero enterty just happened to be at some interesting places and some interesting things went on around him. Actually a large amount of the book focuses on things that happened while Ghrol wasn't around.
> It's a crap book but a fat one, I can't understand how I have managed to nearly finish it's crapness in only two days.
> ...


Still prefer the first or the third albums.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 29, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Still prefer the first or the third albums.


 
Not really listened to the third one. I thought heart shaped box sounded like a muddy mess and gave it a miss.
The first one has some great songs but the production is shite and there is no power in the drums. I remember dismissing it as heavy metal when I first heard it.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 29, 2012)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Not really listened to the third one. I thought heart shaped box sounded like a muddy mess and gave it a miss.
> The first one has some great songs but the production is shite and there is no power in the drums. I remember dismissing it as heavy metal when I first heard it.


It is a bit metal the first one. The third is great, sounds much better than the previous two. Especially the drums.


----------



## Idris2002 (Nov 29, 2012)

Nirvana were shit, and they should have been recognised as shit from the beginning. That poor eejit might still be alive for one thing.

I am currently reading Thomas Pynchon's _Against the Day. _One of those things that shouldn't work but does.


----------



## Manter (Nov 29, 2012)

Dead Funny, Telling Jokes in Hitler's Germany.  By Rudolph Herzog.

Is v interesting, doesn't fall into the telling an anti hitler joke was resistance to the nazis trap.  Read Hammer and Tickle earlier in the year too.  Seems to be a new sub-genre of history....


----------



## TruXta (Nov 29, 2012)

Idris2002 said:


> Nirvana were shit, and they should have been recognised as shit from the beginning. That poor eejit might still be alive for one thing.
> 
> I am currently reading Thomas Pynchon's _Against the Day. _One of those things that shouldn't work but does.


Fuck off you grumpy old dolt. That Pynchon's one I haven't read yet.... I think. What's it about again?


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 29, 2012)

TruXta said:


> It is a bit metal the first one. The third is great, sounds much better than the previous two. Especially the drums.


 
Really?
I am sure it's on the internet, I will have a listen.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 29, 2012)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Really?
> I am sure it's on the internet, I will have a listen.


http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/In+Utero/114770


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 29, 2012)

Idris2002 said:


> Nirvana were shit, and they should have been recognised as shit from the beginning. That poor eejit might still be alive for one thing..


 
I'm not a huge fan, but there is no doubt that they were a much better quality, and natural progression from the other mostly tuneless grunge / hardcore acts that went before them.
DGC were looking for something to tap the disenchanted youth. I don't think they thought Nirvana would take off more than Sonic Youth did with them, and they could have probably done without the sudden game change. Nevermind sounds too polished to me but they recorded that in the way that they wanted, relatively cheaply,  before the big shots got involved.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 29, 2012)

TruXta said:


> http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/In Utero/114770


That's not a download is it?


----------



## TruXta (Nov 29, 2012)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> That's not a download is it?


Streaming.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 29, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Streaming.


 
Ok.

I'll have a listen after Sliver, I have not put that on since back then either. Now this one I do remember liking. I think I even took it to the disco so that they would put it on.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 29, 2012)

i only really liked bleach. after that they got progressively more soft and emo, reaching a nadir with an acoustic album.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 29, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Streaming.


 
Ok.
I don't like it. The singles have a guitar sound like mud.
The first two songs sound ok but they are not great songs.
Sounds like a disjointed mess for the most part. It's more 'alt' in places than I expected, but it very boring.
Yeah the drums sound pretty good when they are dominating.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 29, 2012)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Ok.
> I don't like it. The singles have a guitar sound like mud.
> The first two songs sound ok but they are not great songs.
> Sounds like a disjointed mess for the most part. It's more 'alt' in places than I expected, but it very boring.
> Yeah the drums sound pretty good when they are dominating.


Horses for courses. It's not something I listen to very often. Must be years since I last heard it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 29, 2012)

incesticide only stands the test of time

and pynchon is a cunt. Vineland was good though, trippy.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 29, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> incesticide only stands the test of time
> 
> and pynchon is a cunt. Vineland was good though, trippy.


Gravity's Rainbow is great. Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Nov 29, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> incesticide only stands the test of time
> .


 
Not listened to that, but as I recall it is all the old bootlegs we used to listen to before or around the time of nevermind.
Vaselines covers and the like.
I was a huge Vaselines fan in the 80s so enjoyed that.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Nov 30, 2012)

Too many bananas in the first bit of Gravity's Rainbow.


----------



## nogojones (Nov 30, 2012)

James Ellroy - Hollywood Nocturnes


----------



## izz (Dec 2, 2012)

re-reading Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson


----------



## Thraex (Dec 2, 2012)

Thank Minerva! I've just finished the book on Nero I was reading...very good, but I was itching to start Ben Aaronovitch's third book in the 'Rivers of London' series - Whispers Underground - that I bought last weekend. Just about to start it


----------



## starfish (Dec 3, 2012)

Mischief by Ed McBain. The 45th book in the 54 book 87th Precinct series.


----------



## TruXta (Dec 3, 2012)

Dunno, could probably do with reading some non-fiction.


----------



## May Kasahara (Dec 4, 2012)

Rodinsky's Room. It's really good but I have been reading it for ages  Can't remember the last time a book took me so long to finish.


----------



## Yu_Gi_Oh (Dec 7, 2012)

Gender Trouble by Judith Butler.


----------



## ebonics (Dec 7, 2012)

Rereading some Love and Rockets, and some Asimov short stories. Listening to Consider Phlebas in the car, so that's a retread, too. I've got loads of new stuff to be reading, but can't seem to make a decision on which one.


----------



## Thraex (Dec 9, 2012)

"Jamrach's Menagerie" - Carol Birch, very enjoyable, so far.


----------



## Greebo (Dec 9, 2012)

Professor Unrat - Heinrich Mann.   Not bad so far.  It just happened to be on the Elm Park Tavern's windowsill and readable while pissed.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 9, 2012)

Joe Abercrombie - The Blade Itself
John Lanchester - Capital
Iain M Banks - The Player Of Games
and Herzog on Herzog.
I just gave up on Will Self's Umbrella. Another time!
Just downloaded some of Sax 's Fu Manchu pulp novels too. Lolracism.


----------



## idumea (Dec 10, 2012)

Moominvalley in November.   Not even slightly twee, it's surprisingly dark and psychologically acute. Lots of loneliness and despair.


----------



## nogojones (Dec 11, 2012)

Just finished Voltaire's Letters on England and starting Giles MacDonogh's After the Reich. Looks like I could be on this one for a while


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Dec 13, 2012)

China Mieville - Un Lun Dun. Only just started it but am hooked


----------



## jeff_leigh (Dec 13, 2012)

The _Killer Inside Me _- Jim Thompson


----------



## Frances Lengel (Dec 14, 2012)

jeff_leigh said:


> The _Killer Inside Me _- Jim Thompson


 
Great stuff, I love old JT, me - Pop1280 or maybe Now And On Earth are my favourites of his.

E2a - I rated The Alcoholics as well, although a lot don't like it.


----------



## ringo (Dec 14, 2012)

A Feast For Crows - George R R Martin


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 14, 2012)

margaret10 said:


> Please Must Read " The Axe, The Drum, The Bowl, And The Diamond", which is very unique story.




Who wrote it and why must we read it?


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Dec 14, 2012)

Very unique? It's either unique or not.


----------



## TruXta (Dec 14, 2012)

Orb Sceptre Throne by Ian Esslemont - Malazan stuff. He's just not a great writer, but I'm hooked on the setting.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Dec 14, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Who wrote it and why must we read it?


Rouse, Classics bod.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 14, 2012)

TruXta said:


> Orb Sceptre Throne by Ian Esslemont - Malazan stuff. He's just not a great writer, but I'm hooked on the setting.


 
I'll  have to check that out. Ians not got Eriksons flair but I still rate him as better than most of his  contempories 


I'm on this doorstep bio of John Lennon. Well, so far its a total arselicking hagiography but there you go


----------



## TruXta (Dec 14, 2012)

DotCommunist said:


> I'll have to check that out. Ians not got Eriksons flair but I still rate him as better than most of his contempories


Erikson's paved the way for him.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Dec 14, 2012)

Just started Paper: An Elegy by Ian Sansom (wonder if he's related to C J Sansom? It's not a common name).


----------



## Thraex (Dec 14, 2012)

"Witches, Werewolves and Fairies - Shapeshifters and Astral Doubles in the Middle Ages" - Claude Lecoutreaux.


----------



## abstract1 (Dec 14, 2012)

Just finished Where I'm Calling From - collection of Raymond Carver short stories - haven't read any short stories in ages - very enjoyable


----------



## not-bono-ever (Dec 14, 2012)

Travels of a capitalist lackey by Fred Bassnet - a vintage £2 buy @ a charity shop in penge - travelogue about driving to to Tblisi via the arctic circle and home again in a 1926 Alvis. Sounds corny, but was printed in 1962 and rather jolly in a stiff upper lip sort of way.Tally Ho!


----------



## colbhoy (Dec 15, 2012)

Just started The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Dec 15, 2012)

halfway through The Autobiography of Malcolm X
and just started 11/22/63 by Stephen King (it's about time travel)


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Dec 15, 2012)

The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin: A Study in Twentieth Century Revolutionary Patriotism - Erik van Ree.  

An early Christmas present.


----------



## campanula (Dec 15, 2012)

found Reamde by Neal Stephenson in charity shop - bit sceptical because I got bored halfway through his last lot of stuff, basically, everything after Cryptonomicon, but Reamde was an enjoyable, if long-winded read.
Got Abercrombie's Red Country but one of the ingrates got there first. Oh yeah, got a new Erikson but it is part of a trilogy so am pondering hanging on a bit till the next one comes out (thought the Esslemont ones a bit rubbish). Also, got another couple of plant books - Cyclamen (Christopher Grey-Wilson) and Flowers of the Mediterranean (Oleg Polunin).


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Dec 15, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Just started Paper: An Elegy by Ian Sansom (wonder if he's related to C J Sansom? It's not a common name).


This book annoys me more than I can say. I'm putting it down and will return to it later in case I was just in a particularly irritable mood.


----------



## frogwoman (Dec 16, 2012)

colbhoy said:


> Just started The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo.


 
that's very good, proper gory though like most of his work


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 16, 2012)

Salman Rushdie 'Shame' Its very rushdie, the normal byzantine sprawling of messed up indian relatives and freaky happenings. Quite political as well, wrt pakistan and partition etc.

better than Satanic Verses. Odd that the one that caused the most hoo ha is imo his weakest novel.


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 16, 2012)

dynamicbaddog said:


> halfway through The Autobiography of Malcolm X
> and just started 11/22/63 by Stephen King (it's about time travel)


 
What do you think of 11/22/63?
I almost ordered it a couple of days ago and then changed my mind.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Dec 16, 2012)

BoatieBird said:


> What do you think of 11/22/63?
> I almost ordered it a couple of days ago and then changed my mind.


only about 100 pages in but enjoying it so far, think this is going to be one of his better ones


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 16, 2012)

dynamicbaddog said:


> only about 100 pages in but enjoying it so far, think this is going to be one of his better ones


 
Cheers, I think I'll order it.
I hadn't read any of his stuff for years (read loads when I was a teenager), but I loved Under the Dome


----------



## JimW (Dec 16, 2012)

Finally found a contemporary Chinese author I actually like (Cao Zhenglu) so reading my third book by him of the last fortnight or so.
ETA: He's quoted a bit in English here talking about his work: http://chinaleftreview.org/?p=715


----------



## marty21 (Dec 16, 2012)

Winter in Madrid - C J Sansom - quite enjoying it - Spanish Civil War/WW2 novel


----------



## JimW (Dec 16, 2012)

marty21 said:


> Winter in Madrid - C J Sansom - quite enjoying it - Spanish Civil War/WW2 novel


Intrigued and googled that, does look good.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Dec 16, 2012)

marty21 said:


> Winter in Madrid - C J Sansom - quite enjoying it - Spanish Civil War/WW2 novel





JimW said:


> Intrigued and googled that, does look good.


Read it a while ago - rather different from his usual historical stuff (which I also really enjoy) and well worth a read. I wouldn't bother with his latest "Dominion" though. I found it rather turgid and disappointing.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Dec 17, 2012)

A Drink Before the War - Dennis Lehane


----------



## colbhoy (Dec 17, 2012)

frogwoman said:


> that's very good, proper gory though like most of his work


 
He is very good, have read The Redbreast and Nemesis. I'm going to read the Harry Hole books in order.


----------



## colbhoy (Dec 17, 2012)

jeff_leigh said:


> A Drink Before the War - Dennis Lehane


 
I really enjoyed that, also read the next one in the series, Darkness Take My Hand.


----------



## rubbershoes (Dec 18, 2012)

Just finished  The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605 by Antonia Fraser

It reiterates how much  history is written by the victors

Also it's good to read a book with a colon in the title


----------



## Thraex (Dec 20, 2012)

"Elves, Wights and Trolls" - Kveldulf Gundarsson.


----------



## izz (Dec 23, 2012)

The Blade Itself, Joe Abercrombie. Not sure about it yet.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 23, 2012)

I loved it! Can't wait to get stuck into the rest of the trilogy. And the others! He's a good straight up writer with none of the ridiculous pseudomedieval flowery language in it that is often to fantasy's detriment.


----------



## izz (Dec 24, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I loved it! Can't wait to get stuck into the rest of the trilogy. And the others! He's a good straight up writer with none of the ridiculous pseudomedieval flowery language in it that is often to fantasy's detriment.


 
Thank you Sir, I shall persevere


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 24, 2012)

Cloud Atlas, loving it. Only 30 pages to go.


----------



## PricelessTrifle (Dec 29, 2012)

The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, Book 2).


----------



## Schmetterling (Dec 31, 2012)

Nothing to say; I have only come on here to report that, before this post, there had been 6,666 replies!

Happy New Year!

Oh well, might as well while I am here.  Am having another Margaret Atwood phase.  She so goooood!  I am reading a book of short stories and am even enjoying those. Not normally my cup of tea; I like a novel where I can submerge myself into the world.


----------



## starfish (Jan 1, 2013)

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco. Just getting into it but it seems quite intriguing so far.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 2, 2013)

"Standing in Another Man's Grave" - Ian Rankin. Good solid stuff


----------



## marty21 (Jan 2, 2013)

City of Gold - Len Deighton - enjoying it - Egypt during WW2


----------



## Yelkcub (Jan 2, 2013)

An Idiot's Guide To Waterbirthing*

*Can't remember the proper title but you get the gist


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 2, 2013)

Grits by Niall Griffiths.
I've been meaning to read it for ages and I got a copy for Christmas.


----------



## Voley (Jan 2, 2013)

Just finished "Unknown Pleasures", Peter Hook's fantastic book about being in Joy Division. Really recommend it to anyone with more than a passing interest in the band. Hard work towards the end, as you might imagine, but before that it's genuinely funny in places and there is some fine, fine bitchiness towards Bernard Sumner that raises a few smiles. As a bit of a JD obsessive there are bits in this book that are almost revelatory; both albums are dissected song by song in separate chapters. Not for everyone, these bits, granted. 

I rattled through it in two days, which I think was exactly the same for his book about The Hacienda and what a disaster that was. I like him as a writer. His book about New Order should be good when it comes out, I reckon. I find myself warming to him as I read his books - I always thought he was a bit of a nob when I used to go and see New Order regularly, even if I do love his bass playing. He comes across as very human in this one, particularly at the end when he really bares his soul about Curtis' suicide. One of the best books about music I've ever read, this.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 2, 2013)

NVP said:


> Just finished "Unknown Pleasures", Peter Hook's fantastic book about being in Joy Division. Really recommend it to anyone with more than a passing interest in the band. Hard work towards the end, as you might imagine, but before that it's genuinely funny in places and there is some fine, fine bitchiness towards Bernard Sumner that raises a few smiles. As a bit of a JD obsessive there are bits in this book that are almost revelatory; both albums are dissected song by song in separate chapters. Not for everyone, these bits, granted.
> 
> I rattled through it in two days, which I think was exactly the same for his book about The Hacienda and what a disaster that was. I like him as a writer. His book about New Order should be good when it comes out, I reckon. I find myself warming to him as I read his books - I always thought he was a bit of a nob when I used to go and see New Order regularly, even if I do love his bass playing. He comes across as very human in this one, particularly at the end when he really bares his soul about Curtis' suicide. One of the best books about music I've ever read, this.


 
I've been in two minds about whether to check out Unknown Pleasures - On that recommendation, I'm going to give it a go.

I've just started A New Kind Of Bleak by Owen Hatherley - I didn't know he suffered from chron's disease - It's a bit out of order this, but upon learning that, I felt my respect for Hatherley slip down a few notches - How can you look up to a guy who can't even have a solid shit? Still a good guy though, and the book's shaping up ok.


----------



## ringo (Jan 3, 2013)

The Room Of Lost Things - Stella Duffy

Odd to read this having just moved away from Loughborough Junction after 11 years there. I don't miss it for a second, I was ready to move away three years before I finally managed to. This is putting a slightly better shine on the memories of the place, which has to be a good thing.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Jan 3, 2013)

The Old Man And The Sea - Ernest Hemingway

First thing I've ever read by Hemingway; got two more on the shelf from Christmas now though.


----------



## izz (Jan 4, 2013)

The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller. Pretty good so far (page 106).


----------



## Zac Stardust (Jan 6, 2013)

Knut Hamsen's Hunger


----------



## barney_pig (Jan 6, 2013)

Getting towards the end of the first of my Christmas books; the enemy at the gates by Andrew wheatcroft  a history of the siege of Vienna of 1683, a super read.
 I also have the third part of Jonathan sumption's history of the 100 years war and warlord games' pike and shotte rules to read.


----------



## mentalchik (Jan 7, 2013)

Halfway through Escape Plans - Gwyneth Jones (as recommended by DottyC)

not sure i totally understand it but am enjoying it !


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 7, 2013)

its pretty dense with all the SIND and Acronymics but it makes sense sort of lol


just finishing Beat the Fascits here, put it on hold to devour Rushdie 'shame' but am now near done

after that its a toss up between 'stalins daughter' or the new wheel of time novel which is due out this mopnth


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jan 7, 2013)

Stalina/Alliluyeva/Peters died in 2011.  Cancer.


----------



## Thraex (Jan 8, 2013)

China Mieville's "Embassytown".....not too sure really.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 8, 2013)

Thraex said:


> China Mieville's "Embassytown".....not too sure really.


It gets better. Just finished Sheri Tepper's _Grass_ and very good it was. Think I'll do Bret Easton Ellis' _Imperial Bedrooms_ next. Should I read _Less than zero_ first?


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 8, 2013)

"Child 44" - Tom Rob Smith. Only started it yesterday but am enjoying it


----------



## Thraex (Jan 8, 2013)

TruXta said:


> It gets better. Just finished Sheri Tepper's _Grass_ and very good it was. Think I'll do Bret Easton Ellis' _Imperial Bedrooms_ next. Should I read _Less than zero_ first?


 
Not read Imperial Bedrooms, but thought Less Than Zero was good - been a while since I read it though.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 8, 2013)

Thraex said:


> Not read Imperial Bedrooms, but thought Less Than Zero was good - been a while since I read it though.


Apparently Imperial Bedrooms is the sequel.


----------



## magneze (Jan 8, 2013)

Ian Bone - Bash The Rich


----------



## Thraex (Jan 8, 2013)

magneze said:


> Ian Bone - Bash The Rich


 
My copy fell to bits.


----------



## magneze (Jan 8, 2013)

Thraex said:


> My copy fell to bits.


Did you drop it in the bath?


----------



## Thraex (Jan 8, 2013)

magneze said:


> Did you drop it in the bath?


 
Nah, I'm just a bit of a bugger for bending the spine back on books, all the pages fell out . I remember having a moan to him about it. He pointed me in the direction of the publisher...but I didn't moan to him . Funny read.


----------



## magneze (Jan 8, 2013)

Thraex said:


> Nah, I'm just a bit of a bugger for bending the spine back on books, all the pages fell out . I remember having a moan to him about it. He pointed me in the direction of the publisher...but I didn't moan to him . Funny read.


Yep, pretty entertaining so far.


----------



## braindancer (Jan 8, 2013)

More than human - Theodore Sturgeon - I've been finding it a bit of a struggle but am beginning to get in to it now I think! Anyone read it?  Should I persevere?


----------



## flypanam (Jan 9, 2013)

Vasily Grossman - Life and fate.

I'd love to say it was a delightful romp...it's not.


----------



## frogwoman (Jan 9, 2013)

Just ordered Norman Cohn's "Warrant for Genocide" and another one called "Abraham - Trials of Family and Faith" about the dude in genesis

they both look really good


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Jan 10, 2013)

Buddhist Warfare - Michael Jerryson and Mark Juergensmeyer


----------



## frogwoman (Jan 10, 2013)

norman cohn's book is a great read btw, i'd say essential reading if you want to know about conspiracy theories. i knew a lot of this stuff vaguely but didn't know how it all fitted together. he even talks about vaccination conspiracies, there's no way that these cunts can say that all this has nothing to do with jews.


----------



## marty21 (Jan 12, 2013)

Last Arguments of Kings - Joe Abercrombie - really enjoying this - read Before They Hanged earlier in the week, and The Blade Itself - enjoyed them both immensely


----------



## izz (Jan 13, 2013)

Just finished Tiny Sunbirds far Away by Christie Watson. Didn't think i'd enjoy it but its quite thought-provoking.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 13, 2013)

'memory of light' the 13th and final installment in the Wheel of Time cycle. Its ben a fucking long time coming but finally. The Last Battle comes


----------



## Superdupastupor (Jan 13, 2013)

frogwoman said:


> norman cohn's book is a great read btw, i'd say essential reading if you want to know about conspiracy theories. i knew a lot of this stuff vaguely but didn't know how it all fitted together. he even talks about vaccination conspiracies, there's no way that these cunts can say that all this has nothing to do with jews.


 
cheers for the heads-up 

gonna go and get that from the library now.


----------



## Greebo (Jan 13, 2013)

Today:
Narcomania - Max Daly & Steve Sampson
Polish for dummies  - Daria Gabryanczyk
Findings & Finishings - Sharon Bateman


----------



## TruXta (Jan 13, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> 'memory of light' the 13th and final installment in the Wheel of Time cycle. Its ben a fucking long time coming but finally. The Last Battle comes


You should feel thoroughly ashamed of yerself.


----------



## ringo (Jan 14, 2013)

At Hell's Gate - Claude Anshin Thomas. Autobiography of a Vietnam veteran who suffers post traumatic stress disorder, becomes an unemployable drug addicted drop out and eventually finds salvation through becoming a Buddhist monk. Inspiring stuff.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 14, 2013)

onwards to Adam Roberts 'By Light Alone'

in the future theres a cheap ubiquitous hair implant that absorbs sustenance through sunlight. The poor are left without food while ostentatious baldness and food consumption becomes a mark of the wealthy


----------



## izz (Jan 14, 2013)

Underworld, Don DeLilo. Early stages yet but quite promising.


----------



## silverfish (Jan 14, 2013)

23 Things _They Don't Tell You About Capitalism_: Ha-Joon Chang


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Jan 14, 2013)

The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs by Irvine Welsh
and
Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery by Norman Mailer


----------



## magneze (Jan 16, 2013)

Iain Sinclair - London Orbital


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 16, 2013)

CJ Sansom - Revelation. It's a historical detective novel set in Henry VIII's reign. My mum recommended it. Only a couple of chapters in, but it's running along nicely.

I am also rather digging the adventures of tattooed lunatic Gully Foyle in Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. He is a very interesting character that man. Can't wait to see how he (and the plot) develops.


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 16, 2013)

dombey and son by one charles dickens.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 16, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> CJ Sansom - Revelation. It's a historical detective novel set in Henry VIII's reign. My mum recommended it. Only a couple of chapters in, but it's running along nicely.
> 
> I am also rather digging the adventures of tattooed lunatic Gully Foyle in* Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination*. He is a very interesting character that man. Can't wait to see how he (and the plot) develops.


 

try 'the demolished man' an excellent psi-mind twister murder story. a v. good review here:

http://coilhouse.net/2009/09/all-tomorrows-the-demolished-man/


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 16, 2013)

Aye, I have that too.


----------



## Hollis (Jan 16, 2013)

magneze said:


> Iain Sinclair - London Orbital


 
Good luck!  I managed about 50 pages when I was in a 'funny mood' once.. I believe the term is 'densely written'..

I've just started 'The Rum Diary' again.. good stuff.. but is making me wanna go to the pub.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 16, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Aye, I have that too.


 

If I may be so presumptuos, it seems like you mine a certain sort of science fiction: Roberts, PK Dick, Vonnegut ?

if so I can't rate Harlan Ellinson highly enough to ye- also Bradbury when he's on form. Golden Apples of The Sun ftw.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 16, 2013)

Yes, it seems that way. Thanks for the tips. I am also reading Banks' work though.
Not so keen on the harder scifi. Don't really care how AG might work and how future wars will be conducted.
I may give M John Harrison's Light a read soon as a friend was raving about it last night.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 16, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> CJ Sansom - Revelation. It's a historical detective novel set in Henry VIII's reign. My mum recommended it. Only a couple of chapters in, but it's running along nicely.


 
it's not bad. he doesn't only do historical stuff I think


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 16, 2013)

He's written 4 about the same 'detective' but he wrote one book set in Spain during WW2 and another alternative history book about Britain under Nazi rule. So all historical, but not the same period. He is best known for his Shardlake novels though.


----------



## magneze (Jan 16, 2013)

Hollis said:


> Good luck! I managed about 50 pages when I was in a 'funny mood' once.. I believe the term is 'densely written'..
> 
> I've just started 'The Rum Diary' again.. good stuff.. but is making me wanna go to the pub.


I know what you mean - was hoping that it wasn't all like that. Very short sentences. All the time. To make a point. About something.


----------



## ringo (Jan 18, 2013)

Altered Carbon - Richard K Morgan

So far so very good.


----------



## magneze (Jan 18, 2013)

ringo said:


> Altered Carbon - Richard K Morgan
> 
> So far so very good.


Great book.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 18, 2013)

Altered Carbon is probably the best of morgan imo


I'm onto paul di fillipo 'Fresh Flowers'

never herd of the bloke before but he's got good pedigreee


----------



## Thraex (Jan 20, 2013)

"Mysteries of the Runes" - Michael Howard. A revised version of "Wisdom of the Runes" with added stuff and a more esoteric slant.


----------



## colbhoy (Jan 24, 2013)

Just  started At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill. Early pages and it is taking me a bit to get used to the unique writing style and Irish dialect. Anyone else read this?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 24, 2013)

Is it a pisstake of the O'Brien?


----------



## colbhoy (Jan 25, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Is it a pisstake of the O'Brien?


 
I haven't read O'Brien's but I don't believe it is. The story concerns two boys and swimming and I guess O'Neill thought he would go for this title as it would attract a lot of interest from book browsers.


----------



## marty21 (Jan 25, 2013)

Shakespeare's Local - Pete Brown -

basically he has obsessively researched the history of The George near London Bridge, which has been there in some form since at least the 1540s,and probably longer than that - also meanders off into discussing London Bridge a lot, and Southwark/Borough - very interesting stuff - I know the author slightly - see him in pubs around Stoke Newington - he writes a lot about beer


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 28, 2013)

_Billy Lynn's long halftime walk_ by Ben Fountain.  It looks at the American public's reaction to the Iraq war 

It's very funny in places and reinforces the lack of understanding of the how , what and why of the war


----------



## marty21 (Jan 28, 2013)

Also reading Ash - James Herbet - after a slow start it is finally getting interesting


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 29, 2013)

Chris Collett - "Blood Money". A colleague of Mr. QofG's suggested that as I like Ian Rankin I might like this. Hmmm...well it is not exactly on the same league as Ian Rankin. The writing is pedestrian and cliched - "one memorable night" - and both the characters and plot are two dimensional.

Sometimes it reads like an essay rather than a novel. However it is easy to read, which is what I fancy/need at the moment, and the plot is sufficient enough for me to keep reading but I am not sure I will be looking out any other books by the same author.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 29, 2013)

Just started Eric Hobsbawm's _Industry and Empire_.


----------



## Dr Nookie (Jan 29, 2013)

I'm reading 'We need to talk about Kevin' by Lionel Shriver about 100 years after everyone else. It's quite a shocking read, and I say that as a woman who's never wanted kids herself. Brave stuff!


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 29, 2013)

Norman Cohn 'Warrant For Genocide'

origins of the Protocols. Fascinating. the late 18th century tsarist court sounds fucking nuts


----------



## sojourner (Jan 30, 2013)

All Passion Spent, by Vita Sackville West.

Slag that lot off all you like, elitist cunts etc, but they did put out some fucking excellent writing


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 30, 2013)

I've just downloaded The Dice Man for a reread.


----------



## Dr Nookie (Jan 30, 2013)

sojourner said:


> All Passion Spent, by Vita Sackville West.
> 
> Slag that lot off all you like, elitist cunts etc, but they did put out some fucking excellent writing


 
Wow do people slag you off for the books you're reading? Can't wait till I start my next Jilly Cooper book then!


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2013)

Dr Nookie said:


> Wow do people slag you off for the books you're reading? Can't wait till I start my next Jilly Cooper book then!




I meant the Bloomsbury group being cunts as you well know!


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 31, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> I've just downloaded The Dice Man for a reread.


 

I'd doubt it would stand up to a reread


----------



## Dr Nookie (Jan 31, 2013)

sojourner said:


> I meant the Bloomsbury group being cunts as you well know!


 
Actually I didn't, ahem.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2013)

Dr Nookie said:


> Actually I didn't, ahem.


Ah

That was one of those embarrassing 'is she joking?' moments. And you weren't. Oh.  

Jilly Cooper's fucking shit btw


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> I've just downloaded The Dice Man for a reread.


Sorry - what?

A fucking RE read?  Are you off your fucking trolley?  It's WANK!


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 31, 2013)

I quite liked it.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2013)

It's one of the worst books I've EVER read, and that's going some

Still, as long as you don't actually go along with its premise, or practice it, I suppose there's some hope for you


----------



## marty21 (Jan 31, 2013)

Just started Capital - John Lancaster - which was one sale for 20p for the Kindle


----------



## yardbird (Jan 31, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> I've just downloaded The Dice Man for a reread.


I read it when it came out and admit to thinking the idea was kinda cool.

I was only 22 though.


----------



## Dr Nookie (Jan 31, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Ah
> 
> That was one of those embarrassing 'is she joking?' moments. And you weren't. Oh.
> 
> Jilly Cooper's fucking shit btw


 
I remember an ex of mine always flaming me about Jilly Cooper but I'd always come back at him with the 'Have you read one? Then shut up!' line. So one day he read one, and I shit you not, he ended up borrowing the lot from me!

Want to borrow my copy of Riders?


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 1, 2013)

marty21 said:


> Just started Capital - John Lancaster - which was one sale for 20p for the Kindle


I've just borrowed that from the library


----------



## braindancer (Feb 1, 2013)

magneze said:


> I know what you mean - was hoping that it wasn't all like that. Very short sentences. All the time. To make a point. About something.


 
I could cope with it as he walked up the River Lea as it's an area I know well meaning I was more inclined to put up with the grating writing style.  But once he got up to Edmonton I had to pack it in.  I also tried to read his book about Hackney but couldn't manage that either....


----------



## sojourner (Feb 1, 2013)

Dr Nookie said:


> I remember an ex of mine always flaming me about Jilly Cooper but I'd always come back at him with the 'Have you read one? Then shut up!' line. So one day he read one, and I shit you not, he ended up borrowing the lot from me!
> 
> *Want to borrow my copy of Riders*?


No


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 1, 2013)

Dr Nookie said:


> I remember an ex of mine always flaming me about Jilly Cooper but I'd always come back at him with the 'Have you read one? Then shut up!' line. So one day he read one, and I shit you not, he ended up borrowing the lot from me!
> 
> Want to borrow my copy of Riders?


I think I can guess who that is, unless all of your exes are book snobs


----------



## magneze (Feb 1, 2013)

braindancer said:


> I could cope with it as he walked up the River Lea as it's an area I know well meaning I was more inclined to put up with the grating writing style. But once he got up to Edmonton I had to pack it in. I also tried to read his book about Hackney but couldn't manage that either....


I've made it to page 148 so far. I joined the reading challenge thread and then started this book. Bad move, could take a while!


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 1, 2013)

I'll own up to enjoying the odd Jilly Cooper Dr Nookie.
She tells a good tale 

I'm currently reading Whit by Iain Banks.


----------



## Dr Nookie (Feb 2, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I think I can guess who that is, unless all of your exes are book snobs


 
Actually it wasn't him. I don't think he would ever have actually bothered to read one!


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 3, 2013)

I am RMTO to Dostoievsky's The Brothers Karamazov at the mo.


----------



## starfish (Feb 4, 2013)

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. My sister recommended it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2013)

Brilliant book!


----------



## starfish (Feb 4, 2013)

I hope so. Shes usually a good judge.


----------



## Prince Bert (Feb 4, 2013)

A brilliant self-help book that I wish I had found many years ago. _Your Erroneous Zones _by Wayne Dyer. It's just silly the book was published a year before I was born and would have been such a great help years ago, but I only find it now. Grrrr


----------



## Frances Lengel (Feb 5, 2013)

starfish said:


> Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. My sister recommended it.


 
Great stuff. Mind you I didn't realise there was a glossary at the back til I got near the end.


----------



## 8115 (Feb 5, 2013)

The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for everyone by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.

It's ok so far, but I think it's going to be hard going. They haven't really kept much up their sleeve, I think it's going to be a book stuffed full of evidence. And while I love evidence as much as the next person, I also like a narrative alongside it.


----------



## ringo (Feb 6, 2013)

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel


----------



## sojourner (Feb 6, 2013)

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell.  Can't believe I've not read this yet!  

Only on page 45 and by the christ,I've been having the fucking same conversations meself over the last couple of years, so much truth in it


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 6, 2013)

I need to read it again. I absolutely hated it when I first read it.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 7, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I need to read it again. I absolutely hated it when I first read it.


Did you?!  Why??  For me, it's like emptying out the contents of my mind, it's like all the arguments I have over and over and over again.  I'm gobsmacked actually - given the time it was written, it could really be NOW


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 7, 2013)

I was 16-18 and hated the mawkishness.
It seemed almost parodic, like a Monty Python sketch.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 7, 2013)

I was also annoyed cos I felt cheated by Allan Sillitoe's claim in the preface that it was 'utterly unsentimental'.
One of the first times I felt mugged off by a writer.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Feb 9, 2013)

Gargoyles by Tomas Bernhard. Well, I'm re reading it - I was pissed last time but I remember thinking this needs a better looking at. Fuck, man - And I've not even got to the princes monologue yet.

Alan Sillitoe's a prick BTW - Alan, it's an anagram of anal.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Feb 9, 2013)

And if you want to know about the way we live now - The Confusions Of Young Torless by Robert Musil is a decent start. Offers no hope though.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 9, 2013)

Just went through Neal Ashers 'line war' then Brian Aldiss 'Starship' (the better of the pair. A generation starship gone horribly wrong, tribes warring between hydroponic jungles etc)

Next up, a srs book about Abraham.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Feb 9, 2013)

Frances Lengel said:


> Gargoyles by Tomas Bernhard. Well, I'm re reading it - I was pissed last time but I remember thinking this needs a better looking at. Fuck, man - And I've not even got to the princes monologue yet.
> 
> Alan Sillitoe's a prick BTW - Alan, it's an anagram of anal.


 
He aint bad.

Ragged is one of those books that sixth-formers say they have read but really haven't.

As for me, Road to the Killing Fields: The Cambodian War of 1970-1975 - Wilfred P. Deac.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 9, 2013)

"The Seige" - Simon Kernick. I wanted the equivilent of a no need to think action movie and I have got it!


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 9, 2013)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Ragged is one of those books that sixth-formers say they have read but really haven't.


How is it one of those books? There isn't really a type of book that sixth formers pretend to read.
They pretend to read all sorts of shit


----------



## sojourner (Feb 9, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I was 16-18 and hated the mawkishness.
> It seemed almost parodic, like a Monty Python sketch.


That surprises me - I haven't interpreted it as mawkish in any way whatsoever.  I'm identifying with it like a bastard, more like.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Feb 9, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> How is it one of those books? There isn't really a type of book that sixth formers pretend to read.
> They pretend to read all sorts of shit


 
Just personal experience of others talking shit. Along with Orwell.


----------



## complience (Feb 9, 2013)

Ive been giving american literature another go
Tom Robbins Still life with Woodpecker - its like a warped version of the great gatsby


----------



## purenarcotic (Feb 10, 2013)

Julie Walters' autobiography, 'That's Another Story'.


----------



## izz (Feb 12, 2013)

Captain Hurrah said:


> Just personal experience of others talking shit. Along with Orwell.


 
Harrumph. I read a lot of Orwell when I was in sixth form.

ok so I haven't read any _since..._


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 12, 2013)

his essays can be quite good. Politics and The English Language is dated but worth your time- and the whimsical 'Decline of the English Murder'

all free to read online


----------



## scanner (Feb 15, 2013)

Real film buffs might enjoy "The Parade's Gone By" by Kevin Brownlow. A fine book on the silent cinema. ( Though real film buffs will probably have read it anyway! ) I'm halfway through and really enjoying the sense of nostalgia.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 15, 2013)

Light of the Western Stars - Zane Grey - got it free on the kindle, fancied reading a Western novel after reading Dee Brown's book American West


----------



## sojourner (Feb 15, 2013)

marty21 said:


> Light of the Western Stars - Zane Grey - got it free on the kindle, fancied reading a Western novel after reading Dee Brown's book American West


American West is a fantastic book

Is the Zane Grey one any good?


----------



## marty21 (Feb 18, 2013)

sojourner said:


> American West is a fantastic book
> 
> Is the Zane Grey one any good?


American West was great, bought Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee to read again - lent a copy to someone years ago and never got it back    enjoyed Zane Grey, will read some more of him


----------



## frogwoman (Feb 18, 2013)

i read a really good one recently called "have mercy on us all" by fred vargas. absolutely amazing, about a killer inspired by the black death.

then i read a really shit one by martin o'brien where he blatantly enjoyed writing the torture scenes a little bit too much


----------



## Thraex (Feb 18, 2013)

Recently read Kevin Crossley-Holland's "The Penguin Book of Norse Myths - Gods of the Vikings" (1980) which I thoroughly enjoyed, well laid out and comprehensive. Now just about to complete H.R.Ellis Davidson's "Gods and Myths of Northern Europe"; a slightly older book (1964) [a very good year I might add ] which had a more scholarly and academic feel to it, still very good.


----------



## Thraex (Feb 20, 2013)

Now reading " Norwegian Folktales" selected from the collection of Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe, first published over 100 years ago; delightful .


----------



## Fleursauvage (Feb 22, 2013)

Three Little Words by Jessica Thompson


----------



## sojourner (Feb 22, 2013)

Been struck by a couple of things lately in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (amongst a zillion other things!), and I'd love it if someone came back to me on these points cos I've got no one else to talk to about it, cos no fucker appears to have read it.

1. How similar the structure is to Boys from the Blackstuff.  I think Bleasdale MUST have been influenced by it. 

2. The house they begin work on, right at the start, is called 'The Cave'. There's a very definite comparison to be made to Plato's Allegory of the Cave.  It seems so appropriate.  The men are the prisoners within the cave, and Frank is the prisoner/philosopher freed from the cave, able to see the 'real' reality.

Think it's deliberate, calling the house The Cave?  I can't go and research it cos I've not finished it yet so don't want any spoilers.


----------



## Miss-Shelf (Feb 22, 2013)

someone will have written a paper on it.  hurry up and then you can go read them


----------



## sojourner (Feb 22, 2013)

Miss-Shelf said:


> someone will have written a paper on it. hurry up and then you can go read them


I don't want to rush through it, I'm enjoying it too much


----------



## Biddlybee (Feb 22, 2013)

Just started Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady - liking it so far.


----------



## Miss-Shelf (Feb 22, 2013)

I am reading a Maritime History of the Channel Islands - its interesting as an account of just how long the channel islands have been useful as an offshore base for the UK (1200's onwards) 
changing legislation used to get around trade with France and the continent when UK was at war with various nations.  eg times when trade was prohibited between uk and france it could go through the channel islands.  Channel islands reward was freedom from regular customs and taxes.


----------



## ringo (Feb 22, 2013)

Just started Pride & Prejudice - wasn't really sure I'd like it but am really enjoying it, i didn't think it would be so funny.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 22, 2013)

Biddlybee said:


> Just started Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady - liking it so far.


Brilliant book that - May K recommended it ages ago - tis on my bookshelf


----------



## tangerinedream (Feb 22, 2013)

Simon armitage - walking home


----------



## joe dick (Feb 22, 2013)

Roadside Picnic - Though I haven't finished it. Thus far it is pretty good.
Also reading Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine". Halfway through and so far very good.

I just finished Nanette Walter's "The Sculptress". Read it once long ago, wanted to see if it was as good as remembered. It wasn't. But still, overall, very readable.


----------



## Gavin Bl (Feb 22, 2013)

Just read 'Call of the Wild' - twas great.


----------



## nogojones (Feb 22, 2013)

Brendan Behan's collected plays


----------



## Chick Webb (Feb 23, 2013)

I'm reading a book of Lovecraft stories in bed, and Market Forces by Richard Morgan on the commute.  I saw him (RM) last weekend at a scifi convention and he said it's his weakest book.  One thing's for sure, it's pretty depressing after a bad day at work, plus I don't particularly like hearing loving details about cars.  I'm basically just waiting for the unpleasant main character to get his comeuppance now.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 23, 2013)

The Hypnotist - Lars Kepler. It's, well, sort of a thriller but more than that. Took me a while to get into the style of writing but it is quite compelling


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 24, 2013)

gonna start 'The State and Socialism' by mihaly vajda tomorrow


----------



## Idris2002 (Feb 24, 2013)

Chick Webb said:


> I'm reading a book of Lovecraft stories in bed, and Market Forces by Richard Morgan on the commute. I saw him (RM) last weekend at a scifi convention and he said it's his weakest book. One thing's for sure, it's pretty depressing after a bad day at work, plus I don't particularly like hearing loving details about cars. I'm basically just waiting for the unpleasant main character to get his comeuppance now.


 
Market Forces is actually pretty good, but it should have been done as straight satire.


----------



## Thraex (Feb 25, 2013)

Just finished "Imperial Bedrooms" - Bret Easton Ellis; now onto "Mabinogion - The Four Branches", which is a bit "Thy", "Thou", "Verily" etc . Supposedly one of the few pagan, mediaeval folktales that wasn't xianised .


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 27, 2013)

Marxism In Todays World by peter taafe

he sure does love trotsky doesn't he. Saying mean things about fr. Joe as well


----------



## Thraex (Feb 27, 2013)

"Swedish Folktales and Legends" - Translated and Edited by Thygessen and George Blecher. Full of chuckles so far . Interesting how these tales switched from being told to entertain adults to children.


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Mar 3, 2013)

MightyAphrodite said:


> i read that not very long ago, i knew if i searched this thread for it it'd be on here, anyway i really loved that book, amazing.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> ...


 
I'm 1/4 of the way through Confereracy of Dunces and I´m loving it, then I came across this post that I hadn't noticed before and I've got a lump in my throat


----------



## Greebo (Mar 4, 2013)

Pas un Jour - Anne F Garreta


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 4, 2013)

Science Fiction Century

Collection of shorts from the great and the reletively unknown from 19th century onwards. Amazingly misogynist piece by CS Lewis in there but so far other than that, good. Some excellent translated polish/german/italian stuff as well


----------



## BoatieBird (Mar 5, 2013)

Money, Martin Amis.
I first read it in my late teens and I spotted it in a charity shop and thought I'd re-read.
Enjoying it so far.


----------



## Chick Webb (Mar 5, 2013)

Idris2002 said:


> Market Forces is actually pretty good, but it should have been done as straight satire.


You know, I was wondering was it meant to be satire. He probably should have laid it on a bit more thick with a few laughs thrown in, which he could have done without losing what he's trying to say about evil old capitalism.

I think it's picked up a lot since the main character decided spoiler spoiler.  I'm still looking forward to comeuppance though, and I can guess who is going is going to do it to him.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 5, 2013)

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown - continuing the American History  - read it years ago and then lent it to someone never to return   heartbreaking book - just when you think the Americans can't do anything worse to the Native Americans, they do


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 5, 2013)

An athology of short stories where the theme is alternate reality. The ones I've read so far have not been bad


----------



## Deronda (Mar 7, 2013)

Truismes by Marie Darrieussecq

French dystopian novel about a young woman's metamorphosis into a pig. It's pretty grim but a very good read, it was translated into English as Pig Tales


----------



## Frances Lengel (Mar 7, 2013)

Just finished Benefits by Zoe Fairbairns

www.zoefairbairns.co.uk/novels.htm

Which I'd never have heard of but for Greebo, so thanks for that 

Almost frighteningly prescient. One bit had me in stitches though - The first sentence at the top of page 139 (at least it's p139 in the copy I've got) is slightly unfortunately phrased.


----------



## Greebo (Mar 7, 2013)

Frances Lengel said:


> Just finished Benefits by Zoe Fairbairns<snip>
> Almost frighteningly prescient.<snip>


Told you so - I hope you're going to read something a bit more cheerful after this.


----------



## october_lost (Mar 8, 2013)

Floating worlds - Cecelia Holland. Feminist scifi, involves 'anarchists', double dealing and aggressive colonists. A bit too baggy for my liking.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Mar 8, 2013)

Greebo said:


> Told you so - I hope you're going to read something a bit more cheerful after this.



I thought that was cheerful - at least the end was a bit upbeat in a way. And I loved the hindleys to thevrescue bit, never mind dealing with the renegades. If I ever met Zoe F, I'd have a minor issue about tower blocks, but other than that a mint book. Now back to wrestling with Thomas Bernhard.


----------



## Dr Nookie (Mar 12, 2013)

Hell's Angels by Hunter S Thompson. Thought I'd put cheesy 'Sons of Anarchy' obsession to some good use!


----------



## weltweit (Mar 12, 2013)

I just read Jeffrey Archer A Prison Diary Vol II Purgatory.
I found it in a charity shop, it was a large print version which was much easier to read!!
I expected a bit of a thriller but he was most matter of fact about his experiences, I did this, did that sort of thing, he never once mentioned how he "felt" about the experience.

Am now reading :

Louis Theroux The Call of the Weird


----------



## TruXta (Mar 12, 2013)

Methods of Discovery - Heuristics for the Social Sciences by Andrew Abbott. Easily the best book on social science methods I've ever read, and written so that non-specialists can grok it too.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 12, 2013)

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel - it is beautifully written but sometimes I lose track of some of the characters and can't be arsed flipping back to the character list at the front . Also Riders of the Lost Sage - Zane Grey - which I am really enjoying


----------



## ringo (Mar 12, 2013)

The City & The City - China Mieville ........cheers DotCommunist, great recommendation


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 12, 2013)

I thought you might like it. China's greatest skill is building those irreal cities, often they re better than his actual human chararcters.

He's just left the SWP amongst others due to these badly handled rape scandals. Hopefully this means he will spend less time flogging papers and more time writing books.


----------



## ringo (Mar 12, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> I thought you might like it. China's greatest skill is building those irreal cities, often they re better than his actual human chararcters.
> 
> He's just left the SWP amongst others due to these badly handled rape scandals. Hopefully this means he will spend less time flogging papers and more time writing books.


 
Yes, so far I can't see why it won awards as a fantasy novel, seems all sci-fi and thriller from the first 100 pages, but doesn't really matter what people call it I suppose, it's just a great, interesting and original piece of writing. I was just reading about him when I realised the date given for him leaving the SWP was yesterday.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 12, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> I thought you might like it. China's greatest skill is building those irreal cities, often they re better than his actual human chararcters.
> 
> He's just left the SWP amongst others due to these badly handled rape scandals. Hopefully this means he will spend less time flogging papers and more time writing books.


He was STILL a member? Oh man...


----------



## nogojones (Mar 12, 2013)

Soldier's strikes of 1919 - Andrew Rothstein


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 12, 2013)

ringo said:


> *Yes, so far I can't see why it won awards as a fantasy novel, seems all sci-fi and thriller from the first 100 pages, but doesn't really matter what people call it I suppose,* it's just a great, interesting and original piece of writing. I was just reading about him when I realised the date given for him leaving the SWP was yesterday.


 

China came to prominence through 'Perdio Street Station' which blends technology and magic (thuamuturges) and was considered part of a british genre movement they called 'the New Weird'

Thing is Perdido Street Station and City& The City are fantasy- they are just fantasies that don't conform to tolkienesque paths. Perdido Street Station is quite literally an industrial revolution era fantasy and New Crobozun is an 'other London' from the other london tradition of fantasy like neverwhere (gaiman) and Borrovilles.

City & the City is a post-ussr city essentially, a fantasy set in the urban that China loves to write. It's dressed in the tropes of a detective novel. Borlu, the weary middle years man. Streetwise copper from the rank and file who just wants to catch his man etc

The difficulty award givers like the Hugo and its ilk have is that trad fantasy and trad sci fi is definable and slottable whereas the likes of China are not so easily defined with traditional genre labels.

Nothing new though, I mean where would one place Aldiss'Helliconia' cycle? Where would on place the dark horrors of Harlan Ellison? Can you really call stuff like Swiftly by adam roberts sci fi?

Enough to just enjoy the spec fic and let others worry about labels imo!


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 12, 2013)

TruXta said:


> He was STILL a member? Oh man...


 

Heres his original thoughts on the matter

http://www.leninology.com/2013/01/the-stakes.html

I think he wanted a lot to salvage but given the actions of the CC felt unable to continue in the party.

ANYWAY nuff swappie overspill...


----------



## TruXta (Mar 12, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Heres his original thoughts on the matter
> 
> http://www.leninology.com/2013/01/the-stakes.html
> 
> ...


Cheers, interesting read.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 12, 2013)

What other writers were considered to be part of The New Weird?


----------



## TruXta (Mar 12, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> What other writers were considered to be part of The New Weird?


Jeff Vandermeer is the only one I've read, unless you count M. John Harrison as well. Both worth your while.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 12, 2013)

I was just recommended Harrison's recent book, Light, as it happens.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 12, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I was just recommended Harrison's recent book, Light, as it happens.


It's part of a trilogy - the last instalment was out not long ago, can't remember the name. The other book is called Nova Swing. Both are ace. Remind of Roadside Picnic/Stalker.


----------



## october_lost (Mar 12, 2013)

Coincidentally I am a third the way into The Scar. Really pleased with it. 

My understanding is he is heavily indebted to Neil Gaiman.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 12, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I was just recommended Harrison's recent book, Light, as it happens.


 

I've got Nova Swing plus a half dozen of his shorts if you fancy the read, pm an email addy and all these epubs can be yours.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 12, 2013)

october_lost said:


> Coincidentally I am a third the way into The Scar. Really pleased with it.
> 
> My understanding is he is heavily indebted to Neil Gaiman.


Yes and no I'd say. He's a lot more indebted to AD&D. And Mervyn Peake.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 12, 2013)

october_lost said:


> Coincidentally I am a third the way into The Scar. Really pleased with it.
> 
> My understanding is he is heavily indebted to Neil Gaiman.


 

Put it the other way round imo, Gaimans a fantastic writer of comics but his actual books lack the depth of China's works. Theres a thanks bit in the preface to Un Lun Dun which was supposedly part inspired by Neverwhere though


----------



## Threshers_Flail (Mar 12, 2013)

George Orwell -  Collected Essays. 

Can't believe he shot the elephant.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 12, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Yes and no I'd say. He's a lot more indebted to AD&D.


 

If AD&D existed in a world where there was an industrial revolution maybe. He loves his bestiaries, ha admitted that much in interview but theres no adherence to the semi-racist mythos of elves, dwarves an 'high' men is there


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 12, 2013)

AD&D?


----------



## october_lost (Mar 12, 2013)

Advanced dodgy doings...or dungeons and dragons, take your pick.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 12, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> If AD&D existed in a world where there was an industrial revolution maybe. He loves his bestiaries, ha admitted that much in interview but theres no adherence to the semi-racist mythos of elves, dwarves an 'high' men is there


No, but the structuring of the Bas-Lag mythos is essentially 3/4s fairly standard RPG, with classes, races, gods, demons and so on, and 1/4th (a bit more in the case of Iron Council) marxism. Sure he doesn't crib the vulgar Tolkienism of AD&D, but a lot of the epic syntax is similar.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 12, 2013)

I'll give you 80% of that but I still think he avoids the grammar of fantasy despite the whole races thing. Class is what reigns, as when we see posh vodyanoui working in the river for THE MAN against plotters while working water sprites are in league with other rebellious elements in a co-ordinated attempt for general strike


----------



## TruXta (Mar 12, 2013)

Hmmm. Like Erikson he purports to subvert/revert/avoid a lot of the cliches while at the same time pumping them for all they're worth. Not complaining mind you.

ETA He does a better job of just doing his own thing in City and the City I think. The Bas-Lag novels is where the above holds most true I think.


----------



## ringo (Mar 13, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> China came to prominence through 'Perdio Street Station' which blends technology and magic (thuamuturges) and was considered part of a british genre movement they called 'the New Weird'
> 
> Thing is Perdido Street Station and City& The City are fantasy- they are just fantasies that don't conform to tolkienesque paths. Perdido Street Station is quite literally an industrial revolution era fantasy and New Crobozun is an 'other London' from the other london tradition of fantasy like neverwhere (gaiman) and Borrovilles.
> 
> ...


 
iswym, but of course in that sense you could term anything fictitious as fantasy. Anyway, I like the blurring and difficulty of pigeonholing, makes it easier to stop judging by genre and just enjoy it being a bloody good novel.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 13, 2013)

_With the old breed_ by Eugene Sledge

An excellent memoir of a front line marine in the WW2 pacific campaign

Part of the Spielberg series The Pacific was based on it.

After reading it I really want to go diving on Palau


----------



## marty21 (Mar 13, 2013)

rubbershoes said:


> _With the old breed_ by Eugene Sledge
> 
> An excellent memoir of a front line marine in the WW2 pacific campaign
> 
> ...


 that is an excellent book, there's another book which they also used as source material - Helmet for my Pillow - Robert Leckie - which is also worth a read.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 13, 2013)

I'll look out for that one for the future

I've had enough war reading for now though


----------



## marty21 (Mar 13, 2013)

rubbershoes said:


> I'll look out for that one for the future
> 
> I've had enough war reading for now though


 war is hell tbf


----------



## belboid (Mar 13, 2013)

Ismail Kadare - The Successor

Based on a true story about the planned Successor to Enver Hoxha in Albania, who mysteriously committed suicide...or was he murdered?  Mentioned on a blog as beng disturbingly prescient im relation to the current farce/disgrace/situation in the SWP.  It really does fit, and when your organisation can be compared to the country that makes Stalin look reasonable...

It is really well written as well, and a very entertaining read.


----------



## Blagsta (Mar 13, 2013)

Richard Bentall - Doctoring the Mind


----------



## seventh bullet (Mar 13, 2013)

belboid said:


> Ismail Kadare - The Successor
> 
> Based on a true story about the planned Successor to Enver Hoxha in Albania, who mysteriously committed suicide...or was he murdered?  Mentioned on a blog as beng disturbingly prescient im relation to the current farce/disgrace/situation in the SWP.  It really does fit, and when your organisation can be compared to the country that makes Stalin look reasonable...
> 
> It is really well written as well, and a very entertaining read.



Hoxha was just a fanboy. Could never match Joe.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 13, 2013)

his worshipful memoirs of meeting with the steel giant are comedy gold


----------



## Greebo (Mar 13, 2013)

Cheating somewhat with an (audio) unabridged version of "the way we live now". 

No way was I going to have enough time otherwise.


----------



## seventh bullet (Mar 13, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> his worshipful memoirs of meeting with the steel giant are comedy gold



Reading such things and official publications can be useful and interesting when serious shit happened in the wider Communist-ruled world between governments and parties, and in the official pubs they used the same terms. A lot of the time, though, it's dull as fuck.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 13, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> his worshipful memoirs of meeting with the steel giant are comedy gold


I saw one of his holiday villas on Lake Bled in Slovenia a few years ago. Fackin nice it was.


----------



## seventh bullet (Mar 13, 2013)

Eh? Hardcore Stalinist Hoxha had a holiday villa in Titoite Yugoslavia?


----------



## belboid (Mar 13, 2013)

seventh bullet said:


> Eh? Hardcore Stalinist Hoxha had a holiday villa in Titoite Yugoslavia?


there were various brief thaws in the relationship, inbetween fallings out with china and moscow


----------



## TruXta (Mar 13, 2013)

seventh bullet said:


> Eh? Hardcore Stalinist Hoxha had a holiday villa in Titoite Yugoslavia?


 My bad, am getting my socialist dictators mixed up!


----------



## seventh bullet (Mar 13, 2013)

belboid said:


> there were various brief thaws in the relationship, inbetween fallings out with china and moscow


 
I'm aware of that, just teasing Truxta (it was Tito's villa). Albania-Yugo relations were mostly hostile apart from a brief period in the late 1960s. But that was largely due to the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, and mutual fears about the threat posed by the 'social imperialists' in Moscow and their Warsaw Pact allies. For PRC-aligned Tirana the Chinese were too far away in the event of a military attack, so timid feelers for cooperation were put out. And all those bunkers would've come in handy.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 13, 2013)

this stuff is surely going to be your specialist subject round when you go on mastermind


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 13, 2013)

rubbershoes said:


> _With the old breed_ by Eugene Sledge
> 
> An excellent memoir of a front line marine in the WW2 pacific campaign
> 
> ...


 
Thoroughly enjoyed it as well, have still to read Leckie's book.


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 13, 2013)

Just started Lullaby Town by Robert Crais. The Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels are really good reads.


----------



## idumea (Mar 17, 2013)

I'm a big Mieville fan. I think I'm due a re-read of Embassytown, it's incredible.

I've been searching for good sci-fi of late and come up with nothing. Read some Cory Doctorow: beyond terrible.
I had hopes for the new Ken Macleod (Intrusion) as I've loved his other stuff - a big fat meh. I was actively bored throughout the whole thing.

I'm off on holiday this week so I've picked up some random books to keep me occupied- Charles Stross's Accelerando, and the last two books of Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy. I could do with some good contemporary new fiction but I've found fuck all that I enjoy recently. I'm getting old.


----------



## idumea (Mar 17, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I was just recommended Harrison's recent book, Light, as it happens.


 
I also really recommend The Course of the Heart - it's my favourite thing Harrison has ever written. I didn't find Light that mindblowing. I've got a big stack of 'new weird' / 'slipsteam' fiction if you ever want to borrow some btw.


----------



## Anonymous1 (Mar 17, 2013)

Just started "Unpatriotic history of the second world war"  by James Heartfield.


----------



## starfish (Mar 17, 2013)

A German Requiem by Philip Kerr. Post-War Bernie Gunther.


----------



## october_lost (Mar 17, 2013)

Anonymous1 said:


> Just started "Unpatriotic history of the second world war"  by James Heartfield.


This looks really good. He wrote some decent articles in Mute covering war time strikes. 

Have to hunt this down.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 18, 2013)

Count Zero- William Gibson

thought I'd covered all his work, missed this 1987 one somehow. Been wading through a lot of crap 80 sci fi atm so its nice to find a gem.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 18, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Count Zero- William Gibson
> 
> thought I'd covered all his work, missed this 1987 one somehow. Been wading through a lot of crap 80 sci fi atm so its nice to find a gem.


Mmmm hm. Might revisit some early Gibson, been ages.


idumea said:


> I've been searching for good sci-fi of late and come up with nothing.


Read _Dhalgren_? Roadside Picnic?


----------



## idumea (Mar 18, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Mmmm hm. Might revisit some early Gibson, been ages.
> 
> Read _Dhalgren_? Roadside Picnic?



Not Dhalgren but I have a copy of Babel-17 somewhere.

Early Gibson gets naffer by the year.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 18, 2013)

Everyone keeps mentioning Roadside Picnic. Must be good!


----------



## TruXta (Mar 18, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Everyone keeps mentioning Roadside Picnic. Must be good!


It's very good.


idumea said:


> Early Gibson gets naffer by the year.


Huh. Not read any of his stuff since Idoru.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 18, 2013)

idumea said:


> Not Dhalgren but I have a copy of Babel-17 somewhere.
> 
> Early Gibson gets naffer by the year.


 

thats the trouble with being on the bleeding edge at the time. You age badly. Stross will look tthe same in a few years...


----------



## TruXta (Mar 18, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> thats the trouble with being on the bleeding edge at the time. You age badly. Stross will look tthe same in a few years...


Was he ever cutting edge? More like pulp if you ask me. Entertaining sure, but. Stross that is.


----------



## idumea (Mar 18, 2013)

Best sci fi book I've read in yonks has been Blueprints of the Afterlife by Ryan Boudinot. I wasn't expecting anything special (picked it up off-handedly because I liked the cover and was abroad at Christmas) and thought it was incredible. Best bits of George Saunders, M John Harrison and Gibson combined. Palpably weird and excellent.


----------



## idumea (Mar 18, 2013)

TruXta said:


> It's very good.
> 
> Huh. Not read any of his stuff since Idoru.


 
Pattern Recognition / Spook Country are great but tried to re-read Neuromancer and some other early stuff recently and it just made me .


----------



## TruXta (Mar 18, 2013)

idumea said:


> Pattern Recognition / Spook Country are great but tried to re-read Neuromancer and some other early stuff recently and it just made me .


Fairy nuff.

Read Gene Wolfe? I enjoyed Book of the New Sun a lot. Pretty dense, but the prose is fantastic.


----------



## idumea (Mar 18, 2013)

Yes, I really really love the Book of the New Sun. Could do with re-reading all of them. I prefer prosey-dense stuff- Gene Wolfe, John Crowley, etc.


----------



## smorodina (Mar 18, 2013)

_The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_


----------



## TruXta (Mar 18, 2013)

idumea said:


> Yes, I really really love the Book of the New Sun. Could do with re-reading all of them. I prefer prosey-dense stuff- Gene Wolfe, John Crowley, etc.


Search out his early novel _Peace_ if you can find it. A wonderful book.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Mar 19, 2013)

smorodina said:


> _The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_


That the one about the Autistic kid?


----------



## sojourner (Mar 19, 2013)

Just started:

The Clothes On Their Backs, by Linda Grant

and

The Communist Hypothesis, by Alain Badiou


----------



## smorodina (Mar 19, 2013)

jeff_leigh said:


> That the one about the Autistic kid?


 yep.
had to skip the bits with the intentional bad grammar/ spelling (hard to describe without spoiling the plot  
ps. they put it on stage in the west end already..


----------



## marty21 (Mar 19, 2013)

Mission to Paris - Alan Furst - pre WW2 spy shenanigans


----------



## nogojones (Mar 19, 2013)

James Kelman - The Good Times


----------



## belboid (Mar 19, 2013)

just started David Lodge - A Man of Parts

A 'biofic' about HG Wells, his loves and life and politics and much shagging.  Much more shagging.  Looks fun, but, after getting used to reading on a kindle, it feels really bloody _big_ too.


----------



## goldenecitrone (Mar 19, 2013)

Happy Birthday Turke! by Jakob Arjouni. Bought all his Kayankaya novels when I was in Berlin. Also started reading my first Raymond Chandler - the Big Sleep.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 19, 2013)

Big Books! My brother bought me the last of the Game of Thrones (HB) for Christmas a couple of years ago - it is MASSIVE!, so has been by the bed since - I'm about half way through it


----------



## magneze (Mar 20, 2013)

Just started Richard Morgan's "Black Man". His Takeshi Kovacs novels are great, so I'm looking forward to this one.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 20, 2013)

Harry Turtledove 'After the Fall'

a wechmacht officer is one minute fighting the russians in berlin, next plonked down in a fantasy world. Amusing.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 20, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Harry Turtledove 'After the Fall'
> 
> a wechmacht officer is one minute fighting the russians in berlin, next plonked down in a fantasy world. Amusing.


He has a story in the _Mammonth Book of Alternate Histories_ I am currently reading. Not got to his yet but there has been some excellent ones, such as Kim Stanley Robinson's "Lucky Strike", which have, at times, tested my knowledge of history.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 20, 2013)

QueenOfGoths said:


> He has a story in the _Mammonth Book of Alternate Histories_ I am currently reading. Not got to his yet but there has been some excellent ones, such as Kim Stanley Robinson's "Lucky Strike", which have, at times, tested my knowledge of history.


 

they call him 'The master of Alt History apparently. Any  Robert Silverburg in yer mammoth book of? his Roma Aeturnum alt. history shorts are well worth your time


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 20, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> they call him 'The master of Alt History apparently. Any  Robert Silverburg in yer mammoth book of? his Roma Aeturnum alt. history shorts are well worth your time



Yup, one of his in there too. Not got to it yet but called "Tales from the Venia Woods"


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 21, 2013)

'Stone Gods' Jeannete Winterson

its...its brilliant. Some of the most archly funny SF I have read in a long time. Its not space opera. Prose style is brittle-pisstakey. Like harlan ellison or dicks without the paranoia. If the plotting holds up this could be a keeper.


----------



## Silverghost (Mar 21, 2013)

"I am The Messenger," by Markus Zuzak.


----------



## Chick Webb (Mar 23, 2013)

magneze said:


> Just started Richard Morgan's "Black Man". His Takeshi Kovacs novels are great, so I'm looking forward to this one.


That's a brilliant book.  That's the one I recommend to non-scifi folks who ask me for a recommendation.  I <3 Morgan.

I'm reading Un Lon Dun by China Mieville now.  I will reserve my opinion on it until I'm finished.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 24, 2013)

Am giving the Alternate Realities book a rest and have started Arnaldur Indridason's "Jar City". Only just started it but it's shaping up well


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 25, 2013)

having a re-read of City & The City as it was the first paperback to come to hand as I left to make an extended bus trip.


third time now, and in this run-through I'm noticing how Tyador Borlu is preternaturally good at sensing the ebb and flow of forces in fringe politics- for a weary street copper. Now OK the besz/ul qoma set up does mean the citizens of the cities are placed in constant awareness of the nature of power etc but its ever so slightly mary sue. Can't fault all the little invented linguistic touches though.


----------



## idumea (Mar 26, 2013)

Steph Swainston's _In The Year of Our War_.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 27, 2013)

The People of the Abyss by Jack London


----------



## Sprocket. (Mar 27, 2013)

The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux, again.


----------



## Greebo (Apr 1, 2013)

"The Little Book of Demons: The positive advantages of the personification of life's problems" by Ramsey Dukes
Psychology combined with economics, politics, history, and a hint of sociology, aka self help with less fluff and more teeth.


----------



## starfish (Apr 2, 2013)

Double Deuce by Robert B Parker, a Spenser novel.


----------



## idumea (Apr 2, 2013)

The Ballad of Halo Jones


----------



## starfish (Apr 2, 2013)

idumea said:


> The Ballad of Halo Jones


 
Graphic novel or have they done an actual novel.


----------



## idumea (Apr 2, 2013)

Graphic novel.


----------



## starfish (Apr 2, 2013)

idumea said:


> Graphic novel.


 
Shes great 

eta Halo Jones, i mean.


----------



## TruXta (Apr 2, 2013)

Greebo said:


> "The Little Book of Demons: The positive advantages of the personification of life's problems" by Ramsey Dukes
> Psychology combined with economics, politics, history, and a hint of sociology, aka self help with less fluff and more teeth.


Read SSOTBME and Thundersqueak ages ago. Quite liked them.


----------



## Greebo (Apr 3, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Read SSOTBME and Thundersqueak ages ago. Quite liked them.


So did I, and they're due for a reread some time.  When there's enough time to give them undivided attention they deserve.


----------



## colbhoy (Apr 3, 2013)

Reading Gordon Smith, Prince of Wingers written by his son Tony Smith. Smith was a great player for Hibernian in the 40's and 50's, a team that my dad was fond of. I actually bought the book for him as a present and he has now lent to me.


----------



## ringo (Apr 3, 2013)

The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler. Love it, can't imagine why I've read loads of books by authors trying to be him but none by Chandler himself, but it was worth the wait.


----------



## smorodina (Apr 3, 2013)

Finished the The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes).
Reading Haruki Murakami's The Wind-UP Bird Chronicle, absolutely loving it.
I realised yesterday that I've just read (a few weeks ago) Stephen Fry's Chronicles, and have been "reading" french chronicles in comics  form the past few months..
I might just pronounce my favourite genre _de rigeur_ - The chronicles..
Evelyn Waugh is next in queque..


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 3, 2013)

You should listen to this while reading:


----------



## smorodina (Apr 3, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> You should listen to this while reading:


  I don't want to..


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 3, 2013)

I am reading Sally Garder's Maggot Moon and Dave Shelton's A Boy & A Bear In A Boat and Matt Dickinson's Mortal Chaos and Marcus Sedgwick's Midwinterblood.
All on Carnegie Medal shortlist/longlist this year


----------



## cyprusclean (Apr 4, 2013)

Hi. I'm  new here.
And I'm reading "The Conscience of the Rich", by C P Snow.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 4, 2013)

"The Yiddish Policeman's Union" - Michael Chabon. I'm enjoying it but finding it a bit hard to read and not compelling at the moment, however, I think that is me rather than the book


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 4, 2013)

I didn't enjoy that book as much as others obviously have. Nowhere near as amazing as Kavalier & Clay and not quite as amusing as Wonder Boys


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 4, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I didn't enjoy that book as much as others obviously have. Nowhere near as amazing as Kavalier & Clay and not quite as amusing as Wonder Boys


It is the first of his books I have read. I think I will persist with it, when I read it I do really enjoy it but it doesn't have that "must pick it up and read it" feel to it yet.


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Apr 4, 2013)

Currently alternating between X-Treme Possibilities (a guide to the X-files, which I'm reading after watching each episode) Beevor's Second World War and a biog of Thomas Cromwell.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 4, 2013)

'Spin' by Robert Charles Wilson. Took the Hugo in 2006 so should be quite good. Interesting premise of a shell thrown around the solar system by agents unknown which accelerates time to the point where the suns going nova in a matter of weeks.


----------



## idumea (Apr 4, 2013)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "The Yiddish Policeman's Union" - Michael Chabon. I'm enjoying it but finding it a bit hard to read and not compelling at the moment, however, I think that is me rather than the book


 
I loved this but I really really love Chabon...have you tried Kavalier & Clay or Wonder Boys?

I've just started_ Natural Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies and the Future of Human Intelligence_ by Andy Clark


----------



## frogwoman (Apr 5, 2013)

I've just finished reading the City and the City by China Mieville. I'll probably go back and read it again at some point.

I thought that throughout the book there was a very strong sense of place and it definitely reminded me of the former Soviet Union and some of the craziness of it all, the characters' accents sounded just right in my head. It reminded me of a place like Chisinau where I lived, where there are definitely "two cities" (perhaps more than two) and to speak russian or romanian to somebody can be like committing this terrible anti-social crime, and to an extent people live in very separate worlds despite living together. But yet they can't live completely separately.One of the things it also reminded me of was Transnistria where people live under separate laws, have a separate currency and "passport" despite living in Moldova.

There's also a theme about class in there too, the whole idea that the middle class often have absolutely no idea (and vice versa) about how the working class live, definitely true in many parts of the former soviet union where speaking the two languages mixed together is often only something that working class people do. I think he captured some of the whole insanity of lots of aspects of this type of society perfectly.

As for the Breach thing I thought they were quite cool, they were very realistic and it's like an exaggerated version of what actually happens. The unificationists were universally loathed and completely out of touch and actually the two cities were a lot more intertwined than anyone liked to admit, they all needed this ridiculous situation to continue. There is a line towards the end where one of the "avatars of Breach" says that they don't need to stop people breaking the rule but they do it themselves because they're scared of the consequences.

It's like loads of social rules which people follow and nobody knows why and they don't really matter at all, but actually in some ways they do. Both about capitalism like the "value of money" and so on and about other things.

I liked Borlu and the other characters, especially Dhatt who reminds me a lot of some of the people I met out there. I also liked the way that none of the characters were given strong political opinions that we were meant to agree or disagree with, you could even understand the point of view of the far-right characters who weren't really villains, they were doing what they did in their way. In a lot of contemporary detective fiction I feel like the author puts their views into the characters' mouths so you're meant to agree with it. The nationalist's line about "there's only one city and that's Beszel" that's so true, that's exactly what they would say and the type of thing I've heard people saying.

It's such a great book, it's so realistic, a lot more so than many people would want to think. I am sure I'll go back and read it again and think of something I haven't thought of before.

DotCommunist


----------



## Voley (Apr 6, 2013)

idumea said:


> I loved this but I really really love Chabon...have you tried Kavalier & Clay or Wonder Boys?


Kavalier and Klay was ace, I agree. I really wanted to read the _Golem_ comic he described, it sounded brilliant. Not read Wonder Boys. Is it as good?


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 6, 2013)

It's not as good - a lot smaller in scale, but it is very funny and sweet.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2013)

Vernor Vinge 'Rainbows End'


pretty good, bit tech gimmick driven but done with enough heart to drive it


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 7, 2013)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "The Yiddish Policeman's Union" - Michael Chabon. I'm enjoying it but finding it a bit hard to read and not compelling at the moment, however, I think that is me rather than the book



I liked it a lot.  But I have no taste. 

I haven't read any other Chabon yet so can't compare


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 7, 2013)

idumea said:


> I loved this but I really really love Chabon...have you tried Kavalier & Clay or Wonder Boys?
> 
> I've just started_ Natural Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies and the Future of Human Intelligence_ by Andy Clark





rubbershoes said:


> I liked it a lot. But I have no taste.
> 
> I haven't read any other Chabon yet so can't compare


 
have a copy of Kavalier & Clay but haven't read any of his others. I will persist with it though as I think it's a 'me not the book' scenario iyswim. My reading mojo seems to have wandered off for a bit!


----------



## Greebo (Apr 7, 2013)

Alternating between Katharina Blum (easier going than I remembered it being), "They Feed" (zombie fluff), and "The Rover"


----------



## izz (Apr 7, 2013)

idumea said:


> The Ballad of Halo Jones


 
Awesome. I approve


----------



## izz (Apr 7, 2013)

I'm on _The Law and the Lady_ by Wilkie Collins, my favouritist author, and just finished re-reading _The Road, McCarthy._

Rough Guide does a guide to classic novels, which is in itself most excellent and I'm hoping to acquaint myself with many of its entries.


----------



## machine cat (Apr 7, 2013)

Anyone read 1Q84? I've just realised it's been sat unread on my bookshelf for months.


----------



## Limerick Red (Apr 7, 2013)

the shining path of peru by David Scott Palmer.

pretty interesting so far.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 8, 2013)

frogwoman said:


> I've just finished reading the City and the City by China Mieville. I'll probably go back and read it again at some point.
> 
> I thought that throughout the book there was a very strong sense of place and it definitely reminded me of the former Soviet Union and some of the craziness of it all, the characters' accents sounded just right in my head. It reminded me of a place like Chisinau where I lived, where there are definitely "two cities" (perhaps more than two) and to speak russian or romanian to somebody can be like committing this terrible anti-social crime, and to an extent people live in very separate worlds despite living together. But yet they can't live completely separately.One of the things it also reminded me of was Transnistria where people live under separate laws, have a separate currency and "passport" despite living in Moldova.
> 
> ...


 

One of the essential themes in the book is indeed the 'unseeing' the respect for borders and arbitrary lines that people do themselves, unaided but backed by the fear of Breach. An amorphous frightening thing that will grab you should you violate these borders. Recall that China spends a lot of time in all his works obsessing over unnoficial and official demarcations and the real forces that enforce them.

But in the end what binds the two cities in a chaste embrace is the willingness of the people to flow with the idea that Ul Quoma is Ul Quoma and Beszel is Beszel. They have to train foreigners to get the paragdim before they let them in for a visit!

The interesection of borders in such a city that could surely never really exist (or could it?) is his way of throwing up his favourite topic and making a story within it. There are other factors to the story of course, the essential murder mystery, the strange unknown origins of this weird city and its ties to outside states (see, the impovrished beszel backed by the US and thriving Ul Quoma backed by well, everyone despite the US blockade) 

You know better than I the feeling of a post soviet eastern european city but he makes it live right?

In some ways I was annoyed at how things were not fleshed out, just asides left as markers. Worker-Priests with sickle and rood tatoos? lots of little off hand things unexplained. But thats how he does I suppose. <3


----------



## DrRingDing (Apr 8, 2013)

Limerick Red said:


> the shining path of peru by David Scott Palmer.
> 
> pretty interesting so far.


 
I thought about buying that but was put off. What's your thoughts?


----------



## seventh bullet (Apr 8, 2013)

Limerick Red said:


> the shining path of peru by David Scott Palmer.
> 
> pretty interesting so far.


 
Not bad. Lewis Taylor's Shining Path: Guerrilla War in Peru's Northern Highlands is excellent and worth getting hold of, although focusing on one area of the country. It also gives an easy to understand general overview of PCP-SL history and politics, influences etc for the uninitiated.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 8, 2013)

seventh bullet said:


> Not bad. Lewis Taylor's Shining Path: Guerrilla War in Peru's Northern Highlands is excellent and worth getting hold of, although focusing on one area of the country. It also gives an easy to understand general overview of PCP-SL history and politics, influences etc for the uninitiated.


 
Something I have been meaning to read about. That is going on my list.


----------



## stuffarondyou (Apr 8, 2013)

50 shades of grey! Sorry, I'm not ashamed to admit that I read that book.


----------



## Limerick Red (Apr 8, 2013)

DrRingDing said:


> I thought about buying that but was put off. What's your thoughts?


 
Only halfway through, but definitely worth a read, I knew very little bout the SL except for, well the usual, Marxist professors taking over a university, something,something,something,1000s dead, this does fill in the gaps well. Its basically just 6 or 7 short essays, from an anthropological fieldwork perspective mostly.Very interesting bits on the intricacies of Andean culture, although Im not taking that part as gospel.

will let ya know what I make of it when I finish it.


----------



## seventh bullet (Apr 8, 2013)

Limerick Red said:


> Only halfway through, but definitely worth a read, I knew very little bout the SL except for, well the usual, Marxist professors taking over a university, something,something,something,1000s dead, this does fill in the gaps well. Its basically just 6 or 7 short essays, from an anthropological fieldwork perspective mostly.Very interesting bits on the intricacies of Andean culture, although Im not taking that part as gospel.
> 
> will let ya know what I make of it when I finish it.


 
The 1992 Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, People of the Shining Path, is still available to watch on YouTube. It's also interesting, although reveals that some militants were not so hot on the actual situation their movement faced by that time (to use their own jargon, they were nowhere near 'strategic equilibrium' when faced with Fujimori's government and increased military involvement).

There's a great performance by rebels to celebrate Women's Day while held in the Canto Grande prison, also the scene of a bloodbath when it was stormed by government forces.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 11, 2013)

I am finding choosing new books to read quite difficult at the moment. I have so many half read books on my shelf (which is no bad thing). I can identify a few general themes with the books that I have chosen to read though.

1) Walking / Psychogeography / Whatever: I have been buying loads and loads of books about the experience of walking, and the 'theory' of walking as well. This includes:

A lot of Iain Sinclair
Baudelaire
Walter Benjamin
Any situationist / situationist inspired writers on psychogeography
Journal of a Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
Wanderlust (and other books) by Rebecca Solnit (who is excellent)
And loads and loads of others that I can't remember off the top of my head

2) Stuff about Intelligence Services

I think I can trace how I became interested in this. It began whilst I was reading Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson and also Blood Bankers: Tales from the Global Underground Economy by James Henry. After that I read Chatter, by Patrick Keefe, and a few books by Peter Dale Scott, as well as a few books about Gladio / MKULTRA etc. I wanted to find out more about the world of the 'elites' (for want of a better term), the world that connects finance with intelligence services and all the criminal things they are guilty of. But since reading these books I have been finding it harder and harder to find anything that is what I am looking for. I have bought books about the NSA and GCHQ but I am not especially interested in the sanitized histories of those agencies. 

3) The Classics

I have been reading a lot of Ancient Greek / Roman stuff. Books about Dionysus and the Eleusinian Mysteries in particular, but a lot of philosophy / poetry / theater / whatever in general. It is fascinating.

4) Poetry

Loads and loads and loads of poetry. I won't even start on that one. 

5) Very little fiction. 

I find it really difficult to find fiction satisfying now. I have read a few crime stories by Leonard Scissia recently, which were quite good. But overall I find a lot of fiction deeply unsatisfying. I can see how it all works. 

I am currently re-reading Vineland by Thomas Pynchon though, which is great. 

I think 2666 by Roberto Bolano ruined it for me, years ago. I have still not read anything that I have liked as much. There is a quote from that which perhaps sums up a little bit of how I feel about fiction:



> The mention of Trakl made Amalfitano think, as he went through the motions of teaching a class, about a drugstore near where he lived in Barcelona, a place he used to go when he needed medicine for Rosa. One of the employees was a young pharmacist, barely out of his teens, extremely thin and with big glasses, who would sit up at night reading a book when the pharmacy was open twenty-four hours. One night, while the kid was scanning the shelves, Amalfitano asked him what books he liked and what book he was reading, just to make conversation. Without turning, the pharmacist answered that he liked books like _The Metamorphosis, Bartleby, A Simple Heart, A Christmas Carol_. And then he said he was reading Capote’s _Breakfast at Tiffany’s. _Leaving aside the fact that _A Simple Heart _and _A Christmas Carol_ were stories, not books, there was something revelatory about the taste of this bookish young pharmacist, who in another life might have been Trakl or who in this life might still be writing poems as desparate as those of this distant Austrian counterpart, and who clearly and inarguably preferred minor works to major ones. He chose _Metamorphosis _over _The Trial_, he chose_Bartleby _over _Moby Dick_, he chose _A Simple Heart_ over _Bouvard and Pecuchet_, and _A Christmas Carol_ over _A Tale of Two Cities _or _The Pickwick Papers_. What a sad paradox, thought Amalfitano. Now even bookish pharmacists are afraid to take on the great, imperfect, torrential works, books that blaze paths into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters. Or what amounts to the same thing: they want to watch the great masters spar, but they have no interest in real combat, when the great masters struggle against that something, that something that terrifies us all, that something that cows us and spurs us on, amid blood and mortal wounds and stench.


 
6) and lots and lots of other stuff.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 11, 2013)

oh I also bought this recently which I have been dipping in an out of:

The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories

Which is a 1000 page plus of 'Weird Fiction' by lots of well known (and less well know) writers. Weird Fiction is pretty popular at the moment. None of the stories have really satisfied my craving for a truly weird story though. My favourite ones are by anonymous people on the internet telling 'true weird' stories.


----------



## october_lost (Apr 11, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> 2) Stuff about Intelligence Services



I have been reading this. Quite interesting in places, but it's startling how the guy gets a way with murder, quite literally.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 11, 2013)

october_lost said:


> I have been reading this. Quite interesting in places, but it's startling how the guy gets a way with murder, quite literally.


 


I have been meaning to get a book about him for ages. I have read all about him on the internet but a book is always better.


----------



## goldenecitrone (Apr 11, 2013)

Farewell, My Lovely. On a Raymond Chandler kick. Just got Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett to follow up with.


----------



## el-ahrairah (Apr 11, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> 'Stone Gods' Jeannete Winterson
> 
> its...its brilliant. Some of the most archly funny SF I have read in a long time. Its not space opera. Prose style is brittle-pisstakey. Like harlan ellison or dicks without the paranoia. If the plotting holds up this could be a keeper.


 
cool, i want to read that.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 11, 2013)

el-ahrairah said:


> cool, i want to read that.


 

its a little bit feminism. Well, it concentrates on female characters but the overarching theme is the cyclical nature of capitalist society. This is quite refreshing. Last thing I read of similar ilk was 'Maul' by Tricia Sullivan

For more ladies of sci fi you can't go wrong with SF Mistressworks and I cannot help but plug this weird un Escape Plans cos it took me five years of searching to find the bugger from a half remembered daze of reading lol


----------



## starfish (Apr 11, 2013)

The Cats Table by Michael Ondattje.
Really wish my sister would hurry up & send me the Ed McBain book i left at hers at Christmas, i cant continue with the others i have until i finish that one.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 12, 2013)

I have just been reading Day of the Owl by Leanardo Sciascia. I have developed a bit of love for crime fiction, Italian crime fiction in particular. I am not that interested in police procedurals, I think the reason I like these ones is because they are so ambiguous, by the end you are sure of a bit less than when you started

Recenty Italian history is fascinating. All the secrets of the world are within it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 12, 2013)

Looking For Jake a collection of short stories by China Meiville. He really doesn't have the handle on short fiction imo but they are good peices despite that, there is that imagery and delivery style to save it. Talking about ill defined apocalypses, feral streets, trains that take you rather than you taking them, connections made from street detritus etc.

It sort of reads like 'stuff I left on in the pad half written' but its not too bad.

Some nicely dark touches.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 12, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Looking For Jake a collection of short stories by China Meiville. He really doesn't have the handle on short fiction imo but they are good peices despite that, there is that imagery and delivery style to save it. Talking about ill defined apocalypses, feral streets, trains that take you rather than you taking them, connections made from street detritus etc.
> 
> It sort of reads like 'stuff I left on in the pad half written' but its not too bad.
> 
> Some nicely dark touches.


 
I know you know a lot about sci fi / fantasy, but do you know much about horror fiction? I have been having a bit of an urge recently to read weird / creepy stories. Some 'weird' fiction does it for me but I want to read more. Think more weird rather than outright horror, something somewhere inbetween that, if you see what I mean?


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 12, 2013)

Read some Raymond Carver short stories?


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 12, 2013)

I





Dillinger4 said:


> I know you know a lot about sci fi / fantasy, but do you know much about horror fiction? I have been having a bit of an urge recently to read weird / creepy stories. Some 'weird' fiction does it for me but I want to read more. Think more weird rather than outright horror, something somewhere inbetween that, if you see what I mean?


 
I don't really know my horror genre that well at all dill, the obvious is Lovecraft and Poe but for modern stuff, no idea. Firky was on this vein not so long ago though. He might have a recc for you

My forays into horror fic have been along the lines of Stephen King and......hold on a mo, I just thought of one you'll really vibe on. It has literary merit as well as being weird fic. I often refer to it as 'The perfect american fantasy'

Peter Straub 'Shadowland'

I recon that will hit your needs as described. I'm assuming you already did Donna Tarrts's 'Secret History' which is waaaaaay middlebrow but does blend a bit


----------



## Sprocket. (Apr 12, 2013)

Have obtained Ghost Stories by M R James. I have always loved the story 'The Casting of the Runes' since I saw and loved the fifties film with Dana Andrews called 'The Night of the Demon' which is based on this story.
Will review and post when done.


----------



## Firky (Apr 12, 2013)

As per DotCommunist tag:

The Charlie Parker novels by John Connolly are good. They're a traditional thriller based around the believable supernatural and forces of good and evil. I don't want to give to much away but they're the creepiest books I have ever read. They didn't disturb me but they certainly unsettled me and I am quite unmovable when it comes to such things:

Start off with Every Dead Thing then jump a few novels and give The Black Angel a go. I thought The Black Angel was amongst his best... (many disagree) well it appealed to me the most as there's a bit of the occult in there, mixed up with some good old medieval theology and set in NYC.

But you must read Every Dead Thing first if you do setup on the CP series.


http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/novels_edt.php


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 12, 2013)

I would also recommend Clive Barker's Books Of Blood.
But not any of his novels


----------



## JimW (Apr 14, 2013)

Re-reading Riddley Walker having found an electronic version. If anything even better than I remember and I loved it then.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 14, 2013)

I am reading Terry Waite "Taken on Trust".. 10p from a charity shop.
I think it is quite well written, I am enjoying it anyhow.


----------



## nogojones (Apr 14, 2013)

Flora Britannica by Richard Mabey and What is Opus Dei? by Noam Friedlander. It was only when I started reading it that I noticed it was published by Conspiracy Books


----------



## threeminus (Apr 16, 2013)

I'm nearly finished _The Book Thief_. A great book.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 18, 2013)

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon

Liking it so far


----------



## ringo (Apr 19, 2013)

The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson.........so far so good. Not the first Victorians using Cyberpunk stuff I've read, I'm too lazy to look up whether this came before or after The Difference Engine.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 19, 2013)

Redshift: Visions of a speculative future

mixed bag of lets re-create New Wave' for this anthology!' authors. Ursula le guin is the best short so far but i'm only three stories in so scope for improvement


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 19, 2013)

seventh bullet said:


> Not bad. Lewis Taylor's Shining Path: Guerrilla War in Peru's Northern Highlands is excellent and worth getting hold of, although focusing on one area of the country. It also gives an easy to understand general overview of PCP-SL history and politics, influences etc for the uninitiated.


 
Not read that, but you might want to look out for Enrique Mayer's Ugly Stories of the Peruvian Agrarian Reform. He talks about how the semi-leftist military junta of the 70s tried to reform rural Peru's agrarian structure from the top-down, and how it all ended badly, with the PCP-SL waiting in the wings.


----------



## seventh bullet (Apr 19, 2013)

Idris2002 said:


> Not read that, but you might want to look out for Enrique Mayer's Ugly Stories of the Peruvian Agrarian Reform. He talks about how the semi-leftist military junta of the 70s tried to reform rural Peru's agrarian structure from the top-down, and how it all ended badly, with the PCP-SL waiting in the wings.


 
Yes. And it did little to change the old pattern of Peru's coastal elite neglecting the rest of the country, and regional elites' abuse and exploitation of indigenous peasants. One thing to note is that this so-called 'revolutionary' government left a mark on both, who remained suspicious of the military and its inadequate attempt to redistribute power and wealth, and were cautious in seeking its involvement in later years, something that helped the spread of the insurgency.

Combined with this ingrained neglect and economic crisis, it left ill-equipped and under-staffed rural police forces dealing with the rebels.


----------



## renegadechicken (Apr 19, 2013)

Gangster squad by Paul Lieberman...its not the screen play is accounts of the RL 'gangster squad' taken from interviews, news reports, grand jury indictments etc


----------



## Chick Webb (Apr 20, 2013)

More Lovecraft (he's being even more unpleasant than usual in my current one) and some Kafka short stories.   It's hilarious how perfect Kafka is for angsty teenagers.​


----------



## izz (Apr 21, 2013)

reading Heft by liz Moore. rather excellent.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 22, 2013)

The Grass Arena by John Healy.

I watched the TV adaptation last week with the fella - he'd not seen it before. 

Have done some research on him and it turns out that Faber started to refuse his calls, then when he lost his temper with them (as you would) they pulped all of the remaining editions of his book!


----------



## idumea (Apr 23, 2013)

Climbers by M John Harrison. It's excellent so far. There's a review here that gives a good overview of the reasons why it's very good.


----------



## cemertyone (Apr 23, 2013)

Shantaram...by David georgy Roberts.......the best read in a very long time.....


----------



## yield (Apr 23, 2013)

I've read a few since I last posted. Labyrinths by Borges was beautiful probably the best book I've ever read. Challenging, beguiling and thought provoking please read.

Worlds of Exile and Illusion by Ursula le Guin in the Hainish cycle was awesome. Anything after Borges would have been stale but this was uplifing and rewarding. Can't say too much without ruining it.

The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula le Guin. Interesting but too short basically a novella. Interesting ideas but unable to come to fruition. So much potential.

Just finshed the Leviathan Wakes by James Corey. Great ideas proper space opera but weak characters that I didn't care about. It has promise so I may try the sequel but I don't hold out much hope.


----------



## Limerick Red (Apr 23, 2013)

just finished Alexi Sayle's "stalin ate my homework", was a right good laugh, very sweet book as well, but for some reason I stopped reading the shining path book to read this, so back to the last 20 pages of that!


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 24, 2013)

sojourner said:


> The Grass Arena by John Healy.
> 
> I watched the TV adaptation last week with the fella - he'd not seen it before.


 

It's one of my favourite books. If life feels shit, read it to see how much worse it is for some.

Unless you're reading it in the park, enjoying a  nice morning drink of blue jack


----------



## Greebo (Apr 24, 2013)

Foundation - Isaac Asimov  *shrug*  Amazing how much can be read when there's not much else to do
Les liaisons dangereuses - Choderlos de Laclos


----------



## sojourner (Apr 25, 2013)

rubbershoes said:


> It's one of my favourite books. If life feels shit, read it to see how much worse it is for some.
> 
> Unless you're reading it in the park, enjoying a nice morning drink of blue jack


 


I knew the book would contain a lot more detail so I'm glad I bought it.  Loving the descriptions of rural life in Ireland, and his constant mentions of various girls/women. 

I'm already full of admiration for the fella anyway - the way he just changes his life around, the whole chess thing. He's a total one off. 

I'm gonna get the documentary on him too at some point. Think it's fucking criminal how Faber treated him.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 26, 2013)

just did Jon Scalzi 'Ghost Regiment' and 'Lost Colony'

cheesy space opera of the first water, avoid


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 26, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> just did Jon Scalzi 'Ghost Regiment' and 'Lost Colony'
> 
> cheesy space opera of the first water, avoid


 
I thought they were pretty good, but such a throwback to the US Sci-fi of the Heinlein era they verged on pastiche.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 26, 2013)

Idris2002 said:


> I thought they were pretty good, but such a throwback to the US Sci-fi of the Heinlein era they verged on pastiche.


 

good comparison right up to the supersoldiers and homo sapien supremacy vibe, plus the fronteriesm and big government portrayed as evil.


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 26, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> good comparison right up to the supersoldiers and homo sapien supremacy vibe, plus the fronteriesm and big government portrayed as evil.


 
And yet if you look at Scalzi's blog, his politics seem to be typical mushy Democratic party liberalism.


----------



## little_legs (Apr 26, 2013)

sojourner said:


> The Grass Arena by John Healy.


 
It's a beautiful book. I only got to know Healy's name last year when he was interviewed on the R3's _Night Waves_ and his story made me well up. So I went and bought the book. The _Night Waves_ link if you fancy giving it a listen: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01hq373


----------



## marty21 (Apr 26, 2013)

Rebel - Bernard Cornwell -

starting off on another Cornwell series, a quartet about the American Civil War .


----------



## sojourner (Apr 26, 2013)

little_legs said:


> It's a beautiful book. I only got to know Healy's name last year when he was interviewed on the R3's _Night Waves_ and his story made me well up. So I went and bought the book. The _Night Waves_ link if you fancy giving it a listen: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01hq373


Wow thanks for the link!  I will deffo have a listen to that later on 

I'm also going to find the doc on him, Barbaric Genius, and watch that.  I had been aware of  him for years - watched the TV adaption years ago, but never followed up to see if there was a book. Then after watching it with the fella the other day, became interested all over again and did a bit of research.  I love how the book is written, such a unique style.  Poignancy reached through a simple and HONEST telling of the story, and hugely poetic in parts. I fucking love John Healy


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 26, 2013)

Paradoxical Undressing - Kristin Hersh. It's really good.


----------



## TruXta (Apr 26, 2013)

cemertyone said:


> Shantaram...by David georgy Roberts.......the best read in a very long time.....


First half is great, thought it took a downwards turn that got steeper and steeper towards the finale.


----------



## TruXta (Apr 26, 2013)

May Kasahara said:


> Paradoxical Undressing - Kristin Hersh. It's really good.


That Kristin Hersh? From Throwing Muses?


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 26, 2013)

Yeah, it's a memoir of her teenage years. Really fascinating and well written. I had no idea she/they were so punk.


----------



## belboid (Apr 26, 2013)

May Kasahara said:


> Paradoxical Undressing - Kristin Hersh. It's really good.


the Guardian review  makes it sound quite amazing.


----------



## TruXta (Apr 26, 2013)

May Kasahara said:


> Yeah, it's a memoir of her teenage years. Really fascinating and well written. I had no idea she/they were so punk.


Cool, haven't read a good music bio for ages. Listened to her first solo album obsessively when it came out.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 29, 2013)

"Wolves Eat Dogs" - Martin Cruz Smith. I think I may have read it before nut I can't remember


----------



## TruXta (Apr 29, 2013)

Arslan by MJ Engh. Fairly full on political scifi.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 29, 2013)

started Great Expectations on the ipad mini - real book is still Rebel - Bernard Cornwell


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Apr 29, 2013)

Just finished Ender's Game. Never read it before - very good except for the ending which meandered off-piste a little.


----------



## Sylvester (Apr 30, 2013)

neil postman-amusing ourselves to death (if you like non-fiction, check this one out)
and some Pablo Neruda poems and the tao...  all over the place


----------



## ringo (Apr 30, 2013)

Have a second book on the go because finally got a copy of Clarks In Jamaica by Al Fingers.

Beautifully presented book on how Clarks shoes in general and desert boots in particular became first the byword in quality footwear in Jamaica and then the pinnacle of street style and fashion. Nice history, awesome photos and great record labels and artists sporting their favourite Clarks.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 30, 2013)

'Worlds Enough and Time' by Dan Simmons. 6 novella length spec fiction tales from him. Trying to ignore the fact that he's a massive islamaphobe and just read the stories


----------



## Yetman (Apr 30, 2013)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool_(series)

I though there was only 5 books! (I'm on no.5) looks like I'll be reading this for a while longer then eh! 

I've got Dante's Inferno and JJ's Ulysees next


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 30, 2013)

David Byrne's How Music Works - I am really loving his style - he's really good about talking about music in an instructive yet chatty manner. I would rather see him on the telly explaining music than that toff Howard Goodall


----------



## Frances Lengel (May 1, 2013)

Just started Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma by Kerry Hudson - Not bad so far.


----------



## BoatieBird (May 1, 2013)

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
My mum tells we that Wilkie Collins was my grandmother's favourite author


----------



## sojourner (May 1, 2013)

Polluto - it's a literary magazine (looks like a novel with some fab artwork on the front http://polluto.com/) - and I'm in it heh  Got the last page too, which is always good - first or last = good.

Anyhoo, there's TONS of great stories in there, loads of brilliant flash fiction and poetry, lots of what seems to be sci-fi but am sure it'ss a slightly different take on it (there's a fucking billion sub-genres now  int there?). Am loving it. Totally got to try and get in this again.


----------



## seeformiles (May 1, 2013)

"The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins 

Got it free for the Kindle - I'd forgotten what a witty bugger he was!


----------



## DotCommunist (May 1, 2013)

Nick Sagan 'Idlewild"

start of a trilogy. Promisingly weird so far


----------



## N_igma (May 1, 2013)

Finally getting around to Franz Kafka - The Trial. Enjoying it so far good critique of state burocracy and the limits to individualism and freedom. Sounds so right wing that too but it's not like that at all.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 2, 2013)

Finished Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon.

I was enjoying it very much up until the last bit. If it had finished after he dropped the tuba  (I don't think that's too much of a spoiler) it would have been a far better ending.

Still highly recommended though


----------



## Sprocket. (May 2, 2013)

Precious Bane by Mary Webb. I am going through a phase of re reading books I read years ago at the moment.
I have got As I Walked Out One Midsummer's Morning by Laurie Lee lined up.
It truly is like greeting old friends who though not forgotten are rarely present these days.


----------



## Yetman (May 2, 2013)

Just started this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lies_of_Locke_Lamora


----------



## TruXta (May 2, 2013)

Not a book but a paper: _Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation_ by Andrews, Pritchett & Woolcock (2012). Pretty good read despite the title.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 2, 2013)

Neal Stephenson- Snow Crash


----------



## jeff_leigh (May 2, 2013)

Just finished Tokyo Year Zero - David Peace
Just started Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch


----------



## yield (May 2, 2013)

Sprocket. said:


> Precious Bane by Mary Webb. I am going through a phase of re reading books I read years ago at the moment.


As you probably know the title is from Milton.


> Let none admire: That riches grow in Hell;
> that Soyle may best: Deserve the precious bane.


Another book I keep meaning to read. Is it like Thomas Hardy?


----------



## machine cat (May 2, 2013)

Selected works of Arthur Rimbaud


----------



## Sprocket. (May 2, 2013)

yield said:


> As you probably know the title is from Milton.
> 
> Another book I keep meaning to read. Is it like Thomas Hardy?


 
Yes was aware of the title from Milton's Paradise Lost. Swap Wessex for Shropshire in the early Nineteenth century. The story is told by Prue who is afflicted with an harelip, she thinks she is not worthy of the attention given to her by a weaver Kester. Intrigue and murder ensue. The book was written in the 1920s and carried a strong moral story from a womans viewpoint.
I think it could be as important a book in a social standing as The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. 
I loved it when I first read it under orders from my then girlfriend nearly forty years ago! Peer pressure, no such thing. Enjoy.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 2, 2013)

I think I saw a tv adaptation of that years ago.


----------



## Limerick Red (May 2, 2013)

Robert Ginsborg's A history of Contemporary Italy, Thank you very much butchersapron , excellent so far, and exactly what I was looking for, Thats my tube to and from work book. Bedtime book Im re-reading , Quite right, Mr trotsky, by Denver Walker, the most important marxist work since Kapital?


----------



## butchersapron (May 2, 2013)

Limerick Red said:


> Robert Ginsborg's A history of Contemporary Italy, Thank you very much butchersapron , excellent so far, and exactly what I was looking for, Thats my tube to and from work book. Bedtime book Im re-reading , Quite right, Mr trotsky, by Denver Walker, the most important marxist work since Kapital?


A CLP comrade of Geri


----------



## Pickman's model (May 2, 2013)

Philip Thurmond Smith, 'The London Metropolitan Police and public order and security, 1850-1868' (New York: Columbia University, 1978) unpublished PhD thesis


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 3, 2013)

I'm getting back into reading after a too-long hiatus. Do you sad book geeks have goodreads profiles I can stalk for some ideas of what to read? And just because I like to stalk....

I've broken my fast by starting _The Reapers are The Angels_ by Alden Bell. Southern Gothic meets zombie horror (but the zombies are peripheral, really). Jolly good so far. About 1/4 of the way in.


----------



## BoatieBird (May 3, 2013)

Vintage Paw said:


> I'm getting back into reading after a too-long hiatus. Do you sad book geeks have goodreads profiles I can stalk for some ideas of what to read? And just because I like to stalk....
> 
> I've broken my fast by starting _The Reapers are The Angels_ by Alden Bell. Southern Gothic meets zombie horror (but the zombies are peripheral, really). Jolly good so far. About 1/4 of the way in.


 
Loads of ideas here 
http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/2013-reading-challenge-thread.303576/


----------



## not-bono-ever (May 3, 2013)

Stepney Words - been looking for an original for a while now. fuckin' hell. the poems bring me to tears


----------



## May Kasahara (May 4, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Polluto - it's a literary magazine (looks like a novel with some fab artwork on the front http://polluto.com/) - and I'm in it heh  Got the last page too, which is always good - first or last = good.
> 
> Anyhoo, there's TONS of great stories in there, loads of brilliant flash fiction and poetry, lots of what seems to be sci-fi but am sure it'ss a slightly different take on it (there's a fucking billion sub-genres now int there?). Am loving it. Totally got to try and get in this again.


 
Ooh, I like the look of that soj 

Currently reading Darkside by Belinda Bauer. Total book crack - I read Finders Keepers in less than a day, feverishly ignoring my children in order to read a story about someone stealing children.

Finished the Kristen Hersh a while back, it is AMAZING from start to finish. Very inspiring, very moving.


----------



## imposs1904 (May 6, 2013)

butchersapron said:


> A CLP comrade of Geri


 
denver walker?


----------



## weltweit (May 6, 2013)

I am reading Milligan's Meaning of Life by Spike Milligan.

Got it from the library and am enjoying it.


----------



## magneze (May 7, 2013)

John Lanchester - Whoops! Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay

Already well into it - it's an easy read.


----------



## Dynamo (May 7, 2013)

I have been reading the book daygame by Tom Torero, as I am an avid daygamer myself I thought this would be a good read as it was. For those who don't know what daygame is click the link to see Tom Torero talking about his book.


----------



## Dillinger4 (May 8, 2013)

Just finished Ghost Milk by Iain Sinclair. 

Currently reading The Return by Roberto Bolano, The Silence of Animals by John Gray and What is the Dharma?: The Essential Teachings of the Buddha by Sangharakshita. 

There are a few other books on my desk that I am flicking in and out of.


----------



## Dillinger4 (May 8, 2013)

Also waiting for a book about Paul Delvaux that I am quite excited about reading


----------



## xenon (May 8, 2013)

I fancied reading some history again, so In The Shadow of the Sword by Tom Holland.


----------



## Ax^ (May 8, 2013)

moby dick...

bit meh really


----------



## Orang Utan (May 8, 2013)

It deserves a more in depth and considered review than that


----------



## belboid (May 8, 2013)

"mostly a bit meh really" ??


----------



## Ax^ (May 8, 2013)

it hardly a book were the subject matter is unknown..


book about a whale hunt and lots of refrences to america which the author had a right happy for

better


----------



## machine cat (May 8, 2013)

Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five

Why has it taken me so long to get round to reading this? It's brilliant!


----------



## krtek a houby (May 9, 2013)

"Game of Thrones" George RR Martin. Loving this. "Wheel of Time" feels like a bad memory now...


----------



## machine cat (May 9, 2013)

Slaughterhouse-Five was ace. Just wish i'd read it 15 years ago.

Now reading Complicity by Iain Banks, and looking forward to how it progresses.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 11, 2013)

I've been through Snow Crash, Diamond Age and Interface. All neal Stephenson. In which I have learned:

Neal is a hugely entertaining prose stylist with big ideas and a dry wit. But. He could also do with an editor. His politics appear to be some sort of technocratic american liberal? and he's a huge intellectual snob. bit dodge perhaps. need to read some non fic of his to see really. Massive hard on for hackers.

Now onto this A door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski 

I didn't know when I started it (soon realised though. Its part of a huge d/l of sci fi ebooks so pot luck as to wether I get asimovs milue of this sort of stuff) that this is feminist sci fi, heavy on the back to nature stuff. Well written so far.


----------



## ringo (May 11, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> I've been through Snow Crash, Diamond Age and Interface. All neal Stephenson. In which I have learned:
> 
> Neal is a hugely entertaining prose stylist with big ideas and a dry wit. But. He could also do with an editor. His politics appear to be some sort of technocratic american liberal? and he's a huge intellectual snob. bit dodge perhaps. need to read some non fic of his to see really. Massive hard on for hackers.
> 
> Now onto this A door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski



Yep, I'm reading diamond age atm, some great ideas but when he gets distracted, or clever, I know there's going to be a lengthy and detailed derail on a par with Easton Ellis in American Psycho, and possibly just as dull, just to make a point.

The little descriptions of what is about to happen at the start of each chapter are annoying too, I know its a traditional practice but have never understood the purpose. Anyone?


----------



## DotCommunist (May 11, 2013)

ringo said:


> Yep, I'm reading diamond age atm, some great ideas but when he gets distracted, or clever, I know there's going to be a lengthy and detailed derail on a par with Easton Ellis in American Psycho, and possibly just as dull, just to make a point.
> 
> The little descriptions of what is about to happen at the start of each chapter are annoying too, I know its a traditional practice but have never understood the purpose. Anyone?


 
It's a fairtale thing, but I also suspect- and just guessing- that the practise could come from when books were serialised and published in quarterlies for the working mans pockets for whom real books were an unaffordable expense (dickens)

thus chapter headings summarising events would serve as a handy guide to getting you to remember plotlines after the 3 month wait


----------



## QueenOfGoths (May 11, 2013)

"Land of the Headless" - Adam Roberts, not far in but really enjoying it


----------



## DotCommunist (May 11, 2013)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "Land of the Headless" - Adam Roberts, not far in but really enjoying it


 

proper example of the unreliable narrator is that


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 11, 2013)

I liked that The Angels are the Reapers thing in the end.

Now reading Wolf Hall, which seems to coincide with BBC 2's upcoming Tudor season, which is nice.


----------



## Gnome Chompsky (May 12, 2013)

Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder. Got 'In the Name of the Rose' by Umberto Eco lined up next.


----------



## yield (May 12, 2013)

Finished Distress by Greg Egan. It's good. I felt half way through that he'd bitten off more than he could chew but he pulls it off.

Lots of the biotechnology and Theory of Everthing stuff went over my head. Stateless is an interesting take on anarchist society.

Now about half way through Q by Luther Blissett. Brilliant well researched fiction about the social upheavels after the Reformation.


----------



## Candi (May 13, 2013)

Shadowlands - John Lenehan. Easy reading, a bit predictable.


----------



## idumea (May 14, 2013)

Dynamo said:


> I have been reading the book daygame by Tom Torero, as I am an avid daygamer myself I thought this would be a good read as it was. For those who don't know what daygame is click the link to see Tom Torero talking about his book.


 
I thought this was going to be about that thing where you walk around daydreaming and making up imaginary elaborate games in which you are the hero but actually it's some Pick Up Artist thing 

Just finished Moxyland by Lauren Beukes - good if not excellent cyberpunk thriller. Nifty concepts, nothing mindblowing.

And Wolfhound Century by Richard Higgins - very good sci fi. Mash up of Mieville / Bulgakov in alternate weird Russia.


----------



## machine cat (May 14, 2013)

Just finished Complicity.

Thought it pretty average until around page 150, but it turned interesting. The last 20 or so pages though, wow! I was expecting the usual plot twist but it didn't really happen. Instead I was treated to some of the finest prose I think the man has ever written.


We really are losing a great writer


----------



## N_igma (May 17, 2013)

machine cat said:


> Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five
> 
> Why has it taken me so long to get round to reading this? It's brilliant!



I thought it was a bit shit, so it goes. 

Reading Crime and Punishment now. Engaging in parts but the narrative can drag at times.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 17, 2013)

Been reading the Engineer trilogy by KJ Parker. It was bundled in with a massive ebook of sci fi but it is not sci fi. Its a weird conceit where you have a city-state broadly along Roman lines but its entire exitence is based around high tech for export- finest devices in the known world. Surrounded by fuedal societies it occasionally hires vast merc armies to keep the natives at bay. 
They value their engineering knowledge so highly that runaways from the city are hunted down and killed- they'll crush nations to keep the secrets of the forges etc.

All of which basically becomes a set up where an ordnance engineer is the prime mover of the plot. Shouldn't work really, but does. Theres a lot of enthusiasm to the whole thing and the characters are not wafer thin unlike a lot of middling fantasy. I recommend.


----------



## yield (May 17, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Its a weird conceit where you have a city-state broadly along Roman lines but its entire exitence is based around high tech for export- finest devices in the known world. Surrounded by feudal societies it occasionally hires vast merc armies to keep the natives at bay.


Byzantium?


----------



## colbhoy (May 18, 2013)

I'm reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin.

Was one of the 2012 World Book Night selections and was left in my work's canteen to pick up and read. Absolutely not the type of book I would ever think of reading but I suppose that is the intention of the Book Night. I am quite enjoying it.


----------



## starfish (May 18, 2013)

Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais, an Elvis Cole & Joe Pike novel.


----------



## magneze (May 20, 2013)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Was recommended to me by someone at work who saw that I was reading some scifi.


----------



## machine cat (May 20, 2013)

magneze said:


> Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
> 
> Was recommended to me by someone at work who saw that I was reading some scifi.



I enjoyed it. The sequels not so much.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 20, 2013)

Cards a massive homophobe a well


----------



## machine cat (May 20, 2013)

Still in Banks mode atm. I thought I had bought Whit but it turns out it was The Crow Road (need to pay attention to what i'm buying).

Enjoying it so far. Love the fact that it switches character, time and perspective so chaotically.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 21, 2013)

Wool

A post apocalypse tale set to start with in a survivors community in a silo. "frogwoman got me it and its quite good so far. Fairly thoughtful.


----------



## Firky (May 21, 2013)

wrong thread


----------



## marty21 (May 22, 2013)

The Departure - Neil Asher

Sci Fi romp set in a future Totalitarian state ruled by The Committee - really enjoying it


----------



## ringo (May 22, 2013)

ringo said:


> Yep, I'm reading diamond age atm, some great ideas but when he gets distracted, or clever, I know there's going to be a lengthy and detailed derail on a par with Easton Ellis in American Psycho, and possibly just as dull, just to make a point.


 
Halfway through and the mixture of inventiveness and tedium is getting too much. This may end up being be the best book I've ever given up on


----------



## Dillinger4 (May 22, 2013)

I can't wait for the new Thomas Pynchon book at the end of this year. I am very excited about it.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (May 24, 2013)

"Stone's Fall" - Iain Pears - a murder mystery/espionage tale/love story spanning the decades. I am rather enjoying it


----------



## idumea (May 24, 2013)

Had a run on sci fi and lots of travel by train, so I've just finished:

Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins
Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts
Rule 34 by Charles Stross

Currently reading the Quantum Thief


----------



## machine cat (May 24, 2013)

idumea said:


> Currently reading the Quantum Thief


 
This is on my to read pile  What's it like?




Part way through Jose Saramago's Seeing atm.


ETA: And Plath. Again, and again, and again.


----------



## idumea (May 24, 2013)

machine cat said:


> This is on my to read pile  What's it like?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
I got about thirty pages in and wasn't impressed so read Adam Roberts' By Light Alone instead. (Which was amazing.) Going to give The Quantum Thief another go. Bit long on concept short on writing for me.


----------



## RedDragon (May 25, 2013)

The Child Thief - OMG!


----------



## flypanam (May 28, 2013)

Raymond Queneau - Zazie in the metro. Funny.


----------



## CharlieChaplin (May 28, 2013)

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien


----------



## RedDragon (May 28, 2013)

Just started a Peter May trilogy


----------



## DotCommunist (May 28, 2013)

Just reading Bill Conolloys bio. quite good.

Unlike Chris Moyles bio which I gave up yesterday after just one chapter. The blokes a fucking moron, its not just a radio persona, hes a sleazy fucking idiot


----------



## TruXta (May 28, 2013)

Abercrombie's "The Blade Itself". Should I crack on with the rest of series or not bother? Not massively impressed so far, it's OK I guess.


----------



## Voley (May 28, 2013)

which Spymaster recommended for me. Really enjoying it.


----------



## belboid (May 28, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> Just started a Peter May trilogy


the Lewis ones?  I've done the first two, they're most enjoyable.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 30, 2013)

Samul R Delany fest. Just did 'Babel 13: empires heart' now onto 'Jewels of ptor' then if I'm still in a delany mood. Triton'


----------



## machine cat (May 30, 2013)

Seeing was cracking  Really love Saramago's prose, but the novel left too many unanswered questions and the plot didn't progress in the way I expected (much like Blindness). Still it was funny watching the politicians turn purple when the people with no authority over them just continued going about life as normal.

ETA: Starting Shelley's The Last Man now.


----------



## catinthehat (May 31, 2013)

LoveStar by Andri Snaer Magnasson - 'Strange and refreshing - a lushly imagined future that reminded me of Vonnegut and Brautigan' (Ed Park) - sums it up better than I could.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jun 2, 2013)

Bram Stoker's Dracula, inspired by last week's visit to Whitby.


----------



## marty21 (Jun 3, 2013)

Deep Country - Five Years in the Welsh Hills - Neil Ansell

An account of 5 years living in a remote Welsh Cottage - basically the writer became a recluse most of the time - enjoying it .


----------



## weltweit (Jun 3, 2013)

I am reading A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson.
.. about a third through. It is much larger than I was expecting but I suppose as it is about "nearly everything" it had to be


----------



## ringo (Jun 3, 2013)

Pao by Kerry Young. Great so far - young lad moves to Jamaica in the 1930s from China to live with his mother and Uncle who turns out to be the main gangster in Chinatown.


----------



## Citizen66 (Jun 3, 2013)

Sex, Race & Class by Selma James.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 4, 2013)

started 'Room full of mirrors' today, the biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles Cross. It's great so far, very addictive


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 4, 2013)

machine cat said:


> Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five
> !


 
thanks for the reminder - will order it


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 4, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> thanks for the reminder - will order it


 

you won't regret it. Its really really good sci fi. So good that people who do not rate sci fi consider it to be good


----------



## starfish (Jun 4, 2013)

Romance by Ed McBain (my 46th in the 87th Precinct series)


----------



## machine cat (Jun 4, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> you won't regret it. Its really really good sci fi. So good that people who do not rate sci fi consider it to be good


 
Yes, a colleague recommended it to me and I said I'd heard that it was classic sci-fi. 

'Sci-fi? No it's nothing like that.' was his sneering response. I have no idea how he came to this conclusion


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 4, 2013)

lit snobery ennit.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 4, 2013)

some people would die of shame before admitting to having read sci fi. These people are bell ends. I've usually read more lit than they have had hot dinners, but you know. Genre fiction is a sneered upon ghetto despite the fact that it often goes places 'normal' lit will not


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 5, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> you won't regret it. Its really really good sci fi. So good that people who do not rate sci fi consider it to be good


 
thanks, rrrespec mate.


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 5, 2013)

robert e howard et al, ghor: kin-slayer


----------



## Reno (Jun 5, 2013)

I picked up The New York Grimpendium by J.W. Ocker while I was on my holiday there. It's a guide to all things macabre and grisly in NYC, from crime locations to disaster sites to horror film locations. A great read and often surprisingly funny without being disrespectful.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 6, 2013)

The Sea Inside by Phillip Hoare
The Spectacle of Disintegration: Situationist Passages out of the Twentieth Century by McKenzie Wark


----------



## TruXta (Jun 6, 2013)

DP'ing Sinclair's Lud Heat and the Black Company trilogy by Glen Cook, both excellent works.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 6, 2013)

Swweney Tod the Demon Barber of fleet street



is good


----------



## grubby local (Jun 6, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> thanks for the reminder - will order it


 

I love all Vonnegut, only missing a couple. Latest, and perhaps the best, was his series of short stories from his early days, criminally overlooked, 'Welcome to the monkey house'. 
gx


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 6, 2013)

TruXta said:


> DP'ing Sinclair's Lud Heat and the Black Company trilogy by Glen Cook, both excellent works.


 

I read Lud Heat for the first time a few months ago.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jun 6, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> you won't regret it. Its really really good sci fi. So good that people who do not rate sci fi consider it to be good


 
It's sci-fi but it's not like most _American _sci-fi. What it would remind me most of all would be Stanislaw Lem's Ijon Tichy stories, which are part of a European SF ("satirical fantasy") tradition that goes back at least to Jonathan Swift.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 6, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> you won't regret it. Its really really good sci fi. So good that people who do not rate sci fi consider it to be good


 

I don't really think of it as sci fi.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 7, 2013)

I bought a copy of The Branch Will Not Break by James Wright on Amazon. As I ordered it, I thought "I am ordering a completely ordinary sized book".

This is what I got when it arrived:







I am still waiting for somebody to send me the real book and tell me that it was all an elaborate joke.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jun 7, 2013)

Is the print normal sized Dillinger4?
I quite like the idea of small books that will fit easily into a pocket or bag.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 7, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> Is the print normal sized Dillinger4?
> I quite like the idea of small books that will fit easily into a pocket or bag.


 

No. The print is _tiny._I feel like I have been cheated somehow.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jun 7, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> No. The print is _tiny. _


 


How annoying


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 7, 2013)

read it with a magnifying glass. It can't be any more headache inducing than penguins paperback version of War and Peace


----------



## TruXta (Jun 7, 2013)

I'm liking Lud Heat Dillinger4, can definitely see where From Hell got a lot of its themes from.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 7, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> read it with a magnifying glass. It can't be any more headache inducing than penguins paperback version of War and Peace


 

I have to admit I am quite enjoying the idea of reading it on a train and looking like a prick


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 7, 2013)

TruXta said:


> I'm liking Lud Heat Dillinger4, can definitely see where From Hell got a lot of its themes from.


 

Eight churches gave us the enclosure, the shape of fear.



I love mad paranoia. It is one of my favourite things to read.


----------



## machine cat (Jun 7, 2013)

Just started James Kelman's How Late It Was, How Late.

Can see that I'm going to enjoy this...


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 7, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> Eight churches gave us the enclosure, the shape of fear.
> 
> 
> 
> *I love mad paranoia. It is one of my favourite things to read*.


 

is it on par with Focaults Pendulum? cos if it is I feel a purchase coming on...


----------



## TruXta (Jun 7, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> is it on par with Focaults Pendulum? cos if it is I feel a purchase coming on...


I don't know if they're comparable really - Lud Heat's only 135 pages or so, a lot of it verse.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 7, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> is it on par with Focaults Pendulum? cos if it is I feel a purchase coming on...


 

More paranoid than that. The style is a bit unusual though. It is not a novel. 

I definitely recommend it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 7, 2013)

I'll give it ago when I've finished Sweeney Todd then


----------



## marty21 (Jun 7, 2013)

The Bloody Ground - Bernard Cornwell - 4th in the Starbuck Chronicles. and the last, even though they are only mid way through the civil war  he needs to finish the series  

enjoying it though


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 7, 2013)

grubby local said:


> I love all Vonnegut, only missing a couple. Latest, and perhaps the best, was his series of short stories from his early days, criminally overlooked, 'Welcome to the monkey house'.
> gx


 
Thanks, I will order this too


----------



## colbhoy (Jun 7, 2013)

marty21 said:


> The Bloody Ground - Bernard Cornwell - 4th in the Starbuck Chronicles. and the last, even though they are only mid way through the civil war  he needs to finish the series
> 
> enjoying it though


 


They were very good, great battle scenes.


----------



## colbhoy (Jun 7, 2013)

starfish said:


> Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais, an Elvis Cole & Joe Pike novel.


 

Great series of books, got Free Fall to take with me on holiday on Sunday - working my way through them in order.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 8, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> started 'Room full of mirrors' today, the biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles Cross. It's great so far, very addictive


 
really got to say, Jimi Hendrix was such a top cat! (im now talkin like de 60's) But a real gentleman as well as genius.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 8, 2013)

I have just started Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
So far I am enjoying it.


----------



## Roadkill (Jun 8, 2013)

Keith Lowe, _Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II_.  Picked it up at a station bookshop for a bit of train reading, and I'm impressed - well worth a read.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Jun 8, 2013)

Charlotte Street. New Danny Wallace stupid boy project/love story type thing. It's made me laugh out loud a few times on public transport, which is always a good sign.

Also The Dispossessed by Ursula K le Guin. Slow progress but interested to see how the story develops.


----------



## magneze (Jun 9, 2013)

Quiet, by Susan Cain

It's all about introverts.


----------



## marty21 (Jun 9, 2013)

colbhoy said:


> They were very good, great battle scenes.


yep, an excellent series - he needs to return to it - he got distracted by the Sharpe stuff - tv demanded more stories - I haven't actually read any of the Sharpe stuff.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 9, 2013)

oh the sharpe books are great- much like the TV adapts they run to a formula but it is a good formula and always coloured with new takes on the essential theme. The theme of course being that Richard Sharpe defeats both napolean and his own classist officers to save the day and also gets a shag or three.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 9, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> some people would die of shame before admitting to having read sci fi. These people are bell ends. I've usually read more lit than they have had hot dinners, but you know. Genre fiction is a sneered upon ghetto despite the fact that it often goes places 'normal' lit will not


 
Jimi Hendrix had a huge passion for sci-fi and had more sci-fi books than he had clothes. Ray Bradbury was his favourite author.


----------



## thedockerslad (Jun 9, 2013)

I got a copy of The Diving-Bell & the Butterfly for 25p. We'll see eh...


----------



## machine cat (Jun 11, 2013)

Really enjoying How Late I Was, How Late. Sucks you right in to the mind of the protagonist: Blindness, paranoia, just that gasping feeling for a fag/drink. That stream of conscientious all us pissheads do when we've had a few days really at it and you're stumbling round like everything's a dream.

Was so engrossed on the train I almost ended up in Manchester


----------



## marty21 (Jun 12, 2013)

Birdscapes - Birds in our imagination and experience - Jeremy Mynott  does what it says on the tin - just started it - Mrs21 loves it and urged me to read it


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 12, 2013)

Ready Player One

by Ernest Kline

Came highly reccomended on reliable geek review site i09


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 12, 2013)

prepare to be disappoint


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 13, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> prepare to be disappoint


 

quite enjoyed it actually, ripped through it in a day. bit of fun, massive deus x, literally.

Now onto a doctor who novel. I don't normally bother with Who novels nowadays cos lifes too short but this one is penned by Michael Moorcock so I thought 'why not'


----------



## Sprocket. (Jun 13, 2013)

On holiday I read; Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar. by Paul Theroux.
I read the Great Railway Bazaar thirty years ago so was interested to see what has/hasn't changed over the years. 
It is sometimes best to remember things as they were, the original journey went through Iran and Afghanistan obviously that route could not be followed.
I found the journey through Burma and Cambodia very interesting especially Cambodia as Theroux last visited here before the rise of Pol Pot.
Also there have been a lot of the criminal events the U.S carried on during the Vietnam years exposed since the seventies. I found the chapters about the journey through Vietnam made me feel a little humble regarding the survivors of the war's viewpoints.
Enjoyable, but we inhabit a much less mysterious planet than when the first book came out.

I am now going to re visit; As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 13, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> quite enjoyed it actually, ripped through it in a day. bit of fun, massive deus x, literally.
> 
> Now onto a doctor who novel. I don't normally bother with Who novels nowadays cos lifes too short but this one is penned by Michael Moorcock so I thought 'why not'


 

TBF I am going to say almost everything is disappointing. Because I am a knob. 

Michael Moorcock is good though.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 14, 2013)

Just did 'Redshirts' by Scalzi

appart from one point where a joke was lifted VERTABIM from the film Galaxy Quest it was very funny and original


----------



## Firky (Jun 14, 2013)

Still slowly plodding my way through Dominion (alternate history, nazis win the war and shit) - it has been about 2 months now and although I read less in the summer... I really want to abandon it altogether and crack on with 2666 (supposed to be amazeballs and shit).


----------



## marty21 (Jun 14, 2013)

Firky said:


> Still slowly plodding my way through Dominion (alternate history, nazis win the war and shit) - it has been about 2 months now and although I read less in the summer... I really want to abandon it altogether and crack on with 2666 (supposed to be amazeballs and shit).


 quite enjoyed Dominion -


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 14, 2013)

I am reading The Octopus: Secret Government & the Death of Danny Casolaro by Kenn Thomas


----------



## marty21 (Jun 14, 2013)

Just started  Zero Point - Neal Asher


----------



## Firky (Jun 14, 2013)

marty21 said:


> quite enjoyed Dominion -


 

I'm only a 100 pages or so into it and have only just been introduced to Gunther the Jew hunter


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jun 15, 2013)

The Great Gatsby - Can't believe I didn't read this years ago


----------



## ringo (Jun 15, 2013)

Doctor Fischer of Geneva or the Bomb Party - Graham Greene


----------



## nogojones (Jun 15, 2013)

government of the shadows - parapolitics and criminal sovereignty ed. Eric Wilson and my new bog book is poisons and antidotes by Carol Turkington


----------



## Yata (Jun 15, 2013)

When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops by George Carlin


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Jun 16, 2013)

The Hangman's Record Volume 2 by Steve Fielding.

An account of the people hung between 1900 and 1929. Contains little descriptions of the crimes, and brief biogs of the executioners.

Fascinating stuff, especially as you can't beat a good murder case!  Especially when they chop up the body (or bodies - even better)! 

Now where are me knives...and I recall longdog was shopping for knives to cut up bones of late...


----------



## idumea (Jun 16, 2013)

Just finished Dark Eden by Chris Beckett - superb. Here's the blurb:



> _You live in Eden. You are a member of the Family, one of 532 descendants of two marooned explorers. You huddle, slowly starving, beneath the light and warmth of geothermal trees, confined to one barely habitable valley of a startlingly alien, sunless world. After 163 years and six generations of incestuous inbreeding, the Family is riddled with deformity and feeblemindedness. Your culture is a infantile stew of half-remembered fact and devolved ritual that stifles innovation and punishes independent thought._


 
Expected it to be a straight up horror/sci-fi thriller type mash-up, but it was more subtle. It focuses on the invention of creation myths, the human desire to become part of stories (or to make your life into a narrative), as well as the invention of patriarchy and property. It's written in the vernacular of the 'Family', which could've been sub-par Riddley Walker if done badly, but ends up perfectly claustrophobic. 


Currently reading Gradisil by Adam Roberts.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 17, 2013)

Has anyone read The Melancholy of Resistance by Laszlo Krasznahorkai? In some circles he and a handful of other Eastern European writers are very fashionable (or at least they were), but reading the reviews of his writing style, I just don't know if I can be bothered. Is it worth it?


----------



## MrSki (Jun 18, 2013)

T





marty21 said:


> The Bloody Ground - Bernard Cornwell - 4th in the Starbuck Chronicles. and the last, even though they are only mid way through the civil war  he needs to finish the series
> 
> enjoying it though


Try reading his 'Gallow's Thief' It is a stand alone & is funny in places especially if you like cricket!


----------



## marty21 (Jun 18, 2013)

MrSki said:


> T
> Try reading his 'Gallow's Thief' It is a stand alone & is funny in places especially if you like cricket!


 cheers, will get around to that one


----------



## MrSki (Jun 18, 2013)

marty21 said:


> cheers, will get around to that one


 
Or if you can't get hold of that then 'The Fort' is a stand alone American civil war one that is okay but I think 'Gallow's Thief' is his book that I have enjoyed most.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 18, 2013)

Chopper by Mark Brandon Read.

australian hoolie/ganster thing


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 18, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Chopper by Mark Brandon Read.
> 
> australian hoolie/ganster thing


 

You seen the film?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 18, 2013)

I have, its why I gave the book a second glance. Wouldn't normally do crime bio's but its ages since I read one


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 18, 2013)

Australia has some great nutters


----------



## TruXta (Jun 18, 2013)

Demanding The Impossible - A history of anarchism by Peter Marshall. About 60 pages in so far, prose isn't great but at least it's fairly clear.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 18, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Demanding The Impossible - A history of anarchism by Peter Marshall. About 60 pages in so far, prose isn't great but at least it's fairly clear.


 

It is one of the more comprehensible books about Anarchism. The kind that doesn't require a great deal of prior knowledge about it. Its quite a while since I read it; is it the one that talks about pirates etc as forerunners to modern anarchism?


----------



## TruXta (Jun 18, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> It is one of the more comprehensible books about Anarchism. The kind that doesn't require a great deal of prior knowledge about it. Its quite a while since I read it; is it the one that talks about pirates etc as forerunners to modern anarchism?


I've just started the historical section, but yeah, it wouldn't surprise me.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 18, 2013)

I hope I haven't ruined it for you.


----------



## TruXta (Jun 18, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> I hope I haven't ruined it for you.


Fuck no.


----------



## mentalchik (Jun 22, 2013)

Consider Phlebas.......re-working my way through my banks collection.......already done Use Of Weapons (my fav)


----------



## Belushi (Jun 22, 2013)

Help Yourself by Caspar Addyman, enjoying it so far.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 23, 2013)

"The Boys From Brazil" - Ira Levin. Only ever seen the film and wanted a good solid thriller, which this is. Though the cover has a massive swastika on the front so I imagine most of my fellow commuters now think I am reading some kind of far-right propaganda


----------



## machine cat (Jun 23, 2013)

mentalchik said:


> Consider Phlebas.......re-working my way through my banks collection.......already done Use Of Weapons (my fav)


 
Although the 'easy in, easy out' raid on the temple is my favourite part of that book, I do love it when Horza gets his fingers stripped by the obese cult leader. There's religion for you Horza!


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 24, 2013)

I have just bought myself a two year subscription to bookforum. 

Mostly because I read one article by Astra Taylor.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 25, 2013)

reading 'Help yourself' by Caspar Addyman. Provocative work thus far.

afterwards i will read 'The history of God' by Karen Armstrong....been LONG on this list.......


----------



## seeformiles (Jun 25, 2013)

"No Off Switch" by Andy Kershaw


----------



## weltweit (Jun 25, 2013)

I am reading my second bio by Jo Brand, I like her, and she has a style that is easy to read.


----------



## hammerntongues (Jun 25, 2013)

seeformiles said:


> "No Off Switch" by Andy Kershaw


 

What did you make of him , I just finished that and at the end I wasn`t sure if I liked him or not .? I got the feeling he may have been a self obsessed knob and he certainly was a jerk with women BUT there was enough about him that he would have probably have been a good guy to have a beer with . Through that book I bought some Ted Hawkins who I had not heard before , superb voice almost Otis like but simple acoustic guitar backing .


----------



## seeformiles (Jun 25, 2013)

hammerntongues said:


> I just finished that and at the end I wasn`t sure if I liked him or not .? I got the feeling he may have been a self obsessed knob and he certainly was a jerk with women BUT there was enough about him that he would have probably have been a good guy to have a beer with . Through that book I bought some Ted Hawkins who I had not heard before , superb voice almost Otis like but simple acoustic guitar backing .


 

I'm nearly finished and am coming to similar conclusions - however, in an industry which appears to demand an ego the size of a house as standard, he seems to possess more humility than most.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 25, 2013)

Just got The Melancholy of Resistance by Laszlo Krasznahorkai. I have read a few pages and I think it is going to be everything I was expecting and then some  



> A powerful, surreal novel, in the tradition of Gogol, about the chaotic events surrounding the arrival of a circus in a small Hungarian town. The Melancholy of Resistance, László Krasznahorkai's magisterial, surreal novel, depicts a chain of mysterious events in a small Hungarian town. A circus, promising to display the stuffed body of the largest whale in the world, arrives in the dead of winter, prompting bizarre rumors. Word spreads that the circus folk have a sinister purpose in mind, and the frightened citizens cling to any manifestation of order they can find—music, cosmology, fascism. The novel's characters are unforgettable: the evil Mrs. Eszter, plotting her takeover of the town; her weakling husband; and Valuska, our hapless hero with his head in the clouds, who is the tender center of the book, the only pure and noble soul to be found. Compact, powerful and intense, The Melancholy of Resistance, as its enormously gifted translator George Szirtes puts it, "is a slow lava flow of narrative, a vast black river of type." And yet, miraculously, the novel, in the words of The Guardian, "lifts the reader along in lunar leaps and bounds."


----------



## Quartz (Jun 26, 2013)

Just read 'Rivers of London' by Ben Aaronovitch today. Big mug of tea plus sunshine plus good book = bliss. I'll see if the local bookshop has the next two volumes.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 26, 2013)

I hope you will forgive the slightly longer than normal post for this thread.

I am starting to read again.

It has been a long while since I read much but there are often moments when I want to be away from my computer for half an hour and this presents an opportunity.

Initially I bought books from a charity shop but after a while I find it limiting which has led me to start using my local library.

My first charity shop book this year, bought for 10p, was _A Prison Diary, Jeffrey Archer_ which was in large print and quite an easy read. I am interested in the story of Archer falling from grace. In prison he is still irrepressible and quickly turns his hand to wheeling and dealing with the other inmates. That he lied in court, and probably in other areas of his life I am sure, makes him a person of dubious morals but that he is energetic and resourceful comes across in the book.

I then bought, _All Together Now, John Harvey-Jones_, about managing people in industry. A little dry and perhaps some may say dull or boring, in its favour the chapters are not very long and overall it is a quick read.

Finally, from the charity shop, I found _Taken on Trust, Terry Waite_, about his some four or five years as a hostage where he is kept in solitary confinement. The book flicks neatly between experiences of captivity and the role he played as an assistant to the Archbishop of Canterbury with special responsibilities for hostage negotiation, thence back to his confinement again within the space of a page or two. While obviously pretty grim, his explanation of imprisonment is not without humour, on occasion his captors bring him books, but as they don't read or really speak English, often the books are some that he loathes. There is no choice but to read as there is precious little else to do to keep his mind occupied. I enjoy the book but the subject matter is a little grim, I think I need some more amusing reading next.

_The Meaning of Life, Spike Milligan_ is the first book I got from my local library, from the biography section. There are a lot of biographies of people whose stories I am not at all interested in but I have always loved Spike. He does not disappoint and I am most amused.

_How I Very Slowly Became an Overnight Success, Rob Brydon_ is an easy read though I have already forgotten much about it, I like Brydon's self depreciation.

_Notes on a Small Island, Bill Bryson_ about his visits and tours around Britain I find his writing highly amusing and there are some laugh out loud moments, Bryson was a favourite author of my Dad's for a while and it is nice that I enjoy the same thing.

_A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson_, a second of his books which I had ordered from the library. I am a bit shocked when I collect it because it, the illustrated version, is massive and I am momentarily unsure I am ready to take on so many pages. Covering all sorts of aspects of human knowledge the book is very nicely written, again there are the touches of humour. I am sad to return it to the library as I would like to own a copy. There are just too many facts to remember and I want it as a science reference book to dip into from time to time.

I then graduated to a novel, _Catch-22, Joseph Heller_, which I had tried to read as a teenager but had found too complex at the time. Now I devour it, I love the involved prose and wonderfully detailed, slightly contrary, character descriptions. Each chapter is nominally about a different character and often Heller will write something slightly unexpected, like: Major Major was very short sighted which made him a perfect individual for fighting a war! I find the ending a bit rushed, Yossarian, the main character, does not seem to resolve his issues and seems at the end to contradict his own feelings. It is as if Heller was not sure how to finish but felt he had written enough. As with Bryson's book I am disappointed to return it to the library, I would like to own it.

_Can't Stand Up For Sitting Down, Jo Brand_, my first book by Brand whose stand up I enjoy, it is actually the second in her bio books and is an easy and amusing read. She explains the start of her career as a stand up comedian and the trials and tribulations involved. I find I have read it rather quickly and am disappointed to finish it.

At the moment I have two books on the go and a couple more on order at the library.

_Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas_, really a play, has fantastic language and wonderful characters, a small book but I am taking my time with it.

_Look Back In Hunger, Jo Brand_, my second from her, a bio including her childhood, youth and early adulthood. As readable as the first, her sense of humour comes through well, I find I choose it slightly more often than Under Milk Wood as it is less effort to read.

At the moment I have a book by _Primo Levi_ on order about his time in Auschwitz and a sci-fi novel _Consider Phlebas, __Ian (M) Banks_, the first in his culture series. In the house a copy of _Mein Kampf_ which I am told is a bit dull, somehow I think I should read this but I may not as it may harm my mental health. I also have old hardback copies of _1984, and Animal Farm by George Orwell_, which I have read before but may revisit.

If anyone reading this has any suggestions for books I might enjoy, please tell me, I don't yet really do heavy duty literature although I did read Tolstoy's confession online at the end of last year. Boy did he have a lot to confess!!


----------



## magneze (Jun 26, 2013)

Just started Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall..


----------



## DaRealSpoon (Jun 26, 2013)

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

Sequel to The Lies of Locke Lamora

Absolutely brilliant


----------



## Quartz (Jun 26, 2013)

weltweit said:


> I hope you will forgive the slightly longer than normal post for this thread.


 

How many times do you read each book? If I've enjoyed a book, I'll re-read it, and the second time through is usually better than the first.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jun 26, 2013)

Feersum Endjinn by Iain M Banks.  It's the first Iain M book I've read and I'm enjoying it now I've got my head round the style.
I'm really enjoying some of the characters - particularly Bascule, or should I say petikularli Bascule.

Thanks for the recommendation machine cat


----------



## weltweit (Jun 26, 2013)

Quartz said:


> How many times do you read each book? If I've enjoyed a book, I'll re-read it, and the second time through is usually better than the first.


 
Interesting question. Usually I only revisit a book many years later. I know I will want to read _Catch-22_ again and also _A short history of nearly everything_, and I may read the two Orwell book I have a second time, I know they are quality and can't recollect the details any more. The cheesy biographies probably not if I am honest.


----------



## flypanam (Jun 26, 2013)

Kevin Barry's City of Bohane.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Jun 26, 2013)

Quartz said:


> How many times do you read each book? If I've enjoyed a book, I'll re-read it, and the second time through is usually better than the first.



I agree - second time can be better for books I like. I like Bill Bryson and recently bought the audio book of Notes From A Small Island to listen to, rather than re-read the book. Also bought the audio versions of several of Orwell's books, all of which I've read already.


----------



## xslavearcx (Jun 26, 2013)

The politics of psychoanalysis - an introduction to Freudean and Post Freudan Theory by Stephen Frosh. Picked it up from a charity bookshop for £2. Don't know fuck all about anything to do with psychology so this is my start. Very enjoyable, and i think it opens up possibilities for me being able to understand a lot of leftie stuff that draws from freudian theory. Realising the extent of my fuckedupness is also a bit of a revelation.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 26, 2013)

reading Untouchables: Dirty Cops, Bent Justice and Racism in Scotland Yard by Michael Gilliard.


----------



## Quartz (Jun 27, 2013)

Quartz said:


> Just read 'Rivers of London' by Ben Aaronovitch today. Big mug of tea plus sunshine plus good book = bliss. I'll see if the local bookshop has the next two volumes.


 

The second volume is nowhere near as good on a first read. Whodunnit is telegraphed almost right from the start. The third book felt a little messy, but having read the first two, I correctly surmised that an early player would be key to the matter, which was rather disappointing.


----------



## Dr Nookie (Jun 27, 2013)

I've just finished reading 'Brief loves that live forever' by Andrei Makine. It was absolutely beautiful.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jun 27, 2013)

The Widow's Tale by Mick Jackson. Ok so far, he's alright old Mickah.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 27, 2013)

"The Wrath of Angels" - John Connolly. Only just started it but spooky already


----------



## izz (Jun 28, 2013)

'The Dreamthief's Daughter' by Michael Moorcock. Never read anything by him before but really quite enjoying it.


----------



## Superdupastupor (Jun 28, 2013)

just finished '*The Silver Darlings*' by Neil M. Gunn 

beautiful book about the generations after the Scottish highland crofters were cleared and not emigrating but choosing instead to harvest the sea where no man is lord.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2013)

The Armageddon Crazy by Mick Farren

set in a weird kind of fascist american christian dystopia. Its good, in its way.


----------



## starfish (Jun 30, 2013)

Started The Monkeys Raincoat by Robert Crais last week but might put it on hold as i bought Post Office by Charles Bukowski at our local car booty this morning & the guy i bought it from said it would be the best book ill ever read so im quite intrigued.


----------



## maya (Jun 30, 2013)

izz said:


> 'The Dreamthief's Daughter' by Michael Moorcock. Never read anything by him before but really quite enjoying it.


Check out the Cornelius quartet (if you can find the compendium volume with all four books in one), it's great stuff... A bit confusing in parts (the main characters span several incarnations and genders in different parallel universes), but very good IIRC.


----------



## RedDragon (Jun 30, 2013)

Joe Hill NOS4A2 (pronounced nosferatu) just started, mixed feeling not sure of what to expect from the son of Stephen King


----------



## thedockerslad (Jun 30, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> The Armageddon Crazy by Mick Farren
> 
> set in a weird kind of fascist american christian dystopia. Its good, in its way.


 
Is it really. I think I'll give it a miss because I want to.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 1, 2013)

thedockerslad said:


> Is it really. I think I'll give it a miss because I want to.


 

read what you like, no skin off my nose


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 1, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> Joe Hill NOS4A2 (pronounced nosferatu) just started, mixed feeling not sure of what to expect from the son of Stephen King


 
he called his son Joe Hill?


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 1, 2013)

Sent a tweet to John Connolly yesterday about a reference in his latest book "The Wrath of Angels"...and he replied!!

I have since replied to that tweet and am now worrying that he'll think I am a stalker!!


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 2, 2013)

Amitav Ghosh 'Calcutta Chromosone'


good so far. Not sure where its going yet.


----------



## TruXta (Jul 2, 2013)

M. John Harrison's _Empty Space_, absolutely beautiful so far.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 3, 2013)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Halfway through - fucking brilliant. Funny how loads of the older 'classics', for want of a better word, could be written today.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 3, 2013)

The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton

Tells all about doping at the Tour de France

I'm after some EPO now


----------



## N_igma (Jul 5, 2013)

The Brothers Karamazov - cunt of a book.


----------



## ringo (Jul 5, 2013)

N_igma said:


> The Brothers Karamazov - cunt of a book.


 
No good or just hard work? I have it in my head that this is the best novel I've never read, but I'm saving it for when I'm grown up (along with Ulysses, baking and listening to jazz).


----------



## ska invita (Jul 5, 2013)

those beatles sure were high


----------



## Dr Nookie (Jul 5, 2013)

I have just finished reading 'Down and out in Paris and London' by George Orwell, and am about to start on 'The Speakers' by Heathcote Williams. Bit of a theme developing....


----------



## nogojones (Jul 5, 2013)

I Lucifer by Glen Duncan based on DC's (I think) recomendation


----------



## N_igma (Jul 5, 2013)

ringo said:


> No good or just hard work? I have it in my head that this is the best novel I've never read, but I'm saving it for when I'm grown up (along with Ulysses, baking and listening to jazz).



Bit of both tbh. Some interesting points on religion and the role of the Church in Russia tied up in which is basically a novel about a love quadrangle. I'll finish it like but not the sort of book I look forward to picking up if you know what I mean.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 5, 2013)

nogojones said:


> I Lucifer by Glen Duncan based on DC's (I think) recomendation


 

score, its a great book.

The Last Werewolf is also worth a go, but not nearly so good


----------



## weltweit (Jul 5, 2013)

I have just started _Moments of Reprieve, Primo Levy._
About small acts of kindness during his time in Auschwitz.


----------



## ringo (Jul 5, 2013)

N_igma said:


> Bit of both tbh. Some interesting points on religion and the role of the Church in Russia tied up in which is basically a novel about a love quadrangle. I'll finish it like but not the sort of book I look forward to picking up if you know what I mean.


 
I guessed it would be a bit like that. I nearly gave up on Crime & Punishment but soldiered on and ended up realising how brilliant it was over all, even if at times it was a struggle.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 5, 2013)

Dr Nookie said:


> I have just finished reading 'Down and out in Paris and London' by George Orwell, ....


I would like to read that, is it an easy / enjoyable read?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 5, 2013)

eric blairs poverty tourism is not brilliant. Prefer his allegorical fiction


----------



## N_igma (Jul 5, 2013)

ringo said:


> I guessed it would be a bit like that. I nearly gave up on Crime & Punishment but soldiered on and ended up realising how brilliant it was over all, even if at times it was a struggle.



Yep I struggled with it too lol. Much of the same with The Brothers Karamazov.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jul 5, 2013)

weltweit said:


> I would like to read that, is it an easy / enjoyable read?


 
It is a fairly easy read but if you want a book that chronicles the true down and out experience then The Grass Arena by John Healy is the way to go.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/05/biography


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 5, 2013)

I started reading A Very British Coup by Chris Mullin. It has been on my shelf for ages. I have given up because it is absolutely rubbish.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 5, 2013)

I cant figure out what to read. I am finding myself sitting in a chair staring idly at my books.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jul 5, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> I cant figure out what to read. I am finding myself sitting in a chair staring idly at my books.


 
This - It's fuckin mint

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/13/dog-boy-eva-hornung


----------



## TheFighter2013 (Jul 7, 2013)

48 laws of power by Robert Greene


----------



## izz (Jul 7, 2013)

maya said:


> Check out the Cornelius quartet (if you can find the compendium volume with all four books in one), it's great stuff... A bit confusing in parts (the main characters span several incarnations and genders in different parallel universes), but very good IIRC.


Many thanks Maya


----------



## maya (Jul 7, 2013)

izz said:


> Many thanks Maya


It's a bit "boy's own adventure" type story though TBF, nothing deep- but good fun...


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jul 11, 2013)

Does the noise in my head bother you? by Steven Tyler - mental read!


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 11, 2013)

Peter James 'DeadMansFootsteps'

its in this bundle of sci fi books I downloaded but appears to be the fourth in a crime series following the work of on DS Grace

quite good so far, even though I don't usually business with crime procedural type novels


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 11, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Peter James 'DeadMansFootsteps'
> 
> its in this bundle of sci fi books I downloaded but appears to be the fourth in a crime series following the work of on DS Grace
> 
> quite good so far, even though I don't usually business with crime procedural type novels


 
I'm quite a fan of DS Grace , but I do read a lot of crime anyway.
Peter James spins a good, if undemanding, yarn.


----------



## Superdupastupor (Jul 14, 2013)

just finished 'The private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner' by James Hogg .

I was a bit perturbed by it and think that it captures the delusional state of mind quite urgently as well as being a good moral tale about the perils of religious fanaticism. eternal predestination? - just say no!

now- james Kelman - a disaffection for fiction
and E.Gibbons- Decline + Fall of the Roman Empire for non (abridged but £4 for 1000pgs of history  )  it is good. I mean I know it is well regarded but it is also so accessible.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jul 15, 2013)

Superdupastupor said:


> just finished 'The private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner' by James Hogg .
> 
> I was a bit perturbed by it and think that it captures the delusional state of mind quite urgently as well as being a good moral tale about the perils of religious fanaticism. eternal predestination? - just say no!
> 
> ...


 
Top choice, I reckon that might be his best.


----------



## colbhoy (Jul 15, 2013)

I am reading The Complete Game, Reflections on Baseball and the Art of Pitching by Ron Darling. Ron Darling is an ex pitcher for the New York Mets and is a current TV commentator and his recollections of specific games and innings is fascinating.


----------



## frogwoman (Jul 15, 2013)

some ICC lit frog lent me
Communism: not a nice idea but a material necessity volume 1

/dc


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jul 15, 2013)

Finishing 'Your loved one lives on within you' an original approach to grieving, worth a look.

Halfway through 'Kitchen Confidential' by Anthony Bourdain. The accolades on the front include 'More gripping than a Stephen King novel' and 'Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino.' Pretty addictive...started it last night and will finish it tomorrow (I'm not a 'speed reader')


----------



## belboid (Jul 15, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> Halfway through 'Kitchen Confidential' by Anthony Bourdain. The accolades on the front include 'More gripping than a Stephen King novel' and 'Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino.' Pretty addictive...started it last night and will finish it tomorrow (I'm not a 'speed reader')


I've just finished his Medium Raw. He is such an enjoyable read, made me want to eat foie gras!


----------



## maya (Jul 15, 2013)

nogojones said:


> I Lucifer by Glen Duncan based on DC's (I think) recomendation


I wonder how many book titles inspired by "I, Claudius" are currently out there? Someone should make it their quest to count and catalogue all the possible variations in the name of science and also possibly to avoid duplicity/plagiarism: "I, Lucifer", "I, Cthulhu", etc. etc...


----------



## nogojones (Jul 15, 2013)

Letters from the underground by Abbie and Anita Hoffman


----------



## belboid (Jul 15, 2013)

maya said:


> I wonder how many book titles inspired by "I, Claudius" is currently out there? Someone should make it their quest to count and catalogue all the possible variations in the name of science and also possibly to avoid duplicity/plagiarism: "I, Lucifer", "I, Cthulhu", etc. etc...


accordng to wiki, its:


_I, Borg_, _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ episode
_I, Claud..._, autobiography of Claud Cockburn
_I, Claudia_, Canadian independent film
_I, Claudia_, the first of a series of novels by Marilyn Todd, featuring her heroine Claudia Seferius
_I & Claudius: Travels with My Cat_, accounts of travel by Clare de Vries and her Burmese cat Claudius
_I, Clownius_, an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
_I, Cthulhu_, a short story by Neil Gaiman
_I, Davros_, four audiodrama plays about Davros, the creater of the Daleks from _Doctor Who_
_I, Gatto_, autobiography of Australian boxer and gangland personality Mick Gatto
_I, Jedi_, Star Wars Expanded Universe novel by Michael Stackpole
_I, Libertine_, 1956 novel by Theodore Sturgeon
_I, Lovett_ BBC2 sitcom from 1989, starring Norman Lovett
_I, Lucifer (Glen Duncan)_, a novel by Glen Duncan
_I, Mengsk_, novel in the world of StarCraft, about the three generations of the Mengsk family
"I, Mudd", _Star Trek_ episode featuring a conman Harry Mudd
_I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan_, the 2011 'autobiography' of fictional English TV and radio presenter Alan Partridge
_I, Phoolan Devi_, autobigraphy of Indian female bandit Phoolan Devi
_I, Robot_, 1939 Adam Link story by Eando Binder (unrelated to the Isaac Asimov story collection)
_I, Robot_, 1950 science fiction story collection by Isaac Asimov, subsequently turned into a film
_I, Rowboat_, contribution to _The Onion_, by a row boat
_I, Strahd_, a horror-fantasy novel by P. N. Elrod set in Ravenloft
_I, Tintin_, documentary film about the author of the fictional adventurer
_Io, Caligola_, Italian title of the re-cut infamous motion picture _Caligula_ when re-released in Italy in 1984 (the translated title is "I, Caligula")
_Me, Claudius_, a play presented by _Sesame Street'_s Cookie Monster on _Monsterpiece Theatre_ (Cookie Monster frequently confuses personal pronouns)


----------



## maya (Jul 15, 2013)

belboid said:


> _I, Rowboat, contribution to The Onion, *by a row boat*_


...   I smell shenaningans.


----------



## sorearm (Jul 15, 2013)

Ordered a boxset of the first 3 Culture books by Iain Banks... been a fan of his since a nipper, never got around to his sci-fi as I was sci-fi'd up in my teens.  Just listening to an audio book of Consider Phlebas and can't wait to get stuck into these...


----------



## starfish (Jul 16, 2013)

Finished Post Office so its back to The Monkeys Raincoat.


----------



## maya (Jul 18, 2013)

Perhaps this isn't the right thread to ask, but could anyone please recommend me a good biography/book about Mao? I tried reading Jung Chang's bio, but was frustrated by the literary tone and the complete lack of reliable sources... Basically, I'm looking for a book which covers Chinese political history during Mao's rule (including his rise to power etc.), it doesn't *have* to be a biography, just a general overview of the era- But hopefully as unbiased and balanced as possible (i.e., no ecstatic hagiography, but not written by a rightwing type either) ...Anyone?

(*Just watching a very interesting TV series about this, which rekindled my interest... )


----------



## xenon (Jul 18, 2013)

The English Civil War - A People's History, by Dian Purkiss. Picked up after a chat with a mate, realising I knew hardly anything about the ECW. I'm finding it quite hard to get a handle on the religious angle. Hampered by my agnostic, general ignorance of religious detail TBH.

Also reading the Black Dalier by James Elroy. Saw LA confidential and read White Jazz years later... I know all out of sequence. So gone back to the beginning.


----------



## seventh bullet (Jul 18, 2013)

maya said:


> Perhaps this isn't the right thread to ask, but could anyone please recommend me a good biography/book about Mao? I tried reading Jung Chang's bio, but was frustrated by the literary tone and the complete lack of reliable sources... Basically, I'm looking for a book which covers Chinese political history during Mao's rule (including his rise to power etc.), it doesn't *have* to be a biography, just a general overview of the era- But hopefully as unbiased and balanced as possible (i.e., no ecstatic hagiography, but not written by a rightwing type either) ...Anyone?
> 
> (*Just watching a very interesting TV series about this, which rekindled my interest... )


 
Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic, and Mao Zedong: A Political and Intellectual Portrait, both by Maurice Meisner.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 18, 2013)

The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War.


----------



## maya (Jul 19, 2013)

seventh bullet said:


> Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic, and Mao Zedong: A Political and Intellectual Portrait, both by Maurice Meisner.


Thanks- but the Wiki page describes him as a 1970s "Maoist" and socialist, so I struggle to see how his account can possibly be "unbiased and balanced"- ?  Will have a look, but like I said I'm most interested in an impartial overview of the era written my someone without any clear political agenda: I want to read a truthful account listing all the facts- I need to hear about all the horrible atrocities the upheavals caused, all the people who died from hunger/were killed, the failed reforms and forced collectivisations, etc. etc.- all the ugly power struggles, realpolitik and the disastrous consequences... Not an airbrushed apology from someone who shares the ideology and just spouting the party line. (Of course, I don't want to read a book by some republican "commies are bad" historian either... But I don't think a former Maoist is the first place I'd go for a book about Mao. Sorry... But thanks for trying to help anyway, no offense meant- Just trying to rule out the most obvious "what not to read" choices.)


----------



## weltweit (Jul 19, 2013)

Just got an email alert from the library that my two current books are due Monday. I am only a third into the second of them and their site won't let me extend it as someone else wants it.


----------



## maya (Jul 19, 2013)

weltweit said:


> Just got an email alert from the library that my two current books are due Monday. I am only a third into the second of them and their site won't let me extend it as someone else wants it.


Sign up for the waiting list, that way the person who snatched the book from you can't extend the loan since you and the others on the list will be waiting.


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## weltweit (Jul 19, 2013)

maya said:


> Sign up for the waiting list, that way the person who snatched the book from you can't extend the loan since you and the others on the list will be waiting.


Could do... but it was from another library and took a while to get so I expect I would not get on the front of the list. I think I am just going to do a lot of reading on the weekend


----------



## belboid (Jul 19, 2013)

maya said:


> I'm most interested in an impartial overview of the era written my someone without any clear political agenda: I want to read a truthful account listing all the facts- I need to hear about all the horrible atrocities the upheavals caused, all the people who died from hunger/were killed, the failed reforms and forced collectivisations, etc. etc.- all the ugly power struggles, realpolitik and the disastrous consequences...


 
that doesn't sound particularly unbiased.  Not that you'll ever get such a book anyway.  Pretty much every book will either simply detail all the atrocities, or it will say Mao made China into a modern superpower (until he went a tiny bit too far). iirr, the Meisner doesn't shy away from some of the more brutal aspects if how China was made


----------



## maya (Jul 19, 2013)

belboid said:


> that doesn't sound particularly unbiased. Not that you'll ever get such a book anyway. Pretty much every book will either simply detail all the atrocities, or it will say Mao made China into a modern superpower (until he went a tiny bit too far). iirr, the Meisner doesn't shy away from some of the more brutal aspects if how China was made


OK, will check out the Meisner, then... Yeah, I know- I'd like to think that somewhere out there there's a person who's perfectly impartial and unbiased, but the world isn't perfect- and I'd rather read a book by someone on the left who honestly try to include some of the atrocities, than by someone on the right only listing the atrocities and using that to demonise ideology... Thanks


----------



## seventh bullet (Jul 19, 2013)

maya said:


> Thanks- but the Wiki page describes him as a 1970s "Maoist" and socialist, so I struggle to see how his account can possibly be "unbiased and balanced"- ?  Will have a look, but like I said I'm most interested in an impartial overview of the era written my someone without any clear political agenda: I want to read a truthful account listing all the facts- I need to hear about all the horrible atrocities the upheavals caused, all the people who died from hunger/were killed, the failed reforms and forced collectivisations, etc. etc.- all the ugly power struggles, realpolitik and the disastrous consequences... Not an airbrushed apology from someone who shares the ideology and just spouting the party line. (Of course, I don't want to read a book by some republican "commies are bad" historian either... But I don't think a former Maoist is the first place I'd go for a book about Mao. Sorry... But thanks for trying to help anyway, no offense meant- Just trying to rule out the most obvious "what not to read" choices.)


 
No offence caused. And I don't mean to cause any offence to you, but you don't seem to be aware of his 'political agenda/s,' as you've put it, his shifting views over time nor that he was an observant critic of Mao and Maoism, regardless of his student days and sympathies. Going on the assumption that _all_ that there was about the PRC in the Mao era was bad isn't really seeking something unbiased and balanced either, is it? Seems like you're seeking something to confirm that it was all just 'bad,' instead of being an important and multi-faceted revolution, with all its horrors included.


----------



## maya (Jul 19, 2013)

seventh bullet said:


> No offence caused. And I don't mean to cause any offence to you, but you don't seem to be aware of his 'political agenda/s,' as you've put it, his shifting views over time nor that he was an observant critic of Mao and Maoism, regardless of his student days and sympathies. Going on the assumption that _all_ that there was about the PRC in the Mao era was bad isn't really seeking something unbiased and balanced either, is it? Seems like you're seeking something to confirm that it was all just 'bad,' instead of being an important and multi-faceted revolution, with all its horrors included.


Thanks, will try finding his book now.  You're right I don't/didn't know anything about him at all until you recommended him. 

I understand why it might have seemed that way from what I posted, but just to clarify it was just that all the accounts (outside the english language sphere) that I'd read so far tended to skip a bit too lightly over the issue, it's not that I think it was all horror horror (or want it confirmed), more a case of not wanting to be wilfully deceived/lied to, if you get me...

Looking forward to seeking out the books now, will report back as soon as I've managed to read/find them- looks promising 

Next wishlist: Trying to find books about the Opium Wars, and China in the 19th century!

(((  China obsession coming up! )))


----------



## Pickman's model (Jul 19, 2013)

The trail of the serpent


----------



## sorearm (Jul 19, 2013)

sorearm said:


> Ordered a boxset of the first 3 Culture books by Iain Banks... been a fan of his since a nipper, never got around to his sci-fi as I was sci-fi'd up in my teens. Just listening to an audio book of Consider Phlebas and can't wait to get stuck into these...


 They arrived today!!! *squeals*


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jul 20, 2013)

I'm currently reading Bronze Summer by Stephen Baxter after reading Stone Spring - What if a stone age tribe and their descendents living in "Northland" the tract of fertile land connecting Britain to the continent in the last ice age prior to it flooding decided to put all their resources into building a ridiculous and vast damn and in the process discovered more advanced technology in the manufacturing of concrete and water works while remaining a semi-matriarchical hunter gatherer society.

Utter bollocks but quite enjoyable despite the writer's obsession with grime and shit and blood


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 20, 2013)

never got on with baxter- always such a dry prose stylist devoid of wit or flair.

Loved Time Ships though, he aped HG Wells perfectly. Other than that, no.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jul 20, 2013)

I don't like him much either, but I like the concept and some of the characters and plot twists are keeping me reading


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 20, 2013)

Just started By Light Alone, by Adam Roberts. Mr K raved about it. It's alright so far (only a few chapters in).

Am also going at snail's pace through Religion and the Decline of Magic; 20 years after I based my A-grade A level history coursework upon it, I thought I'd better read the whole thing


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 20, 2013)

May Kasahara said:


> J*ust started By Light Alone, by Adam Roberts. Mr K raved about it. It's alright so far (only a few chapters in).*
> 
> Am also going at snail's pace through Religion and the Decline of Magic; 20 years after I based my A-grade A level history coursework upon it, I thought I'd better read the whole thing


 

Its horrible, like all of adam roberts sci fi, it leaves you feeling like you've been punched with a fist made of how shit man can be to man.

for a second punch I reccomend 'Salt' theres another one that makes you want to curl up. He's a keeper is Roberts


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 20, 2013)

Yay 

Mr K does like his grimlocks sci fi, so I'm not that surprised.


----------



## Manter (Jul 20, 2013)

May Kasahara said:


> Am also going at snail's pace through *Religion and the Decline of Magic*; 20 years after I based my A-grade A level history coursework upon it, I thought I'd better read the whole thing


I love this book...  strangely poetic at times- when he describes the mountains where the Cathar heresy started he waxes lyrical for a bit, then basically says wouldn't you believe in the supernatural if you lived somewhere as incredible as this?.

May have to re-read it, you've inspired me


----------



## weltweit (Jul 21, 2013)

I am no way reading as much as some of you folks but I just finished my 12th book of this year which for me is quite a good start:

_Consider Phlebas, Iain (M) Banks_

I had a warning email from the library that it was due back Monday and I had only read a little of it, so last night and today I hunkered down to serious reading. tbh at first I thought I might struggle with getting to know the names for the sci-fi things and that might spoil the story but it was really a thriller set in a sci-fi environment and well written, I really enjoyed it and think I will now probably read the next in the series.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 21, 2013)

Most Culture novels are standalone weltweit


if you want the follow to consider phlebas you should read 'Look To Windwards' which in my humble is his second best sci fi novel, I rate Inversions more highly, but as a follow on to Phlebas it is where you need to go

You might also try his set of shorts in 'The State of The Art'. I particularly enjoy the eponymous piece for how heart rending its final pages are. We lost a fine writer when cancer claimed banks


----------



## weltweit (Jul 21, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Most Culture novels are standalone weltweit


Oh, didn't realise that. .. I did wonder how the next book would follow on.


DotCommunist said:


> if you want the follow to consider phlebas you should read 'Look To Windwards' which in my humble is his second best sci fi novel, I rate Inversions more highly, but as a follow on to Phlebas it is where you need to go
> 
> You might also try his set of shorts in 'The State of The Art'. I particularly enjoy the eponymous piece for how heart rending its final pages are. We lost a fine writer when cancer claimed banks


Thanks for the tips, much appreciated, I will see if I can get 'Look To Windwards' on order. Banks's books seem to be being demanded more from the libraries since his death I may have to wait a bit.

eta: yes he seems a fine writer, certainly I found that book very "readable" 

In the meantime I think I might try to get _Down and out in Paris and London' by Orwell _and or 'Whicker's War' ...


----------



## porp (Jul 21, 2013)

Andre Gide: Voyage au Congo

1. Gide's interest in botany and the aesthetics of plants and animals shines through -  far more interested in flora and fauna than landscapes.
2. You wonder if he is ever going to notice the people. Slow to get started but when he does...
3. A superbly clear reportage of the causally exploitative corvee labour system in the French Congo.

If you read one book on the Congo and Ubangi-Shari by a French aesthete this year, make it this one!


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 21, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> You might also try his set of shorts in 'The State of The Art'. I particularly enjoy the eponymous piece for how heart rending its final pages are. We lost a fine writer when cancer claimed banks


 
Does this work as a stand alone Dotty?
I recently read my first Iain M - Feersum Endjin - and enjoyed it.
I like the idea of a short story collection that I can dip in and out of


----------



## xenon (Jul 21, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> Does this work as a stand alone Dotty?
> I recently read my first Iain M - Feersum Endjin - and enjoyed it.
> I like the idea of a short story collection that I can dip in and out of




 Feersum Endjin is a stand alone. (One I've yet to read actually.) The Culture ones work by themselves but they're roughly in chronological order.


----------



## xenon (Jul 21, 2013)

Sticking with James Elrroy's rotton, corrupt 1950's LA, now reading The Big Nowhere.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 21, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> Does this work as a stand alone Dotty?
> I recently read my first Iain M - Feersum Endjin - and enjoyed it.
> I like the idea of a short story collection that I can dip in and out of


 

they all do- none are proper sequels or sequences, not even the Consider Phlebas/Look to Windward pairing. As xenon says there is a rough chronology but its rough, not important really an you can pretty much dip in where you like.

Feersum Endjinn is one of his proper rated ones, never been my favourite but its a good book.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 21, 2013)

Just finished _Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas,_ not really a book - a play - but great whichever way you get it, I love the way the characters come though.


----------



## pogo 10 (Jul 21, 2013)

Glamour by louise bagshawe.I love reading in bed.


----------



## Firky (Jul 21, 2013)

weltweit said:


> Just finished _Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas,_ not really a book - a play - but great whichever way you get it, I love the way the characters come though.


 

One of the few audiobooks I can listen to (probably because of Richard Burton).


----------



## inva (Jul 22, 2013)

I'm just finishing reading Foreign Parts by Janice Galloway - really enjoyed it.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 22, 2013)

Currently reading Hilary Mantel's _Wolf Hall_.
It's a big beast so I'm pleased I'm reading it on the kindle


----------



## 8Sam0 (Jul 22, 2013)

Currently reading Apocalypse Jukebox. Which examines our obsession with the end of the world (religious/nuclear) through American Popular music. So you get Chapters on everyone from Coltrane, Dylan, Cohen and REM to DEVO and Green Day. Sometimes loses it's a way and some claims feel like clutching at straws. But overall, very, very interesting.


----------



## Manter (Jul 22, 2013)

Just finished 'the divine supermarket'- Malise Ruthven. It's quite old now- early 90s? Late 80s?- but he basically starts in New England where the Puritan fathers landed, follows the path the Mormons took out of New York, wanders round new Age-y California, goes to meet Christian fundamentalists in the Deep South for a bit etc trying to figure out why the Americans are so religious, and so attracted to odd/extreme/new religions.  He's a professor of comparative religion, specialising in Islam, so he takes quite an academic view, but he's interesting, erudite, sometimes entertainingly sarcastic, but v insightful, IMO, particularly on the difference between a religion and a cult and when one becomes the other... Well worth a read.


----------



## tufty79 (Jul 22, 2013)

riddley walker (1982 edition)


----------



## Favelado (Jul 22, 2013)

I'm reading "What money can't buy - the moral limits of markets" by Michael J. Sandel. It's a clear-headed case against the encroachment of the market into civic and public life and I'm enjoying it.


----------



## Bajie (Jul 27, 2013)

Young Stalin, which is about.... Stalin when he was young (or at least up until 1917)


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 28, 2013)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harun_Yahya


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 28, 2013)

Bajie said:


> Young Stalin, which is about.... Stalin when he was young (or at least up until 1917)


 

excellent picture of Joe looking like Damien dressed in a seminary outfit in that


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jul 28, 2013)

James Oswald "Natural Causes". Not a bad police thriller, with supernatural overtones. Quite good characters and the plot holds your interest. 

However one of those writers for whom heroines are generally willowy and 'natural' i.e wear little or no make up, and any woman called "Ms" are ball breakers. Which I find a little tedious


----------



## colbhoy (Jul 29, 2013)

Just started Imperium by Robert Harris.


----------



## Pants Man (Jul 29, 2013)

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 29, 2013)

Charle Bukowski - Post Office
This is great, despite Chinaski/Bukoswki being a rapist and a misosgynist.
I'm not sure i get his attitude to women.
Is he really that horrible? I am finding it hard to distinguish between the character and the writer here.
BUT his description of what it's like working a shitty job is spot on and I wish I had his attitude when I worked them.


----------



## Limerick Red (Aug 1, 2013)

Bajie said:


> Young Stalin, which is about.... Stalin when he was young (or at least up until 1917)


This book is fuckin bangin'. Young Stalin makes Jason borne look like mr. bean, and the book proper puts the boot into icepick head as well. Loved this.


----------



## seventh bullet (Aug 1, 2013)

My best Christmas read of 2008.

He's a Tory cunt and crude anti-Communist but Sickbag does question and show up the class prejudice against him and the denigration of him based on that prejudice (it being inaccurate).


----------



## Firky (Aug 1, 2013)

Revol68 features on the dust jacket of Young Stalin.


----------



## bi0boy (Aug 4, 2013)

Decision Points by George W Bush.

I haven't got to the really interesting parts yet...


----------



## weltweit (Aug 4, 2013)

Just finished _Look To Windwards, Iain (M) Banks_ which was good, less war than I was expecting but interesting characters and plot. As recommended by DotCommunist.

Also just finished _Wilt, Tom Sharpe_ a great farcical romp, good fun.

Now reading _Matter, Iain (M) Banks_ only at the beginning atm but starts with some war..


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 4, 2013)

weltweit said:


> Just finished _Look To Windwards, Iain (M) Banks_ which was good, less war than I was expecting but interesting characters and plot. As recommended by DotCommunist.
> 
> Also just finished _Wilt, Tom Sharpe_ a great farcical romp, good fun.
> 
> Now reading _Matter, Iain (M) Banks_ only at the beginning atm but starts with some war..


Be aware that thats probably the best ending from any Banks novel


----------



## weltweit (Aug 4, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Be aware that thats probably the best ending from any Banks novel


 Oh, which one Windward or Matter?


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## DotCommunist (Aug 4, 2013)

weltweit said:


> Oh, which one Windward or Matter?


 

Windward fella. Don't get me wrong, all his books are 90% great journies but Windward is his most satisfying ending- you got the Consider Phlebas tie in to that poignant finish yes?


----------



## weltweit (Aug 4, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Windward fella. Don't get me wrong, all his books are 90% great journies but Windward is his most satisfying ending- you got the Consider Phlebas tie in to that poignant finish yes?


Oh, actually I may be having a duh moment but I am not sure I did get the tie in, I don't want to write too much about the endings in case it spoils it for anyone else but .. no I don't think I got it


----------



## RedDragon (Aug 4, 2013)

A K Stoneman - The Hive


----------



## weltweit (Aug 4, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Windward fella. Don't get me wrong, all his books are 90% great journies but Windward is his most satisfying ending- you got the Consider Phlebas tie in to that poignant finish yes?


Oh actually, yes, what the Hub mind did in the past, was a key part of Phlebas. Yes !! ??


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## DotCommunist (Aug 4, 2013)

weltweit said:


> Oh actually, yes, what the Hub mind did in the past, was a key part of Phlebas. Yes !! ??


 

precisely  I was actually moved by that, and I pride myself on cyncism


----------



## sojourner (Aug 5, 2013)

After being completely knocked out by the genius writing in Fahrenheit 451, I decided to get more Ray Bradbury. Am now reading 'Dandelion Wine' with increasing awe. I think he's one of the very best writers, ever. Each line gives me massive amounts of pleasure.


----------



## marty21 (Aug 5, 2013)

*A New Kind of Bleak : Journeys Through Urban Britain. Owen Hatherley* - not a light read tbf - struggling through the introduction atm - but have read a few of his other books and they are very interesting


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 5, 2013)

Just finished 'Love him madly' by Judy Huddleston, one of Jim Morrison's groupies. Man i hated it, what a load of bollocks and completely unlike the witty 'I'm with the band' by supergroupie Pamela Des Barres, or the masterpiece 'Groupie' by Jenny Fabian and Johnny Byrne. I had high expectations of Huddleston's book, as she is supposed to be one of the ' intelligent' groupies and today teaches creative writing at California State University. Her short book was poetic in parts and quite well written i suppose, but her own stalkerish tendenices, bitching about Pamela Courson (the one woman Morrison really loved) and personal arrogance really put me off. Like, there is a picture of the author on the cover and she is quite attractive, but certainly not the apparent stunner she makes herself out to be, there's so much self-indulgence in this jaded account. Her own relationship with Jim seemed to be fairly authentic (ie, she did actually meet him, and sleep with him a few times...) and she admits being warned not to expect too much from him, by the caring manager Bill Siddons. Overall a bit tired. Keneally's book was better.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 5, 2013)

Hyperion omnibus by Dan Simmons

read it years ago and enjoyed so having a revisit. Immortality through cruciform parasites! Disgraced priests! Palestinian warrior-generals! Drunk poet older than 500 years and still a dick!

Dan Simmons turned out to be a great big stinking islamaphobe later in years but this is still a good story.


----------



## maya (Aug 5, 2013)

sojourner said:


> After being completely knocked out by the genius writing in Fahrenheit 451, I decided to get more Ray Bradbury. Am now reading 'Dandelion Wine' with increasing awe. I think he's one of the very best writers, ever. Each line gives me massive amounts of pleasure.


He also wrote one of the best short stories I remember reading as a kid- We had to watch the dramatisation (short film) for english class at school, and remember all the girls crying- It's very evocative.  It's about a future colony on Venus, and a school where all the kids are picking on one girl because she was the only one born back on Earth, and they're jealous because on Venus there's perpetual rain, and noone's ever seen the sun. But for two hours on one day every seventh year, the rainstorms stop and the sun comes out. This feels so impossible to the children that they dismiss her tales of the sun as lies. They're reluctant to believe that the sun will actually appear. On the day the sun is believed to come out, the bullies lock her in a cupboard so that she can't go out with them to see it.




Bradbury was also incredibly generous and friendly to fans and up-and-coming authors who wrote to him for advice- From what I've gathered he always took the time to reply, sometimes long letters answering every question and on personalised notepaper with his awesome "Ray Bradbury" science fiction art letterhead:


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 5, 2013)

maya said:


> He also wrote one of the best short stories I remember reading as a kid- We had to watch the dramatisation (short film) for english class at school, and remember all the girls crying- It's very evocative.  It's about a future colony on Venus, and a school where all the kids are picking on one girl because she was the only one born back on Earth, and they're jealous because on Venus there's perpetual rain, and noone's ever seen the sun. But for two hours on one day every seventh year, the rainstorms stop and the sun comes out. This feels so impossible to the children that they dismiss her tales of the sun as lies. They're reluctant to believe that the sun will actually appear. On the day the sun is believed to come out, the bullies lock her in a cupboard so that she can't go out with them to see it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks so much for posting that. What a beautiful story and it just goes to show how you don't need special effects and a big budget to film sci-fi, just a good story and some imagination.
I need to start rereading Bradbury - I also read quite a bit of him as a youth but I don't remember that one.
The one that stays with me most is The Crowd


----------



## sojourner (Aug 6, 2013)

Thanks maya! I will what that when I can get a quiet moment.

OU - you really should. I read a fair few as a kid but I honestly think I was just not ready to fully appreciate his writing. It's gobsmackingly good. 

I've just ordered another so it's ready for when I finish this one!  The Illustrated Man.  I remember the film, but the book is going to be fucking glorious, I just know it.


----------



## N_igma (Aug 7, 2013)

I'm reading _The Idiot _now. Definitely my last Dostoyevsky book for a while as my head feels like it's about to explode. Actually quite a funny book in parts and not as philosophical as his other works so reads more like a novel which is a bonus. He obviously puts a lot of thought into his character and plot development as many insignificant things early on become apparent and significant later on.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 7, 2013)

any good writer does that


----------



## ringo (Aug 7, 2013)

Haven't finished my holiday read, a pretty crappy trashy 'expose' of the hashish industry:
*Hash: The Chilling Inside Story of the Secret Underworld Behind the World's Most Lucrative Drug - Wensley Clarkson*

Also got some short stories on the go: Magentism - F Scott Fitzgerald


----------



## starfish (Aug 7, 2013)

After about 20-25 years since i got my first copy , im finally reading The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 10, 2013)

'Fr John Fahy, radical republican and agrarian activist' - my granduncle. i dont expect anyone to be interested but i am, and the pictures, his letters, his 'cause' - the protection of skint women who had vile English landlords demanding debt- (whom he relentlessly fought for and went to jail for and won!!!) makes him a great man in my mind.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Aug 10, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> 'Fr John Fahy, radical republican and agrarian activist' - my granduncle. i dont expect anyone to be interested but i am, and the pictures, his letters, his 'cause' - the protection of skint women who had vile English landlords demanding debt- (whom he relentlessly fought for and went to jail for and won!!!) makes him a great man in my mind.


 
This is a book by a priest as well

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Moston-Story-Brian-Seale/dp/095525650X

Of limited interest like your one probably, but it's a great source of info about a working class north manchester suburb. And john vianney's was my parish church when I was a kid. I've heard Mass from Father Seale


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 10, 2013)

Frances Lengel said:


> This is a book by a priest as well
> 
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Moston-Story-Brian-Seale/dp/095525650X
> 
> Of limited interest like your one probably, but it's a great source of info about a working class north manchester suburb. And john vianny's was my parish church when I was a kid. I've heard Mass from Father Seale


 

thanks!! there is a book called 'Radical priests of Ireland 1660 - 1950' and Fr John is also mentioned there as someone that fought hard for the rights of women who were left with nothing when gentrified landlords attempted to take their land away in the 30's. i am so proud that my granduncle felt so strongly about this. The biographer of the 'Fr John' book called to the house recently and had tea with my Dad (who is also an activist) and he was pleased that a direct descendent feels strongly about their causes, whatever they may be.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Aug 10, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> thanks!! there is a book called 'Radical priests of Ireland 1660 - 1950' and Fr John is also mentioned there as someone that fought hard for the rights of women who were left with nothing when gentrified landlords attempted to take their land away in the 30's. i am so proud that my granduncle felt so strongly about this. The biographer of the 'Fr John' book called to the house recently and had tea with my Dad (who is also an activist) and he was pleased that a direct descendent feels strongly about their causes, whatever they may be.


 

Nice one. It gets on me nerves how people slag off the catholic church. Yes, the church may be corrupt at the top, but individual priests (like your grand uncle) and nuns did a lot for working class people & that needs to be remembered IMO. Especially what you're saying about Father John doing what he did for women - That sort of thing needs to be chronicled. Nice one that you come from a family who seem like have always been on the good side.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 10, 2013)

Frances Lengel said:


> Nice one. It gets on me nerves how people slag off the catholic church. Yes, the church may be corrupt at the top, but individual priests (like your grand uncle) and nuns did a lot for working class people & that needs to be remembered IMO. Especially what you're saying about Father John doing what he did for women - That sort of thing needs to be chronicled. Nice one that you come from a family who seem like have always been on the good side.


 

totally!! and you know something, there is only ONE pic of Fr John at his ordination is 1919, BUT when the author visited us my Dad had pics of Fr John with his Mum, also in Aberdeen as a young man in 1920 (he served in Scotland for 18 months and the community had a big shiding when he left, with the Lord Mayor who presented him with a motor car, etc) He got stuck into Irish life when he left Aberdeen and went on to shake a LOT of shakles with the Irish Free State, i think it just goes to show, there were some strong and wonderful people out there - Fr John set up his own newspaper Lia Fail - and fought hard for the rights of MANY poor people.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Aug 10, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> totally!! and you know something, there is only ONE pic of Fr John at his ordination is 1919, BUT when the author visited us my Dad had pics of Fr John with his Mum, also in Aberdeen as a young man in 1920 (he served in Scotland for 18 months and the community had a big shiding when he left, with the Lord Mayor who presented him with a motor car, etc) He got stuck into Irish life when he left Aberdeen and went on to shake a LOT of shakles with the Irish Free State, i think it just goes to show, there were some strong and wonderful people out there - Fr John set up his own newspaper Lia Fail - and fought hard for the rights of MANY poor people.


 

Great stuff - Is the book widely available? Coz if it is I might have to give it a squizz.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 10, 2013)

Frances Lengel said:


> Great stuff - Is the book widely available? Coz if it is I might have to give it a squizz.


 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fr-John-Fahy-1893-1969-Republican/dp/1856077632

XXX


----------



## Frances Lengel (Aug 10, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fr-John-Fahy-1893-1969-Republican/dp/1856077632
> 
> XXX


 
Oof - Eleven bucks? I'll have to check the bank before I order it. No, in fact, fuck it, I can waste eighty odd bucks on a crack and gear sesh, I can afford eleven quid for a book and at least I'll have something to show for it more than empty pockets and a sense of self loathing regret. Ordered. I'll let you know what I think


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 10, 2013)

Frances Lengel said:


> Oof - Eleven bucks? I'll have to check the bank before I order it. No, in fact, fuck it, I can waste eighty odd bucks on a crack and gear sesh, I can afford eleven quid for a book and at least I'll have something to show for it more than empty pockets and a sense of self loathing regret. Ordered. I'll let you know what I think


 

Thrilled to hear it!!! I'm on page 38 so far, its great


----------



## bmd (Aug 10, 2013)

Just started reading The Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson. I quite like the way he brings it to life with his focus on the personalities and intense attention to the details.


----------



## Chick Webb (Aug 10, 2013)

I'm reading God's War by Kameron Hurley at the moment.  I like it so far for a number of reasons, disreputable, sleazy, FEMALE bounty hunter being the main one, but I'm beginning to wonder if "Sharia planet" is becoming a bit of a theme in scifi, and if that should worry me.


----------



## seventh bullet (Aug 13, 2013)

Towards Naxalbari (1953-1967): An Account of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle - Pradip Basu

Very good for the anorak info.   Could've done with translations of all the names of the various groups' papers/journals that are mentioned, though.  Still, one for a Maoist pub quiz, if ever there is one near me.


----------



## tufty79 (Aug 13, 2013)

tufty79 said:


> riddley walker (1982 edition)


still not finished it 
found a new lissener, and either need to lend them my copy or buy them their own.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 13, 2013)

The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams

american dark fairy tale/fantasy

good so far. Think Shadowland/Secret History


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 13, 2013)

sojourner so glad you are feeling the Bradbury awesomeness. I wrote my A level English project about some of his stuff. He was an extraordinary writer. Some of my favourite short stories of his: The Night, Homecoming, The Scythe, Powerhouse, The Next In Line. I must read them again, actually.

Just started Jonathan Coe - The Rain Before It Falls. DotCommunist I finished By Light Alone last week and didn't find it particularly depressing...is there something wrong with me?


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 13, 2013)

the abolition of world hunger turned into _that _wasn't depressing? lol. horses/courses


----------



## TruXta (Aug 13, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> the abolition of world hunger turned into _that _wasn't depressing? lol. horses/courses


The second omnibus (_The Books of the South_) of the Black Company books by Glen Cook. Loving it.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 13, 2013)

May Kasahara said:


> sojourner so glad you are feeling the Bradbury awesomeness. I wrote my A level English project about some of his stuff. He was an extraordinary writer. Some of my favourite short stories of his: The Night, Homecoming, The Scythe, Powerhouse, The Next In Line. I must read them again, actually.


 
  I looked up his bibliography. Fuck me. Prolific ain't the word!!  Would love to read some short stories, and his poetry too. I've a feeling I'm gonna be spending a fair few quid in the next few years!!


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 13, 2013)

sojourner said:


> I looked up his bibliography. Fuck me. Prolific ain't the word!! *Would love to read some short stories*, and his poetry too. I've a feeling I'm gonna be spending a fair few quid in the next few years!!


 

Golden apples of the Sun


----------



## sojourner (Aug 13, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Golden apples of the Sun


 
Cheers chuck   Just added to my wishlist


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 13, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> the abolition of world hunger turned into _that _wasn't depressing? lol. horses/courses


 
I think the massive plot holes undermined his vision somewhat. Very enjoyable though; I liked his prose.


----------



## izz (Aug 13, 2013)

The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler


----------



## sojourner (Aug 14, 2013)

Finished 'Dandelion Wine' last night. Fuck me. I worry about reading even more cos I'm starting to think I could never possibly write as well as that! 

Anyway, couldn't resist, so started 'The Illustrated Man' at lunchtime. Read prologue and first chapter. Vaguely remember the film from being a kid but clearly this is far better


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 14, 2013)

Michael Chabon - Telegraph Avenue
He can write.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 15, 2013)

Game of Thrones, second book. Hooked. Again.


----------



## inva (Aug 17, 2013)

Swing Hammer Swing by Jeff Torrington. Read about a quarter and it's excellent so far.


----------



## spawnofsatan (Aug 17, 2013)

Oliver Stones biography, very good so far.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 17, 2013)

I wonder if this will ring any bells.....


> Come in, Doctor. Yes, it is a quaint old place - chilly though...
> I seem to have lost my appetite. Maybe something didn't agree with me.
> I can't seem to settle down. In fact I can't sit still for two minutes.
> No, I don't have any visitors.
> ...


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 17, 2013)

Actually, gonna put it on its own thread and watch it sink like a stone.


----------



## cyprusclean (Aug 19, 2013)

Into John Grisham at the moment. I like his no-nonsense prose, eccentric array of characters, page turning story lines.

 And he stands up for the little guy when all the chips are down, against the corporate and political giants.


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 21, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Actually, gonna put it on its own thread and watch it sink like a stone.


 
Nonsense! My two love that book, just as my bro and I did 

I find it interesting that the sellotaped bits of their copy are in different places to ours 



sojourner said:


> Finished 'Dandelion Wine' last night. Fuck me. I worry about reading even more cos I'm starting to think I could never possibly write as well as that!


 
lolz, always have the exact same thing with Bradbury.

I finished The Rain Before It Falls last night, very moving and seamlessly written. I was impressed with the fact that it is an all-female cast of characters and none of them felt forced or 2D to me. That said, if I have a criticism it's that his menfolk are entirely absent from the narrative - while all the women are handing down dysfunctionality to their kids, the dads apparently offer no opinion either way.

I need a really good book to take on holiday next week. Started IQ84 last night but not sure I'm in the mood for Murakami. Library raid tomorrow perhaps.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 21, 2013)

May Kasahara said:


> Nonsense! My two love that book, just as my bro and I did
> 
> I find it interesting that the sellotaped bits of their copy are in different places to ours
> 
> ...


 

Neal's Cryptonomicon. Its holiday length and very funny


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 21, 2013)

May Kasahara said:


> Nonsense! My two love that book, just as my bro and I did


Well, no one else seems to remember it as the thread got zero replies!









Didn't realise you could still buy it!
My flatmate got it off a mate in Amsterdam
Got a mega proustian rush looking through it!


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 21, 2013)

I haven't heard of The Rain Before It Falls.
Is it a later novel of Bradbury's?
Makes me think of the Michel Faber collection, which is ace


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 21, 2013)

Oh no, sorry, it's by Jonathan Coe. Confusing post-blend there.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 21, 2013)

Oh, I like him. Didn't know he had a new one out


----------



## Cami (Aug 22, 2013)

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami


----------



## sojourner (Aug 22, 2013)

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks.  Very interesting reading! Several lightbulb moments for me personally, and it did make me laugh that in the Earworms section, he has picked one of the main tunes that I am subject to - Mission Impossible. Think I'd have fallen off the chair if he'd also mentioned Hawaii Five-O


----------



## Voley (Aug 22, 2013)

Room Full Of Mirrors, a biography of Jimi Hendrix, by Charles R Cross. Pretty good so far. Just finished Francis Wheen's biography of Karl Marx which was good if you want to get a feel for what his life was like rather than the trickier points of Volume IV of _Capital_.

I had the sneaking suspicion that I'd read it before, though. You ever get this? You're a few chapters in and it's all a bit over familiar? I expect it'll happen increasingly often as I get older. In the coming years, you can expect rave reviews of this startling new book I've just discovered called '1984' and how I can't believe you've not read it.


----------



## ringo (Aug 22, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Well, no one else seems to remember it as the thread got zero replies!
> Didn't realise you could still buy it!
> My flatmate got it off a mate in Amsterdam
> Got a mega proustian rush looking through it!


 
I bought that for my kids the other week in a charity shop. They love it as much as I did in the 70's.


----------



## belboid (Aug 22, 2013)

just started Donna Tartt's The Little Friend. Very good opening chapter.

Tempted to put it aside tho, as I've just picked up David Peace's Red or Dead, and Simon Garfield's On The Map.

I want to  read them all, now.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 22, 2013)

Ooh a Simon Garfield book on maps.
I'm getting that. Love his books


----------



## silverfish (Aug 22, 2013)

Eckart Tolle, the power of now, a revisit in a futile attempt to balance my karma


----------



## Mikey77 (Aug 22, 2013)

silverfish said:


> Eckart Tolle, the power of now, a revisit in a futile attempt to balance my karma


 

I got more out of it the second time I read it, so it isn't necessarily futile. Sometimes he just hits the nail right on the head when you are going through some turmoil in your mind.

I'm reading _Lying on the couch _by Irving Yalom. It's interesting, but not gripping. I also have the Analects by Confucius which I am reading here and there. I didn't realise he was such a manipulator when it came to class.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 22, 2013)

just finished Wonderland Avenue by Danny Sugerman. As a massive Doors fan i knew it'd be well written (as the author also co wrote, the teen bible 'No one here gets out alive') but this far exceeded my expectations. It's a stunning masterpiece of rock n roll madness of Laurel Canyon in the late 60s and 70s. Rippling with sex, drugs, and even more drugs, i have never read ANYTHING as mental as the amount of narcotics him and his cronies were consuming....!!! .But it is far more than this. The book zips back to his childhood (Sugerman was a Beverly Hills kid who started hanging out at the Doors office at the age of 12) and became the unlikely protege of a myterious and shamanic Jim Morrison.

At least 250 pages regales his facinating friendship with Jim, who saw he was troubled and encouraged him in his education and to be an individual. Danny's a fanboy pain in the a** showing up all the time, and Jim Morrison gives him a JOB of sorting out the fanmail...turns out Danny is really good at this and answering the phones, he bursts headlong into the scene, flunking school much to the fury of his millionare, conservative father.....Defying all convention he plunges headily into the rock n roll underworld....eventually notching up a $500 a day heroin habit and Iggy Pop for a flatmate....At age 21 the author finds out his liver is fucked and he has a week to live, his battles are cautionary, horrifying, hilarious, and brilliantly written. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 22, 2013)

silverfish said:


> Eckart Tolle, the power of now, a revisit in a futile attempt to balance my karma


 

i didnt think it was that good, didnt have a lasting affect on me.


----------



## silverfish (Aug 22, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> i didnt think it was that good, didnt have a lasting affect on me.


 
My internal critic still keeps distracting me from what he's saying so I haven't got a hold on the quiet mind yet


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Aug 22, 2013)

ian m banks - matter


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 22, 2013)

silverfish said:


> My internal critic still keeps distracting me from what he's saying so I haven't got a hold on the quiet mind yet


 

your gut is right!. I dont know why this book - like that utter bollocks The Alchemist - reached such acclaim....neither of them said anything groundbreaking or new. Tonics for the masses, but good to read before you knock it *just in case...*


----------



## silverfish (Aug 22, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> your gut is right!. I dont know why this book - like that utter bollocks The Alchemist - reached such acclaim....neither of them said anything groundbreaking or new. Tonics for the masses, but good to read before you knock it *just in case...*


 
retires to depression thread to seek alternatives


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 22, 2013)

silverfish said:


> retires to depression thread to seek alternatives


 

aww mate, i read a tonne of those books a few years ago to stay sane! The Tolle book helped salve things for a few mins - but it didnt stick. Steve Hagens 'Buddhism Plain and simple' really helped, as did Striking Thoughts, by Bruce Lee. The Gift of Fear was fairly interesting but did nothing for me. I find reading about how others overcome their own challenges can be more insightful. For instance, the book i just read above (Danny Sugermans 'Wonderland Avenue') is quite a cautionary tale about a man's struggle with addiction, with lots of reflections on the human condition, as well as rock n roll madness!!


----------



## BoatieBird (Aug 23, 2013)

belboid said:


> just started Donna Tartt's The Little Friend. Very good opening chapter.


 
Read this a couple of months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I'm looking forward to her new book, The Goldfinch, being released in October.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 23, 2013)

I've not been here for a while so here is a list of books I am reading or have read recently:

The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution and the Twentieth Century by Peter Watson - I have been wanting to read a book on German thought / Intellectual culture / Idealism etc for ages, I highly recommend it. 

Trickster Makes This World: How Disruptive Imagination Creates Culture by Lewis Hyde

Holy Madness: The Shock Tactics and Radical Teachings of Crazy-Wise Adepts, Holy Fools and Rascal Gurus by  Georg Feuerstein

Synchronicity: Science, Myth and the Trickster - Allan Combs

Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird - Tim Birkhead

Time Warped
Claudia Hammond

The Atrocity Exhibition by JG Ballard

How to Read and Why by Allan Bloom

Reaching for the Sun: How Plants Work by John King

Discovering the Folklore of Plants by Margaret Baker

Hedgerow Medicine: Harvest and Make Your Own Herbal Remedies - Julie Bruton-Seal

Hunger Mountain: A Field Guide to Mind and Landscape - David Hinton (this is brilliant)

The Melancholy of Resistance by Laszlo Krasznahorkai

And a few others


----------



## sojourner (Aug 23, 2013)

Ooo this one looks very interesting:  Trickster Makes This World: How Disruptive Imagination Creates Culture by Lewis Hyde


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 23, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Ooo this one looks very interesting: Trickster Makes This World: How Disruptive Imagination Creates Culture by Lewis Hyde


 

It is _really_ good. It is something that has been on my mind for ages and is something I want to explore much further.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 23, 2013)




----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 23, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird - Tim Birkhead
> 
> Discovering the Folklore of Plants by Margaret Baker


 
These books sound good.


----------



## Sprocket. (Aug 23, 2013)

Have been given a copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere to read whilst recuperating.
I have not read any of his work and my wife's mate said it will make a difference from all the usual stuff I tend to read.
The last fantasy/sci fi book I read was in fact a re-read of Michael Moorcock's The Shores of Death about three years back.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 23, 2013)

Neverwhere is the second best book Gaiman ever wrote. American Gods is the best. But you should do Neverwhere. Its good fun.


----------



## maya (Aug 23, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> Dillinger4 said:
> 
> 
> > Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird - Tim Birkhead
> ...


If you're interested in the psychology of birds, I'd recommend this fantastic book from a scholar who's so fascinated by ravens he decided to dedicate his life to studying their behaviour:
* "Mind Of The Raven" by Bernd Heinrich



> In Mind of the Raven, Bernd Heinrich, award-winning naturalist, finds himself dreaming of ravens and decides he must get to the truth about this animal reputed to be so intelligent. Much like a sleuth, Heinrich involves us in his quest, letting one clue lead to the next. But as animals can only be spied on by getting quite close, Heinrich adopts ravens, thereby becoming a raven father," as well as observing them in their natural habitat, studying their daily routines, and in the process painting a vivid picture of the world as lived by the ravens. At the heart of this book are Heinrich's love and respect for these complex and engaging creatures, and through his keen observation and analysis, we become their intimates too[/synopsis]


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 23, 2013)

maya said:


> If you're interested in the psychology of birds, I'd recommend this fantastic book from a scholar who's so fascinated by ravens he decided to dedicate his life to studying their behaviour:
> * "Mind Of The Raven" by Bernd Heinrich


 

Many thanks! I loved 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' but that is more about self perception i think.

also loved 'The philosopher and the wolf.'
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Philosopher-Wolf-Lessons-Happiness/dp/1847081029/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 23, 2013)

maya said:


> If you're interested in the psychology of birds, I'd recommend this fantastic book from a scholar who's so fascinated by ravens he decided to dedicate his life to studying their behaviour:
> * "Mind Of The Raven" by Bernd Heinrich


 

Already read it, brilliant book that is


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 25, 2013)

Richard J. Evans - The Coming Of The Third Reich - very readable popular history.


----------



## Manter (Aug 25, 2013)

Just finished the Shanghai Factor by Charles McCarry. Book jacket said even better than leCarre, he's an American ex spook, so I thought promising. 

It was shit


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 28, 2013)

few books to finish....one is the book on preparing for death, 'Your loved ones live on within you.' Its a 'comfort' book but surprising gem that is helping me deal with the inevitable doom that is near.... this weird book has struck a chord, i heard about it from a recommendation given by Ireland's (sadly deceased) and supremely annoying, cheeky journalist Jonathan Philbin Bowman who died in 2001 from falling over drunk and banging his head and bleeding to death. He used to recommend it to people who are grieving.

there is that and Leon Hendrix's book, brother of Jimi. And John Densmore's candid account of The Doors.... ive probably read almost every book written about The Doors but looking forward to this one as fans say its better than Ray Manzarek's tome, which was brilliant, but rose tinted....

in other news went to York recently and collected my copy of Ulysses (Penguin edition, Declan Kiberd). im still on Episode 5, but hope to finish it by end of the year. I read the chapters straight through without footnotes and then the summary from Kiberds 'Ulysses and us' the Faber companion with Marilyn Monroe reading Ulysses on the cover. I will say this: reading Richard Ellman's massive biography 'James Joyce' in 2009 helped. Its a 900 page belter that took four months to read and it was a heavy book, i fell over one day at the hospital as it was a heavy bastard and i had to get a plaster for being a clumsy fool, but it was worth it!!


----------



## sojourner (Aug 28, 2013)

Started and finished 'Farewell Summer' by Ray Bradbury yesterday. Bit of a disappointment for the first half, gotta say - picked up though. Then realised it was written nearly 55 years after Dandelion Wine (it's the sequel to it) - and you know, I can forgive Ray a little change in writing style. I've not even been fucking alive for 55 years!!

Anyhoo - now reading his 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' and being scared by it


----------



## Sprocket. (Aug 30, 2013)

I am just starting Jar City (Reykjavik murder mysteries 1) by Arnaldur Indridason.
First in a series.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 2, 2013)

Read 'Horns' by Joe Hill while on holiday. Could not put it down (literally - was reading it in the dark outside our tent while everyone else chatted over me  ) and still thinking about the characters now. If anyone is wondering, I thought it was excellent.


----------



## belboid (Sep 2, 2013)

Just about finished _Red or Dead_.

Took a bit of getting into, the massively repetitive style is effective, but kind of annoying too. As a seventies Liverpool fan, I thought I knew the Shankly story, but soon realised I only knew it pretty vaguely, so wasn't sure about when they actually first won promotion or the title under him.  Which made each game quite exciting. And the times when one of the names of the truly great seventies team (_the_ greatest team ever) cropped up there was a real frisson of excitement.  Quite how any one who wasn't a seventies Liverpool fan would enjoy it, I dont know.


----------



## Greebo (Sep 2, 2013)

Die Entdeckung der Currywurst - Uwe Timm

A relatively quick and easy read.


----------



## magneze (Sep 3, 2013)

23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism - Ha-Joon Chang


----------



## BoatieBird (Sep 4, 2013)

May Kasahara said:


> Read 'Horns' by Joe Hill while on holiday. Could not put it down (literally - was reading it in the dark outside our tent while everyone else chatted over me  ) and* still thinking about the characters now*. If anyone is wondering, I thought it was excellent.


 
I haven't got round to reading any of his stuff so far, but that bit above makes me want to read some. 
*adds to wish list*


----------



## Oldboy (Sep 4, 2013)

maya said:


> If you're interested in the psychology of birds, I'd recommend this fantastic book from a scholar who's so fascinated by ravens he decided to dedicate his life to studying their behaviour:
> * "Mind Of The Raven" by Bernd Heinrich



I've just ordered this based on your's and Dillinger4's recommendation so thank you both, Can't wait to read it.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 4, 2013)

Oldboy said:


> I've just ordered this based on your's and Dillinger4's recommendation so thank you both, Can't wait to read it.



Ravens.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 4, 2013)

Their Kingdom Come: Inside the secret world of Opus Dei


a line on the cover promises that its 'The book the Catholic church won't want you to read!'

and so far it is putting it right on the opus dei people


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 4, 2013)

Just got:

The Norton Anthology of Poetry - 2000+ pages of poems 

Stoner by John Williams because I keep hearing about it. Not about ganj at all. 

The Aesthetics of Resistance by Peter Weiss. Looking forward to this one. 



> The Aesthetics of Resistance (German: Die Ästhetik des Widerstands, 1975-1981) is a three-volume novel by the German-born playwright, novelist, filmmaker, and painter Peter Weiss.
> 
> Spanning from the late 1930s into World War II, this historical novel dramatizes anti-fascist resistance and the rise and fall of proletarian political parties in Europe. Living in Berlin in 1937, the unnamed narrator and his peers, sixteen and seventeen-year-old working-class students, seek ways to express their hatred for the Nazi regime. They meet in museums and galleries, and in their discussions they explore the affinity between political resistance and art, the connection at the heart of Weiss's novel.
> 
> Weiss suggests that meaning lies in the refusal to renounce resistance, no matter how intense the oppression, and that it is in art that new models of political action and social understanding are to be found. The novel includes extended meditations on paintings, sculpture, and literature. Moving from the Berlin underground to the front lines of the Spanish Civil War and on to other parts of Europe, the story teems with characters, almost all of whom are based on historical figures.



Also currently reading Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon, which is great. Impossible to summarize. It is kind of in preparation for the Bleeding Edge which comes out in a few weeks. I am very excited about that one. It sounds almost perfect.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 4, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Their Kingdom Come: Inside the secret world of Opus Dei
> 
> 
> a line on the cover promises that its 'The book the Catholic church won't want you to read!'
> ...



You might also enjoy The Entity: Five Centuries of Secret Vatican Espionage 

There are also some pretty well researched books that look at the Vaticans financial affairs and tie them up with the mafia and neo fascism and all sorts of nasty stuff


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 4, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> You might also enjoy The Entity: Five Centuries of Secret Vatican Espionage
> 
> There are also some pretty well researched books that look at the Vaticans financial affairs and tie them up with the mafia and neo fascism and all sorts of nasty stuff




cheers, am reading this as a follow up to 'In Gods Name' (all about the murder? of JP1 by dodgy elements of the curia/p2 etc)

will get the above mentioned as well


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 4, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> cheers, am reading this as a follow up to 'In Gods Name' (all about the murder? of JP1 by dodgy elements of the curia/p2 etc)
> 
> will get the above mentioned as well



I also highly reccomend these two:

Stefano Delle Chiaie (Black Papers, No 1): Portrait of a Black Terrorist by Stuart Christie



> Exposure of a fascist terrorist responsible for many outrages. A superb piece of investigative research into the whole fascist terror network, involved everywhere from the Italian bombings during the "strategy of tension" to South America.



The Last Supper by Philip Willan



> This title presents the truth at last about one of the world's great unsolved crimes. The death of Roberto 'God's Banker' Calvi, found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in 1982 days before his bank's collapse, remains one of the most extraordinary crimes of all time. Straight from the dark heart of Italy, it involved dark Masonic rituals, political involvement at the highest level, bizarre forensics, intense mafia involvement, the Vatican, a man on the run, and phenomenal sums of money swirling around. Revealing new sources that speak for the first time, investigative journalist Philip Willan finally uncovers the full truth behind Calvi's death and his last days on the run. Calvi's elimination prevented the world from learning the full truth about the activities of the Masonic sect P2, that secret 'shadow state' whose top-rank membership had been discovered shortly before. Had Calvi's death been investigated properly, Italy government today might have been very different. And the failure to investigate began in England. This true story of a man falling off the precipice is also a shocking political expose.



Both related, and both proper eye openers.


----------



## machine cat (Sep 4, 2013)

Just finished 1Q84 book 3, which was good but left a lot unanswered.

Now starting Iain Banks' Stonemouth which, 100 pages in seems promising.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 4, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Michael Chabon - Telegraph Avenue
> He can write.



have you read The Yiddish Policeman's Union?

Highly recommended. By me anyway


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 4, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> just finished Wonderland Avenue by Danny Sugerman.




it is a fantastic book but the man sounds a complete egotistical cock


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 4, 2013)

rubbershoes said:


> have you read The Yiddish Policeman's Union?
> 
> Highly recommended. By me anyway


Yes, but it came as a bit of a disappointment after the wonderful Kavalier & Clay.
Wonder Boys was fun too.


----------



## belboid (Sep 4, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Yes, but it came as a bit of a disappointment after the wonderful Kavalier & Clay.


_everything_ is a disappointment after Kavalier & Clay.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 4, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> I haven't got round to reading any of his stuff so far, but that bit above makes me want to read some.
> *adds to wish list*



It's a quantum leap from Heart Shaped Box imo (which I also enjoyed, but not like this). His book of short stories is amazing too. I read it at least a year ago and still frequently find myself thinking about it at odd moments.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 4, 2013)

rubbershoes said:


> it is a fantastic book but the man sounds a complete egotistical cock



100% AGREE. Danny Sugerman is regarded as a cocky kind of guy, and I have just finished John Densmore's book, and he describes him as an 'empire builder.' I also thought 'No one here gets out alive' was fantastic, but it painted a one-dimensional 'JIMBO' Morrison as a drunken shambolic schmuck.

All Morrison's friends HATED that book, and say it depicted only one side of a complex guy who was also shy, intellectual, funny and most importantly, serious about the music. For instance, when The Doors started out, Jim Morrison suggested splitting the money equally four ways even though him and Robbie wrote all the songs. Morrison wanted unity within the band and it avoided petty squabbling over songwriting that many bands experience. He was also offered the chance to go solo by some shady managers the band once had, and sacked them immediately. The stupid dumbass fillum too, mocked The Doors and was hated by Morrisons close friends (such as Paul Ferrara, Ray Manzarek, Babe Hill, Tony Funches, and Frank Lisciandro) - most of these guys were film makers who had studied with Jim at UCLA.  The film was based on Danny's book.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 6, 2013)

Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey


----------



## belboid (Sep 6, 2013)

Building Stories by Chris Ware.

Tis a graphic novel (I suppose) that comes in a box with 14 components (that can be read in any order, tho there does seem to be a chronological sequence to them), flip-books, tabloids, broadsheets, cloth-bounds and 'normal' comic books. Mainly about one (unnamed) tenant of an old building (which is a character in its own right), and her, rather lonely and isolated, life. Everyone in it's lonely and isolated, pretty much, so it's hardly a cheery read.  But it really is quite superb, very moving in spots.

The one exception are the two (or hopefully more) parts about the adventures of Branford, the Best Bee in the World.  Which are hilarious - even tho he's kinda lonely and isolated too.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 7, 2013)

Astray, by Emma Donoghue. A collection of stories about people travelling to, from and within America, based on historical snippets of various kinds. Mostly involving so far


----------



## audiotech (Sep 7, 2013)

_Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police_ [Kindle Edition].


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 7, 2013)

Escape From The Rave Police - Jon Blake 

Time-travel adventure in which two teenagers are transported to a future in which youngsters are forced to dance at raves by breakdancing bodypopping cops.


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 8, 2013)

Woops, wrong thread!


----------



## heinous seamus (Sep 8, 2013)

A People's History of London - Lindsey German and John Rees


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 8, 2013)

heinous seamus said:


> A People's History of London - Lindsey German and John Rees


Do tell more


----------



## heinous seamus (Sep 8, 2013)

Okay. It's basically a history of London and its various revolutions and class struggles. I'm about 50 pages in and we're upto the English Civil War. So far a lot of people have ended up with their head on a spike on London Bridge


----------



## Sprocket. (Sep 9, 2013)

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, following a review I saw the other night on her latest Maddaddam.


----------



## seventh bullet (Sep 9, 2013)

Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950-1992 - Charles K. Armstrong


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Sep 10, 2013)

Just finished reading Tristram Shandy. Took me two bloody weeks to read it. Two weeks spent sitting in various playgrounds with the background din of children squealing, trying to wrap my head around capricious 18th century philosophical outpourings.
But it didnt beat me.
Parts of it I actually enjoyed, not as much as I thought I would and not as much as I should have enjoyed it but a day or two after having put it down I am still thinking about it and finding new themes and arguments upon reflection.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 10, 2013)

Breaking of the Northwall

1000 or so years after a nuclear holocaust the semi fuedal and the fully tribal societies that arose after the nuclear winter are beginning to spread out and meet each other. Half way through and it needs to get better quickly else lifes too short. One reviewer said 'He avoids all of the post apocalypse cliches' which is a massive, massive lie. He's hitting them by numbers.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Sep 10, 2013)

Am reading Heart of Darkness now.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2013)

Cannery Row, by Steinbeck. Bit of a shock to the head cos I've been so deeply immersed in Ray's writing style.  Brilliant though, naturally.  Can't help but think that Tom Waits *must* have read this.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 11, 2013)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> Just finished reading Tristram Shandy. Took me two bloody weeks to read it. Two weeks spent sitting in various playgrounds with the background din of children squealing, trying to wrap my head around capricious 18th century philosophical outpourings.
> But it didnt beat me.
> Parts of it I actually enjoyed, not as much as I thought I would and not as much as I should have enjoyed it but a day or two after having put it down I am still thinking about it and finding new themes and arguments upon reflection.



I often find the best books are like that. It is something that goes beyond enjoyment. They trouble you, and they linger. It is only when you reflect on them afterwards that you start to unpick all the things they were doing as you were reading it. There are not many books that have that effect. There are a handful that I still find myself thinking about, years later.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> I often find the best books are like that. It is something that goes beyond enjoyment. They trouble you, and they linger. It is only when you reflect on them afterwards that you start to unpick all the things they were doing as you were reading it. There are not many books that have that effect. There are a handful that I still find myself thinking about, years later.


The Master and Margarita is like that for me.  I kept getting feelings of weird and nauseating disorientation whilst reading it, and remember having to put it down sometimes, to walk around and re-acquaint myself with the 'real' world.


----------



## maya (Sep 12, 2013)

sojourner said:


> The Master and Margarita is like that for me.  I kept getting feelings of weird and nauseating disorientation whilst reading it, and remember having to put it down sometimes, to walk around and re-acquaint myself with the 'real' world.


His prose is really beautiful, even in translation... I've read it in three different languages, and even second hand it still sounds beautiful and it's still a masterpiece. (The mark of a truly great author, IMO: He's got such a distinct 'voice' that it survives even the most inept translator.)

There's a pretty decent russian TV series of it from just a few years ago IIRC, where they managed to convey the universe of the novel pretty accurately- Good actors, good direction... Even the more outlandish and fantastic scenes in the theatre were pretty faithful to the book, and portrayed realistically enough not to be cheesy. Even the 'Roman' scenes of the story were decent. (Just wish someone'd give it the subtitles treatment it so sorely deserves, my knowledge of russian is a bit slim...)

I read somewhere long ago that all the satirical scenes from 'the author's union'(or whatever it is translated as in the english version) set in Moscow are actually thinly veiled criticism of the oppressive cultural/political climate of the day which led to mind-numbing uniformity, hypocrisy and cowardice, collapsing into nepotism and decadence. In the first translation I read, these scenes actually annoyed me at first because the tempo and tone of the language was so different that it jarred with the internal consistence of the book IMO, the different scenes didn't segue into each other as nicely as they ought to (it sounded and felt like a different book, and I thought that if he wanted to he could've made sure the internal logic of the novel would've been tantamount and made the whole story more believeable by keeping some sort of authorial tone intact during these scenes...) The second time I read it, I didn't notice any of this at all, and it all felt good... I guess it could've just been that I used such a long time to read the novel through the first time around, that when I got back to certain chapters it took a bit of effort to get back in, as it were... ?

No idea, but he's a brilliant author- Read his 'the heart of a dog' to see how having to live through an oppressive regime's censorship and persecution of any artist or person who dare to think outside the box does to a sane mind... It's a good allegory, steeped in magic realism (the dog-man hybrid, but as a metaphor obviously) via science fiction bleakness... What is it with russian authors and a way with language? I could read some of these authors all day, and never get tired of it- In Bulgakhov's case, I just wish he'd written more books!


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2013)

Yes absolutely Maya - it was a total 'fuck you' and exposure of the Stalinist regime (with its attendant full-on censorship of anything deemed to be derogatory of said regime) but written so as to avoid being 'disappeared', like so many writers of the time were.  That adds a whole other dimension of pleasure to it, for me. Having the nuts to write that, knowing that if it WAS suspected of being in any way insulting, or satirical, you'd lose your life...well, just fucking WOW


----------



## disorganised (Sep 12, 2013)

Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason. An Icelandic author. Jar City is his third book in a detective crime series, but the first to be translated into English. Not sure why the first two weren't.


----------



## belboid (Sep 12, 2013)

disorganised said:


> Not sure why the first two weren't.


because they haven't had films made out of them


----------



## kittyP (Sep 12, 2013)

I can't read at the moment but I have just started the unabridged audiobook of The Teleportation Accident. 
Is that allowed? 
Only about a chapter in last night before I fell asleep but it seems pretty good.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 12, 2013)

disorganised said:


> Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason. An Icelandic author. Jar City is his third book in a detective crime series, but the first to be translated into English. Not sure why the first two weren't.



I quite liked that one. I went through a phase of reading European crime fiction.

It was translated into English because it was also made into a film. 

Edit: what belboid said


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2013)

kittyP said:


> I can't read at the moment but I have just started the unabridged audiobook of The Teleportation Accident.
> Is that allowed?
> Only about a chapter in last night before I fell asleep but it seems pretty good.


Course it's allowed, you nana

As long as you actually READ something at some point  

Hey, and how come the emoticon emoticon looks like Homer having a stroke, but it doesn't appear in the selection?


----------



## kittyP (Sep 12, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Course it's allowed, you nana
> 
> As long as you actually READ something at some point
> 
> Hey, and how come the emoticon emoticon looks like Homer having a stroke, but it doesn't appear in the selection?



 What one looks like Homer having a stroke?


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2013)

kittyP said:


> What one looks like Homer having a stroke?


On the icons bar, immediately above where you type a post, the icon for emoticons. That one.


----------



## kittyP (Sep 12, 2013)

sojourner said:


> On the icons bar, immediately above where you type a post, the icon for emoticons. That one.



Oh yeah. I sit a long way from the screen so it just looks like a yellow and red blob from here but yes you are right!


----------



## colbhoy (Sep 13, 2013)

I am reading Sandy Koufax; a Lefty's Legacy by Jane Leavy. I have read quite a lot of books on baseball but this is standing up so far as one of the best.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 14, 2013)

Wish You Were Here: England On Sea by Travis Elborough. Not sure I'm going to stick with it, his writing style is rather annoying.


----------



## stethoscope (Sep 16, 2013)

Just started Jilted Generation - Ed Howker and Shiv Malik.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 16, 2013)

Has anybody read any William Gaddis?


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 16, 2013)

May Kasahara said:


> Wish You Were Here: England On Sea by Travis Elborough. Not sure I'm going to stick with it, his writing style is rather annoying.



Nope, can't stand it, it's going back to the library unread. His editor also needs stern words for not having had stern words with Mr Elborough.

Now reading a sort of beginner's guide to the Spanish Civil War.


----------



## izz (Sep 16, 2013)

Rivers of London, Ben Aaronovitch. It was most enjoyable but lasted less than 24 hours. I'm on Dissolution by Sansom now.


----------



## MrSki (Sep 17, 2013)

izz said:


> Rivers of London, Ben Aaronovitch. It was most enjoyable but lasted less than 24 hours. I'm on Dissolution by Sansom now.


I read that last week. Unfortunately someone else has Moon over Soho out of the library so I will have to wait.

Dissolution is a good un & should last a bit longer!


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 17, 2013)

sojourner said:


> The Master and Margarita is like that for me.  I kept getting feelings of weird and nauseating disorientation whilst reading it, and remember having to put it down sometimes, to walk around and re-acquaint myself with the 'real' world.



Totally. Hated The Master and Margarita, got it as a present, and only read half it. Wont go back

Finished 'Jimi Hendrix, a brothers story' by Leon Hendrix - very enjoyable speed read. I admire him for overcoming odds to find peace with himself, while keeping in the spirit of Jimi. 

Will now start, 'Wild' by Cheryl Strayed. It's a sob memoir about a mother and daughters survival. Can't say i am massively looking forward to it, got it as a present.......will report back.


----------



## izz (Sep 17, 2013)

MrSki said:


> I read that last week. Unfortunately someone else has Moon over Soho out of the library so I will have to wait.
> 
> Dissolution is a good un & should last a bit longer!


 

It already has, so thank you MrSki


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 18, 2013)

Orb Scepter Throne

Ian C Esselmonts 4th outing in Malazan world


----------



## 5t3IIa (Sep 18, 2013)

John Dies At The End by David Wong. Got 3% in, not having read any reviews past 'AMAZING' and 'BRILLIANT' and obvs no back cover as it's Kindle and was all a bit "Arf ffs what's all this then?" but enjoying it a lot _I think_


----------



## izz (Sep 22, 2013)

Whistling for the elephants, Sandi Toksvig.
Mr Pye, Mervyn Peake


----------



## sojourner (Sep 23, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> Totally. Hated The Master and Margarita, got it as a present, and only read half it. Wont go back.


Ah no, I did love it, I just found it a really strange book to read and it had a physical effect on me.

Currently reading Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck. It's not his best, have to say.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 23, 2013)

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds, works well as an adventure story but fails as hard sci-fi. It's set in a far-future megacity built around an artificial mountain, with distinct zones where only a certain level of technology is able to function. This provides Reynolds with a chance to mash steampunk, noir and sci-fi tropes together into a single story but it leaves too many nagging questions like where does the steampunk zone get the gas for its gaslights and where does the 50's New York zone get the beans for its coffee.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 23, 2013)

Bone and Blood

Esselmonts latest entry to the malazan world


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 23, 2013)

I am reading Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon. It is pretty good. 

On my fiction to-read pile I have a few by Don Delillo, A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis (if I like that I will read JR which looks pretty good). 

And a load of poetry.


----------



## machine cat (Sep 23, 2013)

I'm halfway through The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M Banks.

It's good, but I can't help feeling that there's something missing. It feels like I'm reading a Culture by numbers novel.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 23, 2013)

Hydrogen Sonata was  a return to form for me- not the glory days of early culture novels but a lot better than the preceding two. Theres an essentially dissapointing thing to the novel for me but I'll not spoilerise


----------



## flypanam (Sep 24, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Orb Scepter Throne
> 
> Ian C Esselmonts 4th outing in Malazan world


 
Any good? I haven't been too impressed with his offerings.


----------



## maya (Sep 24, 2013)

"To Be or Not To Be: A chooseable-path adventure.
by Ryan North, William Shakespeare, and YOU." 

(a.k.a. Hamlet, "choose your own adventure" style...)


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 24, 2013)

But the whole point of Hamlet is his inability to choose!


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 24, 2013)

flypanam said:


> Any good? I haven't been too impressed with his offerings.




improvement on his earlier ones yes.


----------



## marty21 (Sep 24, 2013)

William Mcilvanney - Laidlaw

Enjoying it - you can see how Rebus came about - he's like Rebus' dad - (Rankin has said that Laidlaw was an inspiration for Rebus)


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 24, 2013)

marty21 said:


> William Mcilvanney - Laidlaw
> 
> Enjoying it - you can see how Rebus came about - he's like Rebus' dad - (Rankin has said that Laidlaw was an inspiration for Rebus)



What era is this? 'cause in the last Rebus book he's 65 if he's a day.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 24, 2013)

Gave up on Tortilla Flat. It was kind of amusing, in the way that lying down in a field on a summer's day watching fluffy stuff fly by through the air is amusing, but that was all. 

Started reading Panopticon by Jenni Fagan instead. Verrrry different to everything else I've been reading for months now. It's what I would call an easy read, so far.


----------



## Yetman (Sep 24, 2013)

I started Ulysees by James Joyce and already I can tell it's a proper involving story, best read by candlelight at the window of a tower overlooking a moonlit bay....this is going to be one of those I come back to over the course of a few years whenever I'm in that sort of mood  Cheesypoof

I'm also reading Graham Hancocks Fingerprints of the Gods. Gets a bit samey and a often over-conjectured, but there's occasional points that keep me hooked. Overall I'm enjoying it though.

I've got WOOL - books 6 onwards on my phone when I'm away from my books, after reading the first 5, these are good, but get overfilled with politics and social relationships between large groups which aren't as involving as personal journeys, which the first books seemed to be more about.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 24, 2013)

Yetman said:


> I started Ulysees by James Joyce and already I can tell it's a proper involving story, best read by candlelight at the window of a tower overlooking a moonlit bay....this is going to be one of those I come back to over the course of a few years whenever I'm in that sort of mood  Cheesypoof
> 
> I'm also reading Graham Hancocks Fingerprints of the Gods. Gets a bit samey and a often over-conjectured, but there's occasional points that keep me hooked. Overall I'm enjoying it though.
> 
> I've got WOOL - books 6 onwards on my phone when I'm away from my books, after reading the first 5, these are good, but get overfilled with politics and social relationships between large groups which aren't as involving as personal journeys, which the first books seemed to be more about.




Thats what I found MORE frustrating with WOOL book 1, I was after more grand narratives rather than personal journies. Horses for etc


----------



## TruXta (Sep 24, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Neverwhere is the second best book Gaiman ever wrote. American Gods is the best. But you should do Neverwhere. Its good fun.


I find his comics superior - AG read like a pastiche of his own earlier work with Sandman.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 24, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Orb Scepter Throne
> 
> Ian C Esselmonts 4th outing in Malazan world


Any good? I'm back at the Deadhouse Gates.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 24, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Any good? I'm back at the Deadhouse Gates.




yeah, better than Stonewielder which felt like malazan by numbers

I'm on his 5th now 'bone and Blood' which is great, Segulah facing of Moranth, jungle shennanigans for disowned malazans in Jakaracu.

It's currently fighting for my attention with my non fic read 'The Brothers Vietnam War: Black Power, Manhood and the Military Experience'


----------



## TruXta (Sep 24, 2013)

His prose does leave something to be desired, but I shall persevere.


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 24, 2013)

_Mende Government and Politics Under Colonial Rule: a Historical Study of Political Change in Sierra Leone 1890 - 1937._

Good stuff, though I'm not that convinced by his argument that local slavery and unfree labour wasn't that bad really. It definitely didn't involve the extremes of exploitation and degradation that slavery in the Americas and Caribbean involved, but I doubt if it was a walk in the park either. . .


----------



## marty21 (Sep 24, 2013)

Idris2002 said:


> What era is this? 'cause in the last Rebus book he's 65 if he's a day.


Published in 1977 , maybe Rebus' older brother


----------



## Sprocket. (Sep 24, 2013)

Idris2002 said:


> What era is this? 'cause in the last Rebus book he's 65 if he's a day.



Talking of which I am just starting Standing in another man's shoes the return of Rebus. Rankin has linked Rebus up with Malcolm Fox from The Complaints and The Impossible dead.
Which were good reads if you like Rankin's work.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 24, 2013)

Yetman said:


> I started Ulysees by James Joyce and already I can tell it's a proper involving story, best read by candlelight at the window of a tower overlooking a moonlit bay....this is going to be one of those I come back to over the course of a few years whenever I'm in that sort of mood  Cheesypoof.



Havent read it for a while, one third of the way through - it's so brilliant you want to cry. Episode four where Bloom is feeding the puddytat is the funniest thing ever !!!

I would avoid ruining the reading of Ulysses by stopping at every odd reference and looking up footnotes. You will understand it better by reading a chapter through at a time and the breakdown afterwards, say one chapter a week/ month/ season. Declan Kiberd's 'Ulysses and Us' is a great companion, and he is a straight talking Dubliner who doesnt bullshit

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/31/james-joyce-ulysses-and-us-declan-kiberd


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 24, 2013)

Alexander Solzhenitsyn - One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich.
The prose is so dour but necessarily so.
Today I read this:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/23/pussy-riot-hunger-strike-nadezhda-tolokonnikova
Not an awful lot has changed in the Gulag


----------



## sojourner (Sep 25, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Started reading Panopticon by Jenni Fagan instead. Verrrry different to everything else I've been reading for months now. It's what I would call an easy read, so far.



I did this such an injustice. I read most of it last night - couldn't put it down. Got the very definite feeling that the writer had been in care, and just looked it up - confirmed.

I reckon Edie would like this book. It reminded me very much of her, in lots of ways.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 25, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Alexander Solzhenitsyn - One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich.
> The prose is so dour but necessarily so.




epic whiner


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 25, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> epic whiner


with good reason


----------



## seventh bullet (Sep 25, 2013)

He's just trying to be a Stalinist again.  

Have you tried My Testimony by Anatoly Marchenko?  It was written by a working class dissident about his experiences in the Soviet penal labour system in the 1950s and 60s.  His writing is dry and matter-of-fact.  You could find a copy for pennies.


----------



## D'wards (Sep 28, 2013)

Reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Enjoying it so far - certainly teaching me a bit about Gods of the worls


----------



## chasbo zelena (Sep 28, 2013)

India - V.S.Naipul.

He's a fantastic story teller.


----------



## little_legs (Sep 29, 2013)

seventh bullet said:


> Have you tried My Testimony by Anatoly Marchenko?  It was written by a working class dissident about his experiences in the Soviet penal labour system in the 1950s and 60s.  His writing is dry and matter-of-fact.  You could find a copy for pennies.


Thanks for posting this.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 2, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> T
> Will now start, 'Wild' by Cheryl Strayed. It's a sob memoir about a mother and daughters survival. Can't say i am massively looking forward to it, got it as a present.......will report back.



Bit meh. So this book is a memoir of a girl (whose Mam has died, marriage has broken down and has taken heroin for one month..... Oprah Winfey LOVES this book - ) who is walking a zillion miles from Canada to Mexico  (the Pacific Crest Trail) and we are following her. While the fact that she is hiking is cool, and there are facinating scenes where she describes the landscape and cravings for food, the people she meets, etc there are so many times where she tells us that pretty much every single man she meets thinks she is 'hot'. Becomes a bit tiresome after a while....the book also drags on a bit. Its an awful thing to read a memoir and not connect with the narrator. I wasnt even rooting for her that much.


----------



## Badgers (Oct 2, 2013)

The Pyrates - George MacDonald Fraser


----------



## ringo (Oct 2, 2013)

The Crow Road - Iain Banks

Think I gave up on Banks when he wrote Canal Dreams, been meaning to go back to him ever since but never got round to it. So far so good.


----------



## chasbo zelena (Oct 2, 2013)

A.N. Wilson's book on the Victorians is dense but enjoyable reading.

I didn't realise that there's a stuffed Bentham at UCL.


----------



## magneze (Oct 2, 2013)

Dan Saffer - Microinteractions
Richard Morgan - Market Forces


----------



## seventh bullet (Oct 2, 2013)

little_legs said:


> Thanks for posting this.



No problem.  A prole's-eye view.  A part of the labour camp experience was 'political education,' which included at least some acquaintance with the works of Marx, Engels and Lenin (as well as Stalin), something which Marchenko wryly observed he and some of his fellow 'political' convicts knew better than their would-be educators.  He was from an ordinary family (in the spirit of Firky and Lustbather, PFWC) and educated himself in the camps and prisons, with the help of intelligentsia dissidents he associated with.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 2, 2013)

Have started 'I'm your man: the life of Leonard Cohen' by Sylvie Simmons. It's an authorised biography and brilliant so far, and very well written.


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 2, 2013)

Have just started Sacred by Dennis Lehane.


----------



## N_igma (Oct 3, 2013)

Just finished Ian Jones' Ned Kelly: A Short Life. Truly remarkable book that describes how the gang evolved from having local agrarian and family grievances against the authorities to gaining a political ideology and desire to form a new Republic in North East Victoria. You get a real sense of the character of Ned the Irish Australian and his fight against the Anglo aristocracy that he so hated. Any preconceived ideas you may have had about the Kelly gang will be blown apart by this book highly recommended.


----------



## marty21 (Oct 3, 2013)

Weapons of Choice: World War 2:1  -  John Birmingham - alternate history/time travel nonsense - quite enjoying it


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 3, 2013)

chasbo zelena said:


> A.N. Wilson's book on the Victorians is dense but enjoyable reading.
> 
> I didn't realise that there's a stuffed Bentham at UCL.



His head was stolen by students at KCL some years as a rag week stunt .  That's probably apocryphal but is part of KCL lore


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Oct 3, 2013)

AN Wilson's?


----------



## Fez909 (Oct 3, 2013)

I can't read any more. The internet has ruined my attention span. So I've banned the mobile in bed. If I want to read, it's books from now on.

Picked up _Lullaby _by Chuck Pahlaniak (sp?) which I got about a third of the way in months and months ago (perhaps over a year). I need to finish this to get back into the swing of things, I think.


----------



## machine cat (Oct 7, 2013)

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - Jose Saramago


----------



## sojourner (Oct 9, 2013)

machine cat said:


> The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - Jose Saramago


What's that like, then?

I've just finished The Red Pony and The Pearl by Steinbeck. Absolutely LOVED The Red Pony, and thought The Pearl was an interesting allegory.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 9, 2013)

Ordinary Thunderstorms - William Boyd.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 9, 2013)

Badgers said:


> The Pyrates - George MacDonald Fraser


 
Dreadful book. So disappointed with it. Having read all the Flashman and some of his other works.


----------



## yield (Oct 11, 2013)

Finished 54 by Wu Ming the other day. Sorry to see it end. Beautiful ludicrous epic. 

I enjoyed it as much as Q which surprised me. I never knew about Frances Farmer. Joe McCarthy!

Going to try of their other works but on to Heaney's Beowulf now. Then Strumpet City by James Plunkett.


----------



## marty21 (Oct 11, 2013)

The Old Ways - Robert McFarlane - he traces ancient footpaths, roads, etc and err... walks them - very good


----------



## audiotech (Oct 13, 2013)

'Smear! Wilson and the Secret State.' Stephen Dorril and Robin Ramsay.

One penny paperback edition + Postage. Hardback prices from £240!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0586217134/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


----------



## Greebo (Oct 13, 2013)

American Rust - Philipp Meyer


----------



## white rabbit (Oct 14, 2013)

The Secret History - Donna Tartt. I saw a thing in the Guardian the other day. She's about to bring out a new book, apparently. I had never heard of her, which is surprising as she was at college with Bret Easton Ellis and Jonathan Lethem and I like both of them, so I got this. I like it a lot. I'm about a third of the way in and I'm entirely seduced by the world she describes and the sense of foreboding that hangs over the telling. There's something of Nick Carraway in the narrator but the story is spookier and somehow darker than Gatsby. But maybe that is to come. It is more golden at this point. Undergraduate life at its most romantic.


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 14, 2013)

I loved The Secret History white rabbit, but I loved her second book, The Little Friend, even more.
Looking forward to her new one.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 14, 2013)

Secret History is a great read, never read any Tartt before or since, but that ones a keeper


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 14, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Secret History is a great read, never read any Tartt before or since, but that ones a keeper


 
You should give The Little Friend a read Dotty, brilliant book imo


----------



## pogo 10 (Oct 14, 2013)

Amandas wedding by jenny colgan.


----------



## Yu_Gi_Oh (Oct 14, 2013)

Just finished Daniel Deronda by George Eliot.  Going to try and read The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd before the day is out.


----------



## flypanam (Oct 14, 2013)

Solomon Gursky was here by Mordecai Richler. Excellent so far, wide ranging family history, Jewish and Canadian myths and best of all very funny.


----------



## belboid (Oct 14, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> I loved her second book, The Little Friend, even more.


now that  is a sentence I never thought I'd read anywhere!


----------



## Yetman (Oct 14, 2013)

Just got Ian Rankins new Rebus novel for my holiday


----------



## Sprocket. (Oct 14, 2013)

Really enjoyed Standing in Another Man's Grave.


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 14, 2013)

belboid said:


> now that  is a sentence I never thought I'd read anywhere!


 
Really?
Have you read it?

It was recommended by a couple of friends who thoroughly enjoyed it.


----------



## belboid (Oct 14, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> Really?
> Have you read it?
> 
> It was recommended by a couple of friends who thoroughly enjoyed it.


yeah - it is indeed very good.  But I have never known anyone who thought it was better than Secret History, which is just mindbogglingly good.


----------



## ringo (Oct 14, 2013)

A Dance With Dragons - George R Martin.  Tempted to miss out the Daenerys chapters if they're as dull as in the previous books but I spose I'd miss something crucial.


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 14, 2013)

belboid said:


> yeah - it is indeed very good.  But I have never known anyone who thought it was better than Secret History, which is just mindbogglingly good.


 
Certainly it's a close run thing, they are both brilliant books.
Looking forward to reading The Goldfinch.


----------



## ringo (Oct 14, 2013)

white rabbit said:


> The Secret History - Donna Tartt. I saw a thing in the Guardian the other day. She's about to bring out a new book, apparently. I had never heard of her, which is surprising as she was at college with Bret Easton Ellis and Jonathan Lethem and I like both of them, so I got this. I like it a lot. I'm about a third of the way in and I'm entirely seduced by the world she describes and the sense of foreboding that hangs over the telling. There's something of Nick Carraway in the narrator but the story is spookier and somehow darker than Gatsby. But maybe that is to come. It is more golden at this point. Undergraduate life at its most romantic.



Nearly started that today, might have a go after Dance With Dragons, does look good.


----------



## belboid (Oct 14, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> Looking forward to reading The Goldfinch.


indeed - dont think I've looked forward to a novel as much since Bring Out The Bodies


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 14, 2013)

What did you think of The Crow Road ringo?
I re-read it on holiday this summer and I think I loved it even more the second time round


----------



## D'wards (Oct 14, 2013)

Reading Danny Baker's autobiography - Going to See in a Sieve.

Enjoying it so far - good representation of life on a council estate, and a working class lad in the effette music world.

Good bit about how The Clash were great on stage but unpopular off it - too much political posturing, and you were always in danger of offending whatever prescribed stance Bernie Rhodes had decreed they be following that week.

Sham 69 supposed to be a lot more fun, if you just want a drink and a laugh


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Oct 14, 2013)

ringo said:


> A Dance With Dragons - George R Martin.  Tempted to miss out the Daenerys chapters if they're as dull as in the previous books but I spose I'd miss something crucial.



Just finished the first book and loved it. Looking forward to A Clash of Kings.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Oct 14, 2013)

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck.


----------



## ringo (Oct 15, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> What did you think of The Crow Road ringo?
> I re-read it on holiday this summer and I think I loved it even more the second time round


Really enjoyed it. I can't remember what it was about Canal Dreams that put me off him, i'd enjoyed Wasp Factory, but looking forward to catching up with the rest of his books, a clever and interesting writer.
Will try his sci-fi at some point too.


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 15, 2013)

ringo said:


> Really enjoyed it. I can't remember what it was about Canal Dreams that put me off him, i'd enjoyed Wasp Factory, but looking forward to catching up with the rest of his books, a clever and interesting writer.
> Will try his sci-fi at some point too.


 
I don't think he felt that Canal Dreams was one of his best.

There are only a few of his books that I haven't read now (The Quarry, The Bridge, Dead Air, Transition) and I'm eeking them out because I know I'll be sad when I get to the end of them


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 15, 2013)

The bridge is certainly his most unusual non sci fi- all very surreal


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 15, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> The bridge is certainly his most unusual non sci fi- all very surreal


 
iirc he thought of it as one of his finest.  I've got it on my kindle so it will be read shortly


----------



## belboid (Oct 15, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> I don't think he felt that Canal Dreams was one of his best.
> 
> There are only a few of his books that I haven't read now (The Quarry, The Bridge, Dead Air, Transition) and I'm eeking them out because I know I'll be sad when I get to the end of them


he was right, its probably his worst by a long chalk. Just doesnt work, and a crap ending. Tho its hardly the only one with a crap ending


----------



## BigMoaner (Oct 15, 2013)

Soft, by Rupert Thomson - brilliant. like martin amis without the pretentious side


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Oct 16, 2013)

A Clash of Kings - George R R Martin


----------



## belboid (Oct 16, 2013)

I'm torn again now.  Cant decide what to go for next.

Eleanor Catton - The Luminaries.  Had this for a while now, cos it looks a fascinating tale or tales). But now everyone will think I'm just reading it cos it won that bloody prize.  Also, it is bloody long.

Alan Garner - Boneland - well, Boneland and Weirdstone and Gomrath, cos I'd need to remind myself abut them before doing the new(ish one).

geoffrey Cocks - The Wolf at the Door, Stanley Kubrick History & the Holocaust. Which should be familiar to anyone who's seen Room 237. Bit heavy man, and very small print.  Maybe I'll just do odd chapters of that.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 16, 2013)

Theres something happening here: The New Left, The Klan and FBI Counterintelligence

David Cunningham


good so far


----------



## marty21 (Oct 16, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> I loved The Secret History white rabbit, but I loved her second book, The Little Friend, even more.
> Looking forward to her new one.


 loved The Secret History - started The Little  Friend , but it didn't grab me as much, never finished it, not sure where it is in the book mountain at marty towers


----------



## yield (Oct 16, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Theres something happening here: The New Left, The Klan and FBI Counterintelligence by David Cunningham
> 
> good so far


I started reading a preview on google books looks good.


----------



## chasbo zelena (Oct 17, 2013)

New Tom Holland, Shadow of the Sword.

Interesting, but I'm finding it harder to ignore his guesswork this time around.


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 17, 2013)

marty21 said:


> loved The Secret History - started The Little  Friend , but it didn't grab me as much, never finished it, not sure where it is in the book mountain at marty towers


 
The Little Friend does take a while to keep going, I couldn't see what the fuss was about when I started it but I stuck at it because a friend had absolutely raved about it.  A slow burner.


----------



## Yelkcub (Oct 17, 2013)

Power Trip - Damian McBride


----------



## Greebo (Oct 17, 2013)

Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood


----------



## starfish (Oct 17, 2013)

Just finished Ellmore Leonards LaBrava, it was okay. I thought i would have liked it more as its my type of book. Have just started Christopher Brookmyres Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Oct 19, 2013)

Taking a short break from the machinations of Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings to read the Morrissey autobiography.
I have to say i'm really enjoying it and am surprised by that. Currently 10% of the way through and have Louder Than Bombs playing as a musical companion.

One criticism, it could do with better editing. The sentences & paragraphs seem unruly. My copy is a DRM free Kindle rip but i think it's the style of the author that is responsible for the construct.  It's a good read. (I'm having a lovely evening.)


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 20, 2013)

can you imagine trying to be morrisey's editor? fuck...


----------



## Greebo (Oct 20, 2013)

Back to "American Rust".


----------



## sojourner (Oct 21, 2013)

Just finished Lorenza and Antonio by Marquis de Sade, and started The Devil Rides Out (the second coming) by Paul O'Grady


----------



## chasbo zelena (Oct 21, 2013)

Read one of Alain De Bottom's books a while back, thought he was a charlatan and a buffoon.
Read his Twitter feed last night, seems very insightful, probably the right medium for him in this impatient age.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2013)

His twitter feed is full of empty platitudes - he's like the philosopher from The Day Today


----------



## belboid (Oct 22, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> Looking forward to reading The Goldfinch.


just got hold of a copy


----------



## TruXta (Oct 22, 2013)

Re-reading the Malazan books as I've no headspace for serious shizzle, on the House of Chain now. DotCommunist


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 22, 2013)

House of Chains was where the mythic structure begins to make sense imo. From warrens/azath etc. Thats why Erikson will always be the better teller of these malazan stories. He makes you work for it, Ian Esselmont just plates it up for you and cuts up the difficult bits.


----------



## TruXta (Oct 22, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> House of Chains was where the mythic structure begins to make sense imo. From warrens/azath etc. Thats why Erikson will always be the better teller of these malazan stories. He makes you work for it, Ian Esselmont just plates it up for you and cuts up the difficult bits.


It's a lot easier to follow all the strands on the second read through. Unfortunately it also shows up all the creaky and patchy bits where the writing takes a clear back stage role to just getting on with the world-building and plot. There's A LOT of passages where character A goes "so you know, X and Y went to ABC to kill off M, but then K, L and E came from this place to talk to G and so on and henceforth".


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 22, 2013)

Aye, I tend to forgive those bits by thinking of it as saga-telling. Which it pretty much is, despite the personalised stuff.

What we still have yet to see is the mauling the Bridgeburners got in Mott Wood, which from asides seems to have been a campaign against marsh wizards and woodland guerillas. Think roman legions being eaten by german forests.


----------



## TruXta (Oct 22, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Aye, I tend to forgive those bits by thinking of it as saga-telling. Which it pretty much is, despite the personalised stuff.
> 
> What we still have yet to see is the mauling the Bridgeburners got in Mott Wood, which from asides seems to have been a campaign against marsh wizards and woodland guerillas. Think roman legions being eaten by german forests.


That and more on the Crimson Guard please.


----------



## Sprocket. (Oct 22, 2013)

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 22, 2013)

TruXta said:


> That and more on the Crimson Guard please.




Orb, Sceptre, Throne and the last Ian C one cover the Guard, and Jackaraku.

What remains uncovered (other than mott wood) is Assail, where if I know my malazan, the forces of humanity are locked in conflict with remnant segulah and the Fokrul themselves


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 22, 2013)

belboid said:


> just got hold of a copy


 
Oooh, I'm tempted to get it for next week's holiday reading, but I really object to paying £9.50 for the kindle version


----------



## belboid (Oct 22, 2013)

there are, ahem, _ways_


----------



## sojourner (Oct 22, 2013)

JG Ballard - The Unlimited Dream Company

Started it at lunchtime and parts of the first chapter remind me very strongly of The Crystal World.


----------



## maya (Oct 22, 2013)

sojourner said:


> JG Ballard - The Unlimited Dream Company
> 
> Started it at lunchtime and parts of the first chapter remind me very strongly of The Crystal World.


I've heard good things about it, started it many times but never finished it (not anything to do with the book, just my own restlessness levels). His short stories are _very_ good... There was a 2 x pocket book edition and 1 x hardback edition [re-]published of his collected short stories very recently, just a few years ago... Really recommend it, if you haven't read it yet you're in for a treat. I think I prefer his short stories to his novels really, the short format just works better for me because he crams all his conceptual ideas into easily digestible little pieces, many of them close to genious.

I remember very few of them for some reason, so every time I just look up a story at random it's like reading it the first time all over again- For instance the story (from 'Myths of the Near Future', IIRC) about a group of pensioners and other upper middle class holidaymakers who are being kept in endless limbo in their luxury hotel resort never allowed to leave, Prisoner style, all told though increasingly desperate postcards back home... And the one I always remember as it's one of my favourites: The man who sits in his chair all day surrounded by hi-tech 'entertainment screens', such a passive consumer he's totally handicapped and cannot even move around on his own anymore- trapped in his chair, he needs a maid to do all the housework and stuff. Then he gets really paranoid as he believes there's a stranger in his flat, moving around behind his back as some sort of secret stalker djinn watching him all the time, he can hear this stranger's breath, always beind his back, watching him- And in a fit of paranoia he believes his housemaid to be this secret stalker and stabs her to death in the bathroom as she tries to help him... Alone again, he hears this stranger's breath again, coming closer and closer... Then he realises it's his own breath he hears, he's become so alienated from his own body that he didn't recognise it... The end. Just genious. 

And 'Empire of the Sun' (recounting his family's internment in a Japanese POW camp in China during WW2) is less fantastic but really poignant as he really experienced these things. There's a film version starring a young Christian Bale, which reminds me of how much better Bale was as a child actor (he got some sort of award for this role i think)

OK, i talk too much... Sorry 

Enjoy Ballard


----------



## RubyBlue (Oct 24, 2013)

Just finished Doctor Sleep - Stephen Kings' follow up to the Shining - this new novel has just been published 26 years after the Shining was released and is a very worthy successor - love it


----------



## little_legs (Oct 25, 2013)

seventh bullet said:


> No problem.  A prole's-eye view.  A part of the labour camp experience was 'political education,' which included at least some acquaintance with the works of Marx, Engels and Lenin (as well as Stalin), something which Marchenko wryly observed he and some of his fellow 'political' convicts knew better than their would-be educators.  He was from an ordinary family (in the spirit of Firky and Lustbather, PFWC) and educated himself in the camps and prisons, with the help of intelligentsia dissidents he associated with.



Downloaded this morning. One of the best book recommendations I've been given this year. Only 40 pages in but my goodness Marchenko is so good. It's hard to believe he is from a humble background, the level of emotional intelligence, empathy and meticulousness in describing his experience is incredible, he is like a doctor. Hard to read in parts, the beatings and cruelty made me well up a couple of times.

Based on what I've read so far, it's apparent that unlike Solzhenitsyn, Marchenko was not interested in self preservation. The level of Marchenko's courage and audacity to challenge his environment is on another level. From the language point of view, it's been awhile since I've come across words like _balanda_, _voronok_, _nary. _Really glad I was able to find an original free copy.

He mentions Andrei Sinyavskiy and Yuli Daniel of whom I've never heard of either, have you read anything by these guys? anything you can recommend?


----------



## little_legs (Oct 25, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Secret History is a great read, never read any Tartt before or since, but that ones a keeper


I keep meaning to read it because everyone says it's good. It'd better be. If it's crap, I won't read anything else by her even if someone pays me.


BoatieBird said:


> You should give The Little Friend a read Dotty, brilliant book imo


One of the worst books I've ever read. So long and totally pathetic. Donna fucking Tartt, she is _big_ on the big reveal man...  I really felt like she wasted my time and she should be ashamed of herself when I finished her 500-page dross about snakes and poor people in Mississippi to essentially tell you absolutely nothing worth reading.


----------



## little_legs (Oct 25, 2013)

Recently finished _Levels of Life_ by Julian Barnes, it's one of the best memoirs I've read. I did not know that Barnes is a widower, the book is ultimately about his memories of his late wife. It's short and beautifully written. It begins as a story about 3 balloonatics, moves to the love story involving two of the balloonatics, and finishes with Barnes' memories of his wife: 


> Early in life, the world divides crudely into those who have had sex and those who haven’t. Later, into those who have known love, and those who haven’t. Later still — at least, if we are lucky (or, on the other hand, unlucky) — it divides into those who have endured grief, and those who haven’t. These divisions are absolute; they are the tropics we cross.



I've also recently finished _Before She Met Me_ also by Barnes, it's short, and very _Amsterdam_ (McEwan). I kept wondering if Barnes has actually met the people he describes, these weird academics who are extremely intelligent but with twisted minds, and completely unable to deal with emotions.

Also finished _Portnoy's Complaint_ which I did not _love_, but it's a good early Roth book I guess. Good writing, perfect ranting, but not of the ice burn quality he churns out in _Human Stain_ and _Indignation_. 

And finally, _Born to Run_ by Christopher McDougall which was recommended to me. I've seen a few urbans mentioning it a few months ago. It's really good, even if you are not into running. McDougall, who apparently was commissioned to do the initial research for the book by Men's Health Magazine, constructed an excellent story about the Tarahumara people - the ultimate world runners, which led to his personal transformation. He does use a lot of Americanisms, but I forgive him.

I am currently reading _The Interestings_ by Meg Wolitzer which I am enjoying. If you liked Eugenides' _Middlesex_ and _The Marriage Plot_, or Franzen's _Freedom_, this book is for you. And seventh bullet 's recommendation _My Testimony_ which is excellent.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 25, 2013)

maya said:


> OK, i talk too much... Sorry
> 
> Enjoy Ballard


 I enjoy your talking about it 

Anyway, thanks to two days off sick I finished it. What a very strange and disturbing book that is. He worries me, does Ballard. Anyone who can think up what's between those pages is very odd indeed (err, semen flicking, anyone?!). Having said that, odd is good sometimes, and it is SUCH an unusual story. The protagonist is called Blake and I should have drawn some parallels, what with being the partner of William Blake's number one fan but I didn't. Now gonna have to make the fella read it so he can explain further 

In the end I liked it much more than I did at the start, and in the middle.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 25, 2013)

try_ Millenium People_ next sojourner. Its one of the most irritating books I have ever read. The revolt of the bourgeoisie! yuk


----------



## sojourner (Oct 25, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> try_ Millenium People_ next sojourner. Its one of the most irritating books I have ever read. The revolt of the bourgeoisie! yuk


Heh. Nah - I've got a Nabokov lined up, plus The Spirit Level, and Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 25, 2013)

Which Nabokov? 

Here is an interview article about JG Ballard that I quite liked.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 25, 2013)

I really admire JG Ballard. I don't say that about many writers. There is nobody quite like him.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 25, 2013)

I think the thing that I find most fascinating about him is the rich inner life he had, even though he lived his entire life in Shepperton. His house was completely ordinary from the outside, he drove the same car for thirty years. But inside he had massive reproductions of Paul Delvaux paintings. I remember one story (told by Iain Sinclair, I think) about him leaving a lemon in one of the empty rooms of his house for decades. He wouldn't allow anybody to touch it or clean it. I can't remember the reason he gave for this (if he even one) but I think it was just to see what would happen, or something along those lines. He was a middle class writer, but he was someone who also understood the violence inherent in the banality of middle class suburban life. It is seething with it. That civility is only a facade, a veneer. 

The landscapes he writes about are the ones many British people live in everyday, dual carriageways and shopping centers, but seen from a different angle that exposes their twisted weirdness. He was someone who wrote about a version of everyday reality that few other people could even really see, never mind write about. And he had an unequaled imagination in writing about it. The retelling of Robinson Crusoe on a traffic island, for example. And The Drowned World is incredible. 

I got out of bed to write that.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 25, 2013)

i once did that with an apple on my desk


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 25, 2013)

Just about to start Tom Sharpe 'Midden' which I got from a charity shop and forgot I had bought. Bonus.


----------



## toblerone3 (Oct 26, 2013)

Hardback History.  "Modernity Britain - Opening the Box (1957-1959)" by David Kynaston. Brilliant social history of Macmillan Britain and the beginnings of mass media and modern industrial consumerism based on diverse and contemporary letters and diaries. I am loving it.


----------



## seventh bullet (Oct 26, 2013)

little_legs said:


> Downloaded this morning. One of the best book recommendations I've been given this year. Only 40 pages in but my goodness Marchenko is so good. It's hard to believe he is from a humble background, the level of emotional intelligence, empathy and meticulousness in describing his experience is incredible, he is like a doctor. Hard to read in parts, the beatings and cruelty made me well up a couple of times.
> 
> Based on what I've read so far, it's apparent that unlike Solzhenitsyn, Marchenko was not interested in self preservation. The level of Marchenko's courage and audacity to challenge his environment is on another level. From the language point of view, it's been awhile since I've come across words like _balanda_, _voronok_, _nary. _Really glad I was able to find an original free copy.
> 
> He mentions Andrei Sinyavskiy and Yuli Daniel of whom I've never heard of either, have you read anything by these guys? anything you can recommend?



I have read nothing by those two, I'm just aware of their status as dissidents.  Marchenko later married Daniel's ex-wife, who helped him write the book.  She was among those arrested for organising the Red Square demonstration protesting the 1968 Warsaw Pact intervention in Czechoslovakia.

Voronok was the name given to police cars and vans used to transport prisoners, although it's from the older chernye voronok, referring to the GAZ M-1 car produced in black and was the transport used by NKVD officers from the mid-1930s, during the terror.


----------



## Epona (Oct 26, 2013)

I just read Christian Jacq's Ramses: The Son of the Light (English translation).  It's not the best thing I've ever read (in purely literary terms - but also I was reading a translation, the author is French and my French is not good enough to cope with a novel, so I read the English translation) but it's a compelling story, if a bit silly in places and not adhering strictly to the historical record (had it done so, it would have been sparse and dry), and as an archaeologist/historian I have no issue with people writing fiction based around ancient history, it was actually a good pageturner even though not a work of outstanding literary genius.  Just trying to find the rest of the series online.


----------



## Dougal Dodo (Oct 26, 2013)

Have just finished *Injustice *by Clive Stafford Smith.http://www.injusticebook.co.uk/index.php
A fantastic book about a Brit, Kris Maharaj, who ended up on death row for a crime he did not commit.
The book looks at many of the issues with the American criminal justice system based upon his case.
It is a factual book and a life changer. A surprsingly easy read and would recomend to anyone, especially
pro death penalty, it will be a life changer.


----------



## maya (Oct 26, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> I really admire JG Ballard. I don't say that about many writers. There is nobody quite like him.


He was a visionary in many ways, way ahead of his time... Prescient about the way we were heading, brutally clear about the human condition- and the thin veneer of civilisation being, as you say, just an illusion of protection (in the words of Cannibal Ox: "it's a cold world out there... do you know that you're one of the few predator species/ that preys even on itself?")

My first introduction to Ballard was the Re/Search publications special issue from 1984, lifechanging stuff.

*
swedish documentary w/ the man himself in lengthy interview (plus some non-subtitled narrator bits with symbolic imagery) :



*
slideshow for re/Seach, interviews and photographs:
http://www.lucadelbaldo.com/art/v/articles-and-collages/slideshow.html

*
artist’s interpretation/visualisation of  Travis’ ’terminal documents’ in Ballard’s ’the Atrocity Exhibition’:
http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/jg-ballards-terminal-documents/29018/

*
J.G. Ballard on modernists and death:

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/mar/20/architecture.communities

*
Ballards vision of social media (in 1977) :

http://disinfo.com/2013/06/j-g-ballards-vision-of-social-media-in-1977/

*
Ben Wheatley to direct High Rise!

http://twitchfilm.com/2013/08/ben-wheatley-to-direct-high-rise.html

*
and the best JGB resource online:

http://www.ballardian.com/


----------



## sojourner (Oct 28, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> Which Nabokov?
> 
> Here is an interview article about JG Ballard that I quite liked.


'Look at the Harlequins' 

I'll have a look at that article later, ta


----------



## nutnut (Oct 29, 2013)

1.  The Autobiography of  Malcolm X.  (amazing book!)


----------



## nutnut (Oct 29, 2013)

Also worth checking out :

The man who invented Hitler - The making of the Fuhrer.

By David Lewis.

( Roughly about the Psyche of Hitler before and after being a patient in a Psychiatric/Neuroscience Hospital).


----------



## slightlytouched (Oct 29, 2013)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> A Clash of Kings - George R R Martin


I gave up on this series half way through the 5th book, or is the 4th book cos one was split in two?!  Far too many characters to keep track of, and not enough difference in the characters that remained alive.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 29, 2013)

reading a series of sci fi shorts by one Mack Reynolds. A little dated so far but none the less good.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Oct 29, 2013)

I'm reading The Day Parliament Burned Down, by Caroline Shenton.

It is about the events leading up to the fire on 16 October 1834 which destroyed the old Palace of Westminster, and is a very detailed account of those few days - only just started it, but it is a fascinating account of what happened.  The author is the Director of the Parliamentary Archives so obviously knows a thing or two about the history of the place, so the best person to write such a history.

Quite seasonal really, given we're nearly at Guy Fawkes Night.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Oct 29, 2013)

slightlytouched said:


> I gave up on this series half way through the 5th book, or is the 4th book cos one was split in two?!  Far too many characters to keep track of, and not enough difference in the characters that remained alive.



I'm going to have a break from it after i have finished book two. Agree with you about the number of characters but decided to go with it even if i forgot one or two and what their relationship with others.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 29, 2013)

Pavane by Kieth Roberts




> The divergence at the heart of _Pavane_ is compelling, if a bit Anglocentric. In 1588, Queen Elizabeth I is assassinated, and the Spanish Armada goes onto defeat the British fleet. King Philip of Spain senses an opportunity to seize greater power, and swiftly conquers all of northern Europe. The power of the papacy is restored, the Reformation is crushed, and Europe slides back into the Middle Ages. And then, four centuries later, the story begins.
> 
> The book takes its name from a courtly medieval dance performed in six parts plus a coda. Similarly, _Pavane_ is divided into six "measures", the loosely connected novellas that move the story along, as well as a closing coda that throws everything that came before it into serious question. Keith Roberts originally wrote five of these stories for _Science Fantasy_, and then collected them in 1968, along with a sixth story and the coda, to create the book's current incarnation.
> 
> ...


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 29, 2013)

I am reading Stone Junction: An Alchemicial Potboiler by Jim Dodge.

I bought it because it has a foreword by Thomas Pynchon (which is worth a read all by itself) The only other book he was written a foreword for is 1984 (which is also worth a read)

Stone Junction is pretty decent so far. It is about alchemy and outlaws, and a young mans journey into esoteric knowledge whilst also trying to find out who killed his mother. Loads of hints towards all sorts of esoteric subjects like alchemy and hermeticism and all that stuff.

Prior to that I re-read most of The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz and a few other related PDFs on my computer

Also read recently:

A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics by Donald Richie

A Companion to Marx's Capital: Volume 2 by David Harvey (bought but not really read yet, I have read most of the introduction, I am saving it for some point in the future)

A Naked Singularity: A Novel by Sergio de la Pava - Pynchonesque in a different way to Stone Junction, it is de la Pavas first novel and I think he had to publish it himself at first, it could do with a bit of editing but is pretty decent. I read the first 1/4 and put it down

Transforming Tales: How Stories Can Change People by Rob Parkinson - I have been slowly working my way through this one for ages. It is not difficult, but I am taking my time because I really want to take in what it is about. Which is storytelling. The entire book is about different types of stories (with loads and loads of examples) how to tell them, which stories work best in what settings, and how you can use storytelling to be able to open up peoples minds and worlds and change their minds without them realizing it, and loads more. Storytelling can be pretty powerful and it is something I want to learn. I'd like to be one of those wise old men with a thousand stories. 

Acid Diaries: A Psychonauts Guide to the History and Use of LSD by Christopher Gray - this is quite an interesting one. I am mildly interested in reading about LSD and other psychedelics, but you take a real risk in buying books about it, some of them (most of them) are awful. This is written by Christopher Gray, who was involved with the Situationists in the 60s. Sometime in the 1990s, in his mid 50s, he decides to take LSD once a month for few years and write about his experiences. It is a really well written diary, and he has a really good grasp of history and politics in particular. If highly recommend it.

Not read yet:

Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD, the CIA, the Sixties and Beyond by Martin Lee - because it was recommended by Christopher Gray in the book mentioned above

Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom: The Major Arcana Pt. 1: Book of Tarot by Rachel Pollack - Because I am curious

In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching by PD Ouspensky - Not sure why I bought this but I am going to give it a go

Agape Agape (Penguin Classics) by William Gaddes - This is going to go on my to read pile, it might be sometime before I pick it up. Every book has its moment.

I also bought Tintin: Red Rackhams Treasure and Steven Biestys Incredible Cross-Sections for my nephews birthday. They have enough toys, they will only ever get books from me.

And there are loads more that I pick up and put down.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 29, 2013)

sojourner said:


> 'Look at the Harlequins'
> 
> I'll have a look at that article later, ta



 

Nabakov is brilliant.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 29, 2013)

Oh and this:

Deep Politics and the Death of JFK by Peter Dale Scott



> Peter Dale Scott's meticulously documented investigation uncovers the secrets surrounding John F. Kennedy's assassination. Offering a wholly new perspective - that JFK's death was not just an isolated case, but rather a symptom of hidden processes - Scott examines the deep politics of early 1960s American international and domestic policies. Scott offers a disturbing analysis of the events surrounding Kennedy's death, and of the "structural defects" within the American government that allowed such a crime to occur and to go unpunished.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 30, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> Nabakov is brilliant.


Five pages in and he's been filthy already. In an extremely literate and intelligent way. But still - filth   Beautifully written, so dense - gonna take me a while to read this I think. Only on page 8 and I've had to check me dictionary twice already. Two more words added to my vocabulary then.

And the unreliable narrator made his appearance in the first line this time!

Heh - started this today, and had finished 'Bonkers' by Jennifer Saunders last night. Mix it up!


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 30, 2013)

Reading Vagabond by Bernard Cornwell, the second in the Grail series. Bought it brand new from Amazon for the incredible price of £1.59.


----------



## MrSki (Oct 31, 2013)

An enjoyable series in a Robin Hoodish sort of way. When you have finished try 'Gallows Thief' probably his best attempt at humour and covers match fixing in early ninteenth century cricket. It is a stand alone & am surprised he did not continue with the character. Well not that surprised because he is very similar to Sharpe.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 1, 2013)

Hmm. Now I am starting to get a bit fucked off with that Nabokov book. It's painfully self-aware, and trying so very hard to be ultra-clever that it's really starting to irritate me.  Yeh yeh, unreliable narrator and that, but for fucks sake, make at least SOME sense SOME of the time!


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 1, 2013)

Morrissey's book - read first paragraph in bookshop and just had to get it. I don't like him much as a person, but I'm betting on this being entertaining


----------



## Favelado (Nov 1, 2013)

I'm reading "How Britain Narrowly Avoided a Revolution, 1381-1926" by Frank McGlynn. It gives an overview of 7 occasions where England/Great Britain was close to a revolution and tries to draw some conclusions about why we've never taken the final push through the gates.

I'm halfway through and getting edumacated about The Jacobite Rebellion. It's a good read so far. I think the thrust of the conclusion is going to be something about British rebels being unable to shake off the last vestiges of deference at key moments. This seems to have what did for Wat Tyler and The Pilgrimage of Grace but still a fair bit of reading to go.

A good introduction for lefties who don't have an encylopedic knowledge of British history. Very lively in its style and manages to cover a lot of ground without leaving you feeling short-changed.


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 1, 2013)

Gillian Flynn - Dark places

I do like books where the protagonist isn't particularly likeable


----------



## Gingerman (Nov 3, 2013)




----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 4, 2013)

Finished 'A ship from Atlantis'

weird book.


now at a loss. Might start the panthers history book I have waiting, or start this Bradbury collection.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Nov 4, 2013)

Favelado said:


> I'm halfway through and getting *edumacated* about The Jacobite Rebellion.



This word is new to me and i like it.


----------



## Clair De Lune (Nov 4, 2013)

Just finished this  I wasn't sure what to make of it at first but I got into it. Dutty book.


----------



## chasbo zelena (Nov 4, 2013)

A Gentleman Jones.


----------



## barney_pig (Nov 4, 2013)

Dominion by cj sansom. Enjoyed his Tudor books but had avoided this for a while, not a fan of alternate history, especially not Nazis win ww2 stuff. But this seems pretty good.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 4, 2013)

About to start on Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, after having read thousands of pages of fantasy lately I need a bit of a change. Have got the Wasp Factory and The Master and Margarita lined up for when I'm done with this one.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 4, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> Or start this Bradbury collection.


Ray?

Thinking more about it, the unreliable narration in that Nabokov book was incredibly clumsy.  Whereas it was executed perfectly in, say, Lolita, as you only find out much later, and only then in dribs and drabs, in a way that makes you question yourself, this is just like putting your dick out on a pub chair if you wanted to cop off.

Fucking rubbish. Felt proper let down 

Anyway - have just started 'The Spirit Level' by Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson. This is the edited version, with extra data and a chapter dealing with 'their critics', apparently.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 4, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Ray?
> 
> Thinking more about it, the unreliable narration in that Nabokov book was incredibly clumsy.  Whereas it was executed perfectly in, say, Lolita, as you only find out much later, and only then in dribs and drabs, in a way that makes you question yourself, this is just like putting your dick out on a pub chair if you wanted to cop off.
> 
> ...




yeah I got this MASSIVE torrent of sci fi ebooks last year- a full 2500 collection so I'm working my way through. Throws up some startling ones. Polish feminist sci fi from the 60s? check. Little known alt history authors talking about apocalypse? check

theres a bradbury folder in there so Imma give him a go. I read the one I recc'd you (Golden Apples of The Sun) when I was a young teen and nothing since so a revisit to his ouvre with a more jaundiced and nuanced eye is in order.

Hope he still stands. Too many of my pre-teen faves do not bear a re reading.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 4, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> theres a bradbury folder in there so Imma give him a go. I read the one I recc'd you (Golden Apples of The Sun) when I was a young teen and nothing since so a revisit to his ouvre with a more jaundiced and nuanced eye is in order.
> 
> Hope he still stands. Too many of my pre-teen faves do not bear a re reading.


Trust me - he will still stand.  I've still yet to read that one. I did end up joining the library again but the fucking fuckers only have 5 books in the entire fucking county and none of them are Golden Apples  Will have to buy I suppose.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 4, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Trust me - he will still stand.  I've still yet to read that one. I did end up joining the library again but the fucking fuckers only have 5 books in the entire fucking county and none of them are Golden Apples  Will have to buy I suppose.



seek and you shall find.

heres what I have on epub. Mssg me for an email addy and I'll send you any one of them


I Sing the Body Electric

Illustrated Man

Martian Chronicles

Now and Forever

R is for Rocket


----------



## sojourner (Nov 4, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> seek and you shall find.
> 
> heres what I have on epub. Mssg me for an email addy and I'll send you any one of them
> 
> ...


Aww, lovely of you mate but I cannae read shit online. Hurts me eyes.  I need actual books and that. Paper.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 4, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Aww, lovely of you mate but I cannae read shit online. Hurts me eyes.  I need actual books and that. Paper.




there is nothing like curling up with a real book aye.

I was very dismissive of the kindle and even its cheapo alternative the nook. But having seen them- thin, got this weird display that looks like a page etc. No harshness.


dunno how it feels to curl up with one tho. I just go square eyes readin from the computer screen
Have been dropping unsubtle heavy hints about the nook for three months now so santa may provide


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 4, 2013)

I resisted the lure of an e-reader for years.

Every xmas and birthday my bloke would say "are you _sure_ you don't want a Kindle, you love reading, it would be the perfect present" and I would always say that I liked the feel of proper books.

I finally gave in and got one for my birthday and I bloody love it, I'm a total convert.

I can curl up with it in the same way I would a book, and I don't think it's any harsher on the eyes than print.

One of the things I really love is the built in dictionary.
I think sojourner that you mentioned looking up words in a dictionary?
With the kindle you can highlight the word and up pops a definition.  I use this feature all the time.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 4, 2013)

That does sound quite good. Which dictionary is it though?  The ones  on phones are fucking WANK!


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 4, 2013)

sojourner said:


> That does sound quite good. Which dictionary is it though?  The ones  on phones are fucking WANK!


 
It's the OED and the Oxford American that come as standard, but it also has a translate function for foreign words.


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 4, 2013)

Anne Cadwallader, Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland (Cork: Mercier, 2013)


----------



## ringo (Nov 5, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> I resisted the lure of an e-reader for years.
> 
> Every xmas and birthday my bloke would say "are you _sure_ you don't want a Kindle, you love reading, it would be the perfect present" and I would always say that I liked the feel of proper books.
> 
> ...



This. I still read books 'cos I like to, I collect some authors & subjects and like to buy second hand from my local Oxfam, but the Kindle is extremely functional. Takes up very little space so useful on a commute/bus ride, can fit loads of stuff on it, and its very nice to read. I may eventually replace my older one with a touch screen to turn the page, but other than that I can't fault it. The screen is the same as reading a book and for cumbersome books of 1000 pages I'd much rather be holding the Kindle than a book that weighs as much as a bag of sugar.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 5, 2013)

BoatieBird said:


> It's the OED and the Oxford American that come as standard, but it also has a translate function for foreign words.


That does sound good.

One other thing though that I love books for is writing in them. Not library books obviously, but when I've bought them and there are particularly interesting sections I want to investigate further, or just expand on in my own head, or discuss, I like to underline and scribble notes.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 5, 2013)

sojourner said:


> That does sound good.
> 
> One other thing though that I love books for is writing in them. Not library books obviously, but when I've bought them and there are particularly interesting sections I want to investigate further, or just expand on in my own head, or discuss, I like to underline and scribble notes.


I think you can do that with the newer Kindles. Underlining/marking for sure.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 5, 2013)

TruXta said:


> I think you can do that with the newer Kindles. Underlining/marking for sure.


Really??


----------



## TruXta (Nov 5, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Really??


Yeah! I was watching a student reading her textbook on her Kindle on the train home last night, it was one of the touch-screen ones, and she could mark up passages IN 5 DIFFERENT COLOURS


----------



## TruXta (Nov 5, 2013)

Ooo apparently you can make notes as well.


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 5, 2013)

I still prefer actual books when I'm studying as I like to write on them, ditto cookery books.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 5, 2013)

I like everything about books. The wear and tear of 2nd hand ones, imagining back-stories to scribbles in the margins and unidentifiable stains.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 5, 2013)

TruXta said:


> I like everything about books. The wear and tear of 2nd hand ones, imagining back-stories to scribbles in the margins and unidentifiable stains.


One of my Ray Bradbury books has 'Oliver Turner' scrawled on the closed-together pages - god, can't think of the word. Opposite to spine.


----------



## marty21 (Nov 5, 2013)

The Green Road Into The Trees : A Walk Through England - Hugh Thompson

basically he walked from Dorset to Norfolk, very interesting -


----------



## TruXta (Nov 5, 2013)

sojourner said:


> One of my Ray Bradbury books has 'Oliver Turner' scrawled on the closed-together pages - god, can't think of the word. Opposite to spine.


Binding?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 5, 2013)

marty21 said:


> The Green Road Into The Trees : A Walk Through England - Hugh Thompson
> 
> basically he walked from Dorset to Norfolk, very interesting -



I read that a while ago, it is pretty good. I'd really like to walk the Ridgeway.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 5, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Binding?



Fore edge.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 5, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> Fore skin




lol

I once found a rambling unsent love letter, handwritten, in a charity shop book. It was fair tragic.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 5, 2013)

I found a postcard sent from Kerala to someone called Robert in a second hand copy of The Birth of Tragedy by Nietzsche


----------



## sojourner (Nov 5, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Binding?


No. When you close all the pages together. The opposite side of the binding/spine.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 5, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> Fore edge.


Yes this! Cheers Dilly


----------



## TruXta (Nov 5, 2013)

sojourner said:


> No. When you close all the pages together. The opposite side of the binding/spine.


Ah  errrrrrr...


----------



## Frances Lengel (Nov 5, 2013)

One advantage of books over kindles is that, should you be picking your nose whilst reading a particularly engrossing passage, you can wipe your crows onto the pages rather than interrupt your reading by having to get a tissue.


----------



## coley (Nov 5, 2013)

Frances Lengel said:


> One advantage of books over kindles is that, should you be picking your nose whilst reading a particularly engrossing passage, you can wipe your crows onto the pages rather than interrupt your reading by having to get a tissue.


Practical,as ever


----------



## geminisnake (Nov 5, 2013)

Just finished Rivers of London and started Moon Over Soho, both Ben Aaronovitch.


----------



## SikhWarrioR (Nov 5, 2013)

This Singh has several books on the go

1-Stphen Hawking The universe in a nutshell
2-Nick Mason Inside out a history of Pink Floyd 
3-Max Hastings Catastrophe A single volume history of WW1


----------



## marty21 (Nov 5, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> I read that a while ago, it is pretty good. I'd really like to walk the Ridgeway.


me too!


----------



## machine cat (Nov 5, 2013)

Murakami - Dance Dance Dance

Only 50 pages in but it seems like classic Murakami


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 6, 2013)

Have you read The Wild Sheep Chase too? Can't remember which comes first. Both are great.
I can't remember what I said as I read too many books at once, but I am reading Morrissey's Autobiography (not sure why it already a Penguin Classic, but it is very enjoyable. I like how he expresses his disgust at life and humanity, but he is a bellend), The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, another excellent wordsmith, Lone Wolf & Cub Vol 1 (an attempt at classic manga after being tainted unfavourably towards it by Ultimo) and Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales For Young And Old. I should get off the internet.


----------



## mentalchik (Nov 6, 2013)

Re-reading Master of Paxwax - Phillip Mann as i haven't read it in an age.....and have Dr Sleep- Stephen King lined up(do hope it's good)


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Nov 7, 2013)

Reading the Sharpe series. It's a break from all the WW2 and Holocaust history.


----------



## ringo (Nov 7, 2013)

Humboldt's Gift - Saul Bellow.

Been meaning to read something of his for years and finally got round to it. Great writer, plenty of concentration required to cope with the deluge of ideas and literary and philosophical references he throws about. Only 50 pages in it already feels as if he wrote this with half an eye on the Pulitzer Prize it went on to win, but it's also very readable.


----------



## barney_pig (Nov 8, 2013)

I have just Finished reading Dominion by cj sansom. A really good read, well researched but with a somewhat rushed feel to the end.


----------



## Idris2002 (Nov 8, 2013)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> Reading the Sharpe series. It's a break from all the WW2 and Holocaust history.



I read a couple of his other books, one in his series about late Dark Ages England and the other about Agincourt, and they were both very good indeed. Is the Sharpe series worth getting into, then?


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 8, 2013)

Idris2002 said:


> I read a couple of his other books, one in his series about late Dark Ages England and the other about Agincourt, and they were both very good indeed. Is the Sharpe series worth getting into, then?



yes. If you ask me, which you didn't but I'm chipping in anyway. The more recent ones set in india when wellington was wellsley of the East India Company, the 'sepoy general' are particularly good.

They follow much the same format as Sharpe the program over all. Honest northern lad from englands vilest rookeries combats bonies men and his own class ridden army hierarchy to save the day while having plenty of el bonky bonky.

Sharpes Sword is probably my fave.

McDonalds books. Satisfying and good but no lasting richness to them


----------



## Idris2002 (Nov 8, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> McDonalds books. Satisfying and good but no lasting richness to them



You mean the Flashman books?


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 8, 2013)

less knowing than Flashman. Played with a straighter face iyswim.

Flashmans a cad and a coward, Dickie boys a rough hewn hero


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 8, 2013)

my alliteration game is strong today


----------



## Idris2002 (Nov 8, 2013)

Ah right, you meant MacDonalds the popular restaurant chain.


----------



## heinous seamus (Nov 8, 2013)

Picked up 'Libete: A Haiti Anthology' from the uni library last night. Looking forward to reading about a very fascinating country


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 8, 2013)

Idris2002 said:


> Ah right, you meant MacDonalds the popular restaurant chain.




yes. You know how it is, satisfying and yet not something one treasures. Other authors in the maccy d's category include Grisham, Stephen King and Terry Prattchet.

should be recognised as a valid lit crit term imo


----------



## Frances Lengel (Nov 8, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> yes. You know how it is,
> satisfying and yet not something one treasures. Other authors in the maccy d's category include Grisham, Stephen King and Terry Prattchet.
> 
> should be recognised as a valid lit crit term imo



Steven King described his ouw output as the literary equivalent of a big mac and fries. Apparently.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/103501-i-am-the-literary-equivalent-of-a-big-mac-and


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 8, 2013)

marty21 said:


> me too!



I'd also really quite like to do a proper pilgrimage, like the Camino de Santiago.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 8, 2013)

Truthful Report on the Last Chance to Save Capitalism in Italy by Gianfranco Sanguinetti
Proofs of the Nonexistence of Censor by his Author by Gianfranco Sanguinetti
On Terrorism and the State by Gianfranco Sanguinetti
The Doge: A Recollection by Gianfranco Sanguinetti


----------



## machine cat (Nov 8, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Have you read The Wild Sheep Chase too? Can't remember which comes first. Both are great.



I haven't read that yet, but a quick Google shows me I should have before this


----------



## izz (Nov 8, 2013)

Just finished Hilary Mantel's Back to Black and about to start Taoism for Dummies


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 8, 2013)

Frances Lengel said:


> Steven King described his ouw output as the literary equivalent of a big mac and fries. Apparently.
> 
> http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/103501-i-am-the-literary-equivalent-of-a-big-mac-and




remarkably self aware- his 'Danse Macarbe' is a really good book on how to write genre fiction.

He can't do sci fi though. Thinks he can, but he can't. The Dark Tower series is proper shit.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 12, 2013)

'I sing the body electric'

Ray Bradbury short story collection. V. Good indeed. Not what you expect from sci fi of that era, far more subtle and far more skilled in prose style


----------



## TruXta (Nov 12, 2013)

Halfway through Blood Meridian by C. McCarthy. Brutal but brilliant.


----------



## Crispy (Nov 12, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> 'I sing the body electric'
> 
> Ray Bradbury short story collection. V. Good indeed. Not what you expect from sci fi of that era, far more subtle and far more skilled in prose style


There you are! Take your turn on scrabble


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 12, 2013)

Crispy said:


> There you are! Take your turn on scrabble





I passed to rutita! I'll be on it next time its me go


----------



## ringo (Nov 12, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Halfway through Blood Meridian by C. McCarthy. Brutal but brilliant.



Fantastic book, one of his best.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 12, 2013)

ringo said:


> Fantastic book, one of his best.


I've only read The Road of his other ones. Are they all that fucking bleak?


----------



## ringo (Nov 12, 2013)

TruXta said:


> I've only read The Road of his other ones. Are they all that fucking bleak?



The ones that are not bleak are the weakest 

Child Of God and Suttree are proper grim but that's the point. His portrayal of the sadistic brutality of man set against the harsh but beautiful, poetically depicted landscapes are what makes them powerful.


----------



## ringo (Nov 12, 2013)

I wasn't that bothered about The Road, some of his later books read like he always has one eye on the screenplay that will follow. I still want to read everything he does though.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Nov 12, 2013)

Homicide - David Simon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide:_A_Year_on_the_Killing_Streets#Reception


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Nov 13, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Have you read The Wild Sheep Chase too? Can't remember which comes first. Both are great.
> I can't remember what I said as I read too many books at once, but I am reading Morrissey's Autobiography (not sure why it already a Penguin Classic, but it is very enjoyable. I like how he expresses his disgust at life and humanity, but he is a bellend), The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, another excellent wordsmith, Lone Wolf & Cub Vol 1 (an attempt at classic manga after being tainted unfavourably towards it by Ultimo) and Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales For Young And Old. I should get off the internet.



Kozure okami  aka  lone wolf and cub  is a classic series	and  has  some good movies

the first two or three movies were hacked together to make  a dubbed  movie called shogun assassin.


to be honest  i don't think it's that good  and  i would  recommend some  of his other stuff



for exampple  gues what  movie  this   manga  influenced








the  guy  behind  this  did a lot of serious  samurai  manga   

personally  i think Kubikiri Asa aka Samurai Executioner is much more accessible  and a better place to start manga wise


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 13, 2013)

Yeah, I've seen Shogun Assassin - some of the fight scenes are shot for shot reenactments of the manga. I really enjoyed it. At first I thought 'oh it's just fight after fight' but there is a great story too. The drawing are great - really dynamic. He depicts movement so sparingly but so effectively. Better than Ultimo for sure! Not suitable for my school library though.


----------



## 5t3IIa (Nov 13, 2013)

Rites of Passage by William Golding! Far too many exclamation marks! Very distracting! But I am only on page 5!


----------



## fakeplasticgirl (Nov 13, 2013)

currently reading the haunting of hill house
next on my list is ender's game and the silence of the lambs


----------



## sojourner (Nov 13, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> 'I sing the body electric'
> 
> Ray Bradbury short story collection. V. Good indeed. Not what you expect from sci fi of that era, far more subtle and far more skilled in prose style


I've yet to read that one but can't wait to!! 

I am making headway in this book 'The Spirit Level' now, and putting my dyscalculic head through torture at the same time.  There's been a number of moments where I have totally recognised my own actions/thoughts in there too. Some quite surprising, some stuff I already knew.


----------



## flypanam (Nov 14, 2013)

Like Ringo i'm reading Saul Bellow.

The adventures of Augie March - terrific so far.


----------



## D'wards (Nov 16, 2013)

TruXta said:


> About to start on Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, after having read thousands of pages of fantasy lately I need a bit of a change. Have got the Wasp Factory and The Master and Margarita lined up for when I'm done with this one.


 3 of my favourite books


----------



## D'wards (Nov 16, 2013)

Just started Hemingway's Chair by Michael Palin  - would you believe its really _nice_


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 16, 2013)

Quentin Blake - Words & Pictures
Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski - Maps
Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book
Philip Pullman - Grimm Tales For Adults
Chris Beckett - Dark Eden
All brilliant, esp the latter


----------



## Greebo (Nov 16, 2013)

Dillinger4 said:


> Fore edge.


Diastrous ex had a habit of writing in biro there, generally some comment which he thought was profound but which had little relevance to the title and none to the rest of the book (he never read the ones he wrote on).


----------



## N_igma (Nov 16, 2013)

Greebo said:


> Diastrous ex had a habit of writing in biro there, generally some comment which he thought was profound but which had little relevance to the title and none to the rest of the book (he never read the ones he wrote on).



Like 'STALIN RULEZ' on a copy of War and Peace?


----------



## Greebo (Nov 16, 2013)

N_igma said:


> Like 'STALIN RULEZ' on a copy of War and Peace?


Far worse, given that he was semiliterate in French and wrote it as it's pronounced with a heavy North Africain accent.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 17, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Philip Pullman - Grimm Tales For Adults


Ooo I really fancy this. Is it as good as I'm expecting it to be?


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 17, 2013)

David Brin 'Otherness'

a short story and essay sci fi collection (again) all based on the eponymous theme

I quite like it even if I am not sure I agree with some of his conclusions. He seems to see otherness and 'the other' as purely subjective experience, doesn't really relate what his feeling/ideas of otherness are in relation *to* very clearly. Still, only half way through so he might get more into the matter later.

fans of the genre will know him from the Uplift books, a great set of books about how everything in the universe has been 'Uplifted' to sentience going back billions of years to the mythical first intelligence- except humans who did it spontaneously. And had to hastily hide all records of whales and dolphins once they realised the wider galactic community would react very poorly to our having killed them all during the 23rd century


----------



## Frances Lengel (Nov 18, 2013)

I'm reading Morrisseys biog. And it's a laugh. Except the bit where the guy out of the sex pistols asks about the area of manchester called  Collyhurst "Is this this a rough area of manchester?" yeah,   someone reply's  people walk round in their underpants round here. Now Collyhurst is a hard area - but in the 70's no fucker walked about in their grundies  - My dad was from Collyhurst and he used to go on about his mate who, when they were little just _didn't own a single pair of kex_ - this kid did have a long jumper fastened with a pin in the middle, sorta between his legs.  But that happened in the 50's and 60's. Not the 70's, no way. 

And there's another bit where Moz goes on about Collyhurst Perry boys - Who'd bang you out. And then ask what you're looking at. But to me that just _is_ the very esscence of manchester.. A decent read though.


----------



## campanula (Nov 18, 2013)

Republic of Thieves - the VERY long awaited sequel to the Gentlemen Bastards series (Lies of Locke Lamorra, Red Seas under Red Skies). Worried that it might have been a duffer after such a long wait but Lynch seems back on form.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 19, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Ooo I really fancy this. Is it as good as I'm expecting it to be?


Oi Orang Utan  - what's the Pullman book like, you ignorant bugger?! 

I had to give the fucking Spirit Level book back to the library before I finished it, cos some other cunt wanted it apparently. I was just getting to what I think may have been potential solutions/ideas bit too 

So now I'm reading a proper trashy book called 'The Congress of Rough Riders' by John Boyne. Mainly cos it's got a cowboy on the front and the story is tied up with Buffalo Bill. It's quite bad though. Commas spilled everywhere like Onan's seed, big chunks of bland filler...there are some okay story-telling bits though, enough to keep me reading it. Deary me though - could well have done with a bit more fucking editing.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 19, 2013)

I've only read one story and his introduction, soj


----------



## starfish (Nov 20, 2013)

Just started Brazil by John Updike.


----------



## heinous seamus (Nov 21, 2013)

Started "RD Laing - The Divided Self" this morning.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 21, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I've only read one story and his introduction, soj


I've just put a hold on it on the library system so will hopefully get my mitts on it soon


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 22, 2013)

I'm nearly at the end of Killing for Company, by Brian Masters.  The story of Dennis Nilsen.
An interesting, fascinating but certainly harrowing read.

I'm looking forward to reading something light and entertaining next.


----------



## ringo (Nov 23, 2013)

flypanam said:


> Like Ringo i'm reading Saul Bellow.
> 
> The adventures of Augie March - terrific so far.



How's it going? I'm 75% through Humboldt's Gift. It's dense, heavy stuff. 
He bombards and beats the reader with literary and philosophical ideas, quotes and references until your head swims but at the same time keeps you reading ferociously. One of those hard work but worth it authors.

The long pages of philosophy use a similar trick to Easton-Ellis in American Psycho when he describes the rules for sartorial elegance for 5 pages at a time. I imagine you literature grads will know the name of this technique? You could skip it and miss none of the plot but by following the characters' obsessive analytical mind you get a deep incite into their deranged personality.


----------



## mentalchik (Nov 23, 2013)

Dr Sleep - Stephen King


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Nov 24, 2013)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey.


----------



## Gingerman (Nov 24, 2013)




----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 24, 2013)

patrick joyce "the state of freedom: a social history of the british state since 1800" (cambridge: cambridge university press, 2013)


----------



## sojourner (Nov 25, 2013)

Oliver Sacks - Hallucinations


----------



## sparkling (Nov 26, 2013)

The Constant Gardener by John LeCarre


----------



## flypanam (Nov 27, 2013)

ringo said:


> How's it going? I'm 75% through Humboldt's Gift. It's dense, heavy stuff.
> He bombards and beats the reader with literary and philosophical ideas, quotes and references until your head swims but at the same time keeps you reading ferociously. One of those hard work but worth it authors.
> 
> The long pages of philosophy use a similar trick to Easton-Ellis in American Psycho when he describes the rules for sartorial elegance for 5 pages at a time. I imagine you literature grads will know the name of this technique? You could skip it and miss none of the plot but by following the characters' obsessive analytical mind you get a deep incite into their deranged personality.


 
Agree, Though I think Augie is slightly easier in that it is an everyman type of novel with identity at the heart of it. Terrific so far, I'm about 40% through it. Augie is complex but malleable. Bellow's chrarcterisation of family life is very rich.  A writer to savour.


----------



## ringo (Nov 27, 2013)

flypanam said:


> Agree, Though I think Augie is slightly easier in that it is an everyman type of novel with identity at the heart of it. Terrific so far, I'm about 40% through it. Augie is complex but malleable. Bellow's chrarcterisation of family life is very rich.  A writer to savour.



Cheers, I have a feeling I've just read one of his most difficult going novels, would love to read something by him that's a little lighter so I'll give that a go at some point.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 27, 2013)

Finished the Oliver Sacks one, was okay.  Started and finished 'A Country Doctor's Notebook' by Mikhail Bulgakov. Loved that! Short stories based on real life experiences when he was a young doctor, and sent to the back of beyond for a year. Excellent stuff.

Will have to go the library and stock up, but I do have 'Empire of the Sun' with me in work to start (Ballard).


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Nov 27, 2013)

Picked up 'Stoner' by John Williams in the airport lounge last week since I finished the Mantel book I'd been reading. It's full of "the best book you've never read" style quotes by famous authors - and it's actually pretty good, found myself really feeling for the character as he drifts through life.


----------



## TruXta (Nov 27, 2013)

Finished #6 in the Malazan series, coming to the end of Blood Meridian. Have picked up the next Malazan book, will switch to Master and Margarita after Blood Meridian is done. Fuck me, it's grim tho.


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 28, 2013)

The Quiet American by Graham Greene


----------



## maya (Nov 28, 2013)

The local library sale turned up some real gems lately- a whole stack of books seemingly donated from an ambassador all about Nigerian history, politics and culture- I'm now the proud owner of several complicated treatises on Hausa dance, art and legends of theatrical culture- plus a propaganda book on the dangers of drug use, lovely illustrated by Nigerian primary school children... who also tell fairy tale style stories about the subject in a pretty flowery, surrealistic way (they've got a special way with language and I haven't read english being used in this way before, reminds me a bit of the language in Amos Tutuola's "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts"... very strange, yet familiar.)


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Nov 28, 2013)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Picked up 'Stoner' by John Williams in the airport lounge last week since I finished the Mantel book I'd been reading. It's full of "the best book you've never read" style quotes by famous authors - and it's actually pretty good, found myself really feeling for the character as he drifts through life.


Brief review: http://thisreviewerslife.tumblr.com/post/68393585127/stoner-john-williams (spoiler - it's brilliant, read it)


----------



## smorodina (Dec 1, 2013)

Paul Burke. So impressed with Untorn Tickets, and so disappointed with Reilley I couldn't bring myself to finish it.


----------



## rubbershoes (Dec 1, 2013)

rubbershoes said:


> The Quiet American by Graham Greene




Finished it now OMFG 

Like freakin awesome !11!1!!!1


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Dec 1, 2013)

Capital - John Lanchester.


----------



## ringo (Dec 2, 2013)

Diary Of Anne Frank. Bloody hell, this is strong stuff. Avoided it for years because my family were Amsterdam Jews and I have in my family tree a whole list of young girls from the same area who were murdered at Auschwitz etc. May have to stop reading it because things are shit enough at home without something else to cause upset.


----------



## seventh bullet (Dec 4, 2013)

The Origins of Chinese Communism - Arif Dirlik.

JimW


----------



## JimW (Dec 4, 2013)

seventh bullet said:


> The Origins of Chinese Communism - Arif Dirlik.
> JimW


I've got a tonne of stuff by him from a friend on the kindle to read but not started in on it yet. He's well respected and what I have read (his one on Chinese anarchism and a few articles) has been good - be interested to hear your take on this. One of the ones I have to go is on history of Chinese marxism IIRC,should have the one you're on too but not got the ebook handy to check.


----------



## seventh bullet (Dec 4, 2013)

It's really good so far on anarchist thought, which had a good decade or so of significant influence before the arrival of Marxism (and later on, Bolshevism for that matter) and the early ways in which it was interpreted.

The last book I read along these lines (and which Dirlik co-authored) was Schools into Fields and Factories: Anarchists, the Guomindang, and the National Labor University in Shanghai, 1927–1932.

One thing though, and which I acknowledge isn't the focus of the study, is that it's a pity we don't get to know the thoughts and hear the voices of newly proletarianised workers and poorer peasants themselves.  Mind you, I'm only half-way through.  Dirlik does point out that divide and the wrong assumptions made by the anarchists and later Marxists.

Dirlik seeks to challenge Meisner's Li Ta-chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism.  Have you read it?

I'd be interested in any PDFs you might have, by Meisner as well.


----------



## JimW (Dec 5, 2013)

seventh bullet said:


> ...
> 
> Dirlik seeks to challenge Meisner's Li Ta-chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism.  Have you read it?
> 
> I'd be interested in any PDFs you might have, by Meisner as well.


No,though got but again not yet read Meisner's Marx Maoism and Utopianism. Will upload what I have somewhere and PM you a link if I manage to work it out.


----------



## flypanam (Dec 6, 2013)

William T Vollmann - Europe Central

Just started this last night after I finished Bellow's Augie March on the tube. I've been saving this one for xmas, will just have to take it slowly.


----------



## N_igma (Dec 7, 2013)

Marching Powder by Rusty Young.

It's about an English coke trafficker and his time in a Bolivian jail where you can live a life like the outside as long as you can pay for it. Cracking read.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Dec 8, 2013)

The Soul of Man under Socialism - Oscar Wilde.

(First time reading anything by Wilde, only just started it but it is already provoking thought and some conflict, hope i can stick with it.)


----------



## 8115 (Dec 8, 2013)

Mini and Me. It's really good.  I have just read Silver Linings Playbook and a book called The Cadaver Games. They were both readable but basically pulp.


----------



## 8115 (Dec 8, 2013)

Also reading Balti Britain by Ziauddin Sardar. I am taking a break, it is good but hard going.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 9, 2013)

Got 'Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class' by Owen Jones out of the library, so have had to put 'Empire of the Sun' by JG Ballard on hold, in case there's anyone else wanting 'Chavs' after me (had to fucking well return The Spirit Level before finishing it cos of that ).

'Chavs' - only one chapter in so far, and 100% agree with everything he says.

'Empire of the Sun' - err, wow! Well THAT explains a hell of a lot in 'The Unlimited Dream Company' then! Finding this book massively interesting. So much historical stuff I didn't know, for a start.  All he went through as well. Incredible.

One thing which has irked me about the Owen Jones book - why the Z?


----------



## TruXta (Dec 9, 2013)

Finally got started on The Master and Margarita.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 9, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Finally got started on The Master and Margarita.


Ooo let me know how you get on with it. It's one of my favourite books of all time.


----------



## TruXta (Dec 9, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Ooo let me know how you get on with it. It's one of my favourite books of all time.


Only managed 3 pages last night, might just start from the beginning again.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Dec 9, 2013)

A Storm of Swords -  George R. R. Martin.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 9, 2013)

Just finished Chris Beckett's Dark Eden - wow, mind blown. Beautiful writing and what an amazing story that's totally unpredictable all the way through. Can't recommend it highly enough.


----------



## starfish (Dec 12, 2013)

Hit Man by Lawrence Block. Need a bit of pulpy crime thriller after the beautiful bizarreness of Brazil.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 12, 2013)

sojourner said:


> 'Chavs' - only one chapter in so far, and 100% agree with everything he says.



i might read that, so long as its witty too and not too sociologically heavy.

Just finished Ask the Dust, by John Fante. What a wonder! Actually soj, if you havent read him yet, i think you'd love it.

Also a book from a Doors roadie, Doug Cameron. Substandard, read it in two hours.  I realised that i have 9 books about The Doors - i know my stuff!! Wonderland Avenue by Danny Sugarman is probably the best written. If you are interested in Los Angeles and the heady days of Laurel Canyon, I highly recommend. Now its The Rocky Road by Eamonn Dunphy, great stuff, he's quite cynical (and truthful) about old Ireland (and no time for Dev, same as me!)


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 13, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> i might read that, so long as its witty too and not too sociologically heavy.
> 
> Just finished Ask the Dust, by John Fante. What a wonder! Actually soj, if you havent read him yet, i think you'd love it.
> 
> Also a book from a Doors roadie, Doug Cameron. Substandard, read it in two hours.  I realised that i have 9 books about The Doors - i know my stuff!! Wonderland Avenue by Danny Sugarman is probably the best written. If you are interested in Los Angeles and the heady days of Laurel Canyon, I highly recommend. Now its The Rocky Road by Eamonn Dunphy, great stuff, he's quite cynical (and truthful) about old Ireland (and no time for Dev, same as me!)




Chavs is quitelight going- one of the best phrases in it is when Owen describes poor-bashing by the middle classes as 'socially acceptable liberal bigotry'

It probably won't tell you anything you don't already know but it does make it plain and in text. Owen Jones comes in for a lot of stick for being a labourite 'face' but the book itself is worth your time, if only so you can go 'fucking spot on' at certain bits


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 15, 2013)

Horns by Joe Hill.
It's been on the list since May Kasahara raved about it in the summer.
Really enjoying it so far, cheers May


----------



## TruXta (Dec 16, 2013)

Just finished Blood Meridian. Gonna restart Master and Margarita now.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 16, 2013)

Cheesypoof said:


> Just finished Ask the Dust, by John Fante. What a wonder! Actually soj, if you havent read him yet, i think you'd love it.


Cheers for the recommendation - I'll see if they've got it in the library 



DotCommunist said:


> Chavs is quitelight going- one of the best phrases in it is when Owen describes poor-bashing by the middle classes as 'socially acceptable liberal bigotry'
> 
> It probably won't tell you anything you don't already know but it does make it plain and in text. Owen Jones comes in for a lot of stick for being a labourite 'face' but the book itself is worth your time, if only so you can go 'fucking spot on' at certain bits


^^ this, very much this. Actually, there are some ASTOUNDING statistics in there. I read one out to the fella the other night and he couldn't believe it.  The number of council dwellings built each year after WW2 and before Thatcher was 75,000.  In 1999, that number was 84.

Eighty fucking four! 

I am absolutely loving it btw, and I don't quite understand the disdain that is shown towards him. He's hugely articulate and intelligent and I can't see what he's doing 'wrong'. If I was angry before reading this btw, I am spitting fucking furious now.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 16, 2013)

sojourner said:


> I can't see what he's doing 'wrong'.



chief complaint is that he's Labour left and actively pro-labour. A lot of people think thats a waste of time and has been for ages now.


----------



## ringo (Dec 16, 2013)

The Shipping News - Annie Proulx - absolutely loving this


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 16, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Cheers for the recommendation - I'll see if they've got it in the library .



Ask the Dust is astounding. The copy I had included an introduction from Charles Bukowski who wrote:

_'Fante was my god and I knew that the gods should be left alone, one didn’t bang at their door. Let me say that the way of his words and the way of his way are the same: Strong and good and warm. 
That’s enough. Now this book is yours.'_


----------



## sojourner (Dec 16, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> chief complaint is that he's Labour left and actively pro-labour. A lot of people think thats a waste of time and has been for ages now.


Right. Well, I think it's a waste of time too. He does point out in the book that all of the Labour party now are middle-class, doesn't he, and this was something I was discussing with the fella recently. He believes in reformation of Labour, whereas I don't think that's possible now. I got the impression from that book that Jones sees it as a problem too. Mind, it was written 2 years ago.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 16, 2013)

ringo said:


> The Shipping News - Annie Proulx - absolutely loving this


One of my favourite writers of all time is Annie Proulx. And this one is excellent. They all are tbh.


----------



## ringo (Dec 16, 2013)

sojourner said:


> One of my favourite writers of all time is Annie Proulx. And this one is excellent. They all are tbh.



Its been sat on my bookshelf for ages, no idea how I came by it, but now I want to read everything she's done and see the fillum when I'm done with the book. Didn't realise she wrote Brokeback Mountain either.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 16, 2013)

ringo said:


> Its been sat on my bookshelf for ages, no idea how I came by it, but now I want to read everything she's done and see the fillum when I'm done with the book. Didn't realise she wrote Brokeback Mountain either.


There has only been one book that I wasn't as mad on as the rest, and that was the last one she released - another collection of short stories.

Ah you should deffo work your way through her writings - she's a total one-off. I think That Old Ace In The Hole is one of my fave books of all time. Oh, and Accordion Crimes.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 16, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Right. Well, I think it's a waste of time too. He does point out in the book that all of the Labour party now are middle-class, doesn't he, and this was something I was discussing with the fella recently. He believes in reformation of Labour, whereas I don't think that's possible now. I got the impression from that book that Jones sees it as a problem too. Mind, it was written 2 years ago.



for sure- Its where I'm at too. I think a lot of the annoyance/disdain is from not him wasting his own time in the labour left but convincing others to do the same, as if the last 20 years never happened and we can reclaim the party etc. While claiming he isn't part of that world.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 16, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> for sure- Its where I'm at too. I think a lot of the annoyance/disdain is from not him wasting his own time in the labour left but convincing others to do the same, as if the last 20 years never happened and we can reclaim the party etc. While claiming he isn't part of that world.


Aye, see what you're saying, and it seems him and the fella are on the same lines. Cheers dots


----------



## seventh bullet (Dec 16, 2013)

Totalitarianism: The Inner History of the Cold War - Abbott Gleason


----------



## sojourner (Dec 17, 2013)

Bollocks - library don't have that book, Cheesy


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Dec 18, 2013)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> A Storm of Swords -  George R. R. Martin.



A good read but way too long (two books really)
Whoever was responsible for not editing ought to be put to the sword. I've had my fill of Westeros for now.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 18, 2013)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> A good read but way too long (two books really)
> Whoever was responsible for not editing ought to be put to the sword. I've had my fill of Westeros for now.



you say that now, but the new series on TV is out soon.


I'm re-reading Glasshouse in anticipation of buying the follow up


----------



## Buckaroo (Dec 18, 2013)

Winterval reading is Antony Beevor's 'Stalingrad'. Got it for fifty cents in a pop up tat shop. Another bullet by bullet account no doubt.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Dec 18, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> you say that now, but the new series on TV is out soon.
> 
> 
> I'm re-reading Glasshouse in anticipation of buying the follow up




Oh i'll definitely want some of that. Season 3 approximated to halfway through A Storm of Swords, season 4 will finish it off. So i'm ahead at the moment and will probably finish the others  before season 4 airs probably in April 2014.


----------



## RedDragon (Dec 18, 2013)

restarted The Golden Notebook


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Dec 18, 2013)

Lionel Asbo - Martin Amis.


----------



## ringo (Dec 19, 2013)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> A good read but way too long (two books really)
> Whoever was responsible for not editing ought to be put to the sword. I've had my fill of Westeros for now.



Dottie's right on this, I said the same after ASOS and then again after ADWD, and I want the next one published already 

Anyone know when that might be?


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 19, 2013)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> Lionel Asbo - Martin Amis.


That book disgusted me so much that I chucked it across the room a chapter in and never returned to it.
Amis is a massive prick who needs to be made to live on the breadline for a decade before he is allowed to write any more books.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Dec 19, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> That book disgusted me so much that I chucked it across the room a chapter in and never returned to it.
> Amis is a massive prick who needs to be made to live on the breadline for a decade before he is allowed to write any more books.



I'm really angry with it as well. Style and content. The structure is wrong as if he wrote it steeped in drink, almost a piss take offering to his publishing house. 
His hatred of the working class is clear, his anger equally so. He is sticking two fingers up at all of us.

I'm 20% through a ripped Kindle copy so at least he never got my money. I'm going to stick with it, i wanted something London and contemporary and that's what swayed me.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 19, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> restarted The Golden Notebook


I just checked my library's stock - 2 fucking Doris Lessing books. TWO. Shoddy fucking pile of shitting bollocks the library service is shite


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Dec 21, 2013)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> Lionel Asbo - Martin Amis.



Finished it. It was shit, almost unreadable. Give it a miss.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 22, 2013)

Bought these recently and have been reading them:

James Jesus Angleton, the CIA, and the Craft of Counterintelligence - Michael Holzman
24/7: Terminal Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep - Jonathan Crary
Chaos: Making a New Science - James Gleick
Comments on the Society of the Spectacle - Guy Debord
Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain - Michael Horovitz
Seven Types of Ambiguity - William Empson

The book about James Angleton is the standout one. It is one of the best books I have read for a long time. 

Books I am going to buy soon:

Poems by JH Prynne
The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
The Pike: Gabriele D'Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes-Hallett


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Dec 22, 2013)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Picked up *'Stoner' by John Williams* in the airport lounge last week since I finished the Mantel book I'd been reading. It's full of "the best book you've never read" style quotes by famous authors - and it's actually pretty good, found myself really feeling for the character as he drifts through life.



Just started this, could be a gem.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Dec 22, 2013)

Mini and Me. What a guy. Recommended.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mini-Me-Michael-Cooper/dp/1908628065


----------



## sojourner (Dec 23, 2013)

Finished 'Empire of the Sun' by JG Ballard yesterday. An absolutely fucking _*amazing*_ book. I've never read anything quite like it. I've learned an enormous amount, and given what he writes about, it's executed beautifully. So poetic. And now I know exactly where 'The Unlimited Dream Company' came from. I'm so glad I read 'Empire' so soon after it - I could actually spot the exact sources for the later story. Wow  

So - have started 'Stalin Ate My Homework' now, by Alexei Sayle. So far, so funny. Cracked up about the shelf on the bed's headboard


----------



## rubbershoes (Dec 23, 2013)

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

It's good but it's not Saturday


----------



## ringo (Dec 24, 2013)

Stoner - John Williams

Keep seeing this mentioned as a rediscovered classic; pretty good so far but not sure it'll live up to the hype.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 26, 2013)

I am pretty interested to see what you all think of Stoner.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 26, 2013)

sojourner said:


> Finished 'Empire of the Sun' by JG Ballard yesterday. An absolutely fucking _*amazing*_ book. I've never read anything quite like it. I've learned an enormous amount, and given what he writes about, it's executed beautifully. So poetic. And now I know exactly where 'The Unlimited Dream Company' came from. I'm so glad I read 'Empire' so soon after it - I could actually spot the exact sources for the later story. Wow
> 
> So - have started 'Stalin Ate My Homework' now, by Alexei Sayle. So far, so funny. Cracked up about the shelf on the bed's headboard



Ballard


----------



## yield (Dec 27, 2013)

Just reread Vurt and Pollen by Jeff Noon. The first time was in the late nineties and they are as good as I remember.

I amazed at how much I'd forgotten. Manchesters own Lewis Carroll beautiful, wonderful and absurd.

Moved on now to Wool by Hugh Howey that my friends husband bought me for Xmas. Interesting dystopia. See how it turns out.


----------



## xenon (Dec 27, 2013)

The Trial, Frans Kafka.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Dec 27, 2013)

Perdido Street Station - China Miéville


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 27, 2013)

I hope you enjoy it - I loved it!


----------



## jeff_leigh (Dec 27, 2013)

Orang Utan  Thanks


----------



## little_legs (Dec 29, 2013)

I am half way through _My Struggle_ vol. 1 by Karl Ove Knausgaard. When I started it, I thought it was a memoir about the struggles, relationships and infatuations of a young man. But, my goodness, it’s about so much more. Now that I am about to finish vol. 1, I can’t help thinking that maybe it’s about how we interpret memories, how we store them, how smells and sounds trigger memories and emotions.  Or maybe it’s about how we construct memories, or how we think about things we think we remember, or how we choose to recount memories.

The funny thing is that Knausgaard does not tell you anything particularly shocking about his life, he also has a peculiar style (maybe it’s the Scandinavian style I am unfamiliar with), he digresses a bit, and he clearly could not have remembered _everything_ he wrote about. But that’s ok because it’s a fascinating account of human existence and bewilderment with life in general. I've never read anything like it, it’s incredible.

Also, well done to Don Bartlett who translated the book.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 29, 2013)

My mum seems to have become obsessed with Tove Jansson and all of her writings. Unlike most writers, she seems to have actually led a good wholesome life and all who knew her loved her. Which leads me to ask two questions. 
Where do I start with her? The Moomins or her grown up stuff? Never read a word of hers.
Also, who else is that well-loved as a writer? Many great (male) writers are almost celebrated for being bastards.


----------



## Strumpet (Dec 29, 2013)

Got several autobiogs for Chrimble so will be reading them soon. Nile Rogers, Jennifer Saunders and Simon Pegg.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 2, 2014)

Re-started Master and Margarita, made it a couple of chapters in. It's really good so far. As sojourner will be pleased to learn.


----------



## Wilf (Jan 2, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> That book disgusted me so much that I chucked it across the room a chapter in and never returned to it.
> Amis is a massive prick who needs to be made to live on the breadline for a decade before he is allowed to write any more books.


I read London Fields years ago and got the same, anti-working class, nasty racial stuff - along with a general misanthropy. It's amusing to think he had a chattering class reputation at one time for being some sort of lefty/liberal.


----------



## fractionMan (Jan 2, 2014)

Twilight watch.  Fun but not nearly as good as the other two.


----------



## fractionMan (Jan 2, 2014)

I'm also reading 253, here: http://www.ryman-novel.com/


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 3, 2014)

Just finished The Doll Princess by Tom Benn 

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...ws/the-doll-princess-by-tom-benn-6293957.html

Which was entertaining enough but IMO, no nowadays writer does justice to Manchester except Mike Duff

http://www.undertheboardwalk.net/pdfs/shade and honey.pdf

Still got Mini and Me on the go as well. That'll last a long time coz the writing's really small and it's a thick book. I hope it works out for him though.

Then got No Place To Call Home by Katherine Quarmby next to come

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/26/no-place-home-quarmby-review

So things are pretty good on the books front.


----------



## colbhoy (Jan 3, 2014)

Just started Laidlaw by William McIlvanney.

Also dipping into Ring Around the Bases, Complete Short Story Collection by Ring Lardner.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 3, 2014)

Edge of Infinity

another sci fi anthology, this years best and brightest shorts and novellas. Quite good so far, although the Elizabeth Bear story is a phoned in bum note


----------



## Greebo (Jan 3, 2014)

Podarunek Cezara - a translation of Caesar's Gift (one of the Asterix books).  Sometimes I take my own advice.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 3, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> My mum seems to have become obsessed with Tove Jansson and all of her writings. Unlike most writers, she seems to have actually led a good wholesome life and all who knew her loved her. Which leads me to ask two questions.
> Where do I start with her? The Moomins or her grown up stuff? Never read a word of hers.
> Also, who else is that well-loved as a writer? Many great (male) writers are almost celebrated for being bastards.



My sis got my mam this Tove Jansson memoir for crimbo
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/12/tove-jansson-memoir-rare-family-photo-moomins



colbhoy said:


> Just started Laidlaw by William McIlvanney.
> 
> Also dipping into Ring Around the Bases, Complete Short Story Collection by *Ring* Lardner.



Tee hee.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 3, 2014)

colbhoy said:


> Just started *Laidlaw by William McIlvanney.*
> 
> Also dipping into Ring Around the Bases, Complete Short Story Collection by Ring Lardner.


Me too! Well started it a couple of days ago and now half way through. Really, really enjoying it


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 3, 2014)

Just finished Gillian Smith's Gone Girl, a thriller 'that everyone's talking about' - not anyone I know!
Patricia Highsmith does it better.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Jan 3, 2014)

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Shabon. Only one chapter in so far, but it's well-written.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 3, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Just finished Gillian Smith's Gone Girl, a thriller 'that everyone's talking about' - not anyone I know!
> Patricia Highsmith does it better.



Everyone goes on about the Ripley novels but IMO the best thing Highsmith did was Edith's Diary. Love that book, me.


----------



## belboid (Jan 3, 2014)

Buddy Bradley said:


> The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Shabon. Only one chapter in so far, but it's well-written.


one of the best books ever written.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Jan 3, 2014)

belboid said:


> one of the best books ever written.


Must be why I got two copies for Christmas.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 3, 2014)

Frances Lengel said:


> Everyone goes on about the Ripley novels but IMO the best thing Highsmith did was Edith's Diary. Love that book, me.


Have you read Tales Of Misogyny? Nasty shit but brilliant


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 3, 2014)

I'd never heard of it but having just googled it, I've ordered it now. Cheers


----------



## starfish (Jan 3, 2014)

Traditionally, my sister buys Booker shorlisted books for Christmas so i am currently reading Harvest by Jim Crace.

I also just read Asterix & the Pechts, in Scots.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 4, 2014)

Stoner - John Williams. 

I had to abandon this at the 20% mark. I just found it so dull, perhaps that's the point.
It's only the second book i have abandoned since i started reading again, the other book being Morrissey  - Autobiography.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 4, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> Stoner - John Williams.
> 
> I had to abandon this at the 20% mark. I just found it so dull, perhaps that's the point.
> It's only the second book i have abandoned since i started reading again, *the other book being Morrissey  - Autobiography.*



I managed to get to the end, but I see where you're coming from. The first half was good, all about Manchester back in those days (though I reckon he deserved every slap he got off 13 year old Collyhurst perries - If you can't walk with ease on the streets where you were raised then it's your own fault for being a pussy), but the second half was a bit boring. Far too much music-biz bullshit - It reminded me of the most boring book ever - Kevin Sampson's Powder. Everyone who Moz slagged off though, I agreed with him.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 4, 2014)

Ha! I've just tossed Morrissey aside too. He's just met Johnny Marr and I just can't be arsed with it anymore.
He does write the odd nice phrase but enough! It didn't help that I just read a review that it gets even more self-regarding in the second half.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 4, 2014)

A Feast For Crows - George R R Martin.

A much earlier return to Westeros than i had anticipated.
Given my recent poor choices i know i will be at home with this.


----------



## little_legs (Jan 4, 2014)

_Spilt Milk_ by Chico Buarque

A story narrated by a dying 100 year old aristocrat who, having lost his riches, finds himself in a public hospital in Rio. The dying man is a plot device whose life is an allegory of Brazil’s history or rather its transformation over the last 100 years.


----------



## N_igma (Jan 5, 2014)

Just finished The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth. Essentially does what it says on the tin and explores the meanings and origins behind words and phrases in a way that each chapter is a continuation from the previous that links everything together.

Thoroughly enjoyable although I do question some of his findings but definitely recommend it for a light read.


----------



## maya (Jan 5, 2014)

You do know that Knausgaard _deliberately_ called the book [in the original norwegian] "_Min Kamp_"- which is the well-known norwegian title of Hitler's "Mein Kampf"- just as a cynical, calculated strategy to get more attention about the novel? Which comes across as an extremely cuntish thing to do, IMO. But it obviously worked, because when the reviewers got over the shock that "oh, how dare he call his book the same as Hitler's book? How distasteful!" they sadly saw that he had actual writing skills, this fact tended to be conveniently forgotten and swept under the carpet, then as by unspoken rule never discussed again in public after the book became a runaway bestseller.

This is a bit problematic, since the fact kept on being noticed by others (famously, german translators refused to translate the title correctly into german- as they must've then called his book "Mein Kampf" again, something absolutely unthinkable because of the german post-war heritage. Yet also here they quickly avoided debating the author's choice and just quietly chose another title for the translation without being to vocal about it. A lost opportunity to confront him about it.) I'd like to hear what the families and/or survivors of the Holocaust/nazi persecutions would have to say about his "arty" use of Hitlers title just as a media stunt? I'm sure they're happy to hear that not a penny from his bestseller raking in the cash is donated to one of their funds. What a cunt... 

(Coincidentally, the german county of Bavaria- which own the copyright for Hitler's original book- have just retracted their original bid to republish the book this year, as they deem the contents "too hate-filled and dangerous", and the mayor decided by veto to scrap the plans... A mistake I think, the best way is to make stuff like that available for everyone as historical evidence so people can read and find out for themselves how rubbish it is, not to keep it exclusive and hidden and risk cultish mystery around it)


little_legs said:


> I am half way through _My Struggle_ vol. 1 by Karl Ove Knausgaard. When I started it, I thought it was a memoir about the struggles, relationships and infatuations of a young man. But, my goodness, it’s about so much more. Now that I am about to finish vol. 1, I can’t help thinking that maybe it’s about how we interpret memories, how we store them, how smells and sounds trigger memories and emotions.  Or maybe it’s about how we construct memories, or how we think about things we think we remember, or how we choose to recount memories.
> 
> The funny thing is that Knausgaard does not tell you anything particularly shocking about his life, he also has a peculiar style (maybe it’s the Scandinavian style I am unfamiliar with), he digresses a bit, and he clearly could not have remembered _everything_ he wrote about. But that’s ok because it’s a fascinating account of human existence and bewilderment with life in general. I've never read anything like it, it’s incredible.
> 
> Also, well done to Don Bartlett who translated the book.


----------



## little_legs (Jan 6, 2014)

maya

The title of the book is explicit, for sure. I am sure he pissed off a lot of people and he deserves being derided for having chosen it. Personally, when I started reading Knausgaard's _My Struggle_, I didn't give the title much of a thought. Mainly because I've never read the other _My Struggle_, so I don't know if there are any parallels between Hitler's and Knausgaard's writing. But also probably because I am ignorant to care about the effect the other _My Struggle_ has/had on people, so I'll be honest that I did not take issue with the title and Knausgaard's decision to use it.

For what it's worth, IMO the title he chose won't be swept under the carpet and he'll have to live with most people knowing that he chose it after Hitler's book. Having read book 1, I think he willfully chose it out of shame and desperation to be someone worthy of attention, two human qualities that form the basis of book 1. He struggles with the fact that he was virtually a nuisance to his father (ditto his mother). Later on he struggles with finding his voice as a writer. He talks openly about his inability to express himself without offending people. He admits that he can only be _courageous_ when he writes and utterly useless when he interacts with people. So I think he is aware of his shameless desperation to be noticed/cared for, which I guess is only human. I mean we all want attention, some of us are just better at hiding it than others.

I've downloaded book 2 and I can't wait to read it. I know there are 6 books in total, and in book 6 he writes about Hitler. I am not sure if my opinion of Knausgaard will shift in time, and I really hope he is not an apologist for the bastards of this world and he isn't a monster who can write well.


----------



## Throbbing Angel (Jan 6, 2014)

Matt Haig
The Humans
just started - quite like


----------



## white rabbit (Jan 6, 2014)

I got some books for Christmas and I'm reading Harvest by Jim Crace. I like what I've read so far. It is a bit odd having a book again. It's not so long since I started downloading e-books but it's surprising how quickly you get used to then. Now I have to deal with pages and use a physical bookmark (an old envelope, usually) to keep my place, go find a dictionary if I'm unsure of a word.


----------



## ringo (Jan 6, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> Stoner - John Williams.
> 
> I had to abandon this at the 20% mark. I just found it so dull, perhaps that's the point.
> It's only the second book i have abandoned since i started reading again, the other book being Morrissey  - Autobiography.



I'm about 1/3 through Stoner. It is quite dull. I can only presume the point was to try to write an interesting history of an ordinary/dull man's life by the power of good writing. It sort of works, in that I sort of want to know what happens to him, but tbh really I could put it down now and never think of it again. Its more of interest to other writers I reckon, an exercise in how to make the banal readable is a serious challenge and could only be done by a skilled writer, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good read beyond that challenge. I'm going to continue, but I really doubt I'll be recommending it to anyone.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 7, 2014)

Finished 'Stalin Ate My Homework' by Alexei Sayle over crimbo - really enjoyed it.

Now on 'Why be happy when you could be normal' by Jeanette Winterson. Has made me well up several times so far.  

I'm waiting for Pullman's Grimm tales to come into the library, but also the fella bought me Ray Bradbury's 'Golden Apples of the Sun' for my birthday and I can't WAIT to read that!


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 7, 2014)

xenon said:


> The Trial, Frans Kafka.



His neice/cousin or something married by uncle  .  So I'm  almost related to him.

Great book BTW


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 7, 2014)

Roots by Alex Haley

I was  about ten when it was on TV and I didn't see it.

It's not a bundle of laughs


----------



## TruXta (Jan 7, 2014)

Still on The Master and Margarita, getting to about half-way. It's only getting better


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Jan 7, 2014)

Finished Tom Jones, which I liked, there are some funny moments and I like the phrasing even though it's really bloody long...
Moving on to Good Morning Midnight which is a re-read for me and one of my favourite books


----------



## ringo (Jan 7, 2014)

rubbershoes said:


> Roots by Alex Haley
> 
> I was  about ten when it was on TV and I didn't see it.
> 
> It's not a bundle of laughs



I bought the DVD last year and we watched it - quite well done, you're welcome to it if you want it, I was going to stick it on the recycle forum but never got round to it.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 7, 2014)

rubbershoes said:


> Roots by Alex Haley
> 
> I was  about ten when it was on TV and I didn't see it.
> 
> It's not a bundle of laughs


Good book though


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jan 7, 2014)

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie.

It's fantasy. If you like _that _TV show on HBO where everyone dies horribly ever week at the end of a rich noble's sword you'll love this. Someone better film this guy's stuff it's fucking awesome sauce.


----------



## friendofdorothy (Jan 7, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> My mum seems to have become obsessed with Tove Jansson and all of her writings. Unlike most writers, she seems to have actually led a good wholesome life and all who knew her loved her. Which leads me to ask two questions.
> Where do I start with her? The Moomins or her grown up stuff? Never read a word of hers.



Loved the moomins as a child, and got the whole set of them (there are only 7) as a gift a couple of years ago - I find they are lovely to read as an adult. I often reread them now if I can't sleep, they are so amusing, gentle and emotional.

Was very pleased to find out that she was lesbian. I didn't even know she wrote grown up stuff - so I'll be looking out for it now.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 7, 2014)

friendofdorothy said:


> Loved the moomins as a child, and got the whole set of them (there are only 7) as a gift a couple of years ago - I find they are lovely to read as an adult. I often reread them now if I can't sleep, they are so amusing, gentle and emotional.
> 
> Was very pleased to find out that she was lesbian. I didn't even know she wrote grown up stuff - so I'll be looking out for it now.


Read The Summer Book - my mum was rhapsodic about it


----------



## TruXta (Jan 7, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie.
> 
> It's fantasy. If you like _that _TV show on HBO where everyone dies horribly ever week at the end of a rich noble's sword you'll love this. Someone better film this guy's stuff it's fucking awesome sauce.


It's decent. Still hews a bit too close to the old boring fantasy tropes IMO.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 7, 2014)

Lady Chatterley's Lover.
I though I'd see what all the fuss was about.
The fuss appears to be about nothing 

I'm finding it quite boring so I'll probably ditch it.


----------



## belboid (Jan 7, 2014)

Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music by S Alexander Reed

Looks a bit academic, but not excessively so. I'll probably read a chapter or two inbetween other, lighter, tomes. Started well tho.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jan 7, 2014)

TruXta said:


> It's decent. Still hews a bit too close to the old boring fantasy tropes IMO.


Nothing wrong with that.

Plus i love that he hates his characters, or treats them with an obvious contempt


----------



## inva (Jan 8, 2014)

Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life by Karen E. Fields & Barbara J. Fields

A very clearly written and well argued take on race and racism and how they are produced, particularly the way in which the former arises from the latter and can't exist without it (and it was interesting what they had to say about its origins and especially how it related to the class conflict of the time). I've read a bit over half of this so far and I'm really impressed.


----------



## N_igma (Jan 8, 2014)

American Heroes and Leaders by Wilbur F Gordy 

Only read it because it was free on Amazon for the Kindle turns out its a text book for 10-12 year olds.  Read it anyway and by fuck is this what they actually taught or still teach American kids? About 4 mentions of slavery in the whole thing and 2 of those were about how happy the 'negroe' children were in the plantation and about how happy some slaves were to see their 'massa' return after the revolutionary war. Native Americans are either called Reds or Indians and are either hostile to civilisation or happy to help the white man conquer the land.

So in effect every great American was a white man who wanted to carve a nation out of a backward landscape is the main thrust of the book. Not recommended reading.


----------



## ringo (Jan 8, 2014)

ringo said:


> I'm about 1/3 through Stoner. It is quite dull. I can only presume the point was to try to write an interesting history of an ordinary/dull man's life by the power of good writing. It sort of works, in that I sort of want to know what happens to him, but tbh really I could put it down now and never think of it again. Its more of interest to other writers I reckon, an exercise in how to make the banal readable is a serious challenge and could only be done by a skilled writer, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good read beyond that challenge. I'm going to continue, but I really doubt I'll be recommending it to anyone.



It got better in the second half. It is a great piece of writing, but I have mixed feelings about it. More of an accomplishment than an enjoyable or enlightening read.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 8, 2014)

ringo said:


> I bought the DVD last year and we watched it - quite well done, you're welcome to it if you want it, I was going to stick it on the recycle forum but never got round to it.


 

that would be much appreciated. i'll pm address


----------



## sojourner (Jan 8, 2014)

Pullman book STILL not in the fucking library even though I ordered it in November and people only get 3 weeks for the loan - and if there's someone waiting for it they're not allowed to renew it. I was 1st on the list so where the flying FUCK is my fucking book??? 

Anyway - it's given me a chance to start reading the Bradbury book, which is, of course, absolutely stormingly well written


----------



## Greebo (Jan 8, 2014)

Confessio Amantis, or Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins - John Gower


----------



## DexterTCN (Jan 8, 2014)

Neuromancer.  Again.

I love this book, cyberpunk noir.  Written in a half-different language, machinations (heh) and coolness abound.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 8, 2014)

DexterTCN said:


> Neuromancer.  Again.
> 
> I love this book, cyberpunk noir.  Written in a half-different language, machinations (heh) and coolness abound.



I did look at buying that recently for my Kindle. I'll nudge it up the wish list now.


----------



## The Scientist (Jan 9, 2014)

I'm guessing not many of you read YA fiction?


----------



## Greebo (Jan 9, 2014)

The Scientist said:


> I'm guessing not many of you read YA fiction?


You guess wrongly, genres are arbitrary.  What are you reading for leisure?


----------



## The Scientist (Jan 9, 2014)

Greebo said:


> You guess wrongly, genres are arbitrary.  What are you reading for leisure?


Well okay then; that's cool. I'm currently reading Unsouled by Neal Shusterman. I read a lot of dystopia. And John Green.
And I've also recently been dipping into the world of satirical fiction. Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen is a brilliant read.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 9, 2014)

Hello Scientist and welcome! I am particularly interested in YA fiction at the moment as I work in a school but also cos I have begun to love reading it in its own right, so please share away! 
This thread is for any reading of any kind anyway!


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 9, 2014)

The Scientist said:


> Well okay then; that's cool. I'm currently reading Unsouled by Neal Shusterman. I read a lot of dystopia. And John Green.
> And I've also recently been dipping into the world of satirical fiction. Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen is a brilliant read.




Haasens great- really eco-conscience driven writer in love with the deep south. Gives me hope for the region yet, cos despite all the arseholes and stuff they produced a writer like him.


----------



## The Scientist (Jan 9, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Hello Scientist and welcome! I am particularly interested in YA fiction at the moment as I work in a school but also cos I have begun to love reading it in its own right, so please share away!
> This thread is for any reading of any kind anyway!


 Hi, thanks for the welcome! In terms of my favourite reads, I would say books like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, CHERUB, Unwind, The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments (maybe), Gone, and Divergent, along with anything by John Green, are definitely up there for me. I also read a few non YA writers like James Patterson and Stephen King. Could anyone perhaps recommend any authors sinilar to those two? 


DotCommunist said:


> Haasens great- really eco-conscience driven writer in love with the deep south. Gives me hope for the region yet, cos despite all the arseholes and stuff they produced a writer like him.


 Tbh I don't really know much about American geography, but surely people from the south there can't be all bad, can they?


----------



## moonsi til (Jan 9, 2014)

I bought a good mixed bunch of books from Oxfam just before xmas and started with 'The Kitchen God's Wife' by Amy Tan which I'm enjoying but it got sidestepped by 'I am Malala' which I had on xmas day and finished today which made me cry with love, joy, sadness & anger.


----------



## N_igma (Jan 10, 2014)

The Scientist said:


> Tbh I don't really know much about American geography, but surely people from the south there can't be all bad, can they?



No and the whole hill billy inbred hick stereotype was largely created by Northern elites post-civil war as a means to subjugate the southern working class.

Jim Goad's The Redneck Manifesto explains this in great detail. Sorry it's not an example of YA fiction but relates to that point.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jan 10, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Haasens great- really eco-conscience driven writer in love with the deep south. Gives me hope for the region yet, cos despite all the arseholes and stuff they produced a writer like him.



Do you mean Carl Hiaasen?


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jan 10, 2014)

N_igma said:


> No and the whole hill billy inbred hick stereotype was largely created by Northern elites post-civil war as a means to subjugate the southern working class..



Travelling in the South, I've seen those people. They didn't look made-up.


----------



## little_legs (Jan 10, 2014)

_Ghana Must Go_ by Taiye Selasi

A father of a family has died and his family must return to Ghana for the funeral. As they arrive in Accra, the story of how the family fell part in the first place is unraveled.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 10, 2014)

The Scientist said:


> I'm guessing not many of you read YA fiction?


 
I'm going to be studying a course in children's literature later this year so I've got quite a bit of YA fiction on my list.  I'm looking forward to reading some Philip Pullman stuff, Junk by Melvin Burgess is on the list too and looks good.


----------



## maya (Jan 11, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> My mum seems to have become obsessed with Tove Jansson and all of her writings. Unlike most writers, she seems to have actually led a good wholesome life and all who knew her loved her. Which leads me to ask two questions.
> Where do I start with her? The Moomins or her grown up stuff? Never read a word of hers.
> Also, who else is that well-loved as a writer? Many great (male) writers are almost celebrated for being bastards.


A lot of people would disagree, but tbh I don't really rate her 'grown up' stuff as much, altough decent enough it's with the Moomins her true genious  lay- All the Moomin books are flawless, with really strong worldbuilding and unforgettable, quirky characters... The characters seem alive, and the writing is really beautiful. It's one of the very few examples of believeable and utterly self-contained fictional universes I've ever come across. It's like this world and characters _exist_... and always have been out there, like a parallel universe. It's unique in the world of literature, a very rare quality.

If you're just starting out, I'd recommend these as my favourites (not in any specific order):

*Moominpapa's Exploits* (a lovely pastiche on the picaresque adventure story, as the less than modest and often unreliable narrator of Moominpapa tells his- rather embellished- heroic "autobiography", often with the other characters chipping in and correcting him in real time as he tells the story)

*Moominland in Midwinter*- the story of the Moomintroll accidentally waking up in the middle of winter when the rest of the moomins are in hibernation- and he gets to see what winter and snow is like, and how all the other creatures in the valley live their lives when the moomins sleep... Plus he happens to meet his own Forefather, still living inside the family's stove... Some lovely, haunting moments.

*Late In November*- this book is perhaps more for adults than children: It details a handful of very different characters, all loosely connected to the Moomins. Each character's fears and hopes are shown as we are told their story in separate vignettes/chapters in the beginning. Then they all leave their homes to congregate by the Moomin's house, hoping that the comforting figure of Moominpapa and the moominmama and the happy Family will solve all their problems and make them feel safe and happy again. But the family is away, and they all end up staying at the house in a state of limbo, waiting for them to return... Very emotional writing in this book, it's one of my favourites.

*Comet in Moominland*- must be listed, as it's the first to seriously introduce the very distinct personalities and quirks of the main characters, and also of course because of the impending doom of a comet swooshing forth to crush their entire world! And how the characters react to it.

*Moominsummer Madness*- a very affectionate depiction of the many things than can go awfully wrong for a dedicated theatre ensemble (such as when your stage is washed away by floods with you still on it!), and many insights into the psyche of actors and other strange characters you meet on your way (and how to solve almost any situation) And, of course a nod to Shakespeare.

*The Magician's Hat*- not really among my favourites, but must be mentioned for the great depiction of the Magician, that lonely, cold and brooding figure out in darkest space without eyes for anything in this world than his belowed bright red ruby jewel... And Thingummy and Bob, the two strange and shy little creatures carrying the most precious thing in the world with them: the jewel. (*What many people don't know is that those character's original names, Tofslan and Vifslan, were based on Tove herself and her then girlfriend Viveca: "the ruby", that precious object they had to protect from the world, could perhaps also be interpreted as their love- a reminder of how hard it must've been for two women in the 1930s/40s to be in a relationship without getting totally crushed by the outside world...*



*This is not an issue in the book, but if you know of Jansson's personal life you discover little details like that as you're reading the books- Lots of the strange characters are based on people she knew, yet she managed to distil the essence of their personalities so that you feel like these creatures are very real beings- and you sometimes recognise people you know who match the different characters portrayed. And still they manage not to be charicatures, they're beyond that and take on a life of their own)

*Moominpapa and the Sea*- some nods to Hemingway's old man and the sea, as moominpapa have to find ways to protect his family after his artistic writer ego craving 'peace and quiet' have driven the whole family to temporarily relocate to a rather barren, weather-battered old island with just a lighthouse and lots of sea all around them... With unexpected insights.

(*the titles may not be 100% correct in english as I read these boks in a different language when I grew up, and couldn't be arsed to double-check before this post... but I think they're roughly the same)


----------



## tendril (Jan 12, 2014)

I'm currently reading 'Dodger' by Terry Pratchett. He sure does tell a story well.


----------



## izz (Jan 12, 2014)

I read Stone recently and found it really quite poignant, full of self-sacrifice. Had something in my eye at the end....

Just re-read Toby's Room and Regeneration by Pat Barker. She can write, I'll give her that


----------



## The Scientist (Jan 12, 2014)

CGP GCSE Physics: The Revision Guide

I give it 0/5 stars.


----------



## CosmikRoger (Jan 12, 2014)

I've recently finished the Bartimaeus triology by Jonathan Stroud which is in the YA genre but is equally readable for old farts like myself. About a young magician/politician who calls up a daemon and gets into all sorts of amusing scrapes. Good fun


----------



## maya (Jan 12, 2014)

Ooh, ooh- just saw that this biography on [the Moomins creator/artist/author] Tove Jansson is now available in english! 

I've already read the book, and can vouch for its excellence- it's an extremely interesting in-depth portrayal (576 pages!) of a very unusual woman and artist, very readable also for people who aren't that interested in her work, as it's both a cultural history and interesting as a well-written and intriguing biography...

I'd recommend this as _the_ authoritative work on her life, other biographies have been written but none as nuanced and interesting as this. Check it out, or ask your local library to order it if you can't afford to buy it... This woman was one of a kind- and the books are timeless...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tove-Jansson-Life-Art-Words/dp/1908745452/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389555803&sr=1-1&keywords=boel westin


----------



## MellySingsDoom (Jan 13, 2014)

Am reading Ian Banks' "Whit" - about a girl from a fringe Scottish religious community who goes in search of one of her female fellow believers, who has gone AWOL in London.  So far she's discovered that her female companion is a porn actress, and has just had an encounter with some fascists.  It's been pretty good going so far.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 14, 2014)

Rebels for the Cause: The Alternative History of Arsenal Football Club - John Spurling.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 14, 2014)

Well, the Pullman finally turned up - Grimm Tales.

It's not what I was expecting tbh. I did imagine that he would put a spin on them, a la Angela Carter, but he doesn't quite do that. He IS however 'filling in', for want of a better phrase, all the bits that were either clumsy (in his opinion) or not fleshed out, or simply 'missing' from the Grimm tales. He slags off the Grimms actually 

It's...okay. Amusing in parts. Easy to read when you're mad stoned. Might be nice if you pretended to be a kid and had someone read them to you after being tucked in or sommat.

What did you think of it in the end, Orang Utan ?


----------



## maya (Jan 14, 2014)

"The Influencing Machine" (formerly published as The Air Loom Gang) by Mike Jay. A very interesting read- I've always been interested in the weirder corners of history, esp. history of ideas. And this strange case of the first psychiatric patient to incorporate the concept of technology into his paranoid delusions (this man thought a giant, intricate 'Air Loom' was controlling people wirelessly) is fascinating stuff.


> Confined in Bedlam in 1797 as an incurable lunatic, James Tilly Matthews’ case is one of the most bizarre in the annals of psychiatry. He was the first person to insist that his mind was being controlled by a machine: the Air Loom, a terrifying secret weapon whose mesmeric rays and mysterious gases were brainwashing politicians and plunging Europe into revolution, terror and war.
> 
> But Matthews’ case was even stranger than his doctors realised: many of the incredible conspiracies in which he claimed to be involved were entirely real. Caught up in high-level diplomatic intrigues in the chaos of the French revolution, he found himself betrayed by both sides, and in possession of a secret that no-one would believe…



Coming up: The new KLF book by John Higgs ("KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned a million pounds") just arrived in the post today, have been added to the top of my reading pile... Looking forward to it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 14, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Well, the Pullman finally turned up - Grimm Tales.
> 
> It's not what I was expecting tbh. I did imagine that he would put a spin on them, a la Angela Carter, but he doesn't quite do that. He IS however 'filling in', for want of a better phrase, all the bits that were either clumsy (in his opinion) or not fleshed out, or simply 'missing' from the Grimm tales. He slags off the Grimms actually
> 
> ...


I keep reading other things! Haven't got beyond the first story. 
I am reading these instead:
Anne Cassidy - Looking For JJ
Meg Rosoff - How I Live Now
Hugh Howey - Wool
Charlie Higson - The Enemy
The Scientist - you should read that Higson book if you haven't already


----------



## TruXta (Jan 14, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I keep reading other things! Haven't got beyond the first story.
> I am reading these instead:
> Anne Cassidy - Looking For JJ
> Meg Rosoff - How I Live Now
> ...


That Howey one was a nice surprise. The second one is good too, have the third at home waiting for me to finish The Master and Margarita.


----------



## The Scientist (Jan 14, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Charlie Higson - The Enemy
> The Scientist - you should read that Higson book if you haven't already


 I've been wanting to actually for a while now; it sounds good. I've read a couple of books in his Young Bond series and they were pretty good.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 14, 2014)

It's pretty gruesome!


----------



## friendofdorothy (Jan 14, 2014)

maya said:


> Ooh, ooh- just saw that this biography on [the Moomins creator/artist/author] Tove Jansson is now available in english!
> 
> I've already read the book, and can vouch for its excellence- it's an extremely interesting in-depth portrayal (576 pages!) of a very unusual woman and artist, very readable also for people who aren't that interested in her work, as it's both a cultural history and interesting as a well-written and intriguing biography...
> 
> ...



Thanks will be on the look out for that. "The Influencing Machine" sounds interesting too. ta


----------



## Kidda (Jan 14, 2014)

Oh I love this thread, you lot are reading some reet sounding interesting ones. 

I'm reading '' The universe vs Alex woods by Gavin Extence' to start off my ''read more fiction'' for this year. 

Half way through it and it's a complete joy so far.


----------



## Favelado (Jan 14, 2014)

I'm reading Sid Lowe's "Fear and Loathing in La Liga - Real Madrid vs. Barcelona". Sid is such a great journalist and he's the perfect fella to write this. The book gives a nuanced political background to the rivalry and breaks a few clichés and myths, although I think it actually reinforces some of the points it's trying to contest.

I'm two-thirds of the way through and can definitely recommend it to those who love a good football book, or anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of Spanish society in the past 100 years too. Both clubs are important enough to be key to understanding the country in broader terms.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 15, 2014)

Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell.


----------



## D'wards (Jan 15, 2014)

Picked up Tarzan last night, just to flick through and see what the writing is like, and now i'm hooked!

Tarzan parents go to Africa because another unnamed european country are hiring the locals to work from a British colony and treating them really badly, and conning them to work double the time for the same pay.  Lord Greystoke and his good lady pregnant wife go to sort it out for the "poor blacks". Unusual for locals in colonial times to be treated as human beings in these 19th century books


----------



## CNT36 (Jan 15, 2014)

Bloodlands - Timothy Snyder


----------



## Sprocket. (Jan 15, 2014)

If I Don't Write It, Nobody Else Will. An Autobiography - Eric Sykes.


----------



## nomibucha (Jan 16, 2014)

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.... Nice stuff and Concepts.!


----------



## ringo (Jan 16, 2014)

The Blade Itself - Joe Abercorombie

Good suggestion (from Dottie I think) as a Game Of Thrones alternative. Very enjoyable and not nearly as self important as Martin can be. Great page turner and quite funny too, like it.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 16, 2014)

No Place To Call Home by Katherine Quarmby.

About gypsies and travellers and such.

In the bit about the Dale Farm eviction the anarchist/activists who went along to "help" don't exactly come out of it covered in glory. Quelle surprise.


----------



## killer b (Jan 16, 2014)

in line with new years resolutions, i've got a couple of books on the go:

Guy Debord - Society of the Spectacle
Skidelskys - How Much is Enough

I need a novel I reckon.


----------



## MellySingsDoom (Jan 16, 2014)

killer b said:


> I need a novel I reckon.



Have you ever read Lewis Shiner's "Deserted Cities Of The Heart"?  - http://www.lewisshiner.com/cities.html  That was a great novel (and also an inspiration of sorts to Skullflower's "Xaman").


----------



## killer b (Jan 16, 2014)

is that sci-fi? it looks suspiciously like sci-fi.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 16, 2014)

ringo said:


> The Blade Itself - Joe Abercorombie
> 
> Good suggestion (from Dottie I think) as a Game Of Thrones alternative. Very enjoyable and not nearly as self important as Martin can be. Great page turner and quite funny too, like it.



good trilogy that, but somehow I don't see myself reading it a second time. Certainly has a humour that RR Martins work does not.



I'm on 'Forge of Darkness' the start of a Steven Erickson trilogy set thousands of tears before the Malazan empire, before the emergence of humans

It's good but Ericksons non human creation the Tiste are a long lived creature. Most of them are some centuries old if not millenia. This makes them prone to lengthly introspection. This was fine in the Malazan books because it was leavened by humour and humanity with the human characters. Can wear a bit when every single charcter is given to lengthly philosophical musing over a bread roll or some shit

TruXta  did this not strike you also?


----------



## TruXta (Jan 16, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm on 'Forge of Darkness' the start of a Steven Erickson trilogy set thousands of tears before the Malazan empire, before the emergence of humans
> 
> It's good but Ericksons non human creation the Tiste are a long lived creature. Most of them are some centuries old if not millenia. This makes them prone to lengthly introspection. This was fine in the Malazan books because it was leavened by humour and humanity with the human characters.
> 
> TruXta  did this not strike you also?


Yeah, it is decidedly less humorous. I also found his plotting even less penetrable than in the Malazan Books.


----------



## MellySingsDoom (Jan 16, 2014)

killer b said:


> is that sci-fi? it looks suspiciously like sci-fi.



There's some reviews here on Goodreads if yer interested: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/379202.Deserted_Cities_of_the_Heart#other_reviews

(apols if sorta sci-fi stuff isn't your cup of tea)


----------



## MrSki (Jan 16, 2014)

My little Armalite by James Hawes. 
A very easy but enjoyable read. 
A bit of a 21st Century Tom Sharpe. Has male twins (not female quadruplets) & is a university lecturer rather than a college of HE
Readable in a day or two.


----------



## killer b (Jan 16, 2014)

MellySingsDoom said:


> There's some reviews here on Goodreads if yer interested: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/379202.Deserted_Cities_of_the_Heart#other_reviews
> 
> (apols if sorta sci-fi stuff isn't your cup of tea)


I'm not totally opposed, I guess. Read a lot when I was a teen though, and I turned against it as a genre in the end. What comes from reading Piers Antony I guess...


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 16, 2014)

killer b said:


> in line with new years resolutions, i've got a couple of books on the go:
> 
> Guy Debord - Society of the Spectacle
> Skidelskys - How Much is Enough
> ...



I don't know what sort of stuff you're into but I reckon it's impossible not to like either of these books by Catherine O'Flynn - What Was Lost and The News Where You Are

http://www.catherineoflynn.com/books/what-was-lost/
http://www.catherineoflynn.com/books/the-news-where-you-are/

Mick Jackson's The Underground Man is quite delightful as well

http://www.mickjackson.com/books/the-underground-man/


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 16, 2014)

Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup.

Kindle edition only 49p.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twelve-Year...d=1389899983&sr=1-1&keywords=12+years+a+slave


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 17, 2014)

Frances Lengel said:


> I don't know what sort of stuff you're into but I reckon it's impossible not to like either of these books by Catherine O'Flynn - What Was Lost and The News Where You Are
> 
> http://www.catherineoflynn.com/books/what-was-lost/
> http://www.catherineoflynn.com/books/the-news-where-you-are/
> ...


 
I'd second that about the Catherine O'Flynn books killer b 
I read them both last year after you mentioned them Frances and loved them both.

Will check out the Mick Jackson one.


----------



## William of Walworth (Jan 17, 2014)

Trying to read more books this year. 

Recently finished 'Le Freak' (Nile Rodgers's autobiography. Lots of bigheaded namedropping, but very well written and smart and entertaining.

Now three quarters through Mark Radcliffe's 'Reeling In the Years' -- a song/chapter for every year of his life. Lots of wildly offtopic rambling, but also lots of excellent musical insights and information, and very readable.

Soon, I plan to get away from the musical theme for  a bit and finally get round to reading Wolf Hall ...


----------



## MrSki (Jan 17, 2014)

MrSki said:


> My little Armalite by James Hawes.
> A very easy but enjoyable read.
> A bit of a 21st Century Tom Sharpe. Has male twins (not female quadruplets) & is a university lecturer rather than a college of HE
> Readable in a day or two.


Like a lot of books (especially farces) it promised a lot & was a shite ending.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 17, 2014)

King Solomon's Mines - Henry Rider Haggard.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 17, 2014)

About to finish The Master and Margarita - think I'll start on The Wasp Factory after this.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 17, 2014)

Another great book The Wasp Factory. Let me know what you think of M&M when you're done


----------



## TruXta (Jan 17, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Another great book The Wasp Factory. Let me know what you think of M&M when you're done


I've only got the epilogue left. I think it's ace. Not sure if I can be bothered to read the commentary at the back tho. It's the Picador edition btw.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 17, 2014)

TruXta said:


> I've only got the epilogue left. I think it's ace. Not sure if I can be bothered to read the commentary at the back tho. It's the Picador edition btw.


Can't remember what mine is. Commentary's not necessary anyway unless you really fancy it.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 17, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Can't remember what mine is. Commentary's not necessary anyway unless you really fancy it.


There's a reason I never got on with Lit Crit


----------



## sojourner (Jan 17, 2014)

TruXta said:


> There's a reason I never got on with Lit Crit


I like doing it - don't like reading other people's


----------



## TruXta (Jan 17, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I like doing it - don't like reading other people's


Fair fucks.


----------



## Greebo (Jan 17, 2014)

Still near the start of Confessio Amantis (it is extremely long).  Interspersed with Catherine Cusset's Jouir for a bit of light relief.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 20, 2014)

You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times - Howard Zinn.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 20, 2014)

The Black Company- Glen Cook

like a gutter gemmel


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 21, 2014)

Civil Disobedience - Henry David Thoreau.


----------



## stupid dogbot (Jan 21, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> The Black Company- Glen Cook
> 
> like a gutter gemmel



I really like the first three, but I've never gone further.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 21, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> The Black Company- Glen Cook
> 
> like a gutter gemmel


You like it then?

Just started Dust by Hugh Howey, last in his post-apocalyptic trilogy.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 21, 2014)

TruXta said:


> You like it then?
> 
> Just started Dust by Hugh Howey, last in his post-apocalyptic trilogy.



its a bit shallow but not bad.
I've sidelined it in favour of 'The Citys Son'

a YA novel very much in the Other London tradition. Modern, quite good. Railwraiths, Spirits in the lamposts, a gcse age girl graff artist and the Son of the Streets, prince in waiting to the Skyscraper Throne

Like.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 21, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> its a bit shallow but not bad.
> I've sidelined it in favour of 'The Citys Son'
> 
> a YA novel very much in the Other London tradition. Modern, quite good. Railwraiths, Spirits in the lamposts, a gcse age girl graff artist and the Son of the Streets, prince in waiting to the Skyscraper Throne
> ...


I think where you see shallow I see fast-paced. He dwells a lot less on character details than many other authors in favour of building the grander story arcs. Stick with it - it gets better and better IMO.


----------



## 5t3IIa (Jan 21, 2014)

5t3IIa said:


> Rites of Passage by William Golding! Far too many exclamation marks! Very distracting! But I am only on page 5!



_Loved_ this ^ Just taken delivery of part two


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 21, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times - Howard Zinn.



Fabulous stroll through the life of Howard Zinn from his early teaching career, WW2, the civil rights movement, vietnam and the dictatorial madness of Boston University. I took a lot from this book but one thing in particular. Even in the smallest acts of resistance and rebellion there can be found hope and that hope eats away at cynicism, indifference and despair.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 21, 2014)

Web Of Deceit: Britain's Real Foreign Policy. - Mark Curtis.


----------



## inva (Jan 21, 2014)

If It Is Your Life by James Kelman


----------



## big eejit (Jan 21, 2014)

On The Beach by Neville Shute.


----------



## little_legs (Jan 21, 2014)

_Interpreter of Maladies_ by Jhumpa Lahiri

Loving Lahiri’s writing style, her stories are simple, to the point, and detailed, but the emotion expressed in each story can be felt so clearly.


----------



## NotSoBrightCat (Jan 23, 2014)

The wife bought me 'The Electric Guitar Daydream Quest' by Matt Rothwell for Christmas. It's quite funny and certainly rings true from my days playing in a rock band.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 23, 2014)

Just started Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy. A bit late in the day I suppose to read it, but then again, it has started with promise, referring to many points which are just as valid today.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 23, 2014)

About to finish Dust by Hugh Howey. Time to pick up Wasp Factory after that I reckon.


----------



## starfish (Jan 23, 2014)

Currently reading Morrisseys autobiography but i might put it on hold for a bit as ms starfish has just finished The Memoirs of Count Arthur Strong and spent the last week or so literally wetting herself reading it.


----------



## TikkiB (Jan 23, 2014)

Just finished Tracey's Thorn's autobiography which I really enjoyed, and now onto Nile Rodger's autobiography.  I do like a bit of juxtapositioning when reading musicians' books - read Keith Richards immediately after Rod Stewart's last week, and I think I preferred RS's the more.  Any man who has a chapter just about his hair isn't all bad.


----------



## imposs1904 (Jan 23, 2014)

TikkiB said:


> Just finished Tracey's Thorn's autobiography which I really enjoyed, and now onto Nile Rodger's autobiography.  I do like a bit of juxtapositioning when reading musicians' books - read Keith Richards immediately after Rod Stewart's last week, and I think I preferred RS's the more.  Any man who has a chapter just about his hair isn't all bad.



I like that Eric Heffer got a mention in Tracey Thorn's book.


----------



## Greebo (Jan 23, 2014)

About 6% through Confessio Amantis, and currently alternating it with The Norse Gods Ruined My Vacation


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 24, 2014)

starfish said:


> Currently reading Morrisseys autobiography but i might put it on hold for a bit as ms starfish has just finished The Memoirs of Count Arthur Strong and spent the last week or so *literally wetting herself reading it.*


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Jan 24, 2014)

god is not Great, by Christopher Hitchens.

This guy was unique.


----------



## Greebo (Jan 24, 2014)

Herr S, und die Thunfischsitzung alternated with Confessio Amantis


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 24, 2014)

Almost finished *Lady Sings the blues,* Billie Holiday in her own words, its pretty amazing. There is a ghostwriter but was authenticated by Billie herself while she was alive (around '56). The back of it  says 'told in Holiday's tart, streetwise style and hip patois, which makes it read as though it was written yesterday.' Kind of reminds me of 'Groupie' by Jenny Fabian, in that its a salty read that transports you right back to the time it was written, and puts you in a capsule you dont wanna leave.

Its also nice to see that Billie Holiday wasnt one who felt sorry for herself, but a  strong person who is frank about her drugs problems and those with the law, which dogged her constantly...her life was difficult but the book is a triumph about one who loved life, and  her philosophy being ''You've got to have something to eat, and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave.' . She also explains her singing style and how her big breaks came about despite the shocking racism she encountered. If you love jazz, read this.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 27, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> Web Of Deceit: Britain's Real Foreign Policy. - Mark Curtis.



Wow, this was hard work; felt like i was reading in treacle. 
It's very well researched often repetitive and self referring but still well written. It ought to be in the crime section!


----------



## TruXta (Jan 27, 2014)

I'm about 25 pages into The Wasp Factory. Grim but great


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 27, 2014)

Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret - Paul Lewis and Rob Evans.


----------



## ringo (Jan 28, 2014)

Hard Times - Charles Dickens. My first Dickens, love it and didn't realise it would be so funny. Wasn't expecting this style at all, thought it would be much more sombre.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 28, 2014)

ringo said:


> Hard Times - Charles Dickens. My first Dickens, love it and didn't realise it would be so funny. Wasn't expecting this style at all, thought it would be much more sombre.


 
I've never read any Dickens either, and I'm thinking that I really should
(especially as I can download it for free)


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 28, 2014)

Dracula Cha Cha Cha


book 3 in the 'anno dracula' cycle. Its 1960s rome and high society gathers for vlad tepes latest marriage...


----------



## ringo (Jan 28, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> I've never read any Dickens either, and I'm thinking that I really should
> (especially as I can download it for free)


Yep, always enjoyed the TV dramatisations and seems like a gap in my reading that will be rewarding. I have started on his smallest novel though


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 28, 2014)

ringo said:


> Yep, always enjoyed the TV dramatisations and seems like a gap in my reading that will be rewarding. I have started on his smallest novel though


 
I've just downloaded A Tale of Two Cities as it is also fairly short


----------



## blossie33 (Jan 28, 2014)

Travels with a Tangerine by Tim Mackintosh Smith described as 'a journey in the footnotes of Ibn Battutah' who left Tangiers in 1325 and travelled to many distant places.
I love travel books - finding it very interesting.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 28, 2014)

Struggling through "A Feast for Crows" George RR Martin. The pace is quite slow, compared to the preceding books. It's good, just not as good as previous.


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 28, 2014)

ambush: a professional's guide to preparing and preventing ambushes


----------



## D'wards (Jan 28, 2014)

Has anyone read In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan?

I'll read with an open mind, but it does look like a load of bollocks (not that open obviously).


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## articul8 (Jan 28, 2014)

Am reading Dracula, Bram Stoker's one.  Somehow never got round to it before.


----------



## belboid (Jan 28, 2014)

just started McKenzie Wark's The Beach Beneath the Street (the everyday life and glorious times of the Situationist International)

I've had it for a couple of years, should have started it sooner!


----------



## inva (Jan 28, 2014)

Liberty & Property by Ellen Meiksins Wood
Follows on from her book Citizens to Lords which I thought was very good. I've not read much of this one yet but it's been interesting so far.


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## sojourner (Jan 29, 2014)

Finished 'Female Chauvinist Pigs' last night, by Ariel Levy, and was deeply impressed with it. Been a long time since I read any feminist texts, and although this was published in 2006, it is still totally valid today, in fact, MORE SO today.

Loved how she identified the split between the sex-positive feminists and the radicals as being the basis of contemporary confusion over what actually constitutes empowerment. And - I reckon Autochthonous1  might like to give this a read.

As well as making me re-assess some of my own ideas and thoughts, she also had me actually laughing out loud on many occasions - what a brilliant writer she is! Funny, sharp, focussed, with a convincing dialectic - an absolute joy to read.

Off to the library lately to see if they've got anything on my list.  Depressingly, the last 10 choices I entered onto the 'system' for all of St Helens stock came up with fuck all. They didn't even have any fucking Andrea Dworkin, or Adrienne Rich


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## Autochthonous1 (Jan 29, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Finished 'Female Chauvinist Pigs' last night, by Ariel Levy, and was deeply impressed with it. Been a long time since I read any feminist texts, and although this was published in 2006, it is still totally valid today, in fact, MORE SO today.
> 
> Loved how she identified the split between the sex-positive feminists and the radicals as being the basis of contemporary confusion over what actually constitutes empowerment. And - I reckon Autochthonous1  might like to give this a read.
> 
> As well as making me re-assess some of my own ideas and thoughts, she also had me actually laughing out loud on many occasions - what a brilliant writer she is! Funny, sharp, focussed, with a convincing dialectic - an absolute joy to read.



Funny you should mention me! I read Female Chauvinist Pig many years ago (when I identified as a feminist), about ten years ago, I think? I remember enjoying it, as a read. I'd have to re-read it as it was so long ago now, unfortunately I gave it to the mother of RaverDrew's children when I met her for the first time last year; she came over and we had a discussion about feminism actually. She picked that book off my shelf, so I said she could have it. Regret it now.  I'll have to ask if she's read it yet so I can re-read it.
I remember liking the book at the time though. Yes, I do remeber the empowerment bit. Working in the sex industry, I can say I've only ever felt empowered (in fact, the sex industry changed me and my life for the better, not to mention taught me so much and changed my views). When feminists talk of the sex industry as disempowering or exploitative I won't listen to them unless they've actually worked in it, and I find it offensively patronising, naive too. The book made me feel better in some ways (for various reasons), I remember that - I read it whilst I was working in the industry. Though I remember some parts pissing me off, especially parts relating to gender; you know I have a thing about the binary, and this book wasn't panoptic enough in that respect. I also remember it had more of those stupid feminist terms that I despise like ''bimbo feminism.'' 

But ta, you've reminded me I need to read it again.


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## Autochthonous1 (Jan 29, 2014)

Wow, loved that it made you re-assess some of your own ideas and thoughts! Do tell! I do remember her raising some fantastic points: one's that I'd never come across or thought of.... 

I've just read the Wiki page to refresh my memory a bit. I remember the ''loophole women'' bit! I am one 80% of the time, apart from when I am out clubbing in my ''tranny with a fanny'' persona.


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## sojourner (Jan 29, 2014)

Autochthonous1 said:


> Wow, loved that it made you re-assess some of your own ideas and thoughts! Do tell! I do remember her raising some fantastic points: one's that I'd never come across or thought of....
> 
> I've just read the Wiki page to refresh my memory a bit. I remember the ''loophole women'' bit! I am one 80% of the time, apart from when I am out clubbing in my ''tranny with a fanny'' persona.


Well, for quite a few years, I managed to convince myself that I should have been a boy. Since childhood, as it goes. Always felt like a boy, did not 'feel like' a girl, was painfully aware of huge differences between me and other girls, and was made more aware of it by them. Always fancied girls, never fancied boys. Had quite a bad identity crisis in my 30s over it. Read 'Stone Butch Blues', saw myself, shit myself! Was talked down off the ceiling by a dyke mate. Mulled it over all these years, and even though I knew gender was shaped by culture, still could not distance myself. Ashamed to say I have been really quite sexist to women in my thoughts over the years. Fancying the arses off them, whilst simultaneously feeling superior in my 'masculine' bubble - 'I'm not like those girly-girls'. That's a fucking big admission for me to make actually. Deeply shaming, for someone who considers herself a strong feminist. And I saw myself in Levy's trouncing of those identities, of those feelings.

I wholeheartedly agreed with her perspective on the whole thing btw. I'd love for you to read it again - would like to discuss further with you about empowerment. Thought she made tremendously good points about that. Questions like how is it empowering to emulate a porn model/stripper/sex worker, whose job it is to _*fake *_sexuality/sexual pleasure?  How is drunkenly leaping around flashing your tits, or stripping off  (all with eager male viewers) suddenly a _new feminism_, when before it was _objectification of women_ - the exact same actions?  How exactly does that empower women?

I was struck by the overwhelming flavour of the responses that all the women she interviewed gave, about having lots of sex. I don't remember one of them saying they were having really good sex. It was all mediocre, antiseptic, average. The only thing they got out of it was a feeling of strength from 'acting like a man'.

I hear what you're saying about binary, but I also believe we HAVE to have an understanding of the 'female' in feminism, because without that we do not have a definition against which to show inequality/injustice/oppression.  To show that women are being oppressed, you have to show women. I have a female body - because of that female body, I have been stopped from doing many things. Jobs I wanted (and from legal positions I've been stopped), teams I wanted to join, buying a fucking PINT ffs - there's a whole long list of stuff, a lifetime's worth. I come up against very aggressive male attitudes all the time in my job. Some more honest men have admitted to me that they don't like being told what to do by a woman - they don't like being told no, in any shape or form.

You have to identify the person/group/minority whose lives/behaviour are being controlled and shaped by an external group. And although it's not the same thing, it's the same reasoning behind recognising colour in opposing racism.


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## sojourner (Jan 29, 2014)

Also, what you make of the claim that up to 90% of all sex workers have been sexually abused?


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## TruXta (Jan 29, 2014)

Autochthonous1 said:


> When feminists talk of the sex industry as disempowering or exploitative I won't listen to them unless they've actually worked in it, and I find it offensively patronising, naive too.



This bit sounds wrong-headed to me, it'd be like saying you can't speak out against sweat-shops unless you've worked in one yourself, or you can't more generally talk about X unless you are/have done X.


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## Autochthonous1 (Jan 29, 2014)

Wow, interesting stuff, sojourner, enjoyed reading that, great honesty, thank you. Yes, I really will read it again. Not only was it a long while ago that I read it but I've changed a lot since then, as my views have.
Ahhh, so you were a bit of a ''loophole women'' too then! I too was painfully aware of differences between me and other girls as a child, my best friend was a tomboy, she would get mistaken for a boy, which we both loved. I've always wondered if this is the reason I am now so attracted to androgyny, and ''boyish'' women. I thought I was skoliosexual for a few years and only went out with trans* women. During this time I was fascinated by gender and could then make sense of my time in the sex industry a little more. Going out with trans* women I met many cis-men who went out with trans* women, and learnt lots there too. I was on a trans* forum (cross between Urban 75 and FB, but for trans people and trans ''admirers' ), I had photos of myself on there - each day I would get numerous messages from men telling me (after I told them I was cisgendered) that ''if you had a cock you'd be the perfect woman''. My mind was blown, and I loved it.  I'm in my 30's and like you were, I can be quite sexist towards women in my thoughts 





> whilst simultaneously feeling superior in my 'masculine' bubble


 EXACTLY! I'm still a bit of a ''loophole'' woman (even though you know I despise these silly terms). I hate girly-girls, I just do... Well, not _them,_ but their girly-girls-ness!


> That's a fucking big admission for me to make actually. Deeply shaming, for someone who considers herself a strong feminist. And I saw myself in Levy's trouncing of those identities, of those feelings.


 Well done, love your honesty.

I get what you're saying about





> understanding of the 'female' in feminism, because without that we do not have a definition against which to show inequality/injustice/oppression. To show that women are being oppressed, you have to show women. You have to identify the person/group/minority whose lives/behaviour are being controlled and shaped by an external group.


I just don't think there is a need to focus on ''female'' anymore, and believe that to be hindering. All people can be oppressed. Cisgenderd men around the world, are oppressed also. And trans* men and women and intersex people are *generally* more oppressed than ciswomen (in the western world), yet many of the people who identify as those don't even feel included in, or spoken for by feminism (I'm generalising there, I know). I think feminism and its language is counterproductive regarding the changes _I'd_ like to see. Y'know, many people don't even know what feminism actually is-it's that messed up - men, women trans*, whoever...it pisses people off, causes so many divides, feminist argue with feminists, feminists write with such biphobic/pansphobic/transphobic stances... men feel ''hated'', and yeah that is not feminism's fault (there will always be ignorant people who can't be bothered to educate themselves). I just feel the movement is no longer moves things forward, but backwards (in the western world, I guess). I think there are too many negative aspects, I also worry about feminism and younger women - like religion, if it gives you strength and helps you feel powerful/fulfilled/worthy, that's a good thing, but it can also stop you from thinking for yourself.
I just don't like to focus on women. I just wouldn't. I don't want ''male and female'' I don't want ''woman''. I truly wish I was more able to explain this all better. Maybe I need to read more. I have a transwoman friend who's doing a Phd atm about much of this stuff and she's rather inspirational to me, I'd talk to het more but she's too damn busy acing her dissertation! 
_*May I ask others to NOT quote that section as I'm done with talking about feminism on here and like I said; I'd like to be able to back up my beliefs better but feel I can't right now as not in right headspace, insomnia, having issues expressing myself fully. Sticking to less heavy threads._

Going back to your post, the book, well, when I was a stripper/pornstar I was not _emulating _sex workers; I _was_ one, and I wasn't faking sexuality; I was celebrating it. As for faking sexual pleasure, yes I was - that was nothing to do with feminism or empowerment or exploitation. It was a job. That's all. Sex work should be decriminalised/legalised, everywhere! I was indeed faking the look though, for the job - people do that everyday in other professions too. It's not sex or having lots of it (I've never actually ''slept around'') that has ever made me feel powerful, or ''feel like a man'', that would only make me feel rubbish, personally. The strength I got was from the freedom of the industry, I wasn't trapped in conventional norms, and societal judgement actually made me stronger, the strength and freedom allowed me to express myself and play around with gender and sexuality, learn more about myself and others. I don't think drunkenly leaping around flashing your tits, or stripping off for men is feminism at all, how can it be? Being a massive 90's punk fan (my fav bands L7 and Hole and others) were all stripping off whilst subverting the female archetype, it's powerful, it's strength; it's a big ''fuck you/you can't tell me what to be/how to act'' to society. At that time, over here in the UK we had ''ladette culture'' which was like the punk ''anti-feminine/vulnerable'' but err, far less _coooool_ and meaningful and w/o music  - it involved acting like a vile stereotype of a man, that was the same time as the stripclub boom in the 90's, these turned men AND women into knobs, but made a lot of people a lot of money.  Yep, loads of interesting topics and questions. I'll try get a copy of the book soon, so we can talk more as I only remember sections of it.


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## Autochthonous1 (Jan 29, 2014)

TruXta said:


> This bit sounds wrong-headed to me, it'd be like saying you can't speak out against sweat-shops unless you've worked in one yourself, or you can't more generally talk about X unless you are/have done X.


Nah, the difference is, who LIKES working in, and feels EMPOWERED by working in a sweatshop? Get what I mean? Also, I've never worked in a sweatshop. And ''speaking out''... well, yeah, speaking out against actual exploitation within the industry is a good thing, of course, as the genuinely exploited are voiceless. I was talking more about the feminists who attempt to talk about strippers and pornstars who are there by choice...when they've actually no clue, as they've not experienced it, also if you are not in the industry it's likely you've not got the mind/mindset for it, so you're bound to have different views.

*I'll say it again; I'm done with talking about feminism on here unless via PM. I appreciate I've talked a lot here and you may want to quote me but if it's about feminism I'd prefer to do it via PM or else I spend too much time on here (which I don't want). I will happily talk about my experiences in the sex industry, and views about gender norms/binary openly on here though.


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## sojourner (Jan 29, 2014)

Okay, I won't quote you Autochthonous1 but there's much there to be unravelled. Could do it by email if you fancied. I don't know what you mean by 'unconducive'  though - guessing you mean opposite of conducive, but it's not a word, and if you did mean it that way, conducive to what, exactly?

No I didn't mean YOU or other sex-workers emulating sex-workers, I meant young women doing it. And that's the point - they are emulating people who are faking sexual pleasure, who are dressed like that in order to titillate. Precisely. It's your job. It's not THEIRS though. And you have agreed with me about how flashing your tits etc (the Girls Gone Wild programme was referenced a lot for this) is not feminism at all.

Societal judgement made you stronger? There's misfit talk  Know that one. 

There will always be conflict in any 'movement' I guess. I'd say an awful lot of young women these days reject outright the notion of 'feminism' though - I don't see them as clinging to it without thought at all - quite the opposite - they are REJECTING it without any thought. Whenever women have come to 'feminism' (umbrella term), it's usually been via bitter experience of being a woman just trying to get along in this world, and having real problems solely due to them having female bodies.  Really not that long ago that pregnant women were instantly sacked from their jobs for being pregnant. Columbia University only allowed women to be educated there in 1983. I was 15 in 1983. It's all still fresh and raw for me.


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## Autochthonous1 (Jan 29, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Okay, I won't quote you Autochthonous1 but there's much there to be unravelled. Could do it by email if you fancied. I don't know what you mean by 'unconducive'  though - guessing you mean opposite of conducive, but it's not a word, and if you did mean it that way, conducive to what, exactly?


I wrote ''unconducive'', then edited it a few times. Meant unconducive as in damaging/destructive/harmful. Was writing on my phone so made many errors and as I said; not able to write well atm, not slept in days. You knew what I was getting at though... as it came after the word ''hindering'', which is negative. Drew will tell you I make up words daily (some of them are actually really fantastic and I use them amongst my friends regularly ). I'm not one for picking out the grammatical errors of others, or misplaced/misused words, or un-words, myself - if I get the general gist of the statement. Had to edit that post a zillion times, gave up in the end.
Yeah, via email prob best, though not now as have too many other things going on I need to deal with, and let me re-read that book first, so we can talk about that.

Girls Gone Wild is the commodification of drunk college girls; a franchise with clever marketing. Nah, flashing tits or any body parts, unless it's for a job is not feminism or empowering in any, way shape or form, it's manufactured by men with hard dicks and profit maximisation on the brain who tell these young women it makes them sexy...when they grow up they realise what bullshit that is. Flashing CAN be fun (in the right place/time), if you're an exhibitionist - which isn't anything to do with feminism/empowerment. Just for thrills and kicks... y'know it's cheaper than a course in skydiving.  I've done both. I've never flashed whilst skydiving though. Actually, my flashing days are over. Only time I will get topless in public is on the shoulders of a tall person at a rock concert...y'know, it's ok there. 

Yeah, I agree there are failings and conflict in any 'movement'. I know that. I also agree many young women are rejecting feminism without any thought, as well as attaching themselves to it without much thought - works both ways.


> No I didn't mean YOU or other sex-workers emulating sex-workers, I meant young women doing it. And that's the point - they are emulating people who are faking sexual pleasure, who are dressed like that in order to titillate. Precisely. It's your job. It's not THEIRS though.


 What is your point here though? I mean, young women will emulate older women, are you suggesting that is the fault of the sex workers? I'm pretty sure you weren't, just wondering. I think it's MTV's fault. Fuck me, music videos are pornographic now a days.


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## Autochthonous1 (Jan 29, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Also, what you make of the claim that up to 90% of all sex workers have been sexually abused?


Sorry, missed that post. I certainly do not believe it's 90%, but where, when, who did they ask? Statistics are generally shite when it comes to that sort of thing, imo.
I'd not met any who were sexually abused, or admitted to it, I'd never been sexually abused. ''Sex workers'' is a massive umbrella, I knew/know many sex surrogates, fluffers, pornstars, strippers, dominatrices, women who worked on webcams, in peepshows... all over the world, but not many prostitutes. I know some of the strippers I met were hookers at one point/as well as stripping. I know one ''high-class'' escort. I am pretty sure she wasn't ever sexually abused (but I've not asked, just know she comes from lovely family and is close to her parents). Though there were a lot of us who grew up fatherless and/or in foster care. But I don't see how it's got to do with anything, it's like saying x amount of bankers grew up with overpowering parents... Sure, if an individual's sexually abused as a child/teenager you're likely going to feel worthless and like an outsider and may then be attracted to or manipulated into the sex industry. There are many people who were sexually abused and _didn't_ go into the industry, dunno about any statistics, they don't tell us those ones do they! Personally, I know more people who were sexually abused as children/teenagers OUTSIDE of the sex industry. Again, not sure what your point is?  Most of the sex workers I met were either exhibitionists who did it because they actually enjoyed it (or preferred it to ''normal'' work), or mothers or students doing it for the cash. I did it for the excitement and attention (in the beginning, I was only 18) as I'd tried ''normal'' jobs and couldn't stick 'em.

I've got sucked into Urban land again. I have stuff to do for my voluntary work tomorrow, so gotta go, but nice talking to you more. I'll re-read that book, for sure. Xx


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 29, 2014)

A Dance With Dragons - George R R Martin.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 29, 2014)

D'wards said:


> Has anyone read In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan?
> 
> I'll read with an open mind, but it does look like a load of bollocks (not that open obviously).



Don't think I've read watermelon sugar, I've read some other of his stuff though - It's all very much of it's time, which is no bad thing - Far from it AFAIC.

Here's a couple of his novels
A Confederate General At Big Sur
http://www.brautigan.net/general.html

And Trout Fishing in America
http://www.brautigan.net/trout.html
Both Ok. Trout fishing... has a character in it called Trout Fishing In America Shorty named in homage to Railroad Shorty, a character from Nelson Algren's The Neon Wilderness.


This is from Revenge of the Lawn - A collection of his short stories.


> Homage to the san francisco YMCA
> 
> by Richard Brautigan
> 
> ...


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## Autochthonous1 (Jan 29, 2014)

I am a massive Brautigan fan Frances Lengel!


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## Buckaroo (Jan 29, 2014)

Frances Lengel said:


> Don't think I've read watermelon sugar, I've read some other of his stuff though - It's all very much of it's time, which is no bad thing - Far from it AFAIC.
> 
> Here's a couple of his novels
> A Confederate General At Big Sur
> ...



"The checks always arrived on the 1st and 15th of every month," Checks? Cheques?


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## DotCommunist (Jan 29, 2014)

cheques is european, checks is US english


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## toblerone3 (Jan 29, 2014)

I am reading six books simultaneously. This one is an unconvincing conspiracy theory about the assassination of Martin Luther King. Written by the brother of James Earl Ray.

It was a set up by the mafia and the Feds also involving mind-bending drugs apparently.


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## Buckaroo (Jan 29, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> cheques is european, checks is US english



really, never knew that, cheers, knew yanks can't spell but still


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## Buckaroo (Jan 29, 2014)

toblerone3 said:


> I am reading six books simultaneously.



what six books are you reading simultaneously?


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## toblerone3 (Jan 29, 2014)

Buckaroo said:


> what six books are you reading simultaneously?



Sorry just edited my post to feature details of one of the six.


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## Frances Lengel (Jan 29, 2014)

Autochthonous1 said:


> I am a massive Brautigan fan Frances Lengel!



I've not read him for years but he's definitely an author I'm glad I found


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## Autochthonous1 (Jan 29, 2014)

Frances Lengel said:


> I've not read him for years but he's definitely an author I'm glad I found


I like his poetry too.


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## Greebo (Jan 29, 2014)

Ramsay's disease - Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and the unfortunate creation of "CFS" - Leslie O. SimpsonPhD Nancy Blake BA, CQSW


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## Frances Lengel (Jan 29, 2014)

Autochthonous1 said:


> I like his poetry.


TBH, I'm not a great one for poetry TBH -I like a good story, me.Though I do like Bukowski's poetry. And John Burnside.
Have you ever heard of a guy called Denis Johnson? If you like Brautigan's poetry you _may _like his stuff (though I'm crap at recommending things - Here's a review of a novel of his anyway by a guy called Alan Warner, who I rate;
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/13/train-dreams-denis-johnson-review



> Hurrah. Some have started to say that Denis Johnson might be one of America's greatest fiction writers. This should have been obvious in 1986, with his third novel, _The Stars at Noon_ – and it was certainly confirmed by the linked short story collection, _Jesus' Son_, in 1992.
> 
> There is something discomfiting about Johnson's work, for middlebrow *lit shits*. Perhaps it's a puritanical reaction to the author's own biography: his promising youth, lost in fearsome psychic turmoil; his reluctance to play the contemporary games of interview and Twitter, where author comes before work.
> Then there were the characters of those early novels. Often terrifying, they were broke, unsteady drifters on the cusp of interior collapse, becalmed in queasy settings – twitchy hitchhikers you desperately wished you'd never stopped for. Yet the scale and ambition was huge. _The Stars at Noon_ conjured a sweated, Latin American
> ...


Anyway, here's a collection of some of his poetry - And it's a minter
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9904.The_Throne_of_the_Third_Heaven_of_the_Nations_Millennium_General_Assembly  

A couple of reviewa




> must admit that I have not read all of the poems in this book; it is so large, and I generally don't read lengthy books of poetry in one sitting. I must also confess that Denis Johnson is one of the top ten living writers that I admire most in the world, and his work is always startling and scary and lovely





> I liked this one though some poems are of course stronger than others. The good ones are really excellent. The less good ones are just nothing in a way worse than a lot of poets, because part of Johnson's appeal is the closeness of his style to ordinary speech (some of the time). I will be coming back to some of these. They have something to say about our shared pains and this is of value.


http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...en_of_the_Nations_Millennium_General_Assembly

BTW, the title "The throne of the third heaven of the nations millenium general assembly  was taken from this...To be cont


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## Frances Lengel (Jan 29, 2014)

*Gallery Label*
"Where there is no vision, the people perish" — Proverbs 29:18 (King James Version)
posted on the wall of Hampton's garage

James Hampton's entire artistic output is this single work which he called _The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly._ Hampton worked for more than fourteen years on his masterwork in a rented garage, transforming its drab interior into a heavenly vision, as he prepared for the return of Christ to earth. _The Throne_ is his attempt to create a spiritual environment that could only have been made as the result of a passionate and highly personal religious faith.

Hampton's full creation consists of 180 components—only a portion of which are on view. The total work suggests a chancel complete with altar, a throne, offertory tables, pulpits, mercy seats, and other obscure objects of Hampton's own invention. His work also includes plaques, tags, and notebooks bearing a secret writing system which has yet to be, and may never be, deciphered.
Hampton's intricate, large-scale design for _The Throne_ derives coherence from parallel rows of constructions, densely packed on several levels. A seven-foot tall cushioned throne at the rear center is the work's focal point. Pairs of objects on either side of it impart a powerful, compulsive sense of symmetry. To the actual throne's right, objects refer to the New Testament and Jesus; to the left, the Old Testament and Moses, a division that corresponds to the disposition of the saved in the Bible. Every item has a relationship to the others and most bear a dedication to a saint, prophet, or other biblical character that may have appeared in the recurrent visions that inspired Hampton's efforts.

Massive wings, suggesting angels, sprout from most components; framed tablets line the walls, and crowns and  other complex foil decorations fill every available space of the assemblage. The entire complex was originally placed on a three-foot tall platform set stage like against the rear wall of his garage.
_The Throne_ and all of its associated components are made from discarded materials and found objects consisting of old furniture, wooden planks and supports, cardboard cutouts, scraps of insulation board, discarded light bulbs, jelly glasses, hollow cardboard cylinders, Kraft paper, desk blotters, mirror fragments and electrical cables and a variety of other "found objects," all scavenged from second-hand shops, the streets, or the federal office buildings in which he worked. To complete each element, Hampton used shimmering metallic foils and brilliant purple paper (now faded to tan) to evoke spiritual awe and splendor. Hampton's symbolism extended even to his choice of materials such as light bulbs, which represent God as the light of the world.

Praised as America's greatest work of visionary art,
Praised as America's greatest work of visionary art, Hampton's _Throne_ reveals one man's faith in God as well as his hope for salvation. Although Hampton did not live to initiate a public ministry, the capping phrase "FEAR NOT" summarizes his project's universally eloquent message.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006


...cont...Hampton reminds me a bit of the protagonist out of Philip k Dicks non sci fi (can't stand spacewank, me) "Confessions of a Crap Artist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_a_Crap_Artist

_*



			Confessions of a Crap Artist
		
Click to expand...

*_


> is a 1975 novel by Philip K. Dick, originally written in 1959. Dick wrote about a dozen non-science fiction novels in the period from 1948 to 1960; this is the only one published during his lifetime.
> 
> The novel chronicles a bitter and complex marital conflict in 1950s suburban California from the perspective of the wife's brother, an obsessive compulsive amateur scientist. The novel contains only small amounts of the complex mystical and science fiction concepts that define much of Dick’s work. _Rolling Stone Magazine_ called it a “funny, horribly accurate look at life in California in the 1950s.”[_citation needed_]




Jesus, sorry Autoc, all you said was you liked a bit of Brautigan and you get fucking _reams _


----------



## TruXta (Jan 29, 2014)

Frances Lengel said:


> Philip k Dicks non sci fi (can't stand spacewank, me)



Whatever else you can lay on PK Dick, he rarely did space-wank. Sci-fi, sure, space (wank) opera not so much.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jan 29, 2014)

TruXta said:


> Whatever else you can lay on PK Dick, he rarely did space-wank. Sci-fi, sure, space (wank) opera not so much.



You're right - I do like a bit of Dick. His "straight", non sci fi stuff remains my favourite stuff of his  though. Not through any anti SF prejudice, I just prefer it - IN Milton Lumkey territory is one of my favourites.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 30, 2014)

Autochthonous1 said:


> I wrote ''counterproductive'', then edited it a few times. Was writing on my phone so made many errors and as I said; not able to write well atm, not slept in days. You knew what I was getting at though... as it came after the word ''hindering'', which is negative. Drew will tell you I make up words daily (some of them are actually really fantastic and I use them amongst my friends regularly ). I'm not one for picking out the grammatical errors of others, or misplaced/misused words, or un-words, myself - if I get the general gist of the statement. Had to edit that post a zillion times, gave up in the end.
> Yeah, via email prob best, though not now as have too many other things going on I need to deal with, and let me re-read that book first, so we can talk about that.



I'm obsessed with language - I couldn't work out what you meant it may be 'unconducive' to. I make up words myself all the time, it's a very amusing past-time  I WILL pick out grammatical errors I'm afraid, so that I can get to meaning.  Okay fair enough re email/book.



Autochthonous1 said:


> Girls Gone Wild is the commodification of drunk college girls; a franchise with clever marketing. Nah, flashing tits or any body parts, unless it's for a job is not feminism or empowering in any, way shape or form, it's manufactured by men with hard dicks and profit maximisation on the brain who tell these young women it makes them sexy...


Absolutely, which is exactly what Levy was saying. We agree   It doesn't take much to then extend that to other forms of media featuring naked women. Commodification is what it's about, and it's not the girls making the money, is it? Even porn stars are pretty badly paid until they get any real 'fame'.



Autochthonous1 said:


> What is your point here though? I mean, young women will emulate older women, are you suggesting that is the fault of the sex workers? I'm pretty sure you weren't, just wondering. I think it's MTV's fault. Fuck me, music videos are pornographic now a days.


The point is that this 'new feminism' is based on facade, on titillation that makes money out of women, for men. What the young women are experiencing/feeling is not a sense of empowerment based on their own judgements/beliefs.  Their self-worth is fed only by how attractive they feel they are to men. Not their own self-value, on confidence based on their intellect, or skills, but on how they perceive men feel about women. Men fancy porn stars/strippers, or appear to. Therefore they will fancy/value ME if I emulate that.

No, I don't think it's the 'fault' of the sex-workers at all. They have accepted pay for what they know is fake. Their understanding of the situation is, I would argue, much less clouded, is closer to the truth, than those young women.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 30, 2014)

Frances Lengel said:


> You're right - *I do like a bit of Dick*. His "straight", non sci fi stuff remains my favourite stuff of his  though. Not through any anti SF prejudice, I just prefer it - IN Milton Lumkey territory is one of my favourites.




Do Androids Dream of Electric Dick


----------



## sojourner (Jan 30, 2014)

Autochthonous1 said:


> Sorry, missed that post. I certainly do not believe it's 90%, but where, when, who did they ask? Statistics are generally shite when it comes to that sort of thing, imo.
> I'd not met any who were sexually abused, or admitted to it, I'd never been sexually abused. ''Sex workers'' is a massive umbrella, I knew/know many sex surrogates, fluffers, pornstars, strippers, dominatrices, women who worked on webcams, in peepshows... all over the world, but not many prostitutes. I know some of the strippers I met were hookers at one point/as well as stripping. I know one ''high-class'' escort. I am pretty sure she wasn't ever sexually abused (but I've not asked, just know she comes from lovely family and is close to her parents). Though there were a lot of us who grew up fatherless and/or in foster care. But I don't see how it's got to do with anything, it's like saying x amount of bankers grew up with overpowering parents... Sure, if an individual's sexually abused as a child/teenager you're likely going to feel worthless and like an outsider and may then be attracted to or manipulated into the sex industry. There are many people who were sexually abused and _didn't_ go into the industry, dunno about any statistics, they don't tell us those ones do they! Personally, I know more people who were sexually abused as children/teenagers OUTSIDE of the sex industry. Again, not sure what your point is?  Most of the sex workers I met were either exhibitionists who did it because they actually enjoyed it (or preferred it to ''normal'' work), or mothers or students doing it for the cash. I did it for the excitement and attention (in the beginning, I was only 18) as I'd tried ''normal'' jobs and couldn't stick 'em.
> 
> I've got sucked into Urban land again. I have stuff to do for my voluntary work tomorrow, so gotta go, but nice talking to you more. I'll re-read that book, for sure. Xx


Listen, I'm not trying to 'get at' you or anything. There's a defensiveness in your post that makes me think you are feeling like that. I really just wanted to know what you made of that claim, having worked in that line. I'm enjoying the dialogue, and asking more questions, that is all. No agenda. Ah fuck though I've gone and given the book back to my daughter-out-law and didn't write down the source of the statistic. Pretty sure it was from a female psychologist who'd worked with women in the industry though. 90% was the figure that she thought it was closer to - the initial figure was more like 65%.

I think it WOULD make a person more easily manipulated, though, yes. I know way too many women who were abused as kids, raped etc - I'm one myself. It definitely skews/destroys sexualities in many cases, and in some, numbs a person to the point of having no self-worth.

Anyhoo yeh, see you around. Gis a shout if you read it. Enjoyed the debate, thank you


----------



## sojourner (Jan 30, 2014)

ANYWAYYYYY - the fucking library was shut yesterday. SHUT!  So I found a short story collection I'd bought from the charity shop ages ago and read some of that. Roald Dahl - Someone Like You. Fucking ace writer - so clever  BRILLIANT twists


----------



## TruXta (Jan 30, 2014)

I'm coming to the end of the Wasp Factory. Not sure what I'll read after, have King Leopold's Ghost in the shelf, but not sure I want more 100% grimness after TWF.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 30, 2014)

Its a great book that, but very very disturbing


----------



## TruXta (Jan 30, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Its a great book that, but very very disturbing


I've had enough disturbing for a bit with the Wasp Factory... Maybe I should read something comedic for once.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 30, 2014)

What did you make of Wool? I'm 10% in and fuck all has happened yet


----------



## TruXta (Jan 30, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> What did you make of Wool? I'm 10% in and fuck all has happened yet


I liked it. It's slightly slow to start off with, but gets better IMO. It's an easy fast read too I found it.


----------



## Autochthonous1 (Jan 30, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Listen, I'm not trying to 'get at' you or anything. There's a defensiveness in your post that makes me think you are feeling like that. I really just wanted to know what you made of that claim, having worked in that line. I'm enjoying the dialogue, and asking more questions, that is all. No agenda. Ah fuck though I've gone and given the book back to my daughter-out-law and didn't write down the source of the statistic. Pretty sure it was from a female psychologist who'd worked with women in the industry though. 90% was the figure that she thought it was closer to - the initial figure was more like 65%.
> 
> I think it WOULD make a person more easily manipulated, though, yes. I know way too many women who were abused as kids, raped etc - I'm one myself. It definitely skews/destroys sexualities in many cases, and in some, numbs a person to the point of having no self-worth.
> 
> Anyhoo yeh, see you around. Gis a shout if you read it. Enjoyed the debate, thank you



Hey you, no, I really wasn't thinking you were digging at me at all... I have liked our posts here.  There was no defensiveness in anyway (I certainly didn't mean to sound defensive and that's why I put the smiley in too). This is why I have issues with internet chit-chat, irl you would've seen I wasn't being defensive or thought you were having a dig; I literally was asking/wondering what your point was (re the 90% thing). My thoughts of that claim were sceptical...well, I don't doubt that some psychologist found that 65% of some women, somewhere in the industry were abused, but what areas of the industry and where, what workers? As I said; I worked in the industry for years and don't recall meeting many at all. I know more women who've been abused who aren't in the industry - so I just don't _get_ the statistics. I'd assume the 90% were prostitutes, not strippers or pornstars. Most of the strippers I met were very confident, ballsy, gutsy, in control. Pornstars too, mostly, they were in charge of their ''business'', their bodies, their own boss. Where as prostitutes *generally* are not...perhaps?
Sorry to hear about your past Soj, brave of you to say that on here. Mucho respect.  Went to the anti-pope march a couple of years ago and that was a gruelling day/protest, met so many brave people.

As for the English language, I love it too. A bit of word smithery turns me on. I grew up listening to John Cooper Clarke, he was my hero. Inspired my pen to move in different ways, but most people don't know what I bang on about half the time (especially after not much sleep). I detest Grammar Nazi's though; people who go 'round pointing out ''you're'' and ''your'', fair enough if it's a thread about grammar/language etc. In the case of my post though, ''unconducive'' is a word, perhaps I didn't use it in the correct way during my insomniatical daze? I said that I found too many aspects of feminism hindering, even: http://thesaurus.com/browse/unconducive, meaning damaging, etc?  Let's not discuss the feminism bit now, eh...


> Even porn stars are pretty badly paid until they get any real 'fame'.


 I disagree. The pornstar just has to be a good business person - strong willed/minded. If they are naive/easily manipulated/stupid they will get underpaid/exploited - which can happen in any business though, right? And one of the reasons I thought the porn industry was so fabulous (apart from the fact you got paid to orgasm) was because it was one of the very few professions in which women got paid more than the men.  Look, I know all about the nasty side of the industry, but being wise, clued up, pretty tough too, I was never exploited; I chose what/where/when I wanted to shoot and who to ''do it'' with. I didn't do anything I didn't want, and got paid double than any man I worked with (though once I got paid more than a trans* woman, which wasn't right... but queer porn is a whole other kettle of sharks). I was happy with what I was paid. I didn't do many shoots. I ''got out'' and worked behind the camera, then in other parts of the industry, including being a sex surrogate for people with disabilities.  I love the sex industry. The good parts. It can be great for some people to work in. Awful for others. You have to work it, not let it work you. Such a cliche, eh, but true.


----------



## Autochthonous1 (Jan 30, 2014)

Frances Lengel said:


> View attachment 47455
> Jesus, sorry Autoc, all you said was you liked a bit of Brautigan and you get fucking _reams _


Hey, I LOVED the REAMS, best posts to me yet on Urban. But I have to watch a film now and get off to bed, your posts will take a good few coffees tomorrow morning to get through, so I'll get back to you then. Thank you though.  Yes, I had a copy of Trout Fishing in America, not read it though, think I gave it away (always doing that). And I've heard of Denis Johnson but not sure I know his work so will be looking over that tomorrow with my coffee. Ta.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 31, 2014)

Managed to get halfway through Gemmel's 'Druss the Legend' before bed last night. Gemmel is the most shameles amongst shameless swords and sorcery tellers.Every hero is a HERO. Every villain has a henchman who just made some bad choices and has a wife. There is holy wise men and a semi agrarian economy. How does he get away with this?


----------



## N_igma (Jan 31, 2014)

Was flicking through this thread a while back and saw a book called _Perdido Street Station_ that looked interesting.

So I bought it and read it and I'm thinking do people pronounce it _Dreams hit_ or _Dream shit_ lol?

Great book btw, first time being exposed to the whole steampunk genre. Futuristic and Victorian feel at the same time, although I did think spending the first 70 odd pages describing how much of a shit hole New Crobuzon is was a tad too much. Definitely be reading the other two books of the series anyway.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 31, 2014)

Give the author some credit, N_igma ! China Miéville wrote it!


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## Autochthonous1 (Jan 31, 2014)

Frances Lengel, I've been checking out Denis Johnson, and yes I do quite like him. Thank you. Confessions of a Crap Artist sounds right up my alley, so I'll be dipping into that after I've finished current book about Elliott Smith.


----------



## imposs1904 (Jan 31, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Do Androids Dream of Electric Dick



Nearly.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2014)

Autochthonous1 said:


> Hey you, no, I really wasn't thinking you were digging at me at all... I have liked our posts here.  There was no defensiveness in anyway (I certainly didn't mean to sound defensive and that's why I put the smiley in too). This is why I have issues with internet chit-chat, irl you would've seen I wasn't being defensive or thought you were having a dig; I literally was asking/wondering what your point was (re the 90% thing). My thoughts of that claim were sceptical...well, I don't doubt that some psychologist found that 65% of some women, somewhere in the industry were abused, but what areas of the industry and where, what workers? As I said; I worked in the industry for years and don't recall meeting many at all. I know more women who've been abused who aren't in the industry - so I just don't _get_ the statistics. I'd assume the 90% were prostitutes, not strippers or pornstars. Most of the strippers I met were very confident, ballsy, gutsy, in control. Pornstars too, mostly, they were in charge of their ''business'', their bodies, their own boss. Where as prostitutes *generally* are not...perhaps?
> Sorry to hear about your past Soj, brave of you to say that on here. Mucho respect.  Went to the anti-pope march a couple of years ago and that was a gruelling day/protest, met so many brave people.
> 
> As for the English language, I love it too. A bit of word smithery turns me on. I grew up listening to John Cooper Clarke, he was my hero. Inspired my pen to move in different ways, but most people don't know what I bang on about half the time (especially after not much sleep). I detest Grammar Nazi's though; people who go 'round pointing out ''you're'' and ''your'', fair enough if it's a thread about grammar/language etc. In the case of my post though, ''unconducive'' is a word, perhaps I didn't use it in the correct way during my insomniatical daze? I said that I found too many aspects of feminism hindering, even: http://thesaurus.com/browse/unconducive, meaning damaging, etc?  Let's not discuss the feminism bit now, eh...
> I disagree. The pornstar just has to be a good business person - strong willed/minded. If they are naive/easily manipulated/stupid they will get underpaid/exploited - which can happen in any business though, right? And one of the reasons I thought the porn industry was so fabulous (apart from the fact you got paid to orgasm) was because it was one of the very few professions in which women got paid more than the men.  Look, I know all about the nasty side of the industry, but being wise, clued up, pretty tough too, I was never exploited; I chose what/where/when I wanted to shoot and who to ''do it'' with. I didn't do anything I didn't want, and got paid double than any man I worked with (though once I got paid more than a trans* woman, which wasn't right... but queer porn is a whole other kettle of sharks). I was happy with what I was paid. I didn't do many shoots. I ''got out'' and worked behind the camera, then in other parts of the industry, including being a sex surrogate for people with disabilities.  I love the sex industry. The good parts. It can be great for some people to work in. Awful for others. You have to work it, not let it work you. Such a cliche, eh, but true.


Good - glad you weren't and glad I was wrong 

Funny - that word - it's not in the Oxford English or the Cambridge, but that site you picked out is an American one I do use sometimes mainly for the thesaurus. If we were playing Scrabble, I'd not let you have it 

I'd love to discuss the 'feminism bit' again - I feel it's intrinsically linked to the discussion. 

Re your experiences - perhaps down to being that 'loophole woman'? Neither of us should generalise really. That statistic related to a spectrum of sex-workers I believe. Am maddened now that I can't look it up!

Oh, and I am a fucking terrible pedant ha  Cannot HELP myself. It's out of my mouth/fingers before I even know it. Meaning is everything in language - that's why we communicate, and if you use the wrong word in the wrong way you communicate a different meaning. Feel free to detest me all you like


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2014)

Anyway anyway anyway - got a fab haul from the library yesterday!  I am determined to get the most out of it 

So, I got:

Nick Davies - Flat Earth News, which I'm gonna read first cos had to order it (oh, and with thanks to DotCommunist  for mentioning it and drawing my attention to it)
Jeanette Winterson – The Daylight Gate
Will Self – Umbrella
Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle (for the fella, cos he fancied reading it again)

I was gonna get Division Street too by Helen Mort but thought I'd best be getting on with the others first!


----------



## belboid (Jan 31, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Nick Davies - Flat Earth News, which I'm gonna read first cos had to order it (oh, and with thanks to DotCommunist  for mentioning it and drawing my attention to it)
> Jeanette Winterson – The Daylight Gate
> Will Self – Umbrella
> Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle (for the fella, cos he fancied reading it again)


all corkers (with the possible exception of Umbrella, which I still haven't got round to yet)


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2014)

belboid said:


> all corkers (with the possible exception of Umbrella, which I still haven't got round to yet)


It's quite a trick, trying to find decent books in there tbh! The other day I put in 10 different titles and they had none of them.


----------



## flypanam (Jan 31, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Managed to get halfway through Gemmel's 'Druss the Legend' before bed last night. Gemmel is the most shameles amongst shameless swords and sorcery tellers.Every hero is a HERO. Every villain has a henchman who just made some bad choices and has a wife. There is holy wise men and a semi agrarian economy. How does he get away with this?



He doesn't. He's dead.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 31, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Good - glad you weren't and glad I was wrong
> 
> Funny - that word - it's not in the Oxford English or the Cambridge, but that site you picked out is an American one I do use sometimes mainly for the thesaurus. If we were playing Scrabble, I'd not let you have it
> 
> ...


Can I just interject to say that unconducive IS in the OED. It's not an obscure word.


----------



## Autochthonous1 (Jan 31, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Funny - that word - it's not in the Oxford English or the Cambridge, but that site you picked out is an American one I do use sometimes mainly for the thesaurus. If we were playing Scrabble, I'd not let you have it
> 
> I'd love to discuss the 'feminism bit' again - I feel it's intrinsically linked to the discussion. Re your experiences - perhaps down to being that 'loophole woman'? Neither of us should generalise really.
> That statistic related to a spectrum of sex-workers I believe. Am maddened now that I can't look it up!
> ...



I love words, and unwords. Was raised by Canadians so perhaps that's why I use American words sometimes (never American spelling though). Of course, a wrong word or misplaced/misused grammar can change the whole meaning of a sentence, but ''meaning is everything'' _partly_, I see it as: communication is expression, _that's everything,_ so generally, if I _get_ what a person is getting at/where they're coming from, I overlook little errors (unless the topic itself is about spelling/grammar, for instance), or unless I'm genuinely confused by those blunders. I've seen it on here; people ''debating'' and someone comes from out of nowhere with their superiority complex and points out a grammatical/spelling error, just to belittle that poster. There is no need for that. Tells me more about the belittler than the bad speller, far more. I know you'd not do that, just to be mean. Just makes me mad when I do see it.

I dunno, I hate these feminist terms. I hate labels. Feminism likes its labels. Yeah, I could _partly, sometimes_, describe myself as a ''loophole woman'' in the sense I generally don't get thrills out of baking cupcakes or going shopping, won't wear floral dresses, watch romcoms and read stupid hetronormative gossip magazines whilst getting my nails done. I don't actually _belittle_ women who rather perfectly fit into the norms of womanhood; I just don't like to hang out with them. I don't want to pop out babies either. I want to work, party, travel and fuck. Shit loads.

About the women-in-sex-industry-being-abused statistic, well, I dunno, I'd be more interested in a statistic about the percentage of fast-food industry employees who were sexually abused as children/teenagers. Attaching sensationalist facts and figures to the sex industry is what anyone outside the industry loves to do, to despise/blame/devalue/control. As for ''sex workers'', it's such a huge spectrum, I'd love to know who this psychologist asked/studied, and how. From erotic peep show girls to hardcore gangbanged submissive pornstars to loving sex surrogates; they're all individuals who just happen to utilise ''sex'' to make money (and whilst making their money some of them are offering valuable experiences and changing peoples lives for the better, some of them are even changing the world from behind red-fringed windows). I'd feel degraded and exploited working in McDonald's. I can see why some people prefer to be a sex machine than a burger flipper. Flicking beans or flipping burgers? Know which one I'd prefer to get a cheque for.

Anyway, I've just been told off on another thread for posting ''off topic posts'', this is a book thread, and I'm talking about feminist terms and my disapproval of women's magazines.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 31, 2014)

It's not an American word IME. I've heard it used by all sorts of people. It's just a general English word.


----------



## TruXta (Jan 31, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> It's not an American word IME. I've heard it used by all sorts of people. It's just a general English word.


Have you persevered with Wool?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 31, 2014)

TruXta said:


> Have you persevered with Wool?


Not since we last spoke. I will do though


----------



## TruXta (Jan 31, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Not since we last spoke. I will do though


If you like it I have the other two, would be happy to lend them to you.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 31, 2014)

Ta! So many books, so little time....


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Can I just interject to say that unconducive IS in the OED. It's not an obscure word.


http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/spellcheck/all/?q=unconducive
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/spellcheck/british/?q=unconducive


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 31, 2014)

That's not the OED!
That's some online chancer of a dictionary. I'm surprised you don't think it's a word. It's used in officialese  all the time eg 'behaviour unconducive to the school's code of conduct'


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2014)

Autochthonous1 said:


> I love words, and unwords. Was raised by Canadians so perhaps that's why I use American words sometimes (never American spelling though). Of course, the wrong word or misplaced/misused grammar can change a whole meaning of a sentence, but ''meaning is everything'' _partly_, I see it as: communication is expression, _that's everything,_ so generally, if I _get_ what a person is getting at/where they're coming from, I overlook little errors (unless the topic itself is about spelling/grammar, for instance), or unless I'm genuinely confused by those blunders. I've seen it on here; people ''debating'' and someone comes from out of nowhere with their superiority complex and points out a grammatical/spelling error, just to belittle that poster. There is no need for that. Tells me more about the belittler than the bad speller, far more. I know you'd not do that, just to be mean. Just makes me mad when I do see it.
> 
> I dunno, I hate these feminist terms. I hate labels. Feminism likes its labels. Yeah, I could _partly, sometimes_, describe myself as a ''loophole woman'' in the sense I generally don't get thrills out of baking cupcakes or going shopping, won't wear floral dresses, watch romcoms and read stupid hetronormative gossip magazines whilst getting my nails done. I don't actually _belittle_ women who rather perfectly fit into the norms of womanhood; I just don't like to hang out with them. I don't want to pop out babies either. I want to work, party, travel and fuck. Shit loads.
> 
> ...


This isn't really off-topic though is it cos it developed from a book 

But - you use loads of labels yourself. All the trans and cis labels you were using a few posts back. 

Fair point re attaching stats to the sex worker industry.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 31, 2014)

I'm on a train now, so can't give a link, but the OED records the first usage in 1927 and the first usage of conducive in 1909 (IIRC)


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> That's not the OED!
> That's some online chancer of a dictionary. I'm surprised you don't think it's a word. It's used in officialese  all the time eg 'behaviour unconducive to the school's code of conduct'


I stand corrected. Fucking wankers using the same name! 

Apologies to Autochthonous1  then!

I've never heard it used, otherwise I wouldn't have questioned it would I? Think about it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 31, 2014)

sojourner said:


> This isn't really off-topic though is it cos it developed from a book
> 
> But - you use loads of labels yourself. All the trans and cis labels you were using a few posts back.
> 
> Fair point re attaching stats to the sex worker industry.


The best posts tend to be off topic anyway.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 31, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I stand corrected. Fucking wankers using the same name!
> 
> Apologies to Autochthonous1  then!
> 
> I've never heard it used, otherwise I wouldn't have questioned it would I? Think about it.


I suspect you almost certainly have heard it, but just not taken it in. Our brains are weird. I remember being convinced that stupendous wasn't a word until shown otherwise.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I suspect you almost certainly have heard it, but just not taken it in. Our brains are weird. I remember being convinced that stupendous wasn't a word until shown otherwise.


Nooo I take in allllll the words EVER! Just...not this one.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 31, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Anyway anyway anyway - got a fab haul from the library yesterday!  I am determined to get the most out of it
> 
> So, I got:
> 
> ...




the 'dark arts' stuff in FEN predates all the news international furore- astonishing how long it was an open secret for

and wintersone voted lib dem  I liked her sci fi book Stone Gods though.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 31, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> the 'dark arts' stuff in FEN predates all the news international furore- astonishing how long it was an open secret for
> 
> and wintersone voted lib dem  I liked her sci fi book Stone Gods though.


I've only just started it and already I've discovered stuff about Murdoch that I didn't know.

That's not the worst of it! She voted fucking Thatcher in first time around!! It was in her autobio, 'Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal'. I nearly fucking threw up!! She did redeem herself somewhat later on by saying that she didn't realise at the time what it would mean to be a creative under her rule, all the funding being pulled and other consequences. Still though


----------



## Autochthonous1 (Jan 31, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Apologies to Autochthonous1  then!


No need to apologise at all. I could tell you genuinely didn't think it was a word, and you were not a cunt about it or anything. 


sojourner said:


> This isn't really off-topic though is it cos it developed from a book
> 
> But - you use loads of labels yourself. All the trans and cis labels you were using a few posts back.
> 
> Fair point re attaching stats to the sex worker industry.



It is because of the binary that labels like ''cis'' and ''trans'' exist. If you have ''man'', ''women'' we then require those other labels. It is because of the binary we now have labels like ''genderqueer'', ''trans*'' and a zillion others. I wish we didn't have the binary. If I am attracted to non-binary identified people I am ''skoliosexual_'_', yet funny how ''straight'' doesn't get called ''a label'', right?

Anyway, the labels I was on about mostly, were the terms, those feminist terms like ''ecofeminism'', ''lipstick feminism'', ''loophole women'' ''bimbo feminism'', ''sex-positive'' and so on...


----------



## Autochthonous1 (Jan 31, 2014)

I'm not on FB but if you are you should join that wordporn site sojourner? 
https://www.facebook.com/thispageisaboutwords
One of my favourites atm:


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 31, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I've only just started it and already I've discovered stuff about Murdoch that I didn't know.
> 
> That's not the worst of it! She voted fucking Thatcher in first time around!! It was in her autobio, 'Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal'. I nearly fucking threw up!! She did redeem herself somewhat later on by saying that she didn't realise at the time what it would mean to be a creative under her rule, all the funding being pulled and other consequences. Still though




bejesus, I admire the lady's mad skillz with a quill but thats some epic political naivety


----------



## inva (Jan 31, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> the 'dark arts' stuff in FEN predates all the news international furore- astonishing how long it was an open secret for
> 
> and wintersone voted lib dem  I liked her sci fi book Stone Gods though.


I read Stone Gods not that long ago and didn't much like it. doesn't surprise me that she voted lib dem - Stone Gods had a distinct current of liberal/green misanthropy from what I remember and an organic farmer hero. 

I looked at her wiki page just now - Oxford uni, OBE, and she turned a terrace house into an organic food shop


----------



## N_igma (Feb 3, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Give the author some credit, N_igma ! China Miéville wrote it!


 
Ha I'm not discrediting it I think it's a great book by a great author but it is not without its faults.

Also I genuinely want to know how _dreamshit_ is pronounced lol.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 3, 2014)

Dream shit of course


----------



## Greebo (Feb 3, 2014)

"Thinks" by David Lodge - a pleasant change after bad translations and trying to adjust to old English.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 3, 2014)

Started the last of the Black Company Omnibus books (Glen Cook). Awesome as always. Got about 10 pages left on The Wasp Factory, saving it for my commute.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 3, 2014)

Autochthonous1 said:


> No need to apologise at all. I could tell you genuinely didn't think it was a word, and you were not a cunt about it or anything.
> 
> 
> It is because of the binary that labels like ''cis'' and ''trans'' exist. If you have ''man'', ''women'' we then require those other labels. It is because of the binary we now have labels like ''genderqueer'', ''trans*'' and a zillion others. I wish we didn't have the binary. If I am attracted to non-binary identified people I am ''skoliosexual_'_', yet funny how ''straight'' doesn't get called ''a label'', right?
> ...


No, but I made a bit of a cunt of myself haha 

Do you not think we need any labels at all then?


----------



## sojourner (Feb 3, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> bejesus, I admire the lady's mad skillz with a quill but thats some epic political naivety



Innit? She gave the reason that she grew up in what she experienced as a brutal environment, and couldn't see any value in left wing politics. That her experience was far outside of it all.  That Thatcher's ideas of individual aspiration more closely matched her own.


inva said:


> doesn't surprise me that she voted lib dem - Stone Gods had a distinct current of liberal/green misanthropy from what I remember and an organic farmer hero.
> I looked at her wiki page just now - Oxford uni, OBE, and she turned a terrace house into an organic food shop


She came from a working-class background, from a place called Accrington up North. Struggled throughout school, had an insane mother, suffered terrible trauma over being gay and the consequences of that in a place like Accrington (and the church, which she was closely involved with), and worked her fucking arse off to get into Oxford. She also likes gardening because it's relaxing. I don't think you can just write her off with a sneer without knowing her background.


----------



## inva (Feb 3, 2014)

sojourner said:


> She came from a working-class background, from a place called Accrington up North. Struggled throughout school, had an insane mother, suffered terrible trauma over being gay and the consequences of that in a place like Accrington (and the church, which she was closely involved with), and worked her fucking arse off to get into Oxford. She also likes gardening because it's relaxing. I don't think you can just write her off with a sneer without knowing her background.


I don't think I questioned her work ethic, enjoyment of gardening or her background at all and I don't think the fuller picture of Jeanette Winterson that you've given me really contradicts anything much in my post.

I interpreted her novel Stone Gods as having a particular sort of politics expressed in it and a glance at wikipedia suggested to me that those views I read in her fiction were quite likely her own views, which is why it didn't surprise me to learn what party she supports.

I'd also disagree that I wrote her off on the basis of having an OBE and an organic shop - I read her book, didn't much like it, but don't particularly care about who she votes for and why or anything else about her for that matter. It wouldn't (and didn't) stop me reading her novel.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 3, 2014)

It was the sneering tone of your post that spurred me to write about her background, not a questioning of her work ethic, or 'writing her off'.


----------



## inva (Feb 3, 2014)

sojourner said:


> It was the sneering tone of your post that spurred me to write about her background, not a questioning of her work ethic, or 'writing her off'.


You wrote: "I don't think you can just write her off with a sneer without knowing her background."

Now I'd grant you that their might have been more than a hint of a sneer in my post, but I'm sure you're saying in that sentence that I'd written her off which is why I disagreed that I'd written her off


----------



## little_legs (Feb 3, 2014)

_City of Bohane_ by Kevin Barry

It's 2053, we are in the west of Ireland, and there is trouble brewing among the feuding gangs. 

I usually avoid anything that's set in future, but this is just brilliant. It's not often that you read a book and think to yourself, wait, the true hero of the book is writer's language. Well, _City of Bohane_, is that book. Kevin Barry, take a bow, your language is like a song of a mad genius, it's original, imaginative and piercing at the same time.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 3, 2014)

little_legs said:


> _City of Bohane_ by Kevin Barry
> 
> It's 2053, we are in the west of Ireland, and there is trouble brewing among the feuding gangs.
> 
> I usually avoid anything that's set in future, but this is just brilliant. It's not often that you read a book and think to yourself, wait, the true hero of the book is writer's language. Well, _City of Bohane_, is that book. Kevin Barry, take a bow, your language is like a song of a mad genius, it's original, imaginative and piercing at the same time.


I got half-way into that, dunno why I stopped tbh. As you say, excellent writing.


----------



## Greebo (Feb 3, 2014)

little_legs said:


> _City of Bohane_ by Kevin Barry
> 
> It's 2053, we are in the west of Ireland, and there is trouble brewing among the feuding gangs.<snip>


Frances Lengel this might be another SciFi without spacewank for you.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 3, 2014)

Greebo said:


> Frances Lengel this might be another SciFi without spacewank for you.


It's not sci-fi at all - in fact it's more like an alternative history thing. At least I can't remember there being anything particularly futuristic about it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 3, 2014)

TruXta said:


> It's not sci-fi at all - in fact it's more like an alternative history thing. At least I can't remember there being anything particularly futuristic about it.


Apart from it being set in 2053


----------



## TruXta (Feb 3, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Apart from it being set in 2053


Which doesn't mean it's futuristic or sci-fi.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 3, 2014)

TruXta said:


> Which doesn't mean it's futuristic or sci-fi.


I reckon if it's set in the future, it's sci-fi. Tis a broad church.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 3, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I reckon if it's set in the future, it's sci-fi. Tis a broad church.


Just shut up will you. Moron.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 3, 2014)

TruXta said:


> Just shut up will you. Moron.


What's up with you tonight? 
I am correct. Science-fiction tends to be set in the future.


----------



## Greebo (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


> It's not sci-fi at all - in fact it's more like an alternative history thing. At least I can't remember there being anything particularly futuristic about it.


IIRC it's the type of thing set a possible future which would appeal anyway.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 4, 2014)

N_igma said:


> Ha I'm not discrediting it I think it's a great book by a great author but it is not without its faults.
> 
> Also I genuinely want to know how _dreamshit_ is pronounced lol.




dream shit


its the thing those horrible nightmare moths crap out like silk to feed their young, but also keeps humans proper spangled if they eat it. Recall how isaac feeds his stunted moth thing with it and then it turns into a full scale bastard monster


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 4, 2014)

.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> What's up with you tonight?
> I am correct. Science-fiction tends to be set in the future.


Except for when they're set in the past or present.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


> Except for when they're set in the past or present.


And how does this invalidate what I said?


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> And how does this invalidate what I said?


You said "if it's set in the future it's sci-fi", which is blatant bollocks. If a novel is set in 2016 is it sci-fi? Think before you open your breadhole.


----------



## MellySingsDoom (Feb 4, 2014)

Am currently waiting for this one to read - a music-based book by journalist Neil Kulkarni: http://www.zero-books.net/books/eastern-spring-a-2nd-gen-memoir


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


> You said "if it's set in the future it's sci-fi", which is blatant bollocks. If a novel is set in 2016 is it sci-fi? Think before you open your breadhole.


If it is about an imagined future in 2053, I would count it as sci fi.
Why are you rude to me, Truxta?
It's hardly a controversial point.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> If it is about an imagined future in 2053, I would count it as sci fi.
> Why are you rude to me, Truxta?
> It's hardly a controversial point.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 4, 2014)

inva said:


> You wrote: "I don't think you can just write her off with a sneer without knowing her background."
> 
> Now I'd grant you that their might have been more than a hint of a sneer in my post, but I'm sure you're saying in that sentence that I'd written her off which is why I disagreed that I'd written her off


So I did. Fog for brains just lately. As you were! 

Started and finished The Daylight Gate by  herself anyway last night, and loved it. Very short read, liked what she did with the Pendle witch trials.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


>


What's wrong? You're being rather objectionable


----------



## sojourner (Feb 4, 2014)

It's a bit fighty in here lately int it?


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> What's wrong? You're being rather objectionable


I take exception to your wilful stupidity.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


> I take exception to your wilful stupidity.


It's not though. Argue the point, not the person.
If you continue to be so dismissive and rude, I may be forced to give you a wedgie


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> It's not though. Argue the point, not the person.
> If you continue to be so dismissive and rude, I may be forced to give you a wedgie


If you could be bothered to actually make a case instead of just claiming your bollocks, then maybe I could be bothered to argue the point. The fact of the matter is you don't know what you're on about, yet obstinately think you do. Even a cursory glance at the various (contested) definitions of sci-fi makes it abundantly clear that whilst a future setting is a common element of sci-fi, it is neither necessary nor sufficient.

Now go away until you've learned something.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

Anyway, to bring this back on track, I got another M. John Harrison book out of the shelf today - The Centauri Device. Orang Utan will be pleased to learn that this is indeed science fiction.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 4, 2014)

Are you two serious?


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Are you two serious?


Yes and no. I never take anything he says seriously, but like a child he needs talking to in a serious manner


----------



## sojourner (Feb 4, 2014)

So - what DID you think of M&M in the end then?


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

sojourner said:


> So - what DID you think of M&M in the end then?


It was great, I loved it! Is the rest of his stuff as good?


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 4, 2014)

tropes maketh science fiction, not dates. Wyndhams 'Chocky' is set in 1950.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


> It was great, I loved it! Is the rest of his stuff as good?


Good!   One of the things I enjoyed the most about it was the immensely subtle slagging of Stalin and his regime. Gotta be reet clever to do that and not get dead 

I've only read one other by him, A Country Doctor's Notebook, based on his own life as a young barely-trained doctor sent out to the wastelands. It's excellent though, full of detail you just wouldn't expect, and gives a great picture of the times.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)




----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


> If you could be bothered to actually make a case instead of just claiming your bollocks, then maybe I could be bothered to argue the point. The fact of the matter is you don't know what you're on about, yet obstinately think you do. Even a cursory glance at the various (contested) definitions of sci-fi makes it abundantly clear that whilst a future setting is a common element of sci-fi, it is neither necessary nor sufficient.
> 
> Now go away until you've learned something.


I looked it up on Wiki, and one of the definitions is that it is set in the future. It doesn't have to be of course, but if it is set in the future, it can be described as scifi. It's that simple.
There are of course lots of other definitions, but I'm sticking to the broadest.
I don't really see why that earns  contempt from you.
Your pineapple comment the other day was strange too.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I looked it up on Wiki, and one of the definitions is that it is set in the future. It doesn't have to be of course, but if it is set in the future, it can be described as scifi. It's that simple.
> There are of course lots of other definitions, but I'm sticking to the broadest.


Gods, you can't even read now. Are you ill or mal-nourished?

Again, is any novel set in the future sci-fi?


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


> Gods, you can't even read now. Are you ill or mal-nourished?
> 
> Again, is any novel set in the future sci-fi?


I would say so, yes. Otherwise, why set it in the future, if it's no different to today?
And why are you continuing to be so rude?


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

I have no words.....


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


> It's not sci-fi at all - in fact it's more like an alternative history thing. At least I can't remember there being anything particularly futuristic about it.


It's this post that I disagreed with. Why set something in 2053 if there's nowt different about it? Of course it's futuristic. Are you saying Riddley Walker is not sci-fi, for example?


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


> Yes and no. I never take anything he says seriously, but like a child he needs talking to in a serious manner


What's your problem? Why so dismissive?


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> It's this post that I disagreed with. Why set something in 2053 if there's nowt different about it? Of course it's futuristic. Are you saying Riddley Walker is not sci-fi, for example?


I can't be bothered with your obtuseness today.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 4, 2014)

can be described, its a fairly broad church.

if I set a novel on a fishing community in the faroe islands that hasn't changed a single iota since the 1800s, and set it in say...1834...is it a historical novel? even though nothing would be different if I'd set it in 2010?


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> can be described, its a fairly broad church.
> 
> if I set a novel on a fishing community in the faroe islands that hasn't changed a single iota since the 1800s, and set it in say...1834...is it a historical novel? even though nothing would be different if I'd set it in 2010?


Or, if I wrote a novel set in 2016 describing the post-2015 election political landscape, then that would per the ape's definition be science fiction. It's idiotic.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

It's how I sort my scifi in my library. You need a broad definition in a school library! 
I'm getting fed up of being characterised as obtuse. It's rude and incorrect and looks like high-handedness to me. 
Eg After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross is set in the very near future or an alternative present. It goes in the sci fi section.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> It's how I sort my scifi in my library. You need a broad definition in a school library!
> I'm getting fed up of being characterised as obtuse. It's rude and incorrect and looks like high-handedness to me.
> Eg After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross is set in the very near future or an alternative present. It goes in the sci fi section.


Would you put my hypothetical political novel set in 2016 in the sci-fi section as well?


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> can be described, its a fairly broad church.
> 
> if I set a novel on a fishing community in the faroe islands that hasn't changed a single iota since the 1800s, and set it in say...1834...is it a historical novel? even though nothing would be different if I'd set it in 2010?


Why set it in 1834 if nothing is different? There are some great books where it is never stated, making it more intriguing.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 4, 2014)

dewey or nothing! 


tbf I have been known to sit in the sci fi section at waterstones thinking 'which moron put that in here?'


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> dewey or nothing!
> 
> 
> tbf I have been known to sit in the sci fi section at waterstones thinking 'which moron put that in here?'


Was it Orang Utan?


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

TruXta said:


> Would you put my hypothetical political novel set in 2016 in the sci-fi section as well?


Probably, though I doubt I would have it in the library. There are plenty of alternative histories that I would put in sci-fi as I consider it a subgenre


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

Ah well, this was fun.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> dewey or nothing!
> 
> 
> tbf I have been known to sit in the sci fi section at waterstones thinking 'which moron put that in here?'


Always found it daft that Atwood, Vonnegut and Ballard are never found there.
I'm degenre-ing the library now anyway in favour of one big fiction section.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Always found it daft that Atwood, Vonnegut and Ballard are never found there.
> I'm degenre-ing the library now anyway in favour of one big fiction section.



nooooo

and with those three its because people ashamed to be caught in the sci fi section rate them- you know. Guardian reviewer sorts.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 4, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> nooooo
> 
> and with those three its because people ashamed to be caught in the sci fi section rate them- you know. Guardian reviewer sorts.


Atwood for her sins has actively avoided the label - Vonnegut and Ballard not so much IIRC.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> nooooo
> 
> and with those three its because people ashamed to be caught in the sci fi section rate them- you know. Guardian reviewer sorts.


I'm doing it to encourage wider reading - kids (and adults) get stuck pointlessly in genre cul-de-sacs when there's so much out there that they'd enjoy if they gave it a chance.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Always found it daft that Atwood, Vonnegut and Ballard are never found there.
> I'm degenre-ing the library now anyway in favour of one big fiction section.


Vonnegut is in the sci fi section in my local library.

As was The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson. What the living fuck?


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Vonnegut is in the sci fi section in my local library.
> 
> As was The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson. What the living fuck?


She has done some scifi hasn't she?


----------



## sojourner (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> She has done some scifi hasn't she?


She might have done, but TDG ain't it! It's about fucking witch trials AND set in the past!


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> She has done some scifi hasn't she?




Stone Gods. Good feminist slanted sci fi. Up there with Maul and some of the polish third wave stuff


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2014)

sojourner said:


> She might have done, but TDG ain't it! It's about fucking witch trials AND set in the past!


Sure, but it might explain why that book was found in the sci-fi section


----------



## maya (Feb 4, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> polish third wave stuff


I only know of Stanislaw Lem re: Polish SF, any recommendations?


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 4, 2014)

maya said:


> I only know of Stanislaw Lem re: Polish SF, any recommendations?




not huge on it myself dude! I can recommend this though  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Door_into_Ocean
Joan Slonczewski

I thought it was great, way outside of my normal ground within the sci fi tradition, and a simple tale told well

e2a

I also have it on epub/mobi if you want an ecopy.


----------



## maya (Feb 4, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> I can recommend this though  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Door_into_Ocean
> Joan Slonczewski
> 
> I thought it was great, way outside of my normal ground within the sci fi tradition, and a simple tale told well
> ...


Ooh- ta!  Name sounds familiar, I think she was on a list of feminist SF writers someone recommended once... Will check it out. Love finding unusual SF writers, so much of the less good stuff feels all the same...

Apparently Polish fantastic fiction have long roots- Try "the Manuscript Found In Saragossa" by Jan Potocki, written by a rather eccentric balloon-faring 17th century nobleman who committed suicide by shooting himselfwith a silver bullet fashioned from his own teapot because he thought he had turned into a werewolf!

The novel is among the strangest I've ever read, all stories-within-stories-within-stories, and lots of satirising over picaresque clichés (in one of the stories, the person who tells it goes on and on for pages, only to cheerfully exclaim many pages later "at last, I was born!") It's a little bit like Arabian Nights in that it tells many stories and everything is intervowen and the narratives go back and forth, but here it's ghosts, sword duelling/chivalry gone wrong, mysterious Moorish sects, gypsies, outlaws, illusions, drunkenness, pirates, cabbalists, more drunkenness... It's a riddle wrapped in an enigma insidea  conundrum. Or something like that. I love it, anyway... 

(* NB: There's two different versions: The abridged version, and the real version, aka the full version. Get the last version, or it won't make any sense)

It's also been adapted into a film by Wojciech Has- the film is about as heavy-going as the book, but if you persevere and keep watching it will make sense eventually... Note that the ending in the book is very different and a bit more ambigious than in the film! But it's a great film in its own right- even the music is good... written by Penderecki, IIRC)


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 4, 2014)

if you PM an addy I will send you an ecopy sis- might have to wait till saturday tho cos I think its on thecomp I have lentto a friend


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 4, 2014)

oooh and I did enjoy the info there- I know the eastern section of europe has much great sci fi but I'm not really au fait with the body of work. Typical of my magpie approach to everything, I only pick at bits that look shiny to my mind


----------



## maya (Feb 4, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> oooh and I did enjoy the info there- I know the eastern section of europe has much great sci fi but I'm not really au fait with the body of work. Typical of my magpie approach to everything, I only pick at bits that look shiny to my mind


Know what you mean, nowt wrong with that, tbh. There's lots of not so good stuff in between, even Lem wrote some turds- I think it might be more characteristic of the modern mind, post-internet, to pick'n'mix more... ? Just cherrypicking the gems.  

Our freedom of information is unprecedented and the world's knowledge base at our fingertips, then we end up with... kitten pics and porn  ((( humanity )))


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 5, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Why set it in 1834 if nothing is different? There are some great books where it is never stated, making it more intriguing.




There are some great sci fi shorts with no defined date. Like I have said it is the tropes that place it. If you likeI'll try to explain further. Think I have an essay in me on this.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 5, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> There are some great sci fi shorts with no defined date. Like I have said it is the tropes that place it. If you likeI'll try to explain further. Think I have an essay in me on this.


Go for it.
Truxta went all weird on us and I would like to hear an actual argument. 
Just as long as you don't tell me that something set 40 years in the future isn't futuristic!


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 5, 2014)

gaah thats just extrapolation- are there projects to build space elevators? no. Are we uplifting chimps with neuro-augs? no. Have we actually put a man anywhere else other than that one time on the moon! no

Jules Verne wrote about a cannon shooting a man into the aether and onto the moon ffs.

I will return to this later. I've got to go sign on. O cruel fate


----------



## flypanam (Feb 5, 2014)

Finished Vollmann's Europe Central, well worth the patience and effort. A great moral book.

but I need something light, step forward...

Matt Ruff's Bad Monkeys. Very Philip K Dick and very good.


----------



## ringo (Feb 5, 2014)

ringo said:


> Hard Times - Charles Dickens. My first Dickens, love it and didn't realise it would be so funny. Wasn't expecting this style at all, thought it would be much more sombre.



Feels a bit silly to say that one of the most famous English language novelists is great, but have been completely blown away by just how good he was. Brilliant writing, great story, touching and funny characterisation, he really was the complete package. Can't wait to read more.

Back to my American novel/Pullitzer prize obsession now with The Sportswriter, the first of Richard Ford's trilogy.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 5, 2014)

ringo said:


> Feels a bit silly to say that one of the most famous English language novelists is great, but have been completely blown away by just how good he was. Brilliant writing, great story, touching and funny characterisation, he really was the complete package. Can't wait to read more.
> 
> Back to my American novel/Pullitzer prize obsession now with The Sportswriter, the first of Richard Ford's trilogy.



I'm gearing up to do this Dickens thing as well having never read any of his books. I love my Kindle.


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 5, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I'm gearing up to do this Dickens thing as well having never read any of his books. I love my Kindle.


 
Yeah, me too.
I've downloaded A Tale of Two Cities but haven't started on it yet.
I've had a cold so I've been comfort reading some Ruth Rendell.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Feb 5, 2014)

Greebo said:


> Frances Lengel this might be another SciFi without spacewank for you.



I've read it mate and, although, thamks as ever, for the heads up - i can't as  I enjoyed it much. It was entertaining enought but I was (and who in their  right minds wouldn't be on) the side of the tower block dwellinig norries vs the port dwelling dandiprats? epreciacially when especially   won by 



Spoiler: spoiler



cheatin/]

Plus Eyses Cusack, as he was being led to the rope, sholu' ev  



Spoiler: spoiler



bit jenny chengs nose off and part of her upper lips - not misogyny, she just needed taking down





[/spoiler]




E2a and what about the sand pikeys-why where  they fucking rastas?
Fuckin stupid thta was.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 5, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Sure, but it might explain why that book was found in the sci-fi section



Err, she's a prolific writer - all kinds of stuff. So because of one book, all her stuff goes in sci fi? Now you are being daft OU. And you know it.

Anyway, I'm halfway through Flat Earth News and think it should be compulsory reading. 

I think I must have scabs on my chin, my jaw has dropped so fast and so low whilst reading the PR chapter. Jesus. I think I'm a cynical person (in a positive way!), I question so many things, analyse constantly - and then I read about these 'pseudo-groups', set up by PR companies, who produce 'research', and I think 'Shiiiiiiit! My eyes always skimmed past the actual group/think tank/focus group's name and go right onto to analyse/question/demolish their research'. No more. 

I'd love to see what he's made of the intervening years since publication.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 5, 2014)

ringo said:


> Feels a bit silly to say that one of the most famous English language novelists is great, but have been completely blown away by just how good he was. Brilliant writing, great story, touching and funny characterisation, he really was the complete package. Can't wait to read more.


Your enthusiasm has made me want to read Dickens now. I never have, and they've got some in the library, so thanks for that ringo !


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 5, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Err, she's a prolific writer - all kinds of stuff. So because of one book, all her stuff goes in sci fi? Now you are being daft OU. And you know it.


More undeserved rudeness. On the book thread! 
I was merely suggesting a reason for why someone may have misfiled a book. A novice remembers the last book they filed by the author was a sci fi, so they assume that all of her books are and file accordingly.


----------



## MysteryGuest (Feb 5, 2014)

maya said:


> Ooh- ta!  Name sounds familiar, I think she was on a list of feminist SF writers someone recommended once... Will check it out. Love finding unusual SF writers, so much of the less good stuff feels all the same...
> 
> Apparently Polish fantastic fiction have long roots- Try "the Manuscript Found In Saragossa" by Jan Potocki, written by a rather eccentric balloon-faring 17th century nobleman who committed suicide by shooting himselfwith a silver bullet fashioned from his own teapot because he thought he had turned into a werewolf!
> 
> ...




Yup, seen the film and read the book - another hearty recommendation for both here. Dreamlike and dark...


----------



## sojourner (Feb 5, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> More undeserved rudeness. On the book thread!
> I was merely suggesting a reason for why someone may have misfiled a book. A novice remembers the last book they filed by the author was a sci fi, so they assume that all of her books are and file accordingly.


There's no novices in there. It's a small library. Out of all the books she has written, one is sci fi. The one I wanted is in no way sci fi. It was, however, filed under sci fi. I only found it cos I was looking for Ballard.


----------



## inva (Feb 5, 2014)

Just started on Gentlemen of the West by Agnes Owens.

This was her first novel she had published and so far it seems almost like each chapter is a different short story, but maybe it will all piece together more as it goes along. She seems to prefer writing shorter works, or maybe that's what she can get published. I was expecting this to be good as I've read and really liked another novels of hers and some short stories and it's not let me down. The short stories were from the book Lean Tales that also featured James Kelman and Alasdair Gray - and I think her writing has a fair bit in common with theirs in terms of style and subject as well as quality.

Anyway, really enjoying this - great humour and sometimes a bit of grimness. I've got a couple of others by her to read after too.


----------



## seventh bullet (Feb 5, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Good!   One of the things I enjoyed the most about it was the immensely subtle slagging of Stalin and his regime. *Gotta be reet clever to do that and not get dead*



In what way specifically?  It didn't come to the attention of the authorities while Stalin was around?

Plenty of people also did that, both secretly and openly against the 'revolution from above.'

Not slagging Bulgakov, btw (I've never read him).


----------



## little_legs (Feb 5, 2014)

M&M was published posthumously in 1966 or something. But I have heard that when MB's wife gave the original copy to the publisher there were rumours doing rounds that an explosive book was about to be published that was going to expose (or satirise?) the stupidity of the upper echelons of CP.

TruXta I would highly recommend The Heart of Dog

sojourner Thanks for mentioning A Country Doctor's Notebook, I have put it on my to read list


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## seventh bullet (Feb 5, 2014)

So it was hidden away during the Stalin years and beyond.


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## little_legs (Feb 5, 2014)

He read it privately to his friends. I am convinced MB would have been executed if the book would be published in his lifetime.

Some of my friends also believe that the book is about God. There is recurrent theme of Kot who is clearly the devil but also a ministry of culture official and the Master who is the guy that is supposed to save our souls and restore the spirit of the people poisoned by the political dogma. That would also put MB in bad books.

Edit: I should probably add that I think M&M is about Stalin's time though.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 5, 2014)

little_legs said:


> M&M was published posthumously in 1966 or something. But I have heard that when MB's wife gave the original copy to the publisher there were rumours doing rounds that an explosive book was about to be published that was going to expose (or satirise?) the stupidity of the upper echelons of CP.
> 
> TruXta I would highly recommend The Heart of Dog
> 
> sojourner Thanks for mention of A Country Doctor's Notebook, I have put it on my to read list


Cheers, will see if I can find it.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 6, 2014)

little_legs said:


> M&M was published posthumously in 1966 or something. But I have heard that when MB's wife gave the original copy to the publisher there were rumours doing rounds that an explosive book was about to be published that was going to expose (or satirise?) the stupidity of the upper echelons of CP.
> 
> TruXta I would highly recommend The Heart of Dog
> 
> sojourner Thanks for mentioning A Country Doctor's Notebook, I have put it on my to read list


Ahhh - it was always my understanding that Stalin knew of it. I stand corrected. I know his work was banned, but must have mixed up info in my head.

I swear to fucking god I'm proper losing it lately.


----------



## seventh bullet (Feb 6, 2014)

How does it slag off Stalin, then?


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## sojourner (Feb 6, 2014)

seventh bullet said:


> How does it slag off Stalin, then?


You've not read it?

Basically rips the piss out of his regime...the way people 'disappear' on a constant basis, the control/oppression of all creative output, bureaucrats, union or other organisations. Can't say too much about it really due to spoilers, but I'd recommend reading it.


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## Orang Utan (Feb 6, 2014)

The central figure in it is Woland/Satan who is certainly supposed to be a reflection on Stalin, and there are loads of not-so-subtle references to his purges. There is also a novel within a novel featuring Jesus Christ and Pontius Pilate, and the latter character is also a representation of Stalin.


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## BoatieBird (Feb 7, 2014)

ringo said:


> Feels a bit silly to say that one of the most famous English language novelists is great, but have been completely blown away by just how good he was. Brilliant writing, great story, touching and funny characterisation, he really was the complete package. Can't wait to read more.



I decided that A Tale of Two Cities probably wasn't the best introduction to Dickens (it's said to be one of his more serious works) so I thought I'd break myself in gently with some shorter stuff.
Just finished reading To be Read at Dusk and The Chimes.  Absolutely agree with the above - touching and funny characterisation, beautiful use of language and a real sense of the outrage he felt at the lack of social justice in society at the time.
Will tackle one of his longer works soon.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 7, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> The central figure in it is Woland/Satan who is certainly supposed to be a reflection on Stalin, and there are loads of not-so-subtle references to his purges. There is also a novel within a novel featuring Jesus Christ and Pontius Pilate, and the latter character is also a representation of Stalin.


Yep

Forgot to say - I read this as part of my Literature Life and Thought degree, and wrote an essay on it using Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of the grotesque, seventh bullet . Parody, satire - all part of how he slags off Stalin.


----------



## seventh bullet (Feb 7, 2014)

I know very little about Bulgakov but a fair bit about Stalin.  How much of it is about the mid-late 1930s (Yezhovshchina)?  The novel was over a decade in the making, so including the end of the NEP period and Stalin's ascension.  I guess by union, sojourner, you're referring to the organisation of 'cultural' workers and with its tighter control the squandering of talent possessed by Bulgakov and others?

In real life, did he and others really believe it was Stalin himself who was personally behind some of the censorship and interference in their affairs rather than appearing weak in the face of bureaucrats with their own agendas?  There are plenty of people from all walks who contacted, or tried to contact, Stalin personally for his intervention in certain problems related to their work or quality of life.

I guess I'm trying to understand how they saw Stalin, his dictatorship through the party, the legitimacy of socialism in the USSR and the use of terror to defend it.


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## ringo (Feb 7, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> I decided that A Tale of Two Cities probably wasn't the best introduction to Dickens (it's said to be one of his more serious works) so I thought I'd break myself in gently with some shorter stuff.
> Just finished reading To be Read at Dusk and The Chimes.  Absolutely agree with the above - touching and funny characterisation, beautiful use of language and a real sense of the outrage he felt at the lack of social justice in society at the time.
> Will tackle one of his longer works soon.



Great stuff, I'm looking forward to reading more too.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 7, 2014)

seventh bullet said:


> I know very little about Bulgakov but a fair bit about Stalin.  How much of it is about the mid-late 1930s (Yezhovshchina)?  The novel was over a decade in the making, so including the end of the NEP period and Stalin's ascension.  I guess by union, sojourner, you're referring to the organisation of 'cultural' workers and with its tighter control the squandering of talent possessed by Bulgakov and others?
> 
> In real life, did he and others really believe it was Stalin himself who was personally behind some of the censorship and interference in their affairs rather than appearing weak in the face of bureaucrats with their own agendas?  There are plenty of people from all walks who contacted, or tried to contact, Stalin personally for his intervention in certain problems related to their work or quality of life.
> 
> I guess I'm trying to understand how they saw Stalin, his dictatorship through the party, the legitimacy of socialism in the USSR and the use of terror to defend it.


You look like you know a lot more about Stalin than I do tbh. I know that Bulgakov had had direct contact with Stalin at least once. And that a lot of his work was banned.

I think you would get an awful lot out of this book. Why don't you read it and come back with your ideas? I think it'd be really interesting to see what YOU make of it.


----------



## little_legs (Feb 9, 2014)

_Intimacy_ by Hanif Kureishi

A married man decides to leave his wife. He is spending his last, and a very long for him, night in the house he has shared with his wife and children. As the night unfolds he reflects on his happy and unhappy times with his wife, he can't escape the guilt and nostalgia.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 10, 2014)

A Brief History of Neoliberalism - David Harvey.


----------



## stupid dogbot (Feb 10, 2014)

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

Really, really enjoying it.


----------



## D'wards (Feb 10, 2014)

The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort.

They really are a bunch of odious cunts, so greedy and ruthless, and just nasty. And Jordan is king of the lot, and whilst the traders he employs are taken on on the basis they are thick greedy arseholes (easier to manipulate into selling as much crappy stock as possible therefore making Belfort, who owns the company, shitloads of money).
Encourages a horribly decadent lifestyle in his employees, so they are mortgaged in hock to the hilt, earning millions but spending more, so they need to sell and sell and sell to keep up with it all.
The descriptions of the sales floor are the kind of disgusting macho bullying atmosphere that would make even the EDL go crying to their mums.
Will watch the film when i've done the book


----------



## N_igma (Feb 11, 2014)

_A Prayer for Owen Meany _by John Irving - Just started this one, very naturalistic and witty style I think I'll enjoy it. Thought the premise sounded familiar and by doing a little research it seems that god awful Simon Birch film is loosely based on this. So far the book is delivering so won't let that put me off.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 12, 2014)

Umbrella, by Will Self

Ambitious, experimental, a bit fucking difficult to read in parts tbh, but mostly enjoying it. 

I think what he may be trying to do is write a narrative which potentially mirrors the mind of a person with Encephalitis Lethargica.  Time and linearity are played with in a very clever way (and I'm a Virginia Woolf fan, so y'know...) BUT I'm not looking anything up until I've finished it.


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 12, 2014)

ringo said:


> Feels a bit silly to say that one of the most famous English language novelists is great, but have been completely blown away by just how good he was. Brilliant writing, great story, touching and funny characterisation, he really was the complete package. Can't wait to read more.



Ha ha, I experienced this a couple of years ago when reading Our Mutual Friend. Took me ages to get through but just blew me away with his humour, compassion and understated outrage at society.

I haven't managed to read any more Dickens yet though  Bloody nippers taking up all my time 

Anyway, currently reading Tigers In Red Weather which is much, much better than I cynically expected it to be. The writing is really excellent, unforcedly sharp and supple.

Prior to that was Valentine Grey by Sandi Toksvig, which was quite a good read and brutal in parts. Although slightly spoiled for me when Mr K picked it up, perused the cover and asked 'are you going through the menopause?'


----------



## weltweit (Feb 12, 2014)

Just finished "Use of Weapons" by Iain M Banks

One of a row of a few of his I read recently, so I knew some of the sci-fi involved, jumps around between story lines which keeps you on your toes, I didn't guess the twist at the end. Enjoyed it.


----------



## ringo (Feb 13, 2014)

ringo said:


> Back to my American novel/Pulitzer prize obsession now with The Sportswriter, the first of Richard Ford's trilogy.



This is very good, seen through the eyes of one man on the difficulties facing men as they enter middle age and try to deal with marriages which they don't really understand the failure of, estrangement from their kids, and the acceptance or otherwise of stalled and compromised  career dreams. So much better than Nick Hornby's lightweight attempts or Stephen Biddulph's know it all guides to being a man which miss the mark and offer simple solutions for non-existent 'modern' men. 

His characters' failure to understand why things go wrong, what their part in it was, why they so often get into arguments or rub people up the wrong way without intending to is especially well realised. What he calls dreaminess beautifully describes the baffled, slightly lost myopia affecting many men as they stumble through life trying to make sense of the conflicts between feeling impotent and powerless but positioned as the dominant male 'man of the house' who is supposed to be a rock, holding things together, not quite understanding why they find themselves battling alcoholism, wrong decisions, guilt and the temptation of suicide.

The next in the trilogy won the Pulitzer, I hope it gets more positive


----------



## ringo (Feb 13, 2014)

May Kasahara said:


> Ha ha, I experienced this a couple of years ago when reading Our Mutual Friend. Took me ages to get through but just blew me away with his humour, compassion and understated outrage at society.
> 
> I haven't managed to read any more Dickens yet though  Bloody nippers taking up all my time



Love his outrage at society, and the best descriptions of priggish pomposity anywhere


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 13, 2014)

Currently plodding my way through Treasure Island.
I'm doing a children's lit module for my OU degree later in the year and I'm working my way through the set books.
I didn't think I was going to love Treasure Island and I was right, it's OK but it's not the sort of thing I'd chose to read.

Hoping to finish it today and then I can reward myself with Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 13, 2014)

have aquired a copy of atwoods sequel to Orynx and Crake 'MaddAddams'

starting it tomorrow, just finishing my review of Stros' Neptunes Children before I read anything else


----------



## marty21 (Feb 13, 2014)

Russia: A Journey to the Heart of a land and its People - Jonathan Dimbleby

based on his TV series a few years ago, it was cheap on Kindle 

It's alright - but he does have a tendency to go on and on about himself and his traumas (of which he has had a few)


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 13, 2014)

marty21 said:


> Russia: A Journey to the Heart of a land and its People - Jonathan Dimbleby
> 
> based on his TV series a few years ago, it was cheap on Kindle
> 
> It's alright - but he does have a tendency to go on and on about himself and his traumas (of which he has had a few)




on your 'challenge' listings I have thieved Ashers 'owners' trilogy and am so far loving it.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 13, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> on your 'challenge' listings I have thieved Ashers 'owners' trilogy and am so far loving it.


 I enjoyed it - just finished the last of them -


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 13, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> Hoping to finish it today and then I can reward myself with Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts.



Oooh, I am actually jealous of you getting to read it for the first time  Enjoy.


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 13, 2014)

May Kasahara said:


> Oooh, I am actually jealous of you getting to read it for the first time  Enjoy.



I've got you to thank for making me pick up my first Joe Hill book. So thank you very much


----------



## JelliedBills (Feb 13, 2014)

The Tilted World by Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly

I highly recommend Tom Franklin, I’ve only recently discovered him and am working my way through all of his work. They’re literary  thrillers, set in the Deep South.


----------



## flypanam (Feb 13, 2014)

Michael Chabon - The Yiddish policemen's union


----------



## JelliedBills (Feb 13, 2014)

little_legs said:


> _Intimacy_ by Hanif Kureishi
> 
> A married man decides to leave his wife. He is spending his last, and a very long for him, night in the house he has shared with his wife and children. As the night unfolds he reflects on his happy and unhappy times with his wife, he can't escape the guilt and nostalgia.


 
A cracking little book; I read it in a day and was quite touched by it.


----------



## Wilf (Feb 14, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> A Brief History of Neoliberalism - David Harvey.


 Ooooh, me too!


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 14, 2014)

Wilf said:


> Ooooh, me too!



I've almost finished it. Hard work but worth it. 
Desperately need some fiction.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 14, 2014)

Angel's Chic by Arjuna Krishna-Das



> Set in an alternate reality 1990s Liverpool, India, Tibet and the heavenly planet Chandraloka (also known as the Moon), Angels Chic is the gripping tale of two unusual individuals attempting to cope with contrasting lives of chaos and a high-tech high-octane career. Their discovery of a teleport machine sets them off on a trip of external and internal discovery, poses questions of ethics, conspiracy, mental health and philosophy, and puts them at odds with the modern Bavarian Illuminati as they seek an ancient and transcendental treasure without equal.



Tun-Huang by Yasushi Inoue



> Tun-Huang, in Central Asia, is a walled city along the Silk Road that historically connected China to the West. It is also the site of the Thousand Buddha cave where, in the early 1900s, Sir Aurel Stein discovered an extraordinary treasure trove of early Buddhist sutras and other scriptures. In Tun-Huang the novel, the great modern Japanese novelist Yasushi Inoue imagines how the scriptures came to be hidden in the caves. Set in the eleventh century CE, this is the story of Chao Tsing-te, a young Chinese man whose accidental failure to take the test that would have qualified him for a career as a government bureaucrat leads to a chance encounter that takes him farther and farther into the wild and contested lands west of the Chinese Empire. There he finds love, distinguishes himself in battle, and finally devotes himself to the strange task that led to the rediscovery of the scriptures so many centuries later. A book of magically vivid scenes, fierce passions, and astonishing adventures to equal Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tun-Huang is also a profound and stirring meditation on the mystery of history and the hidden presence of the past.



The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian,



> _'A long-time confidante of the rain and snow, I am ninety years old. The rain and snow have weathered me, and I too have weathered them'._
> 
> At the end of the twentieth-century an old woman sits among the birch trees and thinks back over her life, her loves, and the joys and tragedies that have befallen her family and her people. She is a member of the Evenki tribe who wander the remote forests of north-eastern China with their herds of reindeer, living in close sympathy with nature at its most beautiful and cruel.
> 
> An idyllic childhood playing by the river ends with her father's death and the growing realisation that her mother's and uncle's relationship is not as simple as she thought. Then, in the 1930s, the intimate, secluded world of the tribe is shattered when the Japanese army invades China. The Evenki cannot avoid being pulled into the brutal conflict which marks the first step towards the end of their isolation.



Natashas Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes
This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works by John Brockman
The Emergence of Social Space: Rimbaud and the Paris Commune by Kristin Ross
Greek Tragedy by HDF Kitto
The Ancient Paths: Discovering the Lost Map of Celtic Europe by Graham Robb
The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme

And a load of poetry


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 14, 2014)

I hope that at the end of this reading odyssey you are able to present a Grand Unified Theory Of Life, The Universe & Everything. In 140 characters or less.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 14, 2014)

entropy


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 15, 2014)

On the second book in Asher's Owners trilogy. His politics are vile. Setting his heroes up against a vast murderous world government fails to disguise this.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Feb 15, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> Angel's Chic by Arjuna Krishna-Das
> 
> 
> 
> ...




That sounds like the syllabus from Human Puffery and Confabulation 101.


----------



## inva (Feb 15, 2014)

Kiddar's Luck by Jack Common

Just begun reading this which is the first of Common's two autobiographical novels that he wrote about growing up in Newcastle in the early 1900s. He was a great vivid writer and with a good sense of humour which really helps draws you in to his prose. Enjoying it quite a lot so far and I've also the follow up The Ampersand to read after.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 15, 2014)

The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer.


----------



## seventh bullet (Feb 15, 2014)

inva said:


> Kiddar's Luck by Jack Common
> 
> Just begun reading this which is the first of Common's two autobiographical novels that he wrote about growing up in Newcastle in the early 1900s. He was a great vivid writer and with a good sense of humour which really helps draws you in to his prose. Enjoying it quite a lot so far and I've also the follow up The Ampersand to read after.



It would be good to get hold of collections of his articles and essays, some written when he was a young journalist in London, a time when he met and became lifelong friends with Orwell.  I'm sure you could find a cheap copy of his Freedom of the Streets.  One collection, Revolt Against an Age of Plenty, is here.


----------



## inva (Feb 15, 2014)

seventh bullet said:


> It would be good to get hold of collections of his articles and essays, some written when he was a young journalist in London, a time when he met and became lifelong friends with Orwell.  I'm sure you could find a cheap copy of his Freedom of the Streets.  One collection, Revolt Against an Age of Plenty, is here.


thanks. as it happens I have a copy of Revolt Against already though I've only read a few of the articles from it.


----------



## sorearm (Feb 16, 2014)

The State of the Art by Iain M Banks ... very very nice sci-fi.  Actually just on the actual short story 'State of the Art' about the Culture - it's very nicely done.


----------



## Belushi (Feb 16, 2014)

Graham Greene - The End of the Affair, not his finest work but I do love Greene.


----------



## ringo (Feb 18, 2014)

Imperial Bedrooms - Bret Easton Ellis

A sequel to Less Than Zero, with Ellis' standard clinical vanity and violence. Its good, and the style is so polished its worth a read but he's done all this before and gives the impression he's as lazy and as keen to continue playing the same tricks and watch the money come rolling in as his characters. Perhaps that's his point and he's smarter than I'm giving him credit for, but I want to read something new from him because he could be so good.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 18, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> On the second book in Asher's Owners trilogy. His politics are vile. Setting his heroes up against a vast murderous world government fails to disguise this.


 true - difficult to feel that much sympathy for any of them


----------



## Ponyutd (Feb 18, 2014)

Rifleman by Victor Gregg.
What an extraordinary man. His tales from the drop at Arnhem, his imprisonment at Dresden (shocking description of the lighting of the city).
The stories of his Communist Party days and subsequent hiring by the British Secret Service are spellbinding. On the verge of being picked for his country for cycling and the very real part he played in the downfall of the Berlin wall.

Astonishing story.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 18, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> I decided that A Tale of Two Cities probably wasn't the best introduction to Dickens (it's said to be one of his more serious works) so I thought I'd break myself in gently with some shorter stuff.
> Just finished reading To be Read at Dusk and The Chimes.  Absolutely agree with the above - touching and funny characterisation, beautiful use of language and a real sense of the outrage he felt at the lack of social justice in society at the time.
> Will tackle one of his longer works soon.


 A Tale of Two Cities is my favourite Dickens - get back to it


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 18, 2014)

marty21 said:


> A Tale of Two Cities is my favourite Dickens - get back to it


 
Yes sir!
*salutes*

Finished 20th Century Ghosts last night, really enjoyed it and it's left me wanting to read more Joe Hill.
Will treat myself to another when I get paid.


----------



## ringo (Feb 18, 2014)

Close Range Brokeback Mountain - Annie Proulx......fast becoming one of my favourite authors, stunning command of language.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

ringo said:


> Close Range Brokeback Mountain - Annie Proulx......fast becoming one of my favourite authors, stunning command of language.


One of my all time favourite writers. I think she's a fucking GENIUS, especially with dialogue. Just the odd clip on a word here, there, and you can  hear the fucking dialect! Read everything she's done, there's isn't a duff one out there. I'm quite jealous you're getting to just start on her


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 18, 2014)

Prattchet & Baxter's _The Long Earth_. Quite an easy, accessible read.


----------



## miss direct (Feb 18, 2014)

I am reading This is Where I am, which is set in Glasgow and is about a Somalian refugee and his mentor. 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Is-Whe...1392469890&sr=1-1&keywords=this+is+where+i+am


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## ringo (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> One of my all time favourite writers. I think she's a fucking GENIUS, especially with dialogue. Just the odd clip on a word here, there, and you can  hear the fucking dialect! Read everything she's done, there's isn't a duff one out there. I'm quite jealous you're getting to just start on her



I'm going to have to ration myself so I don't read everything in one go


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 18, 2014)

*adds some Annie Proulx to wishlist*

You lot are costing me a fortune in books


----------



## ringo (Feb 18, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> *adds some Annie Proulx to wishlist*
> 
> You lot are costing me a fortune in books



Finished with my copy of The Shipping News if you want it. PM me your address.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 18, 2014)

Currently nothing. And I don't have many unread books on my shelf either, nothing that I'm too keen on right now at least. Might have to pop into Bookmongers tomorrow.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> *adds some Annie Proulx to wishlist*
> 
> You lot are costing me a fortune in books


Hey - I've loads of her stuff if anyone wants me to post them out?  Want them back like!


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

ringo said:


> I'm going to have to ration myself so I don't read everything in one go


Well, you are wayyy more disciplined than me. Whenever I get into someone, EVERYTHING gets read one after the other


----------



## ringo (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Well, you are wayyy more disciplined than me. Whenever I get into someone, EVERYTHING gets read one after the other



I've managed to stretch Graham Greene's works out to about 4 years, but did Cormac McCarthy in six months.


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 18, 2014)

ringo said:


> Finished with my copy of The Shipping News if you want it. PM me your address.


 
Yes please 



sojourner said:


> Hey - I've loads of her stuff if anyone wants me to post them out?  Want them back like!


 
I might take you up on that at some point


----------



## marty21 (Feb 18, 2014)

still ploughing on with Jonathan Dimbleby's book on Russia - very interesting in parts - but he does tend to go on and on about himself a bit too much - I want to read about Russia not about Dimbleby's life...thankyouverymuch


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

miss direct said:


> I am reading This is Where I am, which is set in Glasgow and is about a Somalian refugee and his mentor.
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Is-Where-I-Am-ebook/dp/B009S7WA90/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1392469890&sr=1-1&keywords=this is where i am


Don't forget to mention that Karen Campbell wrote it!


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

ringo said:


> I've managed to stretch Graham Greene's works out to about 4 years, but did Cormac McCarthy in six months.


The only thing that stopped me with Ray Bradbury was funds! That's why I joined the library. Then had a fucking massive tantrum when I found out they only had 3 books, and a cd of him.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

Pirate him! He's dead now!


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Pirate him! He's dead now!


Is that at me?


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

Yes! Who else?!

I couldn't bring myself to binge on an author myself. 
I have to save them up for later on life. I don't want to live in a world I which there is no more Dickens or Roberts or Dick or (insert current obsession here) to read.


----------



## ringo (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I have to save them up for later on life. I don't want to live in a world I which there is no more Dickens or Roberts or Dick or (insert current obsession here) to read.



I bet you made your Easter eggs last til July too


----------



## TruXta (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Yes! Who else?!
> 
> I couldn't bring myself to binge on an author myself.
> I have to save them up for later on life. I don't want to live in a world I which there is no more Dickens or Roberts or Dick or (insert current obsession here) to read.


Bit of a penis obsession you've got going there.


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 18, 2014)

I try to ration authors too.
I'm putting off reading Iain Banks' The Quarry because I know it will be the last one of his I'll ever read for the first time


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Yes! Who else?!
> 
> I couldn't bring myself to binge on an author myself.
> I have to save them up for later on life. I don't want to live in a world I which there is no more Dickens or Roberts or Dick or (insert current obsession here) to read.


I don't know what you mean by 'pirate him'! 

So what if he's dead? He's one of the greatest writers of all time. Anyway, I still have bloody loads left to read, given how prolific he was (and how fucking shit our library is). I can't help it. I obsess about loads of stuff. No self control at all.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

ringo said:


> I bet you made your Easter eggs last til July too


My mother used to make chocolates last for ever.  Enraged me, did that.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I don't know what you mean by 'pirate him'!
> 
> So what if he's dead? He's one of the greatest writers of all time. Anyway, I still have bloody loads left to read, given how prolific he was (and how fucking shit our library is). I can't help it. I obsess about loads of stuff. No self control at all.


Download PDFs of his short stories.
I got tonnes of his stuff in my phone.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

ringo said:


> I bet you made your Easter eggs last til July too


Not at all. It's the only area of my life that I do not display a life-wrecking poor impulse control  food, booze, drugs, buying books (as opposed to reading them), records (til I HAD to give up), socks, neckwear, Fabergé eggs - all get consumed/bought as soon as I see em!


----------



## ringo (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> My mother used to make chocolates last for ever.  Enraged me, did that.



My brother did it with Easter Eggs. I'd stuff mine as quick as I could, but he'd goad me with his til summer


----------



## MrSki (Feb 18, 2014)

TruXta said:


> Currently nothing. And I don't have many unread books on my shelf either, nothing that I'm too keen on right now at least. Might have to pop into Bookmongers tomorrow.



Have you not got a local library? If you use that you are not just doing yourself a lemon but your neighbours too. Libraries are closed because of their lack of use. Go and take books out even if you are not going to read them.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

MrSki said:


> Have you not got a local library? If you use that you are not just doing yourself a lemon but your neighbours too. Libraries are closed because of their lack of use. Go and take books out even if you are not going to read them.


Brixton library is not the greatest but it's definitely worth using.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 18, 2014)

MrSki said:


> Have you not got a local library? If you use that you are not just doing yourself a lemon but your neighbours too. Libraries are closed because of their lack of use. Go and take books out even if you are not going to read them.


I do. I prefer to buy books.


----------



## MrSki (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Brixton library is not the greatest but it's definitely worth using.


I use the Marcus Garvey in Tottenham for its free (often dodgy) wifi. I take out a couple of books a week to read but they often don't have the books that I want. I order books for free from the other Haringey libraries which take a couple of days to be sent over. I think a lot of the London boroughs have an inter-library service where you can borrow books from other libraries under different local authority control. There is also a fairly large collection of CDs & DVDs although I think they charge for those. Seriously though if the libraries are not used then they get shut down & they are such a valuable resource especially if you are skint!


----------



## MrSki (Feb 18, 2014)

TruXta said:


> I do. I prefer to buy books.


If only to have the shelving required to keep them on or do you pass them on to like minded readers?


----------



## TruXta (Feb 18, 2014)

Either way, I really should go and see what my local libraries have. They're both small, so I'm not expecting much.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 18, 2014)

MrSki said:


> If only to have the shelving required to keep them on or do you pass them on to like minded readers?


Some I pass on, others I sell to 2nd hand shops, but most I keep. I re-read pretty much all of them, some several times.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

TruXta said:


> I do. I prefer to buy books.


Me too, but when I was unemployed my local library was a lifesaver


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

MrSki said:


> I use the Marcus Garvey in Tottenham for its free (often dodgy) wifi. I take out a couple of books a week to read but they often don't have the books that I want. I order books for free from the other Haringey libraries which take a couple of days to be sent over. I think a lot of the London boroughs have an inter-library service where you can borrow books from other libraries under different local authority control. There is also a fairly large collection of CDs & DVDs although I think they charge for those. Seriously though if the libraries are not used then they get shut down & they are such a valuable resource especially if you are skint!


Indeed, but you need to be patient sometimes!


----------



## TruXta (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Me too, but when I was unemployed my local library was a lifesaver


When I was at UCL I used their libraries fairly heavily. Of course they have a lot of stuff your normal public library couldn't easily get for you.


----------



## MrSki (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Indeed, but you need to be patient sometimes!


Yes it is a right wind up when the last book in a trilogy is out on loan & some bugger keeps renewing it!


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

MrSki said:


> Yes it is a right wind up when the last book in a trilogy is out on loan & some bugger keeps renewing it!


I couldn't wait on someone else's decision to bring back a book. I would have to download it instead - I did that with A Song Of Ice & Fire


----------



## MrSki (Feb 18, 2014)

I have downloaded PDFs when desperate but don't really like reading from my computer & my Kindle only lasted about 150 books nine months before the screen went tits up.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

I read a LOT on my phone. Even when the book is sitting next to me, like today


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Download PDFs of his short stories.
> I got tonnes of his stuff in my phone.


I only read books. 

Is that what's meant by pirating then? Just downloading stuff?


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I only read books.
> 
> Is that what's meant by pirating then? Just downloading stuff?


Aye!
Don't limit yourself - you can read books in many forms!


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

MrSki said:


> I use the Marcus Garvey in Tottenham for its free (often dodgy) wifi. I take out a couple of books a week to read but they often don't have the books that I want. I order books for free from the other Haringey libraries which take a couple of days to be sent over. I think a lot of the London boroughs have an inter-library service where you can borrow books from other libraries under different local authority control. There is also a fairly large collection of CDs & DVDs although I think they charge for those. Seriously though if the libraries are not used then they get shut down & they are such a valuable resource especially if you are skint!


Yeh, we have inter-library lending but get charged 50p per book! I do it though, cos it saves me having to haul my arse round the borough for books I want to read. I've started just entering titles onto the online system to see if they've got them now, instead of showing my arse in the library when they haven't got what I want.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Aye!
> Don't limit yourself - you can read books in many forms!


I only LIKE books. I don't like reading electronically. I do that all day on the laptop.


----------



## MrSki (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Yeh, we have inter-library lending but get charged 50p per book! I do it though, cos it saves me having to haul my arse round the borough for books I want to read. I've started just entering titles onto the online system to see if they've got them now, instead of showing my arse in the library when they haven't got what I want.


The Marcus Garvey charges 50p if you reserve the books on-line but they don't advertise the fact that it is free if you request them in person at the counter.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I only LIKE books. I don't like reading electronically. I do that all day on the laptop.


I said that one time. I like reading anywhere now. Whatever is most convenient.
And a book is still a book to me whether it is in print or electronic form.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

MrSki said:


> The Marcus Garvey charges 50p if you reserve the books on-line but they don't advertise the fact that it is free if you request them in person at the counter.


Ahhh - that might well be the case here then too! Hmmm. Ta for that!  I can just check if they've got them online, and then order in person, if they do the same thing here!


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I said that one time. I like reading anywhere now. Whatever is most convenient.


Nah. Like I said, I spend 8 hours a day pretty much reading from a screen, working etc, and I find actual pages, books, to be much more soothing.


----------



## belboid (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Yeh, we have inter-library lending but get charged 50p per book!


compared to what it costs them, thats bloody cheap. iirr, it was nearly £4 a book when I did my library course, which was nearly twenty years ago


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Nah. Like I said, I spend 8 hours a day pretty much reading from a screen, working etc, and I find actual pages, books, to be much more soothing.


Me too. I love paper books. But refusing one format just cos you are used to another is cutting off your nose to spite your face, especially if you are as greedy for books as I am.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Me too. I love paper books. But refusing one format just cos you are used to another is cutting off your nose to spite your face, especially if you are as greedy for books as I am.


Nah, I wouldn't do that, cutting off nose etc, it's just my eyes, my head - they prefer pages. I know you're only thinking of a fellow reader but honestly, I'll stick with books


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

belboid said:


> compared to what it costs them, thats bloody cheap. iirr, it was nearly £4 a book when I did my library course, which was nearly twenty years ago


Well, there were about 3 or 4 times more the amount of fucking books in each library back then! Seriously, the stock is down to worryingly low levels now.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Nah, I wouldn't do that, cutting off nose etc, it's just my eyes, my head - they prefer pages. I know you're only thinking of a fellow reader but honestly, I'll stick with books


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 18, 2014)

It's like trying to get farmerbarleymow to try a new food


----------



## Pickman's model (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I said that one time. I like reading anywhere now. Whatever is most convenient.
> And a book is still a book to me whether it is in print or electronic form.


oh dear.

so to you a first edition of hobbes' leviathan and the e-book on amazon are equivalent?


----------



## MrSki (Feb 18, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Well, there were about 3 or 4 times more the amount of fucking books in each library back then! Seriously, the stock is down to worryingly low levels now.


Agreed but half the library is now a frigging creche & although I am grateful that the library is open for four hours on a Sunday, I wish the room next door was not used by God's worst gospel singers and hallelujah hollowers.

They do sell off their excess stock for 40p a book or four for a quid. I have to keep an eye on what they are selling because it is often a book in the series that I am reading & they sometimes sell book three of five but not the others.


----------



## Pickman's model (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> It's like trying to get farmerbarleymow to try a new food


there's the thing. say you've a book on your kindle you would like farmerbarleymow to try, you can't lend it him so easily.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> It's like trying to get farmerbarleymow to try a new food


 Hehe


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 19, 2014)

The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 19, 2014)

Pickman's model said:


> there's the thing. say you've a book on your kindle you would like farmerbarleymow to try, you can't lend it him so easily.


True enough. Paper books have their advantages and so do digital books.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 19, 2014)

Pickman's model said:


> oh dear.
> 
> so to you a first edition of hobbes' leviathan and the e-book on amazon are equivalent?


It depends what you value, the object or the text. You can't get the former out of a library. You are unlikely to even read it. It is more of an artifact than a book.


----------



## Pickman's model (Feb 19, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> True enough. Paper books have their advantages and so do digital books.


what iyo are the advantages of digital books?


----------



## belboid (Feb 19, 2014)

Pickman's model said:


> what iyo are the advantages of digital books?


for me - they're often physically more readable - smaller, lighter, with more variable lighting and typesize available; I can carry lot's of books with me at once, in-built dictionary, lack of embarrassment factor is I'm reading something shitty.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 19, 2014)

Pickman's model said:


> what iyo are the advantages of digital books?


Convenience, mainly. Don't need a bag when I go out and can have loads of them at my fingertips.
Readability too, but that's more to do with what you're accustomed too.
I absolutely love the built in dictionary (sometimes spend an hour just browsing that after looking up one word).


----------



## ringo (Feb 20, 2014)

I love my Kindle. Still love books, probably read half and half now, but if its a big book I'll always download the Kindle version now, if it doesn't fit in my coat pocket it doesn't make it on my commute. The amount of books and the dictionary make a difference too. Want a Kindle white now though to replace my old one with no light and no touch screen.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 20, 2014)

scheming on a nook here, they've come right down in price

currently finishing 'Brasyl' which is v.good .


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 20, 2014)

I think I'm going to make a start on Donna Tartt's The Goldfish today.
And here's where reading ebooks gives you an advantage.
In paper form,it's a huge 1000+ page hardback!


----------



## jeff_leigh (Feb 21, 2014)

ringo said:


> I love my Kindle. Still love books, probably read half and half now, but if its a big book I'll always download the Kindle version now, if it doesn't fit in my coat pocket it doesn't make it on my commute. The amount of books and the dictionary make a difference too. Want a Kindle white now though to replace my old one with no light and no touch screen.


 love my Kindle too, I reckon since buying it I've read the equivalent of a bookshelf


----------



## weltweit (Feb 21, 2014)

Sahara by Michael Palin, I started some time ago then left it for a couple of other books, back to it now, quite a lot in it and great photography. 50p at a car boot.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 25, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck.



Wow. That was moody. Want to read The Grapes of Wrath next but need a break from Steinbeck.


----------



## TruXta (Feb 25, 2014)

The last of Glen Cook's Black Company omnibus versions. Thinking of reading more non-fiction again.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 25, 2014)

East of Acre Lane - Alex Wheatle.


----------



## ringo (Feb 25, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> East of Acre Lane - Alex Wheatle.


I don't know why I've read so many of his books, he's shit. I think I keep hoping he'll write a good Brixton book but he gets worse. Finally gave up after he based some pointless violence in the Flaxman gym car park where i used to go, next to my old flat, in The Dirty South. 
Putting Brixton 20 years backwards all on his own.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 25, 2014)

ringo said:


> I don't know why I've read so many of his books, he's shit. I think I keep hoping he'll write a good Brixton book but he gets worse. Finally gave up after he based some pointless violence in the Flaxman gym car park where i used to go, next to my old flat, in The Dirty South.
> Putting Brixton 20 years backwards all on his own.



I've only read the first chapter and loved it. This is set in 1981.


----------



## ringo (Feb 25, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I've only read the first chapter and loved it. This is set in 1981.


Maybe the first was good, and that's why I continued with him, can't remember. The stuff set in modern times just glorified violence and seemed set on prolonging an outdated view of Brixton I don't recognize.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 25, 2014)

ringo said:


> Maybe the first was good, and that's why I continued with him, can't remember. The stuff set in modern times just glorified violence and seemed set on prolonging an outdated view of Brixton I don't recognize.



I'll let you know what i think when i've finished this one. Had a look at The Dirty South after your post and the storyline (set 20 years after the riots) did not appeal to me.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 27, 2014)

So, I finished Umbrella by Will Self last night, and Flat Earth News by Nick Davies today.

Fucking wow, on both counts.

I really struggled at first with Umbrella, with the stream-of-consciousness unannounced time/character shifts, but just decided to stick with it and go with the flow, and it worked. I'd actually like to read it again, just to put it all straight in my mind. Modernist as _fuck_. There ain't half been some clever bastards.

Flat Earth News - fuck me. So much in there that I didn't know, but wondered about, guessed at, and so much I just couldn't have seen coming. I feel totally justified in my previous levels of cynicism and paranoia now, and even more dirty-eyed about the media now than I thought possible.

Would recommend both 100%. The fella can't wait to get started on Flat Earth News, given the amount of noise I've been making about it!


----------



## inva (Feb 27, 2014)

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
I've not read too much of this yet but it's off to a fantastic start that began quite funny and is now turning all a bit sinister. I'm really looking forward to the rest of it - brilliant writing.


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Feb 27, 2014)

Autobios from Bret Hart and Bobby Heenan


----------



## Frances Lengel (Mar 1, 2014)

Current pile of unread;
Trouble Man - Tom Benn
The Relatively Constant Copywriter - Trevor Hoyle
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (a book I've been meaning to read for ages)
Angels - Denis Johnson
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
Mr Lynch's Holiday - Catherine O'Flynn

Just started Trouble Man which is the third in a (so far?) trilogy about the trials and tribulations of Bane, a Manchester underworld figure, along with his friends, family & associates. I like stuff like that when it's well done and this, IMO, is.
Next without doubt is going to be Mr Lynch - I've been dying for a new one from O'Flynn since the last one.

E2a And there's a thing that's been bugging me for a while - Every now and again, someone on urban will start going on (usually in a positive way) about a book called The Master and the Margarita byMikhail Bulgakov - And I've thought for about five seconds "I've got that, I'm sure I have". Anyway, just now I had a bit of a rummage through the bookshelves and, yeah, The Master's there. Along with Denis Johnson's Fiskadoro  and David Wong's This Book Is Full Of Spiders. So They've been added to the "To be read" pile now, instead of languishing lost & forgotten. Dunno why but despite only ever having heard good things about the Master and his old Margie, I've somehow never fancied it. Still, it'll be given a go at some point now I've made the effort to find it.

I've also got Little Tales of Misogyny by Highsmith somewhere - I think/hope I've lent it to my sis othewise I've lost the bastard before i've even read it.

Either way there's a bit of a booklog chez Lengel ATM.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 1, 2014)

Mammoth Book of Alternate History

cracking so far. The best one is a short from PD's ideological enemy, Ken Mcloed. Generals coup in UK '72 has lead to the home counties being an armed american backed r/w dictatorship while everywhere else in the  island is under the benign socialist scots rule

cheers to QueenOfGoths for the recc


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 1, 2014)

Just started Neil Gaiman's American Gods. It's a lot of fun so far.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 1, 2014)

Dan Simmons "The Abominable". Enjoying it and his descriptive writing about climbing in the Alps and around Everest is quite compelling. 

He writes good, believable characters as well.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 1, 2014)

sojourner said:


> So, I finished Umbrella by Will Self last night, and Flat Earth News by Nick Davies today.
> 
> Fucking wow, on both counts.
> 
> ...



If you want to expand your paranoia, I can recommend a ton of well researched properly written stuff that is almost unbelievable


----------



## Awesome Wells (Mar 1, 2014)

I, Partridge in words speoken by Partridge, Alan. _Aha!_


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Mar 2, 2014)

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 3, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> If you want to expand your paranoia, I can recommend a ton of well researched properly written stuff that is almost unbelievable


You know what? I was REALLY hoping you might say something like that! Yes please!! 

I've only really read fiction, novels, for most of my reading life, which is a bit weird but I never questioned it before. Since reading the Owen Jones book, The Spirit Level, and Flat Earth News, my hunger for factual knowledge in these areas has been aroused, but I wasn't sure where to start. 

Thank you


----------



## sojourner (Mar 3, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck.


One of THE best books ever written, imo.

Speaking of genius - I have just started re-reading Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut. So much in there I'd forgotten. Fucking brilliant.


----------



## Candi (Mar 5, 2014)

I haven't read Cat's Cradle for years. One of my favourite books.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 5, 2014)

Candi said:


> I haven't read Cat's Cradle for years. One of my favourite books.


Aye, it'd been about 20 years for me. Forgot there was so much funny stuff  in there!

Anyway, now I'm on the last of Paul O'Grady's autobiog trilogy - Still Standing: The Savage Years. And very good it is too  I do love that fella.


----------



## maya (Mar 5, 2014)




----------



## starfish (Mar 5, 2014)

Through It All I've Always Laughed: Memoirs of Count Arthur Strong. Its pretty funny.


----------



## maya (Mar 6, 2014)

Already finished Carroll's book with Tove Jansson's wonderful illustrations (unfortunately she didn't illustrate Through the Looking-Glass aswell) ... this is my favourite drawing from it:


----------



## maya (Mar 6, 2014)

- Aaah! Looks like she illustrated the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings as well! Wahey


----------



## marty21 (Mar 6, 2014)

Lean on Pete - Willy Vlautin

3rd of his novels I have read in the past week or so - heartbreakingly beautiful - never heard of this writer until a week or so ago - beautiful series of books - sadly he has only written 4 so far.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Mar 6, 2014)




----------



## MrSki (Mar 6, 2014)

The Universe verses Alex Woods by Gavin Extence
About half way through and really enjoying it.


----------



## belboid (Mar 6, 2014)

marty21 said:


> Lean on Pete - Willy Vlautin
> 
> 3rd of his novels I have read in the past week or so - heartbreakingly beautiful - never heard of this writer until a week or so ago - beautiful series of books - sadly he has only written 4 so far.


I've just got The Free, will probably start on it when I finish my current book (The Accident, by the marvellous Ismail Kadare)


----------



## ringo (Mar 7, 2014)

Dracula - Bram Stoker.....loving this.


----------



## Virtual Blue (Mar 7, 2014)

Hellblazer - from issue 1.

As a teenager, I read the series from issue 20 to 50.
Great revisiting the character Constantine.
Will be reading up to the finale and looking forward for the Ennis issues.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2014)

ringo said:


> Dracula - Bram Stoker.....loving this.


Fantastic book that. I wanted to rip the face off Keanu cunting Reeves on the film.


----------



## seventh bullet (Mar 7, 2014)

Brothers in Arms: Chinese Aid to the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979 by Andrew Mertha.


----------



## ringo (Mar 7, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Fantastic book that. I wanted to rip the face off Keanu cunting Reeves on the film.



Great writing, really tense


----------



## BoatieBird (Mar 7, 2014)

ringo said:


> Dracula - Bram Stoker.....loving this.


 
Great isn't it?
I read it last year after a visit to Whitby


----------



## 5t3IIa (Mar 7, 2014)

I'm halfway through the last party of Golding's _To The Ends of the Earth_ trilogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Down_Below_(novel) <-- I googled that then closed my eyes as I couldn't bear a spoiler 

I like it so much I'm going to start on that bloody Aubrey-Maturin O'Brien stuff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey–Maturin_series next. Twenty-one novels <rubshands>


----------



## sojourner (Mar 7, 2014)

ringo said:


> Great writing, really tense


And has a fancy term for the structure - epistolary.


----------



## little_legs (Mar 7, 2014)

Half way through _My Struggle Vol. 2_ by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Loving it.


----------



## ringo (Mar 7, 2014)

sojourner said:


> And has a fancy term for the structure - epistolary.


Had to look that up


----------



## inva (Mar 7, 2014)

inva said:


> The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
> I've not read too much of this yet but it's off to a fantastic start that began quite funny and is now turning all a bit sinister. I'm really looking forward to the rest of it - brilliant writing.


Having finished this yesterday I'd have to say it's one of the best books I've read lately. Really excellent.

I've just started on a crime novel Weirdo by Cathi Unsworth which has begun pretty well and I've also got either Outsiders: Class, Gender and Nation by Dorothy Thompson or The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leïla Marouane to have a go at. I don't know much at all about the Marouane one, I just got it because it was cheap and it sounded like it might be something a bit different so I'm interested to see what it turns out like.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2014)

sojourner said:


> You know what? I was REALLY hoping you might say something like that! Yes please!!
> 
> I've only really read fiction, novels, for most of my reading life, which is a bit weird but I never questioned it before. Since reading the Owen Jones book, The Spirit Level, and Flat Earth News, my hunger for factual knowledge in these areas has been aroused, but I wasn't sure where to start.
> 
> Thank you



OK here goes:

The Last Supper - Philip Willan



> This title presents the truth at last about one of the world's great unsolved crimes. The death of Roberto 'God's Banker' Calvi, found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in 1982 days before his bank's collapse, remains one of the most extraordinary crimes of all time. Straight from the dark heart of Italy, it involved dark Masonic rituals, political involvement at the highest level, bizarre forensics, intense mafia involvement, the Vatican, a man on the run, and phenomenal sums of money swirling around. Revealing new sources that speak for the first time, investigative journalist Philip Willan finally uncovers the full truth behind Calvi's death and his last days on the run. Calvi's elimination prevented the world from learning the full truth about the activities of the Masonic sect P2, that secret 'shadow state' whose top-rank membership had been discovered shortly before. Had Calvi's death been investigated properly, Italy government today might have been very different. And the failure to investigate began in England. This true story of a man falling off the precipice is also a shocking political expose.



Also by Phillip Willan: Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy



> The CIA has been accused of a massive intelligence failure in the run-up to the 9/11 attacks -- the result, it is said, of a moralistic and bureaucratic approach to information-gathering. But the CIA's spies had few qualms when it came to cultivating terrorist organisations and interfering in the internal politics of Cold War Italy. Puppetmasters reveals how US intelligence services exploited the P2 masonic lodge to prop up friendly Christian Democrat-dominated governments and counter the growing political influence of the Italian Communist Party. It was a ruthless strategy involving coup plots, right wing terrorist bombings and the manipulation of the Red Brigades. And it gave Italy one of the bloodiest and most protracted periods of terrorist violence ever seen in a modern, industrialised society.



Following on from the above is Stefano Delle Chiaie: Portrait of a Black Terrorist by Stuart Christie. The following is from reviews on amazon:



> Stuart Christie's knowledge of the far-right is mind-boggling. I was asking myself how he knows all the information contained within the book - it's that detailed. However, I do believe his assertions and it seems to fit, given my less-than-extensive knowledge of the extreme right. For anyone wanting an in-depth investigation of right-wing influence and atocities, particularly centred around Italy in the seventies, this is the book! Stuart Christie is, of course, the anarchist who tried to assassinate General Franco, fighting on the side of the republicans during the Spanish Civil War. He is an authority on these things and his approach is dry but extremely informative.





> An excellent piece of investigative journalism. Before al-Queda ever showed its CIA-connected face, there was a network of State-backed fascist terrorists in Europe whose shadowy goal was to spread terror and drive the people into the arms of Big Brother. This is that story.
> 
> The Europe-wide network of para-fascist armies was exposed in the 90s and officially abandoned, but as we know from looking at the example of the COINTELPRO/SOG hit squads in America, the likelihood that the military-intelligence-industrial complex really ceased activity is wavering around nil.



NATO's Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe by Daniele Ganser



> This fascinating new study shows how the CIA and the British secret service, in collaboration with the military alliance NATO and European military secret services, set up a network of clandestine anti-communist armies in Western Europe after World War II.
> 
> These secret soldiers were trained on remote islands in the Mediterranean and in unorthodox warfare centres in England and in the United States by the Green Berets and SAS Special Forces. The network was armed with explosives, machine guns and high-tech communication equipment hidden in underground bunkers and secret arms caches in forests and mountain meadows. In some countries the secret army linked up with right-wing terrorist who in a secret war engaged in political manipulation, harrassement of left wing parties, massacres, coup d'états and torture.
> 
> Codenamed 'Gladio' ('the sword'), the Italian secret army was exposed in 1990 by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to the Italian Senate, whereupon the press spoke of "The best kept, and most damaging, political-military secret since World War II" (Observer, 18. November 1990) and observed that "The story seems straight from the pages of a political thriller." (The Times, November 19, 1990). Ever since, so-called 'stay-behind' armies of NATO have also been discovered in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Turkey. They were internationally coordinated by the Pentagon and NATO and had their last known meeting in the NATO-linked Allied Clandestine Committee (ACC) in Brussels in October 1990.



James Jesus Angleton, the CIA, and the Craft of Counterintelligence by Michael Holzman



> As chief of counterintelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency from the early 1950s to the early 1970s, James Jesus Angleton built a formidable reputation. Although perhaps best known for leading the agency's notorious "Molehunt" - the search for a Soviet spy believed to have infiltrated the upper levels of the American government - Angleton also played a key role in the U.S. intervention in the Italian election of 1948, in Israel's development of nuclear weapons, and in the management of the CIA's investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He later led CIA efforts to contain the Vietnam-era antiwar movement, including the campaign to destroy the liberal Catholic magazine Ramparts.In this deeply researched biography, Michael Holzman uses Angleton's story to illuminate the history of the CIA from its founding in the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. Like many of his colleagues in the CIA, James Angleton learned the craft of espionage during World War II as an officer in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), where he became a friend and protege of the British double agent Kim Philby.
> 
> Yet Angleton's approach to counterintelligence was also influenced by his unusual Mexican American family background and his years at Yale as a student of the New Critics and publisher of modernist poets. His marriage to Cicely d'Autremont and the couple's friendship with E. E. and Marion Cummings became part of a network of cultural connections that linked the U.S. secret intelligence services and American writers and artists during the postwar period.Drawing on a broad range of sources, including previously unexamined archival documents, personal letters, and interviews, Holzman looks beneath the surface of Angleton's career to reveal the sensibility that governed not only his personal aims and ambitions but those of the organization he served and helped shape.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2014)

Continued: 

Who Paid the Piper?: The CIA and the Cultural Cold War by Frances Stonor Saunders



> During the Cold War, writers and artists were faced with a huge challenge. In the Soviet world, they were expected to turn out works that glorified militancy, struggle and relentless optimism. In the West, freedom of expression was vaunted as liberal democracy's most cherished possession. But such freedom could carry a cost. This book documents the extraordinary energy of a secret campaign in which some of the most vocal exponents of intellectual freedom in the West were instruments - whether they knew it or not, whether they liked it or not - of America's secret service.



Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World by Nicholas Shaxson



> Tax havens are _the_ most important single reason why poor people and poor countries stay poor. They lie at the very heart of the global economy, with over half the world trade processed through them. They have been instrumental in nearly every major economic event, in every big financial scandal, and in every financial crisis since the 1970s, including the latest global economic downturn.
> 
> In _Treasure Islands_, Nicholas Shaxson shows how this happened, and what this means for you.



The Blood Bankers: Tales from the Global Underground Economy by James S. Henry



> Like tentacles on a vast octopus, the firsthand investigations in The Blood Bankers all lead to one core. A financial detective of sorts, investigative journalist Jim Henry analyzes a range of scandals, including the looting of the Philippines by the Marcos family and the financial collapse of nations throughout the developing world. A rogues' gallery of international criminals owes its existence to the dramatic growth of the underground global economy over the last two decades. Our world is being reshaped, often in sinister fashion, by wide open capital markets and an international banking network that exists to launder hundreds of billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. Here is an inside look at globalization's dark sidethe new high growth global markets for influence-peddling, capital flight, money laundering, weapons, drugs, tax evasion, child labor, illegal immigration, and other forms of transnational crime.




Full Service Bank: How BCCI Stole Billions Around the World by James Ring Adams



> The Bank of Credit and Commerce International was the favorite bank of dictators, drug dealers and arms merchants around the globe. In this riveting account, two veteran journalists expose the bank's outlaw schemes and its increasingly precarious financial status, and they reveal the daring undercover operation that resulted in the first indictments against B.C.C.I.



The Octopus: Secret Government & the Death of Danny Casolaro: Secret Government & the Death of Danny Casolaro -  by Kenn Thomas. This doesn't have a decent blurb on amazon, so I am going to quote from the wikipedia page for Danny Casolaro:



> *Joseph Daniel Casolaro* (June 16, 1947 – August 12, 1991) was an American freelance writer who came to public attention in 1991 when he was found dead in a bathtub in room 517 of the Sheraton Hotel in Martinsburg, West Virginia, his wrists slashed 10–12 times. A note was found, and the medical examiner ruled the death a suicide.[1]
> 
> His death became controversial because his notes suggested he was in Martinsburg to meet a source about a story he called "the Octopus." This centered on a sprawling collaboration involving an international cabal, and primarily featuring a number of stories familiar to journalists who worked in and near Washington, D.C. in the 1980s—the Inslaw case, about a software manufacturer whose owner accused the Justice Department of stealing its work product; theOctober Surprise theory that during the Iran hostage crisis, Iran deliberately held back American hostages to help Ronald Reagan win the 1980 presidential election; the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International; and Iran-Contra.[2]




The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America by Peter Dale Scott



> This is an ambitious, meticulous examination of how U.S. foreign policy since the 1960s has led to partial or total cover-ups of past domestic criminal acts, including, perhaps, the catastrophe of 9/11. Peter Dale Scott, whose previous books have investigated CIA involvement in southeast Asia, the drug wars, and the Kennedy assassination, here probes how the policies of presidents since Nixon have augmented the tangled bases for the 2001 terrorist attack. Scott shows how America's expansion into the world since World War II has led to momentous secret decision making at high levels. He demonstrates how these decisions by small cliques are responsive to the agendas of private wealth at the expense of the public, of the democratic state, and of civil society. He shows how, in implementing these agendas, U.S. intelligence agencies have become involved with terrorist groups they once backed and helped create, including al Qaeda.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 7, 2014)

There are loads loads more, but that covers quite a lot. I can vouch for every one (except the Danny Casolaro one - that is good but takes quite a speculative leap at the end) of these books as extremely well written, meticulously researched and referenced. They are very clear about what can be proved, and what is speculation.

Start with the first one, Last Supper by Phillip Willan. The Roberto Calvi case goes _everywhere_. It is astonishing. Learning about Italian history from 1945 is instructive. Follow that with the book about Stefano Delle Chiaie. After that, whatever takes your interest. It goes in so many directions.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 8, 2014)

I have just looked through my books, here are a few more:

Pinochet in Piccadilly: Britain and Chile's Hidden History by Andy Beckett



> In October 1998, the erstwhile Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London, charged with crimes against humanity by a Spanish magistrate. But over the 16 months that Pinochet was detained, intriguing questions went unanswered about his close ties with Britain. Why was Lady Thatcher so keen to defend the General? And why was Tony Blair's usually cautious government prepared to have him arrested? As Andy Beckett uncovers, the answers reside deep within the long and shadowy history of relations between Britain and Chile.



Chatter: Uncovering the Echelon Surveillance Network and the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping by Patrick Radden Keefe



> How does our government eavesdrop? Whom do they eavesdrop on? And is the interception of communication an effective means of predicting and preventing future attacks? These are some of the questions at the heart of Patrick Radden Keefe’s brilliant new book, Chatter.
> 
> In the late 1990s, when Keefe was a graduate student in England, he heard stories about an eavesdropping network led by the United States that spanned the planet. The system, known as Echelon, allowed America and its allies to intercept the private phone calls and e-mails of civilians and governments around the world. Taking the mystery of Echelon as his point of departure, Keefe explores the nature and context of communications interception, drawing together fascinating strands of history, fresh investigative reporting, and riveting, eye-opening anecdotes. The result is a bold and distinctive book, part detective story, part travel-writing, part essay on paranoia and secrecy in a digital age.
> 
> ...



This predates a lot of the revelations made by Edward Snowdon, but covers almost exactly the same kind of stuff.

Government of the Shadows: Parapolitics and Criminal Sovereignty by Eric Wilson



> Government of the Shadows analyses the concept of clandestine government. It explores how covert political activity and transnational organised crime are linked -- and how they ultimately work to the advantage of state and corporate power.
> 
> The book shows that legitimate government is now routinely accompanied by extra-governmental covert operations. Using a variety of case studies, from the mafia in Italy to programmes for food and reconstruction in Iraq, the contributors illustrate that para-political structures are not 'deviant', but central to the operation of global governments.
> 
> The creation of this truly parallel world-economy, the source of huge political and economic potential, entices states to undertake new forms of regulation, either through their own intelligence agencies, or through the more shadowy world of criminal cartels.



Why Are We the Good Guys? by David Cromwell



> One of the unspoken assumptions of the Western world is that we are great defenders of human rights, a free press and the benefits of market economics. Mistakes might be made along the way, perhaps even tragic errors of judgement such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But the prevailing view is that the West is essentially a force for good in the wider world. Why Are We The Good Guys? is a provocative challenge of this false ideology. David Cromwell digs beneath standard accounts of crucial issues such as foreign policy, climate change and the constant struggle between state-corporate power and genuine democracy. The powerful evidence-based analysis of current affairs is leavened by some of the formative experiences that led the author to question the basic myth of Western benevolence: from schoolroom experiments in democracy, exposure to radical ideas at home, and a mercy mission while at sea; to an unexpected encounter with former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, the struggles to publish hard-hitting journalism, and the founding of Media Lens in 2001.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2014)

Maybe there should be a blog.thread.
I have just read this one about the Congo.
:mad
Belushi discokermit nagapie - Ben wrote this
http://doilum.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1


----------



## Awesome Wells (Mar 9, 2014)

Judge Dredd, Complete Case Files #11. 

"Chopper For Oz!"

Bristol Library took stock of a whole bunch of JD graphics recently. Unfortunately for them comics are banned in Meg City 1, so that's ten years apiece in the cubes.


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## Naiwen (Mar 10, 2014)

I am reading Anne of Green Gables.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Mar 10, 2014)

This is the third book I've read by him and while I find him funny, he doesn't really seem to like some of the countries he visits.  Sometimes I just want to yell at the book "if you wanted western-style flush toilets, you should stick to countries that have them."


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## DotCommunist (Mar 10, 2014)

The Graveyard Book

good Gaiman so far. His usual darkly twee style....but whats this...on the horizon...is it a quirky assertive girl who will take our hero in hand and make a man of him? Oh  niel. Every love interest in your books is basically her from Dresden Dolls.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Mar 10, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> The Graveyard Book
> 
> good Gaiman so far. His usual darkly twee style....but whats this...on the horizon...is it a quirky assertive girl who will take our hero in hand and make a man of him? Oh  niel. Every love interest in your books is basically her from Dresden Dolls.



I read that book.  It's even more twee than his usual fare.  American Gods is better, imho.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 10, 2014)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> I read that book.  It's even more twee than his usual fare.  American Gods is better, imho.




I'd rate American Gods as his best novel tbf. Neverwhere is in the no2 spot.

not  counting Sandman obvs (co its a graphic novel series) of which I hear there might be a new one soon 

Having the character Death as a waifish goth girl with a penchant for catholic tat is very signature gaiman


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Mar 10, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> I'd rate American Gods as his best novel tbf. Neverwhere is in the no2 spot.
> 
> not  counting Sandman obvs (co its a graphic novel series) of which I hear there might be a new one soon
> 
> Having the character Death as a waifish goth girl with a penchant for catholic tat is very signature gaiman



Yes it is.  I'd agree that Neverwhere is second on the list.  I think Neverwhere is a bit darker too.  I keep thinking I'll order the mini-series, but haven't done it yet.


----------



## Pickman's model (Mar 10, 2014)

revelations of the golden dawn


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## DotCommunist (Mar 10, 2014)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> Yes it is.  I'd agree that Neverwhere is second on the list.  I think its a bit darker though too.  I keep thinking I'll order the mini-series, but haven't done it yet.




would that be the BBC mini series where Patterson Joseph plays De Carrabas? not so good I'm afraid. Ropey budget and truncated script. Really not worth paying for.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Mar 10, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> would that be the BBC mini series where Patterson Joseph plays De Carrabas? not so good I'm afraid. Ropey budget and truncated script. Really not worth paying for.



Yes, it is.  Thanks for the info.  I'll save my cash.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Mar 10, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Me too, but when I was unemployed my local library was a lifesaver



When I was a kid, we had two modes of entertainment.  Drinking or reading books from the library.  I choose the latter.  Its only as an oldster that I've taken to drink.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 10, 2014)

Thanks so much Dillinger4


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Mar 11, 2014)

Just started this one.  It looks like it might be a slog.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 11, 2014)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> Yes, it is.  Thanks for the info.  I'll save my cash.




I nearly offered to send you it then I realised that a 1st class stamp doesn't get a letter all the way to americky  it would be pointless anyway, its rubbish and I really wanted to like it but just.....no. In my copy of neverwhere theres a note by Gaiman saying how much of a disappointing nightmare the whole process was.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Mar 11, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> I nearly offered to send you it then I realised that a 1st class stamp doesn't get a letter all the way to americky  it would be pointless anyway, its rubbish and I really wanted to like it but just.....no. In my copy of neverwhere theres a note by Gaiman saying how much of a disappointing nightmare the whole process was.



No worries.  I'm sure my library has a copy if I cared to look. 

I did look on half.com and you can get it for nearly the cost of postage and there's lots of copies.  I think my pawn shop movie rating system applies here.  A movie is good or bad depending on how many copies there are in the local pawn shop.  You count the number of copies and subtract that from 10.  That's how good the movie is.


----------



## TruXta (Mar 11, 2014)

Charles Bukowski's _Ham on rye_.


----------



## BoatieBird (Mar 11, 2014)

Annie Proulx's The Shipping News.
Beautifully written and thoroughly absorbing - thanks ringo


----------



## sojourner (Mar 11, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> Annie Proulx's The Shipping News.
> Beautifully written and thoroughly absorbing - thanks ringo




I've just started No Place To Call Home, by Katharine Quarmby. Shaping up nicely. Ooo AND I found out there was an '*Egypcians* Act', and consequently in 1624, eight men were put to death in Scotland for being Egypcians - six of them from one family, the* Faas.*

Any Phillip Pullman fans of His Dark Materials will instantly recognise one of his sources! Me eyes nearly fell out me face when I read that!


----------



## Frances Lengel (Mar 11, 2014)

sojourner said:


> *I've just started No Place To Call Home, by Katharine Quarmby. Shaping up nicely.* Ooo AND I found out there was an '*Egypcians* Act', and consequently in 1624, eight men were put to death in Scotland for being Egypcians - six of them from one family, the* Faas.*
> 
> Any Phillip Pullman fans of His Dark Materials will instantly recognise one of his sources! Me eyes nearly fell out me face when I read that!



Read that a few weeks back - Not a bad read I thought. And very not-one-sided IYSWIM, very fair to everyone interviewed/written about IMO.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Mar 11, 2014)

I've just started, but probably won't finish, Life Unfolding - how the human body creates itself by Jamie A Davies. A biology book basically, but I love biology as it fascinates me.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 11, 2014)

Jilted Generation: How Britain Has Bankrupted Its Youth.
Just an extended hangwringing broadsheet article really. Far too many graphs for my liking.
Still, as you may infer from the title, it's depressing and enraging.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 12, 2014)

Frances Lengel said:


> Read that a few weeks back - Not a bad read I thought. And very not-one-sided IYSWIM, very fair to everyone interviewed/written about IMO.


It's absolutely fascinating. The fucking Tent Act in Scotland!  All those kids still being fucking removed from their families into the 1960's! Fuck me 

And - I never knew that Nick Davies was on the Peace Convoy at the Beanfield! Albeit in his capacity as a journalist for the Observer, but still...coming after reading Flat Earth News I was struck by that.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 12, 2014)

farmerbarleymow said:


> I've just started, but probably won't finish, Life Unfolding - how the human body creates itself by Jamie A Davies. A biology book basically, but I love biology as it fascinates me.


Ooo that sounds interesting. I love all that kind of stuff too. I constantly amaze the fella with my knowledge of the body on biology questions on Uni Challenge


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Mar 13, 2014)

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence.

It's funny how an orgasm is described as a "_crisis_".  Oh, how far the English language has cum.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Mar 13, 2014)

Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer


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## Dillinger4 (Mar 15, 2014)

here are some that I have read recently:

Orpheus: The Song of Life by Ann Wroe
Danube by Claudio Magris
Blake by Peter Ackroyd
The Poetry of Thought by George Steiner
Between Parenthesis by Roberto Bolano
Brief History of Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable by Brian Clegg
Brand New Ancients by Kate Tempest

I got Brand New Ancients this morning. It is a poem in 40 pages. I have just finished it. Kate Tempest really is properly fucking talented. You should read it.


----------



## belboid (Mar 15, 2014)

Robert W Chambers - The King in Yellow

I was worried that the stories would give away the ending to the show, but it doesn't really seem to have borrowed that directly, just some of the themes and imagery.  A very good read so far.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 15, 2014)

Terminal World. Alisdair Reynolds does steam punk and manages to not-fuck-it-up.

return to competency after the lacklustre 'Blue Remembered Earth'


----------



## inva (Mar 15, 2014)

Outsiders: Class, Gender and Nation by Dorothy Thompson.
Almost finished this - a short collection of interesting essays mainly about Chartism but also Irish Jacobinism and the last one which I've yet to read is to do with Queen Victoria.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Mar 16, 2014)

sojourner said:


> One of THE best books ever written, imo.



I've just finished it, The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck. Some small part of me has been changed forever, i will never forget this book. It's probably the best book i have ever read.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Mar 16, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I've just finished it, The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck. Some small part of me has been changed forever, i will never forget this book. It's probably the best book i have ever read.



It's a good one. You should try Mice and Men.

I'm still reading that history of Scotland, because I'm reading other things, too.

St. Someone or Other just came over from Ireland. Ruari? I don't think so. He had to go inland till he couldn't see the sea.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Mar 16, 2014)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> It's a good one. *You should try Mice and Men.*
> 
> I'm still reading that history of Scotland, because I'm reading other things, too.
> 
> St. Someone or Other just came over from Ireland. Ruari? I don't think so. He had to go inland till he couldn't see the sea.



Of Mice and Men , read that last year, loved it also.


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## Dexter Deadwood (Mar 16, 2014)

For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway.


----------



## Voley (Mar 16, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I've just finished it, The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck. Some small part of me has been changed forever, i will never forget this book. It's probably the best book i have ever read.


Same here. It's fucking incredible. You read 'East Of Eden' Dex? That's brilliant, too. 

I'm reading 'Joseph Anton' by Salman Rushdie, his autobiography, atm which is very good. I thought it was just going to be about the fatwa/his time in hiding but as is the way with his stuff it manages to encompass growing up in Bombay, his love/hate relationship with India, some marvelous bitching about his critics and much more besides. Really enjoying it. I've also got 'Touching From A Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division' by Deborah Curtis on the go but it's so profoundly sad that I keep going back to a man fearing for his life just for writing a book as a bit of light relief.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Mar 16, 2014)

Voley said:


> Same here. It's fucking incredible. *You read 'East Of Eden' Dex? That's brilliant, too. *
> 
> I'm reading 'Joseph Anton' by Salman Rushdie, his autobiography, atm which is very good. I thought it was just going to be about the fatwa/his time in hiding but as is the way with his stuff it manages to encompass growing up in Bombay, his love/hate relationship with India, some marvelous bitching about his critics and much more besides. Really enjoying it. I've also got 'Touching From A Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division' by Deborah Curtis on the go but it's so profoundly sad that I keep going back to a man fearing for his life just for writing a book as a bit of light relief.



I'm going to have a little break from Steinbeck but East of Eden is on my list, not read it but looking forward to.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 16, 2014)

Cyberabad Days

more developing world sci fi from Ian Mcdonnald

It's 2047, it's India


----------



## sojourner (Mar 17, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I've just finished it, The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck. Some small part of me has been changed forever, i will never forget this book. It's probably the best book i have ever read.




It really is that good isn't it?   I get emotional just thinking about it.


----------



## _pH_ (Mar 18, 2014)

Red Love: The story of an East German Family by Maxim Leo.

Biographical, the author describing his childhood in the DDR. Only a quarter in so far, but fascinating - father was a rebel who dicked around during his national service and retouched newspaper photos of Walter Ulbricht in an unflattering way, mother was an up-and-coming member of the SED but became rapidly disillusioned with the dishonesty of Communism. Be interesting to see how they met.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 19, 2014)

A Field Full of Butterflies by Rosemary Penfold - an English Gypsy's retelling of her childhood days spent on a piece of land owned by her grandparents. Very definitely romanticised, but lots of interesting details in there.


----------



## Idris2002 (Mar 19, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Terminal World. Alisdair Reynolds does steam punk and manages to not-fuck-it-up.
> 
> return to competency after the lacklustre 'Blue Remembered Earth'



Reynolds - good short story writer, terrible novelist.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 19, 2014)

I've been reading Cyberbad Days by Ian Mcdonald which is a set of 'malacia tapestry' style stories set within India come 2047

He has a deft touch, but there is something hollow to it. He knows his indian fiction clearly and the modern politics of india. But there is none of the sheer texture and chaos you get from the likes of Rushdie or Ahrundati Roy. I don't mean that you have to have lived and loved there to get India, christ knows it seems a very strange place to me. But his knowledge seems somehow...not the same. He doesn't paint india so well.

on the sexual trip he does portray how outward chastity and behind-doors licentiousness combine into a glorious dust-choked delhi sunset of sweat and heat and need etc.


but is that so different from here, really? Not when you look at how we are and what we do. It's good sci fi and the setting is uniquely refreshing but I don't feel I'm being told anything new about india or even being shown facets of indian society I haven't already read about. All the knowingly dropped references to hindu gods, the rituals, the irasible ayahs etc

dunno. I like it as sci fi but it doesn't tell me anything about the place, not really.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 19, 2014)

Idris2002 said:


> Reynolds - good short story writer, terrible novelist.




I think he did well with Chasm City. It's hard to finish a sci fi novel well, but he managed there.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 19, 2014)

I am enjoying Neil Gaiman's American Gods, but I've been led to believe he is an amazing writer and he really isn't. Great imagination though.
I am also enjoying Chris Beckett's The Turing Test. I loved Dark Eden so much that I immediately bought all of his work , which is just another novel, The Holy Machine, and two short story collections, The Peacock Cloak and this one.
It's his earliest collection, so some are a bit shoddy,  but they are loads of fun and he does have some original ideas. My new favourite scifi writer.
Also reading a kids' book, Rooftoppers, by Katherine Rundell, about a girl being brought up by a kind man who is not her father. It's very sweet so far.


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 19, 2014)

Just started Glitz by the brilliant Elmore Leonard.


----------



## Sprocket. (Mar 20, 2014)

Cannery Row - John Steinbeck.


----------



## BoatieBird (Mar 20, 2014)

Sprocket. said:


> Cannery Row - John Steinbeck.


 
Great book. I loved the description of the 2 sailors and their girls coming out of the club at dawn and walking down to the beach.
Must read some more Steinbeck soon.

I'm reading The Quarry - Iain Banks.  The usual dark humour and wit so far


----------



## ringo (Mar 20, 2014)

ringo said:


> Dracula - Bram Stoker.....loving this.



A masterpiece, if I read a better book this year I'll be very surprised. I'd never have picked it up if I wasn't trying to read the classics, it's proving a very rewarding project 

On a completely different tip, now on to Families And How To Survive Them by Robin Skynner And John Cleese. Very readable and interesting so far, with a hefty dose of humour and pathos.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 20, 2014)

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - read it for O'Level about 33 years ago...Pip is such a twat early doors - didn't think that when I read it at 15


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 20, 2014)

marty21 said:


> Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - read it for O'Level about 33 years ago...Pip is such a twat early doors - didn't think that when I read it at 15


He stays a twat IMO. Doesn't learn much


----------



## marty21 (Mar 20, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> He stays a twat IMO. Doesn't learn much


 he gets less twattish - I blame that Estella - she drove him crazy


----------



## sojourner (Mar 21, 2014)

Smoke in the Lanes, Happiness and Hardship on the Road with the Gypsies in the 1950s, by Dominic Reeve.

Finding it very interesting reading various accounts one after the other


----------



## weltweit (Mar 22, 2014)

Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon

Only a little way in, but liking it so far!


----------



## inva (Mar 22, 2014)

Sweetly Sings the Donkey by Shelagh Delaney

I've only read A Taste of Honey by her before so I'm interested to see what this turns out like.


----------



## May Kasahara (Mar 23, 2014)

Twenty Trillion Leagues Under The Sea, by Adam Roberts and Mahendra Singh. Just finished it today, actually. Takes at least half the book to get going, then is really exciting, then has one of those endings where you just think 'NOOOO, resolve, dammit!' And yet I am still half caught up in its watery world.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Mar 24, 2014)

Flowers for Algernon -  Daniel Keyes


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 25, 2014)

Just finished 'The Dervish House' by Ian McDonald


Istanbul is the star of this book. Queen of Cities, Byzantium- 3000 mosques in one ancient city.

good book


----------



## sojourner (Mar 26, 2014)

No Fixed Abode by Charlie Carroll, about a bloke losing his job and decided to 'tramp' from Cornwall to London. Interesting in parts, but he's wound me up a couple of times through being a tithead. Although tbf, he is mostly a self-aware tithead, and some of the stories are good.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 27, 2014)

Charlie Carroll's a twat. So far we've had mention of 'chavs' and when talking about the riots a couple of years ago, there's absolutely no mention of Mark Duggan, but instead we are treated to his mates opinion that the police were getting loads of flak for something they didn't do, and isn't it awful, and didn't they do well.


----------



## ringo (Mar 28, 2014)

The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje

Love all of his beautiful descriptive writing but this is another level and might even rank alongside the first of his I read, 'Coming Through Slaughter'.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 28, 2014)

ringo said:


> The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
> 
> Love all of his beautiful descriptive writing but this is another level and might even rank alongside the first of his I read, 'Coming Through Slaughter'.


Oh, it's a stunningly beautiful book that. I read it years ago and was knocked out by it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 28, 2014)

I hated it! Not a fan of that kind of florid prose.


----------



## ringo (Mar 28, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I hated it! Not a fan of that kind of florid prose.



You're missing out


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 28, 2014)

ringo said:


> You're missing out


I read the whole book and some family memoir of his, at my mother's insistence. Never again.
The film is an even more stultifying experience.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 28, 2014)

The Dreaming Void- Peter Hamilton

forgot what a hack he can be. Might sack it off for that In My Skin book


----------



## mansonroad (Mar 28, 2014)

first post, wag1 urban75. in terms of a whole book, i just finished in cold blood by truman capote, very interesting smudging of the lines between fiction and journalism, much recommended. also just got through a few of angela carter's short stories from 'the bloody chamber', similarly worth checking out if you're into disturbing retellings of gothic legends and brothers grimm fairy tales - menstrual vampires and virgins galore.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 31, 2014)

mansonroad said:


> first post, wag1 urban75. in terms of a whole book, i just finished in cold blood by truman capote, very interesting smudging of the lines between fiction and journalism, much recommended. also just got through a few of angela carter's short stories from 'the bloody chamber', similarly worth checking out if you're into disturbing retellings of gothic legends and brothers grimm fairy tales - menstrual vampires and virgins galore.


Welcome 

Great choices


----------



## Cheesypoof (Mar 31, 2014)

mansonroad said:


> first post, wag1 urban75. in terms of a whole book, i just finished in cold blood by truman capote, very interesting smudging of the lines between fiction and journalism, much recommended. also just got through a few of angela carter's short stories from 'the bloody chamber', similarly worth checking out if you're into disturbing retellings of gothic legends and brothers grimm fairy tales - menstrual vampires and virgins galore.



i agree with soj - two astounding writers. Angela Carter - explosive, and Truman Capote, sublime. You fall in love with him via his words on the page. Only greats like Oscar Wilde have that kind of affect.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Mar 31, 2014)

The Way We Live Now. - Anthony Trollope.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Mar 31, 2014)

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury.

I'm enjoying it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 31, 2014)

Just finished rereading Michel Faber's Under The Skin after seeing the film of it. Double wow. Even better this time round. Faber is one of the best living writers in the English. language. Every sentence is perfect. His description of his characters, under and over the skin is vivid and memorable. 
Fans of the film who haven't read this: the film is a only a very loose adaptation of the book - if you want to know who ScarJoh is and why she's doing what she is doing, then read it. Read it anyway.


----------



## flypanam (Apr 1, 2014)

Don DeLillo - Libra


----------



## sojourner (Apr 1, 2014)

Obnoxiousness said:


> Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury.
> 
> I'm enjoying it.


ONLY enjoying?! It's a work of genius!


----------



## sojourner (Apr 1, 2014)

I started 'The Palace of Curiosities' by Rosie Garland last night. She's a poet who I've met but don't really know that much, and has struck so lucky - she's been writing novels for years, and been having them rejected for the same amount of time, but finally FINALLY she's got herself a book deal with Harper Collins! Wooo!

I'm halfway through and it is fucking marvellous! Brilliant storytelling!


----------



## Cheesypoof (Apr 1, 2014)

Finished 'City of Night' by John Rechy, its about gay hustling in the 60's. Brilliant.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Just finished rereading Michel Faber's Under The Skin after seeing the film of it. Double wow. Even better this time round. Faber is one of the best living writers in the English. language. Every sentence is perfect. His description of his characters, under and over the skin is vivid and memorable.
> Fans of the film who haven't read this: the film is a only a very loose adaptation of the book - if you want to know who ScarJoh is and why she's doing what she is doing, then read it. Read it anyway.


Cheers - just checked and it's in the local library, so it's gone on the wanted list


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Just finished rereading Michel Faber's Under The Skin after seeing the film of it. Double wow. Even better this time round. Faber is one of the best living writers in the English. language. Every sentence is perfect. His description of his characters, under and over the skin is vivid and memorable.
> Fans of the film who haven't read this: the film is a only a very loose adaptation of the book - if you want to know who ScarJoh is and why she's doing what she is doing, then read it. Read it anyway.



with that I'm going to have to read the epub I downloaded by accident (was after the film)

have to sack off the current Peter Hamilton'Commonwealth' saga, well, lifes too short.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Apr 1, 2014)

sojourner said:


> ONLY enjoying?! It's a work of genius!


I guess my literary taste has not developed as it should have done.  It's a very, very good book, but it ain't quite as good as Orwell.


----------



## imposs1904 (Apr 1, 2014)

Cheesypoof said:


> Finished 'City of Light' by John Rechy, its about gay hustling in the 60's. Brilliant.



I have that on my 'to read' list. That, and about 700 other books.


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 1, 2014)

Kim Newman's "The Bloody Red Baron". Vampires in the Great War, Edgar Allen Poe, Mata Hari and other notables.


----------



## eatmorecheese (Apr 1, 2014)

VS Naipaul's _A Bend in the River_. Pleasantly surprised. Slow paced, but evocative and painfully honest. May need to read it twice.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Apr 1, 2014)

imposs1904 said:


> I have that on my 'to read' list. That, and about 700 other books.



City of Night is very unusual and funny. It depicts the hustling scene of LA, New York, New Orleans and San Francisco in the early 60's. Theres deep analysis from the narrator...who is essentially Rechy himself, a clever introvert who reveals little to his customers but shares all his observations with the reader. He spends his time 'scoring' men on the beach and the streets, but the book is not about sex, so much as the characters he meets. The writing is very powerful and there are some really sad stories as well as hilariously outlandish scenes of violence, suspense and extravagance.  It took me a while to read - two months - and got a bit scratchy in the middle but I raced through the last 200 pages when it really came into its own as a fantastic novel.


----------



## starfish (Apr 1, 2014)

Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 2, 2014)

Obnoxiousness said:


> I guess my literary taste has not developed as it should have done.  It's a very, very good book, but it ain't quite as good as Orwell.


You are fucking kidding, right? Not as good as Orwell?! Deary me. Ray Bradbury's got more fucking genius in his little toenail than Orwell!


----------



## sojourner (Apr 2, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I started 'The Palace of Curiosities' by Rosie Garland last night. She's a poet who I've met but don't really know that much, and has struck so lucky - she's been writing novels for years, and been having them rejected for the same amount of time, but finally FINALLY she's got herself a book deal with Harper Collins! Wooo!
> 
> I'm halfway through and it is fucking marvellous! Brilliant storytelling!


Finished this last night and it's rather wonderful.  Reminded me a bit of Angela Carter and earlier Jeanette Winterson, and I don't want to use the words 'magical realism' but I'm gonna have to I'm afraid. Don't let that put you off though. Excellent storytelling, had me glued.

Fucking library's shut today would you believe, so I'm falling back on the fella's copy of Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Read it before, twice actually, but years ago, and love the story, so reading the minutiae again will be interesting until I can next go the library.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Apr 2, 2014)

sojourner said:


> You are fucking kidding, right? Not as good as Orwell?! Deary me. Ray Bradbury's got more fucking genius in his little toenail than Orwell!


Like I said before, my literary taste isn't too good.  Please can you recommend another Ray Bradbury novel?


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 2, 2014)

krtek a houby said:


> Kim Newman's "The Bloody Red Baron". Vampires in the Great War, Edgar Allen Poe, Mata Hari and other notables.




if you want the follow on 'Dracula Cha Cha Cha' on .epub just PM an email address.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 2, 2014)

Obnoxiousness said:


> Like I said before, my literary taste isn't too good.  Please can you recommend another Ray Bradbury novel?


Every single one he's ever written - take your pick. He was hugely prolific.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Apr 2, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Every single one he's ever written - take your pick. He was hugely prolific.


Thank you 
I will try '_Something Wicked This Way Comes_' next.


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 2, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> if you want the follow on 'Dracula Cha Cha Cha' on .epub just PM an email address.


 
I don't understand what that is, but thanks anyway


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 2, 2014)

sojourner said:


> You are fucking kidding, right? Not as good as Orwell?! Deary me. Ray Bradbury's got more fucking genius in his little toenail than Orwell!


Stop right there


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 2, 2014)

krtek a houby said:


> I don't understand what that is, but thanks anyway




tis an ecopy, an electronic copy of the book. I take it you are strictly a 'physical, actual book' man. Is well good though. Bloody Red Baron is ww1, Dracula Cha Cha Cha is set in the 30's.


----------



## inva (Apr 2, 2014)

inva said:


> Sweetly Sings the Donkey by Shelagh Delaney


I've been reading this quite slowly mostly just one piece at a time as it is short stories but I'm enjoying it. A great writer.

I'm also just getting to the end of The Intellectuals and the Masses: Pride and Prejudice among the Literary Intelligentsia, 1880-1939 by John Carey.

It's a book examining the relationship between the social and political rise of the 'masses' and the culture/ideology of (mostly modernist) intellectuals, specifically focusing on the way in which the cultural activities and consumption of ordinary people (in particular the newly-literate members of the working class and lower-middle class) was viewed with contempt and fear by a self-styled intellectual aristocracy. I was a little bit dubious about this one as I wondered if it would end up being all fairly obvious stuff, which to some extent it is, but there is a fair amount of informative and entertaining as well as unsurprising detail. Given that it's not all that uncommon to find people today who seem to think that most people are mindless 'sheep' whose views are beamed into their heads by the media it's quite interesting at least to look at some of the history of this kind of classist misanthropy.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 2, 2014)

Obnoxiousness said:


> Thank you
> I will try '_Something Wicked This Way Comes_' next.


A most excellent choice


----------



## sojourner (Apr 2, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Stop right there


No. I'm right. Not slagging off Orwell, but Ray IS a better writer.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 2, 2014)

He IS NOT


----------



## sojourner (Apr 2, 2014)

Is

No back answers, no barleymows, I win


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 2, 2014)

I had my fingers crossed


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Apr 2, 2014)

krtek a houby said:


> Kim Newman's "The Bloody Red Baron". Vampires in the Great War, Edgar Allen Poe, Mata Hari and other notables.


Worth checking Wikipedia when you've finished it, to find out all the extra-obscure literary references you've missed.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Apr 2, 2014)

I'm reading The Dirt, the Motley Crue autobiography from a few years back. Nice short chapters.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Apr 2, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> The Way We Live Now. - Anthony Trollope.



I've given up with this at only 6% complete. Don't like the authors style and i care even less for the characters i have encountered. No doubt it is a good book but not for me.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Apr 2, 2014)

Long Walk To Freedom - Nelson Mandela.


----------



## Voley (Apr 3, 2014)

Cover tells you all you need to know, really. 

Overview of all the main ones plus a few I'd never heard of before, lent to me by a bloke at work who pretty much believes all of them.  Entertaining if incredibly  on a regular basis as you'd imagine. I'm enjoying the sensationalist way it's written too, even if it's not meant to be a joke. Refreshingly, even for someone that clearly believes a lot of this, David Icke doesn't get a particularly favourable write-up. For a shit book it's remarkably compelling - I got about halfway through it last night. The 'Were there two Yorkshire Rippers?' chapter was a new one on me.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 3, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I had my fingers crossed


 I SAID no barleymows 

Anyhoo - started Turn of the Screw last night and my GOD, there ain't half been some clever bastards


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 3, 2014)

I don't know what a barleymow is, so it doesn't work on me.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 3, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I don't know what a barleymow is, so it doesn't work on me.


Call yourself a Northerner - pah!

Anyway yes you did


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 3, 2014)

Well it doesn't count as i had my fingers crossed before you said that. So there.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 3, 2014)

Voley said:


> Cover tells you all you need to know, really.
> 
> Overview of all the main ones plus a few I'd never heard of before, lent to me by a bloke at work who pretty much believes all of them.  Entertaining if incredibly  on a regular basis as you'd imagine. I'm enjoying the sensationalist way it's written too, even if it's not meant to be a joke. Refreshingly, even for someone that clearly believes a lot of this, David Icke doesn't get a particularly favourable write-up. For a shit book it's remarkably compelling - I got about halfway through it last night. The 'Were there two Yorkshire Rippers?' chapter was a new one on me.


 that workmate is trying to recruit you!


----------



## Voley (Apr 3, 2014)

marty21 said:


> that workmate is trying to recruit you!


That's what he wants you to think.


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 3, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I had my fingers crossed



Fainites!




Voley said:


> Cover tells you all you need to know, really.
> 
> Overview of all the main ones plus a few I'd never heard of before, lent to me by a bloke at work who pretty much believes all of them.  Entertaining if incredibly  on a regular basis as you'd imagine. I'm enjoying the sensationalist way it's written too, even if it's not meant to be a joke. Refreshingly, even for someone that clearly believes a lot of this, David Icke doesn't get a particularly favourable write-up. For a shit book it's remarkably compelling - I got about halfway through it last night. The 'Were there two Yorkshire Rippers?' chapter was a new one on me.



That looks and sounds like the 'are you ready to join Urban?' manual 

(although maybe not so much anymore  haven't seen a good conspirathread for ages)

I've just started King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. Violent and somewhat trashy fantasy but the writing isn't bad and, like the first in the series, it's relentlessly page-turnerish.


----------



## Voley (Apr 3, 2014)

May Kasahara said:


> (although maybe not so much anymore  haven't seen a good conspirathread for ages)


Perhaps I should use this book to inspire a few new threads. The most recent chapter I read this lunchtime would go well, I think: 

'Did Marilyn Monroe die with oodles of Nembutal and chloral hydrate stuffed up her arse?'


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 3, 2014)

.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 3, 2014)

May Kasahara said:


> Fainites!


Had no idea what that was either
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fainites


----------



## Voley (Apr 5, 2014)

Just read that chapters on fake moon landings and 9/11 being a false flag in that 'Conspiracy!' book. Quite surprised/heartened to see the author debunking both of them. I'd expected him to have at least a bit of sympathy with the 9/11 one.


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 6, 2014)

May Kasahara said:


> I've just started King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. Violent and somewhat trashy fantasy but the writing isn't bad and, like the first in the series, it's relentlessly page-turnerish.



Nearly finished this. It's much, much better than the first one. The writing is so much stronger, the characters are much more complex.


----------



## idumea (Apr 7, 2014)

"_Full Metal Apache _: Transactions Between Cyberpunk Japan and Avant-Pop America (Post-Contemporary Interventions)" for the title alone


----------



## Welsh lad (Apr 7, 2014)

The Keeper, Luke Delaney. It's about a serial killer.


----------



## Sue (Apr 7, 2014)

So, I read a lot and can't remember ever not finishing a book. But, I'm currently reading A Confederacy of Dunces ('A pungent work of slapstick, satire and intellectual incongruities...a grand comic fugue' according to the NYT quote on the back) and really struggling with it. Is it just me or is it an utterly shit book, with no redeeming features whatsoever? I'm about a quarter of the way through and really thinking of giving up on it. Does it get any better or should I just abandon it and move onto something -- anything -- else?


----------



## Greebo (Apr 8, 2014)

Männer sind Helden - Jo Berlin
Still wading through Confessio Amantis...


----------



## miss direct (Apr 8, 2014)

I'm reading the Rosie Project.


----------



## bmd (Apr 8, 2014)

I've just finished The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I really enjoyed it apart from the bit where he's on his own in Amsterdam. Fantastic characters, excellent story line that all fitted together in a completely believable way and such evocative writing.


----------



## marty21 (Apr 8, 2014)

The Fellowship of the Ring - Tolkein - haven't read this since I was a teenager (which was a long long time ago) enjoying it all over again


----------



## TruXta (Apr 8, 2014)

Got two on the go: Atwood's _The Handmaiden's Tale_ and Hochschild's _King Leopold's Ghost_.


----------



## MrSki (Apr 8, 2014)

Sue said:


> So, I read a lot and can't remember ever not finishing a book. But, I'm currently reading A Confederacy of Dunces ('A pungent work of slapstick, satire and intellectual incongruities...a grand comic fugue' according to the NYT quote on the back) and really struggling with it. Is it just me or is it an utterly shit book, with no redeeming features whatsoever? I'm about a quarter of the way through and really thinking of giving up on it. Does it get any better or should I just abandon it and move onto something -- anything -- else?


My general rule is if it is still shite after a hundred or so pages it is not likely to get better. Move on.


----------



## Sue (Apr 8, 2014)

MrSki said:


> My general rule is if it is still shite after a hundred or so pages it is not likely to get better. Move on.


About 90 pages in so maybe I'll call it quits at that. Just feels wrong not finishing it...


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 8, 2014)

I think it's a great book. I'm surprised that you hate it so much. Made me LOL a lot.


----------



## MrSki (Apr 8, 2014)

Sue said:


> About 90 pages in so maybe I'll call it quits at that. Just feels wrong not finishing it...


There are so many good books out there that it seems daft to bother with one you are not enjoying. Besides it takes so much longer to read a shit book than one that grips you.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 8, 2014)

TruXta said:


> Got two on the go: Atwood's _The Handmaiden's Tale_


Excellent book!  Now then, where have you been?

I finished Turn of the Screw last night. He is such a clever writer 

Picked up 'Drysalter' by Michael Symmons Roberts from the library. I usually only read the poetry on Write Out Loud, but there are some crackers in this and I've only just started dipping into it.


----------



## TruXta (Apr 8, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Excellent book!  Now then, where have you been?


Somewhere with lots and lots of parsley. I'll go back there in a moment


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 8, 2014)

Machete Season

bit grim


----------



## Lea (Apr 8, 2014)

Looking Through the Cross by Graham Tomlin. Supposed to be reading this for lent but am rather hooked on A Song of Ice and Fire instead!


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 8, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Machete Season
> 
> bit grim


By who? Please give the author credit! It drives me crazy when people omit such important details
sojourner just did it too. Even mentioned the author being great but didn't bother to actually name him. Poor Henry James!


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 8, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> By who? Please given the author credit!,it drives me crazy when people omit such important details
> @sojourne




Jean Hatzfeld. its a book of interviews with killers from the rwndan massacre. Cheerful stuff.


----------



## D'wards (Apr 8, 2014)

Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I like to read it by low lamplight in the wee small hours when not a mouse stirs, and it makes for a pretty creepy reading experience


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 8, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Jean Hatzfeld. its a book of interviews with killers from the rwndan massacre. Cheerful stuff.


Ta! Have you read Philip Gourevitch's We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families?


----------



## sojourner (Apr 8, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> By who? Please give the author credit! It drives me crazy when people omit such important details
> sojourner just did it too. Even mentioned the author being great but didn't bother to actually name him. Poor Henry James!


I fucking mentioned him first time I posted that I was reading it - shurrup!


----------



## sojourner (Apr 8, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Fucking library's shut today would you believe, so I'm falling back on the fella's copy of Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Read it before, twice actually, but years ago, and love the story, so reading the minutiae again will be interesting until I can next go the library.


Orang Utan


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 8, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Ta! Have you read Philip Gourevitch's We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families?



I've not. I picked the rwanda book up as its the anniversary of the massacre and I wanted to try and see what these people were thinking. 
grimness


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 8, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> I've not. I picked the rwanda book up as its the anniversary of the massacre and I wanted to try and see what these people were thinking.
> grimness


Read it next if you can take it. Excellent journalism. He is very critical of the UN and the French about their inaction


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 8, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Orang Utan


Soz


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 8, 2014)

The Memoirs of Chateaubriand.


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 8, 2014)

Sue said:


> About 90 pages in so maybe I'll call it quits at that. Just feels wrong not finishing it...



I didn't enjoy it either. Did slog to the end but found no benefit in doing so.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Apr 9, 2014)

Outer Dark - Cormac McCarthy


----------



## MellySingsDoom (Apr 9, 2014)

A re-read of "Keep It Together!" - a biog of the groups The Deviants and the Pink Fairies.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 9, 2014)

Just finished

_Inheritance of Loss_ by Kiran Desai.  It was slow to get going but worth it in the ends

_Stonemouth _by Iain Banks.  As ever with his books, you are completely pulled in from the first page. 

With Banks and Ian McEwan, as soon as I  start, I know I'm in the hands of someone who knows what they'r doing


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 9, 2014)

Inevitably, I am now storming through Emperor of Thorns. It's not up to its predecessor's lovely standard of prose so far, but there is at least a touch of clayfoot about the main character. As compelling as he is, it gets a bit tired having him constantly whip out the right, unthought-of answer before anyone else has even got their sword drawn.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 10, 2014)

About halfway through 'How is the internet changing the way you think?', a collection of short essays by 154 leading intellectuals and scientists, edited by John Brockman.  What I thought was really interesting without even reading it was that they must all have been given a maximum word count, as each one is between 2 to 3 pages long, which kind of mirrors the internet browsing experience! Not sure how deliberate that was. 

Anyway, it's fascinating so far. Lots of stuff you already suspected about depth of thought being linked to intensity of attentiveness, reduced attention spans etc, but also much more positive stuff about increasing your support circle. Good stuff!

John Brockman asks a different question each year apparently. More info here http://edge.org/annual-question/how-is-the-internet-changing-the-way-you-think


----------



## yardbird (Apr 10, 2014)

I'm reading The Chrysalids by John Wyndham on my Kindle.
Years since I first read it and I'm getting into it again.
In print the book is Just My Type a book about fonts by Simon Garfield.


----------



## belboid (Apr 10, 2014)

yardbird said:


> In print the book is Just My Type a book about fonts by Simon Garfield.


wonderful book.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 10, 2014)

belboid said:


> wonderful book.


Love the story about the Dove font


----------



## Sue (Apr 10, 2014)

May Kasahara said:


> I didn't enjoy it either. Did slog to the end but found no benefit in doing so.


Decided to ditch it. Too many other decent books out there to waste time on an utterly shit one...


----------



## belboid (Apr 10, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Love the story about the Dove font


was that the one that got chucked into the river?  top stuff


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 10, 2014)

belboid said:


> was that the one that got chucked into the river?  top stuff


Aye, Hammersmith Bridge!


----------



## N_igma (Apr 10, 2014)

Irish Freedom, The History of Nationalism in Ireland - Richard English.

Good overview of Irish Nationalism starting with proto-nationalist movements and causes to the modern day. He actually lectured me in university so touched on a lot of it anyway but good to revisit he has a good grasp of the issues.


----------



## maya (Apr 11, 2014)

I'm supposed to be reading "The White Goddess" and "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves... but my brain is in a mush at the moment, so I'm mostly reading "Yé-yé Girls of 60s French Pop" by Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe (not sure that's his actual name  ), and a book on Baader Meinhof.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 11, 2014)

<-----


----------



## colbhoy (Apr 13, 2014)

Just started Mystic River by Dennis Lehane.


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 13, 2014)

May Kasahara said:


> Inevitably, I am now storming through Emperor of Thorns. It's not up to its predecessor's lovely standard of prose so far, but there is at least a touch of clayfoot about the main character. As compelling as he is, it gets a bit tired having him constantly whip out the right, unthought-of answer before anyone else has even got their sword drawn.



Finished this yesterday. Very flawed, nowhere near as complete an experience as King of Thorns, but still an immersive read and a decent conclusion to the series.

Now reading Reality, Reality by Jackie Kay. I seriously need something that's set in this world, with no living dead, murder and maiming!


----------



## flypanam (Apr 14, 2014)

The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton.

A little daunted by this but what the fuck it's meant to be good.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 15, 2014)

SF written in 1975.   I've been meaning to read this book for years, but never got ahold of a copy.  I ended up buying the large-size paperback for $20 (Jesus Johosaphat!, $20 for a paperback! )  I think it's going to worth it.

Brunner has always been a favorite of mine.  He presages cyberpunk by a good 15 years.  I got 10 pages in and at the top of the page it refers to who is president in 2010--an African named "President Obami."  (I kid you not.)


----------



## Yetman (Apr 15, 2014)

The Humans. Excellent stuff so far


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Apr 15, 2014)

John Le Carre "A Delicate Truth". Am enjoying it


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 15, 2014)

Yetman said:


> The Humans. Excellent stuff so far


BY WHO?


----------



## Yetman (Apr 16, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> BY WHO?



Matt Haig 
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/15/the-humans-matt-haig-review


----------



## sojourner (Apr 16, 2014)

Tell you wha, since OU became a librarian, he's got right fucking arsey on here 



Anyhoo - I am halfway through A Kind of Loving, by *STAN BARSTOW* - alright Orang Utan ?! 

Enjoying it, but ooo some of that casual racism from back then proper sticks in me craw.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 16, 2014)

Arsey for a reason! And nowt to do with being a librarian.
It's so disrespectful not to say who wrote it and it's necessary so people know what you're on about.
You wouldn't do it with a music album!


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 16, 2014)

an irvine welsh short story collection. The person who sent me it points out my distressing similaity to the main character in the final novella length piece.


There is also a story based in america, I'm halfway through that short. A bloke gets bittenon the cock by a snake. etc.


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 16, 2014)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> SF written in 1975.   I've been meaning to read this book for years, but never got ahold of a copy.  I ended up buying the large-size paperback for $20 (Jesus Johosaphat!, $20 for a paperback! )  I think it's going to worth it.
> 
> Brunner has always been a favorite of mine.  He presages cyberpunk by a good 15 years.  I got 10 pages in and at the top of the page it refers to who is president in 2010--an African named "President Obami."  (I kid you not.)



It's eerily prescient, but at the same time it's _very _late 1960s, not in a hippy way, but in that it extrapolates trends of that era into the 21st century. E.g. Yatakang instead of North Vietnam, Beninia instead of Biafra or Ghana, etc. Of course in it dope is legal and tobacco is not, which isn't quite how it turned out, but not that wide of the mark either.

I haven't read it since the 1980s, but by G-d I salute your taste in reading material.

E2A: Actually, eerily prescient is absolutely the wrong term, but I think it does stand up as a vision of the future, albeit a dated one.


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 16, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> an irvine welsh short story collection. The person who sent me it points out my distressing similaity to the main character in the final novella length piece.
> 
> 
> There is also a story based in america, I'm halfway through that short. A bloke gets bittenon the cock by a snake. etc.



And did you have to suck the venom out?


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 16, 2014)

Idris2002 said:


> It's eerily prescient, but at the same time it's _very _late 1960s, not in a hippy way, but in that it extrapolates trends of that era into the 21st century. E.g. Yatakang instead of North Vietnam, Beninia instead of Biafra or Ghana, etc. Of course in it dope is legal and tobacco is not, which isn't quite how it turned out, but not that wide of the mark either.
> 
> I haven't read it since the 1980s, but by G-d I salute your taste in reading material.



I just got through re-reading Shockwave Rider.  He got a lot right in that book too.  I believe he was influenced by Alvin Toffler's book Future Shock.  I've been wondering if I should give it a read.  It was a bestseller years ago, but its sure to be completely out of date now.


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 16, 2014)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> I just got through re-reading Shockwave Rider.  He got a lot right in that book too.  I believe he was influenced by Alvin Toffler's book Future Shock.  I've been wondering if I should give it a read.  It was a bestseller years ago, but its sure to be completely out of date now.



I don't think I read Future Shock, but I did read The Third Wave, and it was one of those books that is essentially a collection of factoids and talking points. Interesting enough, but I wouldn't recommend you spend 20 smackers on the paperback.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 16, 2014)

Idris2002 said:


> I don't think I read Future Shock, but I did read The Third Wave, and it was one of those books that is essentially a collection of factoids and talking points. Interesting enough, but I wouldn't recommend you spend 20 smackers on the paperback.



Spending 20 bucks on a paperback isn't something that happens often.  If fact, I can't recall ever doing it previously.  That's how much I wanted a copy of Stand on Zanzibar.


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 16, 2014)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> Spending 20 bucks on a paperback isn't something that happens often.  If fact, I can't recall ever doing it previously.  That's how much I wanted a copy of Stand on Zanzibar.



And did you like your electric razor so much you bought the company?


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 16, 2014)

Idris2002 said:


> And did you like your electric razor so much you bought the company?



I must be stupid this morning.


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 16, 2014)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> I must be stupid this morning.


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 16, 2014)

Looks like Future Shock is widely available as an online PDF, so you got that going for you, which is nice.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 16, 2014)

I gave that book away a couple of years ago!


----------



## maya (Apr 16, 2014)

IIRC Alvin Toffler also edited a non-fiction essay collection with futurists ('predict the future' social studies dudes, not the 1920s italian/russian modernists) in the mid-70s which got published as a neat paperback called "The Futurists"... Interesting (if somewhat outdated reading)

Yuwipi Woman , if you loved Stand on Zanzibar you'll probably also like his "The Sheep Look Up", which is equally good IMO- It all looks very prescient now, dealing with a post-collapse ecological dystopian scenario (people have to wear gasmask-style face shields because the air is so polluted they literally won't survive without it)




			
				John Brunner- The Sheep Look Up said:
			
		

> this book offers a dramatic and prophetic look at the potential consequences of the escalating destruction of Earth. In this nightmare society, air pollution is so bad that gas masks are commonplace. Infant mortality is up, and everyone seems to suffer from some form of ailment. The water is polluted, and only the poor drink from the tap. The government is ineffectual, and corporate interests scramble to make a profit from water purifiers, gas masks, and organic foods. Environmentalist Austin Train is on the run. The Trainites, environmental activists and sometime terrorists, want him to lead their movement. The government wants him in jail, or preferably, executed. The media wants a circus. Everyone has a plan for Train, but Train has a plan of his own.


----------



## Gingerman (Apr 16, 2014)




----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 16, 2014)

Idris2002 said:


> Looks like Future Shock is widely available as an online PDF, so you got that going for you, which is nice.



I've seen old paperbacks cheap too.  You can pick them up at garage sales for 50 cents.


maya said:


> IIRC Alvin Toffler also edited a non-fiction essay collection with futurists ('predict the future' social studies dudes, not the 1920s italian/russian modernists) in the mid-70s which got published as a neat paperback called "The Futurists"... Interesting (if somewhat outdated reading)
> 
> Yuwipi Woman , if you loved Stand on Zanzibar you'll probably also like his "The Sheep Look Up", which is equally good IMO- It all looks very prescient now, dealing with a post-collapse ecological dystopian scenario (people have to wear gasmask-style face shields because the air is so polluted they literally won't survive without it)



I've read that, but its been a while.  I might be due a re-read.  

I believe it was also part of his unofficial dystopian series of four books.  I'm not remembering the fourth at the moment.


----------



## Voley (Apr 17, 2014)

John Cooper Clarke - Ten Years In An Open Neck Shirt. Has everything in it you'd expect and is consequently totally fucking brilliant. I have just regaled my Mother with the joys of 'Evidently Chicken Town'; a touching parent/child moment that everyone should enjoy, I think. They should update it to include his more recent opus 'Get Back On Drugs You Fat Fuck'. Other than that, it's flawless.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 17, 2014)

I am just about to embark on someone's WWII war memoirs. Their war was remarkable in that they went from the expeditionary force through evacuation at Dunkirk onwards in active service and through the whole thing without so much as a scratch, while many alongside them were not so lucky.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 17, 2014)

Voley said:


> John Cooper Clarke - Ten Years In An Open Neck Shirt. Has everything in it you'd expect and is consequently totally fucking brilliant. I have just regaled my Mother with the joys of 'Evidently Chicken Town'; a touching parent/child moment that everyone should enjoy, I think. They should update it to include his more recent opus 'Get Back On Drugs You Fat Fuck'. Other than that, it's flawless.



Have you ever tried reading Evidently Chicken Town out loud? It is well fucking hard to read it and it sound right. And whenever I read it, I get really tired of swearing about half way through and feel like I never want to swear again.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 17, 2014)

weltweit said:


> I am just about to embark on someone's WWII war memoirs. Their war was remarkable in that they went from the expeditionary force through evacuation at Dunkirk onwards in active service and through the whole thing without so much as a scratch, while many alongside them were not so lucky.


_*Someone's? *_How dare you?


----------



## weltweit (Apr 17, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> _*Someone's? *_How dare you?


What ?


----------



## MellySingsDoom (Apr 17, 2014)

Ian Bone "Bash The Rich" - I wasn't too sure about this one initially, tbh, but it's actually turned out to be a highly entertaining, informative and frequently hilarious read so far.  Starts off in a wham-bam fashion, and carries on from there.  Bone puts the boot into various sacred cows, whilst always keeping a sense of self-deprecation and self-awareness about himself.  There's evident pride from Ian about the way his parents fought against the class/political system during his early years, and his own political journey is covered with great aplomb.  Am v much looking forward to continuing to read this book


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 17, 2014)

weltweit said:


> What ?


I'm just starting reading Anna Karenina by someone or other. Doesn't matter who.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 17, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm just starting reading Anna Karenina by someone or other. Doesn't matter who.


The author is now in their nineties, a family friend, and whose name I wish to keep private!


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 17, 2014)

weltweit said:


> The author is now in their nineties, a family friend, and whose name I wish to keep private!


Fair enough. It's just a pet bugbear of mine
(((writers)))


----------



## weltweit (Apr 17, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Fair enough. It's just a pet bugbear of mine
> (((writers)))


I was listening to a R4 program about the publishing industry tonight, interesting how many people are self publishing digital books these days, an Amazon guy was saying between 20-30 of the top 100 kindle books by sales were self published.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 18, 2014)

I am going out today, but naturally I am taking a bag of books with me. 

In that bag:

17 Contradictions and the End of Capitalism by David Harvey
The Diamond Sutra by Bill Porter
Zen Baggage by Bill Porter
Number: The Language of Science by Tobias Dantzig

The chapter about the division of labour in 17 Contradictions is really really good.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 18, 2014)

I am fun.


----------



## Voley (Apr 18, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> Have you ever tried reading Evidently Chicken Town out loud? It is well fucking hard to read it and it sound right. And whenever I read it, I get really tired of swearing about half way through and feel like I never want to swear again.


Yes, to my Mum. Her favourite bit was 'the fucking drains are fucking fucked'.


----------



## seventh bullet (Apr 18, 2014)

Rise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China's New Class - Joel Andreas

Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History - Alexander C. Cook (editor)

JimW


----------



## JimW (Apr 19, 2014)

seventh bullet said:


> Rise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China's New Class - Joel Andreas
> 
> Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History - Alexander C. Cook (editor)
> 
> JimW


Not heard of that second one -will look it up.
I really enjoyed what I read of the Andreas, but as per usual haven't actually finished it (got about halfway IIRC). He'd set out his thesis of a compromise/collaboration between the old academic elites and the incoming revolutionary political elite - thought he made a pretty compelling case - and he'd looked at the class composition of various Red Guard factions. Can't remember why I put it down,probably work distraction. What's your take so far/do I miss the best bits at the end?


----------



## seventh bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

I've only started it, but like you say it appears to be a demonstration of how that compromise during the GPCR instead of one or the other saw the creation of today's intelligentsia and their dominance in top-level government positions.  The blocking of access to higher education (for a time) in favour of the children of the new PLA/Party elite was a cause for frustration and rebellion among some members of Red Guard groups with considerable capabilities by way of cultural capital but tainted by pre-revolutionary class connections.  On Red Guard class-based resentments/motivations for violence,  I'm reminded of that article by Geremie R. Barme you showed me a few years ago (Beijing's Bloody August) with the revealing anecdotes of a man, who as poor lower class kid, joined a Red Guard group to lash out violently and torment his social superiors.


> Society's never fair. Even in the chaos of the Cultural Revolution the Red Guards were divided into different classes. Look at the kids in ‘United Action’. They were from 1 August High School, all privileged kids; they wore real army uniforms; they had black leather shoes, all shining, that's if they weren't wearing snow white sandshoes. They all sped around on brand new ‘Forever’ brand pushbikes, too. When a pack of them went riding past it was like the Praetorian Guard. They really were in your face. They were all from high-level cadre families, or army brats. How could alley-scum like me compete with that? In the Cultural Revolution they were still the ruling class. Our rebellion was a joke; sure it felt good, but we were only the shit-kickers for those people. You've got to face the facts.



I haven't started the other book yet but it looks good.  There's an essay on the Naxalites in India by an author I've read before. From the looks of it seems like it might be a rehash of her earlier writing.  And with Naxalite long being a term to inaccurately describe Maoists in India generally as well as apolitical banditry, I'm guessing if it's like her older book then it focuses on the original Naxalites: West Bengal-based radicals who came under the brief leadership of Charu Mazumdar and the CPI (M-L).  And with that two things. Firstly, a superficial understanding and mechanical adoption of Maoist theory which made sense in China (also, many students in Calcutta never read Mao in the original and got their information about India from newspapers printed in the PRC or 'Maoist' theory distilled into tracts written by others inside their country.  And secondly, in practice their methods became distinctly un-Maoist and brought rapid disaster.  Even today, it's an awful, nowhere struggle that enjoys more hardship that success.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Apr 19, 2014)

Just started reading Planesrunner book 1 by Ian McDonald, seems like a cracking alternate Earths romp, while I take a break in the seemingly endless Wudang series by Kylie Chan which is basically Harry Potter crossed with the X-Men via the Chinese/Taoist pantheon, and rubbish but quite enjoyable and morish a bit like a Mr Kipling mincepie.

And because I can't focus on one book for long I always need a few on the go especially mixing up fiction with non-fiction I'm reading Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher. A great guide to negotiating, from a business perspective but it's applicable to unions and politics as well imo.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Apr 19, 2014)

The Good Terrorist - Doris Lessing.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Apr 19, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> The Good Terrorist - Doris Lessing.



I found that to be an awful book, really depressing, can't remember why don't think it was because I sympathised with the characters more the inevitability of their stupidity


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Apr 19, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> I found that to be an awful book, really depressing, can't remember why don't think it was because I sympathised with the characters more the inevitability of their stupidity



It was a tough choice for me because of mixed reviews but i went with it because it was cheap. I suspect it is a hatchet job on the left wing. I'm only two chapters in and i could take or leave it. I'm not surprised the first comment about it is bad


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Apr 19, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> It was a tough choice for me because of mixed reviews but i went with it because it was cheap. I suspect it is a hatchet job on the left wing. I'm only two chapters in and i could take or leave it. I'm not surprised the first comment about it is bad



Yeah I don't have a problem with a hatchet job on the type of specimen on the book, it's more that it's a accurate portrayal of human stupidity.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Apr 19, 2014)

I'm reading Red Army General - Leading Britain's Biggest Hooligan Firm by Tony O'Neill. But that doesn't matter, the thing that's pecking my head is that when I got in earlier there was a copy of Brendan Sheerin - My Life - A Coach Trip Adventure on the wicker shelving unit in my front room _that wasn't there when I left the flat earlier on._ I definitely didn't bring it here & no one else has keys to this place so where it came from I don't know.


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 20, 2014)

Sounds like you've had a visit from the book fairy Frances Lengel.

I'm reading Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights. It's a set book for the children's lit module I'm going to be studying in the autumn, but that said I'm really enjoying it.


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 20, 2014)

I loved those books BoatieBird  Must read them again actually.


----------



## Roadkill (Apr 21, 2014)

Steven Parissien, _The Life of the Automobile: a new history of the motor car_.

Someday someone will write a good history of the car and its influence, but this isn't it. Readable, but forgettable.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Apr 21, 2014)

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk  I'm not supposed to talk about it


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 21, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> Sounds like you've had a visit from the book fairy Frances Lengel.
> 
> I'm reading* Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights*. It's a set book for the children's lit module I'm going to be studying in the autumn, but that said I'm really enjoying it.



the capitulation to liberalism


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 22, 2014)

*Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Rescued Western Civilization* by Lars Brownworth

It's a much easier read than Gibbon.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 22, 2014)

Has to be the most terrifying book I've read in a long while.

If someone tells you there's no inherited aristocracy in the US.  Tell them they're misinformed.


----------



## OneStrike (Apr 22, 2014)

Just started Nothing to Envy by Babara Demick, hopefully an honest insight into what really is going on in North Korea.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 23, 2014)

OneStrike said:


> Just started Nothing to Envy by Babara Demick, hopefully an honest insight into what really is going on in North Korea.



It's based on interviews with people who've fled the country so it's inevitably one-sided.  But who knows how accurate it is


----------



## D'wards (Apr 23, 2014)

Morrissey's Autobiography - full of wit and fine prose, but very downbeat and miserable. Who'd have thought it!


----------



## sojourner (Apr 23, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> I'm reading Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights. It's a set book for the children's lit module I'm going to be studying in the autumn, but that said I'm really enjoying it.


Brilliant trilogy - fucking genius in fact 

I've just got Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds from the library. Fuck ME - it's MASSIVE! I'm not a one to be put off by the amount of pages, but fuck ME 

Anyway, I've just started Big Brother by Lionel Shriver, and finding the narrator to be my complete antithesis. Immensely irritating. Will plough on for a while, see where it goes.


----------



## golightly (Apr 23, 2014)

Currently reading The Inner Circle by TC Boyle.  It's a fictionalised account of Kinsey and his research assistants.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 23, 2014)

just picked up 7 sci fi anthologies- themed ones as well, which is always nice. The current one is 'Godlike Machines'. Shorts/novellas from Names written specifically for the collection. Concerned with intelligent machines and vast artefacts.

already had to skip bast stephen baxter. Such a boring hack


----------



## sojourner (Apr 23, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> the capitulation to liberalism


I keep re-reading this, and I still don't get what you mean by it


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 23, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I keep re-reading this, and I still don't get what you mean by it




in the end god is not overthrown, love is not victorious and they are trapped in their own earths. Love the writing, love the Subtle Knife particularly, but in the end it felt like...'I woke up and stig was a dream'


----------



## sojourner (Apr 23, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> in the end god is not overthrown, love is not victorious and they are trapped in their own earths. Love the writing, love the Subtle Knife particularly, but in the end it felt like...'I woke up and stig was a dream'


Yeh but - god - I sobbed my fucking eyes out at the end. Didn't really feel like much of a capitulation to me, have to say.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Apr 23, 2014)

I thought the ending was brilliant



Spoiler



It captured the total bleakness of losing your first love perfectly, the total bleakness when you realise the world doesn't revolve around you I don't think he could of ended it better. It defineatly wouldn't have worked if they had lived happily ever after with the wheely creatures or something


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Apr 23, 2014)

I've just read Planesrunner by Ian McDonald while on a alternate Earths tip, great Pullmanesque stuff and only 98p on the Kindle at the mo' so promptly downloaded the sequels as well for reading over the next couple of days. 

It has airships, polari, nanotech, ipad powered reality jumping, and it's set around Hackney/Tottenham and other very real parts of London


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 23, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I keep re-reading this, and I still don't get what you mean by it



Thanks for this soj, I didn't understand what he was on about either.
Although between you all you've given the ending away 
I'll have to leave it a bit before I read the other 2 books in the hope that I forget


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 23, 2014)

apols!


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 23, 2014)

No worries Dotty, I won't get round to reading the others for a while anyway


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Apr 23, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> Thanks for this soj, I didn't understand what he was on about either.
> Although between you all you've given the ending away
> I'll have to leave it a bit before I read the other 2 books in the hope that I forget


Ahem I did try


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 24, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> Ahem I did try



Yes, thanks for trying


----------



## ringo (Apr 24, 2014)

The Tempest - William Shakespeare....First go since 6th Form, so far so good.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 24, 2014)

Ah shit so sorry BB!!!  But still, there's so much more!


----------



## sojourner (Apr 24, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> I thought the ending was brilliant
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Exactly!!


----------



## sojourner (Apr 24, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Anyway, I've just started Big Brother by Lionel Shriver, and finding the narrator to be my complete antithesis. Immensely irritating. Will plough on for a while, see where it goes.


It definitely picked up - almost finished it now. Got a whole lot better.

I'm also reading a selection of Burning Eye books, cos am considering putting in a proposal to them. Currently reading 'The Sustainable Nihilist's Handbook' by Jonny Fluffypunk. It is funny as FUCK - actual laugh out loud stuff. Right up my street. Totally recommended.


----------



## little_legs (Apr 25, 2014)

I just finished the 3rd installment of Knausgaard's _My Struggle _aka_ Boyhood Island. _

In the 3rd book Knausgaard writes about his childhood and youth spent on an island in Norway. Even though he was brought up thousands of miles away from where I was brought up, I could relate to a lot of things he writes about. Regardless where you come from, the memories of the place you grew up in and of the people you spent your childhood with stay with you forever. I don't really think much about the neighborhood I grew up in these days because I could not wait to escape it, not because growing up there was unpleasant but because I could not wait to be on my own. But I could still tell you about every mulberry tree in our neighborhood and tell you which one of them bears black and which one bears yellow berries, I could still point out the best pine tree to climb and pee from, the best fields to steal your sunflower pits from, even if the trees and fields aren't there any more.

There is a lot about his relationships with his parents in this book, in particular about the constant fear of his father which is pretty disturbing.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 25, 2014)

Finished Big Brother by Lionel Shriver. Turned out really quite good in the end.

Read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Simian too last night, by Monkey Poet. Wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.  

Going to start Maskboy by James Wheale at lunchtime.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 25, 2014)

Worked my way through 'Godlike Machines- finishes with a real headfuck from Greg Egan.

Have moved onto Zima Blue and Other Stories by Alistair Reynolds. Quite good so far. I seem to be on an anthologies trip this year


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 29, 2014)

The Towel of Basel by Adam LeBor



> The inside story of the central bankers' secret bank is an 80 year history of an institution that was designed to escape public scrutiny and to emphasize discretion, even as it became a leading architect of the global financial system. It's the engine at the heart of the financialization of everything. Six times a year, the world's most powerful and exclusive club meets in an unexceptional office building in Basel, Switzerland. They are central bankers, the presidents of national banks, such as the US Federal Reserve, the Bundesbank of Germany and the Bank of England. They have come to Basel to attend the Global Economy Meetings at the Bank for International Settlements. The discussions at the BIS meeting, the information that is shared there, the deals that are brokered and the subsequent decisions that the bankers take, shape all of our lives. The main job of a central banker is coordinate interest rates, regulate credit and the money supply and, especially in these austerity-obsessed times, work to prevent inflation. In short: these men control fiscal policy in the developed world. That means that the men gathered at the BIS influence how much money we have in our pockets and bank accounts, how much that money is worth and how safe it will be. Central bankers now "seem more powerful than politicians," wrote the Economist, "holding the destiny of the global economy in their hands". The Economist understated the case. Thanks in part to the global financial crisis, the attendees at the BIS bi-monthly meetings have seen their power reach unprecedented levels. Central bankers now shape the destiny, not just of their national economies and of the global economy, but of nations themselves.


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## weltweit (Apr 29, 2014)

I just read the war memoirs of a man who served with my dad in WWII. It was much better written than I had expected. I read it cover to cover in one day and had to keep reminding myself it was a real story where friends and colleagues being injured or killed were actual people, that it was not a fictional story. The author led a bit of a charmed life, narrowly avoiding injury or worse on a number of occasions. I think of it as a bit of eyewitness history and am very glad to have read it.


----------



## little_legs (Apr 30, 2014)

_The Good Lord Bird_ by James McBride


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 30, 2014)

Postcards by Annie Proulx, only a few pages in but enjoying it very much so far.
I had an appointment this morning, I arrived early looking forward to 10 minutes reading and was miffed to be called in before I'd even had chance to switch on my kindle


----------



## MellySingsDoom (Apr 30, 2014)

Got 2 on the go atm:

"Physical Resistance" by Dave Hann - a book covering a century of anti-fascism, and have only got as far as the aftermath of Cable Street so far (next up is the Spanish Revolution), but it's been an engaging and informative read, with a fair few things I've learned along the way.  Definitely looking forward to the rest of this one.

"Xerox Ferox - The Wild World of the Horror Film Fanzine" by John Szpunar - a very large tome (nearly 800 pages) covering the whole horror 'zine scene (mainly the US and UK) from the mid 1950's onwards. Starts off in a quite gentle and restrained fashion, but really kicks in with the stuff on "Sleazoid Express" (2 chapters' worth) - nigh-on uproarious in places, with many a tale about the late Bill Landis (not all of it positive!), and his candid on-the-spot reportage of the early 1980's Times Square/42nd Street axis. The Jim Morton/"Trashola" chapter is pretty decent as well, and Bob Martin ("Fangoria" head honcho) comes across as a genuinely sound guy.  Plenty more to come, inc. the (extensive) 1980's/1990's UK 'zine stuff.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 30, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> Postcards by Annie Proulx, only a few pages in but enjoying it very much so far.


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 30, 2014)

Expo '58 by Jonathan Coe. Not as immediately engaging as others I've read by him, but has certainly made me snort out loud a few times so far. Also resonant because my best pal currently lives in Belgium and I have enjoyed many a slagging of all things Belgique from her


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## Obnoxiousness (May 7, 2014)

Carrie - Stephen King.

This was his break-through novel, and it's much better than I anticipated.  Perhaps he's sold twice as many books as Charles Dickens for a reason?  My (great) expectations  were not high... but King has impressed me.


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## Dillinger4 (May 8, 2014)

Red Shelley by Paul Foot

from a review on amazon



> This incisive analysis of Shelley's political work was a truly inspirational read! The driving force is the idea that Shelley has been misinterpreted since his work was first published, by conservative and reactionary scholars who refuted Shelley's strong, often radical political messages - atheism, feminism, republicanism (each examined in detail) - because they offended, or opposed the idea of Shelley as the "ineffectual angel" of Romantic lyricism. It presents a far more exciting aspect of Shelley's poetry, who was more philosopher than perhaps all of his popular contemporaries.


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## rubbershoes (May 9, 2014)

Obnoxiousness said:


> Carrie - Stephen King.
> 
> This was his break-through novel, and it's much better than I anticipated.  Perhaps he's sold twice as many books as Charles Dickens for a reason?



Increased world population, lower production costs and far, far more global logistics means that Stephen King should have sold 20 times as many as Charles Dickens.  maybe he has..


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## marty21 (May 9, 2014)

talking of Dickens - just started Oliver Twist - enjoying it


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## Yuwipi Woman (May 9, 2014)

Obnoxiousness said:


> Carrie - Stephen King.
> 
> This was his break-through novel, and it's much better than I anticipated.  Perhaps he's sold twice as many books as Charles Dickens for a reason?  My (great) expectations  were not high... but King has impressed me.



I really loved his early stuff.  His new stuff annoys me.  I think he's reached that point where editors are afraid to say "Look, Steve, this would really work better if you cut 100 pages."


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## Orang Utan (May 9, 2014)

I tried to read Cell last year and it was virtually unreadable. Not a patch on The Shining and Salem's Lot


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## DotCommunist (May 9, 2014)

Jon Meaney 'Context' its a sequel to his first big hitter 'Paradox'. An entire below ground exo colony society whose strata are literally class indicators. Lords and Masters on Primum Stratae, descending in standards of living to the bottom dirt poor level. Kind of neo-fuedalism. 

Our hero fucked up the leading of a revolution and now has pieces to pick up, wounds to heal etc


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## Yuwipi Woman (May 9, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I tried to read Cell last year and it was virtually unreadable. Not a patch on The Shining and Salem's Lot



I don't even try to read his stuff any more.


----------



## Betsy (May 10, 2014)

The book I'm reading at the moment is the slimmest of volumes but is perfect in every way - it is Children On Their Birthdays by Truman Capote.

_"Truman Capote's bewitching short stories, many of which were set in the Deep South of his youth, are among his finest works. Perceptive, sensitive and eloquent, filled with brooding atmosphere and gorgeous description, these three stories tell of genteel eccentrics, evocative childhood memories and a malevolent nocturnal meeting."_


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (May 11, 2014)

American Rust - Philipp Meyer.


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## Cheesypoof (May 11, 2014)

Obnoxiousness said:


> Carrie - Stephen King.
> 
> This was his break-through novel, and it's much better than I anticipated.  Perhaps he's sold twice as many books as Charles Dickens for a reason?  My (great) expectations  were not high... but King has impressed me.



Stephen King is a true wonder - I have The Shining somewhere around and have never read it!! But feasted through most of his works like many teenagers....he is actually brilliant though.


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## Cheesypoof (May 11, 2014)

Betsy said:


> The book I'm reading at the moment is the slimmest of volumes but is perfect in every way - it is Children On Their Birthdays by Truman Capote.
> 
> _"Truman Capote's bewitching short stories, many of which were set in the Deep South of his youth, are among his finest works. Perceptive, sensitive and eloquent, filled with brooding atmosphere and gorgeous description, these three stories tell of genteel eccentrics, evocative childhood memories and a malevolent nocturnal meeting."_



I love him so much. Which reminds me - need to order Answered Prayers soon.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 11, 2014)

Cheesypoof said:


> Stephen King is a true wonder - I have The Shining somewhere around and have never read it!! But feasted through most of his works like many teenagers....he is actually brilliant though.




The Shining is probably one of his best imo, next to the unedited version of The Stand and my fave 'Needful Things' which is incredibly sinister.

His sci fi is...not so good Al.

He's never exactly subtle but then he doesn't need to be lol


----------



## weltweit (May 11, 2014)

I am back reading Sahara by Michael Palin, got half way through last time before starting other books, I am interested in it but not flipping pages like I hope to ..


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## Betsy (May 11, 2014)

Cheesypoof said:


> I love him so much. Which reminds me - need to order Answered Prayers soon.


I was a written word Truman Capote virgin before Children On Their Birthdays. I heard it read on Radio 4 (Extra ?) and was hooked. He writes so beautifully - not a word is wasted. I was already a big fan of the two film adaptations of In True Blood  with the late lamented Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) and Toby Jones (Infamous) I will definitely seek out more of his work. I can understand why you love him,Cheesypoof.


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## jeff_leigh (May 11, 2014)

Women - Charles Bukowski


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## campanula (May 11, 2014)

Prague Cemetery - Umberto Eco - not enjoying it that much but nowt else to read at bedtime so.......
Have sent off for The Jupiter War . last in Neal Asher's Owner trilogy (why are sf authors unable to manage a single volume?)


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## sojourner (May 12, 2014)

jeff_leigh said:


> Women - Charles Bukowski


What do you think, jeff_leigh ?

I had the misfortune to read that as my intro to Bukowski, and it scarred me for life. The misogyny dripping from each and every page made me want to smash his stupid fucking face in with a cricket bat.

So many of my  poetry friends think the sun shines out of his arse but I just cannot get my head round my loathing of him.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 12, 2014)

Butting in, I read Post Office recently and here's what I said about it


Orang Utan said:


> Charle Bukowski - Post Office
> This is great, despite Chinaski/Bukoswki being a rapist and a misosgynist.
> I'm not sure i get his attitude to women.
> Is he really that horrible? I am finding it hard to distinguish between the character and the writer here.
> BUT his description of what it's like working a shitty job is spot on and I wish I had his attitude when I worked them.


I was also puzzled at other people's admiration of him as this misogyny does seem to thoroughly colour his work. Maybe he gets away with cos he also hates men and he does portray the drudgery and injustice of the workplace so very well.
And of course he writes about the booze perfectly.


----------



## marty21 (May 12, 2014)

marty21 said:


> talking of Dickens - just started Oliver Twist - enjoying it


and  enjoying the fact that there is a character called Charley Bates in it, who is a mate of the Artful Dodger, and he is referred to as Master Bates on several occasions


----------



## jeff_leigh (May 13, 2014)

sojourner said:


> What do you think, jeff_leigh ?
> 
> I had the misfortune to read that as my intro to Bukowski, and it scarred me for life. The misogyny dripping from each and every page made me want to smash his stupid fucking face in with a cricket bat.
> 
> So many of my  poetry friends think the sun shines out of his arse but I just cannot get my head round my loathing of him.


Yeah I know what you mean, He does come across like a throwback from the 1970's, Maybe if he was still around he'd be in the dock with Max Clifford and Stuart Hall


----------



## belboid (May 13, 2014)

sojourner said:


> What do you think, jeff_leigh ?
> 
> I had the misfortune to read that as my intro to Bukowski, and it scarred me for life. The misogyny dripping from each and every page made me want to smash his stupid fucking face in with a cricket bat.
> 
> So many of my  poetry friends think the sun shines out of his arse but I just cannot get my head round my loathing of him.


he's a superb writer, who writes really horrible things. I haven't read any for years, because I don't particularly want to engorge myself in that level of misogyny again, but if, for any reason, you really want to get into the head of a man who hates women (as well as manyother things), Bukowski really is the way to go.


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## DotCommunist (May 13, 2014)

engorge lol


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## DotCommunist (May 13, 2014)

I'm on Tom Sharpe 'Ancestral Vices'

I thought I'd read all his stuff but must have missed this one. a lefty history lecturer is asked to do the family history of some absolute slaver scum aristo family.

farce will no doubt ensue


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## sojourner (May 13, 2014)

Just started the most recent edition of 'Energy flash' by Simon Reynolds. Great so far.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 13, 2014)

Just finished Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Beautifully written but I'm not sure if I'm glad I've read it.  

My capacity for McCarthy's bleakness seems to be diminishing as I get older


----------



## colbhoy (May 14, 2014)

I'm reading The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. Enjoyably silly so far!


----------



## MrSki (May 14, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm on Tom Sharpe 'Ancestral Vices'
> 
> I thought I'd read all his stuff but must have missed this one. a lefty history lecturer is asked to do the family history of some absolute slaver scum aristo family.
> 
> farce will no doubt ensue



If that is the one he wrote just a couple of years back where the kids are teenagers, I am afraid that it does not end in farce just disappointment.

Maybe I am thinking of another book. I hope for your sake that I am!

I always enjoyed his other books & the latter one was like seeing a band you used to love as a kid....

Edit to add I am thinking of The Wilt Inheritance so you should be okay.


----------



## D'wards (May 16, 2014)

Just finished Ender's Game - superb.

A real must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in sci-fi.

The end is great too


----------



## DotCommunist (May 17, 2014)

The film is a lot better than it has any right to be as well!


----------



## jeff_leigh (May 18, 2014)

D'wards said:


> Just finished Ender's Game - superb.
> 
> A real must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in sci-fi.
> 
> The end is great too


have you read the other 2 Shadow and Exile ? Just asking as I've got all 3 on my Kindle to read list


----------



## D'wards (May 19, 2014)

jeff_leigh said:


> have you read the other 2 Shadow and Exile ? Just asking as I've got all 3 on my Kindle to read list


No, I have them to read. Speaker for the Dead is the next one I think, meant to be very good but not quite up to Ender's Game standards. Next two just average apparently.


----------



## ringo (May 21, 2014)

Postcards - Annie Proulx....Loving everything she has written.


----------



## idumea (May 21, 2014)

The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a lost imagination by Sarah Schulman. 

Blurb:



> In this gripping memoir of the AIDS years (1981-1996), Sarah Schulman recalls how much of the rebellious queer culture, cheap rents, and a vibrant downtown arts movement vanished almost overnight to be replaced by gay conservative spokespeople and mainstream consumerism. Schulman takes us back to her Lower East Side and brings it to life, filling these pages with vivid memories of her avant-garde queer friends and dramatically recreating the early years of the AIDS crisis as experienced by a political insider. Interweaving personal reminiscence with cogent analysis, Schulman details her experience as a witness to the loss of a generation's imagination and the consequences of that loss.



Totally devastating.


----------



## ringo (May 21, 2014)

Hi idumea , good to meet you the other week in the pub


----------



## idumea (May 21, 2014)

Hello ringo! Queens Head a few weeks ago?


----------



## sojourner (May 21, 2014)

ringo said:


> Postcards - Annie Proulx....Loving everything she has written.


----------



## ringo (May 21, 2014)

idumea said:


> Hello ringo! Queens Head a few weeks ago?



I was playing records. You *may* have been somewhat under the influence


----------



## weltweit (May 21, 2014)

Rendezvous With Rama, Arthur C.Clarke


----------



## flypanam (May 22, 2014)

Galveston - Nic Pizzolatto


----------



## marty21 (May 22, 2014)

Re reading The Searchers - Alan Le May - made into the John Wayne film - excellent book


----------



## jeff_leigh (May 22, 2014)

Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie


----------



## nogojones (May 22, 2014)

Raymond Chandler - Pearls are a Nuisance and Nietzsche - Twilight of the Idols/ The Antichrist


----------



## Dillinger4 (May 22, 2014)

flypanam said:


> Galveston - Nic Pizzolatto



Is it any good? I wanted to buy it when True Detective was on. I really liked the sound of it. But then my interest faded a bit.


----------



## flypanam (May 23, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> Is it any good? I wanted to buy it when True Detective was on. I really liked the sound of it. But then my interest faded a bit.



So far its worth picking up. Essentially its about a middle aged sick weary bag man and a young woman who has tried to be a prostitute but doesn't like it and spend their time running away from troubles only to run into other troubles. The two main characters are very sympathetic and the area where I think Pizzolatto really does well is his evocation of heat in Loiusana and East Texas. There is also a sense of sunblind colour that you also get in True Detective.


----------



## Betsy (May 24, 2014)

Have just finished reading... 

Keeping Mum an autobiography by Brian Thompson 

Reading it I laughed and cried along with Brian as he recounted his bizarre childhood ...and bizarre is the word,believe me. 

_What's it like to be the man of the house when you're still a boy? 

Mum and Dad - Squibs and Bert- were a complete mystery to Brian Thompson as he grew up in Cambridge and London during the forties.His mother danced with the Yanks all night and slept under a fake fur coat all day and when his father bothered to come home he resolutely discouraged Brian in everything. Whilst other children were evacuated out of the big cities, Brian found himself travelling into London and spent much of the Blitz with an eccentric swarm of indolent,ribald relations._


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## weltweit (May 24, 2014)

Surface Detail, Iain M. Banks

I was a bit daunted by it because it is massive (600 pages), but I just knocked off the first 10% in one sitting so it won't be as bad as I thought.


----------



## bubblesmcgrath (May 24, 2014)

Birds Without Wings ... Louis de Bernieres


----------



## Greebo (May 24, 2014)

The Cyberiad - Stanislaw Lem


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (May 25, 2014)

One Hundred Years of Solitude. - Gabriel García Márquez.


----------



## inva (May 25, 2014)

The World That Made New Orleans by Ned Sublette

Just started reading this and it seems to be a good history of New Orleans from its founding through the successive colonial regimes and waves of immigration up to I think 1819. I've been interested in New Orleans for quite a while now through liking so much music that comes from there, and I pick up bits and pieces of knowledge about the place through that but I really wanted to try and find out more about it and especially to place what I knew in more of a broader context. Music plays a big part in the book probably as you'd expect, and Sublette is a musician himself which is where I'd heard of him - he mentions Cosimo Matassa's recording studio on the first page so I was immediately interested. Anyway, its very well written I think and strikes a good balance between having reasonable depth while being very accessible.


----------



## maya (May 25, 2014)

Have you read Up From The Cradle Of Jazz? It's about the development of jazz in New Orleans from after WW2 and up until the book's publication (the 1980s? I don't remember exactly when it was published), mostly music history but also social history if you're interested in that sort of thing...


----------



## inva (May 25, 2014)

maya said:


> Have you read Up From The Cradle Of Jazz? It's about the birth of jazz in New Orleans, so mostly music history but also a very good social history if you're interested in that sort of thing...


No I haven't but it sounds good so thank you for the recommendation


----------



## flypanam (May 29, 2014)

The flame throwers - Rachel Kushner

Just started but my wife thought it excellent.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 29, 2014)

Andrew Solomon - Far From The Tree, after reading this review (I think):
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/29/wellcome-book-prize-andrew-solomon-far-from-the-tree
It's huge and rather exhausting at times with the sometimes syruppy testimonials but it's fascinating and illuminating.


----------



## nogojones (Jun 1, 2014)

George Pendle - History of Latin America


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 1, 2014)

Really struggling with Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I don't want to say it's shit, but something dramatic better happen soon or I'm giving it up. It's not very engaging.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Really struggling with Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I don't want to say it's shit, but something dramatic better happen soon or I'm giving it up. It's not very engaging.


Without giving too much away, it gets good when a sacrifice happens, and the end is very good. Its worth persisting


----------



## Thimble Queen (Jun 1, 2014)

I'm reading the third book in the Kalix series. I like them because they are partly set in South London. 
.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 1, 2014)

Just finished Leviathan Wakes.

It's a fun sci fi space opera(ish). Not highbrow, not hard science, but gritty in feel if not tone.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 1, 2014)

D'wards said:


> Without giving too much away, it gets good when a sacrifice happens, and the end is very good. Its worth persisting


Well I'm 400 pages in and I'm so bored. It better happen soon! Maybe I shouldn't have bought the 'author's prefererred text' which includes 'exclusive extra material' and a 'novella' (though when does a short story become a novella? This one's 60 pages long).


----------



## MrSki (Jun 1, 2014)

Just starting 'The World according to Bertie' by Alexander McCall Smith. The forth in the 44 Scotland Street series. 

Originally written as a serialisation in The Scotsman newspaper, it is the story of the residents of the flats at 44 SS. A very pleasant easy read that is puts a smile on your face from the first page to the last. Good summer reading that is not over taxing.


----------



## MrSki (Jun 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Well I'm 400 pages in and I'm so bored. It better happen soon! Maybe I shouldn't have bought the 'author's prefererred text' which includes 'exclusive extra material' and a 'novella' (though when does a short story become a novella? This one's 60 pages long).


You cant give up after 400 pages! Good luck with it. I will avoid it.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 1, 2014)

Just finished a 600 pager about which I feel quite proud but as I haven't been to the library or a book shop for a while I only have a choice of two books about Obama next (given to me by someone who also hadn't read them!). Not really filled with inspiration about either of them if I am honest.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 1, 2014)

What was the 600 pager?


----------



## weltweit (Jun 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> What was the 600 pager?


Surface Detail, Iain M Banks - Good - at least I liked it!


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 1, 2014)

weltweit said:


> Surface Detail, Iain M Banks - Good - at least I liked it!


Thanks. I hope you now get the point of this thread 
Saying what you think of it is kind of traditional too.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Thanks. I hope you now get the point of this thread


 I am pretty sure up thread I already said I was reading it  mr threadpoliceman !!


Orang Utan said:


> Saying what you think of it is kind of traditional too.


I like Banks's sci fi, have now read quite a few. Got to get my hands on some more, but I also just discovered Arthur C Clarke and will be trying to get some more of his also.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 1, 2014)

Dreamsongs volume two. IT's part of a series called dreamsongs which is basically all of G RR Martins short stories. And theres a lot of them.

epub requests to the usual pm addy if anyone wants it.


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## D'wards (Jun 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Well I'm 400 pages in and I'm so bored. It better happen soon! Maybe I shouldn't have bought the 'author's prefererred text' which includes 'exclusive extra material' and a 'novella' (though when does a short story become a novella? This one's 60 pages long).


I have two mildly conflicting rules;

Life's too short to read boring books

If you are more than a third into a book you must finish it

Therefore so as not to create a rip in the space/time continuum I must abandon books before exactly a third or soldier on.

Anyway, after the aforementioned sacrifice it picks up and a lot then happens.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 1, 2014)

Well Wednesday's been dispatched. Is that the sacrifice?


----------



## Manter (Jun 1, 2014)

I'm reading this: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15819028-the-golem-and-the-jinni

It's magical realism, well written, interesting idea and characters, but I'm not drawn into it for some reason. I can't figure out what it is, anyone else read it?


----------



## D'wards (Jun 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Well Wednesday's been dispatched. Is that the sacrifice?


No but you are but moments/pages away


----------



## D'wards (Jun 2, 2014)

Halfway through Flowers for Algernon - very good so far if a little depressing


----------



## flypanam (Jun 3, 2014)

As well as reading The Flamethrowers I managed to get my hands on a cheap copy of...

Tim Butcher's The trigger: hunting the assassin who brought the world to war.

It's an exploration of the life of Gavrilo Princip and of Bosnia. Lively and well written.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 3, 2014)

the fry chronicles, Stephen Fry

I read Moab is my washpot some time ago and enjoyed it, so far this is also interesting..
Also nice large print which is easy on the eyes!


----------



## colbhoy (Jun 3, 2014)

Just started The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd.


----------



## Roadkill (Jun 4, 2014)

Stephen Grady, _Gardens of Stone: My Boyhood in the French Resistance_.  I've only just started it, but I'm impressed already.


----------



## braindancer (Jun 5, 2014)

Warlock by Oakley Hall.  50 pages in and I'm loving it - I'm a sucker for an epic Western and this one has got me serious gripped so far.


----------



## malatesta32 (Jun 5, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Dreamsongs volume two. IT's part of a series called dreamsongs which is basically all of G RR Martins short stories. And theres a lot of them.
> 
> epub requests to the usual pm addy if anyone wants it.


not dreamsongs by berryman?


----------



## idumea (Jun 5, 2014)

Just finished Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (didn't like it as much as Zoo City or Moxyland)

Now onto Open City by Teju Cole and Gender Outlaw: Men, Women and the Rest of Us by Kate Bornstein.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jun 5, 2014)

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy - Greg Palast.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 6, 2014)

idumea said:


> Just finished Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (didn't like it as much as Zoo City or Moxyland)
> 
> Now onto Open City by Teju Cole and Gender Outlaw: Men, Women and the Rest of Us by Kate Bornstein.



Open City is one of the best books I have read in the past few years.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 6, 2014)

Here is a massive list of all the books I have bought in the past month or so:

The Private Sea LSD & The search for God by William Braden
The Complete Walker IV by Colin Fletcher
The Infinite (Problems of Philosophy) by AW Moore
The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms by Mark Strand & Eaven Boland
So You Want to be a Lobbyist?: Guide to the World of Political Lobbying by Corinne Souza
The Tower of Basel: The Inside Story of the Central Bankers' Secret Bank by Adam LeBor
When Was Wales?: A History of the Welsh (Penguin history) by Gwyn Williams 
Collected Poems of RS Thomas
Spectacular Capitalism by Richard Gilman-Opalsky
Mountains and Rivers Without End by Gary Snyder
The Immense Journey (Vintage) by Loren Eiseley
Who Framed Colin Wallace? by Paul Foot
The Entity: Five Centuries of Secret Vatican Espionage by Eric Frattini
"Gravity's Rainbow" Companion: Sources and Contexts for Pynchon's Novel by Steven Weisenburger
New and Selected Poems: v. 1 by Mary Oliver
Across the Land and the Water: Selected Poems 1964-2001 by WG Sebald
Meditation Now: Inner Peace Through Inner Wisdom by SN Goenka
The Diamond Sutra translated by Red Pine
The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, its Regions and their Peoples by David Gilmour
Forests: The Shadow of Civilization by Robert Pogue Harrison
Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering by Bhikku Bodhi
The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self by Thomas Metzinger 
The Mystery of Existence by John Leslie


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 6, 2014)

Oh and one or two more:

Mind Invaders: A Reader in Psychic Warfare, Cultural Sabotage and Semiotic Terrorism by Stewart Home
The Uprising: On Poetry and Finance (Semiotext(e) / Intervention Series) by Franco Berardi
Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now by Douglas Rushkoff
Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock by Jessie Jarnow

I would quite like to read Flash Boys by Michael Lewis and I have a few other books lined up about HFT and dark pools and that kind of thing.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jun 6, 2014)

sojourner said:


> What do you think, jeff_leigh ?
> 
> I had the misfortune to read that as my intro to Bukowski, and it scarred me for life. The misogyny dripping from each and every page made me want to smash his stupid fucking face in with a cricket bat.
> 
> So many of my  poetry friends think the sun shines out of his arse but I just cannot get my head round my loathing of him.



I read Wonen years ago and on the strength of your post I thought I'd read it again to see if time/age etc gave me a different perspective (I read Trocchi's Cains Book when I was about twenty and thought it and him were mint - re reading it in my thirties I couldn't get over what a wanker the Troc was. Still had some good ideas though). But anyway I didn't (and still don't) read Bukowski as a misogynist - He's a wanker fersure and Women is nowhere near his best effort - It does get a bit repetative but there's still some decent stuff in it IMO. Way I see it, those early 70's times with all that counter culture bullshit that Bukowski held in contempt but still sold his records on the back of, well, those times were deeply misogynistic. And Bukowski took advantage of all that crap. But IMO, in the book, he's harder on himself than any of the women he writes about. AFAIC Bukowski saw through the bullshit of everything and described (nearly) everything with the contempt it deserved. That's what I think anyway.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 8, 2014)

I think I am almost ready to read Blood Meridian again.


----------



## starfish (Jun 8, 2014)

The Unquiet Heart by Gordon Ferris. Its the 2nd book in the Danny McRae series. Hes a Scottish ex-SOE operative working as a Private Detective in post-war London. Im liking it.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jun 8, 2014)

Animals by Emma jane unsworth. Not feeling it TBH.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jun 8, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> I think I am almost ready to read Blood Meridian again.



Glutton  for punishment? 

_Christ_ but CMcC's shit as fuck.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 9, 2014)

.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jun 9, 2014)

England in the Eighteenth Century, by J H Plumb


----------



## ringo (Jun 11, 2014)

A Gun For Sale - Graham Greene

Back to the master


----------



## flypanam (Jun 11, 2014)

Chuck Klosterman - I wear the black hat.

He's the guy that writes The ethicist column for the New Yorker. It's a very funny collection of essays  of the nature of villains. There's a great essay on Villains who are not villains that covers D.B Cooper, Mohammed Atta, Prince, Purple Rain, Morris Day (and the motherfucking Time) Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier.

Eye opener.


----------



## tufty79 (Jun 13, 2014)

just started 'gravity's rainbow' by thomas pynchon. already going a bit 'wut?'.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jun 13, 2014)

I couldn't take to Gravity's Rainbow at all.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 13, 2014)

me nor- Vineland was good though

I'm on 'Wild Cards 2' a geroge rr martin edited, superhero themed collection. Good stuff.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Jun 16, 2014)

Pickman's Model - H.P. Lovecraft.

More of a short story, really.  And the name of a member of U75...


----------



## maya (Jun 17, 2014)

tufty79 said:


> just started 'gravity's rainbow' by thomas pynchon. already going a bit 'wut?'.


The only thing I liked about Gravity's Rainbow was the bit about bananas... Some people have actually made a list of every single banana reference found in the book, can't remember the link but my favourite quote is this beautiful one which kind of rolls off the tongue:
"_His giant bananas cluster, radiant yellow, humid green. His companions below dream drooling of a Banana Breakfast..._"

I used to think Pynchon were one of those too clever chaps who wrote really brilliant books which always were intensely annoying to read, that was until I read Mason & Dixon... It's immense. One of the best american novels of the past twenty years. A masterpiece of a book. And I've always loved historical novels. This even have some creative anachronisms thrown in, so it's part fantasy aswell. And of course it's always fun when someone decides to write in 18th century vernacular and manages to keep it consistent and readable... lends an air of authenticity to the whole tall tale, you can really feel the flavour of the era even though you know it's fiction. Not a small feat. It took me ages to read the book, but when I finally closed it after finishing the last page I just wanted to read it over again...


> Mason & Dixon is a postmodernist novel by U.S. author Thomas Pynchon published in 1997. It concentrates on the collaboration of the historical Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in their astronomical and surveying exploits in Cape Colony, Saint Helena, Great Britain and along the Mason-Dixon line in British North America on the eve of the Revolutionary War in the United States.
> 
> The novel is a frame narrative told from the focal point of one Rev. Wicks Cherrycoke – a clergyman of dubious orthodoxy – who attempts to entertain and divert his extended family on a cold December evening (partly for amusement, and partly to keep his coveted status as a guest in the house). Claiming to have accompanied Mason and Dixon throughout their journeys, Cherrycoke tells a tale intermingling Mason and Dixon's biographies with history, fantasy, legend, speculation, and outright fabrication.
> 
> The novel's scope takes in aspects of established Colonial U.S. history including the call of the West, the often ignored histories of women, North Americans, and slaves, plus excursions into geomancy, Deism, a hollow Earth, and — perhaps — alien abduction. The novel also contains philosophical discussions and parables of automata/robots, the after-life, the eleven days lost to the Gregorian calendar, slavery, feng shui and others.


Right now I'm reading a children's book from the 1970s or 80s about two irish kids kidnapped by vikings and forced to cope with life as servants in their new country (fiction, not fact but those kinds of things did happen during the viking era). The same author wrote a book called Raven Girl about a girl in a remote valley who lived alone as a feral child after all the other people of her community died of the plague, I'm reading that next.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 17, 2014)

What's the book?!??!


----------



## maya (Jun 17, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> What's the book?!??!


Captured by Vikings:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Captured-Vikings-Torill-Thorstad-Hauger/dp/1550810332/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402991463&sr=1-1&keywords=torill thorstad hauger


----------



## sojourner (Jun 17, 2014)

Frances Lengel said:


> I read Wonen years ago and on the strength of your post I thought I'd read it again to see if time/age etc gave me a different perspective (I read Trocchi's Cains Book when I was about twenty and thought it and him were mint - re reading it in my thirties I couldn't get over what a wanker the Troc was. Still had some good ideas though). But anyway I didn't (and still don't) read Bukowski as a misogynist - He's a wanker fersure and Women is nowhere near his best effort - It does get a bit repetative but there's still some decent stuff in it IMO. Way I see it, those early 70's times with all that counter culture bullshit that Bukowski held in contempt but still sold his records on the back of, well, those times were deeply misogynistic. And Bukowski took advantage of all that crap. But IMO, in the book, he's harder on himself than any of the women he writes about. AFAIC Bukowski saw through the bullshit of everything and described (nearly) everything with the contempt it deserved. That's what I think anyway.


I still think he's a misogynistic twat. And over-rated.


----------



## tufty79 (Jun 17, 2014)

tufty79 said:


> just started 'gravity's rainbow' by thomas pynchon. already going a bit 'wut?'.


it's gone back to the library unfinished; got 50 pages in and couldn't face the remaining 850+ :/


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jun 17, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I still think he's a misogynistic twat. And over-rated.



Fair enough.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 17, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I still think he's a misogynistic twat. And over-rated.


He wrote three good novels - the rest of them, including Women, are appalling.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 18, 2014)

D'wards said:


> He wrote three good novels - the rest of them, including Women, are appalling.


All subjective. 

Anyway, I've started reading The God Delusion by Dickie Dawkins. Mainly so I can then read Terry Eagleton's rubbishing of him afterwards.


----------



## discobastard (Jun 18, 2014)

maya said:


> Coming up: The new KLF book by John Higgs ("KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned a million pounds") just arrived in the post today, have been added to the top of my reading pile... Looking forward to it.



This is the best thing I've read in a while.  Only took a day and a half, and while it tells the story of the KLF, it's largely centred around some quite mindblowing belief systems and theories, which it makes *just* accessible enough (for me anyway).


----------



## discobastard (Jun 18, 2014)

For those into UK crime, I just reread 'The Black Flowers' by Steve Mosby.  V imaginative northern crime writer.  A book within a book (possibly) within a book.  Brilliant.

(apols if he's been mentioned before, haven't searched the thread)

Also the two Harry Bingham book are in the same vein.  Gritty and characterful and very imaginative (IMHO).


----------



## sojourner (Jun 19, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Anyway, I've started reading The God Delusion by Dickie Dawkins. Mainly so I can then read Terry Eagleton's rubbishing of him afterwards.


Actually, I'm making a pretty good rub of exposing his weaknesses as it is. And does he HAVE to be so sneery? I can almost hear him stamping his feet petulantly at times!!


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jun 21, 2014)

Before They Are Hanged - Joe Abercrombie, Enjoyed "The Blade Itself" so much decided to read the whole trilogy in one go


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jun 21, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> Here is a massive list of all the books I have bought in the past month or so:
> 
> The Private Sea LSD & The search for God by William Braden
> The Complete Walker IV by Colin Fletcher
> ...



You must be rich.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jun 21, 2014)

sojourner said:


> All subjective.
> 
> Anyway, I've started reading The God Delusion by Dickie Dawkins. Mainly so I can then read Terry Eagleton's rubbishing of him afterwards.



But... you might find yourself agreeing with Dawkins.


----------



## Oldboy (Jun 22, 2014)

Just started The Plague by Albert Camus.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 24, 2014)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> But... you might find yourself agreeing with Dawkins.


I'm really really not and I can safely predict I won't. 

I'm probably not his average reader. I was raised an atheist, and have become more spiritual as time goes on.

So far, all I'm getting from him is him setting up what he thinks is religion (whilst pooh poohing everything else - INCLUDING Einstein) and then knocking it down. Straw fucking man from the get go. Wanker.


----------



## ringo (Jun 25, 2014)

Butcher's Crossing - John Williams

3/4 of the way through and it's MUCH better than Stoner, although as this is smack bang in the middle of my favourite genre it's bound to appeal more. Reviewers have suggested that this novel places Williams amongst the likes of Steinbeck, Flannery O'Connor and Cormac McCarthy. It lacks the critical and incisive social realism of Steinbeck, and doesn't come near McCarthy's human brutality played out against the poetic beauty of nature, but then not many authors do. It's good but it's not that good.


----------



## starfish (Jun 25, 2014)

Am reading First Activation by D.A & M.P Wearmouth on my phone as ive synced to ms starfishs kindle account. Its about 2ex squaddies just landed at a seemingly deserted JFK & everyone seems either dead or killing each other before killing themselves.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jun 25, 2014)

discobastard said:


> For those into UK crime, I just reread 'The Black Flowers' by Steve Mosby.  V imaginative northern crime writer.  A book within a book (possibly) within a book.  Brilliant.
> 
> (apols if he's been mentioned before, haven't searched the thread)
> 
> Also the two Harry Bingham book are in the same vein.  Gritty and characterful and very imaginative (IMHO).



I like a bit of crime and I'd never heard of this guy so I thought I'd give him a go. ATM I'm nose-deep in the 50/50 Killer and I'm liking it. Cheers for putting me onto this guy


----------



## weltweit (Jun 25, 2014)

So, just finished - The fry chronicles, Stephen Fry - which I enjoyed, turns out he is more of an actor luvvie type than I had really realised, he certainly has a wide and fluent vocabulary and excuses himself saying that he loves words so does not offer an apology for using as many as possible! Sickeningly, soon after he finished at Cambridge he makes the statement which he knows people are going to hate him for but he never had any problems with money after that ..... absolutely sickening


----------



## weltweit (Jun 25, 2014)

Now reading - Man And Wife, Andrew Klavan - never heard of Klavan before, bought the book for 25p off a stall as it looked interesting, enjoying it so far, doesn't look like it will take long to read though.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 26, 2014)

weltweit said:


> So, just finished - The fry chronicles, Stephen Fry - which I enjoyed, turns out he is more of an actor luvvie type than I had really realised, he certainly has a wide and fluent vocabulary and excuses himself saying that he loves words so does not offer an apology for using as many as possible! Sickeningly, soon after he finished at Cambridge he makes the statement which he knows people are going to hate him for but he never had any problems with money after that ..... absolutely sickening



Have you read the first one _Moab Is My Washpot?
_
It gives an  unexpected  perspective on his life


----------



## marty21 (Jun 26, 2014)

just about to start 'Comrades Come Rally' by Phil Brett, he is an old mate of mrs21 - he was a swappie, not sure if he still is after the recent rapey cover up shenanigans - it's about a socialist private eye who gets dragged into a socialist revolution when asked by the leader of the revolutionary movement to investigate the death of a comrade ...


----------



## weltweit (Jun 26, 2014)

rubbershoes said:


> Have you read the first one _Moab Is My Washpot?
> _
> It gives an  unexpected  perspective on his life


Yes, I read that first, quite the criminal delinquent wasn't he !! 

This one does not take me up to anything like today so I suppose there must be at least another... do you know what it might be called?


----------



## belboid (Jun 26, 2014)

marty21 said:


> just about to start 'Comrades Come Rally' by Phil Brett, he is an old mate of mrs21 - he was a swappie, not sure if he still is after the recent rapey cover up shenanigans - it's about a socialist private eye who gets dragged into a socialist revolution when asked by the leader of the revolutionary movement to investigate the death of a comrade ...


aah, I was thinking of getting that. I used to know Phil quite well too, fairly sure he left a while back. Be interested to know if its any good.

I am just finishing off Donald Fagen's 'Eminent Hipsters' - a not brilliant but interesting little read, doesnt take long.

Then I can start my newly arrived copy of Julian Cope's _One Three One_, his debut time-shifting gnostic hooligan road novel.


----------



## imposs1904 (Jun 26, 2014)

marty21 said:


> just about to start 'Comrades Come Rally' by Phil Brett, he is an old mate of mrs21 - he was a swappie, not sure if he still is after the recent rapey cover up shenanigans - it's about a socialist private eye who gets dragged into a socialist revolution when asked by the leader of the revolutionary movement to investigate the death of a comrade ...



Damn, I'm tempted. I'll have to look out for that. I read Nigel Fountain's Days Like These recently and enjoyed it.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 26, 2014)

weltweit said:


> Yes, I read that first, quite the criminal delinquent wasn't he !!
> 
> This one does not take me up to anything like today so I suppose there must be at least another... do you know what it might be called?



It's not out yet.

But you don't have to settle for reading it when it is - you could go to the presentation


----------



## sojourner (Jun 26, 2014)

I have ended up with 3 books of poetry from 2 mates, so am reading those at lunchtimes, and 12 Years a Slave, the Solomon Northup narrative too. Which is fucking brilliant btw - so much detail.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 26, 2014)

rubbershoes said:


> It's not out yet.
> 
> But you don't have to settle for reading it when it is - you could go to the presentation


I think he has his list in the wrong order.. sommat is up there ...
I will read it when it is out.
Interesting I see Stephen is one of the first to have a dot uk domain ... I like the idea of one of those.


----------



## marty21 (Jun 26, 2014)

belboid said:


> aah, I was thinking of getting that. I used to know Phil quite well too, fairly sure he left a while back. Be interested to know if its any good.
> 
> I am just finishing off Donald Fagen's 'Eminent Hipsters' - a not brilliant but interesting little read, doesnt take long.
> 
> Then I can start my newly arrived copy of Julian Cope's _One Three One_, his debut time-shifting gnostic hooligan road novel.


I think the last time I saw him was at his wedding, 8/9 years ago?  He is whoring himself on Twitter promoting the book! Turns out he lives fairly close by after tweeting him, so we are going to meet up


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 26, 2014)

I've just been given a copy of George Ingle's Trouble At T'Mill: The 1826 Yorkshire Weavers' Riots.
I wasn't going to read it but it actually looks well written and worth reading!


----------



## sojourner (Jun 27, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I've just been given a copy of George Ingle's Trouble At T'Mill: The 1826 Yorkshire Weavers' Riots.
> I wasn't going to read it but it actually looks well written and worth reading!


Ooo that sounds interesting!


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 27, 2014)

I knew I had to read it when the author said he wrote about it cos he'd read a book about the Lancashire riots. He clearly felt he needed to show that Yorkshire folk are just as good if not better at destroying looms as Lancashire folk.


----------



## ringo (Jun 27, 2014)

Independence Day - Richard Ford

The sequel to The Sportswriter, this one won both the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award upon its publication in 1995. Many of the modern Pulitzer winners I've read have been dense and quite hard going. This one tackles equally difficult aspects of modern American life but it doesn't seem such an effort to get through the mass of closely printed pages because despite the philosophical and existential nature of this everyman's musings, Ford manages an easy style without beating the reader over the head with difficult words, unfathomable concepts or show off references. 

To manage that as well as portray interesting characters, explain the cultural, social and financial history and state of mind of modern America and still tell a good story is an incredible achievement.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 27, 2014)

I need to get varifocals. At the moment I am strangely drawn to large print books


----------



## colbhoy (Jun 27, 2014)

I'm reading Voodoo River by Robert Crais, one of the Cole and Pike crime series. They are superb.


----------



## mentalchik (Jun 27, 2014)

Just finished The Ocean At The End Of The Lane - Neil Gaiman........loved it, in fact knackered myself out reading all of it on a work night


----------



## weltweit (Jun 28, 2014)

Just finished
Man And Wife, Andrew Klavan

Enjoyed it, nicely written, easy to read, good character development and interesting / intriguing plot


----------



## weltweit (Jun 28, 2014)

Just starting Sunstorm, A Time Oddyssey: Book Two Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter

I wonder if I should have read Book One first, but I don't have it so I can't!


----------



## Greebo (Jun 28, 2014)

The Bicycle Teacher, Campbell Jefferys.  A first person account of a young working class Australian man who came to visit his sister in London, was talked into going to Germany (by a rich American tourist), met the love of his life, and chose to move behind the Berlin Wall.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 28, 2014)

Greebo said:


> The Bicycle Teacher, Campbell Jefferys.  A first person account of a young working class Australian man who came to visit his sister in London, was talked into going to Germany (by a rich American tourist), met the love of his life, and chose to move behind the Berlin Wall.


Sounds interesting, I might try to get that from my library.


----------



## belboid (Jun 28, 2014)

I am shocked, shocked, to find out that the hero of Julian Cope's novel is a fading rock star with a penchant for drugs, leather trousers, Roky Erikkson, standing stones and more drugs.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 28, 2014)

The interviews he's done for this have been hilarious. The only music I've ever heard of his is World Shut Your Mouth but I am tempted to get a big torrent or spotify the fuck out of him. 
His krautrock and Japanese rock music books seem worth tracking down.
Not really interested in monoliths but there is an ace YouTube clip of him mooching around them dressed as a Daniel Poole psytrance casualty talking to other monolith enthusiasts that is well lolsome


----------



## belboid (Jun 28, 2014)

Fried & Peggy Suicide are, imo, the essential albums. Combining the acid campfire folk and krautrock influenced genius. Wonderful stuff.

Krautrocksampler is hard to get hold of, goes for a lot of money. I think I've got a pdf I can send you. What you need, need, need, to read is Head On, his first volume of autobiography. It's utterly hilarious and insightful, considered on of the best rock autobiogs even by peaople who aren't fans.


----------



## ringo (Jun 30, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> The interviews he's done for this have been hilarious. The only music I've ever heard of his is World Shut Your Mouth but I am tempted to get a big torrent or spotify the fuck out of him.
> His krautrock and Japanese rock music books seem worth tracking down.
> Not really interested in monoliths but there is an ace YouTube clip of him mooching around them dressed as a Daniel Poole psytrance casualty talking to other monolith enthusiasts that is well lolsome



The Guardian interview at the weekend was priceless, but if his books are as woefully crackers as his attempts at antiquarianism they're best avoided.


----------



## ringo (Jun 30, 2014)

belboid said:


> What you need, need, need, to read is Head On, his first volume of autobiography. It's utterly hilarious and insightful, considered on of the best rock autobiogs even by peaople who aren't fans.



I'm tempted by this though


----------



## weltweit (Jul 1, 2014)

Just finished:
Sunstorm, A Time Oddyssey: Book 2 Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter

If you like sci-fi I think you would enjoy it. My second Clarke book, he likes I think to get the science right which I don't always think is necessary and in the second half of the book I thought the science overcame the plot in a couple of chapters. But still, I enjoyed it and will look out for more Arthur C. Clarke stuff now.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 2, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I've just been given a copy of George Ingle's Trouble At T'Mill: The 1826 Yorkshire Weavers' Riots.
> I wasn't going to read it but it actually looks well written and worth reading!


Hey Orang Utan  - have you finished this? Would you mind if I borrowed it, please? Our library doesn't have a copy. Cheers ears.

I started and finished Alice Walker's 'Possessing the Secret of Joy' last night. I've had this so long, and I think I started it, but couldn't continue at the time cos it's such a harrowing read.  It is an outstanding book, incredibly well written and structured, with such important stuff to say.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 2, 2014)

weltweit said:


> Just finished:
> Sunstorm, A Time Oddyssey: Book 2 Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
> 
> If you like sci-fi I think you would enjoy it. My second Clarke book, he likes I think to get the science right which I don't always think is necessary and in the second half of the book I thought the science overcame the plot in a couple of chapters. But still, I enjoyed it and will look out for more Arthur C. Clarke stuff now.



You need to read 2001. Its literally one of the sci fi canon, a great read. Clarke is very much from the old school hard science tradition of Asimov and...himself. There were also rans of that era...

it is hard science but with enough of the fantastic in it. Scientifically plausible sci fi isn't enough for my jaded pallate anymore, I need jain nodes and knife missiles. And women characters that are more than 2-d chuavanist caricatures.

You must have seen the Kubrik classic 2001 film?


----------



## weltweit (Jul 2, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> You need to read 2001. Its literally one of the sci fi canon, a great read. Clarke is very much from the old school hard science tradition of Asimov and...himself. There were also rans of that era...
> 
> it is hard science but with enough of the fantastic in it. Scientifically plausible sci fi isn't enough for my jaded pallate anymore, I need jain nodes and knife missiles. And women characters that are more than 2-d chuavanist caricatures.
> 
> You must have seen the Kubrik classic 2001 film?


Never saw 2001, at least I don't recall seeing it.
As to knife missiles, I am running out of culture books to read atm...
have pretty much exhausted all in my library.


----------



## Greebo (Jul 3, 2014)

Napisz do mnie - Daniel Glattauer (trans. Anna Wziątek from "Gut Gegen Nordwind")  which I'll finish by the end of summer if it kills me.  Having read it in the original, how hard can it be?


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Jul 3, 2014)

I have nearly finished 'Last Night in Twisted River' by John Irving. I like the story and find the characters engaging, but he does ramble on and I think this would have been a better novel if it was about a few hundred pages shorter.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 3, 2014)

What it Was, George Pelecanos

Quite a quick read, DC crime thriller, short chapters, easy to get into, lots of rayon shirts and bell bottoms!


----------



## MamaBarbara (Jul 3, 2014)

Pippi Longstocking! Loving this book


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 3, 2014)

weltweit said:


> Never saw 2001, at least I don't recall seeing it.
> As to knife missiles, I am running out of culture books to read atm...
> have pretty much exhausted all in my library.



oh you should rectify this. Epic source material made into film by Stanley fucking Kubrik!

best seen on a big tele because its a very visual film iyswim.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 3, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> oh you should rectify this. Epic source material made into film by Stanley fucking Kubrik!
> 
> best seen on a big tele because its a very visual film iyswim.


Will check my library again to see if they have 2001, it wasn't in last time I looked.

eta: just reserved a copy ...


----------



## starfish (Jul 4, 2014)

A Departure by Tom Ward. I seem to be on an apocalyptic story streak at the moment. Its better written than the last book i read & chapter 3 nearly had me in tears on the train home today.


----------



## Voley (Jul 4, 2014)

Just finished Ray Mears autobiography which, by and large, is just like watching one of his programmes. Very enjoyable. He shows a steelier side occasionally which surprised me as his programmes are normally so gentle. There's a bit where he describes fronting it out with a bloke with a machete in Africa and a chapter where he describes psyching himself up to track Raoul Moat which is written like a soldier going into battle. By contrast there's a beautiful chapter about a canoe trip in Canada that made me pine to hit the trail on my own with nothing but the clothes on my back, a backpack and a decent pair of boots. His defence of the monarchy on the basis he likes the Duke of Edinburgh Award was shite, mind, but you can't have everything. Recommended.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jul 5, 2014)

Last Argument of Kings - Joe Abercrombie 3rd in the Trilogy


----------



## weltweit (Jul 5, 2014)

Eye in the Sky, Philip K. Dick

1/2 way through

eta: just finished it, as sci-fi goes, the style is new to me, but it reads like an easy thriller. I think he ran out of plot a bit at the end, but I will probably look out for others by Philip K. Dick ..


----------



## sojourner (Jul 7, 2014)

Voley said:


> Just finished Ray Mears autobiography which, by and large, is just like watching one of his programmes. Very enjoyable. He shows a steelier side occasionally which surprised me as his programmes are normally so gentle. There's a bit where he describes fronting it out with a bloke with a machete in Africa and a chapter where he describes psyching himself up to track Raoul Moat which is written like a soldier going into battle. By contrast there's a beautiful chapter about a canoe trip in Canada that made me pine to hit the trail on my own with nothing but the clothes on my back, a backpack and a decent pair of boots. His defence of the monarchy on the basis he likes the Duke of Edinburgh Award was shite, mind, but you can't have everything. Recommended.


Cheers Voley! Didn't even know he had one out, AND the library's got a copy so will order that


----------



## maya (Jul 8, 2014)

weltweit said:


> but I will probably look out for others by Philip K. Dick ..


Ubik, The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch, A Scanner Darkly, Valis and the short story collection Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick comes highly recommended...


----------



## ringo (Jul 9, 2014)

Beloved - Toni Morrison. Bloody hell, heart rending. I'll get my girls to read it one day, but not until they're a fair bit older. Mid teens I guess.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 10, 2014)

A few books I have read recently: 

Nadja by Andre Breton
The Making of the English Working Class by EP Thompson (started, I don't expect to finish it this year)
The French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert (I am going to follow this with Lefebvre)
Guy Debord by Anselm Jappe
The Secret Worlds of Stephen Ward: Sex, Scandal and Deadly Secrets in the Profumo Affair by Stephen Dorrill and Anthony Summers
Total Chaos by Jean Claude Izzo

Next I am going to read the biography of Oswald Mosley by Stephen Dorrill, Whitehall by Peter Henessy. I am also planning to reread some JG Ballard, and maybe The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and its Arabs by Andrew Hussey. Might wait until that comes out in paperback.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 12, 2014)

Currently re-reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Thought it was great first time I read it, but he dunt half witter on dunt he?  Way too much tiny detail. Am only reading it cos waiting for a couple of books to come into the library.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 12, 2014)

Firstborn, A Time Oddyssey: Book 3 Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter

Just finished this, I had read book 2 "Sunstorm" before this one, I wonder if there is a book 4? ... I enjoyed it I like the style of these and enjoyed the new sci-fi ideas (new to me I mean) ..


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jul 13, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Currently re-reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Thought it was great first time I read it, but he dunt half witter on dunt he?  Way too much tiny detail. Am only reading it cos waiting for a couple of books to come into the library.


If you don't like tiny details stay away from Thomas Mann, Although Death in Venice is a good read but that was a novella ( probably not long enough for him to get into his stride  )


----------



## articul8 (Jul 14, 2014)

Reading F Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender is the Night" - finding it a bit hard work really.  Posh people being annoying, drinking a lot and having emotional difficulties I'm struggling to care less about.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 14, 2014)

Care more, surely?


----------



## MrSki (Jul 14, 2014)

This is not a Love Song by Karen Duve. 

Read the first 200 pages in one day but it took me a week to plough through the last 50! 

Not really my cup of tea but it wa okay at the beginning. 

Mostly about self image & weight loss. There are better books to read than this.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 15, 2014)

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

Just finished this. I have been reading a lot of sci-fi recently and perhaps for this reason although I enjoyed it, it wasn't totally ground breaking for me. I did enjoy it, but somehow it wasn't as thought provoking as for example 1984 was way back when I read that.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 17, 2014)

Voley said:


> Just finished Ray Mears autobiography


Started this last night and am halfway through.  He made me laugh proper when he talked about tracking people, then he'd find them, and they never knew he was there! 

Wow - his obsession with bushcraft goes so much deeper than I thought! It's ace reading. The machete story!!   I really fancy reading Ffyona Campbell's book now. It's not in the library though 

Cheers Voley


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 17, 2014)

The Golden Age of Science Fiction: 50 short stories

anthology


some proper old stuff here.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 17, 2014)

Which Ray Bradbury's in there?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 17, 2014)

none in this one! (its one of a series of 15 such anthologies. God bless you bitorrent). This one covers 1930-1950 so I expect to see bradbury in the next anthology. Published by Halcyon Classics.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 17, 2014)

Wow. Still though, he was writing then.


----------



## starfish (Jul 17, 2014)

Wanting to keep my apocalyptic story streak going ive decided to read The Death of Grass by John Christopher.


----------



## Voley (Jul 17, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Started this last night and am halfway through.  He made me laugh proper when he talked about tracking people, then he'd find them, and they never knew he was there!
> 
> Wow - his obsession with bushcraft goes so much deeper than I thought! It's ace reading. The machete story!!   I really fancy reading Ffyona Campbell's book now. It's not in the library though
> 
> Cheers Voley


Yeah I rattled through it in a couple of days. You see a different side to him in it don't you?


----------



## Voley (Jul 17, 2014)

I've also ordered his Bushcraft book on the strength of it. I then intend to head out onto the downs at the back of my house and, armed with a machete and a folding saw, live there naked save a beard expansive enough to provide shelter.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 18, 2014)

Voley said:


> I've also ordered his Bushcraft book on the strength of it. I then intend to head out onto the downs at the back of my house and, armed with a machete and a folding saw, live there naked save a beard expansive enough to provide shelter.


----------



## Greebo (Jul 18, 2014)

American Interior: The Quixotic Journey of John Evans by Gruff Rhys.  Retracing the 18th century route of a somewhat *ahem* eccentric Welshman sent on a one man expedition to South America by another eccentric Welshman in search of a tribe descended from Prince Madog.  What can I say?  Evans seems to have had far longer alleles than most.


----------



## belboid (Jul 18, 2014)

Greebo said:


> American Interior: The Quixotic Journey of John Evans by Gruff Rhys.  Retracing the 18th century route of a somewhat *ahem* eccentric Welshman sent on a one man expedition to South America by another eccentric Welshman in search of a tribe descended from Prince Madog.  What can I say?  Evans seems to have had far longer alleles than most.


ooh, I've just finished reading the 'app' of that!  Fascinating story, I am very keen to read the book (and see the film)


----------



## DRTAvailable (Jul 18, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> The Golden Age of Science Fiction: 50 short stories
> 
> anthology
> 
> ...


----------



## DRTAvailable (Jul 18, 2014)

The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins. Just finished Never Mind by Edward St Aubyn which I found really disappointing.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Jul 19, 2014)

Voley said:


> I've also ordered his Bushcraft book on the strength of it. I then intend to head out onto the downs at the back of my house and, armed with a machete and a folding saw, live there naked save a beard expansive enough to provide shelter.



*books train ticket down to the downs*


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Jul 19, 2014)

sojourner said:


> A Spot of Bother, by Mark Haddon
> 
> If I really did judge books by their covers, I'd never have bought this.
> 
> However, I got over that, and the fact that he wrote Curious Incident... (which got on my fucking nerves BIG time), and I'm glad I did.  It's excellent - none too challenging, just a great story, fairly simply told, with some interesting insights into failing mental health


I'm about half way though and I'm enjoying it, I'm note sure why other posters hated it. 

I was given it by my dad. I'm left wondering if this is, in some way, symbolic


----------



## Voley (Jul 19, 2014)

Voley said:


> I've also ordered his Bushcraft book on the strength of it.


This is really good, too. It's a reference book but genuinely interesting. Full of his ethos of living alongside nature rather than trying to battle it. Makes me want to buy shitloads of knives and axes and shit mind.


----------



## Kate Sharpley (Jul 19, 2014)

Just finished John Barker's novel _Futures_. 
Brief summary: in London, 1987, two city whizzkids think up a futures market for cocaine; a single mum who deals small-time wants to make a big deal and get out, and one of the gangsters is buying off the drugs squad and learning about competition and diversification... The City of London's just had the 'big bang', the 'great storm' of 1987 is on the way and the weather's not the only thing that's about to get really nasty.
Verdict: I thought this was really good. 
I sometimes worry with crime fiction, when the end comes is the author going to bother to finish off in a believable fashion; or just go "I'm bored, everybody's dead"/ "I'm bored everybody's happy don't ask me how". But this was well written and a proper page-turner.
Read it if: *you want a crime novel with a critical eye on how illegal business is still business *you liked Ronan Bennett's "The second prison" or anything by George Pelecanos *you want a good read.
Don't read it if: *You only like literature that has no plot *You don't want to read swearing


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jul 20, 2014)

Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman, Liking it so far


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 20, 2014)

Science Fiction: The 101 best novels from 1985-2010

bit of a reference book, short essay for each novel. It's good though.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 22, 2014)

Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx.
The story of an accordion which travels from Italy to America at the end of the 19th century, and of its owners over the next 100 years or so.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 23, 2014)

2001 : a space odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke

Really enjoyed this, he is very good with the science side of sci-fi, very believable. The end of the book is slightly less impressive imo though, I found that with another of his books, he doesn't seem to finish them very convincingly. Anyhow I recommend this for anyone interested in sci-fi.


----------



## D'wards (Jul 24, 2014)

weltweit said:


> 2001 : a space odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
> 
> Really enjoyed this, he is very good with the science side of sci-fi, very believable. The end of the book is slightly less impressive imo though, I found that with another of his books, he doesn't seem to finish them very convincingly. Anyhow I recommend this for anyone interested in sci-fi.


 2010 is quite good. Don't really bother with the next two - they bring the average down massively.


----------



## D'wards (Jul 24, 2014)

Under the Skin by Michael Faber

Thought it was excellent and is 90% different from the film. Although the film is great, I think a faithful film could be made from the book and also be very good.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 24, 2014)

D'wards said:


> 2010 is quite good. Don't really bother with the next two - they bring the average down massively.


My feeling is when he is writing in a realm where science still broadly rules he is comfortable and his writing is convincing, if at times a little science heavy, but when he delves into full sci-fiction, the way out stuff, somehow his writing is not so strong.


----------



## D'wards (Jul 24, 2014)

weltweit said:


> My feeling is when he is writing in a realm where science still broadly rules he is comfortable and his writing is convincing, if at times a little science heavy, but when he delves into full sci-fiction, the way out stuff, somehow his writing is not so strong.


 Childhood's End is very good, and Rama is pretty good too. Not read any of his space opera type stuff though - have you?


----------



## weltweit (Jul 24, 2014)

D'wards said:


> Childhood's End is very good, and Rama is pretty good too. Not read any of his space opera type stuff though - have you?


Yes, I really enjoyed Rendevous with Rama ... haven't read Childhood's End, will look out for it.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 25, 2014)

Titanicus and Fear the Xeno.

50p each from the charity shop, I love me some mindless shooty books now and again


----------



## weltweit (Jul 27, 2014)

Deadline, Stella Rimington

A quick pick from the library, don't know if she has written any others. UK Spy fiction, I found in the start she introduced new characters quite fast for me - but it was entertaining enough.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jul 28, 2014)

The Beach - Alex Garland


----------



## ringo (Jul 29, 2014)

One Three One: A Time-Shifting Gnostic Hooligan Road Novel - Julian Cope

As bonkers as it looks


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 29, 2014)

Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It's fantastic.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 29, 2014)

Anathem. Best Neal Stephenson I've read in ages. His loooong digressions work because he's recounting data/history from the order of monastic scientists that have been around for 3000 years. Santino


----------



## Santino (Jul 29, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Anathem. Best Neal Stephenson I've read in ages. His loooong digressions work because he's recounting data/history from the order of monastic scientists that have been around for 3000 years. Santino





Santino said:


> Anathem is great idea that either needed condensing into a shorter, snappier book, or expanding into a proper trilogy covering 20 years of story.


 


Santino said:


> Anathem is definitely worth reading. There's one bit that made me go 'Ooohhhhhh' and neatly resolved one of the book's mysteries.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 29, 2014)

I've spotted two analogies of ancient greek philosophical ideas- cave and something else. So there must be loads more I'm missing. It's almost as good as the vinegar strokes when you do that 'i know that you know and I know' moment with fiction


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 29, 2014)

I also think the mathic monks have clear tonal links with the Root character and his order in Cryptonomicon


----------



## moon (Jul 29, 2014)

Not reading, but listening to on audible 'Beloved' by Toni Morrison.. I've read it before..


----------



## belboid (Jul 29, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> I've spotted two analogies of ancient greek philosophical ideas- cave and something else. So there must be loads more I'm missing.


bugger, I want to read it now (and I already have my next twelve books lined up)


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 29, 2014)

belboid said:


> bugger, I want to read it now (and I already have my next twelve books lined up)


if you want an epub version of it, PM an email addy


----------



## DrJordanov (Jul 29, 2014)

The Exorcist by* William Peter Blatty - *this is my favorite book!


----------



## 8115 (Jul 29, 2014)

Graffiti Kings, New York City Mass Transit Art of the 1970s by Jack Stewart.  It's great, full of the most geeky detail and amazing pictures.


----------



## MrSki (Jul 30, 2014)




----------



## weltweit (Jul 30, 2014)

Thirteen Hours, Deon Meyer

Set in South Africa, a crime thriller, set over thirteen hours, I really rate this book, couldn't put it down!


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 30, 2014)

May Kasahara said:


> Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It's fantastic.



I've never heard of this book, but I read your post yesterday and today it's appeared in my Amazon recommendations 
Spooky! 

Just started on Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm


----------



## starfish (Jul 30, 2014)

The Sentry by Robert Crais. Another Elvis Cole & Joe Pike novel, ending my apocalyptic story streak.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 31, 2014)

Almost finished the Ray Mears autobiog now - one chapter left. Read 'The Day I Killed Margaret Thatcher' by Anthony Cartwright while I was off. Moved me to tears on several occasions. He's got to have experienced at least some of that in order to write about it the way he did. Fucking excellent book


----------



## MrSki (Jul 31, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Almost finished the Ray Mears autobiog now - one chapter left. Read 'The Day I Killed Margaret Thatcher' by Anthony Cartwright while I was off. Moved me to tears on several occasions. He's got to have experienced at least some of that in order to write about it the way he did. Fucking excellent book


I read that earlier this year & would agree it is a fine book that takes you back in time.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jul 31, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> I've spotted two analogies of ancient greek philosophical ideas- cave and something else. So there must be loads more I'm missing. It's almost as good as the vinegar strokes when you do that 'i know that you know and I know' moment with fiction



yeh I love that shit


----------



## marty21 (Aug 4, 2014)

just finished Robert Harris - An Officer and a Spy - which I really enjoyed, it is about the Dreyfus affair - now reading more about that, bought 'The Dreyfus Affair' by Piers Paul Read - the novel is a real conspiracy thriller - the truth is also conspiracy-ridden (or is it the truth?  )


----------



## Saints Alive (Aug 4, 2014)

From the Fatherland, With Love by Ryu Murakami. Never heard of this guy before but we were going to Japan on a trip so decided to look up what was recently released which was Japan-based, and came across this. Giving little away, it is set in a slightly dystopian near-future Japan where everything has gone to shit and the North Koreans decide to invade. Given what is happening in the Ukraine, it all feels rather timely, although it was apparently written several years ago. 

Witty, entertaining and, by turns, subversive, it is a real doorstop of a book but I've found myself rattling through it.


----------



## stereoisomer (Aug 4, 2014)

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. It's excellent so far, like all her other books


----------



## weltweit (Aug 4, 2014)

Norwegian by Night, Derek B. Miller

"Stunningly Good" The Times


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 4, 2014)

Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein


----------



## MrSki (Aug 4, 2014)

Memoirs of a Geezer the autobiography of Jah Wobble. Enjoying it so far about 120 pages in.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 4, 2014)

about to start 'The New Old World' by Perry Anderson. For a change its not fiction, its a book about the New Left period.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 7, 2014)

Present Danger, Stella Rimington

The second of her books I read, I found it quite compelling


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 7, 2014)

Matilda Tristram - Probably Nothing
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0241004152?pc_redir=1407262163&robot_redir=1
It's a graphic memoir/comic in which the author recounts being diagnosed with colon cancer whilst pregnant.
Except I'm not reading it as my copy is in London and I am in Leeds. 
So I'll go to Waterstone's in town and read it, sobbing, as <BLATANT SPAM ALERT> a friend wrote it.
BUY IT NOW!


----------



## little_legs (Aug 7, 2014)

Currently reading _Leaving the Atocha Station_ by Ben Lerner

Recently finished _Letting Go_ by Philip Roth. It's his first published novel, out of 4 Roth books I've read to date, Letting Go is my favorite. His observations and dialogue is akin to ice burn. Unlike his other books, this one is 600+ long but at no point I felt that he was wasting my time. I could marry him.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Aug 8, 2014)

Saints Alive said:


> From the Fatherland, With Love by Ryu Murakami. Never heard of this guy before but we were going to Japan on a trip so decided to look up what was recently released which was Japan-based, and came across this. Giving little away, it is set in a slightly dystopian near-future Japan where everything has gone to shit and the North Koreans decide to invade. Given what is happening in the Ukraine, it all feels rather timely, although it was apparently written several years ago.
> 
> Witty, entertaining and, by turns, subversive, it is a real doorstop of a book but I've found myself rattling through it.



I've only read one of his - In The Miso Soup, which I did really rate.


----------



## ringo (Aug 8, 2014)

Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk....Second of his I've picked up this year, almost dark enough for the disturbing books thread but funny too, which takes the edge off.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 8, 2014)

Just started 'From Dictatorship to Democracy' by Gene Sharp.


----------



## BoatieBird (Aug 8, 2014)

The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin, purchased because marty21 (and others) really seem to rate him.
Enjoying it very much so far


----------



## belboid (Aug 8, 2014)

Just finishing Viv Albertine's _Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boy,s Boys, Boys_. Which isn't a bad read, very easy going, but not quite as good as all those rave reviews implied.  The bits after the Slits split are actually more interesting than most of the 'exciting' band tales, plenty of which seemed to be almost just name dropping (which is unfair, as obviously she was really there, and did hang out with Sid and Mick and the rest).

Then it'll be onto the most fascinating book of the year, I'm sure  - Book=keeping 2, Tutorials _and _Workbook.  Oh, the joy.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 9, 2014)

The Girl who fell from the Sky, Simon Mawer

Really good book, a girl is on an SOE mission in occupied France, very well written, hard to put down, another of the author's books was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and I can see why. I recommend this book!


----------



## MrSki (Aug 9, 2014)

I am currently reading "Eat my Heart out" by Zoe Pilger. It is okay but I suspect it would be more enjoyable to someone with a better understanding of the feminist movement & the reading that goes with it.


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 10, 2014)

A compendium called something like 'best American mystery stories' from 2006. Some absolute gems, some pretty good, a few lame ducks, but overall a fine standard of story.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Aug 11, 2014)

Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

Never read any of his before... I also have "The Steep Approach to Garbadale" and "Whit" on the shelf from the charity shop... but I'll see how his first novel pans out.  So far, I love his style.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 11, 2014)

Divergent by Veronica Roth. 
Sort of an apallingly written Hunger Games rip off
 Quite pacey though.


----------



## starfish (Aug 11, 2014)

May Kasahara said:


> A compendium called something like 'best American mystery stories' from 2006. Some absolute gems, some pretty good, a few lame ducks, but overall a fine standard of story.


I read the 2013 version last year. Had the same opinion as you.


----------



## flypanam (Aug 13, 2014)

Rebecca West - Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: a journey through Yugoslavia. Cracking read.

Ian Esslemont - Orb Sceptre Throne. His best book in his Malazan series that I've read, makes me want to go back and re read Erikson's books.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 13, 2014)

flypanam said:


> Rebecca West - Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: a journey through Yugoslavia. Cracking read.



That has been on my list for a while. I might move it further up on that recommendation.


----------



## flypanam (Aug 13, 2014)

It took me years to get round to it, but it really is an eye opener, she has a great eye for detail, is enthusiastic for Yugoslavia and is very perceptive about the differences between Serbs and Croats. Has some great comic moments too.


----------



## maya (Aug 13, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Sort of an apallingly written Hunger Games rip off


The Hunger Games is a blatant rip-off of the japanese 'Battle Royale' though!


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 14, 2014)

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski



> Mark Z. Danielewski's first novel _House of Leaves_ is a multi-layered fiction--part horror-story, part philosophical meditation, and mostly very good storytelling. The Navidson family move into a house in Ash Tree Lane. Will Navidson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, decides to document his family's domestic acclimatisation in a film, _The Navidson Record_, but it soon becomes apparent that something is very wrong with the house, and the film becomes a document of the growing disorientation and terror of the occupants. Later, a blind old man, Zampano, writes about this film: at his death, his papers are in disarray, and the strange narrative and commentary are reconstructed by Johnny Truant, a young LA slacker working part-time in a tattoo parlour. Try as he might, though, Truant can find no record that the film ever existed, but the unaccountable fear begins to haunt him too.


----------



## shifting gears (Aug 16, 2014)

Just finished Tony Parker 'Red Hill - A Mining Community'

A collection of interviews with miners, wives, coal board employees, journalists etc from a mining town (the name of the town was changed for the book, anyone know exactly where it refers too?)

Moving and insightful, it simply tells people's personal experiences of living through the strike from a real variety of perspectives. Pretty bleak in places but with occasional high points - the empowerment and engagement of some of the wives to their husband's cause being one example. 

Recommended - the only grumble I have with it is it gave rise to the U2 song of the same name, which is, to put it kindly, a right old bag of wank.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 16, 2014)

Just finished "Scaredy Cat", Mark Billingham

A crime thriller, not bad at all.


----------



## May Kasahara (Aug 19, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski



I loved this, hope you are enjoying it 

Just finished Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. It was completely absorbing in every way, just wonderful. I need to let it wear off before starting something else.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Aug 19, 2014)

shifting gears said:


> Just finished Tony Parker 'Red Hill - A Mining Community'
> 
> A collection of interviews with miners, wives, coal board employees, journalists etc from a mining town (the name of the town was changed for the book, anyone know exactly where it refers too?)
> 
> ...



Tony Parker's  magnificent at getting the people he interviews to talk naturally & openly - I'm not really down with non fiction but I'll make an exception for him. I've not read the miners one but I have read a few of his others - Life After Life (interviews with people released from prison after doing life), The People Of Providence (interviews with the inhabitants of a south london estate - Like Red Hill, the name of the area was changed), Soldier Soldier (interviews with people in the army and their partners), May The Lord In His Mercy Be Kind To Belfast (interviews with people in Belfast & talking about the troubles an that), The Violence Of Our Lives (a bit like Life After Life but stateside).

All recommended, especially Providence.


----------



## StoneRoad (Aug 19, 2014)

Just finished "The Pagan Lord" by Bernard Cornwell

Part of the saxon warrior series. There will be another instalment later this year.
By which time I'll try and re-read them, this time in the correct order !

Interesting, if a bit too gory for late night reading. Saxon / Viking era seems very violent, but still fascinating.


----------



## MrSki (Aug 19, 2014)

StoneRoad said:


> Just finished "The Pagan Lord" by Bernard Cornwell
> 
> Part of the saxon warrior series. There will be another instalment later this year.
> By which time I'll try and re-read them, this time in the correct order !
> ...


I really enjoyed this series & read them in the correct order. The must have been popular too for BC to carry on after the death of the main character.

ETA all the other books were him telling the story from old age. He must be telling the next one from Valhalla.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 20, 2014)

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain, Really enjoying it, Don't know why I didn't read this years ago


----------



## moon (Aug 20, 2014)

I'm only listening to audio books at the moment.
My current bedtime story is Clan of the Cave Bear by J M Auel, read it when I was a teen.
Audible is great for revisiting old books..


----------



## weltweit (Aug 21, 2014)

Tau Zero, Poul Anderson

Sci-fi written originally in Swedish I believe. I am 43 pages in and it isn't grabbing me tbh. It may be something to do with the translation, it does not seem to flow like a book written originally in English. I will persevere though as I like the subject matter.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 21, 2014)

weltweit said:


> Tau Zero, Poul Anderson
> 
> Sci-fi written originally in Swedish I believe. I am 43 pages in and it isn't grabbing me tbh. It may be something to do with the translation, it does not seem to flow like a book written originally in English. I will persevere though as I like the subject matter.




if you like that follow it up with a similar tale of colony ship but wildly at variance to hard SF- Frank Herbert 'The Jesus Incident' and its sequel 'Lazarus Effect'


http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/9/3303946/classics-the-jesus-incident-frank-herbert-bill-ransom

its a collaboration between noted poet Bill Ransom and Dune author Frank Herbert.

vintage, quality stuff


----------



## mentalchik (Aug 21, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> if you like that follow it up with a similar tale of colony ship but wildly at variance to hard SF- Frank Herbert 'The Jesus Incident' and its sequel 'Lazarus Effect'
> 
> 
> http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/9/3303946/classics-the-jesus-incident-frank-herbert-bill-ransom
> ...




I concur (they're in my collection)


Let The Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist


----------



## sojourner (Aug 22, 2014)

Julian Barnes - A History of the World in 10½ Chapters 

Loving it so far


----------



## Mr Happy Orange (Aug 22, 2014)

Hey all.

Can I post a book (or rather a set) that I intend to read? I was walking around Greenwich when I happened to find a complete set of the Folio Society's set of Gibbon's 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'. Hardback, complete with dust cover / box - bought for £50. Absolute bargain in relative terms!


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 22, 2014)

The Ascension Factor by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom. Book 4 of the Destination Void series mentioned upthread. Didn't know this one existed, looks like bill wrote it up from his and Herberts notes after the latters death


----------



## Mr Happy Orange (Aug 24, 2014)

Can You Forgive Her? - Anthony Trollope

I recall John Major stating that Trollope was his favorite author - and within the first few lines I could understand why - the clipped, precise style (in an entirely unnatural way) matching the way Major speaks.


----------



## Greebo (Aug 24, 2014)

Small World - David Lodge


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 24, 2014)

Greebo said:


> Small World - David Lodge


That is a very funny book!


----------



## Greebo (Aug 24, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> That is a very funny book!


If you say so - it's raised the odd smile but I've read funnier stuff.  Tbf after "Thinks" I shouldn't have expected this one to be my thing either.


----------



## nogojones (Aug 24, 2014)

Histories by Tacitus


----------



## colbhoy (Aug 25, 2014)

The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 25, 2014)

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 25, 2014)

jeff_leigh said:


> The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne


Keep meaning to read that. The film is great.


----------



## 8115 (Aug 26, 2014)

Peter James, Dead Man's Time.  13 MILLION COPIES SOLD


----------



## maya (Aug 26, 2014)

Re-reading 'Q' and 'Manituana' by Luther Blissett, as when I tried to read them first time around during my messy/confusing student years my head(s)pace was a bit too hectic to make sense of stuff like that... If I ever manage to finish those I'll continue with 'Black Holes, Wormholes and Time-machines' by Jim Al-Khalili (for commuting) and 'Future Days: Krautock and the building of modern Germany' by David Stubbs (for chilled out reading on the sofa in the afternoon, trying to spend less time in front of a computer and more reading books/doing stuff IRL)


----------



## ringo (Aug 26, 2014)

A Room With A View - E. M. Forster. 

Had no idea what this was about when I started it. Enjoying it already but can't help picturing herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the horizon.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 26, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Julian Barnes - A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
> 
> Loving it so far


Finished this at lunchtime.  Quick look at reviews - horrible one from Jonathan Coe in the Guardian, wittering on about it being too clever. I fucking hate that. YOU go and fucking write it then! So what if it's clever? Since when was being clever and displaying it in writing a sodding crime?! Only in the UK 

Anyway, thought it was fucking ace


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 26, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Finished this at lunchtime.  Quick look at reviews - horrible one from Jonathan Coe in the Guardian, wittering on about it being too clever. I fucking hate that. YOU go and fucking write it then! So what if it's clever? Since when was being clever and displaying it in writing a sodding crime?! Only in the UK
> 
> Anyway, thought it was fucking ace


I love the chapter about heaven. It's been a while since I read it but doesn't he talk about the perfect FEB? I recall bacon rinds served separately on a silver platter.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 26, 2014)

at least its not a ramekin


Done with Ascension Factor.

now on to

Fireworks in the Rain

which is a prelude novella to 'The Incrementalists'




> _Steven Brust and Skyler White's novel The Incrementalists (September 2013) introduces us to a secret society of two hundred people with an unbroken lineage reaching back forty thousand years. They cheat death, share lives and memories, and communicate with one another across nations and time. They have an epic history, an almost magical memory, and a very modest mission: to make the world better, a little bit at a time._


----------



## sojourner (Aug 26, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I love the chapter about heaven. It's been a while since I read it but doesn't he talk about the perfect FEB? I recall bacon rinds served separately on a silver platter.


What's FEB?

Yeh, the heaven one's the last chapter, and as with the rest of the stories, it gives a refreshingly different take on the subject


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 26, 2014)

What's FEB?  you're clearly not real Urbanz if you have to ask that! 

FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST!

The stuff about Hitler is well funny


----------



## sojourner (Aug 26, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> What's FEB?  you're clearly not real Urbanz if you have to ask that!
> 
> FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST!
> 
> The stuff about Hitler is well funny


Ohhh!!! Haha - it's off my radar these days


----------



## Mr Retro (Aug 26, 2014)

The Dog by Joseph O'Neill. Nearly finished and I've really enjoyed it but it's not as good as Netherland.


----------



## Mr Happy Orange (Aug 26, 2014)

maya said:


> Re-reading 'Q' and 'Manituana' by Luther Blissett, as when I tried to read them first time around during my messy/confusing student years my head(s)pace was a bit too hectic to make sense of stuff like that... If I ever manage to finish those I'll continue with 'Black Holes, Wormholes and Time-machines' by Jim Al-Khalili (for commuting) and 'Future Days: Krautock and the building of modern Germany' by David Stubbs (for chilled out reading on the sofa in the afternoon, trying to spend less time in front of a computer and more reading books/doing stuff IRL)



In retrospect 'Q' remains a very good novel but it is undoubtedly untidy and in need of editing. Perhaps this is the natural result of a book being written collectively? 'Manituana' is a far superior novel, more circumspect and controlled, and one to which the collective will hopefully agree to return to in the future (as they did with 'Q' through 'Altai').

I loved both so much that I sought out first editions of both (with dust jackets).


----------



## weltweit (Aug 26, 2014)

Getting a bit frustrated with my current book, it just sends me to sleep! I am determined, over half way through but it isn't the most gripping or pleasurable read I have had.


----------



## MrSki (Aug 26, 2014)

weltweit said:


> Getting a bit frustrated with my current book, it just sends me to sleep! I am determined, over half way through but it isn't the most gripping or pleasurable read I have had.


Same here. Read the first 220 pages in a couple of days but the last 50 has taken over a week! Must finish it but don't really have much enthusiasm.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Aug 26, 2014)

Maggie and Me. The main character is growing up gay in Scotland in the 80s. Some of it's really grim


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 26, 2014)

poptyping said:


> Maggie and Me. The main character is growing up gay in Scotland in the 80s. Some of it's really grim


BY WHO?


----------



## Thimble Queen (Aug 26, 2014)

Damian Barr. No need to shout


----------



## belboid (Aug 26, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> BY WHO?


Whom [/pedant]


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 26, 2014)

poptyping said:


> Damian Barr. No need to shout


Pet hate!


----------



## Thimble Queen (Aug 27, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Pet hate!



Is that all it takes


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 27, 2014)

Think of the poor author!


----------



## maya (Aug 27, 2014)

Mr Happy Orange said:


> In retrospect 'Q' remains a very good novel but it is undoubtedly untidy and in need of editing. Perhaps this is the natural result of a book being written collectively? 'Manituana' is a far superior novel, more circumspect and controlled, and one to which the collective will hopefully agree to return to in the future (as they did with 'Q' through 'Altai').
> 
> I loved both so much that I sought out first editions of both (with dust jackets).


Yeah, I love their angle and the whole project really... Have you read '54' by Wu Ming?(a Blissett-related project) I've heard good things about it, looks like a more 1950s noir kind of thing.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 27, 2014)

Chuck Palahniuk - Lullaby

Almost finished it - brilliant, loving it


----------



## rubbershoes (Aug 27, 2014)

I've just finished two autobiographies.  *Toast *by Nigel Slater and *My booky wook* by Russell Brand.  

Both books were as you'd expect.  Toast is (largely) warming and shows Nigel Slater's obsession with food.   My booky wook is irritating and shows Russell Brand's obsession with Russell Brand

I was pleased to note Nigel Slater agrees that the only acceptable Angel Delight flavours were butterscotch and banana.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 27, 2014)

Toast is an excellent book, I loved that.

I'd rather piss on myself than read RB though. Fucking ginormous cock end.


----------



## Mr Retro (Aug 27, 2014)

Butchers Crossing by John Williams. One of those you know is going to be a cracking read.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 27, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Keep meaning to read that. The film is great.


 I've seen the film too and they're both great, Give it a read I finished it 2 nights


----------



## starfish (Aug 27, 2014)

A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr. Its 1943 & Bernie Gunther is sent to investigate the Katyn Forest massacre.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 28, 2014)

Working Lives: Volume One 1905 - 45, by The People's Autobiography of Hackney, published by the Hackney WEA.  Picked it up in the charity shop. Fascinating stuff, and being published by the WEA, it does make the point that ordinary working people's lives are just not accounted for in most literature.


----------



## Mr Happy Orange (Aug 28, 2014)

The Consolation Of Philosophy - Boethius

Sometimes you just find the right book at the right time. This is certainly the case with this text.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 28, 2014)

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut


----------



## 8115 (Aug 28, 2014)

Half of a yellow sun.


----------



## bubblesmcgrath (Aug 28, 2014)

Mr Happy Orange said:


> Can You Forgive Her? - Anthony Trollope
> 
> I recall John Major stating that Trollope was his favorite author - and within the first few lines I could understand why - the clipped, precise style (in an entirely unnatural way) matching the way Major speaks.



Brilliant author...I loved the Barchester Chronicles.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Aug 28, 2014)

Something I read recently and recommend:

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Turning Points in Ancient History) by Eric H. Cline 



> In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen?
> 
> In this major new account of the causes of this "First Dark Ages," Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 30, 2014)

finally managed to finish: Tau Zero, by Poul Anderson. Glad I read it but didn't really enjoy it.  

Just read: London Calling, James Craig - this kind of thriller I like, constant stuff to keep the reader interested, possible to read the whole 300 pages in a few days, sci-fi should be written like this!


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 30, 2014)

Just finished re-reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, I'd forgotten how much fun it was.

Next up is Ha'penny by Jo Walton, then Atonement by Ian McEwan.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Aug 31, 2014)

Luke and Jon by Robert Williams

http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Luke_and_Jon.html?id=TEdOewAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Not bad so far.


----------



## izz (Aug 31, 2014)

The Diary of Samuel Pepys. _"Thence to the office with nothing to do". _


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 1, 2014)

did a boot sale today and in usual habit came back with a decent haul of books.

Mitch Tonks: Fish, the complete fish & seafood companion. Might have to invest in a fish kettle now

Biographies: Richard Hammond, Ozzy Osbourne. At 75 p each, why the fuck not?

also binoculars and a cobain print done in pastels, but they are not books


----------



## belboid (Sep 1, 2014)

Just picked up David Mitchell's _The Bone Clock_. Can't decide whether to finish my current book or just plough into this, cos it sounds brilliant.


----------



## weltweit (Sep 2, 2014)

The Hidden Man, Charles Cumming

Spy thriller: initially interesting, ultimately slightly less than satisfying.


----------



## BoatieBird (Sep 2, 2014)

Currently reading If Nobody Speak of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor.

It's been on my Amazon wishlist for a couple of months after someone on here recommended it, a trawl through the 'recommend me something uplifting' thread that ringo started tells me that it was recommended by tufty79.
Thanks tufty, really enjoying it so far 
I started reading it yesterday afternoon in my dentist's waiting room and I knew straight away that it was something I wanted to savour so I put it away until I got home so I could concentrate on the beautiful opening passages.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 3, 2014)

^ pretty sure I've read that one Boatie - seem to remember I enjoyed it too 

Just started Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera. Had no idea she was a fan of Stalin!


----------



## maya (Sep 3, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Just started Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera. Had no idea she was a fan of Stalin!


She also had a (brief) affair with Trotsky, not that it makes it any better though. 

Herrera's is the best and most authoritative biography on Kahlo so far, IIRC.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 3, 2014)

Yeh, I flicked through the photies having a nosey and saw Trotsky!


----------



## maya (Sep 3, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Yeh, I flicked through the photies having a nosey and saw Trotsky!


He was assasinated soon after, poor man.  (*no connection!)

Kahlo was a fascinating woman, such a strong and independent character- she had a string of interesting lovers, many famous intellectuals and artists- including Josephine Baker! (Interestingly, just like Simone de Beauvoir with Sartre, she let her life become dominated by the interdependent relationship to an older and less caring man, whose artictic star was considered the most important one. He was 'the big Genius', she his muse and supporter.)


----------



## jeff_leigh (Sep 3, 2014)

Gone Baby Gone - Dennis Lehane , Can't remember the urbanite who recommended this author to me but a big Thank you


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 3, 2014)

Echopraxia. God I've missed Peter Watts. It's the future, and its really really shit for everyone who isn't super rich. Also questions on the nature of human etc. Only two chapters in and I can tell its a keeper.


----------



## billy_bob (Sep 3, 2014)

Steinbeck's East of Eden for the first time.  One of the best books I've ever read.  I usually race through fiction but I'm finding I don't want to with this because I don't want to finish it


----------



## shifting gears (Sep 3, 2014)

billy_bob said:


> Steinbeck's East of Eden for the first time.  One of the best books I've ever read.  I usually race through fiction but I'm finding I don't want to with this because I don't want to finish it



I read it a long time ago and must re-read it but it evoked exactly the same feelings in me that you described. Steinbeck in full flow is something else, and that's his Magnum Opus.

To quote/paraphrase him 'there is only one book to a man'

(Not that I can really agree, cos he wrote loads of good uns, but you get the point  )


----------



## ringo (Sep 4, 2014)

Farewell, My Lovely - Raymond Chandler.....I remember my best mate reading all of these when we were teenagers but for some reason I wasn't interested. Don't know why, they're brilliant. Loving this even more than The Big Sleep.

"It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window."


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 4, 2014)

asterix and the secret agent


----------



## MrSki (Sep 4, 2014)

Pickman's model said:


> asterix and the secret agent


Never heard of that one. There is "Asterix & the Roman Agent" or "Asterix & the Secret Weapon" Is it a new one?


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 4, 2014)

MrSki said:


> Never heard of that one. There is "Asterix & the Roman Agent" or "Asterix & the Secret Weapon" Is it a new one?


yeh roman agent


----------



## billy_bob (Sep 4, 2014)

shifting gears said:


> I read it a long time ago and must re-read it but it evoked exactly the same feelings in me that you described. Steinbeck in full flow is something else, and that's his Magnum Opus.
> 
> To quote/paraphrase him 'there is only one book to a man'
> 
> (Not that I can really agree, cos he wrote loads of good uns, but you get the point  )



I've read many of his others and loved most of them - don't know why it took so long to get round to this one.


----------



## Frances Lengel (Sep 5, 2014)

Just finished Pig Iron by Benjamin Myers.

It's about this ostracised traveller kid who's just got out of jail n that. And how he came to end up being ostracised and his relationship with his father n that. I wasn't sure if I'd get into it at first coz on page one the narrator's on about a "green cathedral", meaning some woods and I was thinking christ, is this going to be one of _those_ books about some kind of idiot/idiot savant who's in touch with nature and all that boring bullshit. But it isn't like that at all, what it is is a really good read, I couldn't put it down. Recommended.


----------



## _mICHELLe_ (Sep 5, 2014)

Isaac Bashevis Singer - Scum


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 5, 2014)

_mICHELLe_ said:


> Isaac Bashevis Singer - Scum


Ooh, what's he like?


----------



## belboid (Sep 6, 2014)

belboid said:


> Just picked up David Mitchell's _The Bone Clock_. Can't decide whether to finish my current book or just plough into this, cos it sounds brilliant.


I ploughed on with my other book, was really just too gripping to put down. A Phil Brett recomendation, _An Instance of the Fingerpost_ (Iain Pears) tells a tale from just after the Restoration, of murder and plots, both papish and radical (or possibly  not).  Told as four seperate tales, one starting upon reading the previous version(s) and giving their versions of events, it's clever and funny and a damaned good mystery.  Somewhat in the vein of Name of the Rose, with many heady doses of philosophy, it's a crackng read.

Just got onto the David Mitchell, and have finished the first 'novella' (they're not really novella's, but are sort of written as ones, apparently).  _The Bone Clocks _starts of not unlike a Caitlin Moran book, a very well drawn, miserable, fifteen year old running away from home. Nothing particularly weird happening (just a couple of somewhat weird things).  But then, two amusingly posh Socialist Worker members turn up, and it all goes distinctly haywire.  Gripping stuff.


----------



## MrSki (Sep 6, 2014)

Is it wrong to give up on a book with only 50 pages to go? I know I should plod on but it seems to have lost the plot or I have certainly lost any enthusiasm for reading it.


----------



## billy_bob (Sep 6, 2014)

MrSki said:


> Is it wrong to give up on a book with only 50 pages to go? I know I should plod on but it seems to have lost the plot or I have certainly lost any enthusiasm for reading it.



Still on Asterix?


----------



## MrSki (Sep 6, 2014)

billy_''bob said:


> Still on Asterix?


I wish. That is Pickman's model who is refreshing his roman history of the conquest of Gaul.

No I have been stuck on "Eat my Heart Out" by Zoe Pilger. It is doing my fucking head in. I have read ten books in the time it has taken to read this but I don't want to give up with only 50 pages to go. Maybe I will read them whilst pissed.


----------



## stethoscope (Sep 6, 2014)

Just started It's Not About Me: Confessions of a Recovered Outlaw Addict by Ian Young.


----------



## weltweit (Sep 7, 2014)

Death Message, Mark Billingham

The second of his books I have read, and luckily in the right order so far, quite like the writing style, plenty of activity to keep the reader interested and short chapters which I always think are a good idea. I will take another of his books shortly.


----------



## hash tag (Sep 8, 2014)

Have just finished Christophe Basson's " A Clean Break" and have now got bored with cycling books.
Now reading " Around India in 80 Trains" Monisha Rajesh http://www.80trains.com/
I am enjoying Indian culture more and more. Posh Anglo/Indian journo embarks on 80 train journeys. It's lightweight and fun but she has a keen eye for detail about Indian culture which I'm enjoying.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 9, 2014)

Stephen King - Joyland


----------



## braindancer (Sep 9, 2014)

belboid said:


> I ploughed on with my other book, was really just too gripping to put down. A Phil Brett recomendation, _An Instance of the Fingerpost_ (Iain Pears) tells a tale from just after the Restoration, of murder and plots, both papish and radical (or possibly  not).  Told as four seperate tales, one starting upon reading the previous version(s) and giving their versions of events, it's clever and funny and a damaned good mystery.  Somewhat in the vein of Name of the Rose, with many heady doses of philosophy, it's a crackng read.
> 
> 
> > Yes!  What a brilliant book that was - I read it many years ago but it could be time for a re-read.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2014)

This Frida Kahlo book keeps giving me the most bizarro dreams!  Last night I dreamt that me and Cheesypoof  were stood in front of a mirror, holding hands, wearing shirts that were open. We were naked to the waist and making symmetrical shapes. 

Also - Diego Rivera. What a cunt! And a fucking clown


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2014)

MrSki said:


> Is it wrong to give up on a book with only 50 pages to go? I know I should plod on but it seems to have lost the plot or I have certainly lost any enthusiasm for reading it.


Nah, not at all MrSki .  I gave up doing that years ago.  Doris Lessing says it best:

There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag-and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty-and vise versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 11, 2014)

Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie

it's billed as 'ian m banks like' which had me sold.


----------



## billy_bob (Sep 11, 2014)

Doris Someone or other said:
			
		

> There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag-and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty-and vise versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you



tl:dr


----------



## sojourner (Sep 11, 2014)

billy_bob said:


> tl:dr


----------



## nogojones (Sep 11, 2014)

October Heat - Gordon DeMarco


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 11, 2014)

sojourner said:


> This Frida Kahlo book keeps giving me the most bizarro dreams!  Last night I dreamt that me and Cheesypoof  were stood in front of a mirror, holding hands, wearing shirts that were open. We were naked to the waist and making symmetrical shapes.
> 
> Also - Diego Rivera. What a cunt! And a fucking clown



Totally!!  Btw, most honoured to be in one of your dreams! Love it! xxx


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 12, 2014)

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.  It's just your typical time-travelling serial killer book


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 12, 2014)

Just started The End of the Affair by Graham Greene 

I hadn't realised that people ever had sex in the 1940s


----------



## rhod (Sep 12, 2014)

belboid said:


> Just got onto the David Mitchell, and have finished the first 'novella' (they're not really novella's, but are sort of written as ones, apparently).



He delves into the structure of his books  in this interview: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksplus/79/5711212


----------



## belboid (Sep 12, 2014)

rhod said:


> He delves into the structure of his books  in this interview: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksplus/79/5711212


I went to see him giving a talk/interview the last week, and I wish I hadnt, as it gave far too much away about the story.  I'm guessing this kind of article does too.  Tho I can read it now, as I've finished the book.
It's a very entertaining read, I could barely put it down for the first four novella's. I wasn't quite as convinced by the last two, however. They brought the story together, and there's a lot of very good writing in there, but as examples of fantasy and post-apocalyptic writing, they were only pretty good, rather than excellent. Five had good idea's and quite good use of language (there's a New Yorker article which says its all but incomprehensible, and quotes on long passage which, read in isolatin, is all but incomprehensible, but in the middle of the story is fine, as you've learnt all the neologisms and they make near perfect sense), but the story felt a bit generic, nothing particularly new in it.  And the last one, while starting and ending very well, raised too many questions about how they got to such a situation, that went unanswered, so it was a bit frustrating.  Still, the good bits far outweighed the bad, and even when it's weak, it's still a gripping and entertaining read.


Can't decide whether to read Howard Jacobson's _J _now, or _Farewell, My Lovely._


----------



## ringo (Sep 12, 2014)

belboid said:


> Can't decide whether to read Howard Jacobson's _J _now, or _Farewell, My Lovely._



Just finished Farewell, My Lovely, it's brilliant, a one of those novels that has everything - great plot, gripping tension, sublime one liners.


----------



## ringo (Sep 12, 2014)

Dead Man's Walk - Larry McMurtry
First, chronologically, of the Lonesome Dove series. Never read anything by him before, good stuff so far.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2014)

ringo said:


> Dead Man's Walk - Larry McMurtry
> First, chronologically, of the Lonesome Dove series. Never read anything by him before, good stuff so far.




So you've got Lonesome Dove yet to read?  Jealous. I fucking LOVE Larry McMurtry


----------



## ringo (Sep 12, 2014)

sojourner said:


> So you've got Lonesome Dove yet to read?  Jealous. I fucking LOVE Larry McMurtry



Yes, I know he wrote them in a different order but I thought I'd be better off reading them in chronological order. 

Found this website packed full of free ebooks to download so I grabbed all four of them:

http://tuebl.ca/


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2014)

I read LD first, then all the rest.  Enjoy!


----------



## belboid (Sep 12, 2014)

rhod said:


> He delves into the structure of his books  in this interview: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksplus/79/5711212


That was quite interesting.  But really does give away a lot of detail about the book, far too much if you haven't read it.  Which reminds me, there's a bloody big spoiler for _Thousand Autumns_ in Bone Clocks, so you shouldn't read the latter if you haven't already read the former.


----------



## izz (Sep 12, 2014)

Just done with the edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula illustrated by Jae Lee, most excellent.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 12, 2014)

izz said:


> Just done with the edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula illustrated by Jae Lee, most excellent.


Tis a marvellous read that.


----------



## izz (Sep 12, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Tis a marvellous read that.


aye lass, t'is - and looky, pictures http://www.splashpageart.com/artist...66&mag=the illustrated dracula by bram stoker


----------



## ringo (Sep 12, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Ooh, what's he like?



I read Gimpel The Fool last year. Good mixture of folk story and magical mysticism, like reading an old fairy story or legend.

eta: author is Isaac Bashevis Singer, not obvious what I'm on about from the quote.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Sep 12, 2014)

Just finished "Future Days - Krautrock & The Building of Modern Germany" by David Stubbs. Very good, if a little bit light on the political analysis of what drove the music.
Also recently finished "Megachange - The World in 2050", a set of predictions by writers for _The Economist_. It's the usual stuff you expect from the 'con - pro-neoliberal wishful economic thinking alongside proposed "social engineering".


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 12, 2014)

ViolentPanda said:


> Just finished "Future Days - Krautrock & The Building of Modern Germany" by David Stubbs. Very good, if a little bit light on the political analysis of what drove the music.
> Also recently finished "Megachange - The World in 2050", a set of predictions by writers for _The Economist_. It's the usual stuff you expect from the 'con - pro-neoliberal wishful economic thinking alongside proposed "social engineering".



I am listening to Future Days right at this very moment  The book is on my 'to buy/read' list


----------



## ViolentPanda (Sep 12, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> I am listening to Future Days right at this very moment  The book is on my 'to buy/read' list



I liked it a lot, and having a pop at the political analysis might be a bit rough on my part, as he packs a hell of a lot of post-war social history in alongside the musical description and analysis.  
I will admit to reading it while listening to a selection of _kosmiche_ classics.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 13, 2014)

The Bone Clocks

great so far


----------



## sojourner (Sep 17, 2014)

Fucking bored with the Frida Kahlo autobiog now. Swear it's 50% fucking Diego Rivera anyway 

Temporarily sacked it off.  Am reviewing a poetry book for Burning Eye publications, by Salena Godden. It's called 'Fishing in the Aftermath' and it is fucking AMAZING. Wow. I can't believe she's never been published before, but Burning Eye only publish performance poetry, so it's kind of a niche market. Can totally recommend it.

Also reading a book of short stories by Julian Barnes, called Pulse. Interesting in parts, and I do like his writing style, but the 'first world problems/middle class smugness' is getting on my wick a bit, have to say.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Sep 17, 2014)

Blood Meridian. Language as if it were touched by grace.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 17, 2014)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> Blood Meridian. Language as if it were touched by grace.


If you respect the language, then please respect the creator - Cormac McCarthy. He wrote it!


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Sep 17, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Cormac McCarthy. He wrote it!



Very good, Orang Utan.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 24, 2014)

Still reading the epic "Great North Road" by Peter F. Hamilton and a book about Football in Japan.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 24, 2014)

What is the book about Football in Japan?


----------



## ringo (Sep 25, 2014)

An American Dream - Norman Mailer.  

Never read anything by him before. Christ. Great writing, but it's like a handbook for training men to be cunts. In the first 30 pages the main character's war hero genius credentials are established before he gets drunk, strangles his wife, buggers her maid (who says no, but he knows she means yes) and throws the body off a balcony.


----------



## marty21 (Sep 25, 2014)

a few on the go atm, 1356 by Bernard Cornwell, Canada by Richard Ford, and One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson


----------



## MrSki (Sep 25, 2014)

I enjoyed 1356. The revival of Thomas of Hookton. A good read & history lesson at the same time.


----------



## colbhoy (Sep 25, 2014)

The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro by Joe McGinniss.


----------



## rhod (Sep 27, 2014)

belboid said:


> there's a bloody big spoiler for _Thousand Autumns_ in Bone Clocks, so you shouldn't read the latter if you haven't already read the former.



Thanks for the tip. About three quarters through Thousand Autumns now, and what a bloody good read it is!


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 27, 2014)

I finished The Bone Clocks - some bits work better than others but it's such a fun read.


----------



## Betsy (Sep 27, 2014)

I've just started Letter To My Daughter by Maya Angelou. ...picked it up for 30p (new) in a book sale.


----------



## weltweit (Sep 28, 2014)

Closing Time, Joseph Heller

I found the first half hard going, a little disjointed, I did enjoy the writing style but after reading some easy reading thrillers last I found Heller's writing difficult to plough through, sometimes only making a couple of pages per session, mind you there were 464 pages of close densely packed small font type - difficult for my eyes to focus on, still nice to get an idea of what happens to Heller's characters post war.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Sep 28, 2014)

"A Man Without Breath" Philip Kerr's latest Bernie Gunther novel. Enjoying it. A lot.

Plus "Flare Path" by Terence Rattigan, also enjoyable but will be even more so once I know my lines


----------



## darkinthespark (Sep 28, 2014)

'The Death and Life of the Great American School System' by Diane Ravitch.  A interesting warning about how not to do education, if a little dry and stat-heavy in places.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Sep 29, 2014)

Pakistan - Democracy, Terror and the Building of a Nation by Iftikhar Malik.


----------



## tufty79 (Sep 29, 2014)

Maddaddam by margaret atwood -  well worth waiting for.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Sep 29, 2014)

ViolentPanda said:


> Pakistan - Democracy, Terror and the Building of a Nation by Iftikhar Malik.



I was looking at that a little while ago. Is it any good? I am interested in Pakistan.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Sep 29, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> I was looking at that a little while ago. Is it any good? I am interested in Pakistan.



The author doesn't play favourites - both the generals and the (generally supine) civilian leaders come out of it badly. The analysis of *why* Pakistan suffers the problems it does are put into historical context, and he touches on class issues (nowhere near as deeply as *I'd* like!  ) and the quasi-feudal nature of much of the non-urban social hierarchy in Pakistan. He also doesn't spare either the Raj or the rest of the west for using Pakistan geopolitically, and the Saudis for exporting Wahhabism into Afghanistan and Pakistan as a counterweight to Iran. He also makes attempts to explain how the current situation could be remedied, but makes it clear that such remedies would depend on Pakistan's ruling classes setting aside their own interests for once.
Is it any good? Well, I enjoyed it, and it gave me a fresh perspective, so it was worth buying.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 29, 2014)

David Stubbs - Future Days: Krautrock and The Building Of Modern Germany.
I have only just started it, but the introduction and prologue got me pretty excited as it turns out Stubbs grew up in Leeds and the beginnings of his Krautrock schooling started at Leeds Record Library, a cavernous hall in the basement of the central library. It was also the source of my early exposure to not only Krautrock, but punk, post-punk, early electronic, experimental and prog rock. I listened to so so much. It was the best record collection ever. The people of Leeds were so so lucky to have such a huge and eclectic collection at their disposal. I would love to know who was behind it all for they were excellent curators.


----------



## starfish (Sep 29, 2014)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "A Man Without Breath" Philip Kerr's latest Bernie Gunther novel. Enjoying it. A lot


Im reading this at the moment too. And enjoying it a lot too.


----------



## mentalchik (Sep 29, 2014)

Blue Remembered Earth - Alastair Reynolds......

gonna start it later on (although i have a sneaking suspicion i already have it somewhere and never got round to it) but it was in Poundland so


----------



## belboid (Sep 30, 2014)

Howard Jacobson - J

Which could well be subtitled HJ's novelisation of his article from five years ago setting out why he supported Israel in their last war on Gaza. Which is a bit harsh, as there is some marvellous stuff in their abot the creation of _the other_, and the roles of memory and forgiveness, but the more explicit anti-anti-Zionist stuff (altho its never really that explicit) is a bit hard to take.

Now onto Phil Brett's _Comrades Come Rally_ - which was always my intention to read after being paid, and which is why i went for the Jacobson last rather than another Raymond Chandler, Brett was bound to suffer to much in such a direct comparison between writers of political detective novels.


----------



## ringo (Sep 30, 2014)

Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

More top quality deep south stuff


----------



## weltweit (Oct 2, 2014)

The Burning Girl, Mark Billingham

The third Billingham book I have read and it won't be my last, all very easy to read crime thrillers outlining the adventures of Tom Thorne, Billingham's detective character. I will be at my library later to get another one.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 3, 2014)

The Works: Anatomy of a City

not started it yet, but looks quality. What it sais on the tin basically, looks quite new york specific but thats ok


----------



## sojourner (Oct 3, 2014)

Just finished 'Sunset Park' by Paul Auster - thought it quite simplistic initially, given it's Auster, but he expertly wrapped it together. Really enjoyed it.

Started and then put down Julian Cope's 'One Three One'. Parts of it had me laughing out loud, and it is quite inventive, however, he veers off into obscurity and complete inaccessibility too often to be able to enjoy it, so I fucked it off. Shame really. The fucking tool.


----------



## maya (Oct 3, 2014)

ringo said:


> Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
> 
> More top quality deep south stuff


I love that book so much...The Ballad of the Sad Café is also v. good (short story collection). I think there's a film version starring Vanessa Redgrave.

(EDIT: Yep- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101404/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 )


----------



## hattie (Oct 3, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Started and then put down Julian Cope's 'One Three One'. Parts of it had me laughing out loud, and it is quite inventive, however, he veers off into obscurity and complete inaccessibility too often to be able to enjoy it, so I fucked it off. Shame really. The fucking tool.



yep totally agree, did the same fucking it off myself. love JC but he's 'the' fucking tool 
HOWEVER the Hillsborough chapter is worth reading - - an oasis of accessibility in an ocean of confusion . i didn't get that far independently, got the tip off from reading the reviews on amazon and skipped straight to it.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Oct 3, 2014)

The origin, history, breeding, and uses of the apple.  Surprisingly interesting.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Oct 3, 2014)

James Joyce's _Ulysses_. It's a copy that my dad gave to my mum in the 60s, and it's slowly falling apart as I read it...


----------



## ringo (Oct 4, 2014)

maya said:


> I love that book so much...The Ballad of the Sad Café is also v. good (short story collection). I think there's a film version starring Vanessa Redgrave.
> 
> (EDIT: Yep- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101404/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 )


An incredible piece of writing, I sat and read the last 150 pages in one sitting last night. Straight into the short list for best novels I've ever read.
Thanks for the tip, I'll get the short stories and try and find the film.


----------



## ringo (Oct 4, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Started and then put down Julian Cope's 'One Three One'. Parts of it had me laughing out loud, and it is quite inventive, however, he veers off into obscurity and complete inaccessibility too often to be able to enjoy it, so I fucked it off. Shame really. The fucking tool.



I managed to finish it but yeah, hard work at times, he's totally batshit, but just about worth sticking with to see how it all comes together at the end. Which it sort of does [emoji1]


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 4, 2014)

Re-reading Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon in anticipation of the film, which I am very excited about. 

After that I am going to also re-read Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon. And maybe Vineland, but that is a while off.

Also read The Seasons: A Celebration of the English Year by Nick Groom. Good but not quite what I wanted. 

I am really poor at the moment, so I have been reading e-books. I have been able to download quite a lot of books for free which would have otherwise been relatively expensive. Here are some of the ones I have read recently (and have in epub format if anybody wants them):

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Turning Points in Ancient History) by Eric H. Cline 
Watergate: The Hidden History: Nixon, The Mafia, and The CIA by Lamar Waldron
The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan by Rick Perlstein 
1848: Year Of Revolution by Mike Rapport 
The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists and Secret Agents by Alex Butterworth 
The Pike - Gabriele D’Annunzio: Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes Hallet
Roberto Bolano's Fiction: An Expanding Universe by Chris Andrews
How to Read a Poem Paperback by Terry Eagleton 

Got loads more ebooks but I don't have a proper e-reader, just a tablet, so it is a bit of a pain to read them. 

Erm probably quite a few more that I missed out as well.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Oct 4, 2014)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> View attachment 61965
> 
> The origin, history, breeding, and uses of the apple.  Surprisingly interesting.



 

I love books like that.


----------



## izz (Oct 4, 2014)

just done with Sedition by Katherine Grant. Found it unexpectedly shallow, apologies to any Grant fans.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Oct 4, 2014)

On The Road - Jack Kerouac


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 4, 2014)

Karl Marx - Capital Volume 1, accompanied by David Harvey'a Companion.
Finally.
50 pages in to Earnest Mandel's introduction, but I am not floundering just yet. I think I get it.


----------



## Greebo (Oct 5, 2014)

Just about finished GlücksWeib by Simone Malina.  I say "just about" because the language was far less of a problem than what could have been a rattling good read except that it was told boringly.  It had an unsatisfying and completely random ending as well - I suspect that the author had become as fed up writing the book as I was reading it.

Edited to add:  I was wondering if it was perhaps just me, missing some deeply subtle German nuance, so checked the reviews on amazon.de.  The book was slammed just as vehemently by several reviewers there, and so was one of the author's other books.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 6, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> Re-reading Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon in anticipation of the film, which I am very excited about.
> 
> After that I am going to also re-read Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon. And maybe Vineland, but that is a while off.
> 
> ...




I would like those epubs dill


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 7, 2014)

jeff_leigh said:


> On The Road - Jack Kerouac




Seminal but still quite irritating


----------



## jeff_leigh (Oct 7, 2014)

rubbershoes said:


> Seminal but still quite irritating


I know what you mean, Maybe I should've read it in my twenties


----------



## SpookyFrank (Oct 7, 2014)

M John Harrison - Light.

For the first few chapters of this nothing made much sense but the plot slowly reveals itself with little hints and jolts of revelation. A nice balance of whimsical imagery, entertaining sci-fi nonsense, sharp dialogue and solid universe building. 

There's definite hints of Iain M Banks in the space battle scenes, but Harrison seems more interested in conceptual grandeur than in the moral depth of Banks' sci fi stuff.

Recommended anyway. It's part of a trilogy and I think I'm gonna have to go straight into book two when this one's finished.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Oct 7, 2014)

jeff_leigh said:


> On The Road - Jack Kerouac



Never finished that. Kept waiting for something interesting to happen, or for Kerouac to get to the point. Eventually I realised that Kerouac felt that not having a point was a point in itself. Perfectly fine to live your life like that if you want to, but why would anyone else want to read about it? 

I think Dean Moriarty is supposed to be Neal Cassady, who was a far superior writer to Kerouac. He died young though, and Kerouac lived long enough to  disappear even further up his own arse. Typical.


----------



## minnyp (Oct 7, 2014)

An old Ladybird astronomy book.


----------



## MrSki (Oct 7, 2014)

minnyp said:


> An old Ladybird astronomy book.


Ladybird books are like Asterix books as in they get your book count up big time.


----------



## minnyp (Oct 7, 2014)

Mandy annuals   : )


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 7, 2014)

SpookyFrank said:


> M John Harrison - Light.
> 
> For the first few chapters of this nothing made much sense but the plot slowly reveals itself with little hints and jolts of revelation. A nice balance of whimsical imagery, entertaining sci-fi nonsense, sharp dialogue and solid universe building.
> 
> ...


Have you read that book of his about climbers?


----------



## nogojones (Oct 7, 2014)

Andy Behrman - Electroboy A Memoir of Mania

and a new bog book, Nicholas Saunders - Ecstasy and the Dance Culture. So far its pretty shit. Some really cringey bits, terrible layout. Makes me want to firebomb Neal's Yard


----------



## N_igma (Oct 7, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Karl Marx - Capital Volume 1, accompanied by David Harvey'a Companion.
> Finally.
> 50 pages in to Earnest Mandel's introduction, but I am not floundering just yet. I think I get it.



Don't worry you'll start floundering when you actually read it. They always do lol.


----------



## weltweit (Oct 8, 2014)

Rush of Blood, Mark Billingham
Good as Dead, Mark Billingham

Just read both, my fourth and fifth Billingham books, I should give them a rest for a while and my library hasn't any left anyhow. If you like crime thrillers they are good, I certainly read them pretty quickly and was not for a minute bored.


----------



## Greebo (Oct 8, 2014)

After that annoying book which nearly got my kindle thrown across the room a few times, I've started Kirstin Gier's "Ein unmoralisches Sonderangebot".  

A wealthy controlfreak of an old man is so fed up with what he thinks is wrong with the marriages of his sons (ie. no grandchildren) that he strikes a bargain with them  - swap their wives for 6 months and they'll get a small fortune for playing along.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 8, 2014)

I may give the Hillsborough chapter a go then, hattie  and ringo . No way I'm reading it all though - life's too short.

Currently reading:

Chuck Palahniuk - Snuff. Loving it so far. Grotesque and very clever.

Shaun Ryder's autobiog - which keeps sending me to sleep. 

Dara O'Briain - Tickling the English.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Oct 12, 2014)

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky... Nuff said


----------



## izz (Oct 12, 2014)

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver. Am only a few chapters in but its warming up nicely, each of the characters has their own voice and the opening images were pretty good.


----------



## starfish (Oct 15, 2014)

Iain M Banks' The Player of Games. Had it years ago but never got round to reading it before it got leant out.


----------



## minnyp (Oct 15, 2014)

For the weekend, Viginia Andrews: Black cat.


----------



## Sea Star (Oct 15, 2014)

I'm stuck half way through the first Game of Thrones book, and about 30 pages into the Morrissey biog, halfway through a biography of Lyndon B Johnson. 

I'm not really a completer finisher!


----------



## shifting gears (Oct 16, 2014)

About 100 pages from finishing Luther Blissett 'Q', it's a proper ripsnorter. Quite confusing at first trying to get a handle on who all the characters and various religious factions are, and jumps about chronologically, but the payoff for sticking with it is an epic tale spread across Europe, with battles and struggle galore, and some absolutely hilarious characters and dialogue. Also genuinely illuminating with regards to The Reformation, and given that the characters are all based on real people, has had me constantly digging into Wikipedia to find out more about the likes of Martin Luther.

My first taste of Wu Ming, but won't be my last.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 16, 2014)

Lionel Shriver - So Much For That

Her writing in this is fantastic, am really loving it.


----------



## Greebo (Oct 16, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Lionel Shriver - So Much For That
> 
> Her writing in this is fantastic, am really loving it.


I caught the entire radio series of that - rivetting stuff, although grim at times.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 16, 2014)

Greebo said:


> I caught the entire radio series of that - rivetting stuff, although grim at times.


You know, her writing in this almost puts me in mind of Ray Bradbury, it's that poetic and exciting, and her insight into behaviours is extraordinary.

But yes, grim. I keep welling up - given recent events with my friend, like, no wonder.


----------



## Greebo (Oct 16, 2014)

sojourner said:


> You know, her writing in this almost puts me in mind of Ray Bradbury, it's that poetic and exciting.  <snip>


Bear with it - there's a believably happy ending, of sorts.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 16, 2014)

Greebo said:


> Bear with it - there's a believably happy ending, of sorts.


Oh god there's no way I'm giving up on it, it's too brilliant for that


----------



## ViolentPanda (Oct 17, 2014)

Just finished "AC/DC - Maximum Rock 'N' Roll" by Murray Engleheart and Arnaud Durieux. Interesting bio of the band's origins and gradual ascent to superstar status.
Just finishing "Between Mind and Nature: A History of Psychology" by Roger Smith. Rather good.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 17, 2014)

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie is to be started net. Sequel to Ancillary Justice. It follows the story of a human woman (sort of) who used to be the AI for a warship. Vengeance is a big theme.


----------



## jakethesnake (Oct 17, 2014)

Guerilla Days In Ireland by Tom Barry. I'm finding it fascinating. It's an account of how the IRA waged guerilla warfare against the British in 1920/21 against almost overwhelming odds and won. It's written by the commander of the West Cork Flying Column. I happened on the book by accident in the library the other day. Highly recommended.


----------



## Waltz (Oct 18, 2014)

Currently reading - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
just found it on the attic last week now i'm hook on it


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Oct 18, 2014)

Shakespeare Identified in Edward De Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford
by John Thomas Looney

I'm open minded about the authorship question, so it won't hurt to read this.  I'm still on the first few pages where the publisher apologises for the typos from the OCR scanning of the text, and complains about the astronomical cost of proof reading... And the author explains how the evidence has been collected and examined.  Oh, and how William would have to be already literate in order to get a place at Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar School, which was unlikely due to his entire family being illiterate... as proven by surviving documents signed with an "X" by John Shakespeare. Plus the whole Warwickshire lad's knowledge of Italy issue.

Not a popular choice of reading... and some argue against it... but I just love that time period and I might discover a few nuggets of interesting info.


----------



## belboid (Oct 18, 2014)

Obnoxiousness said:


> I'm still on the first few pages where the publisher apologises for the typos from the OCR scanning of the text, and complains about the astronomical cost of proof reading.


That's a really good way to start a book based on a highly dubious premise - complain that it's far too expensive to do things properly. It does make one rather suspect that the rest of the book is similarly prone to equally shoddy 'research'


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 18, 2014)

Just started Sunset Express by Robert Crais.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Oct 18, 2014)

belboid said:


> That's a really good way to start a book based on a highly dubious premise - complain that it's far too expensive to do things properly. It does make one rather suspect that the rest of the book is similarly prone to equally shoddy 'research'


Well, it's a 1920s book and it didn't sell very many copies, so the modern publishers added the OCR excuse because they had to scan a very old copy of the book. As for the subject matter, I would certainly say that there are two people who I think probably wrote the Shakespeare plays and I cannot make my mind up between them.  1) William Shakespeare (1564). 2) Edward de Vere (1550).


----------



## belboid (Oct 18, 2014)

Obnoxiousness said:


> Well, it's a 1920s book and it didn't sell very many copies, so the modern publishers added the OCR excuse because they had to scan a very old copy of the book. As for the subject matter, I would certainly say that there are two people who I think probably wrote the Shakespeare plays and I cannot make my mind up between them.  1) William Shakespeare (1564). 2) Edward de Vere (1550).


Aye, and the author is just 70 years dead - so its nicely out of copyright!


----------



## weltweit (Oct 18, 2014)

_Mendel's Dwarf_, Simon Mawer

Learnt a bit about genetics chromosomes genes and the like, nice book, well paced, never boring - the second Mawer book I have read - will try to get _The Glass Room _next assuming the library has it.


----------



## rhod (Oct 19, 2014)

Just finished Michel Faber's "The Book of Strange New Things" and the whole thing was a bit of a disappointment. Lacked all of the drive of "The Crimson Petal and the White". I would never have guessed that they were by the same author. The plot might have made a half decent SF short story, but spread out over 500 pages? The whole thing had the slightly embarrassing whiff of "literary fiction writer does SF"...


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 19, 2014)

rhod said:


> Just finished Michel Faber's "The Book of Strange New Things" and the whole thing was a bit of a disappointment. Lacked all of the drive of "The Crimson Petal and the White". I would never have guessed that they were by the same author. The plot might have made a half decent SF short story, but spread out over 500 pages? The whole thing had the slightly embarrassing whiff of "literary fiction writer does SF"...


But he's a pretty decent scifi writer. Some of his short stories and Under The Skin are scifi.


----------



## 8115 (Oct 20, 2014)

Reading The Children's Act by Ian McEwan.  It's ok, pretty workaday McEwan.  All the casual privilege gets a bit tiring though, I know they say write about what you know but he's getting to be a bit of a parody of himself.


----------



## May Kasahara (Oct 20, 2014)

Rereading 'Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady' after finding my ?fourth copy in a charity shop


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 21, 2014)

I'm plodding my way through Little Women for the children's lit module I'm studying.
Bloody awful it is, so fucking saccharine it's making my teeth ache.
I think I would have hated it even as a young girl.

But on the bright side, it's often easier to write about books that you hate - at least I have a strong position on it


----------



## sojourner (Oct 21, 2014)

May Kasahara said:


> Rereading 'Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady' after finding my ?fourth copy in a charity shop


I've still got that on my bookshelf after you recommending it yearrrrrrrs ago!! Bloody ace book that!


----------



## sojourner (Oct 21, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> I'm plodding my way through Little Women for the children's lit module I'm studying.
> Bloody awful it is, so fucking saccharine it's making my teeth ache.
> I think I would have hated it even as a young girl.
> 
> But on the bright side, it's often easier to write about books that you hate - at least I have a strong position on it


I remember having to force myself to read 100 pages of Villette at a time, for a uni module. Christ, I fucking loathed that book - but like you say, that can be quite inspiring!


----------



## Voley (Oct 21, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I remember having to force myself to read 100 pages of Villette at a time, for a uni module. Christ, I fucking loathed that book - but like you say, that can be quite inspiring!


I had to do Middlemarch. I'm not surprised she pretended to be a bloke. I wouldn't have dared put my name to that load of shite, either.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 21, 2014)

I loved Middlemarch at Uni. I was well impressed.


----------



## MrSki (Oct 21, 2014)

george_ said:


> Gray Mountain by John Grisham...


Hi George. Welcome to the boards. To be on the safe side I recommend you read the FAQs

There is also this thread where posters list their books.

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...t-slims-reading-challenge-thread-2014.318822/


----------



## madamv (Oct 21, 2014)

mentalchik said:


> Just finished The Ocean At The End Of The Lane - Neil Gaiman........loved it, in fact knackered myself out reading all of it on a work night


I've just finished this, it is a lovely quick read.

I'm halfway through the complete Sherlock Homes stories too.  Read them as a kid, rather enjoying going over them again.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 22, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Lionel Shriver - So Much For That
> 
> Her writing in this is fantastic, am really loving it.


Wow. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Absolutely fucking brilliant, from beginning to end. Storyline, storytelling, syntax - poetic in parts. I haven't been this impressed since my last Ray Bradbury.  Gutted I finished it last night. Started Jon McGregor's 'This Isn't The Sort of Thing That Happens to People Like You' but I fear it's too early to plough into something else. Not much would stand up after the Shriver book - I'm inwardly complaining already about how it's not as good.



Voley said:


> I had to do Middlemarch. I'm not surprised she pretended to be a bloke. I wouldn't have dared put my name to that load of shite, either.


----------



## campanula (Oct 22, 2014)

Grief, I have been on this for what seems like years - millions of pages, tiny script (crap eyesight) but being too cheapskate to buy or start anything till I have finished it - Aztec by Gary Jennings


----------



## Greebo (Oct 22, 2014)

High Rise  by J G Ballard


----------



## ringo (Oct 23, 2014)

Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks

Some great ideas and concepts and well written, but some of the names are annoying. Don't read that much of it, and probably the biggest issue I have with sci-fi is the silly character names. It must be just too tempting to invent new, weird sounding names for alien life forms. 

Anyone else struggle with this? I can see it wouldn't quite work to have hairy monsters and three legged trolls called Dave and Paul either though so I'll have to put up with it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 23, 2014)

names change. even in our own lifetime. Even in location changes from here to america.

the only thing that annoys me about sci fi names is trying to invent ones for my own stuff lol

I'm reading the Star Wars Thrawn trilogy.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 23, 2014)

I like funny made up names. Fantasy ones are even better.
Yours,
Scarletmane Dewjaw


----------



## ringo (Oct 23, 2014)

Fair do's, I've got a funny made up name myself so should probably button it.


----------



## weltweit (Oct 24, 2014)

I enjoyed Consider Phlebas, the names didn't bother me so much. I enjoyed his ideas and like the type of sci-fi he writes. I have also read a few others of his culture series now and liked them also. Will probably get the player of games as my next one.


----------



## weltweit (Oct 24, 2014)

Cara Massimina, Tim Parks

Normal length, I had a love hate relationship with the main protagonist, the book is well written and the plot reasonably enticing - a good read.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 24, 2014)

Tossed the Jon McGregor. Trying to be very smart - just pissed me right off.

Started Alan Bennett's 'A Life Like Other People's' - excellent


----------



## maya (Oct 24, 2014)

'Commissar Quadrat'- a graphic novel about a private eye who looks like a square and tries to solve a murder case, then mysteriously gets cast into another dimension where everyone mistakes him for a flatscreen tv.

(Yeah, I know: Flatland, but... it's much more than that.)


----------



## ViolentPanda (Oct 27, 2014)

Currently reading "Who Killed Mister Moonlight? - Bauhaus, Black Magick & Benediction" by David J. Haskins. Makes me feel old, as I was a Bauhaus fan from '79.


----------



## marty21 (Oct 27, 2014)

having a binge on Ed McBain at the moment, read 3 last week, on another one now, Ax. I do like his writing, police procedural, he has obviously influenced a lot of later detective novel writers.


----------



## onenameshelley (Oct 27, 2014)

The map of time by Felix J Palma.


----------



## MrSki (Oct 27, 2014)

Naming the Bones by Louise Welsh.


----------



## billy_bob (Oct 27, 2014)

Every Short Story 1951-2012 by Alaisdair Gray.

950-page monster of a collection, not easy to read in the bath, and there's a dog fucking a woman on the spine, so maybe best not left lying around when your in-laws come over (  ), but he's fantastic.  He always reminds me of a non-science fiction Philip K Dick in imagination stakes, but without the slight English-as-a-second-language feel of PKD's clunkier writing.


----------



## Voley (Oct 27, 2014)

"Who On Earth Was Jesus?" - David Boulton. A search for the historical evidence for the existence of Christ. Enjoying this so far - I'm only a few chapters in but Boulton seems to have a knack for getting to the heart of the matter. Seems very objective so far - he makes a good point about previous scholars, when faced with a lack of historical evidence, muddying the waters by projecting their own beliefs and prejudices on to the subject matter. He seems resolutely intent on not making the same mistake so I'm interested to see where his research takes him. Very interesting so far. Awful cover, mind.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Oct 28, 2014)

Starting "Britain's Beer Revolution" by Roger Protz and Adrian Tierney-Jones.


----------



## May Kasahara (Oct 29, 2014)

I finished Doctor Sleep last night. Best Stephen King in years; what he's lost in brutal character-killing ability, he's gained in emotional resonance.


----------



## JimW (Oct 29, 2014)

The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000 by Chris Wickham (review); so far he's been frank about the Franks. Interesting but mostly find about five pages gets me off to sleep nicely, so expect to hit the millennium some time next year.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 30, 2014)

I finished The Fever by Megan Abbott the other day. It was a mix of teenage thriller, horror, legend type thing, updated with references to social media. It was just this side of not-quite-boring-or-insulting-enough to read. Some nice red herrings in there. Not my thing at all, but it sounded quite good when I read the blurb in the library.

Just started Maggie and Me by Damian Barr. Promising. The writing is of a high standard.


----------



## starfish (Oct 30, 2014)

marty21 said:


> having a binge on Ed McBain at the moment, read 3 last week, on another one now, Ax. I do like his writing, police procedural, he has obviously influenced a lot of later detective novel writers.


He's brilliant. I need to catch up on my reading of him soon. Nocturne is the next one for me. Im about 10 short of reading the complete series.


----------



## samson33 (Nov 1, 2014)

*One Stranger to Another by Edwin E. Smith*

Very Good!!!

A small review:

Edwin Smith talks about revision, false starts, what poems will last and why it is important to write not just for contemporary publications but for the audiences of Frost, Whitman, and even Keats and Shakespeare. He discusses the value of finding your own voice. And he tells very movingly, how he “often left my warehouse job after a fourteen-hour shift and wrote a sonnet the same way another man might drink a beer or watch a ball game.” Since I felt so connected with the poet, I was surprised that I had trouble getting into his poems. One that Smith considers his best, “Springtime Come,” contains this verse about a seven-year old in a school yard: “…tired from the recess and tarrying there, / giving no thought or fancy to the day / long years later when heavy with days / solitude would be in itself complete,” which to me seems lifeless and excessive. The images of the first poems are good enough, but the poems seem over-written and reaching for meaning and importance they don’t earn. Then in “Aquarium” we are treated to a rich vision of the moon as “some big fish / swimming blunt, / slow and deliberate” and we are suddenly through the doorway of words into a world of surreal beauty. “Dark of the Moon” speculates about what would have happened if they had left Buzz Aldrin stranded on the moon, “separated by more than time and space / from even the rain and the wind.” The moon seems to be a touchstone again revisited in “Café Satellites” “Other planets have many moons, / is ours a spoiled brat only child / twisted insane by loneliness / bound to us not by love but desperation?” Wow!

One of my personal favorites is “Never the Jailer” though I wish Smith would have inverted the two final words “like something worn upon the brow / that isn’t a crown quite.” There is such a nice thing going with the “worn” ”brow” “crown” sounds that the vowels and consonants of “quite” sidetrack. Besides the inverted word order strives too much to be poetic. Getting published in small literary journals may be of questionable benefit, but reciting poems before an open mike helps iron out things the eye may not see, but the ear hears. The people who write poetry and those of us who read it are not “One Stranger to Another.” In fact, we may feel we know each other more intimately than we know our spouses or children. We share an experience, and more significantly, the challenge of grasping that experience in words.


----------



## izz (Nov 1, 2014)

Just bought:-
1) The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide
2) A Meal In Winter by Hubert Mingarelli
3) Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

which should I read first ?


----------



## weltweit (Nov 1, 2014)

Just reading _Telegraph Avenue_, Michael Chabon ..

It is a pleasure to read, in that the descriptions and flights of fancy are rich and developed, but I have got to page 200 of 625 and nothing has really happened yet plot wise. I told my son this today and he said Steinbeck's _Of Mice and Men _which they are reading in school is only about 200 pages in total


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 1, 2014)

weltweit said:


> Just reading _Telegraph Avenue_, Michael Chabon ..
> 
> It is a pleasure to read, in that the descriptions and flights of fancy are rich and developed, but I have got to page 200 of 625 and nothing has really happened yet plot wise. I told my son this today and he said Steinbeck's _Of Mice and Men _which they are reading in school is only about 200 pages in total


I gave up on that after about 100 pages. I love his writing normally but this time it was too overwrought and, yes, fuck all had happened. I also wasn't convinced by the characters. And his novels usually have such wonderful, loveable characters.


----------



## weltweit (Nov 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I gave up on that after about 100 pages. I love his writing normally but this time it was too overwrought and, yes, fuck all had happened. I also wasn't convinced by the characters. And his novels usually have such wonderful, loveable characters.


Good to hear that from you OU, glad it isn't just me thinking that way!!


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 1, 2014)

weltweit said:


> Good to hear that from you OU, glad it isn't just me thinking that way!!


Read The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay instead - one of my favourite books ever


----------



## weltweit (Nov 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Read The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay instead - one of my favourite books ever


That is the one (My cover tells me) he won a Pullitzer for. I will add it to my to read list.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 1, 2014)

Wonder Boys is great too.
I didn't rate The Yiddish Policeman's Union much though others seem to rate it highly.


----------



## weltweit (Nov 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Wonder Boys is great too.
> I didn't rate The Yiddish Policeman's Union much though others seem to rate it highly.


Yiddish Policeman's Union was the first of his books I read, I enjoyed it but IIRC was not convinced by the ending.


----------



## 8115 (Nov 1, 2014)

Just started reading "In the realm of hungry ghosts. Close encounters with addiction" by Gabor Mate. It's pretty good so far.


----------



## campanula (Nov 1, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Wow. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Absolutely fucking brilliant, from beginning to end. Storyline, storytelling, syntax - poetic in parts. I haven't been this impressed since my last Ray Bradbury.  Gutted I finished it last night. Started Jon McGregor's 'This Isn't The Sort of Thing That Happens to People Like You' but I fear it's too early to plough into something else. Not much would stand up after the Shriver book - I'm inwardly complaining already about how it's not as good.


mmm, came across it in local charity shop a day or so after reading your post.....got it, reading it and am trying not to race through the last 100 or so pages. Ascerbic, precise, fluent....a delight.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 4, 2014)

campanula said:


> mmm, came across it in local charity shop a day or so after reading your post.....got it, reading it and am trying not to race through the last 100 or so pages. Ascerbic, precise, fluent....a delight.


 Glad you're enjoying it!


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 4, 2014)

for light relief- The Jihadis Return:  ISIS and the New Sunni Uprising


next some esays and then on to the final book in the Star wars Thrawn trilogy. I'll be interested to see what if any of the star wars book series makes it into the upcoming JJ Abrams film sequels


----------



## Idris2002 (Nov 4, 2014)

weltweit said:


> Yiddish Policeman's Union was the first of his books I read, I enjoyed it but IIRC was not convinced by the ending.



There was a point where I thought it was going to take off into full-scale Philip K. Dick insanity territory. . . but it didn't, which was disappointing. 

Jonathan Lethem is better I find.


----------



## Idris2002 (Nov 4, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Read The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay instead - one of my favourite books ever




That one is very good, though.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 5, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Just started Maggie and Me by Damian Barr. Promising. The writing is of a high standard.


Well the writing was of a high standard. Just a fucking shame the twat is a massive Thatcher fan DESPITE growing up gay throughout clause 28 years and his family falling apart thanks to job losses etc. What a fuckwit


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 6, 2014)

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.
Thanks for this one ringo, such a beautiful book, wonderful characterisation.


----------



## ringo (Nov 6, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.
> Thanks for this one ringo, such a beautiful book, wonderful characterisation.



Great bit of writing, I loved it


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 6, 2014)

I've started 2666 by Robert Bolano.  I'll report back when I've finished it in 2017


----------



## sojourner (Nov 6, 2014)

Just started 'Ashes in my Mouth, Sand in my Shoes' by Per Petterson. Interesting start - very poignant second chapter. I nearly cried - it was very subtle.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Nov 7, 2014)

British Culture and the End of Empire (Studies in Imperialism) Paperback by Stuart Ward (Editor)



> This book is the first major attempt to examine the cultural manifestations of the demise of imperialism as a social and political ideology in post-war Britain. Far from being a matter of indifference or resigned acceptance as is often suggested, the fall of the British Empire came as a profound shock to the British national imagination, and resonated widely in British popular culture. The sheer range of subjects discussed, from the satire boom of the 1960s to the worlds of sport and the arts, demonstrates how profoundly decolonisation was absorbed into the popular consciousness. Offers an extremely novel and provocative interpretation of post-war British cultural history, and opens up a whole new field of enquiry in the history of decolonisation.



Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus: by Rick Perlstein



> Acclaimed historian Rick Perlstein chronicles the rise of the conservative movement in the liberal 1960s. At the heart of the story is Barry Goldwater, the renegade Republican from Arizona who loathed federal government, despised liberals, and mocked "peaceful coexistence" with the USSR. Perlstein's narrative shines a light on a whole world of conservatives and their antagonists, including William F. Buckley, Nelson Rockefeller, and Bill Moyers. Vividly written, Before the Storm is an essential book about the 1960s.


----------



## moon (Nov 9, 2014)

I've been 'reading' Graceling by Kristin Cashore on audible, an amazing fantasy novel about people who are born with 'graces', special abilities which are also associated with the phenotype of having mismatched eye colours. 
It centres around Katsa who is graced with survival, she is used as a thug to the bidding of others due to her exceptional fighting ability.
And Po, who is searching for his kidnapped grandfather...
Was totally drawn into this book...


----------



## ringo (Nov 10, 2014)

ringo said:


> Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks
> 
> Some great ideas and concepts and well written, but some of the names are annoying. Don't read that much of it, and probably the biggest issue I have with sci-fi is the silly character names. It must be just too tempting to invent new, weird sounding names for alien life forms.
> 
> Anyone else struggle with this? I can see it wouldn't quite work to have hairy monsters and three legged trolls called Dave and Paul either though so I'll have to put up with it.



This is so boring. Endless pages of clever and inventive scientific ideas but he seems to have forgotten all that great characterisation he put in his non-sci-fi work. Perhaps the lack of any emotional connection with the characters or the plot is a clever comment about the artificial intelligence of machines, but I doubt it.


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 10, 2014)

ringo said:


> This is so boring. Endless pages of clever and inventive scientific ideas but he seems to have forgotten all that great characterisation he put in his non-sci-fi work. Perhaps the lack of any emotional connection with the characters or the plot is a clever comment about the artificial intelligence of machines, but I doubt it.



This is how I feel about Iain M Banks too.
I love his non-sci-fi, he's definitely amongst my top 10 favourite authors but I just can't get on with the 'M' stuff 
I desperately want to like it, but I just can't


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Nov 10, 2014)

Self-Criticism After the Defeat - Sadiq Jalal Al-Azm.


----------



## Voley (Nov 10, 2014)

Just started 'American Interior' Gruff Rhys' book of the film of the album etc about his search for his somewhat eccentric ancestor's search for a lost tribe who "accidentally annexed a third of North America". Only a little bit in but I'm already enjoying his wry writing style. You know when you're only a few pages in but get the feeling that this'll be a book you rattle through in days? Feels like that.


----------



## ringo (Nov 11, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> This is how I feel about Iain M Banks too.
> I love his non-sci-fi, he's definitely amongst my top 10 favourite authors but I just can't get on with the 'M' stuff
> I desperately want to like it, but I just can't



I think that's why it's a disappointment, I was expecting to like it as much as what I've read of his other books. Anyway I got through another 20% of it last night and there was a bit more action to get stuck into so I'll finish it off.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Nov 11, 2014)

Tales Of A Traveller, by Geoffrey Crayon.

aka Washington Irving...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_a_Traveller

I suffer with a compulsive "*must read everything by an author"* syndrome.  It all started quite innocently with Rip Van Winkle and The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, but then I dipped into some of the lesser known stuff and discovered the whole Diedrich Knickerbocker story... and now I'm hooked on Irving until I can exhaust what's available on the Kindle for £0.00.

Washington Irving wrote using a few pseudonyms, which I can relate to.  He also put a series of hoax missing person adverts into the New York press seeking one of them, which generated a lot of interest in his work.  One of the first ever examples of viral marketing!


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Nov 12, 2014)

Islam: To Reform or Subvert, Mohammed Arkoun.

Seems to be about expanding the dialectical frontiers of the unthought and how 20th century politics I.E: sykes-picot agreement dishonoured the rational kernel of early Islamic thought.  can't see any use for this type of hermeneutical analysis personally... Given that Islam can solely be deduced from praxis...


----------



## ringo (Nov 12, 2014)

Yellow DOG - Martin Amis

Another of his slightly misjudged attempts to portray the working class, but some quite good writing keeping me involved. Loads of annoying names such as a woman called He, and an Andrew referred to as And etc are proving difficult as he uses them to intentionally tie the sentences up in baffling linguistic knots. Sometimes he spends so long reminding you he's clever he forgets to write the book. Having said that I've read nearly every bit of fiction he's written so I guess I must like it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 12, 2014)

Did you manage to get through Lionel Asbo?


----------



## sojourner (Nov 12, 2014)

I have today started Pat Barker's 'Regeneration'.

I didn't mean for it to be synchronous, I just picked it up by chance in the library last time I was in. I didn't even know what it was about, just that I'd seen the name a few times on here and thought I'd give it a go.

I hadn't even read anything by Wilfred Owen, although I have now, in case it's relevant to the novel. Just made myself retch with Dulce et Decorum Est.  

The PB book is starting brilliantly. Really looking forward to reading the rest of it.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Nov 12, 2014)

dialectician said:


> Islam: To Reform or Subvert, Mohammed Arkoun.
> 
> Seems to be about expanding the dialectical frontiers of the unthought and how 20th century politics I.E: sykes-picot agreement dishonoured the rational kernel of early Islamic thought.  can't see any use for this type of hermeneutical analysis personally... Given that Islam can solely be deduced from praxis...






> But neither the reasoning of the Enlightenment, nor so-called post-modern reason have been able so far to propose new possibilities to go beyond the principles, categories, definitions and forms of reasoning inherited from theological reason on one side, and enlightened, scientific reason on the other. The inherited frontiers of the mind are displaced by the culture of disbelief (see Stephen Carter, Culture of disbelief: How American Law and Politics trivialize Religious devotion) and sustained by scientific discoveries; but, as Marc Augé puts it in the quotation at the start of this introduction, new frontiers have been drawn between the conqueror mentality, shaped by ‘hard’ sciences and computer sciences, and the fragile disputed evidence proposed by human and social sciences and the unreachable mysteries of the lived experiences of the individual; these mysteries are left without any relevant answer because they remain beyond the scope and the speculation of tele-techno-scientific reason.



Oh God... The ex-muslim in me is dying. 

Why establish a dichotomy between enlightenment/postmodern reason and religious reason to begin with? 

 I'm going to have to persevere with this book, ostensibly...


----------



## ViolentPanda (Nov 12, 2014)

Just finished (re)-reading _Falling London, _and reading_ The Severed Streets _both by Paul Cornell, books one and two respectively of Cornell's "Shadow Police" saga. Book two has a nice cameo by Neil Gaiman as fantasy-author-cum-murderous-occultist. __


----------



## ViolentPanda (Nov 12, 2014)

moon said:


> I've been 'reading' Graceling by Kristin Cashore on audible, an amazing fantasy novel about people who are born with 'graces', special abilities which are also associated with the phenotype of having mismatched eye colours.
> It centres around Katsa who is graced with survival, she is used as a thug to the bidding of others due to her exceptional fighting ability.
> And Po, who is searching for his kidnapped grandfather...
> Was totally drawn into this book...



The sequels, _Fire_ and _Bitterblue_ are both very good, too.
If you enjoyed them you'll probably (if you haven't already!) enjoy Laini Taylor's _Daughter of Smoke and Bone_ trilogy.


----------



## moon (Nov 12, 2014)

I recently finished Fire... I can't say I liked it to be honest, the writing felt weak and I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to get into the concept of neon coloured 'monsters' who live alongside normal coloured animals/people of the same species..

But I'm glad you liked Graceling.. that book is very very special.. am on my third listen through it at the moment..


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 12, 2014)

sojourner said:


> I have today started Pat Barker's 'Regeneration'.
> 
> I didn't mean for it to be synchronous, I just picked it up by chance in the library last time I was in. I didn't even know what it was about, just that I'd seen the name a few times on here and thought I'd give it a go.
> 
> ...


Pat Barker is brilliant. The Regeneration trilogy and Border Crossing are just wonderful. Such compassion. She is such a decent human being.
Check out her earlier work - Union Street is great too.


----------



## kittyP (Nov 12, 2014)

Caitlin Moran - How To Be A Woman. 

I was snorting with laughter on the bus yesterday


----------



## ringo (Nov 13, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Did you manage to get through Lionel Asbo?



No, I hated it, completely unreadable, and was worried when I started this it was going to be the same, hence my first line. I didn't realise he'd had a go at such a similar thing before Asbo. This one is much more readable, but I can't work out why he thought it was a good idea to continue down this road and end up with Asbo. He's such a good writer but at times it feels like he's laughing at the reader - I wrote this shit and you lot are actually going to buy it.


----------



## Greebo (Nov 13, 2014)

The Forgotten Sister: Mary Bennet's Pride and Prejudice - Jennifer Paynter

Not exactly a sequel, the events run before and during those of Jane Austen's book, and make a (not too inept) stab at filling in some of the gaps.


----------



## samson33 (Nov 16, 2014)

*The unbearable lightness of being* by Milan Kundera


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Nov 16, 2014)

Finally finished Ulysses - a difficult read in parts, but definitely worth it. Not sure what to read next, since I'm waiting for books bought with birthday vouchers to arrive from Amazon. Might return to _Dangerous Women_, the George RR Martin-edited collection of female-led short stories.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 16, 2014)

Ozzy Osbourne's bioggraphy. Boot sale pick up. Quite amusing so far.


----------



## mentalchik (Nov 16, 2014)

The Risen Empire - Scott Westerfeld................re-reading stuff at the mo


----------



## ViolentPanda (Nov 17, 2014)

_Shameful Flight - The Last years of the British Empire in India_ by Stanley Wolpert.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 17, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Pat Barker is brilliant. The Regeneration trilogy and Border Crossing are just wonderful. Such compassion. She is such a decent human being.
> Check out her earlier work - Union Street is great too.


Regeneration was fantastic - one of the best books I've read.  I've ordered the other two from the library!

Also started and finished 'Scream if you want to go faster', by Russ Litten. Absolutely chockful of the exact same vernacular used round here - felt like I was in a room with old friends!  Thought the ending could have been more finessed - turned into a bit of an Irvine Welsh parody tbh, but the rest of it built wonderfully.


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 18, 2014)

Superpowers - David Schwartz. Like Heroes/Misfits, that kind of thing.


----------



## ringo (Nov 19, 2014)

ringo said:


> Yellow DOG - Martin Amis
> 
> Another of his slightly misjudged attempts to portray the working class, but some quite good writing keeping me involved. Loads of annoying names such as a woman called He, and an Andrew referred to as And etc are proving difficult as he uses them to intentionally tie the sentences up in baffling linguistic knots. Sometimes he spends so long reminding you he's clever he forgets to write the book. Having said that I've read nearly every bit of fiction he's written so I guess I must like it.



This got better, even if it still felt like a great writer dumbing down. I may even give Asbo another go sometime.

Now onto Voyage In The Dark - Jean Rhys. Not as immediately brilliant as Wide Sargasso Sea but love her portrayals of the confused, lost and dispossessed.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 19, 2014)

I seem to be getting very interested in WW1, thanks to that telly prog tother night and Pat Barker's book (and the fella's ongoing interest in it). Sooo - library had a fair few books about it and I am currently reading 'Famous - 1914 to 1918' by Richard Van Emden. He slags off his own title in the introduction so don't be put off, but it's a series of narratives about people including Basil Rathbone, Tolkien, Vaughn Williams, John Christie (of Rillington  Place infamy) amongst many others, who served in WW1, put together using their letters, diaries, and official paperwork.  Loving it so far.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Nov 19, 2014)

The Great And Secret Show, by Clive Barker....

I know it probably isn't his best work, but this is the second reading for me and I just like the beginning of the book. I think the novel loses itself quite early on, but there is something quite charming about the first chapter or so.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 20, 2014)

Ian Cameron Esslemont- 'Assail'

brings the malazan cycle to a completion. 16 books, two authors and nearly a decade in the writing


heh. Fantasy sagas.


----------



## weltweit (Nov 20, 2014)

_Telegraph Avenue_, Michael Chabon

I finished it (yay) all 625 pages. Not that much happened, a month or two of the lives of the protagonists and cast, I am glad I persevered though, I came to like the writing style.


----------



## nogojones (Nov 21, 2014)

I try not to read this thread too often. I've only read the last two pages and there's now a couple of extra books I'm convinced I need to read. However I've promised myself that I'm not allowed to buy any more 'til I've read the couple of hundred that I ain't got round to reading that I've already bought first. It's the same with an e-reader, I won't buy one until I've cleared my backlog of proper books.

And I've just started Chester Himes - Real Cool Killers.  A little over the top, but I find he sets his world out well


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 23, 2014)

Dan Davies' In Plain Sight: The Lifes and Lies Of Jimmy Savile.
What an oddball. To say the least.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Nov 24, 2014)

Emperor - The Blood of Gods  - Conn Iggulden


----------



## sojourner (Nov 26, 2014)

Started Pat Barker - The Eye In The Door last night.  Large print   It was the only copy in all of St Helens's libraries. Oh well, at least I didn't have to squint


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Nov 26, 2014)

Gave up on Mohammed Arkoun. Now reading Thomas Twiss - Trotsky and the Problem of soviet bureaucracy. Published in book form this year by the always excellent historical materialism initiative.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Nov 26, 2014)

And no i didn't pay 140 Euros for it. The Ph.D thesis can be accessed online.


----------



## moon (Nov 26, 2014)

Am now 'reading' Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (the sequel to Graceling) on Audible, It's very very good.. 

Also some people have thanked me for suggesting they read Graceling... that book is special


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 26, 2014)

dialectician said:


> Gave up on Mohammed Arkoun. Now reading Thomas Twiss - Trotsky and the Problem of soviet bureaucracy. Published in book form this year by the always excellent historical materialism initiative.


You should read a thriller or something fun like that from time to time.


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 26, 2014)

enochian world of aleister crowley


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Nov 26, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> You should read a thriller or something fun like that from time to time.



Are you saying that reading a hefty 500 page marxist Ph.D thesis is not fun, comrade?


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 26, 2014)

dialectician said:


> Are you saying that reading a hefty 500 page marxist Ph.D thesis is not fun, comrade?


YES


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Nov 26, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> YES



Sad face vibes  m8. But:


----------



## ringo (Nov 27, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> You should read a thriller or something fun like that from time to time.



I'm just trying this - The Lighthouse  - P.D.James (thanks BoatieBird )

Still undecided. Fancied something not too weighty and it fits with my mission to read things I wouldn't have picked up when I was younger. Think I need to get used to her writing and the TV suspense style structure, and then the drama will start to get a bit more gripping. I hope


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 27, 2014)

I hope you get into it ringo.
Her Adam Dalgleish books are a bit of a comfort blanket for me, the same goes for Ruth Rendell. 
I turn to them if I want something familiar after I've read something heavy, or I'm in the middle of essay writing.

I'm currently reading William Boyd's _Brazzaville Beach_. Recommended to me by a friend, took a while to get into it but I'm enjoying it very much now.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 27, 2014)

bed time audiobook short story on the sf podcast site 'Escape Pod'

Inseperable


----------



## ringo (Nov 27, 2014)

ringo said:


> I'm just trying this - The Lighthouse  - P.D.James (thanks BoatieBird )



Oh dear, she's just died, "peacefully at her home in Oxford" apparently.

Or was it?


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 27, 2014)

ringo said:


> Oh dear, she's just died, "peacefully at her home in Oxford" apparently.



Oh no, gutted  
Although not surprised, she was 94 after all.



ringo said:


> Or was it?




That did make me snigger though


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 27, 2014)

She was a reactionary piece of work so fuck her tbf.


----------



## weltweit (Nov 27, 2014)

Re PD James, I saw she just died, and heard a bit of her taking on the chairman of the BBC about all the highly paid positions they have.



Orang Utan said:


> She was a reactionary piece of work so fuck her tbf.



Tell more, I don't know much about her and don't think I have read any of her books either.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 27, 2014)

weltweit said:


> Re PD James, I saw she just died, and heard a bit of her taking on the chairman of the BBC about all the highly paid positions they have.
> 
> 
> 
> Tell more, I don't know much about her and don't think I have read any of her books either.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-a-tale-of-snobbery-and-violence-1601087.html

Read Children Of Men too for her dodgy views


----------



## starfish (Nov 27, 2014)

Its back to McBain & the 87th Precinct for me. Started Nocturne last night.


----------



## campanula (Nov 27, 2014)

Dominion, C.J.Sansom...and Shaman, Kim Stanley Robinson


----------



## sojourner (Dec 3, 2014)

Am halfway through 'The Circle' by Dave Eggers.  Nice commentary on social media, if a little obvious at times.


----------



## Quartz (Dec 3, 2014)

I've started reading Nora Vincent's Self-Made Man.


----------



## May Kasahara (Dec 4, 2014)

Willy Vlautin - The Motel Life.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 4, 2014)

moon said:


> Am now 'reading' Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (the sequel to Graceling) on Audible, It's very very good..
> 
> Also some people have thanked me for suggesting they read Graceling... that book is special



_Bitterblue_ is good. It ties up a lot from the two previous books *and* opens the story up, so that there are plenty of plausible new stories.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 4, 2014)

Just trotting through _Danubia_ by Simon Winder, amusing and informative about the Habsburg empire, albeit sends you scurrying off to fuck knows how many of his primary sources for the full story.


----------



## moon (Dec 4, 2014)

ViolentPanda said:


> _Bitterblue_ is good. It ties up a lot from the two previous books *and* opens the story up, so that there are plenty of plausible new stories.


Yes, Bitterblue was brilliant, the whole post traumatic stress disorder issue played out by Bitterblue's advisors following Leck's reign was very insightful and incredibly moving to read about.
I'm looking forward to Cashore's next instalment.

What did you think of Fire?


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 4, 2014)

moon said:


> Yes, Bitterblue was brilliant, the whole post traumatic stress disorder issue played out by Bitterblue's advisors following Leck's reign was very insightful and incredibly moving to read about.
> I'm looking forward to Cashore's next instalment.
> 
> What did you think of Fire?



I liked it, because it was obvious the author was setting up a "world turned upside down" for people from the 7 kingdoms to encounter at a later date. The whole "brightly-coloured predators" thing seemed a bit counter-intuitive at first, until I realised that if they had the power to hypnotise prey, they wouldn't need to evolve any sort of camouflage!


----------



## StoneRoad (Dec 4, 2014)

Just got through the first three of the "Axis of Time" trilogy, John Birmingham.
Interesting concept. Some of the details are a bit gory (but not as much as in the Sharpe stuff I was reading before them). 
I gather that there may be a couple of additional instalments ....


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Dec 8, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> The Bone Clocks
> 
> great so far



Just finishing this, got about 7% left and I'm skimming through it now - fantastic book - except the last bit and the Crispin Hershey bit dragged a little as well.

Over all great imagery and prose, hopefully the last bit is worth dragging through!


----------



## weltweit (Dec 8, 2014)

_Teach us to sit still_, Tim Parks
Just finished, well written and an easy read, makes me wonder if everyone should try Vipassana meditation.


----------



## flypanam (Dec 9, 2014)

Joshua Ferris - The unnamed

His second book and a massive let down. Has it moments like some beautifully observed domestic life, but mostly it rushes to nowhere in particular. I had a real problem with all the protagonists in this novel. All were unlovable.


----------



## ringo (Dec 10, 2014)

The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler

Just brilliant.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 10, 2014)

The last one in Pat Barker's trilogy - The Ghost Road


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 11, 2014)

_Bears- A Brief History_ by Bernd Brunner.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Dec 11, 2014)

After Dark, My Sweet - Jim Thompson


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 12, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> Just finishing this, got about 7% left and I'm skimming through it now - fantastic book - except the last bit and the Crispin Hershey bit dragged a little as well.
> 
> Over all great imagery and prose, hopefully the last bit is worth dragging through!




funnily enough further to our conversation on another thread I decided to give Stross's Merchant Princes another go.

now on bok 2 in as many days lol


----------



## goldenecitrone (Dec 12, 2014)

This Bloody Mary is the last thing I own. Jonathan Rendall. A nuts and bolts account of the boxing scene in the 90s. Have just got a copy of Scream: the Tyson tapes by the same author.

Also, Neanderthal Man - In Search of Lost Genomes by Svante Paabo. How he helped develop the techniques to extract DNA from the bones of Neanderthals.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Dec 12, 2014)

Witches - A Tale of Sorcery, Scandal and Seduction, by Tracy Borman. 

It's about a particular case of alleged witchcraft back in the 17th century.


----------



## D'wards (Dec 12, 2014)

Just finished another reading of Blood Meridian - I think i'm slightly obsessed with this book.

It has made me read further about the native Americans, particularly the Apache and Comanche - where the European settlers practiced an almost business-like extermination of the peoples, the natives (some of them) were quite sadistic and creative with their violence and murder.
Interesting stuff.


----------



## oneunder (Dec 12, 2014)

D'wards said:


> Just finished another reading of Blood Meridian - I think i'm slightly obsessed with this book.
> 
> It has made me read further about the native Americans, particularly the Apache and Comanche - where the European settlers practiced an almost business-like extermination of the peoples, the natives (some of them) were quite sadistic and creative with their violence and murder.
> Interesting stuff.


Read it recently..i took my time over it..really enjoyed it and bought 2 more copies for xmas gifts..


----------



## N_igma (Dec 13, 2014)

Just finished David Graeber's _Debt: The First 5,000 Years. _Simply wow! Very informative and thought provoking at the same time one of those ones where it leaves you thinking about it long after you've put it down can't recommend it enough.

Moving on to _Northern Protestants _by Susan McKay next. Basically she interviews various people from the Protestant community in Northern Ireland to gain an insight into their political opinions etc looking forward to it.


----------



## KeeperofDragons (Dec 13, 2014)

Currently got 2 on the go, Dickens A Christmas Carol (always read it this time of year) & Peter Ackroyd's London.


----------



## weltweit (Dec 14, 2014)

_Blood Line, _Mark Billingham

Read a few Billinghams now and just got a couple more from the library, easy reading, good plots, believable characters (DI Thorne is the main protagonist) good crime / thriller / drama.


----------



## RubyBlue (Dec 14, 2014)

Evil Relations - David Smith and Carol Ann Lee - horrifying account of 17 year old David Smith - life almost destroyed by the police, media and the public when his only crime was calling the police on the moors murderers after they killed their final victim. 

RIP David - you truly deserve it and a pity you didn't have it in life.


----------



## JimW (Dec 14, 2014)

Recently re-read a load of Alfred Duggan I'd got cheap as reissued ebooks. Little Emperors about three brief imperial pretenders in the last days of Roman Britain, Winter Quarters about Gaul who ends up captured at Carrhae, Family Favourites about Elagabalus, an emperor from Syria who tries to change Rome's religion, God and My Right about Thomas Becket, Cunning of the Dove about Edward the Confessor and Knight With Armour about first crusade. All excellent, Little Emperors my fave - oh, also Three's Company was great, second triumvirate seen through eyes of Lepidus.
(edited to get my triumvirates right)


----------



## sojourner (Dec 15, 2014)

KeeperofDragons said:


> Dickens A Christmas Carol (always read it this time of year)


I got that out of the library on Saturday to read over crimbo too. Never actually read it before.


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 17, 2014)

Annie Proulx's _That Old Ace in the Hole_ 
Beautiful 

Proulx has been my reading highlight of the year so massive thanks to ringo and sojourner for their enthusiastic posts on here that made me want to read her books.


----------



## ringo (Dec 17, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> Annie Proulx's _That Old Ace in the Hole_
> Beautiful
> 
> Proulx has been my reading highlight of the year



Same here, and have been recommending her to my mates. I've tried not to read everything at once, got Accordian Crimes in my 'to read pile' atm though.


----------



## Sprocket. (Dec 17, 2014)

Carlo Ginzburg - The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth Century Miller.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 17, 2014)

BoatieBird said:


> Annie Proulx's _That Old Ace in the Hole_
> Beautiful
> 
> Proulx has been my reading highlight of the year so massive thanks to ringo and sojourner for their enthusiastic posts on here that made me want to read her books.



 I'm really envious of you getting to read her all fresh like that. Ace is one of my favourites of hers. Amazing what she does with dialogue, dropping a connective here and there, really gets it across.



ringo said:


> Same here, and have been recommending her to my mates. I've tried not to read everything at once, got Accordian Crimes in my 'to read pile' atm though.




I started 'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children' by Ransom Riggs last night. After not liking the narrative voice very much at first, I've gotten used to it a bit more, and the story is taking a better shape now. Although I would still have preferred it to be more scary, the storyline has more depth than I first thought.


----------



## Throbbing Angel (Dec 17, 2014)

_A Confederacy of Dunces_
just started
liking it a lot
makes me laugh


----------



## Citizen66 (Dec 17, 2014)

Throbbing Angel said:


> _A Confederacy of Dunces_
> just started
> liking it a lot
> makes me laugh


Great book with a sad story behind it.


----------



## Throbbing Angel (Dec 17, 2014)

Citizen66 said:


> Great book with a sad story behind it.



You mean about the author?

I hope that wasn't a spoiler


----------



## Citizen66 (Dec 17, 2014)

Throbbing Angel said:


> You mean about the author?
> 
> I hope that wasn't a spoiler



I don't do spoilers. (so, yes.)


----------



## jeff_leigh (Dec 18, 2014)

Just finished   All Shot Up - Chester Himes
Just started	Black Swan Green - David Mitchell


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 19, 2014)

Alistair Reynolds "Revelation Space". Epic sci fi; distant civilisations, ancient events and political intrigue. Requires a bit of concentration but will do splendidly over xmas for me.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 19, 2014)

D'wards said:


> Just finished another reading of Blood Meridian - I think i'm slightly obsessed with this book.
> 
> It has made me read further about the native Americans, particularly the Apache and Comanche - where the European settlers practiced an almost business-like extermination of the peoples, the natives (some of them) were quite sadistic and creative with their violence and murder.
> Interesting stuff.



http://www.vice.com/read/james-francos-blood-meridian-test-656


----------



## ringo (Dec 19, 2014)

krtek a houby said:


> http://www.vice.com/read/james-francos-blood-meridian-test-656



Cheers for the link. Reminded me to check Netflix for McCarthy & Faulkner dramatisations - No Child of God, no As I Lay Dying, no All The Pretty Horses, no Sound & The Fury. 

Netflix is shit.


----------



## mod (Dec 19, 2014)

The People's Act Of Love by James Meek


----------



## idumea (Dec 19, 2014)

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchmann.

Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology by David Graeber.


----------



## D'wards (Dec 19, 2014)

krtek a houby said:


> http://www.vice.com/read/james-francos-blood-meridian-test-656


Good stuff. I have pondered who could play the roles;
The Judge: John Goodman
Glanton: Jeff Bridges or Michael Sheen
The Kid: Will Poulter
Toadvine: John Hawkes


----------



## weltweit (Dec 21, 2014)

_The Gods Themselves_, Isaac Asimov

First Asimov book I have read, might look for others, I gather he wrote more than 400!


----------



## sojourner (Dec 22, 2014)

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens


----------



## Voley (Dec 22, 2014)

I'm reading The Bible atm.

*AND SO SHOULD ALL OF YOU YOU FUCKING HEATHENS. *

Been a while and although I'm nowhere near The New Testament yet it felt like the appropriate time of year for it. I'm finding all the lengthy descriptions of how many sons Noah's descendants had and how long they lived a bit tedious but we're just getting to the bit that Bob Dylan sings about on 'Highway 61 Revisited' so things are looking up. If I get right through it I might read the Koran again after as its essentially 'Old Testament 2: God's Back And He's Really Got His Wrath On This Time'. I remember enjoying it a lot last time round.


----------



## hot air baboon (Dec 22, 2014)

....not giving the Apocrypha a whirl then...?

...that Book of Enoch is meant to be dead good....

"....unputdownable....an utter revelation..."   John the Divine

...the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church even reckon its canon & they know their shit....


----------



## izz (Dec 22, 2014)

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.

again.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 22, 2014)

Voley said:


> I'm reading The Bible atm.
> 
> *AND SO SHOULD ALL OF YOU YOU FUCKING HEATHENS. *
> 
> Been a while and although I'm nowhere near The New Testament yet it felt like the appropriate time of year for it. I'm finding all the lengthy descriptions of how many sons Noah's descendants had and how long they lived a bit tedious but we're just getting to the bit that Bob Dylan sings about on 'Highway 61 Revisited' so things are looking up. If I get right through it I might read the Koran again after as its essentially 'Old Testament 2: God's Back And He's Really Got His Wrath On This Time'. I remember enjoying it a lot last time round.


I've just started reading The Action Bible. It's a graphic novel version. I knew I'd never get through a proper Bible, so this shall suffice. It's very enjoyable so far.


----------



## izz (Dec 22, 2014)

farmerbarleymow said:


> Witches - A Tale of Sorcery, Scandal and Seduction, by Tracy Borman.
> 
> It's about a particular case of alleged witchcraft back in the 17th century.



How are you finding/did you find this ? It caught my eye in Waterstones but I didn't because I was Being Good.


----------



## MrSki (Dec 22, 2014)

izz said:


> How are you finding/did you find this ? It caught my eye in Waterstones but I didn't because I was Being Good.


I heard the author being interviewed on the radio & it sounded good. I might get it out from the library.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 23, 2014)

Voley said:


> I'm reading The Bible atm.
> 
> *AND SO SHOULD ALL OF YOU YOU FUCKING HEATHENS. *
> 
> Been a while and although I'm nowhere near The New Testament yet it felt like the appropriate time of year for it. I'm finding all the lengthy descriptions of how many sons Noah's descendants had and how long they lived a bit tedious but we're just getting to the bit that Bob Dylan sings about on 'Highway 61 Revisited' so things are looking up. If I get right through it I might read the Koran again after as its essentially 'Old Testament 2: God's Back And He's Really Got His Wrath On This Time'. I remember enjoying it a lot last time round.


Nice one Voley

I read it a few years ago (a New International Version so I could understand wtf was going on), and had a lightbulb moment about the begats - I had never actually realised before that all they are is a way of establishing heritage! 

I remember reading through and thinking 'fuck, so THAT'S where XYZ got their inspiration from!' - so many artists have drawn from the bible, I'd never realised before.  I'm now one of them - have pilfered fucking tons from it - it's amazing


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 23, 2014)

The Bible is full of epic breakdowns:


----------



## moon (Dec 23, 2014)

The girl with all the gifts.. So far its about children strapped into wheelchairs as they have some kind of infection..


----------



## Voley (Dec 23, 2014)

sojourner said:


> Nice one Voley
> 
> I read it a few years ago (a New International Version so I could understand wtf was going on), and had a lightbulb moment about the begats - I had never actually realised before that all they are is a way of establishing heritage!


Yeah I'm reading the New International one so that I could get through the endless 'begatting' bit. I normally give up there. I do wonder if I'm missing out on some of the language though. I'm worried I might miss out on all the smiting with this version.



sojourner said:


> I remember reading through and thinking 'fuck, so THAT'S where XYZ got their inspiration from!' - so many artists have drawn from the bible, I'd never realised before.  I'm now one of them - have pilfered fucking tons from it - it's amazing



Oh yeah it crops up in the most unlikely places doesn't it? Nick Cave is a different listen after you've read The Bible. Just one example.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 23, 2014)

Voley said:


> Yeah I'm reading the New International one so that I could get through the endless 'begatting' bit. I normally give up there. I do wonder if I'm missing out on some of the language though. I'm worried I might miss out on all the smiting with this version.
> 
> Oh yeah it crops up in the most unlikely places doesn't it? Nick Cave is a different listen after you've read The Bible. Just one example.



The fella's got a posh leather-bound King James which I intend to read at some point (for the language), now that I know what actually happens 

God yeh, Nick Cave and a hundred others! Also - all those weird names


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 23, 2014)

sojourner said:


> The fella's got a posh leather-bound King James which I intend to read at some point (for the language), now that I know what actually happens
> 
> God yeh, Nick Cave and a hundred others! Also - all those weird names



KJV Is where it's at


----------



## JimW (Dec 23, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> KJV Is where it's at


Verily.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 23, 2014)

manga bible ftw


----------



## MrSki (Dec 29, 2014)

Just finished 'The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden' by Jonas Jonasson. Definitely   recommend it. Well written & very funny in parts.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 29, 2014)

"Bloody Nasty People" by Daniel Trilling. It's a history of late 20th/early 21st century British nationalism (to put it politely). It's pretty workaday, essentially a left-liberal take on the whole "BNP in electoral politics" saga, but doesn't really dig beyond the usual _Guardian_-esque tropes in my opinion.


----------



## moon (Dec 29, 2014)

moon said:


> The girl with all the gifts.. So far its about children strapped into wheelchairs as they have some kind of infection..


Finished this, quite an amazing story with interesting characters some of whom will utterly frustrate you, and others who will challenge your sympathy etc etc. Some interesting fungal science and a bitter sweet ending..


----------



## belboid (Dec 29, 2014)

High Rise, by JG Ballard. Never read any Ballard before, only doing so now because of Hawkwind and someone  on the _challenge_ thread singing its praises [apols to sad poster for forgetting who you are temporarily]. What a fool I was, it's blooming brilliant.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 30, 2014)

belboid said:


> High Rise, by JG Ballard. Never read any Ballard before, only doing so now because of Hawkwind and someone  on the _challenge_ thread singing its praises [apols to sad poster for forgetting who you are temporarily]. What a fool I was, it's blooming brilliant.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Dec 30, 2014)

I'm reading Beloved by Toni Morison. Afraid to say that I'm not loving it as much as everybody else I've spoken to seems to. I think there are parts that are beautifully written and the tension is excellent but I find the pseudo-mystical tone a bit wearing to be honest.
Only a third through it so I will reserve judgement.
It's one of my mothers favourite books and I can see which parts appeal to her and why, which is enjoyable.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 30, 2014)

A Little Lumpen Novelita by Roberto Bolano
Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy by Phillip Willan
In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I by David A. Yallop
Harlem Is Nowhere: A Journey to the Mecca of Black America by Shafira Rhodes-Pitts
Lanark by Alaisdar Gray
Theory of the Avant-garde by Peter Burger
The Pike: Gabriele D'Annunzio Poet Seducer and Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Oh!: A Mystery of 'Mono No Aware' by Todd Shimoda
The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs by Tristan Gooley
The People's Platform: And Other Digital Delusions by Astra Taylor
The Philosophy of Marx by Etienne Balibar 

currently reading My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 30, 2014)

Dillinger4 said:


> In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I by David A. Yallop




he makes a very convincing case


I'm reading Elizabeth Bear 'Scardown' book two in the Wetwired sequence


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 31, 2014)

Your breadth of reading is breathtaking, Dillinger4 
If you were a girl, I'd be trying to get into your pants.
What's The Pike like? I gave that to my dad for his birthday and saw him falling about laughing about it at one point.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 31, 2014)

_The Pure Society from Darwin to Hitler_ by Andre Pichot.
My second attempt at reading it, and while it's seriously-scholarly, it also contains some hilarious put-downs of sociobiology in general, and Dawkins's "selfish gene" in particular.


----------



## Greebo (Jan 1, 2015)

Chita: a Memory of Last Island - Lafcadio Hearn


----------



## izz (Jan 2, 2015)

H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald. Only page 38 but already very engaging, it's a keeper.


----------



## Sue (Jan 2, 2015)

belboid said:


> High Rise, by JG Ballard. Never read any Ballard before, only doing so now because of Hawkwind and someone  on the _challenge_ thread singing its praises [apols to sad poster for forgetting who you are temporarily]. What a fool I was, it's blooming brilliant.



Read Super Cannes or Cocaine Nights next.


----------



## Sue (Jan 2, 2015)

Just finishing The Kindly Ones (Les Bienveillantes) by Jonathan Littell, first book by a non-native French speaker to win the Prix Goncourt. Written as a memoir by an SS Officer who served in Eastern Europe in WWII. Really interesting but utterly chilling..


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 2, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Your breadth of reading is breathtaking, Dillinger4
> If you were a girl, I'd be trying to get into your pants.
> What's The Pike like? I gave that to my dad for his birthday and saw him falling about laughing about it at one point.



One of the reviews describes it as "a magnificent portrait of a preposterous character" which is about right. D'Annunzio is the kind of character you couldn't really make up. It's long but it is well worth a read.


----------



## starfish (Jan 2, 2015)

I started reading Ghost in the Machine by Ed James but I'm not sure of it so far. It's Edinburgh coppers. Have a choice between To Rise Again At A Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris or Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. I'll get back to you.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 4, 2015)

I read that Roy Keane book, The Second Half. I thought it might be funny as it was written by Roddy Doyle but it wasn't. It's not even blog stuff, more bog stuff; very tedious and repetitive. It's like Saipan all over again.


----------



## weltweit (Jan 4, 2015)

_Edge of Infinity_, edited by Jonathan Strahan

A series of short sci-fi stories, all good, one slightly less interesting.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Jan 4, 2015)

ViolentPanda said:


> "Bloody Nasty People" by Daniel Trilling. It's a history of late 20th/early 21st century British nationalism (to put it politely). It's pretty workaday, essentially a left-liberal take on the whole "BNP in electoral politics" saga, but doesn't really dig beyond the usual _Guardian_-esque tropes in my opinion.



One would expect Verso to publish something a bit more critical, no?

Anyway, bookmarked, cheers.


----------



## ringo (Jan 5, 2015)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> I'm reading Beloved by Toni Morison. Afraid to say that I'm not loving it as much as everybody else I've spoken to seems to. I think there are parts that are beautifully written and the tension is excellent but I find the pseudo-mystical tone a bit wearing to be honest.
> Only a third through it so I will reserve judgement.
> It's one of my mothers favourite books and I can see which parts appeal to her and why, which is enjoyable.



I had a similar experience with it, but persevered and am glad I did. I'm not sure it's a book you can really say you enjoy, it's pretty grim reading, but it is worth finishing.


----------



## Plumdaff (Jan 5, 2015)

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. A Christmas present. It's the life of an Australian POW survivor and doctor told at different times, including his experiences on the Burma Railway. I'm only about a third of the way in but I was immediately hooked - it's written in a lyrical but very humane style, the ordinary in the appalling and extraordinary.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 5, 2015)

I finished A Christmas Carol by Dickens over the hols, which was lovely to finally read, and there were a couple of extra bits in there that I've never seen on any tv/film adaptation.

The fella got me all 4 of the David Peace Red Riding books for crimbo so I started and finished the first one, and have now almost finished the second.

Fuck ME. That first one left me feeling breathless, shit-scared, dirty, physically tired and emotionally overwhelmed. That's some powerful writing. Incredibly well-written actually - I'd say poetic in many places. I didn't know quite what to do with myself when I finished it.  All out of sorts. Immense writing.

Having recently re-watched the tv adaptation, I was aware of certain things going on, but the books have so much more to them, so many more characters, and stuff in a different time order etc.

I have not been able to put them down. Totally recommended


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 5, 2015)

yehhhhhh 

this is the north, where we do what we want


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 5, 2015)

up there with some of my all time favourites those are soj


----------



## sojourner (Jan 5, 2015)

belboid said:


> High Rise, by JG Ballard. Never read any Ballard before, only doing so now because of Hawkwind and someone  on the _challenge_ thread singing its praises [apols to sad poster for forgetting who you are temporarily]. What a fool I was, it's blooming brilliant.





Sue said:


> Read Super Cannes or Cocaine Nights next.



And Empire of the Sun, which is just fantastic and hugely educational, plus gives you a proper insight into a lot of his works


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 5, 2015)

aleister crowley, the revival of magick and other essays (tempe, az: new falcon, 1998)


----------



## sojourner (Jan 5, 2015)

Dillinger4 said:


> up there with some of my all time favourites those are soj


Really?    So dense, aren't they? I can't put them down cos there's SO MUCH fucking information that I have to keep up in the air in order to try and make sense of it all   God, the way he just drops little bombs all over the place


----------



## ringo (Jan 5, 2015)

Dillinger4 said:


> up there with some of my all time favourites those are soj


I couldn't put them down either, and the wait between them coming out was a struggle, but they're too harrowing to be favourites.


----------



## smorodina (Jan 6, 2015)

1Q84 - listening to actually, not reading


----------



## flypanam (Jan 6, 2015)

Finished Jonathan Lethem's Chronic City can't say I loved it but then again can't say it was shit.

Just started October 1970 by Louis Hamelin about the FLQ crisis. My mother in law got it for the family book club. Interesting read so far. I'm really enjoying the descriptions of Montreal.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 6, 2015)

ringo said:


> I couldn't put them down either, and the wait between them coming out was a struggle, but they're too harrowing to be favourites.


I feel really lucky to have them all at once ringo . My memory is chronically shit, and getting worse, so if I had to wait to read another one, I would totally lose the bajillion threads I need to keep alive in my head, and the experience would be so much poorer for it.

Finished the second one last night (oh Peace you absolute _fucker_, leaving me like that!! ), started the third.  Harrowing is the word alright.  There should be fucking counselling available after reading these!


----------



## Ming (Jan 7, 2015)

City Boy: Beer and Loathing in the Square Mile by Geraint Anderson. Great book about the culture of investment banks by a former successful city analyst. It's fictionalized but based on real experiences.


----------



## tufty79 (Jan 8, 2015)

First book of this year:The Girl With All The Gifts - M. R. Carey


----------



## Voley (Jan 8, 2015)

Dillinger4 said:


> KJV Is where it's at


I think you're right. Some of the more bonkers Biblical passages seem a little toned down in the version I'm reading, even if it is more intelligible.

Deuteronomy 23:1 being a case in point:

King James:

"He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD."



New International:

"No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD."

Not as funny, biblical scholars. You're missing the obvious point here: THE LORD IS THE MASTER OF SURREAL ONE-LINERS.


----------



## Voley (Jan 8, 2015)

sojourner said:


> The fella got me all 4 of the David Peace Red Riding books for crimbo so I started and finished the first one, and have now almost finished the second.
> 
> Fuck ME. That first one left me feeling breathless, shit-scared, dirty, physically tired and emotionally overwhelmed. That's some powerful writing. Incredibly well-written actually - I'd say poetic in many places. I didn't know quite what to do with myself when I finished it.  All out of sorts. Immense writing.
> 
> ...


 Ooh, I like the sound of them. I may have OD'd on mindboggling densely-plotted crime stuff by the time I've finished James Ellroy's latest mind.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 8, 2015)

Voley said:


> Ooh, I like the sound of them. I may have OD'd on mindboggling densely-plotted crime stuff by the time I've finished James Ellroy's latest mind.


Deffo give them a go mate. Astonishingly good


----------



## N_igma (Jan 9, 2015)

William Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury

This is one of those books where you need to persevere through the first 50 or so pages to get a grip of what's actually happening.

It begins immediately with no character exposition or explanation as to what is going on, numerous characters and alternate timelines with a stream of consciousness style of writing in parts. I nearly gave up until I realised what he was doing by going back and re-reading previous pages to piece it all together.

Anyway thoroughly enjoyable book so far it's basically a look at a dis functional Southern family through the eyes of four of its members. I'll get back when I'm finished for a conclusion.


----------



## ringo (Jan 9, 2015)

N_igma said:


> William Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury
> 
> This is one of those books where you need to persevere through the first 50 or so pages to get a grip of what's actually happening.
> 
> ...



All my favourite authors based their style on him, but the one time many years ago I tried to read this I gave up after 50 odd pages. Its been niggling ever since, now I've read your post it's definitely time to give it another go


----------



## weltweit (Jan 9, 2015)

_Random Acts of Senseless Violence_, Jack Womack


----------



## stethoscope (Jan 9, 2015)

Cass Pennant - Congratulations You'e Just Met the ICF.

About time I read it really.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 10, 2015)

I'm really enjoying The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 11, 2015)

_The Story of a New Name_ by Elena Ferrante

This follows on from _My Brilliant Friend, _and it is the second book of four. It is some of the best writing I have read for years and years.



> ‘Her novels are intensely, violently personal, and because of this they seem to dangle bristling key chains of confession before the unsuspecting reader...[A] beautiful and delicate tale of confluence and reversal.’
> James Wood, New Yorker





> 'An enthralling reading experience, reminiscent of those childhood immersions in a story that turn the volume of the real world down to a whisper... Ferrante shows us the levers working the vice that warps and crushes the human soul





> 'Elena Ferrante's real identity is unknown, but her novels reveal her genius... Ferrante's singularity is to make a glory of introspection and turn it into theatre. There's a dark ardour present in her writing, and a thrilling physicality to her metaphors, boldly translated by Ann Goldstein. She speaks of the anxious pleasure of violence , of desire feeling like a drop of rain in a spiderweb . Her charting of the rivalries and sheer inscrutability of female friendship is raw. This is high-stakes, subversive literature.'





> Elena Ferrante's magnificent Neopolitan novels trace the relationship between two headstrong Italian women... But these books are more than autobiography by other means. They also look outward, offering a dissection of Italian society that is almost Tolstoyan in its sweep and ambition. They are, into the bargain, extraordinarily gripping entertainment; the plot in this latest instalment twists and turns, like a Naples alleyway, towards a sequel-enabling conclusion. Novel by novel, Ferrante's series is building into one of the great achievements of modern literature.



If you are wondering what to read next, read these. You won't be disappointed. I can't recommend them enough. She has become one of my favourite writers.

Also reading at the same time, _The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters _by Adam Nicholson.


----------



## starfish (Jan 11, 2015)

The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide.


----------



## seventh bullet (Jan 11, 2015)

Soviet Cinema: Politics and Persuasion under Stalin - Jamie Miller


----------



## kebabking (Jan 11, 2015)

Fly Fishing. J R Hartley.

those of a certain age will remember the Yellow Pages adverts...

its not an instruction book, nor is is it the most devastating social commentary every written, but it is beautifully written (not, sadly, by JR Hartley, but by Michael Russell..) its funny, and it casts a Summers' evening glow over cold, dark January.


----------



## MrSki (Jan 11, 2015)

Just been to the library & picked up a few books. Have started with Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre. If it is half as good as The Sacred Art of Stealing which I finished yesterday, then I will be happy.


----------



## onenameshelley (Jan 11, 2015)

Over Christmas I read: Chew omnivore edition Volume 4, Transmetropolitan 3 and 4, Alan Cummings autobiography and I am half way through How to build a girl by Caitlyn Moran


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jan 11, 2015)

"Lamentation" by C.J. Sansom, the latest in his Shardlake series


----------



## MrSki (Jan 11, 2015)

QueenOfGoths said:


> "Lamentation" by C.J. Sansom, the latest in his Shardlake series


Puts that on my list to read. I wasn't aware that he had written this. In fact I thought he was dead.

Glad he is not & look forward to reading it. Have enjoyed all his previous & especially the Shardlake series.


----------



## phildwyer (Jan 12, 2015)

Robert Hughes, _The Fatal Shore._

Anyone else know it?

Jesus it's a traumatic read.  Absolutely brilliant stuff though, in terms of style and scholarship alike.


----------



## moon (Jan 13, 2015)

Vampire Academy (audible) - Its a bit too 'Young Adult' fiction and not particularly interesting.. I will finish it though..
Half Of A Yellow Sun (audible) -  Struggling to get into this too.. but I will..
Hunger Games (Kindle) - Reading this mainly on the train, its really good..


----------



## sojourner (Jan 14, 2015)

Just finished 1980 by David Peace


----------



## sojourner (Jan 14, 2015)

Dillinger4 said:


> _The Story of a New Name_ by Elena Ferrante
> 
> This follows on from _My Brilliant Friend, _and it is the second book of four. It is some of the best writing I have read for years and years.


I put her name into the library search box and the inevitable occurred:

*This search returned no results.*



Dillinger4  - do you buy your books or get them from the library or what?  I really fancy reading these on your recommendation, so if you do happen to possess them, could I borrow them please?


----------



## neonwilderness (Jan 14, 2015)

The Lords of the North - Bernard Cornwell 

I started this series ages ago, but am only just getting back into it.


----------



## belboid (Jan 14, 2015)

Iain Banks - The Quarry

About half way through now.  it's not his greatest book, but it's certainly one of his most poignant.


----------



## nogojones (Jan 14, 2015)

Dostoyevsky - The Devils. It's been sitting on a book-shelve for years now and really needs to be read


----------



## sojourner (Jan 15, 2015)

And plunging straight back into the abyss - started 1983 by David Peace last night.  I am wondering whether storylines will plait together in this, and part of me wants them to, and part of me doesn't.  It looks like they might though.  God this man is a fucking genius.

An interesting aside:  The Red Ladder Theatre Company in Leeds (radical group) recently had ALL of their funding pulled by the Arts Council, and David Peace sold the stage rights to one of his books to them for £3.68, a penny per page, so they can raise funds


----------



## idumea (Jan 15, 2015)

The Magicians by Lev Grossman
The Iron King by Maurice Druon


----------



## belboid (Jan 15, 2015)

There's a new Umberto Eco novel out!

sadly, my Italian isn't good enough to know more than the fact that there's a new Umberto Eco novel out. But at only 218 pages, it might not take too long to translate.


----------



## nogojones (Jan 15, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Just finished 1980 by David Peace


Not heard of him before, but been looking since I saw the reviews here. What's a good one to start on?


----------



## belboid (Jan 15, 2015)

nogojones said:


> Not heard of him before, but been looking since I saw the reviews here. What's a good one to start on?


as they're a quadrilogy, probably best to start with the earliest one 

Unless you want a very nice gentle introduction, and dont mind reading about Leeds United, in which case start with the Damned United


----------



## nogojones (Jan 15, 2015)

belboid said:


> as they're a quadrilogy, probably best to start with the earliest one
> 
> Unless you want a very nice gentle introduction, and dont mind reading about Leeds United, in which case start with the Damned United


I have no interest in football what so ever, so one of the quartet I guess. What's the first one?


----------



## belboid (Jan 15, 2015)

Nineteen Seventy-Four

The pedant in me has to point out that it is actually written thus, and not numerically rolleyes: at self)

GB84 is a standalone one about the miners strike that is a very good read - tho far too dark and bleak to really capture the mood of the strike, imo.  Other opinions are available.


----------



## MrSki (Jan 15, 2015)

neonwilderness said:


> The Lords of the North - Bernard Cornwell
> 
> I started this series ages ago, but am only just getting back into it.


It is really good. I am waiting for some fucker to return the latest in the series 'The Empty Throne' to the library so I can read it.

Currently reading the ninth in the 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith. Very different to the Saxon Stories but enjoyable.


----------



## neonwilderness (Jan 15, 2015)

MrSki said:


> It is really good. I am waiting for some fucker to return the latest in the series 'The Empty Throne' to the library so I can read it.
> 
> Currently reading the ninth in the 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith. Very different to the Saxon Stories but enjoyable.


There's lots of similarities to The Warlord Chronicles series, but it's an enjoyable read nonetheless. I'm looking forward to the BBC adaption of The Last Kingdom too


----------



## MrSki (Jan 15, 2015)

neonwilderness said:


> There's lots of similarities to The Warlord Chronicles series, but it's an enjoyable read nonetheless. I'm looking forward to the BBC adaption of The Last Kingdom too


That sounds good. Was not aware of it being made. Do you know when it will be out?  Surely if it a success then the will do the whole of the Saxon stories. I can see them being able to flog it in the States.


----------



## neonwilderness (Jan 15, 2015)

MrSki said:


> That sounds good. Was not aware of it being made. Do you know when it will be out?  Surely if it a success then the will do the whole of the Saxon stories. I can see them being able to flog it in the States.


I'm not sure. I think they started filming a few months back, so maybe towards the end of this year?

It would certainly make sense to do the full series if the first one is a success.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Jan 16, 2015)

Just finished What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. It was surprisingly excellent; I've not been a huge fan of Murakami's novels, but this memoir -- equal parts running diary and musing on his novels and life -- is a satisfying, albeit short, read. He is candid about his fear of growing older, and as a runner myself, his descriptions of the effects of running on his psyche rang authentically true.


----------



## starfish (Jan 16, 2015)

To Rise Again At A Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris. Traditional Booker shortlist Christmas pressie from my big sis.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 16, 2015)

The Power and The Glory by Graham Greene

Such a good writer


----------



## imposs1904 (Jan 16, 2015)

rubbershoes said:


> The Power and The Glory by Graham Greene
> 
> Such a good writer



Just stumbled across a load of Graham Greene books that someone had dumped outside a shut down bookstore near where I buy my groceries. There were at least 15 of his books lying on the pavement. I did the decent thing and grabbed three of them.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 16, 2015)

Obama's Wars - Bob Woodward.


----------



## weltweit (Jan 16, 2015)

The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells

Lethal, Sandra Brown

The Fall, Simon Mawer

I read HG Wells wrote 400 books, sadly The Invisible Man is the only one my local library had.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 16, 2015)

Just finished children's author Jaqueline Wilson's autobiography of being a young teenager in London in 1960 - superb. What a writer!!!


----------



## ringo (Jan 17, 2015)

Bring Up The Bodies - Hilary Mantel. 

Bit of a rush to get it read before the TV series gets that far but it's so good I'm charging through it already.


----------



## MrSki (Jan 17, 2015)

Just starting 'Where the Bodies are Buried' - Christopher Brookmyre.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 17, 2015)

nogojones said:


> I have no interest in football what so ever, so one of the quartet I guess. What's the first one?


Be sure to post up here when you read them - I've got just less than halfway to go before finishing the last one. Fuck me. INCREDIBLY good writing. Just astonishingly good.


----------



## maya (Jan 18, 2015)

Stig Dagerman- German Autumn (1947). Non-fictional account of his travels through the country and encounters with the people in the immediate aftermath of WW2.

Anna Funder- Stasiland: Stories from behind the Berlin Wall (2003). This was okay(ish), but felt a bit too anecdotal for me- not enough analysis or historical background... But it never intended to provide that, then it'd be a very different book. Just my own impatience/taste shining through, tbf.

Trying to find a good book on the Stasi, will have a look at academic works but any suggestions at all would be appreciated...


----------



## Greebo (Jan 18, 2015)

Amexica: War along the borderline - Ed Vuillamy

Zla Milosc - Aleksander Sowa (just to get used to the word patterns at the moment)


----------



## Greebo (Jan 18, 2015)

weltweit try looking on gutenberg.org.  There's quite a lot by H.G Wells there, admittedly not 400.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/30


----------



## weltweit (Jan 18, 2015)

Greebo said:


> weltweit try looking on gutenberg.org.  There's quite a lot by H.G Wells there, admittedly not 400.
> http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/30


Thanks for that Greebo, I may have to get myself one of those "reader" thingies


----------



## Greebo (Jan 18, 2015)

weltweit said:


> Thanks for that Greebo, I may have to get myself one of those "reader" thingies


No immediate need, the ones on that site are readable online, as well as downloadable in most e reader formats and as PDF (so you can print them if preferred).


----------



## flypanam (Jan 19, 2015)

starfish said:


> To Rise Again At A Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris. Traditional Booker shortlist Christmas pressie from my big sis.



It's a beautiful read, very funny and pushed me to take better care of my teeth.


----------



## mypreciouss (Jan 20, 2015)

The Great Transformation - Polanyi


----------



## hot air baboon (Jan 20, 2015)

Greebo said:


> weltweit try looking on gutenberg.org.  There's quite a lot by H.G Wells there, admittedly not 400.
> http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/30



....he did do alot of short stories - don;t know if they're all getting rolled up into the total...

...there's a big doorstep collection of 84 of them thats been reprinted numerous times in numerous editions....


----------



## moon (Jan 21, 2015)

The Signature of all Things - Elizabeth Gilbert (Audible)
I've just downloaded this, it was on my wish-list as Juliette Stevenson is the narrator and the storyline involves botany..

I finished Vampire Academy.. I found the relationship between Moroi, Strigoi and Dhampirs quite interesting but it was a bit too teen fiction for me.. I guess there was a clue in the title..

Have nearly finished the Hunger Games, 1 more chapter to go, it has been really interesting and creepy etc etc.. will put Catching Fire on my to read list..


----------



## belboid (Jan 21, 2015)

Just about to start Raymond Chandler's The High Window.

Quite excited about this one, part of my plan to read all the Chandlers over the year. The Big Sleep is a work of genius, but I already knew it backwards. I couldnt remember Farewell My Lovely quite as well, but did do so pretty much as I read each section. High Window, I know not at all, it's gonna be well good.


----------



## pogo 10 (Jan 21, 2015)

Crimson china, about the morecambe bay cockling tragedy.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 21, 2015)

pogo 10 said:


> Crimson china, about the morecambe bay cockling tragedy.


Please credit the author! It's the least you can do. They would have worked for months or even more on the thing.


----------



## pogo 10 (Jan 21, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Please credit the author! It's the least you can do. They would have worked for months or even more on the thing.


Betsy tobin[book was in my bedroom and was too lazy to get it].


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Jan 22, 2015)

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar - the Time Regulation Institute
S Reid - Assimilate: A Critical history of industrial music.
Martin Stokes: The Republic of Love. Cultural intimacy in Turkish popular music.

Plan to read.
Mikko Lahtinen - Niccolo Machiavelli and Louis Althusser’s Aleatory Materialism.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 23, 2015)

A few stories into my all-time beloved Ray Bradbury's 'I Sing The Body Electric!', which has to be one of the world's greatest titles, and is taken from a Walt Whitman poem 

It's like being sensually stroked all over by beautiful ideas and words. God I love him.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 23, 2015)

H Is For Hawk - Helen Macdonald.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18803640-h-is-for-hawk


----------



## mentalchik (Jan 23, 2015)

Proxima - Stephen Baxter

then 

Best new Sci-fi 27

then

The Peripheral - William Gibson


----------



## weltweit (Jan 24, 2015)

I just read _A Good Hanging_, Ian Rankin which is my first Rankin read. I have read quite a few Mark Billingham thrillers in which his detective DI Thorne takes the length of a book to solve a crime so I was at first a little disturbed to see that Rankin's Rebus seems to solve a crime about every twenty pages or so!


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Jan 24, 2015)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> H Is For Hawk - Helen Macdonald.
> https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18803640-h-is-for-hawk


Heard so many good things about that, definitely on my wishlist.

I'm currently reading Faraway, by Lucy Irvine, who you might remember from Castaway and the Oliver Reed film adaptation. It's actually really really good - she's a great observer, and it's a fascinating mixture of biography of the quintessential English couple setting up in a tropical paradise, combined with Irvine's slow uncovering of the real story behind their impact on the island they chose to call home.


----------



## maya (Jan 24, 2015)

Don Quijote... I love it! The daddy of all picaresque novels (or all novels in general, I presume-). Much easier to read than I feared, too. Wish I knew spanish so I could read the original... although the translation is mint. Such a great book.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jan 25, 2015)

"London's Labyrinth" by Fiona Rule - a kind of pot-boiler of the best couple of dozen books about (mostly) post-Industrial Revolution London. Not bad,but she's no Ackroyd.
Sara Scott's "The Politics and Experience of Ritual Abuse", which I'm re-reading after a poster made a claim about its' content that I didn't recall being any part of what the author wrote.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jan 25, 2015)

Working my way through the Winter King trilogy by Bernard Cornwell and on book 2 now, its pretty grim and gritty and I have doubts that the Druidic religion was as brutal and fond of human sacrifice as the book makes out but its pretty entertaining.

Also Merlin is a complete fucking dickhead, entertaining though.


----------



## treefrog (Jan 26, 2015)

Artaxerxes said:


> Working my way through the Winter King trilogy by Bernard Cornwell and on book 2 now, its pretty grim and gritty and I have doubts that the Druidic religion was as brutal and fond of human sacrifice as the book makes out but its pretty entertaining.
> 
> Also Merlin is a complete fucking dickhead, entertaining though.


I think I read that years ago- cracking fun! Might see if the library has it in as some light relief once I finish The Man in the High Castle.....


----------



## sojourner (Jan 26, 2015)

A mate's lent me 'How To Be A Woman' by Caitlin Moran, and as it's from a friend of a friend, and I have to give it back fairly quick, I'm having to read that before going back to Ray.

Actual laugh-out-loud funny in parts, and clever use of language in others. Yeh, I like it so far


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 26, 2015)

sojourner said:


> A mate's lent me 'How To Be A Woman' by Caitlin Moran, and as it's from a friend of a friend, and I have to give it back fairly quick, I'm having to read that before going back to Ray.
> 
> Actual laugh-out-loud funny in parts, and clever use of language in others. Yeh, I like it so far


It always saddens me to see positive reviews of this, considering how dreadful she is at the internets.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 27, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> It always saddens me to see positive reviews of this, considering how dreadful she is at the internets.


Is she?  Well, there are hints at crapness in the book tbh, but there are also some hysterical sections.

Give us an example then.

And - why does it SADDEN you that people may have gleaned some joy from her writing?!  That's a very odd position to take.


----------



## marty21 (Jan 27, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> It always saddens me to see positive reviews of this, considering how dreadful she is at the internets.


 I don't mind her on the internets tbh


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 27, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Is she?  Well, there are hints at crapness in the book tbh, but there are also some hysterical sections.
> 
> Give us an example then.
> 
> And - why does it SADDEN you that people may have gleaned some joy from her writing?!  That's a very odd position to take.


It saddens me that she might be a good writer, whilst she behaves so appallingly on Twitter


----------



## sojourner (Jan 27, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> It saddens me that she might be a good writer, whilst she behaves so appallingly on Twitter


I don't see why the two should go hand in hand.

What constitutes 'appallingly' then?


----------



## campanula (Jan 27, 2015)

Just finished Proxima (Stephen Baxter) but am dithering about the next book in the series? - Ultima - mainly because it seems to be in a quasi-Romanesque meta-history thingy which I am not finding appealing. To be honest, Baxter is not really my cup of tea but shortages of reading matter and a handy book token...
H is for Hawk - sort of bumbling through this but not riveted.
Signature of All Things has just arrived and I am appalled to recall the awful Eat Pray Navel Gaze (was fooled by the botany aspect). The non-read pile is growing - dunno whether I am losing patience but these days, if I have not been gripped by at least page 30, then its off to the charity shop (or handy park bench).


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 27, 2015)

sojourner said:


> I don't see why the two should go hand in hand


They don't. Writers are often arseholes.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 27, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> They don't. Writers are often arseholes.


PEOPLE are often arseholes in general.  Nowt spesh about writers in particular.

I still don't really understand why it would 'sadden' you.

And - for the third time - what constitutes 'appallingly'?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 27, 2015)

Saddened/annoyed/just let out a big sigh at shitty humanity.

She's just part of that smug twitterati who all stick up for each other. Had to stop following most of them cos it was just one big backslapathon.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 27, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Saddened/annoyed/just let out a big sigh at shitty humanity.
> 
> She's just part of that smug twitterati who all stick up for each other. Had to stop following most of them cos it was just one big backslapathon.


Oh right, got you, I think.

I don't use Twitter so no idea what that means.  Have stopped using Facebook pretty much, apart from reading/poetry stuff. Pile of fucking wank.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 27, 2015)

Yeah, probs for the best. 

I do think that being a writer can magnify one's arseholiness though. Not that writers are always arseholes.


----------



## inva (Jan 27, 2015)

In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes
I've seen the excellent Nicholas Ray film of this before, so I was curious to find out what the novel it was based on is like. I'm just over a third of the way through it and so far it seems to be generally darker in tone and more direct in its portrayal of Dix Steele (the main character and the one played by Humphrey Bogart in the film) as a vile, predatory misogynist. It's been very good so far, anyway, although it did take me a little bit to really start enjoying it because Steele is so repulsive and the early part of the book is very focused on him and his thoughts before other characters begin to enter the plot much.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 27, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Oh right, got you, I think.
> 
> I don't use Twitter so no idea what that means.  Have stopped using Facebook pretty much, apart from reading/poetry stuff. Pile of fucking wank.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 27, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Yeah, probs for the best.
> 
> I do think that being a writer can magnify one's arseholiness though. Not that writers are always arseholes.


Maybe they just express it better


----------



## mentalchik (Jan 29, 2015)

campanula said:


> Just finished Proxima (Stephen Baxter) but am dithering about the next book in the series? - Ultima - mainly because it seems to be in a quasi-Romanesque meta-history thingy which I am not finding appealing. To be honest, Baxter is not really my cup of tea but shortages of reading matter and a handy book token...



am just finishing it too.......................to be honest am struggling not to find it a bit dull now at the end..........


----------



## flypanam (Jan 29, 2015)

Us conductors - Sean Michaels

Fictional account of the life of the inventor of the theremin.


----------



## campanula (Jan 29, 2015)

mentalchik said:


> am just finishing it too.......................to be honest am struggling not to find it a bit dull now at the end..........



Grief yes, he does that thing of compressing years and years into a paragraph or so, fails to tie up plot ends....in fact, this is exactly why I have never been too keen on his books as they often start out with an interesting premise but fail to deliver as characterisation and emotional engagement takes a big back seat to grandiosity. May never bother with the next, Ultima.


----------



## ringo (Jan 29, 2015)

The Blacker The Berry - Wallace Thurman 
Supposed to be the first novel to tackle colour prejudice among black Americans, written by a member of the Harlem Renaissance in 1929. Never heard of them but will investigate further on the strength of this.


----------



## Arran1982 (Jan 29, 2015)

Im on Dance With Dragons (Game of Thrones book 5), this is seriously becoming a chore now, after such a great start book 4 and 5 have been huge disappointments.


----------



## maya (Jan 29, 2015)

ringo said:


> , written by a member of the Harlem Renaissance in 1929. Never heard of them but will investigate further on the strength of this.


I haven't read enough Harlem Renaissance lit but have access to several books through my work and have picked up some pointers here and there- so far I'll recommend Nella Larsen- 'Passing' and Zora Neale Hurston- 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' as particularly good novels.


----------



## ringo (Jan 29, 2015)

maya said:


> I haven't read enough Harlem Renaissance lit but have access to several books through my work and have picked up some pointers here and there- so far I'll recommend Nella Larsen- 'Passing' and Zora Neale Hurston- 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' as particularly good novels.


Cheers [emoji3]


----------



## maya (Jan 29, 2015)

ringo said:


> Cheers [emoji3]


You're welcome!


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 29, 2015)

Sleepyhead (Tom Thorne #1) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/482889.Sleepyhead

Not enjoying it, it was a free book on promotion; it's very blandly written and i'm not sure why it has such good reviews. I've done 60% of it so i will finish it.


----------



## weltweit (Jan 29, 2015)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> Sleepyhead (Tom Thorne #1) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/482889.Sleepyhead
> Not enjoying it, it was a free book on promotion; it's very blandly written and i'm not sure why it has such good reviews. I've done 60% of it so i will finish it.


Interesting, I quite enjoyed the Mark Billingham books I have read, I liked that every couple of pages something happened to keep me interested. That said I haven't read Sleepy Head, Does the #1 indicate it is his first book?


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 29, 2015)

weltweit said:


> Interesting, I quite enjoyed the Mark Billingham books I have read, I liked that every couple of pages something happened to keep me interested. That said I haven't read Sleepy Head, Does the #1 indicate it is hits first book?



Yes, I think this is the first of three about the detective called Thorne. At least i hope it is because I would like this serial killer case all tied up without having to read the next book.


----------



## weltweit (Jan 29, 2015)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> Yes, I think this is the first of three about the detective called Thorne. At least i hope it is because I would like this serial killer case all tied up without having to read the next book.



I read :

Scaredy Cat, Mark Billingham
Death Message, Mark Billingham
The Burning Girl, Mark Billingham
Rush of Blood, Mark Billingham
Good as Dead, Mark Billingham
Blood Line, Mark Billingham
From The Dead, Mark Billingham
Lifeless, Mark Billingham 
The Dying Hours, Mark Billingham

So there are definitely more than 3 

That said I like that a case takes the length of the book as with a Ian Rankin book I just read his detective Rebus solves a case every 10 pages which seems crazy !!


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Jan 30, 2015)

flypanam said:


> Joshua Ferris - The unnamed
> 
> His second book and a massive let down. Has it moments like some beautifully observed domestic life, but mostly it rushes to nowhere in particular. I had a real problem with all the protagonists in this novel. All were unlovable.



I think I prefer it to the dentists or the ad agency, both of which I liked.


----------



## flypanam (Jan 30, 2015)

Maurice Picarda said:


> I think I prefer it to the dentists or the ad agency, both of which I liked.



I think I was expecting another book along the lines of 'To rise again...' and 'Then we came to the end' which the writing seemed much more comfortable, the weaving of the plot, the humour and the dialogue just didn't seem forced.

I think he's to be commended in going in a different direction with 'The unnamed' it's just that I don't think it worked and that the conceit just wasn't clever.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 30, 2015)

weltweit said:


> I read :
> 
> Scaredy Cat, Mark Billingham
> Death Message, Mark Billingham
> ...



I think Billingham created the character Thorne for the book Sleepyhead i don't know if he features in the others, he said of the character; "When I am asked to describe Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, I have often said that the reader knows every bit as much about him as I do. " I think he has succeeded in that but not in a good way. I find it true of all the other characters in this book. It's an easy read, a quick read but kind of empty.


----------



## weltweit (Jan 30, 2015)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I think Billingham created the character Thorne for the book Sleepyhead i don't know if he features in the others, he said of the character; "When I am asked to describe Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, I have often said that the reader knows every bit as much about him as I do. " I think he has succeeded in that but not in a good way. I find it true of all the other characters in this book. It's an easy read, a quick read but kind of empty.


DI Thorne is in those other books I listed. I certainly agree with you that they are an easy read and perhaps not deeper than that, but I kind of like that as a bedtime book, easy read a bit, then switch off and go to sleep


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 31, 2015)

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming - Mike Brown.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7963278-how-i-killed-pluto-and-why-it-had-it-coming


----------



## maya (Jan 31, 2015)

A cookery book for kids... I still get it wrong. I can't cook for shit. Grr. (I'll keep trying, though!)


----------



## maya (Jan 31, 2015)

Meanwhile, for actual reading (outside the kitchen) :

A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles- Nicholas A. Basbanes

The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester


----------



## monsterbunny (Feb 1, 2015)

Back to Blood - Tom Wolfe


----------



## madamv (Feb 2, 2015)

Rabbit stew and a penny or two - Maggie Smith.	Story recounted by a traveller of times in the road in the 50's


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 2, 2015)

I, Patridge by Alan Patridge

impossible to read without reading it in steve coogans voice


----------



## sojourner (Feb 2, 2015)

madamv said:


> Rabbit stew and a penny or two - Maggie Smith.	Story recounted by a traveller of times in the road in the 50's


I read that last year


----------



## Santino (Feb 2, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> I, Patridge by Alan Patridge
> 
> impossible to read without reading it in steve coogans voice


 That's probably the audiobook version you've got there.


----------



## madamv (Feb 2, 2015)

sojourner said:


> I read that last year


I'm only a couple chapters in but enjoying it so far.  I've not read for ages, hoping it will keep me going.  Some of it is round near where I live I think so should be interesting.


----------



## colbhoy (Feb 2, 2015)

Reading Band of Brothers by Stephen E Ambrose.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 2, 2015)

The Democracy Project - David Graeber.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330433-the-democracy-project


----------



## inva (Feb 3, 2015)

inva said:


> In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes
> I've seen the excellent Nicholas Ray film of this before, so I was curious to find out what the novel it was based on is like. I'm just over a third of the way through it and so far it seems to be generally darker in tone and more direct in its portrayal of Dix Steele (the main character and the one played by Humphrey Bogart in the film) as a vile, predatory misogynist. It's been very good so far, anyway, although it did take me a little bit to really start enjoying it because Steele is so repulsive and the early part of the book is very focused on him and his thoughts before other characters begin to enter the plot much.


I've finished reading this one now and it was really very good. I think next I'll try Game for Five by Marco Malvaldi which is another crime novel from an author I don't know at all and I also want to read Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong in the Race Debate by Kenan Malik which I started at the beginning of the year but was distracted by other books before I got very far. Malik is an excellent writer and argues so clearly and convincingly on this subject so I'm looking forward to it although I think I'll already be fairly familiar with his general argument.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 3, 2015)

I'm afraid this Ray Bradbury collection (I Sing The Body Electric) isn't very good. I'm gutted. It's like finding out your Dad doesn't actually know everything after all, he's just a fella  Been ploughing through it, and although there are a couple of wow moments, it's nowhere near the genius of absolutely everything else I have read by him 

I might actually start something else tonight.  Got a couple of things lying around.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 4, 2015)

Read an absolutely class ghost story last night - The Woman In Black by Susan Hill.  Not read a really good one like that for too long now. It actually had me freezing up in fear   Brilliantly written, can't beat a subtle dose of suspense.


----------



## gosub (Feb 5, 2015)




----------



## ViolentPanda (Feb 6, 2015)

Something almost a shit as gosub 's book. "Epicenter" by Joel C. Rosenberg. Pro-Zionist Christian Evangelical anti-Russian and anti-Islam claptrap masquerading as political comment. Astoundingly, this whackjob was invited to elucidate his fuckspudulence in front of Congress!


----------



## ringo (Feb 6, 2015)

I'm also reading a bit of a shit book, but seem determined to finish it. The Epicure's Lament by Kate Christensen.

Apparently this is 'loser lit'. The main character is a lazy, rude, misogynist monied prick who dribbles his feckless way through life smoking fags and having sex with beautiful women who demand that he demeans them. It's odd that it's written by a woman, which could make it clever and revealing, but it doesn't.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 6, 2015)

Started reading The Exorcist by William Blatty at lunch.  Talking about the ghost story with the fella the other night and he said the book of The Exorcist put the shits right up him when he was younger, so I thought I'd give it a go.


----------



## KeeperofDragons (Feb 6, 2015)

Thomas Cromwell by Robert Hutchinson


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 6, 2015)

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee.


----------



## Greebo (Feb 7, 2015)

Dreaming the Dark - Starhawk


----------



## campanula (Feb 7, 2015)

Second Nature - Michael Pollan


----------



## ringo (Feb 8, 2015)

ringo said:


> I'm also reading a bit of a shit book, but seem determined to finish it. The Epicure's Lament by Kate Christensen.
> 
> Apparently this is 'loser lit'. The main character is a lazy, rude, misogynist monied prick who dribbles his feckless way through life smoking fags and having sex with beautiful women who demand that he demeans them. It's odd that it's written by a woman, which could make it clever and revealing, but it doesn't.


Finished it. Read a few reviews to confirm my theory that she was attempting to write a novel with a main protagonist you're meant to dislike and feel unable to empathise with.

It sort of works, but only because she adds just enough positive attributes to him that the reader hopes he'll redeem himself, chiefly by making him stop rejecting his illegitimate daughter long enough to save her from a paedophile.


----------



## ringo (Feb 8, 2015)

East Of Eden - John Steinbeck 
Been looking forward to this for ages.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 9, 2015)

ringo said:


> East Of Eden - John Steinbeck
> Been looking forward to this for ages.



It's a great read.


----------



## campanula (Feb 10, 2015)

I based a large part of my parenting techniques on a throwaway sentence in Cannery Row (the bit where the harassed Hispanic mother simply strews beans under the table for grovelling offspring to rootle about like little dogs...only I used raisins and bits of cheese.

Love the humanity in Steinbeck's writing - always true and raw and unmediated.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 10, 2015)

Well, I quite enjoyed The Exorcist. Apart from the fucking bajillion typos in it that kept hurling me out of my suspension of disbelief, that is 

Loads in there that, obviously, never made the film. Glad I read it now. Fix those fucking typos though, my god.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Feb 11, 2015)

"Five To Rule Them All" by David L. Bosco - a fairly anodyne history of the UN Security Council from '46-'95.


----------



## belboid (Feb 11, 2015)

Against the Troika -  Crisis and Austerity in the Eurozone by Heiner Flassbeck and Costas Lapavitsas.

Making the case for a return to left Keynesianism, and showing how the neo-liberal policies simply do not work as they pretend to.  Bloody ages since I read this much economics, it's very good on showing up the fallacies in the neo-liberal model, but not quite as convincing in making its own case - not so far, anyway.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 11, 2015)

Started 'Shark' by Will Self last night. It's a prequel to 'Umbrella' which I read a few months ago (but written afterwards).

Excellent. Fucking about with modernist ideas once again, there are no chapters (as per Umbrella) and the inner consciousness of one character glides (mostly) without any clue into another, with yet other characters, thoughts, and sometimes hints of backstories appearing in italics. 

It is not 'an easy read'. You work for the enjoyment, but it really is there in bucketloads. I happen to enjoy reading whilst simultaneously analysing a text - that's 'fun', to me.

I've seen him slagged off so many times for 'swallowing a thesaurus' but you know what - what is so fucking wrong with having an extended vocabulary and choosing exactly the right word to communicate the exact meaning? I sometimes grasp for ages trying to select exactly the right word for my meaning. I love his writing, the style, syntax, experiments, the lot. Hugely satisfying


----------



## moonsi til (Feb 11, 2015)

I lost my reading mojo for a while but it came back by chance last summer when I read 'Wicked'..the alternative story of The Wicked Witch of The West from The Wizard of Oz. I found the book in the apartment I was staying in & devoured it after I finally finished '12 years a slave'. This year I have read 'And The Mountains Echoed' by Khaled Hosseni whom wrote 'The Kite Runner'. At first I was wary/weary of it being a downtrodden Afghan story but it certainly isn't. 

Then I read 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn which I also enjoyed very much & will be sending a copy to my sister for her upcoming birthday. Currently I'm reading 'The Miniaturist' by Jessie Burton and about 65 pages in and again happily engrossed. In the post today I received 'A Confederacy Of Dunces' by John Kennedy Toole and 'Do No Harm' by Henry Marsh.


----------



## kittyP (Feb 11, 2015)

Rivers of London - And I am thoroughly enjoying it


----------



## belboid (Feb 11, 2015)

sojourner said:


> I've seen him slagged off so many times for 'swallowing a thesaurus' but you know what - what is so fucking wrong with having an extended vocabulary and choosing exactly the right word to communicate the exact meaning? I sometimes grasp for ages trying to select exactly the right word for my meaning. I love his writing, the style, syntax, experiments, the lot. Hugely satisfying


I used to not be able to read him, or thought I couldn't, as I thought he was an insufferable post-modern smartarse.  And I already read lots of Umberto Eco, so had no need for two such authors in my life (also, it was a pain in the arse having to carry around both a big book and an even bigger dictionary to look up the obscure words). Then I read _How the Dead Live_ and realised how wrong I was.

Because the whole point is, he really does use _precisely_ the right word at the right time, he isn't just showing off his erudition like some pisspoor pseudo-intellectual trying to hide their averageness behind big words (a _No Prize_ goes to the person who first mentions the particular lefty blogger I'm thinking of there...). It's challenging and enlightening, and really bloody clever.  and a lot easier to look up now I only have to highlight the word on me kindle


----------



## Voley (Feb 11, 2015)

kittyP said:
			
		

> Rivers of London - And I am thoroughly enjoying it



You're the second person to recommend that to me in as many days. My Mum liked it, too, although she did add 'I doubt you'd like it' which she says about everything tbf. I think she believes me to be incapable of enjoying anything. Anyhow, I shall give it a whirl.


----------



## MrSki (Feb 12, 2015)

kittyP said:


> Rivers of London - And I am thoroughly enjoying it


I enjoyed it too. Harry Potter meets the MPS.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 12, 2015)

belboid said:


> I used to not be able to read him, or thought I couldn't, as I thought he was an insufferable post-modern smartarse.  And I already read lots of Umberto Eco, so had no need for two such authors in my life (also, it was a pain in the arse having to carry around both a big book and an even bigger dictionary to look up the obscure words). Then I read _How the Dead Live_ and realised how wrong I was.
> 
> Because the whole point is, he really does use _precisely_ the right word at the right time, he isn't just showing off his erudition like some pisspoor pseudo-intellectual trying to hide their averageness behind big words (a _No Prize_ goes to the person who first mentions the particular lefty blogger I'm thinking of there...). It's challenging and enlightening, and really bloody clever.  and a lot easier to look up now I only have to highlight the word on me kindle




Exactly!

I've not read that How the Dead Live - they've only got it on a talking CD at the library. Not sure I want to hear someone's voice other than my own reading that to me.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 13, 2015)

A People's History Of The United States - Howard Zinn. (re read)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767.A_People_s_History_of_the_United_States


----------



## jeff_leigh (Feb 14, 2015)

Just finished  Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
Just started   The Court of the Air - Stephen Hunt


----------



## maya (Feb 14, 2015)




----------



## pogo 10 (Feb 14, 2015)

The famished road by ben okri, just got it from library today, looks alright.


----------



## KeeperofDragons (Feb 15, 2015)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee.


Good book,  I first read it at school as part of the O level book list


----------



## KeeperofDragons (Feb 15, 2015)

I usually have three or four on the go I've just finished Philippa  Gregory"s The King's Curse from the Cousin's War series and am also reading Poison a Social History by Joel Levy along with the Thomas Cromwell one - time to trawl my book hoard for another to read. 
Edit - damned & blasted auto correct


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Feb 15, 2015)

Finished Stockhausen serves Imperialism by Cardew last night. It's raw, undiluted, and vociferous communist polemic against the avant-garde, but oh so conservative in its own way.

I think Adorno and the Maoist era Cardew were both wrong on music, basically. Revolutionary intent can be conceived by the composer but whether it translates to the (potentially revolutionary) subject is another question entirely.


----------



## colbhoy (Feb 16, 2015)

Joyland by Stephen King. Been a wee while since I've read a Stephen King, actually went to the library to get Doctor Sleep, there were 2 copies last time I was there but none when I went back so picked up Joyland. Enjoying so far.


----------



## weltweit (Feb 16, 2015)

I have just read Fortunes Pawn by Rachel Bach. I enjoyed it, some new sci-fi ideas, quite a lot of action and an ending which leaves one wondering if there is a sequel.


----------



## sheetalmehak (Feb 20, 2015)

AM reading a book called "Managing to Learn" by Toyota veteran John Shook, which  reveals the thinking underlying the vital A3 management process at the heart of management and leadership.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 20, 2015)

Everyday Sexism  - Laura Bates.
Essential reading for all men, especially those men who think the gender equality battle has been won.
Read this Johnny Vodka , Gromit and Johnny Canuck3 !


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Feb 20, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Everyday Sexism  - Laura Bates.
> Essential reading for all men, especially those men who think the gender equality battle has been won.
> Read this Johnny Vodka , Gromit and Johnny Canuck3 !



I've read her stuff in The Guardian... and no thanks...


----------



## CosmikRoger (Feb 20, 2015)

Just finished The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M Banks. 
It was harder work than anything of his I've read before and the ending was piss poor, shame cos I liked the idea.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 20, 2015)

Johnny Vodka said:


> I've read her stuff in The Guardian... and no thanks...


Why's that? You'd benefit from it. Telling you what you need to know, fella.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Feb 20, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Why's that? You'd benefit from it. Telling you what you need to know, fella.



Not really.  Don't want to get into another feminism debate on _a book thread_, but The Guardian itself published a news article the other day about how male suicide rates are 3* that of women (not reflected in its cif articles, which still mainly focus on female issues; hardly anything on problems males face, when this statistic would scream that there's a great crisis facing men, and, in any case, it's more like _4*_, as pointed out btl).  I'm just not willing to explore the ideas in Ms Bates' book (well publicised in The Guardian, btw, and I have read many of these articles) until we expunge the idea that women have it so much harder than men.  That is all.


----------



## belboid (Feb 21, 2015)

Johnny Vodka said:


> until we expunge the idea that women have it so much harder than men.


It takes quite some doing for someone to be thicker than JohnnyCannuck, but you manage it with aplomb. Does your mummy still tie your shoelaces every morning?


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Feb 21, 2015)

belboid said:


> Does your mummy still tie your shoelaces every morning?



No.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 21, 2015)

Johnny Vodka said:


> Not really.  Don't want to get into another feminism debate on _a book thread_, but The Guardian itself published a news article the other day about how male suicide rates are 3* that of women (not reflected in its cif articles, which still mainly focus on female issues; hardly anything on problems males face, when this statistic would scream that there's a great crisis facing men, and, in any case, it's more like _4*_, as pointed out btl).  I'm just not willing to explore the ideas in Ms Bates' book (well publicised in The Guardian, btw, and I have read many of these articles) until we expunge the idea that women have it so much harder than men.  That is all.


Christ you are obtuse. Your prejudice is so ingrained you won't countenance the testimony of thousands of women.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Feb 21, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Christ you are obtuse. Your prejudice is so ingrained you won't countenance the testimony of thousands of women.



I'm not going to argue with you on this thread on this topic.  I don't discount the experience of these women.  I just think in mainstream western society men face equally serious problems - as the alarming statistic I quoted above proves (at least in my mind).


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 21, 2015)

You won't argue cos you don't have a leg to stand on. And you won't listen to anything you are told. You are doomed with your attitude.


----------



## inva (Feb 21, 2015)

The Wages of Destruction: The Making & Breaking of the Nazi Economy by Adam Tooze
I've seen this recommended a few times on these boards and I'd read some good reviews for it. I think it's about at the limit of my reading ability, so far the focus has been on the economy of late Weimar and the early Nazi regime. Not an easy read but already I'm finding it very interesting.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
I've never read anything by her before and I didn't know anything about this book so I wasn't sure what to expect. Although I'm not far into it at all and nothing much has happened yet I'm enjoying it a lot - the writing is very good.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Feb 21, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> You won't argue cos you don't have a leg to stand on. And you won't listen to anything you are told. You are doomed with your attitude.



No.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 21, 2015)

Seriously, read the book. A higher suicide rate does not equal thousands of years of inequality. If you don't see that, you're an irredeemable chauvinist who cannot entertain and learn from other people's points of view.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Feb 21, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Seriously, read the book. A higher suicide rate does not equal thousands of years of inequality. If you don't see that, you're an irredeemable chauvinist who cannot entertain and learn from other people's points of view.



It's about the position _now, _because that's what matters - the people living now and how society uses its resources.  If you read the news article in The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/society/...ides-uk-increases-2013-male-rate-highest-2001), you'll also deduce that, for example, men drink more heavily than women (why is this...?).  Men face massive issues in society and, if this news article had been about an important issue affecting women, you can bet there would already have been_ a number_ of spin-off cif pieces. 

I don't need to read the book you're discussing - because it's been promoted heavily in The Guardian and I've already read countless pieces referring to it.  It's been so heavily promoted I already feel like I've read it.  Like I said, I'm not dismissive of issues affecting women - but, given the widest picture, I don't think we need to treat women in mainstream British society as a disadvantaged group.  If you think that makes me an 'irredeemable chauvinist', it's you that's deluded - you're the one unwilling to consider any statistics that might show men have it tough.

THE END.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 21, 2015)

It's not the end. You ARE dismissive of sexism. In almost every single post of yours. You are a dinosaur. 
I think we all have it tough, but to trot out higher suicide figures as if this negates patriarchy is just disingenuous bullshit.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Feb 22, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> It's not the end. You ARE dismissive of sexism. In almost every single post of yours. You are a dinosaur.
> I think we all have it tough, but to trot out higher suicide figures as if this negates patriarchy is just disingenuous bullshit.



You misrepresent me and clearly don't understand the entirety of my argument, but I'm not arguing with you any more in this thread.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 22, 2015)

I've heard your so-called argument many times land it's bullshit. You need to listen.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 23, 2015)

Johnny Vodka said:


> You misrepresent me and clearly don't understand the entirety of my argument, but I'm not arguing with you any more in this thread.


This is what's needed for you, forced re-education:


----------



## Greebo (Feb 24, 2015)

Radical Cities:  Across Latin America in Search of a New Architechture - Justin McGuirk


----------



## belboid (Feb 24, 2015)

Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany - David Stubbs

A cracking good read so far - 20% in, which is just the preface.  The only issue is, I've just got Kim Gordon's _Girl In A Band_, and I want to read that _now _too.


----------



## sovereignb (Feb 25, 2015)

Just finished The Circle by David Eggers. 1984 for the 21st century. Very enjoyable


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Feb 25, 2015)

sovereignb said:


> Just finished The Circle by David Eggers. 1984 for the 21st century. Very enjoyable



I don't think he's ever worked in an office in his life. It just wasn't convincing as a tech firm, not even by way of parody.


----------



## sovereignb (Feb 25, 2015)

Maurice Picarda said:


> I don't think he's ever worked in an office in his life. It just wasn't convincing as a tech firm, not even by way of parody.



i didnt think Circle was supposed to be your everyday office though.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 25, 2015)

just finished a collection of shortish essays 'Misconception about the Middle ages' by various.

enjoyed this one particularly 'The Myth of The Mounted Knight'  (the whole lots free to read online and not long)


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Feb 25, 2015)

sovereignb said:


> i didnt think Circle was supposed to be your everyday office though.



No, but if it's not plausibly dystopian and not plausibly satirical, what's the point?


----------



## sovereignb (Feb 25, 2015)

Maurice Picarda said:


> No, but if it's not plausibly dystopian and not plausibly satirical, what's the point?


i actually thought it was quite plausible dystopia!


----------



## campanula (Feb 28, 2015)

The Dog Stars - Peter Heller - will pass on to offspring.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 3, 2015)

deenamathew said:


> I love to read the books like crime scenes. I love the most.


I beg your pardon?


----------



## belboid (Mar 3, 2015)

Girl in a Band -Kim Gordon

Not a particularly interesting girl in a band, so far, sadly.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 3, 2015)

about to start Wolf Hall


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Mar 3, 2015)

"NOS 4R2" - Joe Hill. Bit nervous about its length as my concentration levels seem to be a bit limited at the moment but am enjoying it so far


----------



## May Kasahara (Mar 3, 2015)

Just finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Stunningly, ridiculously good, the kind of good that makes you burn with the desire to write your own masterpiece and also burn with the knowledge that you never will produce anything quite like that.


----------



## belboid (Mar 3, 2015)

May Kasahara said:


> Just finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Stunningly, ridiculously good, the kind of good that makes you burn with the desire to write your own masterpiece and also burn with the knowledge that you never will produce anything quite like that.


I think that is the only book in, at least, ten years that has made me actually cry.


----------



## ringo (Mar 4, 2015)

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler

Only just started it but enjoying this already. Making me smile when I need cheering up, spot on.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Mar 4, 2015)

ringo said:


> We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
> 
> Only just started it but enjoying this already. Making me smile when I need cheering up, spot on.



Oh good, that is on my to read list. Let us know what you think when you are done with it.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 4, 2015)

I am bingeing on the Michael Connelly, 'Bosch' series, reading the 6th out of about 20 - most seem available for £1.49 on kindle  Really enjoying them - although they are making me think like a homocide dick


----------



## tufty79 (Mar 5, 2015)

How to be both-Ali Smith. Got it out the library last year and loved it, ordered my own copy the other week. It's two stories, and the order of them depends on which copy you happen to pick up. The one i've bought is the opposite to the one i borrowed, and it's not sitting right


----------



## pogo 10 (Mar 8, 2015)

Dead gone by luca veste.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Mar 8, 2015)

tufty79 said:


> How to be both-Ali Smith. Got it out the library last year and loved it, ordered my own copy the other week. It's two stories, and the order of them depends on which copy you happen to pick up. The one i've bought is the opposite to the one i borrowed, and it's not sitting right


I'm about to go and buy this as I need to read it for Uni. Fingers crossed that I pick up the one with the best order


----------



## tufty79 (Mar 8, 2015)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> I'm about to go and buy this as I need to read it for Uni. Fingers crossed that I pick up the one with the best order



Hold fire til tomorrow - if the post office haven't returned my parcel to sender, i've got a spare (free) copy which you're more than welcome to.


----------



## xenon (Mar 8, 2015)

After hearing In Our Time the other day thought I'd give Beowulf a go. I've started it, that's all.


----------



## murphy1970 (Mar 8, 2015)

I'm about halfway through Perfidia which is the opening book in a new prequel trilogy by Ellroy. It is set in LA, and contains a few familiar characters from the later LA noir novels, Dudley Smith, Sid Hudgens, Ward Littell etc. It starts with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and the subsequent internment of Japanese Americans.
Ellroy is a marmite writer. You either seem to love his sparse, staccato style or think it's a load of gubbins. I'm firmly in the first camp and I've been very impressed by what I've read thus far.


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Mar 8, 2015)

tufty79 said:


> Hold fire til tomorrow - if the post office haven't returned my parcel to sender, i've got a spare (free) copy which you're more than welcome to.


That's amazing, thanks


----------



## oneunder (Mar 9, 2015)

murphy1970 said:


> I'm about halfway through Perfidia which is the opening book in a new prequel trilogy by Ellroy. It is set in LA, and contains a few familiar characters from the later LA noir novels, Dudley Smith, Sid Hudgens, Ward Littell etc. It starts with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and the subsequent internment of Japanese Americans.
> Ellroy is a marmite writer. You either seem to love his sparse, staccato style or think it's a load of gubbins. I'm firmly in the first camp and I've been very impressed by what I've read thus far.


cheers..id forgotten that was out   just finishing off ubik by philip k dick..


----------



## tufty79 (Mar 9, 2015)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> That's amazing, thanks


It was still there  pm me an address to send it to, and i'll wang it in the post tomorrow


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Mar 9, 2015)

tufty79 said:


> It was still there  pm me an address to send it to, and i'll wang it in the post tomorrow


Huzzah!


----------



## sojourner (Mar 9, 2015)

xenon said:


> After hearing In Our Time the other day thought I'd give Beowulf a go. I've started it, that's all.


I fucking loved Beowulf when I read it. Have you heard the Seamus Heaney reading of it? That's fucking excellent!!


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 9, 2015)

May Kasahara said:


> Just finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Stunningly, ridiculously good, the kind of good that makes you burn with the desire to write your own masterpiece and also burn with the knowledge that you never will produce anything quite like that.





belboid said:


> I think that is the only book in, at least, ten years that has made me actually cry.



I have heard a bit about this book and really think I will now give it a read. 

Anyway, I am currently reading 1356 by Bernard Cornwell.


----------



## miss direct (Mar 9, 2015)

The Girl on the Train. Really liked it and a nice long book that kept me occupied for a long time.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 9, 2015)

miss direct said:


> The Girl on the Train. Really liked it and a nice long book that kept me occupied for a long time.


BY WHO? 
((((author))))


----------



## Impossible Girl (Mar 9, 2015)

Submission by Michel Houellebecq. About a near future in France, and an islamic party taking the country over. Utterly interesting reading


----------



## ringo (Mar 10, 2015)

The Prison House - John King

I'd read everything he'd done up to this and bought it when it came out, but had reached my limit of his grimness and it's sat on the shelf for 10 years. The Football Factory etc were very violent, enjoyed the punk and social commentary of Human Punk & White Trash, ready for a bit more now. This one is about someone languishing in a violent foreign jail, it doesn't look too cheerful


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Mar 10, 2015)

Hard Times - Charles Dickens.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 10, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> BY WHO?
> ((((author))))


You have liked this post, miss direct , but you still haven't informed us who wrote it!


----------



## miss direct (Mar 10, 2015)

Sorry on my phone. Checked now and it's by Paula Hawkins.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 10, 2015)

miss direct said:


> Sorry on my phone. Checked now and it's by Paula Hawkins.


you had to check?
((((writers))))


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Mar 10, 2015)

Re-reading Lord Of The Flies. I bought it for my daughter, but she's more interested in re-reading Harry Potter for the seventeenth time...


----------



## miss direct (Mar 11, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> you had to check?
> ((((writers))))


It's a kindle issue - never see the book cover or have it lying around so rarely remember an author's name.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 11, 2015)

miss direct said:


> It's a kindle issue - never see the book cover or have it lying around so rarely remember an author's name.


i'd be more likely to forget the title than the author!


----------



## miss direct (Mar 11, 2015)

Well yes, but I think it depends how abstract the title is...this book really is about a girl on a train so the title is memorable


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 11, 2015)

It just seems a terrible shame that the person who spent months or even years working on it, on their own, is so readily forgotten or unacknowledged.
People are even worse with films though.
But not so bad with music.
I wonder why...


----------



## neonwilderness (Mar 12, 2015)

Finished Sword Song by Bernard Cornwall last night. 

I'll to go for a rummage around the book stalls at the market at the weekend and see if I can find the next one in the series.


----------



## Impossible Girl (Mar 12, 2015)

Restarting the Discwold from scratch tonight, just because ...  Then alternate with a french author, Bernard Werber, "Le livre du voyage" (the book of the journey).


----------



## starfish (Mar 13, 2015)

Have finally, almost finished To Rise Again At a Decent Hour, so had a quick look through ms starfishs Kindle collection on my phone today. Read a few pages of Sick Bastards by Matt Shaw  My god what is wrong with her ​


----------



## weltweit (Mar 14, 2015)

Just finished Heaven's Queen by Rachel Bach, (http://www.rachelaaron.net/) a good sci-fi thriller and part of a trilogy which I have also just finished and goes "Fortunes Pawn", "Honour's Knight" then "Heaven's Queen".

As I understand it she mainly writes fantasy and these have been her first sci-fi books, I enjoyed them.


----------



## dilberto (Mar 16, 2015)

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr

Intelligent Science fiction, a post-apocalyptical religious society studying modernity through archaeology.


----------



## maya (Mar 16, 2015)

dilberto said:


> A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr
> 
> Intelligent Science fiction, a post-apocalyptical religious society studying modernity through archaeology.


Excellent post-apocalyptic SF, one of my all time faves...  Mr. Miller was a veritable barrel of laughs, it seems!  

Have you read Riddley Walker [by Russell Hoban] yet? Seems closely related, theme-wise... with a british twist. Hurts a bit to grok the future-primitive language he's created, but once you get into it it's fucking excellent... Fantastic book.


----------



## dilberto (Mar 16, 2015)

maya said:


> Excellent post-apocalyptic SF, one of my all time faves...  Mr. Miller was a veritable barrel of laughs, it seems!
> 
> Have you read Riddley Walker [by Russell Hoban] yet? Seems closely related, theme-wise... with a british twist. Hurts a bit to grok the future-primitive language he's created, but once you get into it it's fucking excellent... Fantastic book.



No, I haven't read it. But I'll definitely try to when I've finished reading the books on my "to read" list.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 16, 2015)

Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon


----------



## ringo (Mar 17, 2015)

First Love - Ivan Turgenev

After the grimness of Prison House needed something a bit lighter so just started this beautifully written 19th Century tribute to a teenager's first romantic infatuation and innocent love. Proper spring time reading


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 17, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon


I haven't read this kind of SF in a long while. it's a bit testosterone pumped. might have enjoyed it a lot more as a teenager.
"I became abruptly aware that i was swinging a hard-on like a filled fire hose".
"Exuberant breast strained the fabric of the leotard. i wondered if the body was hers".


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 17, 2015)

Jago - Kim Newman. Religious cults, west country festivals. So far, so good.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Mar 18, 2015)

"The Thirty Years War" by C.V. Wedgwood. Nicely written - snappy and detailed without being up itself.


----------



## trabuquera (Mar 18, 2015)

It's amazing what being cut off from wifi and urban can do for your litritch ... littra ... literacy rate. In the past few weeks I've read a small virtual stack of books and amazingly none of them was a complete waste of time. (Tho I'm still somehow not as physically/emotionally wrapped up in reading on a Kindle as I used to get on those paper things.) But I want to thank urban for some good recommendations as well!

_A Dance with Dragons - _George RR Martin*. *Cos I sort of had to. Better than its predecessors but really, considering the shortness of life and the number of books there are to read in the world: save yourselves the effort, just watch the DVDs instead. The writing style and technique aren't really good enough to justify the hours of wading through the written version, although the books are (agreeably) tougher and more cynical than the tellybox and the plotting is still exhaustingly inventive. 6/10

_Riddley Walker _- Russell Hoban - it's completely brilliant. Every other postapocalyptic thing I've read/seen pales in comparison; because it's not at all another of those po-faced meditations on how horrible human beings are, how civilisation is but a paperthin veneer and we're all cannibals at heart, etc etc etc. It's a genuinely strange, almost hallucinatory, sort of road trip through your own head; the writing is astonishing, experimental and woozy and weird. The setting in Kent makes it of special interest to urbs; the inevitable holes in the world-building and the lapses in logic just don't matter.  There are horrors and mysteries and plenty of death but oddly it's not a miserable book; rather a thing of wonder. READ THIS BOOK. It is so worth it.
Marks out of ten would be wrong - about 20? 50?  1,000?  Just read it.

_Ancillary Justice _by Ann Leckie. Not bad - it's unusually subtle and 'human' for SF that wins the big prizes - but it's still a bit clumsy in its treatment of its central premise (diffused, shared consciousness among all 'segments' of a giant mega empire-serving intelligence, made up of 'segments' which were once human rebels against that empire) and, of course, it suffers from too many silly names. Got a nicely satiric/subversive edge at some moments, but doesn't pursue those ideas very far. Not as revolutionary as it could be. 7.5/10

_The Testament of Jessie Lamb - _Jane Rogers - another kick around of the _Children of Men _"no more babies for you, humanity" scenario, but in a carefully-controlled, rather suburban British (Midlands?) environment and without a lot of macho action derring-do; it's more about the subtler effects that sort of thing would have on human relations and what it would be like to be a teenage girl in those circumstances. It won lots of prizes. Some of the writing seemed amazingly clunky and bathetic to me, but maybe that was deliberate and the author's way of ramping up the tragic ending. 7/10

Two travelogs about Colombia: _The Robber of Memories _by Michael Jacobs and _Short Walks from Bogota _by Michael Feiling = both fine, sensitive, interesting books by literary-minded Brits about a fascinating and very scary place. Both really well-written and have a lot of good background about the conflict with the FARC/ELN/paramilitaries / criminals and worth your time. I preferred the Feiling by a hair, but there's not much in it. 9/10

_Jennifer Government -_Max Barry - fast, furious, snarky, not-very-deep pulp SF satire/fiction, a bit like Richard Morgan but less brainy. Moves like a rocket and has its heart in the right place when it comes to consumerism eating the world. I liked it a lot cos it had no pretensions and was a quick, satisfying, well over-the-top read. 8/10


----------



## malatesta32 (Mar 18, 2015)

*karl marx by francis wheen and marx Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy*


----------



## ringo (Mar 19, 2015)

trabuquera said:


> _Riddley Walker _- Russell Hoban - it's completely brilliant. Every other postapocalyptic thing I've read/seen pales in comparison; because it's not at all another of those po-faced meditations on how horrible human beings are, how civilisation is but a paperthin veneer and we're all cannibals at heart, etc etc etc. It's a genuinely strange, almost hallucinatory, sort of road trip through your own head; the writing is astonishing, experimental and woozy and weird. The setting in Kent makes it of special interest to urbs; the inevitable holes in the world-building and the lapses in logic just don't matter.  There are horrors and mysteries and plenty of death but oddly it's not a miserable book; rather a thing of wonder. READ THIS BOOK. It is so worth it.
> Marks out of ten would be wrong - about 20? 50?  1,000?  Just read it.



Great write up, ordered


----------



## ringo (Mar 19, 2015)

The Thin Man - Dashiell Hammett

Liking this already, didn't realise Raymond Chandler had a darker cousin, or that Hammett wrote The Maltese Falcon


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Mar 19, 2015)

Cameron's Coup  - How the Tories Took Britain to the Brink, Polly Toynbee and David Walker.  

The Man Who Couldn't Stop by David Adam.  A book about his experiences of OCD.


----------



## Diamond (Mar 20, 2015)

Half-way through the fourth volume of My Struggle by Knausgaard, titled Dancing in the Dark.  Like all the others, it is brilliant but perhaps a little more so for me because it recalls exactly and very precisely the sort of things that I was thinking about when I was 18.  It has this weird time-warp effect that brings my own memories back in such crystal clarity.

When I'm done with that, I'm looking forwards to attempting In the First Circle by Solzhenitsyn, which I will try and read alongside Darkness at Noon by Koestler (probably one of my all time favourite novels).


----------



## May Kasahara (Mar 20, 2015)

Bronze Summer by Stephen Baxter. Second in an alt-history trilogy about ancient life. Not enjoying it as much as the first one (Stone Spring), it lacks the first's meditative Mesolithic setting and he's tried to cram too much in, to the detriment of character and plot. Also depressed at the formulaic rape and pillage throughout, although that is more my issue since it is probably true to life at that time. ALSO annoyed by minor editing fails like character names and ages switching around! But still a ripping yarn.

Orang Utan I've got Altered Carbon lined up when I finish this trilogy. Looks like I'm in for a laugh


----------



## sojourner (Mar 20, 2015)

Halfway through GB84 by David Peace


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 24, 2015)

May Kasahara said:


> Orang Utan I've got Altered Carbon lined up when I finish this trilogy. Looks like I'm in for a laugh


"I made a half-hearted attempt to masturbate, mind churning damply through images of Miriam Bancroft's voluptuous curves, but I kept seeing Sarah's pale body turned to wreckage by the Kalashnikov fire instead."


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 24, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> "I made a half-hearted attempt to masturbate, mind churning damply through images of Miriam Bancroft's voluptuous curves, but I kept seeing Sarah's pale body turned to wreckage by the Kalashnikov fire instead."


I'm sorry, I missed the last line:
And sleep dragged me under


----------



## flypanam (Mar 25, 2015)

Emily St John Mandel - Station eleven.

Most of world's population has been wiped out by a flu virus. Jumps between pre and post outbreak.

So far so very good.


----------



## May Kasahara (Mar 25, 2015)

Really want to read that soon ^^^

Currently reading 'Iron Winter', last in the Baxter trilogy. Much better than the previous installment.


----------



## maya (Mar 26, 2015)

trabuquera said:


> _Riddley Walker _- Russell Hoban - it's completely brilliant. Every other postapocalyptic thing I've read/seen pales in comparison; because it's not at all another of those po-faced meditations on how horrible human beings are, how civilisation is but a paperthin veneer and we're all cannibals at heart, etc etc etc. It's a genuinely strange, almost hallucinatory, sort of road trip through your own head; the writing is astonishing, experimental and woozy and weird. The setting in Kent makes it of special interest to urbs; the inevitable holes in the world-building and the lapses in logic just don't matter.  There are horrors and mysteries and plenty of death but oddly it's not a miserable book; rather a thing of wonder. READ THIS BOOK. It is so worth it.
> Marks out of ten would be wrong - about 20? 50?  1,000?  Just read it.


... ahem! 
http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/what-book-are-you-reading-part-2.180864/page-310#post-13780991

(*sorry, just being grumpy- you explained it much much better than i did   )

Fantastic book.


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 29, 2015)

Indigo Slam by Robert Crais, one of the Cole/Pike series. Great stuff


----------



## weltweit (Mar 30, 2015)

The Last Word, Hanif Kureishi

Engaging. My expectations had been raised however by the testimonial on the front cover "Brilliantly funny" Evening Standard. Perhaps my sense of humour is lacking because while I did find it engaging and very readable I didn't find it funny.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 30, 2015)

Adam Roberts- Jack Glass

Hard to say what its about- 3 linked stories. Its Adam Roberts usual stark style


----------



## Roadkill (Apr 1, 2015)

ViolentPanda said:


> "The Thirty Years War" by C.V. Wedgwood. Nicely written - snappy and detailed without being up itself.



Is it good?  As it happens I've just picked up Peter Wilson's book on the Thirty Years' War -  enjoying it so far, although it's quite a dense read.


----------



## ringo (Apr 1, 2015)

trabuquera said:


> _Riddley Walker _- Russell Hoban - it's completely brilliant. Every other postapocalyptic thing I've read/seen pales in comparison; because it's not at all another of those po-faced meditations on how horrible human beings are, how civilisation is but a paperthin veneer and we're all cannibals at heart, etc etc etc. It's a genuinely strange, almost hallucinatory, sort of road trip through your own head; the writing is astonishing, experimental and woozy and weird. The setting in Kent makes it of special interest to urbs; the inevitable holes in the world-building and the lapses in logic just don't matter.  There are horrors and mysteries and plenty of death but oddly it's not a miserable book; rather a thing of wonder. READ THIS BOOK. It is so worth it.
> Marks out of ten would be wrong - about 20? 50?  1,000?  Just read it.



Blimey this is good isn't it? I was dreaming about it last night and when i woke up I nearly got out of bed to read more. Instead I tried to go back to sleep but my head was full of follers and connexions.

Doing the search to find your post I realised just how many people on here have raved about it over the years, need a new thread for Urb favourites and lends.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 1, 2015)

Roadkill said:


> Is it good?  As it happens I've just picked up Peter Wilson's book on the Thirty Years' War -  enjoying it so far, although it's quite a dense read.



I enjoyed it (not something I say about books without a good reason). it's data-heavy (rife with footnotes) but written engagingly - nowhere near as dry as some of the other stuff I've read (Gindely especially!) - and is a well-rounded overview, IMO. 
I've got "Europe's Tragedy" sitting on the (ever-growing  ) "to read" pile. Hopefully I'll get to it in a couple of months!


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 10, 2015)

Just starting in on "Civil Affairs: Soldiers Become Governors", by Harry L. Coles and Albert E. Weinberg.
My grandad was detached to Civil Affairs duty in '44-45, and this book, while primarily about the US, also goes into UK Civil Affairs practice.


----------



## starfish (Apr 10, 2015)

Started reading The Test, Brian O'Driscolls autobiography.


----------



## BandWagon (Apr 10, 2015)

starfish said:


> Started reading The Test, Brian O'Driscolls autobiography.


Can you let us know what he thinks about being dumped on his head by Tana Umaga and his mate, when you get to that bit?


----------



## starfish (Apr 10, 2015)

BandWagon said:


> Can you let us know what he thinks about being dumped on his head by Tana Umaga and his mate, when you get to that bit?


Will do. Might actually skip forward to that bit as am interested in his take on it too.


----------



## starfish (Apr 10, 2015)

BandWagon said:


> Can you let us know what he thinks about being dumped on his head by Tana Umaga and his mate, when you get to that bit?


At a press conference the next day he says:



Spoiler: BOD on that incident



"I describe it as deliberate foul play, dangerous, a cheap shot. I say i feel angry, cheated, disappointed with Tana - as a fellow captain - for not coming over as they stretchered me off".

Next time he sees Tana is 2009. They have a brief chat but dont mention it. BOD says he doesnt carry grudges.

He then goes on to say that he doesnt think he was targeted, deliberately taken out and that they didnt intend to injure him. It wasnt malicious just 2 guys trying to put down a marker but were incredibly careless. He then says hes not bitter about it just bored & weary.


----------



## BandWagon (Apr 10, 2015)

starfish said:


> At a press conference the next day he says:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's staggering that nothing was done about it. I recall that the citing official was a South African who was on the first flight back to Joburg. Heaven know what the touch judges were doing then, probably pleasuring themselves. That should have been two reds, and would be these days.


----------



## starfish (Apr 10, 2015)

BandWagon said:


> It's staggering that nothing was done about it. I recall that the citing official was a South African who was on the first flight back to Joburg. Heaven know what the touch judges were doing then, probably pleasuring themselves. That should have been two reds, and would be these days.


Very true. Although the IRB did eventually outlaw spear tackles because of it.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 11, 2015)

I am reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, I am almost through it, I am really enjoying this book!


----------



## BandWagon (Apr 11, 2015)

Nobody's reading my books.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 11, 2015)

BandWagon said:


> Nobody's reading my books.


Don't worry, no one is reading mine either


----------



## BandWagon (Apr 11, 2015)

weltweit said:


> Don't worry, no one is reading mine either


How many have you written?


----------



## weltweit (Apr 11, 2015)

BandWagon said:


> How many have you written?


Oh .. those kind of books  none yet though I am thinking of writing one as it happens..


----------



## BandWagon (Apr 11, 2015)

weltweit said:


> Oh .. those kind of books  none yet though I am thinking of writing one as it happens..


If you do write a book someone may read it. Maybe.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 11, 2015)

BandWagon said:


> If you do write a book someone may read it. Maybe.


I have to be careful because wanting to write a book is one of the warning signs that my bipolar might be playing up, it is a sort of unrealistic urge to express myself and I have to check myself when I think of it, but I would like to write something someday.


----------



## BandWagon (Apr 11, 2015)

weltweit said:


> I have to be careful because wanting to write a book is one of the warning signs that my bipolar might be playing up, it is a sort of unrealistic urge to express myself and I have to check myself when I think of it, but I would like to write something someday.


Journey of thousand mile start with first step.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 11, 2015)

BandWagon said:


> Journey of thousand mile start with first step.


Yep. One of my favourite quotes 

That and "Begin it now .... !"


----------



## BandWagon (Apr 11, 2015)

weltweit said:


> Yep. One of my favourite quotes
> 
> That and "Begin it now .... !"


Everyone has something to say. If you want to talk about the class system, or racism, or whatever, you can. It's liberating. It's hard work too, though.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 11, 2015)

BandWagon said:


> Everyone has something to say. If you want to talk about the class system, or racism, or whatever, you can. It's liberating. It's hard work too, though.


So it does sound like you are a writer BandWagon, have you been doing it long?


----------



## BandWagon (Apr 11, 2015)

weltweit said:


> So it does sound like you are a writer BandWagon, have you been doing it long?


A few years, but only as a hobby.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 11, 2015)

BandWagon said:


> A few years, but only as a hobby.


I definitely like the "idea" of writing, a year or so ago I started writing short stories, mostly of my own experiences and just for practice. I haven't written any for some time but I did then have a look around to see if there was a creative writing group I could join. Unfortunately there wasn't.


----------



## colbhoy (Apr 12, 2015)

I'm reading The Forgotten by David Baldacci.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Apr 12, 2015)

Just finished Lena Dunham, Not That Kind Of Girl.

It's really hard to detach Dunham from the character she plays on Girls (and the one she plays in Tiny Furniture, since they're both a riff on the same thing), so you end up left with the feeling that this was the book Hannah Horvath ended up writing...


----------



## Vintage Paw (Apr 12, 2015)

I'm getting into comics and graphic novels. I seem to do better when it's full colour, more for my eyes to grab onto and make sense of, I think.

So I've just recently finished the new _Ms Marvel: Volume One - No Normal_, which was pretty good.

I'm starting the _Saga_ series. I ordered the first two volumes, and the first came in bad packaging and was damaged. I thought I'd have to return it, but they're sending me a new one and have said to give the damaged one to a charity shop, so I've had a quick read while I'm waiting for the replacement and it's really fucking good. Weird sci-fi universe, great art, batshit characters, weird species, and really good writing.

Anyone got any good recs for similar stuff to _Saga_? Doesn't have to be identical, can even be wildly different, but the sort of thing that I would like if I like _Saga_? A friend recommended _The Runaways_ and _Strangers in Paradise_, as well as Bechdel's _Fun Home_, so I'll give those a look.


----------



## KeeperofDragons (Apr 13, 2015)

Just started The Wars of the Roses by Trevor Royle. I've read his book about the civil war and enjoyed it so looking forward to a cracking read

edit: damned auto correct


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 14, 2015)

Just this minute finished H Is For Hawk. It was extraordinarily good. I read pretty fast usually but this has taken me nearly a whole month to read, because the prose is so rich and clear. Like a vitamin tonic for my soul.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Apr 18, 2015)

Almost finished The Road, Cormac McCarthy. I wasn't expecting it to be so idiosyncratic, but it's good. Hope the ending isn't a letdown.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 18, 2015)

The Shankhill Butchers: a case study of mass murder by Martin Dillon. Normally when the book has a photo section I skip forward to it to have a gander and then read. Didn't want to this time


----------



## CosmikRoger (Apr 18, 2015)

_Riddley Walker _- Russell Hoban, after seeing it mentioned and recommended on here. Im finding the phonetic writing style hard work, it's certainly slowing down my reading speed but I'm persevering.


----------



## dishevelled (Apr 18, 2015)

The Blood Spilt by  Swedish writer Àsa Larsson. It's her second novel out of five she's written so far. I wasn't overly impressed by her first book, The Savage Alter, but I'm giving this one a bash.


----------



## Pickman's model (Apr 18, 2015)

aleister crowley, 'the complete astrological writings' (london:star, 1987)


----------



## pogo 10 (Apr 19, 2015)

The last echo by kimberley derting, enjoying this.


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 20, 2015)

Stephen King - Revival. Good enough to keep me up till one in the bloody morning finishing it, bleak enough to mean I can't sleep now


----------



## ringo (Apr 20, 2015)

My Outdoors Life - Ray Mears

Been meaning to get this since Voley mentioned it a while ago, and was a much welcomed birthday pressie from my daughters. Only just started and already I want to jack my job in and live in the woods


----------



## moonsi til (Apr 21, 2015)

A Confederacy of Dunces: John Kennedy Toole 

Just finished this very funny book this morning and would be running out to lend it to folk except I bought a 2nd hand copy, bent the spine and lost 14 pages on holiday. From the back blurb:

'A monument to sloth, rant and contempt, a behemoth of fat, flatulence and furious suspicion of anything modern- this is Ignatius J. Reilly of New Orleans, noble crusader against a world of dunces. In magnificent revolt against the twentieth century, Ignatius propels his monstrous bulk among the flesh pots of a fallen city, filling his Big Chief tablets with invective, until his maroon-haired mother decrees that Ignatius must go to work'.

It has been a complete joy to read.


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 21, 2015)

Jo Nesbo - Phantom. If you read the Harry Hole series; you know what to expect.


----------



## Spymaster (Apr 21, 2015)

Black Edelweiss - Johann Voss. 

Autobiography of a Waffen SS soldier.


----------



## tendril (Apr 22, 2015)

Chasing the scream - the first and last days of the war on drugs by Johann Hari

I highly recommend it (no pun intended)


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 22, 2015)

tendril said:


> Chasing the scream - the first and last days of the war on drugs by Johann Hari
> 
> I highly recommend it (no pun intended)



Where does the committee stand on JH these days?


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 22, 2015)

krtek a houby said:


> Where does the committee stand on JH these days?


Lying fraudulent plagiaristic incest pornographer


----------



## tendril (Apr 22, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Lying fraudulent plagiaristic incest pornographer


Well, despite what he may have done in the past I am rather enjoying it.  There is much I didn't know


----------



## ringo (Apr 28, 2015)

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love - Raymond Carver

I bought this when I was drunk and thought it was by Raymond Chandler . It's a bit weird buying second hand books when you're drunk, I have no idea why I was in an Oxfam book shop. Anyway, I did well, his short stories of drunk, unfaithful mid century Americans completely failing to live the American Dream is perfectly pitched. One short story is only seven pages long, there are no spare words, he doesn't explain the background story, but he conjures tension in the first few lines and holds it and you know exactly what has happened. A master class in short story writing.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 28, 2015)

Just finished The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, by Hilary Mantel

A collection of stories. Quite a quick enjoyable read. She does write well !


----------



## flypanam (Apr 28, 2015)

N.W - Zadie Smith

Just started this, I've been putting off family book club books, but I picked this up just because I lived in Willesden for 6 years. Feeling nostalgic.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 30, 2015)

I've been on a crap roll with books lately - they've all been really shit and I've had to just give up on them. About 5 on the trot!

Anyway, perused my daughter's bookshelves tother day and found Richard E Grant's autobiog, With Nails.  I really like his style of writing - very funny, poetic, his enthusiasm _charges_ through sections of it


----------



## dishevelled (Apr 30, 2015)

I've just started Dark Places by Gillian Flynn


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## DotCommunist (Apr 30, 2015)

Killer In Clowntown- Martin Dillon for srs

Aloha From Hell- Richard Kadrey

an adepts 'friends' sold him out to hell and he spent 12 years there before getting back out. Seeks vengeance. amusing.


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## Idris2002 (Apr 30, 2015)

Naomi Klein's _This Changes Everything, _Parry's _The Spanish Seaborne Empire, _Huizinga's _The Waning of the Middle Ages._


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 30, 2015)

Just started NOS4R2 by Joe Hill.


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## Orang Utan (Apr 30, 2015)

May Kasahara said:


> Just started NOS4R2 by Joe Hill.


is that Stephen King's son? read anything else of his?


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## May Kasahara (May 1, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> is that Stephen King's son? read anything else of his?



Yes, and yes - he's really good. There's a book of his short stories called 20th Century Ghosts (I think) that is amazing. Heart Shaped Box is a good thrill ride and I was blown away by Horns.

This one is the most like his dad's, so far - compulsively readable but lacking a bit of the emotional depth of Horns.


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## BoatieBird (May 1, 2015)

I've been greedy with the Joe Hill books and now I've run out, eagerly awaiting more.
I've loved them all, but 20th Century Ghosts and Horns were my favourites too May Kasahara.
It was you raving about Horns on here that made me want to read it and I've since gone on to recommend it to so many other people, the ones who read it love it too.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 1, 2015)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Almost finished The Road, Cormac McCarthy. I wasn't expecting it to be so idiosyncratic, but it's good. Hope the ending isn't a letdown.



The ending of the book is a million times better than the film's ending


----------



## Buddy Bradley (May 1, 2015)

I read Hemingway's _A Moveable Feast_ over the last couple of days, and massively enjoyed it - I think it's the best writing memoir I've read since Stephen King.


----------



## May Kasahara (May 2, 2015)

May Kasahara said:


> This one is the most like his dad's, so far - compulsively readable but lacking a bit of the emotional depth of Horns.



Just finished this - very good overall, first half almost up there with Horns, final section like reading a very good Stephen King. I thought the evocation of how emotional damage passes on was fantastically well done. Vic McQueen is a superb heroine.


----------



## lunar (May 3, 2015)

I am reading 'survival in the killing fields' by Ngor Haing.
Fantastic book that will keep you hooked. One of the best books I have read. I just want to continue reading. Beware there are some disturbing scenes which depressed me.


----------



## Mr Retro (May 6, 2015)

Just finished "A Good Ride" by Irvine Welsh. Far fetched and farcical but OK for what it is.


----------



## belboid (May 6, 2015)

Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA - ed Frances Goldin

A bit more basic than I was hoping it would be, not unlike one of those 'Why You Should Be A Socialist' booklets the SWP/SP put out. But it's decent enough, and has some interesting facts and figures, and decent breakdowns of how various arenas (health, housing, the economy) could work.


Honourable Friends: Parliament and the Fight for Change - Caroline Lucas.  The tale of her first five years in parliament. She writes well, and is good on the rampant hypocrisy within parliament, and how you need you need extra-parliamentary action to create change, but it's still....well, just a bit wet. And dodges a few issues (and I havent even got to the Brighton bin strike yet).


----------



## krink (May 6, 2015)

just finished this;







definitely recommended reading in these times.


----------



## sovereignb (May 6, 2015)

Just finished this Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges - "Pulitzer prize–winner Chris Hedges charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion"

Im know reading Lexicon by Max Barry  - so far so good!


----------



## JJ Benjii (May 6, 2015)

neonwilderness said:


> Finished Sword Song by Bernard Cornwall last night.
> 
> I'll to go for a rummage around the book stalls at the market at the weekend and see if I can find the next one in the series.


Just picked up The Empty Throne..... Drooling!!


----------



## neonwilderness (May 6, 2015)

JJ Benjii said:


> Just picked up The Empty Throne..... Drooling!!


I'm about to start The Pagan Lord.


----------



## ringo (May 7, 2015)

I'm just finishing The Last Kingdom, think I might be hooked


----------



## starfish (May 7, 2015)

The Ballad of Halo Jones, graphic novel.

Eta the Script Robot was Alan Moore, the Art Robot was Ian Gibson, while the lettering was shared by several Robots, Steve Potter, Starkings & Rich to name 3.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 7, 2015)

starfish said:


> The Ballad of Halo Jones, graphic novel.



What is also important is that Alan Moore wrote it and Ian Gibson drew it. ((((Writers and artists))))


----------



## starfish (May 7, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> What is also important is that Alan Moore wrote it and Ian Gibson drew it. ((((Writers and artists))))


My apologies. I have amended my post


----------



## May Kasahara (May 8, 2015)

F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby. Sublime writing about a load of complete twats. I'm conflicted.


----------



## not-bono-ever (May 9, 2015)

latest james Ellroy

you know what you to expct - ish- its a big slab of intrigue and full of unlikeable charachters that you have met before in other books

its great


----------



## Buddy Bradley (May 9, 2015)

Currently reading The Scar by China Mieville. It had been on my 'to get' list for ages because I loved Perdido Street Station so much. The writing in this one seems much sparser, less lyrical, though.


----------



## nogojones (May 10, 2015)

Tacitus on Britain and Germany


----------



## DotCommunist (May 13, 2015)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Currently reading The Scar by China Mieville. It had been on my 'to get' list for ages because I loved Perdido Street Station so much. The writing in this one seems much sparser, less lyrical, though.



its the most competent bas-lag novel mind. Not my fave, but certainly the most coherent. And he really piles on the baroque which I love


I'm still stuck on Dirty War/Killer in Clowntown. Wading in a gutter, but I can't not know, will be on this theme for some time I recon


----------



## Buddy Bradley (May 13, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> its the most competent bas-lag novel mind. Not my fave, but certainly the most coherent. And he really piles on the baroque which I love


I don't think I'd ever call PSS incoherent.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 13, 2015)

Buddy Bradley said:


> I don't think I'd ever call PSS incoherent.


sprawling. Less focused. Iron Council (my fave) is of a similar bent.


----------



## sojourner (May 13, 2015)

Just started Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books - a book by Iranian author and professor Azar Nafisi. It is fucking brilliant and I'm only a chapter and a half in.


----------



## jakethesnake (May 18, 2015)

Just finished reading this. Really interesting, takes in resistance on Crete during WWII, Wing Chun, Greek myths, SOE, parcour... loads of stuff! I enjoyed his other book, Born to Run, but this one is even better.


----------



## Artaxerxes (May 19, 2015)

On and off I'm reading Horse the Wheel and Language







And the last day or so on the tube I have steaming through The Windup Girl, dark and dank sci-fi with an awesome and somewhat realistic world as its backdrop.


----------



## bookaddict (May 19, 2015)

New to this site  and some very interesting suggestions for a real book addict like me!  I'd like to recommend a few but may not be to everyone's taste?  I have a fascination of how our predecessors lived at the beginning of the 19th century and how their work affected their lives.
Brother to the Ox by Fred Kitchen - a biography really about a farm labourer in South Yorkshire in  the mid 20th century and before. It covers Fred's working life and how these folks were 'hired' at the local Statutes Fairs for a full 12 months.  Some brill descriptive writing - to think just over 100 years ago!
The Belle Fields by Lora Adams - although a romantic fiction set around a village where a young girl lands a job as a kitchen maid in the 'Big House' around 1900, the obvious research done by the author of life working 'below stairs' and the customs to celebrate Christmas and May-day etc makes for very descriptive reading.  Beware though the twists and turns when her life is turned upside down when getting involved with a relative of the Earl!  A real twist and I think very sad ending??
Lifting the Latch by Sheila Stewart - this author must have spent many hours listening to the story of a shepherd who worked all his life in Oxfordshire.  She's got it all down and the book was a joy to read - Old Mont was a real character - wish I could have met him.
Hope these might interest some of you - I thoroughly recommend 'em.


----------



## trabuquera (May 19, 2015)

Artaxerxes said:


> ...  the last day or so on the tube I have steaming through The Windup Girl, dark and dank sci-fi with an awesome and somewhat realistic world as its backdrop.


 

This is a fantastic book - recommendation seconded. Really really interesting as a near-future world which isn't lazily written from a reflex Western whitecismale viewpoint and really grapples with some looming 21st-century dilemmas. I loved it!


----------



## DotCommunist (May 19, 2015)

^^I've you like that sort of thing youll enjoy River of Gods




Theres also a short story knocking about thats basically the prolouge to Wind Up Girl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_of_Gods


----------



## Artaxerxes (May 19, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> Theres also a short story knocking about thats basically the prolouge to Wind Up Girl



I've read that one, its in this collection which has some rather gruesomely awesome stories in it


----------



## trabuquera (May 19, 2015)

Thanks both. got to stop reading u75 threads about books and read more actual books...


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (May 19, 2015)

Just finished reading The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/233436.The_Loneliness_of_the_Long_Distance_Runner
It's the first time I've read anything by Sillitoe. I thought it was so good, poignant in a knowing way, often missing in many books.
So I know I'm not taking a chance with my next book; Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show...rning?from_search=true&search_version=service

Then I'm going to watch the film adaptation of both books.


----------



## jodal (May 22, 2015)

Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall


----------



## Greebo (May 22, 2015)

The Awakening by Kate Chopin.  Don't get me wrong, but it seems to me as if she wrote it in one language and then translated it, the flow of it's a bit odd.


----------



## nogojones (May 22, 2015)

Penguin Modern Poets 5: Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg. 

There's not much in the way of poetry that seems to move me in any way, so this is a sort of test to see if I have a soul of any sort.

So far its a bit hit and miss.


----------



## campanula (May 25, 2015)

Needing some sf to take me away from reality, I picked up Neal Stephenson's Seveneves...which is, I hope, a return to space opera, first contact and alien races instead of endless alchemical noodling. Have always found Stephenson to be a wildly variable writer (loved Zodiac and Snow Crash, Crytonomicon and even Reamd) but loathed Quicksilver et al.
Looking for mindless amusement, I did alight upon Charles Stross (again) but ambivalent - any good Dot Communist?

If there is even a sniff of a horse, sword or dragon (not to mention the regressive fixation on ruling families, princes, priests and other such rubbish), I feel ennui creeping in - I really cannot bear this fleeing to fantasy tropes which seems to have filled the bookshelves in my local bookshop - have sent off for Willful Child - much as I enjoyed the Malazan books, I feel the need for spaceships and proton lasers rather than assassin daggers.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 25, 2015)

campanula said:


> Needing some sf to take me away from reality, I picked up Neal Stephenson's Seveneves...which is, I hope, a return to space opera, first contact and alien races instead of endless alchemical noodling. Have always found Stephenson to be a wildly variable writer (loved Zodiac and Snow Crash, Crytonomicon and even Reamd) but loathed Quicksilver et al.
> Looking for mindless amusement, I did alight upon Charles Stross (again) but ambivalent - any good Dot Communist?
> 
> If there is even a sniff of a horse, sword or dragon (not to mention the regressive fixation on ruling families, princes, priests and other such rubbish), I feel ennui creeping in - I really cannot bear this fleeing to fantasy tropes which seems to have filled the bookshelves in my local bookshop - have sent off for Willful Child - much as I enjoyed the Malazan books, I feel the need for spaceships and proton lasers rather than assassin daggers.



stross is one of my fave SF authors. Accellerando and Glasshouse are two to try. He also does lovecraftian mash-up stuff but the two I mention are SF.


----------



## flypanam (May 26, 2015)

Don DeLillo - Americana


----------



## D'wards (May 29, 2015)

Just finished Lonesome Dove a couple of weeks ago - a superb book with some of the best characterisation I have ever read. McMurty is a master of the art - his pacing and the way he introduces new characters are all great.

Conversely, just read A Decent Ride by Irvine Welsh -  like a bad photocopy of his early great novels. 2.5/5


----------



## DotCommunist (May 29, 2015)

D'wards said:


> Just finished Lonesome Dove a couple of weeks ago - a superb book with some of the best characterisation I have ever read. McMurty is a master of the art - his pacing and the way he introduces new characters are all great.
> 
> Conversely, just read A Decent Ride by Irvine Welsh -  like a bad photocopy of his early great novels. 2.5/5



I'm a big fan of Irvine Welsh and Juice Terry is an amusing character but this sounds like a by the numbers contractual obligation of a novel




> Terry’s penis not only gets plenty of use, even helping a young playwright forget about killing herself, but also its own voice, in chapters laid out typographically to look like an ejaculating penis. It is as if Welsh was so bored he decided to carve a willy on his desk.



he done that with a tapeworm in Filth and it was fucking annoying then


----------



## D'wards (May 29, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm a big fan of Irvine Welsh and Juice Terry is an amusing character but this sounds like a by the numbers contractual obligation of a novel


Welsh used to be one of my favourite authors, but Crime, Siamese Twins, Decent Ride have put paid to that of late. Although I did enjoy Skagboys. He still writes (Scottish) dialogue like no other, but it all gets a bit silly these days.
Mind you, I read this book called Grits that was a Trainspotting rip off, but set in Wales, and was probably the worst book I've ever read, so this stuff is not easy to pull off well.
Welsh went wrong when he started to try and write plot IMHO.


----------



## D'wards (May 29, 2015)

Just started The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, about the test pilots who went on to be Apollo astronauts in the 50s and 60s. Not far in but compelling so far; Wolfe is a superior writer.


----------



## weltweit (May 30, 2015)

The American Lover, Rose Tremain

A series of short stories, easy to read, ideal for last thing at night.


----------



## campanula (May 30, 2015)

Trainspotting was a one off - the terrific use of demotic, the angry and authentic voice, great timing and memorable passages of almost poetic rage and despair...everything else Welsh has vomited out has been a sad downhill ride into mediocrity - the rot set in very early indeed with Marabou Stork rubbish and just got became painfully, childishly scatalogical with nothing of any worth whatsoever.

And yes, Grits - what an utter waste of reading effort.

Got a couple of Stross books today (cheers Dotcom) but suspect it will be weeks before I manage to penetrate Neal Stephensons slightly tedious rambling (in Seveneves)


----------



## Orang Utan (May 30, 2015)

I thought Marabou Stork Nightmares was his finest book, but the rot set in soon after


----------



## DotCommunist (May 30, 2015)

Seveneves- Neal Stephenson


liking so far. Moon blows into 7 pieces one day with no known reason. Humanity has 2 years before the earth is fried


----------



## colbhoy (May 30, 2015)

I'm well through Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell. Great read, no-one does bloody battle scenes like Cornwell.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (May 30, 2015)

"The Twelve" - by Stuart Neville. http://www.stuartneville.com/the-twelve-the-ghosts-of-belfast.html


----------



## campanula (May 30, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> I thought Marabou Stork Nightmares was his finest book, but the rot set in soon after


 Yep, Mr.Camps liked that one too but I truly detested everything post TSpotting.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 30, 2015)

Glue is his best work imo


----------



## nogojones (May 31, 2015)

Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep. So far it's possibly the best one I've read by him, but its pretty much as you'd expect from a Chandler book.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 1, 2015)

campanula said:


> Yep, Mr.Camps liked that one too but I truly detested everything post TSpotting.


Marabou Stork Nightmares my favourite also. I think Acid house, Trainspotting, Ecstasy are his best. Glue was not bad. Reheated Cabbage appalling.


----------



## SovietArmy (Jun 1, 2015)

I just finished a book Nadja by Andre Brenton sadly few pages was missed, the book I borrowed from Library do I have to concern about that, can be problem for me.


----------



## MrSki (Jun 1, 2015)

SovietArmy said:


> I just finished a book Nadja by Andre Brenton sadly few pages was missed, the book I borrowed from Library do I have to concern about that, can be problem for me.


When you take it back go to the desk & explain there are missing pages. This should stop it being a problem.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 1, 2015)

D'wards said:


> Marabou Stork Nightmares my favourite also. I think Acid house, Trainspotting, *Ecstasy* are his best. Glue was not bad. Reheated Cabbage appalling.



not sure about the story where a hammers ICF bloke gets a footwank from a thalidomide affected woman on a vengeance mission.


----------



## starfish (Jun 1, 2015)

The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M Banks RIP.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 1, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> not sure about the story where a hammers ICF bloke gets a footwank from a thalidomide affected woman on a vengeance mission.


Hmm, he does feel like he's trying too hard at times but with an author like Hubert Selby Jr the degradation seems more natural and inherent to the text.
A bit like Martyrs compared to Hostel.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 2, 2015)

D'wards said:


> Just finished Lonesome Dove a couple of weeks ago - a superb book with some of the best characterisation I have ever read. McMurty is a master of the art - his pacing and the way he introduces new characters are all great.
> 
> Conversely, just read A Decent Ride by Irvine Welsh -  like a bad photocopy of his early great novels. 2.5/5


Lonesome Dove is a stone cold classic D'wards    Cry much?! 



D'wards said:


> Reheated Cabbage appalling.


Agreed. I got it out the library last time and it was fucking SHITE. Just give it the fuck up Welsh eh?


----------



## D'wards (Jun 2, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Lonesome Dove is a stone cold classic D'wards    Cry much?!




When ***** got stabbed by the ****** for holding the baby got me.

Me dad reckon's Comanche Moon is the best of the sequels, but I might read them in the order they were written, being a bit OCD, so Streets of Laredo next, and Comanche Moon fourth.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 3, 2015)

D'wards said:


> When ***** got stabbed by the ****** for holding the baby got me.
> 
> Me dad reckon's Comanche Moon is the best of the sequels, but I might read them in the order they were written, being a bit OCD, so Streets of Laredo next, and Comanche Moon fourth.


You should always read them in order!


----------



## sojourner (Jun 3, 2015)

Following on from the astoundingly brilliant 'Reading Lolita in Tehran - a memoir in books' by Azar Nafisi, I am now reading Ryszard Kapuściński's 'Shah of Shahs', which is equally as gob-dropping. Wow - sooooo much info in there that I never knew! I can totally see now how fanatical religious revolution was so successful.

There are so many complexities to the history of Iran and Iraq. This is the stuff you won't find out from any Western media outlets. Seriously eye-opening.


----------



## ringo (Jun 3, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Following on from the astoundingly brilliant 'Reading Lolita in Tehran - a memoir in books' by Azar Nafisi, I am now reading Ryszard Kapuściński's 'Shah of Shahs', which is equally as gob-dropping. Wow - sooooo much info in there that I never knew! I can totally see now how fanatical religious revolution was so successful.
> 
> There are so many complexities to the history of Iran and Iraq. This is the stuff you won't find out from any Western media outlets. Seriously eye-opening.



Sounds worth a look. His book on Haile Selassie (The Emperor) is good, if terrifying. Puts the kibosh on any sentimental Rastafarian reasonings about him being the second coming of Christ and firmly nails him as a vicious despot.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 3, 2015)

sojourner said:


> You should always read them in order!


Do you mean order of publishing or order of the narrative?


----------



## sojourner (Jun 3, 2015)

ringo said:


> Sounds worth a look. His book on Haile Selassie (The Emperor) is good, if terrifying. Puts the kibosh on any sentimental Rastafarian reasonings about him being the second coming of Christ and firmly nails him as a vicious despot.


Yeh, I fancy that one too!!

Oh yes, you should deffo read this one ringo  - it is seriously eye-opening.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 3, 2015)

D'wards said:


> Do you mean order of publishing or order of the narrative?


Of publishing  As they were meant to be read.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 3, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Of publishing  As they were meant to be read.


Good man! Was worried I'd started on book 3 wrongly.

The only other Western I've read is Blood Meridian, which I loved. Any others you can recommend?


----------



## sojourner (Jun 3, 2015)

D'wards said:


> Good man! Was worried I'd started on book 3 wrongly.
> 
> The only other Western I've read is Blood Meridian, which I loved. Any others you can recommend?


Good WOman, hactually 

That's a great one!  

I can't remember off the top of my head.  I did work my way through Larry's stuff though.  If you want any non-fiction stuff, check out Dee Brown's 'The American West' and 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee'.

Oh, have you read The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy? 'All The Pretty Horses', the first one, was my favourite.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 3, 2015)

I'm just skimming through my posts on here, so will recommend:

Annie Proulx - Close Range: Wyoming Stories
Annie Proulx: That Old Ace in the Hole (not strictly Western but you may like it)
Elmore Leonard:  here's a link to his Westerns (all brilliant) http://www.elmoreleonard.com/index.php?/weblog/more/the_westerns_novels_of_elmore_leonard
Willa Cather - O Pioneers (again not technically a Western but you might like it)


----------



## D'wards (Jun 3, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Good WOman, hactually



Haha, terribly sorry.

I just only yesterday bought The Border Trilogy - got a real bargain, £10 new from ebay with Blood Meridian as well (lent to a colleague who got the bullet last week).


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 3, 2015)

.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 3, 2015)

.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 3, 2015)

D'wards said:


> Good man! Was worried I'd started on book 3 wrongly.
> 
> The only other Western I've read is Blood Meridian, which I loved. Any others you can recommend?


Blood Meridian is often described as an anti-Western. The Wikipedia page on them is worth checking out.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Jun 4, 2015)

I'm re-reading Islamic Liberation Theology: Resisting the Empire by Hamid Dabashi.

Here's an excerpt from an article I'm involved in writing on the topic of conventional left-wing racism enmeshing existing racist structures which pretty much sums up my views on the work.



> And then, to add further insult to injury, we are presented with a book chronicling an approach to an Islamic liberation theology by a left of capital ideologue. You see, we have many old books to read and can’t really make time for new material just to appear hip and trendy in academic circles. This book tells us that muslims must unite and solidarise with the oppressed masses through the prism of democracy and their religion. Indeed, let us talk down to them, like the comprador intellectual we are, whilst shamefacedly dismissing other left of capital intellectuals. We do not know about you, mr. Dabashi., but as people from Islamic backgrounds we have brains and are able to think. If for whatever reason we have rejected democracy, it is because Marxism has so clearly demolished all of its tenets on an epistemological level that we are no longer in need of its bourgeois theological muck, just as we are not in need of the capitulation of Islam to capital. Islam can only serve as a culture and a method of positioning ourselves for us revolutionaries, and thus it must be vigorously defended against islamophobia.




Pretty much


----------



## kropotkin (Jun 4, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Following on from the astoundingly brilliant 'Reading Lolita in Tehran - a memoir in books' by Azar Nafisi, I am now reading Ryszard Kapuściński's 'Shah of Shahs', which is equally as gob-dropping. Wow - sooooo much info in there that I never knew! I can totally see now how fanatical religious revolution was so successful.
> 
> There are so many complexities to the history of Iran and Iraq. This is the stuff you won't find out from any Western media outlets. Seriously eye-opening.


Shah of shahs is brilliant. I've got a bunch of his in mobi kindle format if you want them -  just pm.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 4, 2015)

You should read some Tom Robbins or something next,  dialectician . some kind of unicorn chaser anyway.

I'm reading China Mieville's Un Lun Fun, which has got off to a ripping start. I got that, Railsea and Kraken for my school library in a lame attempt to be subversive.

I have also just read the first pages of Paul Kingsnorth's The Wake and am massively intrigued. I like books written in bastardised English and this is almost a post apocalyptic adventure, in a similar vein to Riddley Walker, but set in the past, during the Norman invasion and colonisation. Fascinated so far, but early days.
The book is interestingly crowdfunded by a publisher that gets contributions online after authors outline their ideas, paying 50% to the authors. Mind you, Kingsnorth is also a founder of the dubious Dark Mountain project. Very curious looking book though.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 4, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> You should read some Tom Robbins or something next,  dialectician . some kind of unicorn chaser anyway.
> 
> I'm reading Chine Mieville's Un Lun Fun, which is got off to a ripping start. I got that, Railsea and Kraken for my school library in a lame attempt to be subversive.
> 
> ...


its a while since I read Kraken but are the BDSM nazi sorcerers age appropriate? Railsea is YA and Un Lun Dun obvs for da kids- but kraken?


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Jun 4, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> You should read some Tom Robbins or something next,  dialectician . some kind of unicorn chaser anyway.
> 
> I'm reading China Mieville's Un Lun Fun, which has got off to a ripping start. I got that, Railsea and Kraken for my school library in a lame attempt to be subversive.
> 
> ...



Does he write like an acerbic communist militant? Otherwise he's not worth my time...


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 4, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> its a while since I read Kraken but are the BDSM nazi sorcerers age appropriate? Railsea is YA and Un Lun Dun obvs for da kids- but kraken?


Haven't read it yet. But fuck it. No one cares. 
Mind you, i was asked to get Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon by one lad. Glad I decided to grab it myself and read it first. Glad I did, not just for the sexism, but for th fact that Catholics are a weird persecuted cult in it. Withdrawn from circulation.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 4, 2015)

dialectician said:


> Does he write like an acerbic communist militant? Otherwise he's not worth my time...


More of a socialist/trot really.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 4, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Haven't read it yet. But fuck it. No one cares.
> Mind you, i was asked to get Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon by one lad. Glad I decided to grab it myself and read it first. Glad I did, not just for the sexism, but for th fact that Catholics are a weird persecuted cult in it. Withdrawn from circulation.


Not just sexism in AC but some (badly written but explicit nonetheless- like a posh readers letter to razzle) sex scenes. If ~I'd have stumbled across that gem in the school libray at 12 it would have blown my mind. and wad.

but those were more innocent times, before internet filth.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Jun 4, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> More of a socialist/trot really.



Meh. they still suffer from irritable labour party syndrome.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 4, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> Not just sexism in AC but some (badly written but explicit nonetheless- like a posh readers letter to razzle) sex scenes. If ~I'd have stumbled across that gem in the school libray at 12 it would have blown my mind. and wad.
> 
> but those were more innocent times, before internet filth.


"I made a half-hearted attempt to masturbate, mind churning damply through images of Miriam Bancroft's voluptuous curves, but I kept seeing Sarah's pale body turned to wreckage by the Kalashnikov fire instead. And then sleep dragged me under"


----------



## BoatieBird (Jun 5, 2015)

I'm finally getting round to reading Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier & Clay.
I've been meaning to read it for ages but the size of it meant that it had to wait until I'd finished my OU studies.
Only a few chapters in but I'm loving it so far.


----------



## ringo (Jun 5, 2015)

Original Rude Boy: From Borstal To The Specials - Neville Staple with Tony McMahon

Loving this no holds barred tale of a rebellious youth and music fanatic; essential reading for anyone like me who's ten year old world view was formed around The Specials.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 5, 2015)

kropotkin said:


> Shah of shahs is brilliant. I've got a bunch of his in mobi kindle format if you want them -  just pm.


Aww that's really nice of you kropotkin  but I don't have a kindle and I am a paper fanatic I'm afraid


----------



## Greebo (Jun 5, 2015)

Deaf sentence by David Lodge.  It's the first one of his I've read which has actually seemed funny.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 5, 2015)

1014 Brian Boru & The Battle for Ireland - Morgan Llywelyn


----------



## dishevelled (Jun 5, 2015)

Another Nordic author I've discovered. I've just started 'mercy' by Jussi Adler-Olsen.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Jun 5, 2015)

Leslie Thomas' autobio "In my wildest dreams". His book dealing exclusively with his time in a Barnado's home, "This time next week" is one of my favourite books, and this has started just as promisingly. He's funny, v. lyrical, I just love his descriptions and he has some fine stories to tell.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2015)

Don't know where better to put this than here, so has anyone seen the changes to the cover photo on Jilly Cooper's book Riders? In the original a mans hand is resting on a female tush, while in the new cover shot the hand is in a much safer position.

PC gorn mad? what thinks ye?


----------



## dishevelled (Jun 5, 2015)

weltweit said:


> Don't know where better to put this than here, so has anyone seen the changes to the cover photo on Jilly Cooper's book Riders? In the original a mans hand is resting on a female tush, while in the new cover shot the hand is in a much safer position.
> 
> PC gorn mad? what thinks ye?



Where's the tush.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2015)

dishevelled said:


> Where's the tush.


It is at the crux of the matter


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2015)

About here:


----------



## dishevelled (Jun 5, 2015)

weltweit said:


> It is at the crux of the matter




As it always is


----------



## dishevelled (Jun 5, 2015)

weltweit said:


> About here:



Where.


----------



## Voley (Jun 5, 2015)

'Waging Heavy Peace' Neil Young's autobiography. Very enjoyable - not your usual rock biog, this, long sections concern his model train collection.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2015)

dishevelled said:


> Where.


Where he has his hand!! that is a "tush" ...


----------



## dishevelled (Jun 5, 2015)

weltweit said:


> Where he has his hand!! that is a "tush" ...



So partially one cheek. That could be expansive.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Jun 6, 2015)

Finally finished Mieville's The Scar. Moved onto Anne Lamott's _Bird By Bird_, which so far is very engaging.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Jun 7, 2015)

Voley said:


> 'Waging Heavy Peace' Neil Young's autobiography. Very enjoyable - not your usual rock biog, this, long sections concern his model train collection.



I've just yesterday bought that Voley - got a couple of books to read before I get stuck into it, though.


----------



## Voley (Jun 7, 2015)

S☼I said:


> I've just yesterday bought that Voley - got a couple of books to read before I get stuck into it, though.


I'm enjoying it. Bit I've just read is more what you'd expect - a good bit on how 'Like A Hurricane' was recorded interspersed with anecdotes of druggy stuff in the 70's - but he'll still wander off into how his electric car burnt down a warehouse and stuff. I like his meandering digressions; there's a review on the cover that likens it to Crazy Horse jamming and that rings true. Good book.


----------



## StoneRoad (Jun 7, 2015)

Just finished "Mentats of Dune" - this has been a good read, if you like the Dune universe.
I must admit that I was thinking the butlerians (anti-technologists) were becoming just as devastating to their universe as some religious fanatics are in our world.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jun 8, 2015)

Just this moment finished When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson. Love everything she writes but this was particularly good, the best of the Jackson Brodie novels IMO.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 9, 2015)

The Burning Mind, M.G. Gardiner

Quite a tense thriller, nice to read, short chapters, I enjoyed it.


----------



## flypanam (Jun 9, 2015)

Memoirs of a revolutionary - Milovan Djilas

Just started this, am looking forward to reading about how he became a critic of Tito. Well written too, which is a bonus.


----------



## RebeccaLoi22 (Jun 10, 2015)

Napoleon Hill -  "Think and Grow Rich".
Very interesting and helpful!


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jun 10, 2015)

Just finished "Getting By" by Liza MacKenzie, and "Dreams of G-ds and Monsters" by Laini Taylor, and have started "Strange Fruit" by Kenan Malik.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 10, 2015)

Halfway through 'So You've Been Publicly Shamed' by Jon Ronson. Really quite entertaining and thought-provoking. It was on the New Books shelf in the library, where I go to first, cos it's laden in Catherine fucking Cookson and the like that place.

Anyway, yeh - worth a read.


----------



## colbhoy (Jun 12, 2015)

I'm reading One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson. Covers the Lindbergh solo flight across the Atlantic, of which I know little and the incredible season by baseball player Babe Ruth, of which I know a bit. Lots of other fascinating stuff in usual Bryson style. Enjoying very much.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 17, 2015)

Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew, by Bernard Hare.  It occurred to me that this book might shock people who hadn't already been embroiled in most of what's going on, but to me, it reads like my youth.  Urban is even the spit of a lad called Billy I used to know - right down to the glued-up speaking-in-tongues thing. I'm finding Bernard Hare's honesty both refreshing and gobsmacking by turn. Really enjoying reading this, gut-wrenching as some of it is.


----------



## Gingerman (Jun 17, 2015)

Looking forward to reading this,his two books on Hitler were excellent....


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 17, 2015)

The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember
by Nicholas Carr
Book arguing that the plasticity of our brains is falling victim to the way we consume information on the internet - it's rewiring us and making us think differently leaving us unable to finish books and stuff. Ooh, look, a picture of a cat with a bowtie....

It's actually very compelling, but I am tempted to leave a review on Amazon: "tl;dr"


----------



## SovietArmy (Jun 17, 2015)

Mo Yan "Pow" so far is good.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 18, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember
> by Nicholas Carr
> Book arguing that the plasticity of our brains is falling victim to the way we consume information on the internet - it's rewiring us and making us think differently leaving us unable to finish books and stuff. Ooh, look, a picture of a cat with a bowtie....
> 
> It's actually very compelling, but I am tempted to leave a review on Amazon: "tl;dr"


I read that ages ago and loved it. Couldn't help but agree with loads of it.

"tl;dr" - Hehe


----------



## ringo (Jun 19, 2015)

Satantango - Laszlo Krasznahorkai

Loving this so far, brilliant writing. Densely written with page long sentences of confusion, darkly bureaucratic officiousness and paranoia which is quite disorientating but it also has a seam of dark humour running through the bleakness.


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 19, 2015)




----------



## weltweit (Jun 20, 2015)

The Fugitive, John Grisham Theodore Boone
The main protagonist is a young lad, an easy read, quite enjoyable.

Freeze Frame, Peter May
An Enzo MacLeod Investigates, good drama, entertaining and well written.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jun 21, 2015)

_Family and Kinship in East London_ by Michael Young & Peter Wilmott.
_The New East End: Kinship, Race and Conflict_ by Geoff Dench, Kate Gavron & Michael Young.
re-reading, as parts of them are interesting from a gentrification perspective.

_The Life & Times of Little Richard_ by Charles White.


----------



## StoneRoad (Jun 21, 2015)

Last night I finished a quick re-read of Weir's "The Martian"
Quite enjoyed it compared to the Bova / Benford ones.


----------



## idumea (Jun 22, 2015)

The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth. Reminds me of a cross between Hild and Riddley Walker so far.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 22, 2015)

idumea said:


> The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth. Reminds me of a cross between Hild and Riddley Walker so far.


I've just started that! Takes some time to work our what some words mean, but worth the effort. What's Hild?


----------



## Greebo (Jun 22, 2015)

Bodies by Jed Mercurio - I've been trying to get hold of this for years!


----------



## Sea Star (Jun 22, 2015)

I'm reading this - I'm finding it extremely empowering


----------



## weltweit (Jun 22, 2015)

At this moment I have zero unread books in the house. I mistimed a visit to the library and now have nothing to read till tomorrow. Warra pain.

Well except a couple of books about Barak Obama, which were given to me by someone who also couldn't be bothered to read them


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 23, 2015)

Just finished David Mitchell's Ghostwritten. Loved it; if you liked Cloud Atlas - this could be seen as a companion piece. Plus there's brief cameos from a couple of characters from the latter.


----------



## inva (Jun 25, 2015)

Laura by Vera Caspary
I was interested to read this as I like the film of it a lot. It's a good mystery.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 26, 2015)

Continuing with my current obsession with the Middle East, I've just finished Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir, by Marina Nemat, and am halfway through The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad.


----------



## Chuff (Jun 26, 2015)

james Kelman, How late it was, how late, been struggling with this for over a month, keeps putting it down then inexorably drawn back to it, irritated by the main character and think I have guessed the outcome but its still there pulling at me, really interesting, Donna Tart the little friend is the last book to catch me like this


----------



## weltweit (Jun 29, 2015)

Just finished The Killing Season, by Mason Cross. I think it may be his only book (off to look in a mo) if you like fast paced thrillers this is for you. I really enjoyed it except that I read it through in a couple of days and had hoped it would last longer.

eta: The sequel, THE SAMARITAN, will be published in 2015.
You can find out more by visiting Mason Cross's website at www.carterblake.net


----------



## colbhoy (Jun 30, 2015)

Just started Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo, number 2 in the Harry Hole series of books.


----------



## plaster monkey (Jul 4, 2015)

Colony by Ben Bova. 70s sci fi. Multi plotted but finding it easy reading & enjoyable.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 5, 2015)

Finished China Mieville's first YA novel - Un Lun Dun - really really liked it - imaginative and subversive

Now reading Jo Walton's Among Others - about a teenage girl with a tragic family background finding solace in sci-fi books. there is magic and fairies. but don't let that put you off. loving it so far.


----------



## Chirpy Chappy (Jul 5, 2015)

A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava.
I was expecting it to be a typically compelling-yet-not-too-provoking crime novel, so the interesting discussion about 'perfection' and the flimsy role of morality in an ambitious mind has been an excellent surprise.


----------



## idumea (Jul 6, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Finished China Mieville's first YA novel - Un Lun Dun - really really liked it - imaginative and subversive
> 
> Now reading Jo Walton's Among Others - about a teenage girl with a tragic family background finding solace in sci-fi books. there is magic and fairies. but don't let that put you off. loving it so far.


I loved Among Others.


----------



## inva (Jul 6, 2015)

The Tall Dark Man by Anne Chamberlain
This is a 1950s suspense thriller with quite a conventional plot, which is that a socially isolated adolescent fantasist has witnessed a murder from out of the window of her school and the murderer knows it. What follows is an excellent tense piece of writing which really effectively draws the character of the lonely teenager who for once can't escape into her imagination. I'm right near the end of this and have been really impressed by it. I'll have to look out for more by the author but I don't think she wrote many novels.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 8, 2015)

Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange (The first English translation of a medieval Arab fantasy collection) by Coralie Bickford-smith, Malcolm C. Lyons and Robert Irwin.  It's dated between the 10th and 16th century, with some academics leaning more to the former, and some to the latter.

Helped take my mind off shit for a while last night anyway. Some extraordinary stories in here, beautiful binding too. Lovely book.


----------



## starfish (Jul 9, 2015)

I'm flipping between Alan Partridges, I Partridge & Militant Anti-Fascism by our very own M. Testa.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 9, 2015)

I have been reading Dark Entries, by Robert Aickman. A collection of dark stories. They are very nicely written but I keep wondering where the plot is, and wishing there was one. The title is dark entries but the darkness of the stories is actually quite light and not really at all scary. I guess I just didn't gel with it, this will be the first time in three years I have started a book gotten 2/3 of the way though and not finished it, in fact the first time in that period that I didn't complete a book I started.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 11, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Finished China Mieville's first YA novel - Un Lun Dun - really really liked it - imaginative and subversive
> 
> Now reading Jo Walton's Among Others - about a teenage girl with a tragic family background finding solace in sci-fi books. there is magic and fairies. but don't let that put you off. loving it so far.


This was brilliant - DotCommunist  - i think you'd like it.

Now onto The Windup Girl, by Paulo Bacigalupi - brilliant so far.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 15, 2015)

End of the World Running Club - To say its striking a chord is an understatement. Early 30's, becoming very aware I'm getting older and unfit and working in IT.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 15, 2015)

Artaxerxes said:


> End of the World Running Club - To say its striking a chord is an understatement. Early 30's, becoming very aware I'm getting older and unfit and working in IT.


By who?  ((((authors))))


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 15, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> By who?  ((((authors))))



Some guy


----------



## Pickman's model (Jul 15, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> By who?  ((((authors))))


adrian j. walker, the end of the world running club (np: createspace, 2014)


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 15, 2015)

Artaxerxes said:


> Some guy


It's a dreadful lack of courtesy to the writer. They spent a long time writing it and you don't bother crediting them. The book didn't write itself.


----------



## Pickman's model (Jul 15, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> It's a dreadful lack of courtesy to the writer. They spent a long time writing it and you don't bother crediting them. The book didn't write itself.


that's  not always entirely true. as everyone knows, aleister crowley merely took dictation when receiving liber al vel legis in cairo in 1904, while georgie yeats' receipt of automatick writing formed the basis of w.b. yeats' _the vision_ (1925; 2nd ed. 1937)


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 15, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> It's a dreadful lack of courtesy to the writer. They spent a long time writing it and you don't bother crediting them. The book didn't write itself.



I'm encouraging others to read it and praising the work, anything after that is merely gravy.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Jul 19, 2015)

ViolentPanda said:


> Just finished "Getting By" by Liza MacKenzie, and "Dreams of G-ds and Monsters" by Laini Taylor, and have started "Strange Fruit" by Kenan Malik.



Malik is really annoying. right wing anti-multiculturalism masquerading as left. Though he nails it on free speech against religion. There's a text of his on the MIA entitled 'some cultures are better than others'. What on earth is that even supposed to mean? An abstraction devoid of marxist sense if ever there was one.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jul 19, 2015)

dialectician said:


> Malik is really annoying. right wing anti-multiculturalism masquerading as left. Though he nails it on free speech against religion. There's a text of his on the MIA entitled 'some cultures are better than others'. What on earth is that even supposed to mean? An abstraction devoid of marxist sense if ever there was one.



Not everything is written to conform to a Marxist structure. 
And *of course* he's "really annoying". He writes to stimulate debate, not to masturbate.

As for his writing being "right-wing", how much of his stuff have you read? To me his books and his journalism speaks pretty loudly of attempting to take perspective that favours neither side, but merely analyses.


----------



## campanula (Jul 19, 2015)

Poseidon's wake by Alastair Reynolds (although I did not enjoy the middle book of this trilogy at all) and Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson, whose writing I do enjoy albeit slightly hectoring.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Jul 20, 2015)

Just finished City of Lies - Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran, by Ramita Navai.   

A really interesting book, with each chapter based on one person's life, albeit with some deliberate fudging to protect people from the authorities.   The characters include drug dealers, prostitutes, divorcees, gangsters, and so on. 

The author was the Tehran correspondent for the Times.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 20, 2015)

John Doran's Jolly Lad and Andy Weir's The Martian
Their first is a memoir by a music writer about addiction and all sorts of other stuff. The second is a thriller about an astronaut stuck on Mars.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Jul 20, 2015)

ViolentPanda said:


> Not everything is written to conform to a Marxist structure.
> And *of course* he's "really annoying". He writes to stimulate debate, not to masturbate.
> 
> As for his writing being "right-wing", how much of his stuff have you read? To me his books and his journalism speaks pretty loudly of attempting to take perspective that favours neither side, but merely analyses.



Of course not. But he claims to be a marxist/post?  He's still part of the RCP, or whatever mutation they've undergone now.

I read that moral compass book last year and I try to read everything I can on Pandemonium (CEMB are quite big on him, don't you know!) Like I said, he nails it on the liberal and far left's obsession with cultural relativism, but so do other right wingers. He's certainly worth reading, one should try to read everything they possibly can, if they have time. But I digress. This one's just a muslim who can get publicity for his remarkably uninteresting, banal and commonplace views.


----------



## butchersapron (Jul 20, 2015)

dialectician said:


> Malik is really annoying. right wing anti-multiculturalism masquerading as left. Though he nails it on free speech against religion. There's a text of his on the MIA entitled 'some cultures are better than others'. What on earth is that even supposed to mean? An abstraction devoid of marxist sense if ever there was one.


Is there? Do you have a link?


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Jul 20, 2015)

butchersapron said:


> Is there? Do you have a link?



Ok, I'm mistaken, It's entitled 'all cultures are not equal.' It's a pretty fucking poor rationalisation of the enlightenment (I contest the term, but that's for another post) tbf, under vague anti-imperialism.

https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/malik/not-equal.htm


----------



## butchersapron (Jul 20, 2015)

dialectician said:


> Ok, I'm mistaken, It's entitled 'all cultures are not equal.' It's a pretty fucking poor rationalisation of the enlightenment (I contest the term, but that's for another post) tbf, under vague anti-imperialism.
> 
> https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/malik/not-equal.htm



Where is he wrong? That's an anti anti-imperialism piece btw. It's challenging the assumptions of anti-imperialism not arguing for it.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Jul 20, 2015)

butchersapron said:


> Where is he wrong? That's an anti anti-imperialism piece btw. It's challenging the assumptions of anti-imperialism not arguing for it.



He's right that emancipatory politics have existed in the European tradition and the multicultural left thinks that cultures are closed off boxes. But most of these third world anticolonial revolutions were bourgeois revolutions with red flags (as you well know.) It seems wrong to me to contrast an east vs. west binary (especially where subalterns and their making of history is concerned.) Granted, this is the major lacuna in third world (marxist) influenced post-colonial studies, where practitioners of the discipline are unable to fully dissect European history and see it as some kind of amorphous totality. But Malik does exactly the same for the East. Wait your time, not yet, good sir. In theory it's a nice intellectual construction but practically says little, if anything about the class struggle.


----------



## nogojones (Jul 20, 2015)

Just finished David Pearce - 1974. I was hoping for something a bit more after seeing him compared to James Ellroy a few times. It was dark for sure and one of the better crime novels I've read, but I'll likely wait til I see his books in a charity shop rather then rush out and buy them now.

Currently John Bergers About Looking and Anthony Burgess Honey For the Bears


----------



## weltweit (Jul 21, 2015)

Just finished Let it Bleed, Ian Rankin. I like Rankin's books, read quite a few now, they usually deliver a plot with plenty of intrigue and hold my interest.


----------



## belboid (Jul 22, 2015)

can't decide between starting on the Martin Beck's or starting on the Bernie Gunther's....decisions, decisions


----------



## moon (Jul 24, 2015)

I've just finished the last book in 'The Mortal Instruments' 'City of Heavenly Fire' by Cassandra Clare. sobs!
Sebastian had all his demon blood burnt out of him and is now dead... which is a shame as I really liked him.
not sure where the spoiler code button is now (haven't been here for ages) so wont say anymore, but this series was AWESOME!!!
Am now on book 3 of the prequel 'The Infernal Devices' and am sooo looking forward to the sequel 'The Dark Artifices' book 1 is out early next year.
Has anyone else read these?


----------



## Greebo (Jul 24, 2015)

Der kleine Grenzverkehr - Erich Kaestner


----------



## belboid (Jul 27, 2015)

belboid said:


> can't decide between starting on the Martin Beck's or starting on the Bernie Gunther's....decisions, decisions


well, the only way to solve that dilemma, was the obvious one - read them both!

The first Martin Beck - Roseanna - is a very good, stripped back, slow, police procedural, no car chases, big gun fights, nor anything like that.  And all the better for it. That said, I think the translation left a lot to be desired, simplistic to the point of almost childishness.  And the kindleification...ohh dear oh dear, abysmal, it still had the original page numbers in in some places!  the others better be better done.

March Violets - the first Bernie Gunther - is an absolute blast of a belter of a book. Think Philip Marlowe in nazi Germany. Historically spot on and politically as sharp as an SA Schnittert dagger, it's a right rip-roaring read. Halfway through at the mo, cant wait to finish it.


----------



## marty21 (Jul 27, 2015)

Gods and Generals - Jeff Shaara - I'm having a renewed interest into the American Civil War


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 27, 2015)

King of the badgers by Philip Hensher

An Aga saga with an  orgy thrown in


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2015)

Been dipping my toes into Suicide Squads first run of comics. I'm not sure, I like it but I'm still not sure. The artwork is beautiful though.


----------



## moon (Jul 28, 2015)

Recently finished the 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' trilogy by Laini Taylor.
It was totally EPIC.. initially set in Prague, the protagonist is a female art student who lives with a 'family' of chimera. She travels around the world collecting teeth for her guardian but does not know what they are for...
She also has hamsa's tattooed into the palms of her hands and doesn't know how they got there..
Then we discover there is a war going on between the Chimera and the Seraphim  
I was on the edge of my seat reading this...
It also features a seriously hot (literally) angel called Akiva


----------



## Pickman's model (Jul 28, 2015)

aleister crowley, eight lectures on yoga (phoenix, az: new falcon, 1991)


----------



## idumea (Jul 28, 2015)

The Horse, the Wheel and Language by David Anthony.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 29, 2015)

Tim Parks - Where I'm Reading From.

Promising, but I've just found fault with his section on e-books, saying they are a medium for grown-ups.  He points out loads of things that people 'think' are wrong with kindles, but misses the bleeding obvious (obvious to me, anyway). If the fucking lights go out, you won't be able to read them.  If electricity/energy becomes scarce/unreliable/you are in the middle of nowhere, then you will always be able to read printed paper, but you won't be able to read a fucking kindle.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 29, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Tim Parks - Where I'm Reading From.
> 
> Promising, but I've just found fault with his section on e-books, saying they are a medium for grown-ups.  He points out loads of things that people 'think' are wrong with kindles, but misses the bleeding obvious (obvious to me, anyway). If the fucking lights go out, you won't be able to read them.  If electricity/energy becomes scarce/unreliable/you are in the middle of nowhere, then you will always be able to read printed paper, but you won't be able to read a fucking kindle.


There are plenty of valid arguments 'against' kindles, but that is a rather weak one.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 29, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> There are plenty of valid arguments 'against' kindles, but that is a rather weak one.


Not to me it isn't.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 29, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Not to me it isn't.


Then you're essentially arguing against powered technology.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 29, 2015)

Latter half of Dillons 'Dirty War'. Just reading about Robert Nairac. I don't care how good your irish accent is, being sas and wandering south armagh, in the mid 70s, on your billy tod was very foolish indeed- one quote that intrigued me 'they don't like anyone down their- they run their own war'.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 29, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Then you're essentially arguing against powered technology.


No I'm not. I'm pointing out a downside to kindles that Tim fucking Parks didn't. Nice extrapolation though.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 29, 2015)

sojourner said:


> No I'm not. I'm pointing out a downside to kindles that Tim fucking Parks didn't. Nice extrapolation though.


It's hardly a downside, unless there is a disaster.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 29, 2015)

Dp


----------



## sojourner (Jul 29, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> It's hardly a downside, unless there is a disaster.


It IS a downside, stop being tiresome again.


----------



## belboid (Jul 29, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Tim Parks - Where I'm Reading From.
> 
> Promising, but I've just found fault with his section on e-books, saying they are a medium for grown-ups.  He points out loads of things that people 'think' are wrong with kindles, but misses the bleeding obvious (obvious to me, anyway). If the fucking lights go out, you won't be able to read them.  If electricity/energy becomes scarce/unreliable/you are in the middle of nowhere, then you will always be able to read printed paper, but you won't be able to read a fucking kindle.


tbh, if we lose all electricity, not being able to read my kindle will be a fair way down my list of things I'm arsed about.

tho that does kinda of dovetail with my latest read:

Stephen Witt - How Music Got Free.   A very good, so far, history of the mp3, file sharing, and how it has changed music forever.  Should make for an interesting corollary for the upcoming Paul Mason book on how free info is going to end capitalism.


----------



## Tony_LeaS (Jul 29, 2015)

Off to the North of Wales camping so ive decided to carry on with my Game of Thrones series (had them for months and honestly couldn't be fucked). Got the 2nd and 3rd book with me and the 4th in a emergency if I manage to read them.

I'll probably do 50-100 pages but it gives me something to do


----------



## sojourner (Jul 29, 2015)

belboid said:


> tbh, if we lose all electricity, not being able to read my kindle will be a fair way down my list of things I'm arsed about.
> 
> tho that does kinda of dovetail with my latest read:
> 
> Stephen Witt - How Music Got Free.   A very good, so far, history of the mp3, file sharing, and how it has changed music forever.  Should make for an interesting corollary for the upcoming Paul Mason book on how free info is going to end capitalism.


It doesn't have to be ALL the time, the loss. Gods sake, can't believe I'm arguing this.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 29, 2015)

there is a reason I keep two paperbacks in my old dears crap, frequently breaking down motor. Got caught short not two months ago on a run to corby for...legitimate reasons...twiddling my thumbs for ages waiting for green flag. No book. Radio is fucked so no talk radio. I actually had to be in my own head for an hour. It was hell.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 29, 2015)

sojourner said:


> It IS a downside, stop being tiresome again.


I wasn't.


----------



## Argonia (Jul 29, 2015)

\just finished "Images and Shadows", the autobiography by Iris Origo


----------



## belboid (Jul 30, 2015)

not started it yet, but have just been given After I’m Gone by Laura Lippman.  Which was very nice of Faber, who are promising me another in a week, some kind of deal so they can check how I read it, 'taking into consideration things such as whether you complete a chapter and how long it takes you to read it. Do you read in short sessions or in long sessions? Where do you get stuck in the story? We hope that it will help us better understand our readers.'

I think I got it as a Faber Social member, so anyone can probably sign up to that and get them for nowt too


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 30, 2015)

I'm reading Ian McEwan's The Children Act. 
It's about an important person who ruminates on their important life whilst chewing over an important decision about some unimportant people, all whilst trying to live a normal domestic life, just like a normal person.
I'm never sure how much he's taking the piss out of these people, if at all. He doesn't seem to hold them in contempt at all. He's very sympathetic towards them, but then he talks about the protagonist's extended family holidaying 'in the cheaper sort of castle', and I wonder...is there a joke i'm missing?
He is an excellent wordsmith and observer of human relationships, but the people he writes about...aaargh


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Jul 30, 2015)

The Lives of Ants, by Laurent Keller and Elisabeth Gordon. It's all about lovely little ants, as you'd expect.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 30, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm reading Ian McEwan's The Children Act.
> It's about an important person who ruminates on their important life whilst chewing over an important decision about some unimportant people, all whilst trying to live a normal domestic life, just like a normal person.
> I'm never sure how much he's taking the piss out of these people, if at all. He doesn't seem to hold them in contempt at all. He's very sympathetic towards them, but then he talks about the protagonist's extended family holidaying 'in the cheaper sort of castle', and I wonder...is there a joke i'm missing?
> He is an excellent wordsmith and observer of human relationships, but the people he writes about...aaargh



I know exactly what you mean!
I too love his writing, but some of his protagonists... hmmm, I couldn't finish Solar because the main character was such a cock.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 30, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> I actually had to be in my own head for an hour. It was hell.


 Really? You surprise me. You're a poet, are you not?  Your own head should be a heaven, not a hell. 



Orang Utan said:


> I wasn't.


 You were. You just never realise you are being.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 30, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Really? You surprise me. You're a poet, are you not? Your own head should be a heaven, not a hell.



i was being jokeful- but no I do hate to be without my aural or written distractions. Depending on my overall mood it can get me on the downward spiral of remembering everything bad I ever did, every humiliation or slight I dealt unwarranted or recieved in kind. Y'know, the brain is a strange thing. Other moods won't set me on the path of self loathing but it does happen often enough.

I've mainly been reading about the Man Eating Lions Of Tsavo since yesterday. After they got old Cecil I thought I'd read a bit about the boot being on the other foot


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 30, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Really? You surprise me. You're a poet, are you not?  Your own head should be a heaven, not a hell.
> 
> You were. You just never realise you are being.


I think it's a bit off to suggest I'm being tiresome just for disagreeing with you. And then condescending to me about it. I think what I said was valid and worth pointing out. As I said, there are good many arguments 'against' kindles, but the fact that they are powered by electricity is not one of them. The way we read on them is a thing to consider. How easier it is to be distracted from our reading on kindles than books, for example. Nicholas Carr's The Shallows is a good read on this subject (and others).


----------



## sojourner (Jul 30, 2015)

OU - we have had this before. I have called you tiresome on many occasions. You always deny it. I'm not in the best frame of mind just recently having had one of the worst fucking months of my life, and you were extrapolating. It wasn't a valid comparison. And you are simply contrasting your own opinion with mine. Let's not continue this.  It feels like you're winding me up and that is THE LAST THING I fucking need right now, having felt as if I've been under attack for weeks now.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 30, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> i was being jokeful- but no I do hate to be without my aural or written distractions. Depending on my overall mood it can get me on the downward spiral of remembering everything bad I ever did, every humiliation or slight I dealt unwarranted or recieved in kind. Y'know, the brain is a strange thing. Other moods won't set me on the path of self loathing but it does happen often enough.


 I do understand how easy that can be, but it is a real shame if that happens more than the good spirals.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 30, 2015)

sojourner said:


> I do understand how easy that can be, but it is a real shame if that happens more than the good spirals.


eh, sometimes more sometimes less, its nothing new to me.

I hope whatver trials and tribulations have afflicted you this last month will smooth out and come right sis


----------



## sojourner (Jul 30, 2015)

Cheers dotty x


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 30, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> eh, sometimes more sometimes less, its nothing new to me.
> 
> I hope whatver trials and tribulations have afflicted you this last month will smooth out and come right sis


Yup, didn't mean to vex you, sojourner 

 Just think there's a good debate to be had about kindles vs books, with much to be said on either side, but another thread another time


----------



## campanula (Jul 31, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm reading Ian McEwan's The Children Act.
> It's about an important person who ruminates on their important life whilst chewing over an important decision about some unimportant people, all whilst trying to live a normal domestic life, just like a normal person.
> I'm never sure how much he's taking the piss out of these people, if at all. He doesn't seem to hold them in contempt at all. He's very sympathetic towards them, but then he talks about the protagonist's extended family holidaying 'in the cheaper sort of castle', and I wonder...is there a joke i'm missing?
> He is an excellent wordsmith and observer of human relationships, but the people he writes about...aaargh



Grief yep, I think these are the sort of circles he moves in these days - all barristers and Hampstead literati - come a long way from The Cement Garden.
I only picked this up because daughter does a bit of Cafcas guardian stuff (and is NOTHING like characters in book, although, tbf, the social workers get a decent write-up).

Currently getting through Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora - I like KSR but am finding this a bit tiresome. Always Poseidon's Wake (Alastair Reynolds) waiting for me but not really dying to read that one - just got it to be a completist


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2015)

Now reading Dan Simmons' The Terror. I think he normally writes science fiction, but this is a historical monster thriller based on the true story of the disastrousFranklin expedition to find the North West Passage.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Aug 3, 2015)

i





Orang Utan said:


> Now reading Dan Simmons' The Terror. I think he normally writes science fiction, but this isa historical monster thriller based on the true story of the disastrousFranklin expedition to find the North West Passage.



Simmons splits his time between Sci-Fi and Horror. He wrote a rather good "kids in peril" story in the '90s called "Summer of Night". it's been accused of being a bit derivative of Stephen King's "It", but isn't, except the basic "kids in peril" premise.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 4, 2015)

Finished Benjamin Zephaniah's "Teacher's Dead" - had forgotten I'd read it before but it's brilliant, simply written and un-patronising. Going to read "Terror Kid" next, I reckon.


----------



## frogwoman (Aug 5, 2015)

'Damage' by Josephine Hart. Well listening to the audiobook.


----------



## teqniq (Aug 5, 2015)

Just finished reading 'Anglemaker' by Nick Harkaway.

Steam punk style novel but set in the present day with lots of flashbacks to the character's pasts. Really well written.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 5, 2015)

Just read Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Ascendancy by Eric Van Lustbader. I am a sucker for a good page turning thriller and this developed ok for me.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Aug 6, 2015)

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson, picked it up for two quid. I'm definitely not one


----------



## ringo (Aug 7, 2015)

Life Drawing - Robin Black

Beautifully written book about a middle aged artist couple who have moved to the country trying to recover from one of them having an affair. Languid, but with intense emotions and atmosphere. Unfortunately I don't like any of the characters, which is putting me off. They're all quite flawed and interesting, and their nastier thoughts are more human than monstrous, but their lack of loyalty doesn't sit well with me. They feel guilty for their betrayals, but not enough to avoid committing them, and that I find indefensible.

I reckon most readers on this thread would quite like it though, very well written, taut prose and quite insightful.

ETA: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/02/life-drawing-robin-black-novel-review


----------



## ringo (Aug 7, 2015)

S☼I said:


> The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson, picked it up for two quid. I'm definitely not one



Does he also mention that psychopaths never know they are psychopaths?


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 7, 2015)

weltweit said:


> Just read Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Ascendancy by Eric Van Lustbader. I am a sucker for a good page turning thriller and this developed ok for me.


the lustbader one is shit IMO, but the Ludlum originals are all solid gold- much better than the films


----------



## moon (Aug 7, 2015)

Finished the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare - It was a gothic steampunky prequel to the Mortal instruments set in Victorian Britain, Magnus Bane (the immortal warlock who likes to cover himself in glitter) was in it too 
But it centred around Will and Jem who are Parabartai Nephilim shadow Hunters, and Tessa who is some kind of warlock.
I love Cassandra Clare's world building.
She has a sequel to The Mortal Instruments coming out next year called The Dark Artifices, I cant wait!!
TMI is also being turned into a TV series.. called shadow hunters


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 7, 2015)

moon said:


> Finished the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare - It was a gothic steampunky prequel to the Mortal instruments set in Victorian Britain, Magnus Bane (the immortal warlock who likes to cover himself in glitter) was in it too
> But it centred around Will and Jem who are Parabartai Nephilim shadow Hunters, and Tessa who is some kind of warlock.
> I love Cassandra Clare's world building.
> She has a sequel to The Mortal Instruments coming out next year called The Dark Artifices, I cant wait!!
> TMI is also being turned into a TV series.. called shadow hunters


Wasn't it a film recently? The first book.


----------



## Zabo (Aug 9, 2015)

Just finished Kolymsy Heights. Not bad as a thriller but a bit too detailed for my liking. Now on to Alex v The Universe.


----------



## MrSki (Aug 9, 2015)

Zabo said:


> Just finished Kolymsy Heights. Not bad as a thriller but a bit too detailed for my liking. Now on to Alex v The Universe.


Is that 'The Universe versus Alex Woods' or is there another book? If it is I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2015)

Zabo said:


> Just finished Kolymsy Heights. Not bad as a thriller but a bit too detailed for my liking. Now on to Alex v The Universe.


By who?


----------



## cyberfairy (Aug 9, 2015)

Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre. Superb story based on real events and people  detailing the lengths women went to to try to keep their looks in the 1700's  but also containing time travel.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 10, 2015)

Just finished Elmore Leonard's "Mister Majestyk". Melon farmer versus bad guys. Lots of shoot outs. All over in 140 odd pages.

Next up "Zen & the art of motorcycle maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. I have no idea what it's about. I'm guessing motorbikes, right?


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 10, 2015)

Ernest Cline - Ready Player One. Just found out Spielberg is adapting it.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 10, 2015)

krtek a houby said:


> .. Next up "Zen & the art of motorcycle maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. I have no idea what it's about. I'm guessing motorbikes, right?


Been meaning to read this myself, partly because I used to love motorbikes but I don't think that is required to enjoy the book. I would be interested to hear how you get on with it!!


----------



## ringo (Aug 11, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> View attachment 75214
> Ernest Cline - Ready Player One. Just found out Spielberg is adapting it.



http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/ready-player-one.301494/


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 11, 2015)

weltweit said:


> Been meaning to read this myself, partly because I used to love motorbikes but I don't think that is required to enjoy the book. I would be interested to hear how you get on with it!!



So far, so good. Makes me want to go out on the road.


----------



## belboid (Aug 12, 2015)

Paul Mason - Postcapitalism 

A third of the way through it now, having dealt with the 'how did we get here' stuff, which is a very good description of the rise and spread of neoliberalism, and the effect of Kondratieff waves.  The next sections - on what 'postcapitalism' is, and how we might get there are probably a bit more questionable.  Still, a very good read.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 12, 2015)

Mona Eltahawy - Headscarves and Hymens


----------



## flypanam (Aug 13, 2015)

I've three on the go at the moment:

Paul Murray - The mark and the void. The characterisation is very like his previous book 'Skippy dies' but the sections about banking, Irish identity, and behaviour are excellent. Well worth reading.

Benjamin Kunkel - Indecision. First novel by a young American novelist, very much a coming of age story. Funny too.

What do you desire? N+1 anthology volume II - a selection of essays from the N+1 journal. Very good long form essays.


----------



## sovereignb (Aug 14, 2015)

Ive just finished "Kill Your Boss" by John Lago which was great...im now reading the sequel Shoot The Messenger


----------



## Artaxerxes (Aug 14, 2015)

Working my way through the Black Company by Glen Cook, currently on book 3: White Rose


----------



## Steel Icarus (Aug 14, 2015)

Finally reading The Making of the English Working Class. Interesting stuff.


----------



## moon (Aug 14, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Wasn't it a film recently? The first book.


Yes, but apparently it was terrible, the new 'Shadow Hunters' series seems to have better actors and producers, not sure how to watch it in the UK when it comes out next year though.
Good article mentioning it here, also the photo is of Clary on set!
http://variety.com/2015/tv/features...-magicians-shadowhunters-shannara-1201568950/
Cassandra Clare also has a very good Tumblr blog here too http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/ full of interesting facts, fan art, cast interviews etc etc.. She was also in London recently giving talks etc.
I adore the new (US) book covers..


----------



## Sprocket. (Aug 16, 2015)

The Price of Inequality by Joseph E Stiglitz.


----------



## ringo (Aug 17, 2015)

Breakfast At Tiffany's - Truman Capote ~ A masterpiece, but not so pleased with the accompanying earworm.


----------



## Sprocket. (Aug 17, 2015)

ringo said:


> Breakfast At Tiffany's - Truman Capote ~ A masterpiece, but not so pleased with the accompanying earworm.



That song by Deep Blue Something?


----------



## ringo (Aug 17, 2015)

Sprocket. said:


> That song by Deep Blue Something?



Yep, I've got to finish the book quick 'cos it's non-stop and I only know the chorus. Good job it's a short novel


----------



## moon (Aug 25, 2015)

I love the Shadowhunter cover art, here is a collage of the new (USA) covers for the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices.
Can't wait for the Dark Artifices book 1 to land in early 2016


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 25, 2015)

M John Harrison - Light
Emily St.John Mandel - Station Eleven

I'm not too sure what Light's about yet - might end up being too clever for me as i don't get quantum mechanics, but i don't mind not understanding some of it because it is so beautifully written
Station Eleven seems to be about a theatre in post- apocalyptic Canada - very crisply written and compelling so far. I was only supposed to be reading Light, but I picked this up and was hooked


----------



## HAL9000 (Aug 25, 2015)

Endangered by CJ Box, Joe Pickett book 15  (first one in the series 'Open Season' is the best)

White trash and wilderness  (this book hasn't got much wilderness, other books in the series have more)


----------



## lunar (Aug 26, 2015)

The girl on the train. 
Good so far, rather too easy to read. Has had over 6000 reviews.


----------



## flypanam (Aug 27, 2015)

Barbara Ehrenreich - Smile or die: how positive thinking fooled America and the world.

Just got this out of the library, and have read a couple of pages of the introduction and I know I'm going to enjoy this.


----------



## moon (Aug 27, 2015)

Am currently reading 'The Wrath and the Dawn' by by Renée Ahdieh - a retelling of the Arabian Nights, am about halfway in and on the edge of my seat in anticipation of finding out why a Prince kills all his brides at dawn.. it has something to do with the rain..

And also reading Seraphina by Rachel Hartman - It's about dragons and half dragons who take human form, as well as mind gardens filled with strange beasts..


----------



## starfish (Aug 27, 2015)

Ive not been to the 87th Precinct for a while. Bought a couple off eBay last week & am reading The Big Bad City. Only 6 more after this one.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 28, 2015)

Have temporarily halted Zen and the Art of Motorcycle etc & am currently reading "People Like Us" by Chris Binchy. Life in Dublin, circa the bubble.


----------



## FiFi (Aug 28, 2015)

I've just started reading "The story of Baby P:Setting the record straight" by Ray Jones
I have a feeling it may be tough going


----------



## Vintage Paw (Aug 28, 2015)

Just finished Talk to the Tail by Tom Cox. I like his cat books.

Now reading Scoop, by Waugh. Liking it so far.

I was reading In Cold Blood but god I just couldn't get into it.


----------



## hash tag (Aug 29, 2015)

krtek a houby said:


> Have temporarily halted Zen and the Art of Motorcycle etc & am currently reading "People Like Us" by Chris Binchy. Life in Dublin, circa the bubble.


 - Zen was hard work but worth it. Really struggled with the follow up, Lila.

Currently reading Alan Johnson's This Boy. I have never been so taken in/so involved with any book ever before. I felt like I really knew his mother Lilly and sister Linda. 
I was close to tears when Lilly died and was veryy worried about what would become of them after that. Great book, well written.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Aug 29, 2015)

Gut - the inside story of our body's most under-rated organ, by Giulia Enders. All about the intestinal tract and shitting.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 29, 2015)

finishing off Seveneves by stephenson

the build up was better than the far future section. One reviewer nailed it perfectly. 'This is an engineers future. People engineered, religion egineered'. Its a little narrow in scope there. Makes up for it with the vast scope of the megastructure, terraforming etc


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## Steel Icarus (Aug 29, 2015)

Blood Meridian. I was ready for another McCarthy, it being a couple of years since I read The Road. Lacks the emotional impact of The Road but the writing is astonishing, especially the descriptive passages of the land. Like it's from some other time, almost.


----------



## hash tag (Aug 30, 2015)

The Gut is high on our to get list.


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## Voley (Aug 30, 2015)

S☼I said:


> Blood Meridian. I was ready for another McCarthy, it being a couple of years since I read The Road. Lacks the emotional impact of The Road but the writing is astonishing, especially the descriptive passages of the land. Like it's from some other time, almost.


Beautiful, isn't it? There's a sentence from one in that trilogy that goes on for almost a page - he's describing a train pulling into a station - that's incredibly poetic, has the rhythm of a train slowing down, everything. I went back and reread it about four times. The atmosphere of those books is unreal.


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## Steel Icarus (Aug 30, 2015)

Voley said:


> Beautiful, isn't it? There's a sentence from one in that trilogy that goes on for almost a page - he's describing a train pulling into a station - that's incredibly poetic, has the rhythm of a train slowing down, everything. I went back and reread it about four times. The atmosphere of those books is unreal.


Was intending to get that yesterday but ran out of time in town trying to find trousers. Will get online...


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## weltweit (Aug 31, 2015)

The Black Book, Ian Rankin - I have read quite a few Rankin books now and know the characters well, despite this I always enjoy the slow reveal of the plots in the darker parts of the city. This will not be the last Rankin book I read.

A Colder War, Charles Cumming - I was a bit concerned about the slow start in this but it developed into a thriller I enjoyed. Never read Charles Cumming before.


----------



## DangDarn (Sep 1, 2015)

*House of Suns*, by Alastair Reynolds. Hoo boy this is a mindender of a sci-fi novel. Practically immortal clone-family posthumans travelling the galaxy, and deadly mayhem ensues from unlikely cosmic sources. Diggin it!


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 1, 2015)

DangDarn said:


> *House of Suns*, by Alastair Reynolds. Hoo boy this is a mindender of a sci-fi novel. Practically immortal clone-family posthumans travelling the galaxy, and deadly mayhem ensues from unlikely cosmic sources. Diggin it!



Is it part of the Revelation Space universe?


----------



## campanula (Sep 1, 2015)

Mmm, just finished Poseidon's Wake - the last of Reynolds Africa and elephants trilogy and while not completely overjoyed, it was far, far better than Steel breeze, the middle book (apart from the elephant stuff). Hoping he does not do a Greg Bear and go so far off the boil as to be totally tepid, churning out drivel (after the genius of Blood Music and Darwin's Radio).


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## DangDarn (Sep 3, 2015)

krtek a houby said:


> Is it part of the Revelation Space universe?



I don't think so. Humanity is crazy different advanced. In Revelation Space they are primitive compared to these people, and the universe in general seems to have another history.


----------



## ringo (Sep 4, 2015)

American Rust - Phillip Meyer ~ Loving this so far. Bleak, dispossessed, American desolation.


----------



## mrscooker (Sep 4, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> finishing off Seveneves by stephenson
> 
> the build up was better than the far future section. One reviewer nailed it perfectly. 'This is an engineers future. People engineered, religion egineered'. Its a little narrow in scope there. Makes up for it with the vast scope of the megastructure, terraforming etc


Just reading this now.  It does not seems as captivating as some of his earlier work.  Also it's so big and heavy, hard to read in bed!


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## Pickman's model (Sep 4, 2015)

.


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## DotCommunist (Sep 5, 2015)

Alisdair Reynolds new one 'Slow Bullets'

got an epub so if anyone wants a copy pm n email addy


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 5, 2015)

Aint posted on this in a while....stand out books recently read - Donna Tartt's 'The Goldfinch' - wow, what an unexpected masterpiece. I read quite slowly but devoured it in a week! Everyone i know who's read it did the same. Utterly awesome.

And finally finished Ulysses in June! Took me three years. I read it on and off, then stopped for a year, cos i had to read stuff for work, but did a sprint during summer.  It's the wildest, wittiest, maddest, and most challenging book I have ever read. I read the Penguin edition, companioned by 'Ulysses and Us' by Declan Kibberd.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 7, 2015)

Not book, but I've just got up to speed with Attack on Titan. Damn it's good.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 8, 2015)

Legion by Brandon Sanderson


very odd but compelling. A man whose imaginary people areaspects of his genius, a camera that takes photos of the past and a crazy scientist looking to get a photo of jesus


----------



## neeks (Sep 8, 2015)

Just finished _Dune_. I'm surprised that some people find it slow-going.

Moving on to _The Nice and the Good _by Iris Murdoch.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 8, 2015)

Finished Attila the Stockbroker's autobiog last week, and this week reading Cherry Pie by Hollie Poetry, for another review. I fucking LOVE her.


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 8, 2015)

susan cooper, mandrake


----------



## D'wards (Sep 11, 2015)

Just finished Ready Player One - horribly written but good fun and seemingly tailor-made for the gent of a certain age, which i am.

Starting Cloud Atlas - one of my pals claimed it was astounding, but my dad couldn't get on with it.


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## DotCommunist (Sep 11, 2015)

D'wards said:


> Just finished Ready Player One - horribly written but good fun and seemingly tailor-made for the gent of a certain age, which i am.
> 
> Starting Cloud Atlas - one of my pals claimed it was astounding, but my dad couldn't get on with it.



if you like it the films great as well, and the guys next novel 'the bone clocks' was amazing.


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## belboid (Sep 15, 2015)

Sunjeev Sahota - The Year of the Runaways

Which has, I am surprised to see, just made it onto the Booker shortlist. I picked it up after seeing it on the longlist, partly because it is half based in Sheffield. And, while it is an interesting and well written read, the characters are well drawn and very sympathetic, it hasn't had any great surprises in it so far (82% of the way in), and is as bleak as the moors. Which could make for a nice literary device, comparing the comparative bleaknesses, but his evocation of Sheffield is a bit crap.

oh, and it would probably be really annoying to read on paper, as there are shedloads of Punjabi phrases included, the meaning of which I would have had no idea of if I hadn't been able to quickly look them up on my kindle


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## belboid (Sep 15, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> if you like it the films great as well, and the guys next novel 'the bone clocks' was amazing.


his next one was actually _Black Swan Green - _for which he just stole my childhood. [/pedant]


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## Orang Utan (Sep 15, 2015)

Just finished Iain Banks' The Quarry.
My how kind the critics were cos he'd just karked it. It's very flimsy and the characters are shits apart from the narrator, but he's not particularly sympathetic either. 2/10
Not quite as bad as Dead Air or The Business.
Anyone read Stonemouth? Have to read it for completion's sake


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## belboid (Sep 15, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Just finished Iain Banks' The Quarry.
> My how kind the critics were cos he'd just karked it. It's very flimsy and the characters are shits apart from the narrator, but he's not particularly sympathetic either. 2/10
> Not quite as bad as Dead Air or The Business.
> Anyone read Stonemouth? Have to read it for completion's sake


I enjoyed Stonemouth, but then I quite enjoyed the Quarry too.I didn't particularly enjoy Dead Air or the Business, in fact they bored the arse off me.  Stonemouth & Quarry both actually had something that was missing from far too many Banks books - an ending, rather than just a fizzling out.


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## DotCommunist (Sep 15, 2015)

The Business gets loads of flak but I really enjoyed it, read it twice. Ending was rubbish but other than that I found it entertaining. Of course Crow Road and Espedair Stret are the best non-m ones. Always did love the SF more than his mainstream stuff.


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## BoatieBird (Sep 15, 2015)

I enjoyed Stonemouth too Orang Utan, it reminded me of The Crow Road.
I think I've only got Dead Air left to read now


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## Orang Utan (Sep 15, 2015)

I think my favourite is Walking On Glass. Worst is Dead Air. Complicity is massively overrated too.


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## ringo (Sep 15, 2015)

What You Want Is in the Limo: On the Road with Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, and the Who in 1973, the Year the Sixties Died and the Modern Rock Star Was Born - Michael Walker

Great bit of music writing concentrating on how these three bands released successful LPs and then embarked upon huge US tours to promote them, changing the face of popular music and rock stardom. Not just (although also) a list of bad behaviour, with great descriptions of the innovations and development of sound reinforcement suddenly required to blast the egos of coke fuelled, newly fashioned megastars across enormous arenas for the first time. Walker conveys the excitement of living through seismic cultural changes as everything about the music business expanded and new practices, jobs and ways of making and spending money were conjured from the air using the established trope of necessity as the mother of invention.


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## flypanam (Sep 16, 2015)

Paula Fox - Desperate characters


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## StoneRoad (Sep 16, 2015)

After re-reading "Rogue State" to get some info to settle a discussion, which I've now done.
I was a bit "what now" - got given a Vince Flynn to read, s'OKish, for light/bedtime reading, so I might try one or two others ...
However, doing some sorting out at me Dad's and found a copy of Ben Goldacre's "Bad Science" to stick my nose into. To nick a phrase "quite fascinating ..."


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## Orang Utan (Sep 16, 2015)

StoneRoad said:


> After re-reading "Rogue State" to get some info to settle a discussion, which I've now done.."


Who wrote Rogue State?


----------



## StoneRoad (Sep 16, 2015)

Sorry, Orang Utan  - the author is William Blum. (ISBN: 9781842778272) published in 2000 (3rd edn updated to 2005) by Zed books.


----------



## colbhoy (Sep 16, 2015)

Reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Utterly gripping so far.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Sep 17, 2015)

the martian. I only found there is a filum coming,like last week. its very good ' and even better when you realise it was originally self published


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 17, 2015)

not-bono-ever said:


> the martian. I only found there is a filum coming,like last week. its very good ' and even better when you realise it was originally self published


You go to the trouble of saying it's self-published but without bothering to credit the author - shame on you!
Andy Weir wrote it, and yes, it's good, though it drops a point cos the hero hates disco. Worra twat.


----------



## inva (Sep 19, 2015)

Just finished Without the Moon which is the new one by Cathi Unsworth. I'd read Weirdo by her and thought it was good whereas this was a bit disappointing really. The main problem with it being that it's as if she had basically stuck two different stories together and it just doesn't work very well. It's set in London during WW2 and is obviously heavily influenced by various London underworld books and films, which Unsworth acknowledges, but what I felt was that it ends up feeling very familiar, all the characters being quite lightly sketched - often to the point of cliche. When combined with the structural problems there's not a lot to recommend about it.


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## DangDarn (Sep 21, 2015)

Starting The Mote in God's Eye, by Niven. Heard it was a science fiction classic so I'm just gonna have to check it off the list.


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## D'wards (Sep 21, 2015)

DangDarn said:


> Starting The Mote in God's Eye, by Niven. Heard it was a science fiction classic so I'm just gonna have to check it off the list.


 Loved this book - to create a whole alien species and society is a real challenge, but Niven does it well.


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## DotCommunist (Sep 21, 2015)

DangDarn said:


> Starting The Mote in God's Eye, by Niven. Heard it was a science fiction classic so I'm just gonna have to check it off the list.


If you like try 'Ringworld' by the same afterwards. Its (I think) the first SF novel to run with the O concept, the Ringworld. Available in the SF Masterworks imprint (worth getting from that, theres usually forewards and appendices etc not present in earlier print runs)


I'm waiting till weds for Ian Macdonalds latest Luna: New Moon

fucking great author


----------



## belboid (Sep 21, 2015)

The Whispering Storm, by Michael Moorcock. 

His Sortabiography. It's half autobiography, and half his adventures in Alsacia, the hidden heart of London. They're both very entertaining, much more so than the last thing I tried to read by him (can't remember now if that was Mother London or Byzantium Endures, but it terribly overwritten whichever it was, like a Hieronymus Bosch painting made using only purple). The Alsacia sections are really showing what a good job David Mitchell made of that section of The Bone Clocks.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 21, 2015)

Vintage Paw said:


> Now reading Scoop, by Waugh. Liking it so far.



_"Feather footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole".  _


Scoop and Vile Bodies are his best IMO.


----------



## Geoffrey Kerr (Sep 23, 2015)

I have just read Occupied City by David Peace a novel based on a bank robbery in Tokyo 1948 12 people were murdered by poisoning.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Sep 23, 2015)

Crime City - Manchester's Victorian Underworld, by Joseph O'Neil. 

All about the city being full of ne'er do wells in Victorian times - interesting stuff.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 24, 2015)

Just finished 'Cherry Pie' by Hollie McNish - fucking amazing. Wrote a review of it for WOL too 
Cherry Pie: Hollie McNish, Burning Eye Books | Write Out Loud

Also just finished 'Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals' by Jesse Armstrong, which was also excellent.

Not sure what to start next.  Possibly 'Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party' by Alexander McCall Smith, or 'God Help the Child' by Toni Morrison.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Sep 24, 2015)

Just finished "All the pretty horses" by Cormac McCarthy - I'll be straight on with "The Crossing", now.

Voley I thought of you when I got to the passage about the train, it was really early on - it IS amazing. His descriptions are almost stream-of-consciousness and yet conversation in his books are masterpieces of "show, not tell". Giddy about how good the fucker is.


----------



## Geoffrey Kerr (Sep 25, 2015)

I am currentley reading The Rain Before It Falls by Jonathon Coe
I have read the full Bernie Gunther detective series by Philip Kerr [ No relation ] I absolutely love these books and Alan Furst's Night Soldier series


----------



## Sea Star (Sep 25, 2015)

Halfway through the audio version of 'Glass Bead Game' by Herman Hesse. Its a ripping yarn!


----------



## DangDarn (Sep 25, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> If you like try 'Ringworld' by the same afterwards. Its (I think) the first SF novel to run with the O concept, the Ringworld. Available in the SF Masterworks imprint (worth getting from that, theres usually forewards and appendices etc not present in earlier print runs)



I just checked out the blurb for this book and it sounds kind of insane, but in the best way. I always thought it would just be kind of like pre-Halo, but it sounds to have a more adventurous, and diverse, epic scope. Thanks for the heads-up


----------



## T & P (Sep 25, 2015)

not-bono-ever said:


> the martian. I only found there is a filum coming,like last week. its very good ' and even better when you realise it was originally self published


Bought it the other day and about 15% into it. Enjoying it so far.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Sep 25, 2015)

Another- A Spy Among Friends - The latest ben macintyre book ( I think - it came from a charity shop with a used London-Tokyo business class ticket as free extra- its about Kim Philby and his realtionship with another Spy. As usual, like Agent ZigZag and the like, its a gripping read if you like books thats are basically a load of facts, organised into a decent narrative


----------



## campanula (Sep 26, 2015)

One for DotCommunist, I think - just finished Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky. Dunno if you read any of his insects series - 10 long books, but I found them diverting, if somewhat silly, but enjoyed them enough to pick up his first sf attempt which, writing as the zoologist he once was, proved highly entertaining (although not for the spider-phobic). Suprisingly moving, a mish-mash of first contact, ark ships, ecology and yep, insects. What's not to like?
pm and I will pop it in the post.


----------



## Voley (Sep 28, 2015)

S☼I said:


> Just finished "All the pretty horses" by Cormac McCarthy - I'll be straight on with "The Crossing", now.
> 
> Voley I thought of you when I got to the passage about the train, it was really early on - it IS amazing. His descriptions are almost stream-of-consciousness and yet conversation in his books are masterpieces of "show, not tell". Giddy about how good the fucker is.


Ah, splendid.  Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. That section doesn't really need to be there to add to the plot, the characterisation, anything. Just creates the most incredible atmosphere. Absolutely loved it. If you want deep deep weirdness, give 'Child Of God' a go. I kept going 'Ah right so _this _is where Nick Cave gets it from'.


----------



## JimW (Sep 28, 2015)

Started this yesterday: The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England
Enjoyable so far, concentrating on the nitty gritty details of everyday life, like Shit Brook in Exeter where the toilet buckets got dumped. Well broken down by themes and pretty lively writing.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Sep 29, 2015)

S☼I said:


> Just finished "All the pretty horses" by Cormac McCarthy - I'll be straight on with "The Crossing", now.
> 
> Voley I thought of you when I got to the passage about the train, it was really early on - it IS amazing. His descriptions are almost stream-of-consciousness and yet conversation in his books are masterpieces of "show, not tell". Giddy about how good the fucker is.



One of the most overrated writers in modern literature imho. Horrific syntactical construction and blood meridian is basically teenage heavy metal fetish.


----------



## 8ball (Sep 29, 2015)

dialectician said:


> One of the most overrated writers in modern literature imho. Horrific syntactical construction and blood meridian is basically teenage heavy metal fetish.


 
Try Dean Koontz - you'll love him.


----------



## DangDarn (Sep 30, 2015)

In the midst of Ringworld. It's kind of awesome!


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 30, 2015)

Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron 


anthology of shorts collected by the tireless never-out-of-work Jonathan Strahan

quite good so far. Couple of moments of twee in some tales but it's a short story collection about fey witches and wizards so i was expecting a bit of that. Nobody has gone full Bombadil yet so thats ok


----------



## mentalchik (Sep 30, 2015)

8ball said:


> Try Dean Koontz - you'll love him.


 

Oi, there's nowt wrong with a bit of DK when you in the mood for some frippery and easy reading..........


----------



## mentalchik (Sep 30, 2015)

Just read Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury as i recently realised i hadn't ever read it....

Just started Extinction Game - Gary Gibson


----------



## inva (Oct 1, 2015)

I'm halfway through I Hear You Knockin' by Jeff Hannusch. It's a book about New Orleans R&B beginning in the 40s, mainly detailing various key people involved in the music scene there from the musicians to those on the record label and manufacturing/sales side of things. I'm not too bothered about the business aspects, but I suppose things like the collapse of Dover Records in 1968 had such a huge impact on R&B in the city that there's some interest there.

Anyway, there is plenty of fascinating information and stories of the era and if you are interested in that style of music then it is an excellent history.


----------



## pogo 10 (Oct 4, 2015)

Fairy tale of new york by miranda dickenson. Just started it last night, seems good.


----------



## A380 (Oct 4, 2015)

Clarissa Oakes by Patrick O'Brian. 15th in the Aubrey Maturin series. I am re-reading them for the first time but back to back. Have probably become a bit unhealthily immersed...


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 4, 2015)

Just finished Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, which is thoroughly recommended.

Next up, Limmy's Daft Wee Stories, which is hilarious.


----------



## weltweit (Oct 4, 2015)

I am reading Catch-22, Joseph Heller which I first read in 2013. Back then I read it fast and missed a lot of the details, this time I am taking my time and enjoying it a lot more.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 4, 2015)

Wee Free Men by Pratchett


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 4, 2015)

I don't know what to read next. Choose for me.
Scared by the seriousnes of The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin
Afraid of more disappointment from Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning
Believe the hype? Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie?
Another sci-fi classic perhaps? A Canticle For Liebnitz by Walter M. Miller?
Or should I finally get round to reading Mervyn Peake's Gormeghast Trilogy?


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 4, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> I don't know what to read next. Choose for me.
> Scared by the seriousnes of The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin
> Afraid of more disappointment from Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning
> Believe the hype? Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie?
> ...


canticle for leibowitz

its just such a good read.

Leckie after.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 4, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> canticle for leibowitz
> 
> its just such a good read.
> 
> Leckie after.


just discovered i was supposed to read Clare North's The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August, so might try that instead


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 6, 2015)

I've decided to defer the OU module I was about to start (20th Century Lit) for a year.
This means I can read for pleasure again, it's a lovely feeling 

I'm celebrating with David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks.
It's something I kept putting off reading while I was studying because it was too long.
I'm really enjoying it, it's great to be engrossed in a big chunky book again


----------



## belboid (Oct 6, 2015)

Just about to finish the Whispering Swarm, can't decide on the next one, tis a choice between:

Michael Moorcock - Coming of the Terraphiles
Lise Vogel - Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Toward a Unitary Theory 
Marlon James - A Brief History of Seven Killings
Raymond Chandler - The Long Goodbye
Philip Kerr - The Pale Criminal


----------



## ringo (Oct 6, 2015)

belboid said:


> Just about to finish the Whispering Swarm, can't decide on the next one, tis a choice between:
> 
> Marlon James - A Brief History of Seven Killings



I've just started this. Its already the best book on Jamaica and the best novel written by a Jamaican that I've ever read. I'm not convinced it will win the Booker even though its short listed - it's too visceral, includes some patois, just seems a bit too real for the Booker. Reminds me a bit so far of James Ellroy's American Tabloid, which covered the CIA's involvement in the JFK assassination etc. So far so bloody brilliant.


----------



## belboid (Oct 7, 2015)

ringo said:


> I've just started this. Its already the best book on Jamaica and the best novel written by a Jamaican that I've ever read. I'm not convinced it will win the Booker even though its short listed - it's too visceral, includes some patois, just seems a bit too real for the Booker. Reminds me a bit so far of James Ellroy's American Tabloid, which covered the CIA's involvement in the JFK assassination etc. So far so bloody brilliant.


cheers.  Finished Whispering Swarm last night, so am about ready for the next one, and this sounds very promising. 

Just to make sure tho...your reading challenge list is pretty solid, and makes you look reliable, but, just in case....... you did think that _Head On _was hilarious and one of, if not the, greatest rock autobiographies you've ever read, don't you?


----------



## ringo (Oct 7, 2015)

belboid said:


> cheers.  Finished Whispering Swarm last night, so am about ready for the next one, and this sounds very promising.
> 
> Just to make sure tho...your reading challenge list is pretty solid, and makes you look reliable, but, just in case....... you did think that _Head On _was hilarious and one of, if not the, greatest rock autobiographies you've ever read, don't you?



Cheeky fucker


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 7, 2015)

Pratchett 'Rising Steam'

rail comes to ankh morpork. Its funny and a light read. Bloody alzhiemers.


----------



## moon (Oct 8, 2015)

This is sort of not in the right forum but...
The Mortal Instruments book series by Cassandra Clare has been turned into a TV series!!!
Here is the first teaser trailer, it looks like it was filmed on someones phone at an exclusive press event a few hrs ago...


----------



## moon (Oct 9, 2015)

And the Lady Midnight book cover artwork has just been released 


I am actually in love with this artwork...


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 10, 2015)

Oh, I didn't know she had a new one out. Is it set in the same world as Mortal Instruments?


----------



## moon (Oct 10, 2015)

Orang Utan  Yes 5 years on, centred around the Los Angeles institute and Emma Carstairs, that's the girl in the artwork, she is holding Cortana 

How many have you read? Did you also read the Infernal Devices?


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 10, 2015)

moon said:


> Orang Utan  Yes 5 years on, centred around the Los Angeles institute and Emma Carstairs, that's the girl in the artwork, she is holding Cortana
> 
> How many have you read? Did you also read the Infernal Devices?


I haven't read any of them, but they have been very popular in schools i have worked at. the mortal instruments books seem to get fatter and fatter just like the harry potter series


----------



## 8den (Oct 13, 2015)

The Heart Goes Last, the new Margaret Atwood. Struggling with it at the moment, not her best work.


----------



## belboid (Oct 13, 2015)

ringo said:


> I'm not convinced it will win the Booker even though its short listed - it's too visceral, includes some patois, just seems a bit too real for the Booker.


Good thing you're not a betting man. 

I've enjoyed the little bit I've read so far.


----------



## nogojones (Oct 13, 2015)

I've been reading Paul Routledges biog of Airey Neave- Public Servant, Secret Agent: The Enigmatic Life and Violent Death of... and I got up to the early 70's, but I've gone and lost the fucking book. I was mainly reading it because I've heard Routledge thinks British spooks rather than the INLA offed him, but as it stands I'll never find out 

If it doesn't show up in the next couple of weeks I might have to order a second copy.

In it's absence I've started Jack Londons Mutiny on the Elsinore. I picked an old Mills & Boon hardback copy, which I think is 100 years old for 20p in a 2nd hand shop a couple of years back and so far its pretty engaging. He's got a way with characters' and some of them are sailors from the last of the slave ships. Two chapters in and I'm well up for it.

I've also been reading Poisonous Plants by Frantisek Stary  as a bog book and it's pretty shit (no pun intended) - but I've started it so I feel compelled to see it through. I think its translated from Czech, so that might be part of the problem, but it reads as a botanist/ homeopath trying to explain poisons/medicines, through the medium of poor Czech to English translation.

It covers about 120 poisonous plants including that deadly weed Cannabis sativa , and discusses the homeopathic uses of many of the plants, which makes me doubt the usefulness of any of its content.


----------



## ringo (Oct 14, 2015)

belboid said:


> Good thing you're not a betting man.
> 
> I've enjoyed the little bit I've read so far.



Finished it 5 minutes before it won, it deserves it. Great for Jamaican literature, expecting a whole new wave of bright authors following on from him now. The judges must have a thing for historical fiction atrocities after all that Hilary Mantel


----------



## sojourner (Oct 14, 2015)

In work:  'The Story of Us' edited by Teika Bellamy. An anthology of prose and poetry, with that theme. I'm in it but there's loads of great poems and prose in there too. 

At home:  just started a collection of ghost stories edited by Audrey Niffenegger, called 'Ghostly'. I bloody LOVE ghost stories. They combine my two favourite things - short stories, and suspense.


----------



## weltweit (Oct 14, 2015)

I am still half way through Catch 22.
I read a whole chapter last night - but seem always to be half way though!


----------



## pogo 10 (Oct 15, 2015)

A parcel for anna browne by miranda dickinson, got it from the library today, should tide me over for the weekend. Enjoyed her last book that i took back to library today.


----------



## weltweit (Oct 15, 2015)

I am yet to visit and register at my new local library. Catch 22 is taking me so long that there seems no hurry but on the other hand, I don't want to be without a book.


----------



## campanula (Oct 16, 2015)

was marooned, bookless, at the horsebox and had no choice but to read 'The Damned United' (charity shop buy)...which in fact, skipped by at pace (those repetitive short sentences David Peace uses!)
Back on the sf trail, waiting on Brasyl and The Dervish House (Ian McDonald).


----------



## inva (Oct 16, 2015)

I'm just making a start on It Always Rains on Sunday by Arthur La Bern. I thought I'd give it a go as I've seen the film of it which is excellent so I'm hoping the book will be as good.


----------



## moonsi til (Oct 16, 2015)

I have never finished Catch 22 but started it many, many times. Currently reading 'Do No Harm' by Henry Marsh & Rick Stein's autobiography.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 16, 2015)

Finished 'Breakfast with Lucian' by Geordie Greig this week - a journalists take on spending time with Lucian Freud (if anyone wants a copy by the way, i have it on an ebook, PM me). I'm bananas for Freuds art and didnt like this book at all - read like a load of Daily Mail columns stitched together, there are occasional insights. I'm sure Lucian himself would've hated it. I hope a more deserved biography is forthcoming. In the meantime (if you like his art) i highly recommend 'Man with a blue scarf: On sitting for a painting by Lucian Freud' by Martin Gayford, which is amazing. I think i have written about this before.

to save you time, here's what i wrote a few years ago 

Finished '*Man with a blue scarf. On sitting for a portrait by Lucian Freud'* by Martin Gayford. Wow what a treasure - it was this guy who sat for the notoriously idiosyncratic and intriguing Freud documenting his experience of posing for him, every day for 9 months, and their conversations. Some of them you couldnt make it up, hanging with the Krays in the 40's, why Freud didnt like real models, his thoughts on horses, his grandfather, why he radically changed his artistic style overnight in the 50's, love of game meats and claret. I would recommend this book to anyone, it was a joy from start to finish, also illustrated with his paintings and all about them on the opposite page.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Oct 18, 2015)

Just finished Empty Space, the last of M. John Harrison's Kefahuchi Tract trilogy. For something which originally seemed a bit like an excercise in style over substance, it was quite moving really. I still don't have a fucking clue what happened, but none of the characters ever understand what's happening to them either so that seems entirely appropriate.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Oct 18, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Believe the hype? Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie?



It is pretty bloody good. Can't think of another recent sci-fi novel that's actually lived up to the fuss made about it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 18, 2015)

Ancillary Mercy is out this month, completing the trilogy.


----------



## bimble (Oct 18, 2015)

You know that feeling when you finish a book and feel at all at a loss, all bereft and abandoned because it was so damn good? 
That's just happened to me, because The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux. 
That's how good it is. So now I don't know what to do.


----------



## moon (Oct 22, 2015)

I'm trying to 'read' Outlander on Audible.. but the main character is so annoying and its 32 hours long! Booktube made me get it..


----------



## sojourner (Oct 23, 2015)

Just finished 'Your Father Sends His Love' by Stuart Evers. Fucking hell - what a brilliant writer!!! Seriously impressed. Original style, finely crafted stories. Absolutely loved it and totally recommend it.


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 23, 2015)

I'm half-way through Firehouse by David Halberstam, an account of one fire station in New York and the men that tragically responded on 09/11. Very poignant so far.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Oct 27, 2015)

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind -  Yuval Noah Harari

Not so much a history book and theres a fair few things he glosses over (Steam power wasn't just ignored, it took centuries for the metalwork capable of actually harnessing it to be in place) but its a good hard look at modern culture and how we got to where we are today.


----------



## ringo (Oct 28, 2015)

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley ~ bit of a slow starter, but even when nothing is happening the language is an absolute marvel. Now that it's getting clever and scary it's fantastic.


----------



## Pickman's model (Oct 28, 2015)

stalin 1878-1928 by stephen kotkin, very good tho only about 40 pages in.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 28, 2015)

ringo said:


> Frankenstein by Mary Shelley ~ bit of a slow starter, but even when nothing is happening the language is an absolute marvel. Now that it's getting clever and scary it's fantastic.


Fantastic book that!


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 28, 2015)

I despised victor frankenstein. Not even strong enough to take ownership of his own evil hubris, to revel in it. Sees someone else hang for his monsters crimes. Just a whiny prick


----------



## Diamond (Oct 28, 2015)

Just started The Easter Parade by Richard Yates, which on the first few chapters reading is brilliant.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 29, 2015)

Halfway through 'Mr Holmes' by Mitch Cullin. Loving it. Tender, poignant, and really very well written. Was engrossed last night.


----------



## flypanam (Oct 29, 2015)

Milovan Djilas - Coversations with Stalin. Really good, the journey from rapture to disillusionment is beautifully written.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Nov 1, 2015)

Today i finished Thelonious Monk, Life and Times of an an American Original, By Robin D.Kelley. It's at once an indepth biography of the High Priest of Bebop and scholarly examination of his music...amazing.

Its a mindblowing adventure around 40's and 50's New York - i felt like Thelonious himself was leading me by his sacred hands around Mintons, The Five Spot and other places. Anyone reading this book will feel incredibly intensified like me.

I listened to the tunes all the way....i stopped and read annotated notes all the way and listened to Monks tunes every day, i know his stuff anyway but its an extraodrinarily fun journey if you want to get to know Monk and his music...

(there was a mistake in it about Brendan Behan on page 359 but its a minor error, i wrote to the author about it, its fine...!!)

I had this book on my radar for about two years and finally got round to reading it and it was so infectious, just like his music. I cannot put into words my feelings about this book better than someone on amazon has, so this is it:

_Painstakingly researched and passionately written with a strong story line,"Monk" grips the reader from start to finish.The author gets behind the Monk character and psyche to portray what made him tick,how did he think and what went behind the man whose compositions and playing style continue to captivate millions even today as it confused thousands during his time.One lives and breathes each scene as you sit along with Monk as he relentlessly composes each of his tunes, rehearses with his sidemen and makes his recordings.

You are with him and the other greats at his gigs at Mintons, Five Spot, the 52nd Street clubs, Newport and all of Europe You are by his side as he scuffles and suffers poverty,house fires,mental illness,ridicule by critics and social ostracization....before gaining recognition.. You come within talking and breathing distance of Diz, Bird,Coltrane,Miles,Charlie Rouse,Bud Powell,Elmo Hope, and so many more that one has heard and read about.... its unbelievably realistic...
If you are a jazz person, this book has to be by your bedside, not just on your shelf.
_

_




_


----------



## marty21 (Nov 1, 2015)

just started ' Week To Ten Days ' by Raphael Dogg

who happens to be a mate of mine (not called Raphael Dogg IRL) I'm hoping to be able to give him good feedback.


----------



## ringo (Nov 2, 2015)

Kill Your Friends - John Niven
Dark and gruesome murder and drugs in the 90's London music business. Irvine Welsh/Bret Easton Ellis style extremes but probably fairly close to the reality of the music business, bar the murders. New film of it looks good.


----------



## JimW (Nov 2, 2015)

For some reason was thinking about Ulverton by Adam Thorpe that I read years ago and recall really enjoying. Didn't realise he'd written more since so rather than reread that got Hodd, his take on Robin Hood which I'm really enjoying. Conceit is it's a translated manuscript found in a bombed out church in WWI, the aged memories of a guilty monk who ran with the Free Spirit heretic outlaw Robert Hodd when a boy. About halfway in and finding it a good story with credible ideas and the same great turns of phrase I remembered him having in the other one.


----------



## marty21 (Nov 4, 2015)

marty21 said:


> just started ' Week To Ten Days ' by Raphael Dogg
> 
> who happens to be a mate of mine (not called Raphael Dogg IRL) I'm hoping to be able to give him good feedback.


 thankfully it was excellent - Conspiracy thriller - guns, ex special forces, big business, betrayal and double cross, very complex, blurring between good guys and bad guys - a jolly good romp if you like these sorts of books


----------



## JimW (Nov 7, 2015)

Most of the way through Alan Garner's Stone Quartet which must be one of the best things I've read for years, four stories of generations of the same family down the years subtly linked. Each turns on some particular moment in a child's growing, nothing unlikely but written so you understand the import and he beautifully conveys all sorts of social and family information in details and natural interactions. Barely a spare word but one of the most satisfying bits of writing I can recall for a long time.


----------



## StoneRoad (Nov 7, 2015)

About a quarter of the way into "Killing Hope" by William Blum.
reading it as a follow up to his book "Rogue State"
They both make very interesting reading, but not really relaxing stuff.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Nov 8, 2015)

The Talsiman - Peter Straub/Stephen King

Takes a while to get going but not bad.


----------



## marty21 (Nov 8, 2015)

The Red House - Raphael Dogg , 2nd Kindle novel by my friend Raphael Dogg


----------



## oneunder (Nov 8, 2015)

Artaxerxes said:


> The Talsiman - Peter Straub/Stephen King
> 
> Takes a while to get going but not bad.


theres also a sequel.   if you enjoy the talisman try his dark tower series.  its sort of based in the same universe.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Nov 8, 2015)

oneunder said:


> theres also a sequel.   if you enjoy the talisman try his dark tower series.  its sort of based in the same universe.



I read the first couple of books of those many years ago, always meant to give them another go now they are finished, but theres just so bloody many its hard to motivate myself


----------



## oneunder (Nov 8, 2015)

Yeah,i waited until it was complete. Insomnia was my favourite non-early novel. It was great too.


----------



## ringo (Nov 9, 2015)

John Crow's Devil - Marlon James. Pretty good, well written, but a bit heavy on the theology for my tastes.


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 9, 2015)

Following a recommendation from ringo I'm finally getting round to reading something by Kate Atkinson.
I've started with_ Life after Life, _and I'm really enjoying it - thought-provoking and absorbing, I was glad it was wet and windy this weekend as it gave me the perfect excuse to stay indoors and read!


----------



## sojourner (Nov 10, 2015)

Just finished Thirteen Chairs by Dave Shelton. I didn't realise it was a kid/teenage book til I started reading it. It was okay, a few decent ghost stories in there, interesting narrative framework.


----------



## belboid (Nov 11, 2015)

It's all about the numbers at the mo.....

Quarter of the way through A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James.  Which is excellent, but not a light read, it's taking me some time.  And the next two lined up are not dissimilar:

Umberto Eco - Numero Zero - always a breeze our Umberto, and this looks fun, relatively short for hi, about the laughs and giggles of seventies Italian politics.

Jonathan Coe - Number 11.  His eleventh book, and a follow up to his best, What A Carve Up!

I'm gonna have to throw in some nice light ones so I can reach my reading target this year


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 12, 2015)

Morrissey's autobiography. I see he had a miserable schooling, too.


----------



## Idris2002 (Nov 12, 2015)

Pickman's model said:


> stalin 1878-1928 by stephen kotkin, very good tho only about 40 pages in.


Is that the one that claims that Lenin's Testament was a forgery?


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 12, 2015)

Idris2002 said:


> Is that the one that claims that Lenin's Testament was a forgery?


quite possibly, i haven't got that far. but it's a while since i read another biography of stalin (e.g. deutscher, service, radzinsky, amis, volkogonov, montefiore) and i couldn't say definitively it's not one of those.


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 12, 2015)

Idris2002 said:


> Is that the one that claims that Lenin's Testament was a forgery?


you might find this interesting Forgery of Lenin's Testament


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 12, 2015)

Pickman's model said:


> quite possibly, i haven't got that far. but it's a while since i read another biography of stalin (e.g. deutscher, service, radzinsky, amis, volkogonov, montefiore) and i couldn't say definitively it's not one of those.


wsws doesn't like it A review of Stephen Kotkin’s <em>Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928</em>: Part four - World Socialist Web Site


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 12, 2015)

Idris2002 said:


> Is that the one that claims that Lenin's Testament was a forgery?


apparently so http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/books/stalin-paradoxes-of-power-by-stephen-kotkin.html?_r=0


----------



## sojourner (Nov 16, 2015)

Currently attempting to plough through Little Sister Death by William Gay, but by god he makes it difficult. He pretty much smashes every single one of Elmore Leonard's 10 rules of writing. I might have to give up on it. Sick of wading through turgid fucking landscape and sensory descriptions.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 16, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Currently attempting to plough through Little Sister Death by William Gay, but by god he makes it difficult. He pretty much smashes every single one of Elmore Leonard's 10 rules of writing. I might have to give up on it. Sick of wading through turgid fucking landscape and sensory descriptions.


Sounds dreadful but there are many amazing writers out there who hold no truck with such rules.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 16, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Sounds dreadful but there are many amazing writers out there who hold no truck with such rules.


True, but as a rule of thumb, it generally works.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 16, 2015)

sojourner said:


> True, but as a rule of thumb, it generally works.


For certain kinds of writing, for sure, especially crime thrillers and westerns like wot Leonard wrote. But a lot of 'literary' writing doesn't follow many of those rules.
Have you read any WG Sebald? He's my mum's favourite writer. Don't get on with him myself, partly because HE DOESN'T DO PARAGRAPHS! but he's a very well regarded writer all the same.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 16, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> For certain kinds of writing, for sure, especially crime thrillers and westerns like wot Leonard wrote. But a lot of 'literary' writing doesn't follow many of those rules.
> Have you read any WG Sebald? He's my mum's favourite writer. Don't get on with him myself, partly because HE DOESN'T DO PARAGRAPHS! but he's a very well regarded writer all the same.


We shall agree to disagree on this. No paragraphs? I've read books like that before.  All well and good experimenting but don't make your book unreadable.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 16, 2015)

Sometimes it pays off - the effort. For exemple, Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker and Will Self's The Book Of Dave.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 16, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Sometimes it pays off - the effort. For exemple, Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker and Will Self's The Book Of Dave.


Book of Dave was so incredibly good that I let him off, just the once.  I'm with Doris on this, life is wayyyy too fucking short to waste on books you're not enjoying.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 16, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Book of Dave was so incredibly good that I let him off, just the once.  I'm with Doris on this, life is wayyyy too fucking short to waste on books you're not enjoying.


Totally! Which Doris? Doris Lessing?


----------



## sojourner (Nov 16, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Totally! Which Doris? Doris Lessing?


Indeedy!


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 16, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Indeedy!


She swears like a docker!


----------



## flypanam (Nov 17, 2015)

Dragana Jurisic - Yu: the lost country

A recreation of Rebecca West's journey around Yugoslavia.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 17, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> She swears like a docker!




Anyhoo, in complete contrast, having lobbed the William Gay back ont shelf, I razzed through 3/4 of Slade House by David Mitchell last night, and it is a fucking STORMINGLY good read!!


----------



## Idris2002 (Nov 17, 2015)

Currently reading the Lord of the Rings. 

The theme of this book is death, and its inevitability.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 17, 2015)

Idris2002 said:


> Currently reading the Lord of the Rings.
> 
> The theme of this book is death, and its inevitability.


Can be summed up thus:

SCRAP! SCRAP!! SCRAAAAP!!


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 17, 2015)

speeches and elvish poems in sindarin as well. Occaisonal lapses into hobbit homeliness.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 20, 2015)

Finished Slade House by David Mitchell and need to read more by him. Absolutely fucking first class writing!

Started Ten Stories About Smoking by Stuart Evers last night (brilliant), as well an MR James collection. Brrr!!!


----------



## weltweit (Nov 20, 2015)

I have finally just about come to the end of Catch 22, by Joseph Heller, for the second time. But this time I have been reading slowly and thoroughly which means I am enjoying it a whole lot more than the first quick scan read which I did a couple of years ago.

I mainly read at night just before sleep, and sometimes have only managed a few pages before nodding off. I should finish it by the end of the weekend and then have an Ian Rankin book next.


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 20, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Finished Slade House by David Mitchell and need to read more by him. Absolutely fucking first class writing!
> 
> Started Ten Stories About Smoking by Stuart Evers last night (brilliant), as well an MR James collection. Brrr!!!



I only popped my David Mitchell cherry a couple of months ago (with The Bone Clocks). Looking forward to working my way through everything else he's ever written!


----------



## sojourner (Nov 20, 2015)

BoatieBird said:


> I only popped my David Mitchell cherry a couple of months ago (with The Bones Clocks). Looking forward to working my way through everything else he's every written!


You know what, I kept wondering if it was the Peep Show David Mitchell, and didn't dare look it up in case I accidentally came across a spoiler. Finished it and there on the inside back cover was a photo of...the real David Mitchell 

He's amazing eh?  Yeh I might even treat meself and buy some for a change - there's no more of him in the library!


----------



## getsleep (Nov 21, 2015)

Trying my best to get through Kahterine dunn and her marvellous book Geek Love - woohooo very weird but I love it, so many freaks inside, best one I read for a while!


----------



## bimble (Nov 21, 2015)

50 shades translated into farsi, as a feminist text.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Nov 21, 2015)

Finished Horace Panter's book 'Ska'd for Life.' It's a very frank account of gigging and how The Specials fell apart but I was a little disappointed - he seems like a distant person and a bit of a square (albeit brilliant bass player), even a bit boring but he admits this candidly and I quite liked him by the end of the book. I had to read this cos they are my favourite band, and I think Jerry Dammers is one of the greatest songwriters of all time (up there with Prince and Gershwin). I am a little in love with Jerry - not just his music but his fiercely anti racist stance and persona and mystique - wish he would write a book (so does Horace - of course he never will!!).

To give Horace credit, he is extremely honest and can be very funny at times. He admits his own shortcomings and is a very humble man, deserved of the sobriquet 'Horace Gentleman.' I look forward to also reading Neville Staples autobiography, which i imagine will be much more insightful, colourful and cheeky.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Nov 21, 2015)

I am now around 100 pages into 'The Secret History' - its amazing of course. Donna Tartt is a treasure. Will post more when im finished.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Nov 21, 2015)

Recently finished "The Oversight" by Charlie Fletcher - a historical fantasy novel for "young adults". Very good, and uses some of the tropes from their previous "Stoneheart" trilogy.
Currently reading "The Deluge" by Adam Tooze.


----------



## bimble (Nov 21, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Sometimes it pays off - the effort. For exemple, Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker and Will Self's The Book Of Dave.


You're putting those two books on equal footings? Really truly?


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 21, 2015)

Cheesypoof said:


> I am now around 100 pages into 'The Secret History' - its amazing of course. Donna Tartt is a treasure. Will post more when im finished.


Its the only thing I've read by her but its a corker of a book. Stayed with me for ages


I'm reading Truecrime by Jake Arnott. Its a cerebral take on the crime fic stories. I'm always impressed when people can dovetail multiple 1st person narrators witout tripping the plot up


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 21, 2015)

bimble said:


> You're putting those two books on equal footings? Really truly?


For sure!


----------



## bimble (Nov 21, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> For sure!


But..  really ? 
Riddley Walker is an example of why it's worth your time time to read something that isn't like totally easy from page one. Hoban is/was a writer full of humanity and humour and wisdom and that particular book is the essence of all of those things.
The dave book on the other hand, whilst on the surface a passable copy of the above,  is just another cynical throwaway I'm so clever airport paperback.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 21, 2015)

bimble said:


> But..  really ?
> Ridley Walker is an example of why it's worth your time time to read something that isn't like totally easy from page one. Hoban is/was a writer full of humanity and humour and wisdom and that particular book is the essence of all of those things.
> The dave book on the other hand, whilst on the surface a passable copy of the above,  is just another cynical throwaway I'm so clever airport paperback.


I don't agree at all. But it's Saturday night. Another time!


----------



## bimble (Nov 21, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> I don't agree at all. But it's Saturday night. Another time!


I respect you for your flag changing, even though your reading leaves a lot to be desired. Go forth and party.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 21, 2015)

bimble said:


> I respect you for your flag changing, even though your reading leaves a lot to be desired. Go forth and party.


Have you read Paul Kingsnorth's The Wake? 
Another addition to the odd English canon


----------



## bimble (Nov 21, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Have you read Paul Kingsnorth's The Wake?
> Another addition to the odd English canon


No i haven't, and quite frankly not taking recommendations from you given your above displayed lack of judgement.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 21, 2015)

bimble said:


> No i haven't, and quite frankly not taking recommendations from you given your above displayed lack of judgement.


How conceited. Never mind.


----------



## bimble (Nov 21, 2015)

Ok apologies. Will put on list then come back and annoy you when I've read it


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 21, 2015)

bimble said:


> Ok apologies. Will put on list then come back and annoy you when I've read it



Don't judge a person by one book they have read and liked just cos you haven't!


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 23, 2015)

Brazil Maru by Karen Tei Yamashita. Japanese immigrants in Brazil and the lives they lead.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 23, 2015)

Three Moments of an Explosion by China Mieville

I was going to buy it but then I saw the contents. The swine has included not one but two stories from 'Looking for Jake' in it! cheeky cunt. Downloaded, I'm not paying twice


----------



## JimW (Nov 23, 2015)

I got a thumping great hardback set of Fernand Braudel's Civilisation and Capitalism shelfbender trilogy from a local charity shop (eight quid and hardly read I reckon!)and have finally got round to starting it. Read a fair bit abou tthe period he's covering but still finding a lot of interesting new stuff. he's definitely not in the PC brigade with some of his language, and I don't think you can blame the translator. See if I can make it the whole way through, only a few hundred pages into Volume One (Structures of Everyday Life) so far.
ETA or put another way, will I make it for _la longue durée_?


----------



## hash tag (Nov 24, 2015)

Just getting to the end of Alan Johnson's Please Mr postman, great book. This follows straight on from This Boy. His poor sister, grief


----------



## ringo (Nov 24, 2015)

Cheesypoof said:


> Finished Horace Panter's book 'Ska'd for Life.' It's a very frank account of gigging and how The Specials fell apart but I was a little disappointed - he seems like a distant person and a bit of a square (albeit brilliant bass player), even a bit boring but he admits this candidly and I quite liked him by the end of the book. I had to read this cos they are my favourite band, and I think Jerry Dammers is one of the greatest songwriters of all time (up there with Prince and Gershwin). I am a little in love with Jerry - not just his music but his fiercely anti racist stance and persona and mystique - wish he would write a book (so does Horace - of course he never will!!).
> 
> To give Horace credit, he is extremely honest and can be very funny at times. He admits his own shortcomings and is a very humble man, deserved of the sobriquet 'Horace Gentleman.' I look forward to also reading Neville Staples autobiography, which i imagine will be much more insightful, colourful and cheeky.



I've had Panter's book for years but never got round to it. Their first LP is still my favourite album; can't bring myself to read a history of them that isn't like a speed fuelled riot.
Read Neville Staples' autobiography this year though and it's packed full of great stories which really live up to expectations.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 24, 2015)

Finished MR James' 'A Haunted Doll's House and other stories'. There was one story on about how a fella's reading in his room, and keeps thinking he sees bats out of the corner of his eye. Then it says 'what if something other flopped over the windowsill, hairy and' and just at that point the fucking cat landed on the table next to me and I shot about 6 foot in the fucking air   THIS is why I can't read ghost stories when the fella isn't home!!


----------



## sojourner (Nov 24, 2015)

Anyway, it was brilliant, although he is of that time where they use six words when one would suffice.

I also started and finished 'Beautiful You' by Chuck Palahnuik. Brilliant!!


----------



## belboid (Nov 25, 2015)

Got through Slade House by David Mitchell, yesterday. A light, amusing, companion piece to Bone Clocks, which works better in some ways for being shorter, although I don't know if I'd have bought the final chapter without knowing the bigger backstory. It's interesting to see how he developed his twitter story into the first chapter, it works a hell of a lot better here than it did on twitter. But I do hope he has had his fill of Atemporals and Horology, as it is just silly.


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Nov 25, 2015)

belboid said:


> But I do hope he has had his fill of Atemporals and Horology, as it is just silly.



This.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 25, 2015)

Getting to the end of Michel Faber's The Book Of Strange New Things and am pretty much blown away. Best that you don't know anything about it before you read though


----------



## hash tag (Nov 25, 2015)

hash tag said:


> Just getting to the end of Alan Johnson's Please Mr postman, great book. This follows straight on from This Boy. His poor sister, grief



Just finished. Another well written, interesting and very engaging book from AJ taking is his start in the unions, his ride up the scale and interest in politics.


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Nov 25, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Getting to the end of Michel Faber's The Book Of Strange New Things and am pretty much blown away. Best that you don't know anything about it before you read though



Don't see why that's more the case here than for any other theological speculative fiction.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 25, 2015)

Maurice Picarda said:


> Don't see why that's more the case here than for any other theological speculative fiction.


Didn't say it was. I just knew very little about it when I picked it up and was glad I didn't read any reviews in detail.
I also didn't know anything about Under The Skin when I read that. Glad of it too.


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Nov 25, 2015)

Under the Skin is like the one about the family with an adoptive monkey, though, there's a good case for reviewers to tread carefully.


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 25, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> Its the only thing I've read by her but its a corker of a book. Stayed with me for ages


 
FFS man sort yourself out . Donna Tartt's only written three books and they're all excllent.

Put down whatever sci fi nonsense you're reading and get stuck into The Little Friend


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 25, 2015)

belboid said:


> Got through Slade House by David Mitchell, yesterday. A light, amusing, companion piece to Bone Clocks, which works better in some ways for being shorter, although I don't know if I'd have bought the final chapter without knowing the bigger backstory. It's interesting to see how he developed his twitter story into the first chapter, it works a hell of a lot better here than it did on twitter. But I do hope he has had his fill of Atemporals and Horology, as it is just silly.


I'll get this next. And I hope he flogs the horology horse for a few more books because its cool.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 25, 2015)

belboid said:


> Got through Slade House by David Mitchell, yesterday. A light, amusing, companion piece to Bone Clocks, which works better in some ways for being shorter, although I don't know if I'd have bought the final chapter without knowing the bigger backstory. It's interesting to see how he developed his twitter story into the first chapter, it works a hell of a lot better here than it did on twitter. But I do hope he has had his fill of Atemporals and Horology, as it is just silly.


Oh.  I read Slade House first and have just bought Bone Clocks. I didn't realise they were linked, although I did get an inkling cos of something mentioned at the end of Slade House.  

Will I be okay to read BC now do you think or have I bollocksed it up for myself belboid ?


----------



## belboid (Nov 25, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Oh.  I read Slade House first and have just bought Bone Clocks. I didn't realise they were linked, although I did get an inkling cos of something mentioned at the end of Slade House.
> 
> Will I be okay to read BC now do you think or have I bollocksed it up for myself belboid ?


oh, you'll be fine.  There are a few things that you will pick up on rather sooner than you would otherwise have done, but it wont make a massive difference.  Plus, the joy of Mitchell is his skill with finally crafted sentences and endearing characters, rather than his stories, which are merely conduits for him to show off his cleverness.

Which isn't a bad thing, I hasten to add.


Did the end work for you, by the way?  Or did it seem just a bit barking?


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 25, 2015)

Maurice Picarda said:


> Under the Skin is like the one about the family with an adoptive monkey, though, there's a good case for reviewers to tread carefully.


That's one book I have that I probably won't read because of that spoiler and I don't normally give a shit about them


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Nov 25, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> That's one book I have that I probably won't read because of that spoiler and I don't normally give a shit about them



I didn't say what book it was, though.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 25, 2015)

Maurice Picarda said:


> I didn't say what book it was, though.


I know, but down the drain we go. Now i know why people get the arse about it.
Though I have a friend who would admonish me for saying The Call Of The Wild had a dog in it.


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Nov 25, 2015)

It's still very much worth reading.


----------



## belboid (Nov 25, 2015)

Just finished Numero Zero by Umberto Eco, a farcical satire on the media and conspiracy theories (what else?) set just before the rise of Berlusconi. Only 150 pages, easy to knock out in one sitting. Not his best or most subtle by a long chalk, but an entertaining read where you know some bits of the CT are true (as in really, actually, true) and other surely aren't, but other bits..it's hard to say unless you know a lot about post war Italian politics. 

Had anyone told me at the beginning of the year that I'd complete entire books by David Mitchell and Umberto Eco in a day apiece, I'd have said they were barking.


----------



## ringo (Nov 26, 2015)

Maurice Picarda said:


> the one about the family with an adoptive monkey



I found that one to be a bit shit. Not nearly as clever as it thought it was.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 26, 2015)

belboid said:


> oh, you'll be fine.  There are a few things that you will pick up on rather sooner than you would otherwise have done, but it wont make a massive difference.  Plus, the joy of Mitchell is his skill with finally crafted sentences and endearing characters, rather than his stories, which are merely conduits for him to show off his cleverness.
> 
> Which isn't a bad thing, I hasten to add.
> 
> ...


Oh good!!  Well I wouldn't bank on that. My chronically shit memory means that I generally don't remember most of the content of a book (even ones I have LOVED) as little as 2 weeks after reading it. I hate that about my memory but there's not much I can do about it. I just have to enjoy the book whilst reading it.

Anyhoo, yes, he is an outrageously fine writer! 

Nope, it worked fine actually, the end. I thought it was really interesting


----------



## izz (Nov 27, 2015)

rereading Child of God by Cormac McCarthy. His imagination is straight from hell but his prose from heaven.
'Going up a track of a road through the quarry woods where all about lay enormous blocks and tablets of stone weathered grey and grown with deep green moss, toppled monoliths among the trees and vines like traces of an older race of man. This rainy summer day. He passed a dark lake of silent jade where the moss walls rose sheer and plumb and a small blue bird sat slant upon a guywire in the void.'


----------



## ViolentPanda (Nov 28, 2015)

Currently enjoying "The Great Cat Massacre and other episodes in French cultural history" by Robert Darnton.


----------



## mentalchik (Nov 29, 2015)

Just finished The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers


----------



## Almost There (Nov 30, 2015)

The Twits - Roald Dahl


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 1, 2015)

ringo said:


> I've had Panter's book for years but never got round to it. Their first LP is still my favourite album; can't bring myself to read a history of them that isn't like a speed fuelled riot.
> Read Neville Staples' autobiography this year though and it's packed full of great stories which really live up to expectations.



Just ordered Neville's book 'Original Rude Boy: From Borstal to The Specials, A life of crime and music.' Thanks for the recommendation


----------



## nogojones (Dec 1, 2015)

A Sky Blue Life and other tales by Gorky


----------



## CharlyCoin (Dec 1, 2015)

At the moment I don’t read any books… not because I don’t want to, but I often simply don’t have the time for reading, especially when I have to study for my exams. This year, I started three different books and they where extremely boring, so I finished reading after chapter 3 every time. Fifty Shades of Grey were the last book(s) I have read but only because I wanted to understand the hype they have caused… I still don’t  but I have to confirm: they weren’t as boring as I expected


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 1, 2015)

CharlyCoin said:


> At the moment I don’t read any books… not because I don’t want to, but I often simply don’t have the time for reading, especially when I have to study for my exams. This year, I started three different books and they where extremely boring, so I finished reading after chapter 3 every time. Fifty Shades of Grey were the last book(s) I have read but only because I wanted to understand the hype they have caused… I still don’t  but I have to confirm: they weren’t as boring as I expected


What books were they?


----------



## izz (Dec 2, 2015)

Just finished Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson. Well worth a read, her Life After Life was very good as well and I think I may have found another favourite author to keep me amused in the wait for the final part of the Thomas Cromwell trilogy by Mantel.


----------



## ringo (Dec 2, 2015)

izz said:


> Just finished Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson. Well worth a read, her Life After Life was very good as well and I think I may have found another favourite author to keep me amused in the wait for the final part of the Thomas Cromwell trilogy by Mantel.



I started Behind the Scenes at the Museum last night, enjoying it so far. Only read one of the Brodie books before but reckon on getting everything she's done after that.


----------



## mentalchik (Dec 2, 2015)

Railsea - China Mieville


----------



## izz (Dec 3, 2015)

Started By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. About half way through and am nearly weeping too 

It's probably a work of sheer genius and maybe when I've reread it a time or two I'll appreciate it properly.


----------



## Diamond (Dec 3, 2015)

A selection of short stories from Richard Yates (my new favourite writer), called "Eleven Kinds of Loneliness", which is fantastic.
Also Karl Ove Knausgaard's "A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven", which is very weird but also extremely interesting - spending the best part of 130 pages expanding on the story of Cain and Able is an example.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 3, 2015)

mentalchik said:


> Railsea - China Mieville


one of my faves from him, outside of the bas-lag books. Quite gory for a YA novel, suprised me that.


----------



## KeeperofDragons (Dec 4, 2015)

Everyday Life in Medieval London, dipping & out of t the Old Dog and Duck & London's Strangest Tales


----------



## flypanam (Dec 4, 2015)

Easter 1916: The Dublin Rebellion - Charles Townshend

Enjoyable read, only picked it up because I've just about recovered my interest in Irish history. Taken this long to get over lectures from Mary Daly and The Ferret. I have forgotten quite a lot of what happened, much to my shame.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 4, 2015)

Almost finished 'The Book of Memory' by Petina Gapah. It's quite good, not brilliant, and some interesting switcheroo stuff going on re unreliable narration.


----------



## dilberto (Dec 5, 2015)

Just finished Margaret Atwood's Stone Mattress a book of 9 short stories, some good some not quite so good. The themes of the stories I think may be a little overly concerned with ageing and aged characters but they are certainly still worth reading.

Have now begun reading Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 5, 2015)

Finished "Foxglove Summer" by Ben Aaronovitch, just starting "The Bone Clocks" by David Mitchell, and "Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening" by David Hendy.


----------



## belboid (Dec 7, 2015)

Halfway through 'That Fat of Fed Beasts' by Guy Ware.

It's an absurdist drama concerning bureaucracy and a bank robbery. It starts off running the risk of being too clever for its own good, but then takes a marvelous twist and everything, well, it doesn't fall into place, but a certain clarity is produced. And from then it just rolls on in highly am using fashion. Whether it can maintain this until the end, we'll see


----------



## sojourner (Dec 8, 2015)

Read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins last couple of days.  My daughter loved it and it was in the charity shop so gave it a go. I really enjoyed it, wasn't expecting to.  So went and got the next two out of the library today


----------



## belboid (Dec 9, 2015)

Having completed my target for the year, I can now finally start on Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries without fear that it will ruin my  chances of reaching my quota.


----------



## campanula (Dec 11, 2015)

Luna - new moon, Ian Macdonald. gloomy, very gloomy and (so far, 60 pages in), disliking most of the central characters. I always struggle with sf which follows the hackneyed fantasy trope of 'royal' families or general upper echelons of society as the major movers and shakers. Could be distracted by Neil Asher's 'Dark Intelligence' which arrived in the post (Dotty, I finally got to the local PO for you).
Also, just finished Bangkok Eight - John Burdett - a buddhist detective novel - amusing read.
What did you think of 'Foxglove Summer', VP? Aaronovitch has just recently appeared on my radar (Rivers of London) - would definitely read more (would certainly have been drawn towards 'Foxglove Summer' for title alone).


----------



## sojourner (Dec 15, 2015)

Racing through the Hunger Games trilogy. Am halfway through Mockingjay now. Fucking loving them - great storytelling!


----------



## ringo (Dec 15, 2015)

Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
Magic realism seems to be growing on me, might even manage to finish a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel one day. A book about love, food and sex, that's most of the good stuff in one helping


----------



## flypanam (Dec 15, 2015)

How the soldier repairs the gramophone - Sasa Stanisic.

Only read the first couple of pages so far but I'm enjoying it a lot. It's about the break up of Yugoslavia and the complex identities that were part of the Yugoslav experience, though I case Bosnian. One passage stands out so far is that the protagonist's grandfather dies of a heart attack just as Carl Lewis was setting the WR for 100 meter sprint.


----------



## little_legs (Dec 16, 2015)

I recently finished Elenanor Catton's _Luminaries_. I can't believe they gave her a Booker for this 832-page derivative of the Jungian archetypes. She basically wasted my time. The only valuable sentences in this book are about death: _We spend our entire lives thinking about death. Without that project to divert us, I expect we would all be dreadfully bored. We would have nothing to evade, and nothing to forestall, and nothing to wonder about. Time would have no consequence.
_
And yesterday I finished _A Brief History of Seven Killings _by Marlon James. He deserves every accolade he got this year. This book has been both educational and entertaining. Superb.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 18, 2015)

Just finished 'Grief is the thing with feathers' by Max Porter. I think you definitely need to have read Ted Hughes's The Crow to appreciate it, which is a shame, cos I haven't.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 18, 2015)

Reading this one


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 20, 2015)

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky,  thanks to campanula 

its pretty good, I've not read anything by him before but I like how un fluffy it is. Nods to David Brins uplift saga but where Brin would have swashed a few buckles and spun a yarn of derring do by now this author takes a different approach. What happens when uplift goes badly badly _wrong_


----------



## isvicthere? (Dec 20, 2015)

Got this out of Brixton library. Dark and dystopian.....


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 20, 2015)

Cheesypoof said:


> Just ordered Neville's book 'Original Rude Boy: From Borstal to The Specials, A life of crime and music.' Thanks for the recommendation
> 
> View attachment 80248



Finished this book from my sick bed, read it in two sittings. Very entertaining take, as one would only expect from Neville.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 21, 2015)

campanula said:


> Luna - new moon, Ian Macdonald. gloomy, very gloomy and (so far, 60 pages in), disliking most of the central characters. I always struggle with sf which follows the hackneyed fantasy trope of 'royal' families or general upper echelons of society as the major movers and shakers. Could be distracted by Neil Asher's 'Dark Intelligence' which arrived in the post (Dotty, I finally got to the local PO for you).
> Also, just finished Bangkok Eight - John Burdett - a buddhist detective novel - amusing read.
> What did you think of 'Foxglove Summer', VP? Aaronovitch has just recently appeared on my radar (Rivers of London) - would definitely read more (would certainly have been drawn towards 'Foxglove Summer' for title alone).



I liked it. There was some criticism that because it's set in "the sticks", that it's too much of a change of pace from the previous 4 novels, but it manages the great trick of allowing a lot of exposition about the history of the police's occult dept without the usual clunkiness. It's a good novel in an evolving saga.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 21, 2015)

Cheesypoof said:


> Finished this book from my sick bed, read it in two sittings. Very entertaining take, as one would only expect from Neville.



I love the way he seems to excuse his sexual incontinence every couple of pages.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 21, 2015)

"I Shot a Man in Reno: A History of Death by Murder, Suicide, Fire, Flood, Drugs, Disease and General Misadventure, as related in Popular Song" by Graeme Thomson. A very enjoyable exploration of songs about death.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 21, 2015)

ViolentPanda said:


> I love the way he seems to excuse his sexual incontinence every couple of pages.



He didnt make excuses, he's more 'take me for what i am.' He's an alpha male, and it sucks for the women he has hurt but  what you see is what you get and will never change.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Dec 21, 2015)

Dickens - Our Mutual Friend. 

I have no idea where the plot is gonna end up going but the prose and the characterisations are a source of limitless joy.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Dec 21, 2015)

Cheesypoof said:


> He didnt make excuses, he's more 'take me for what i am.' He's an alpha male, and it sucks for the women he has hurt but  what you see is what you get and will never change.



You realise you've contradicted yourself, don't you?


----------



## JimW (Dec 21, 2015)

SpookyFrank said:


> Dickens - Our Mutual Friend.
> 
> I have no idea where the plot is gonna end up going but the prose and the characterisations are a source of limitless joy.


Sounds good. On the Victorian classics front, after seeing it come top of that list for best British novel I'm reading Middlemarch which seems to get a mixed reception on here but I'm liking it, though maybe more as a succession of aphoristic/linguistic set pieces than as a story whose progression I care about.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Dec 21, 2015)

ViolentPanda said:


> You realise you've contradicted yourself, don't you?



Have it _your_ way VP....


----------



## sojourner (Dec 22, 2015)

'Heat' by Ranulph Fiennes.  I thought it was gonna be a lot more about 'just' exploring, but there's an absolute fuckton of military and historical detail in there too, which I am reading with the knowledge of his privileged background. It's different to how I thought in another way too. I pre-judged him - thought he would be much more tory/right wing/bigoted than he actually is. Some of it makes for a pleasant surprise, some of it is definitely tainted by that background. Inevitable I suppose. There's some surprising honesty in there too. I've been chuckling over him getting sacked from loads of postings, and actually working as a mercenary!

Being an explorer is up there with 'inventor' as one of my all-time most desired jobs.


----------



## campanula (Dec 22, 2015)

All parts of my house are reaching impassable states of squashing but I can only imagine that you, sojourner, read mainly e.books, live in a giant mansion or have 5 thousand bookish friends to donate to, because your reading rate is phenomenal...and books take up space. Of late, I am finding my eyelids are drooping after 10 pages or so and still books are overtaking the place (despite using them as furniture now). I have 2 flights of stairs which are rapidly becoming impossible to use unless you are very thin (or crab along sideways - my solution) and every room has shrunk by several feet due to shelves filling all the walls (the problems of living in the same house for 38years). I am going to box up some thousands and hope I can get World of Books or such to collect a vanload...unless anyone can come up with alternative ways of shedding too many books.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 22, 2015)

campanula said:


> All parts of my house are reaching impassable states of squashing but I can only imagine that you, sojourner, read mainly e.books, live in a giant mansion or have 5 thousand bookish friends to donate to, because your reading rate is phenomenal...and books take up space. Of late, I am finding my eyelids are drooping after 10 pages or so and still books are overtaking the place (despite using them as furniture now). I have 2 flights of stairs which are rapidly becoming impossible to use unless you are very thin (or crab along sideways - my solution) and every room has shrunk by several feet due to shelves filling all the walls (the problems of living in the same house for 38years). I am going to box up some thousands and hope I can get World of Books or such to collect a vanload...unless anyone can come up with alternative ways of shedding too many books.


I don't think it's phenomenal - I just have about 3 or 4 long periods of reading per week 

And...library books 

Do you not have a 'book-cycle' or anything like that round your way? Where you can give away books so people can share them for free?


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 22, 2015)

Just leave books in public places


----------



## sojourner (Dec 22, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Just leave books in public places


Trouble with that is that people fucking tidy them away into bins if they've not picked up by the end of the day


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 22, 2015)

theres a mini library scheme in the states where people put up like american post boxes but they are 'take a book, leave a book' resources. Great idea. The only reason I know of it is because of the anger of residents in a couple of southern states who had the localist scheme shut down citing local planning laws and that. Got it back up and running after a fight but what cunts. Planning my arse. Local goverment stuffed with right wingers who fear books more like


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 22, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Trouble with that is that people fucking tidy them away into bins if they've not picked up by the end of the day


My local offie has a book recycle book case.
And I spotted this in Lewisham last weekend:


----------



## izz (Dec 22, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Just finished 'Grief is the thing with feathers' by Max Porter. I think you definitely need to have read Ted Hughes's The Crow to appreciate it, which is a shame, cos I haven't.


Yunno, I've just finished this as well, disappointed it didn't even last me a day, disappointed in the prose. Still love crows. . Good tip about the Hughes reference, maybe I should get to that.

Re-reading Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, greatly re-enjoying them. Illustrates enormous events by the impact they have on a few, related by fate people. Highly recommended.


----------



## izz (Dec 22, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> And I spotted this in Lewisham last weekend:



lush.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 22, 2015)

izz said:


> Yunno, I've just finished this as well, disappointed it didn't even last me a day, disappointed in the prose. Still love crows. . Good tip about the Hughes reference, maybe I should get to that.
> 
> Re-reading Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, greatly re-enjoying them. Illustrates enormous events by the impact they have on a few, related by fate people. Highly recommended.


Yeh, I was a bit disappointed myself.  

That PB trilogy though, that's the fucking nuts that is


----------



## izz (Dec 22, 2015)

sojourner said:


> Yeh, I was a bit disappointed myself.
> 
> That PB trilogy though, that's the fucking nuts that is


fucking nuts indeed madam, veritably the poodles plums.


----------



## campanula (Dec 22, 2015)

izz said:


> Still love crows. . Good tip about the Hughes reference, maybe I should get to that.
> 
> You might enjoy Crow Country by Mark Cocker, Izz
> 
> ...


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 22, 2015)

Make art then:
https://uk.pinterest.com/rodlibrary/book-art/
Amazing artworks created from old books


----------



## izz (Dec 23, 2015)

campanula, sojourner if you're into your crows, Corvus: A Life with Birds: Esther Woolfson: 9781582435831: Amazon.com: Books is bladdy lovely and I may well reread it again very soon.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 23, 2015)

izz said:


> campanula, sojourner if you're into your crows, Corvus: A Life with Birds: Esther Woolfson: 9781582435831: Amazon.com: Books is bladdy lovely and I may well reread it again very soon.


Cheers, but although I love their sleekness, I'm not a crow afficionado or owt   I just liked the look of some of the text in the other book - was attracted to the narrative structure more than anything.


----------



## campanula (Dec 23, 2015)

I think corvids are remarkable birds - truly love them. When I was small, I used to know an old chap who raised jackdaws and hoodies from babies - they lived in the house, perching (and shitting) and would sit on his shoulder while he was eating dinner - he would reach up and offer them a piece of cheese. Sadly, many of them have taken to loitering in the vicinity of Burger Kings and McDs, getting horribly fat on a diet of chips and 'bread'.


----------



## Almost There (Dec 24, 2015)

White Teeth - Zadie Smith. It's a bit boring if I'm honest.


----------



## Sea Star (Dec 24, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> My local offie has a book recycle book case.
> And I spotted this in Lewisham last weekend:


There's one in Archway tube station too - noticed it last week.


----------



## snadge (Dec 27, 2015)

Just read Adinkranhene by Jeffrey Faulkerson, book one of an extremely tedious series (I imagine, can't be bothered to continue the saga even though it is free on my kindle unlimited account), if this book had been written in the late sixties or early seventies I could have related to it but it wasn't, it was written last year.

junk.

Full of racial stereotyping, pretty racist views and extremely improbable sci fi elements, just fucking garbage.


----------



## dilberto (Dec 29, 2015)

Just finished Michel Houellebecq's "Submission", the politics is very interesting even if some other parts of the book left me a bit cold.

It is the story of the beginning of the Islamic take over of France through the eyes of an academic. The secular left and bourgeois intellectuals eventually siding with the Islamic parties against the French nativists, so it has a certain plausibility and authenticity to it.


----------



## izz (Jan 2, 2016)

Just finished Bryson's "Road to little Dribbling" which was funny and wry as ever. Re-reading "The Missing" by Tim Gautreaux which is a lyrical tale of a chap's search for an abducted child. The prose is bloody lovely and thanks to my appalling memory of books read for pleasure the plot will come as a surprise.


----------



## Almost There (Jan 2, 2016)

Flicking through a grammar book I received for Christmas.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 2, 2016)

Almost There said:


> Flicking through a grammar book I received for Christmas.


What grammar book?


----------



## Almost There (Jan 2, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> What grammar book?


It's a Sunday Times 'My Grammar and I'. Nothing complicated, I just want to brush up.


----------



## campanula (Jan 2, 2016)

Yet another tedious lifestylee thing involving wood. More of the Ben Law woods by numbers stuff he appears to churn out on an annual basis - along with expensive 'courses' (a pyramid scheme of uselessness of the permaculture ilk ). For some reason, the default option for friends and fam. seems to be buying more of these annoying back to the land, olde arts and crafts, woodland romance stuff - I have bloody loads of them...despite having no inclination whatsoever to live in a yurt making hazel hurdles in rural bliss. I am beginning to despise this whole back to nature meme with a viciously hateful rage...especially the smirking fools in their horrible plaid shirts and flat caps who appear to inhabit every (glossy) page. A bookshop worker friend of mine told me of her amazement that apparently every single male in the whole of Cambridge, (probably a clue to class aspiration there) between the ages of 30 - 60 had bought exactly the same book over Xmas - a bloody woodchopping paeon to the outdoor life with an axe (although most of them will probably bestir themselves just enough to tip the odd bucket of pellets in their shiny new woodburner).


----------



## izz (Jan 3, 2016)

campanula said:


> Yet another tedious lifestylee thing involving wood. More of the Ben Law woods by numbers stuff he appears to churn out on an annual basis - along with expensive 'courses' (a pyramid scheme of uselessness of the permaculture ilk ). For some reason, the default option for friends and fam. seems to be buying more of these annoying back to the land, olde arts and crafts, woodland romance stuff - I have bloody loads of them...despite having no inclination whatsoever to live in a yurt making hazel hurdles in rural bliss. I am beginning to despise this whole back to nature meme with a viciously hateful rage...especially the smirking fools in their horrible plaid shirts and flat caps who appear to inhabit every (glossy) page. A bookshop worker friend of mine told me of her amazement that apparently every single male in the whole of Cambridge, (probably a clue to class aspiration there) between the ages of 30 - 60 had bought exactly the same book over Xmas - a bloody woodchopping paeon to the outdoor life with an axe (although most of them will probably bestir themselves just enough to tip the odd bucket of pellets in their shiny new woodburner).


Well at least you can make a fire out of them........


----------



## Gavin Bl (Jan 3, 2016)

Halfway through 'Havoc in its Third Year' by Ronan Bennett, about a murder investigation in a puritan run town in the 1630s. Really excellent so far....


----------



## nogojones (Jan 3, 2016)

Well I found the Routalages biog of Airey Neave, that I lost a couple of months back behind my bedside table, so I'm near to finishing that off. Mrs Jones got blamed for obsessively tidying books away, so I've had to eat quite a bit of humble pie.

Just started De Ste Croix's Class Struggle In the Ancient Greek World, which I've wanted to read for years, but never been able to justify spending the cash on it, but as I just got myself a tablet my reading horizons have opened significantly.

Also reading Tariq Ali's 1968 as a bog book and re-reading Ben Hampers Rivethead for some light relief


----------



## little_legs (Jan 5, 2016)

Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li

It's about a group of teenage friends living in Beijing during the student protests who are forced to separate from each other in order to preserve themselves. The story is inspired by a real case of poisoning of Zhu Ling.


----------



## Jay Park (Jan 7, 2016)

little_legs said:


> Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li
> 
> It's about a group of teenage friends living in Beijing during the student protests who are forced to separate from each other in order to preserve themselves. The story is inspired by a real case of poisoning of Zhu Ling.



Just making my way through the Peter Hessler books, finished Oracle Bones recently.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 7, 2016)

i know this sounds funny but the oddball present  you got on the Xmas thread....mine was the autobiography of Joe Perry from Aerosmith.  Wow its great! After long days ..im chooning in every night and i cant put the thing down! He goes into detail about growing up and wanting to be a biologist, first loves: biology and Jacques Couteau, his worship of guitars and how they 'rearranged his heart',  love of different musicians (in detail) and what they contribute to the world.

He is passionate but very level headed and explains this strange but complex relationship with Steve Tyler ( i read Steves biography 'Does the noise in my head bother you?' a few years ago and its also great - more the intense ramblings of a highly creative spirit).

Joe is different. He is fairly balanced, despite the drugs, which he is candid about and doesnt hold back.... when he left Aerosmith around 1979 he was completely broke too, as the band were travelling the world, but he had a really sound manager who invested in him (even though this guy didnt seem cool or look the part and was slagged off by people, this guy took care of him). Aerosmith were making millions and Joe Perry is playing in teeny clubs with his Joe Perry Project band and staying at the Holiday Inn, broke and with occasional calls to Steve Tyler (seemingly the one friend who has stood by him through the test of time, despite bringing drugs to every occasion - i think we all have a mate like that....). im 3/4 of the way through and surprised how much i like this book . They are all now sober and enjoying a second stab at success after Walk This Way with Run DMC. And Guns N Roses are way more cool than they are (Joe loves them and doesnt harbour jealousies.) Oh yeh, he's just divorced his first wife and met this angelic blonde who is actually nice and Steve Tyler keeps saying looks like Linda Evans from Dynasty......


----------



## ringo (Jan 8, 2016)

Cry, The Beloved Country - Alan Paton
Really good so far, beautifully written. It's going to get tough any minute though...


----------



## sojourner (Jan 8, 2016)

Almost finished Heat now by Ranulph Fiennes.  He's not the greatest of writers, but it's been a really interesting book. Just read the chapter dealing with this:

Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the Marathon des Sables

Fuck Ing Hell!


----------



## eoin_k (Jan 8, 2016)

So, it turns out that _Moby Dick_ has homoerotic undertones that are pretty hard to miss, perhaps unsurprising given that it is a tale about a bunch of men who go off together in search for a great big sperm whale... called dick... But it caught me by surprise.


----------



## mentalchik (Jan 9, 2016)

Trigger Warning - Neil Gaiman


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 9, 2016)

Dissolution by CJ Sansom

S'aright


----------



## Almost There (Jan 9, 2016)

Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber


----------



## starfish (Jan 9, 2016)

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James. It might take me a while.


----------



## sparkybird (Jan 9, 2016)

starfish said:


> A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James. It might take me a while.


Yes but sooooooo worth it!


----------



## sojourner (Jan 11, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Almost finished Heat now by Ranulph Fiennes.  He's not the greatest of writers, but it's been a really interesting book. Just read the chapter dealing with this:
> 
> Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the Marathon des Sables
> 
> Fuck Ing Hell!


I've become something of a bit of a fan of this fella, have to say.  Am currently reading My Heroes by him, and am just struck over and over again by his immense drive towards the most extreme endurance tests, and his prizing of the truth as he understands it. I was seriously expecting him to show much more of an ignorant attitude due to his privilege in life, but no. Would bloody love to meet him and have a chat.



Almost There said:


> Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber


Ace book that


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 11, 2016)

Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin

translated from chinese and had a great showing at the award season. I'm just a few pages in and already I think it will be cool.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 12, 2016)

Just started Suffragette - My Own Story, by Emmeline Pankhurst


----------



## little_legs (Jan 12, 2016)

dilberto said:


> Just finished Michel Houellebecq's "Submission", the politics is very interesting even if some other parts of the book left me a bit cold.
> 
> It is the story of the beginning of the Islamic take over of France through the eyes of an academic. The secular left and bourgeois intellectuals eventually siding with the Islamic parties against the French nativists, so it has a certain plausibility and authenticity to it.



I am reading this now. It's not bad, funny in parts. I am curious what the libel laws are like in France as Houellebecq makes derogatory remarks about a bunch of living/active politicians and journalists. Or maybe it's badge of honour to be mentioned in his books, regardless of the angle you are portrayed from.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 19, 2016)

Just started 'Cold' by Ranulph Fiennes. Another brilliant book. Some serious hair-raising stories in this one.


----------



## bimble (Jan 19, 2016)

dilberto said:


> Just finished Michel Houellebecq's "Submission", the politics is very interesting even if some other parts of the book left me a bit cold.
> 
> It is the story of the beginning of the Islamic take over of France through the eyes of an academic. The secular left and bourgeois intellectuals eventually siding with the Islamic parties against the French nativists, so it has a certain plausibility and authenticity to it.



I finished that recently and just sat there staring at the wall for quite a while afterwards, feeling scared and sad. That's got to be the mark of a really good book surely.


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 19, 2016)

frances yates' 'the occult philosophy in the elizabethan age'


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 19, 2016)

bimble said:


> I finished that recently and just sat there staring at the wall for quite a while afterwards, feeling scared and sad. That's got to be the mark of a really good book surely.


or depression


----------



## bimble (Jan 19, 2016)




----------



## Wilf (Jan 19, 2016)

izz said:


> Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.
> 
> again.


I'm reading this. I loved Behind the Scenes at the Museum and then read a couple of her Jackson Brodie novels which were okay, but didn't do enough for me to look out for any more of her work. My partner started reading Life After Life and gave up on it, then passed it on to me. The setting is an upper middle class family with servants, from 1910 onwards, not really my cup of tea.  However the story is really a fantasy(ish), time travel(ish) story of 2nd chances.  All beautifully described,  period detail of the Blitz etc.  Classy writing.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 20, 2016)

Rick Stein - Under a Mackerel Sky. Spoiler alert: He used to play rugby with Jethro.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 20, 2016)

Gene Wolfe 'Litany of the Long Sun'

book one of the Book of the Long Sun.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 21, 2016)

River of Gods - Ian McDonald. If it's half as good as "Brasyl", I think it will be a winner.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 21, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> River of Gods - Ian McDonald. If it's half as good as "Brasyl", I think it will be a winner.


it is, better I'd say. All his india 2047 works are solid winners


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 21, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> it is, better I'd say. All his india 2047 works are solid winners


Joy! I'm only about 20 pages in and I do like the idea of (I presume) interconnected stories/characters. Bit like Cloud Atlas, or Sense8.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 21, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> Joy! I'm only about 20 pages in and I do like the idea of (I presume) interconnected stories/characters. Bit like Cloud Atlas, or Sense8.


its very dreamlike. Reminds me of Aldiss' 'Malacia Tapestry' in that. Almost a magic realist touch, if just a light one


----------



## twentythreedom (Jan 21, 2016)

"South" by Earnest Shackleton

He's one of my all time heroes. Amazing book.


----------



## dilberto (Jan 21, 2016)

Robert L. Forward - Dragon's Egg, a science fiction novel first published in 1980 I believe and set in this century imagining how life might develop on a neutron star with gravity billions of times stronger than Earth's and an encounter with humans.

The science is interesting but the human characters are not the most convincing.


----------



## inva (Jan 22, 2016)

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
I'm a good third of the way through this and it's fantastic, a really rewarding read. Beard has spent a lot of time so far emphasising how little there is to go on evidence wise and how unreliable most of the sources are, but despite almost being none the wiser about anything that actually happened I feel like I've learned a lot from it all the same. Sometimes popular history writing can come across too much like storytelling which this avoids very well. It helps that she is clearly an excellent writer who writes very accessibly but doesn't patronise.


----------



## colbhoy (Jan 24, 2016)

I am reading The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson. An imaginative and amusing tale so far.


----------



## Voley (Jan 28, 2016)

Just a few pages into 'Pegasus Descending' by James Lee Burke and it's grabbed me already. Been a while since I read one of his and I'm enjoying his fabulously descriptive attention to detail once again. I've never read a duff book by him.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 28, 2016)

Reading 'Lulu in Hollywood' - a selection of salty essays written by the one and only Louise Brooks. The book itself is a work of art, her words, majestic. What a writer! Opening essay is Kenneth Tynan's original portrait from 1979, 'Girl with a Black Helmet' from New Yorker magazine.


----------



## danny la rouge (Jan 28, 2016)

Partnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth.


----------



## campanula (Jan 30, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Just started 'Cold' by Ranulph Fiennes. Another brilliant book. Some serious hair-raising stories in this one.



Years ago, I read a whole tranche of sailing books by one Tristram Jones - culminating in Ice - a tale of being stranded under an antarctic ice shelf for 6 months and having to take out his own eye. Serious hard-core stuff (I was puttering about the Cam on a Mirror dinghy at the time).
Stuck without reading material, I have been reading The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet for what feels like years...and only up to page 67...is this worth taking an afternoon out to get a couple of hundred pages down?


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jan 30, 2016)

Last couple of weeks I sailed through first two Phillip Pullman Dark Materials books, they were cracking reads.

Today I finished Dendera by Yuya Sato bit of a tricky read and its got flaws but wasn't bad. I felt like there was a lot there that might be to do with Japan and WW2, along with group think. Have to hang your suspension of disbelief that 70 year olds and older could survive as the ladies did as well.


----------



## chainsawjob (Feb 3, 2016)

campanula said:


> Stuck without reading material, I have been reading The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet for what feels like years...and only up to page 67...is this worth taking an afternoon out to get a couple of hundred pages down?



I read that last year, and although it was a bit of a slog being so dauntingly long, it was worth sticking with, great book, I liked the rich detail.

I'm at the same stage with A Brief History of Seven Killings, sixty pages in and it hasn't really hooked me yet. But I am a great giver up on books so will try a bit longer to see if gets as good as people say it is.


----------



## Calamity1971 (Feb 3, 2016)

Nothing as demanding as previous posts, I'm on,  'The world according to Bob' James Bowen. The second in Bob the cats trials. Next will be another Carl Hiassen from the charity shop.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 4, 2016)

danny la rouge said:


> Partnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth.


Had to give up on this. It said in several places on the cover that it was "hilarious" and that the character Alex was a great comic character. I got to p127 without even a vague smile, never mind hilarity. But not only that: it was just repetitive, misogynist whining. I was waiting for it to go somewhere. I was waiting for the point. I have decided that if one is to come (which I doubt), I'm willing to forgo the chance of ever discovering it in return for not having to read any more of the same thing being said four times a page every page.


----------



## ringo (Feb 5, 2016)

^ Well written, but odious. I think the point is the Great American Novel/coming of age angle, and presumably not many great authors had talked about being repressed and wanking in such eloquent terms before so it was shocking. 

In my list of great authors who must have been/would be repulsive people to meet along with Hemingway, Rushdie, Brett Easton Ellis, Luke Reinhardt.


----------



## belboid (Feb 5, 2016)

Beatlebone - Kevin Barry. 

About John Lennon trying to visit his island off the west coast of island to do some primal screaming. Very well written, and wryly amusing, Lennon sounds like Lennon, but it's his driver, Cornelius, who is the real hero. Hopefully it'll find a way to conclude itself.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2016)

ringo said:


> ^ Well written, but odious. I think the point is the Great American Novel/coming of age angle, and presumably not many great authors had talked about being repressed and wanking in such eloquent terms before so it was shocking.


Yeah, I get that it was of its time. And the wanking and all. I suppose I had hoped for some sort of development. And something to contrast the odiousness with.


----------



## malatesta32 (Feb 6, 2016)

its kind of a funny story by ned vizzini. An amusing and well written story about depression. vizzini threw himself off his parents roof and killed himself so its difficult not seeing precedents to that. very sad.


----------



## Winot (Feb 6, 2016)

Rereading "A Debt to Pleasure" by John Lanchester, source of my user name. It's as good as I remember it, and thrown into a fresh light by having read Lolita in the intervening years.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 8, 2016)

campanula said:


> Years ago, I read a whole tranche of sailing books by one Tristram Jones - culminating in Ice - a tale of being stranded under an antarctic ice shelf for 6 months and having to take out his own eye. Serious hard-core stuff (I was puttering about the Cam on a Mirror dinghy at the time).


Ooo I might look out for that then campanula ! I have become obsessed with stories about polar travel - can't seem to get enough! It's the unbelievable hardships endured and the breathtakingly dangerous conditions - they're addictive to read about.  Am currently reading Ranulph Fiennes's 'Captain Scott', in which he makes a brilliant case for debunking all the negative shittery surrounding Scott.  One big point he raises is that of the four dozen or so biographies of Scott, not one of them has been written by a writer with actual polar/travel experience. They have no understanding of the stresses and strains (life threatening huge big fucking stresses and strains!) of polar life or travel.

Staggering though, the inexperience and complete lack of knowledge or preparation before his first expedition with the Discovery. They didn't even know how to erect tents, or how much food to pack! No dog training, nowt   I'm fucking amazed they survived that first outing!


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 8, 2016)

sojourner may I recommend Dan Simmons' The Terror? It's fiction but based on the true story of Captain John Franklin's expedition to find the North West Passage. It's so exciting!


----------



## sojourner (Feb 8, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> sojourner may I recommend Dan Simmons' The Terror? It's fiction but based on the true story of Captain John Franklin's expedition to find the North West Passage. It's so exciting!


Cheers OU - I will put it on my list 

I've got The Ice Master by Jennifer Niven next


----------



## chainsawjob (Feb 11, 2016)

chainsawjob said:


> I'm at the same stage with A Brief History of Seven Killings, sixty pages in and it hasn't really hooked me yet. But I am a great giver up on books so will try a bit longer to see if gets as good as people say it is.



Nah, it's just not holding my interest.  Too grim, and I don't warm to any of the characters, and it's very 'male' (which is odd, I'd never really considered before that I do like fiction to have _enough_ female characters in, but maybe I do... ok, there's one female narrator in Seven Killings).

Now I'm back to reading 'Get Up, Stand Up: Uniting Populists, Energizing the Defeated, and Battling the Corporate Elite' by Bruce Levine, which I started last year. It's about "the epidemic of political passivity in America", written by a psychologist, and looks at how defeatism, helplessness and fatalism can be overcome.  I like his psychological take on things.


----------



## D'wards (Feb 12, 2016)

Slogging through Neuromancer - not really enjoying it much, find it all a bit hard work to be honest.

I understand he was visionary, but prose, Gibson, prose!


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 16, 2016)

sojourner I read a wonderful book a few years ago, a memoir written by a man who left home at 16 to work for a trading company in Alaska in the early 1900s. Incredibly evocative. I will try and remember title/author for you 

I'm currently coming to the end of Authority by Jeff VanderMeer. Had to stop for the night with only a few pages left because it is freaking me out so much


----------



## sojourner (Feb 16, 2016)

May Kasahara said:


> sojourner I read a wonderful book a few years ago, a memoir written by a man who left home at 16 to work for a trading company in Alaska in the early 1900s. Incredibly evocative. I will try and remember title/author for you
> 
> I'm currently coming to the end of Authority by Jeff VanderMeer. Had to stop for the night with only a few pages left because it is freaking me out so much


Cheers May


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 17, 2016)

sojourner it's The Last of the Gentleman Adventurers, by Edward Beauclerk Maurice. Really recommended


----------



## marty21 (Feb 17, 2016)

The Lady from Zagreb - Philip Kerr, more from the world weary German cop, who suddenly reminds me of Badgers  really enjoy this series.


----------



## Pickman's model (Feb 17, 2016)

marty21 said:


> The Lady from Zagreb - Philip Kerr, more from the world weary German cop, who suddenly reminds me of Badgers  really enjoy this series.


no curries nor baked potatoes in _the lady from zagreb_ tho. and no solution to the beans / cheese conundrum.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 17, 2016)

Pickman's model said:


> no curries nor baked potatoes in _the lady from zagreb_ tho. and no solution to the beans / cheese conundrum.


His hands are full dealing with Sexytimes, the Gestapo, Serb and Croat wrong uns, the Swiss, and Nazis on his trail.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 17, 2016)

I've ordered Mievilles new one 'The Census Taker'. Its been getting lots of praise, the shorts collection three momentsof an explosion' didn't seem to be well recieved ( i  liked but felt a bit swizzed by the whole 'two of these are already published. In a  book you already payed for) so perhaps this one has something more to it.


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 18, 2016)

Steinbeck's East of Eden.
I'm only 2 chapters in and all he's done is describe the Salinas Valley and briefly describe one of the 2 families the book centres around, but I'm hooked. 
I should have a couple of hours to myself when I get in from work this afternoon and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it.


----------



## D'wards (Feb 18, 2016)

Just finished Neuromancer - thought it was ok, not the life-changing event i was lead to believe.

In the mid-80s i can see why it blew peoples minds, though. But as a lot of his concepts have come to pass, the idea, for example, of a computer making music isn't much of outlandish concept these days.

Its the writing style tghat mainly lets it down thoug; some say its better on the second reading cos you know what Gibson is on about - he doesn't explain things very clearly


----------



## bimble (Feb 18, 2016)

I'm stuck and need help: When I'm feeling good I read non fiction but when down or distracted can only do novels, and this is one of those times. Tonight I'll finish 'All the Light We Cannot See' by someone called Anthony Doerr, which has worked perfectly for my addled little mind (decent well written but easy page-turner type historical fiction). 
I'm going to a bit bereft when I finish this thing and the night table just has a pile of non fiction on that I can't face at all.
Please can anyone recommend a big fat page turner of a novel that is well written and maybe not one of those top 100 things that i've probably already munched my way though on other fiction binges?


----------



## bimble (Feb 18, 2016)

Nothing, not one Not a one person can recommend a good book (fiction not real life) that i can download on kindle before night falls ?


----------



## MrSki (Feb 18, 2016)

bimble said:


> Nothing, not one Not a one person can recommend a good book (fiction not real life) that i can download on kindle before night falls ?


Mr Toppit by Charles Elton or The Universe versus Alex Wood by Gavin Extence


----------



## bimble (Feb 18, 2016)




----------



## sojourner (Feb 19, 2016)

May Kasahara said:


> sojourner it's The Last of the Gentleman Adventurers, by Edward Beauclerk Maurice. Really recommended


Aww thanks May Kasahara  - fuckers don't have it in the library though


----------



## marty21 (Feb 19, 2016)

bimble said:


> I'm stuck and need help: When I'm feeling good I read non fiction but when down or distracted can only do novels, and this is one of those times. Tonight I'll finish 'All the Light We Cannot See' by someone called Anthony Doerr, which has worked perfectly for my addled little mind (decent well written but easy page-turner type historical fiction).
> I'm going to a bit bereft when I finish this thing and the night table just has a pile of non fiction on that I can't face at all.
> Please can anyone recommend a big fat page turner of a novel that is well written and maybe not one of those top 100 things that i've probably already munched my way though on other fiction binges?


Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry,  one of my favourite ever novels , it is about cowboys on a trail but also about much more than that.


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 19, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Aww thanks May Kasahara  - fuckers don't have it in the library though



Happy to send you my copy if I ever find it in the attic


----------



## campanula (Feb 20, 2016)

Ammonite - Nicola Griffiths. rereading some early feminist sf (Suzanne Ladan, James Tiptree, Joanna Russ) and recalled this anthropological sf Ursula Leguin style novel. Will be interesting to see how a distance of 2 decades has affected my reading.


----------



## izz (Feb 20, 2016)

bimble said:


> I'm stuck and need help: When I'm feeling good I read non fiction but when down or distracted can only do novels, and this is one of those times. Tonight I'll finish 'All the Light We Cannot See' by someone called Anthony Doerr, which has worked perfectly for my addled little mind (decent well written but easy page-turner type historical fiction).
> I'm going to a bit bereft when I finish this thing and the night table just has a pile of non fiction on that I can't face at all.
> Please can anyone recommend a big fat page turner of a novel that is well written and maybe not one of those top 100 things that i've probably already munched my way though on other fiction binges?


Bit late sorry, but if you're after an easy page-turner I can recommend The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch


----------



## D'wards (Feb 20, 2016)

marty21 said:


> Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry,  one of my favourite ever novels , it is about cowboys on a trail but also about much more than that.


I second this. A superb book


----------



## bimble (Feb 20, 2016)

D'wards said:


> I second this. A superb book


thank you. have it downloaded ready to go.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 22, 2016)

marty21 said:


> Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry,  one of my favourite ever novels , it is about cowboys on a trail but also about much more than that.





D'wards said:


> I second this. A superb book



Thirded. I wish I could find a copy with bigger print though cos my Dad would absolutely LOVE it I'm sure, but my copy has tiny fucking text 


May Kasahara said:


> Happy to send you my copy if I ever find it in the attic


Aww, thank you lovely!

Well, I am now reading The Ice Master by Jennifer Niven and once again am totally engrossed in the extreme hardships of polar survival, this time by a team with virtually zero experience. Wow. And what a total cunt Stefansson was!


----------



## D'wards (Feb 22, 2016)

marty21 said:


> Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry,  one of my favourite ever novels , it is about cowboys on a trail but also about much more than that.


Which of the sequels/prequels would y'all recommend?


----------



## fractionMan (Feb 23, 2016)

The book of strange new things.

It's about love, a missionary, distance and attachment.  It's also a bit scifi.

Don't want to spoil it by saying more, but it's highly recommended.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 23, 2016)

Epiphany of the Long Sun

part two of Gene Wolfes Long Sun Cycle.

It's interesting to contrast Patera Silk with Severian from Wolfes New Sun books. Essentially Patera Silks just more pleasant to understand. Severian the Torturer was writing in first person and after many re reads I've come to the conclusion that severian is not telling the reader the whole truth. Theres a grim stoiscism to the character. Fascinating but ugly somehow.

Wheras Patera Silk is the polar opposite. Honest to a fault, absolute novice in the arts of deception. Full of a love of life
reccomended.


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 23, 2016)

Two thirds of the way through Acceptance, by Jeff Vandermeer. Fuck me, this shit is amazing.


----------



## ringo (Feb 23, 2016)

The Wall Jumper - Peter Schneider ~ Great book about how residents lived with the Berlin Wall and how it affected the culture of the city.


----------



## marty21 (Feb 23, 2016)

D'wards said:


> Which of the sequels/prequels would y'all recommend?


I've read them all, tbf, none of them match Lonesome Dove, but I enjoyed them all.


----------



## Voley (Feb 24, 2016)

Just started 'Doctor Sleep' by Stephen King; the sequel to 'The Shining'. Haven't read a book by him for, ooh, twenty years, maybe. Really enjoying it so far, particularly the way it wrapped up one of the original book's subplots in its first few chapters. I used to devour his books when I was a kid and reading this has already given me that great feeling of wondering just wtf waits for me on the next page.


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 25, 2016)

I enjoyed it too Voley although it's not without issues.

If you fancy some more King after that, I can recommend Revival. And as ever I'd also suggest Joe Hill (King Jr) because his books are all amazing.


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 25, 2016)

I really enjoyed Doctor Sleep too.
Also I'm pleased to see that Joe Hill's latest The Fireman, is released on kindle on 17th May - perfect timing for my half-term holiday reading pleasure


----------



## Voley (Feb 25, 2016)

May Kasahara said:


> I enjoyed it too Voley although it's not without issues.


Really enjoying it so far. Stopped me watching Game Of Thrones last night and that takes a lot for me. I picked up that Neil Oliver book from the library today, too, May, and that looks like just the sort of thing I was after. Easy to get through, not too dry and academic. I'll get on to that next I think.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Feb 27, 2016)

Finished Sam Harris 'Waking up: A Guide to spirituality without religion' and kind of disappointed me. I dont know what i was expecting, but unlike his verbal debates, it read like a PHD dissertation, I can handle that but it was kind of boring and waffly. My religious Dad read it too and it was rather dull. That said, i look forward to his short new book, with Majit Nawazz, Conversations on Islam i think its called. 

Currently reading 'Dead Interesting, stories from Glasnevin cemetary' - the stories of the folks buried in Dublin's legendary resting place - just down the road from me. All the plots are taken so i wont be buried there, sadly. But the stories are just wonderful, and very moving. The author - who was curator and historian for many years and a highly revered Dublin character - Shane Mac Thomais, sadly took his own life a few years ago, which makes his accounts of those buried there and also death itself - all the more poignant.


----------



## ringo (Feb 27, 2016)

Cheesypoof said:


> Finished Sam Harris 'Waking up: A Guide to spirituality without religion' and kind of disappointed me.



Shame, on a similar tip I'm reading "Care of the Soul" by Thomas Moore. I resisted when it was first recommended to me because as an atheist I argued that I don't have a soul. I was convinced to start it on the basis that the part of me touched by music and love is the same as 'the soul' without the religion. 

So far so good, enjoying the idea that aspects of ancient/historical wisdom and art can still have great meaning for us now, in tangent with modern psychological methods. Mainly I like how he doesn't suggest that the individual needs "fixing" to get more meaning and depth or happiness in life in the way therapists might attempt to "cure" patients. 
Instead, from what I have read so far, he seems to be saying we should allow some of our seemingly negative behaviours, accepting that we are who we are because of our past experiences and relationships. We should learn from them, not leave them behind, sometimes even accepting our negative ways and making room for them in our lives instead of fighting unwinnable battles. 

I think. Anyway, I'm interested enough to read more and find out.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 27, 2016)

Sam Harris is a raging Islamophobe


----------



## belboid (Feb 27, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Sam Harris is a raging Islamophobe


And misogynist


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 27, 2016)

belboid said:


> And misogynist


what's he said about women?


----------



## belboid (Feb 27, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> what's he said about women?


It's mostly his responses to female critics, which are often quite nasty. I'll google you some later


----------



## murphy1970 (Feb 27, 2016)

On a Kurt Vonnegut reading spree, just finished Player Piano which I really enjoyed and I'm now about halfway through The Sirens of Titan.
Great man, and writer, alternately funny and deadly serious.


----------



## Zabo (Mar 6, 2016)

Currently reading Hans Fallada (Rudolf Ditzen) _A Small Circus._

Fascinating but bloody hard work! 250 pages from 600 to go.


----------



## radgiesteve (Mar 9, 2016)

Vincent Brome's 'The International Brigades 1936-1937', just realised there is a slightly longer book from Vrome covering the whole of the Civil War up til 1939 but borrowed this from a friend and glad to have it. A real gem.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Mar 9, 2016)

Mythago Wood - Robert Holdstock - Thought it was amazing, very good fantasy that plays with myths and legends, a few bits are wrong but they do match up with what the protagonist and society knew of ancient societies at the time (set in the 1940's)

1000 AD - Robert Lacey - Annoyed at this only a couple of pages in, repeats the trope of everyone dying by their 50's


----------



## sojourner (Mar 9, 2016)

About two thirds of the way through The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, BoatieBird  - LOVING it! Just been pissing myself over the section by Crispin Hershey  Spot fucking on


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2016)

sojourner said:


> About two thirds of the way through The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, BoatieBird  - LOVING it! Just been pissing myself over the section by Crispin Hershey  Spot fucking on


how often do you get swappies in a modern novel eh?


----------



## sojourner (Mar 9, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> how often do you get swappies in a modern novel eh?


Ooo have you read it too then?  I am loving  it, have to say. Really refreshing to read, and he's not afraid to use vernacular that may not be as well understood in say 10 years time.  Beautifully poetic too and I love the premise of it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Ooo have you read it too then?  I am loving  it, have to say. Really refreshing to read, and he's not afraid to use vernacular that may not be as well understood in say 10 years time.  Beautifully poetic too and I love the premise of it.


yeah, that and cloud atlas (films quite good too- wakowski siblings who done the matrix direct). Theres a confidence to his writing iyswim? he's good and he knows it. Not flashy or sensational but. Measured.


----------



## weltweit (Mar 9, 2016)

I am halfway through: If Not Now, When? by Primo Levi .. it was translated from Italian, mostly well translated but on occasion I notice. Good book so far though.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 9, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> yeah, that and cloud atlas (films quite good too- wakowski siblings who done the matrix direct). Theres a confidence to his writing iyswim? he's good and he knows it. Not flashy or sensational but. Measured.


I'm gonna have to get more of his stuff.

Yes, absolutely that. Which makes the Crispin Hershey part all the funnier


----------



## stethoscope (Mar 9, 2016)

Picked up this at a s/h bookshop today... cracking early 80's book about East London (with some great old photos too) by William J Fishman


----------



## flypanam (Mar 10, 2016)

Goran Vojnovic - Yugoslavia, my fatherland.

Not a great read. Simple plot and a family as Yugoslavia break up metaphor. One or two passages about life in schools for young ex Yugoslavs were pretty good. Not shite enough to stop reading, not good enough to be enthralled.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Mar 10, 2016)

Slavoj Zizek - The Year of Dreaming Dangerously. 

His ideas are really interesting but his writing isn't always great. Or maybe I'm just a bit too thick to understand everything he's trying to say.


----------



## D'wards (Mar 11, 2016)

Reading The Sisters Brothers - absolutely brilliant. I like a western anyway, but really enjoying this. Great characters, plot, dialogue, pacing - what more do you need?


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 12, 2016)

danny la rouge said:


> Had to give up on this. It said in several places on the cover that it was "hilarious" and that the character Alex was a great comic character. I got to p127 without even a vague smile, never mind hilarity. But not only that: it was just repetitive, misogynist whining. I was waiting for it to go somewhere. I was waiting for the point. I have decided that if one is to come (which I doubt), I'm willing to forgo the chance of ever discovering it in return for not having to read any more of the same thing being said four times a page every page.




It only works if you read it when you're a teenager


----------



## jakethesnake (Mar 12, 2016)

I'm reading John Seymore's Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency and day dreaming about owning five acres of land, a pig, a cow and some chickens.


----------



## flypanam (Mar 15, 2016)

Mihail Sebastian - For two thousand years.

Written in the 30's, its a fictional account of Mihail's life in an increasingly anti semitic Romania. It caused a stir when published because Mihail included theories and works of Criterion group members who were in thrall of the Iron Guard such as Emil Cioran and philosophers such as Nae Ionescu. It is a beautifully written, you can really feel the oppressive atmosphere and the blows.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 16, 2016)

bimble said:


> I'm stuck and need help: When I'm feeling good I read non fiction but when down or distracted can only do novels, and this is one of those times. Tonight I'll finish 'All the Light We Cannot See' by someone called Anthony Doerr, which has worked perfectly for my addled little mind (decent well written but easy page-turner type historical fiction).
> I'm going to a bit bereft when I finish this thing and the night table just has a pile of non fiction on that I can't face at all.
> Please can anyone recommend a big fat page turner of a novel that is well written and maybe not one of those top 100 things that i've probably already munched my way though on other fiction binges?


 
Shantaram is the biggest fattest page turner going

And it's all true 

Have you read all three by Donna Tartt?  If not, do

Soimething by Michael Chabon   - try The Yiddish Policeman's Union

Something by Neville Shute, Iain Banks, Graham Greene ?

If you want some page-turnery non fiction try some Ben Macintyre.  Wartime spy shennanigans like Agent Zigzag,


----------



## bimble (Mar 16, 2016)

rubbershoes said:


> Shantaram is the biggest fattest page turner going
> 
> And it's all true
> 
> ...


Danna tart all consumed, sadly, also Greene Banks & Chabon - but yeah, been putting off that Shantaram thing for just such an emergency as this, thanks for reminding me (though I thought that book was only for backpackers?)


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 16, 2016)

Analdur Indridason - The Draining Lake. An Inspector Erlendur case tracing the discovery of a skeleton in a lake outside Reykjavik. What is the connection between this and a group of idealistic students in Leipzig in the 1950s?


(don't answer that; I haven't got to the end, yet)


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 16, 2016)

bimble said:


> Danna tart all consumed, sadly, also Greene Banks & Chabon - but yeah, been putting off that Shantaram thing for just such an emergency as this, thanks for reminding me (though I thought that book was only for backpackers?)



Ex backpackers can enjoy it too 

How about Gillian Flynn? Hers are all dark and suspenseful.
I'm guessing you'll have read enough Cormac McCarthy
Alasdair Gray?


----------



## bimble (Mar 16, 2016)

Have munched my way though the flynns & cormacs yep.. Alasdair Gray looks good, cheers. Still got the cowboy book above to come next though, if I ever finish the tome that's being used as a sleeping aid at the mo.


----------



## Sea Star (Mar 16, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> wakowski siblings


 sisters is a shorter word.


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 16, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> yeah, that and cloud atlas (films quite good too- wakowski siblings who done the matrix direct). Theres a confidence to his writing iyswim? he's good and he knows it. Not flashy or sensational but. Measured.



Absolutely; and there's the occasional cameos from characters from other stories but they don't detract from the tales.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Mar 16, 2016)

Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson. It's set in a 'future' Europe dissected by borders and rife with smugglers. The main protagonist is man named Rudi, a cook turned spy/people smuggler. At the point of the story I'm at he's just in his training so I can't tell you much more. It's good so far.


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 16, 2016)

The Last  Detective by Robert Crais, number 9 in the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. Excellent so far.


----------



## Mation (Mar 17, 2016)

ringo said:


> The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson.........so far so good. Not the first Victorians using Cyberpunk stuff I've read, I'm too lazy to look up whether this came before or after The Difference Engine.


I'm reading this now and absolutely loving it


----------



## moonsi til (Mar 18, 2016)

Caitlin Moran 'How To Build a Girl'..I'm in love with Johanna Morrigan!


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 21, 2016)




----------



## sojourner (Mar 24, 2016)

Wow, Bone Clocks by David Mitchell was absolutely astonishing. The absolute nerve of the fella  Probably why he didn't win the Booker - no fucker could decide what category to put him in 

Just got two more out of the library by him - Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

Just finished The Woman in Black and Other Ghost Stories by Susan Hill too. The other stories are good, but WIB is a masterpiece and the others couldn't really touch it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 24, 2016)

You're in for a treat with those two Mitchells,  sojourner 
And then you have Black Swan Green,  Ghostwritten and Number9Dream to enjoy.  I am envious.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 24, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> You're in for a treat with those two Mitchells,  sojourner
> And then you have Black Swan Green,  Ghostwritten and Number9Dream to enjoy.  I am envious.




I was all jealous of the fella reading Ray Bradbury's 'Dandelion Wine' the other week  

He's reading Bone Clocks now, on my recommendation.  

He's such a clever writer. It's like being touched in all the right places, mentally. Clever, knows it, but not a knob with it, unlike Nabokov in his later years.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 24, 2016)

Over the holidays,  i'm going to read the book he helped translate from Japanese. It's written by an autistic 13 year old who can't speak, explaining how it feels to have autism.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 24, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Over the holidays,  i'm going to read the book he helped translate from Japanese. It's written by an autistic 13 year old who can't speak, explaining how it feels to have autism.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Mar 25, 2016)

stethoscope said:


> Picked up this at a s/h bookshop today... cracking early 80's book about East London (with some great old photos too) by William J Fishman



Fishman's "East End Jewish Radicals 1875-1914" is a fascinating read, too.


----------



## weltweit (Mar 25, 2016)

I am about 100 pages into "to kill a mockingbird" by Harper Lee, it is very nicely written, I am sure the next 200 pages intensify but I am already enjoying it a lot.


----------



## belboid (Mar 26, 2016)

Paul Auster - The Book of Illusions

It's ages since I read an Auster book, Mr Vertigo was the last, I think. Big mistake, this is brilliant. Possibly the best book I've read since Kavalier and Clay (as long as the last 100 pages hold up).


----------



## Ramires (Mar 29, 2016)

belboid said:


> Paul Auster - The Book of Illusions
> 
> It's ages since I read an Auster book, Mr Vertigo was the last, I think. Big mistake, this is brilliant. Possibly the best book I've read since Kavalier and Clay (as long as the last 100 pages hold up).


It is a challenging book so it is not for everyone. However, if you like well-written books that will challenge you, then it would be a good choice.


----------



## weltweit (Mar 29, 2016)

Finished To Kill a Mockingbird and really enjoyed it, now reading Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and enjoying that also .... I feel I am catching up on some books I should have read a long time ago!


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 30, 2016)

The Given Day - Denis Lehane. 400 pages in and this is absoultely epic; set in 1918 Boston, anarchists, gangsters, cops, Babe Ruth (!), feds and a lot of history there. I wonder how it was received; there's social history in there I imagine some people might want to gloss over, in the States. Whatever - cannot put it down.


----------



## Pickman's model (Apr 1, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> The Given Day - Denis Lehane. 400 pages in and this is absoultely epic; set in 1918 Boston, anarchists, gangsters, cops, Babe Ruth (!), feds and a lot of history there. I wonder how it was received; there's social history in there I imagine some people might want to gloss over, in the States. Whatever - cannot put it down.


a fuck load of reviews


----------



## sojourner (Apr 1, 2016)

Have a few pages of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell left. The clever CLEVER bastard. Mind-bending book.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 1, 2016)

weltweit said:


> Finished To Kill a Mockingbird and really enjoyed it, now reading Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and enjoying that also .... I feel I am catching up on some books I should have read a long time ago!


Ray Bradbury is my all time hero of writing. I am in total fucking awe of him.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 1, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Ray Bradbury is my all time hero of writing. I am in total fucking awe of him.


This is the first Bradbury book I have read, can you recommend others?


----------



## sojourner (Apr 1, 2016)

weltweit said:


> This is the first Bradbury book I have read, can you recommend others?


Dandelion Wine is one of the greatest books of all time.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is brilliant too, as are the collections The Illustrated Man, and The Golden Apples of the Sun


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 1, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Have a few pages of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell left. The clever CLEVER bastard. Mind-bending book.



I'm currently reading Kate Atkinson's Started Early, Took My Dog. 
Got David Mitchell's Ghostwritten lined up for my next book


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 2, 2016)

The Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig. It's quite folksy and whimsical. Nicely written but lacking substance so far. I'll see how it develops


----------



## Greebo (Apr 2, 2016)

The Book of Life  by Deborah Harkness.  The final one of a trilogy and a wristbreaker even in paperback, so it's just as well I've got the kindle version.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 4, 2016)

Finished Cloud Atlas. Thought it was veh clever 

Not sure whether to start the other David Mitchell one, or any of the other 5 waiting to be read.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 4, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Finished Cloud Atlas. Thought it was veh clever
> 
> Not sure whether to start the other David Mitchell one, or any of the other 5 waiting to be read.


ah, that dilemma you get when you discover a great writer with a lot of work - read them all up now greedily, or pace yourself! I'm doing the latter with Dickens.


----------



## A380 (Apr 4, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Finished Cloud Atlas. Thought it was veh clever
> 
> Not sure whether to start the other David Mitchell one, or any of the other 5 waiting to be read.


If the other one is 'thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet' then read that next, its even better than Cloud Atlas.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 5, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> ah, that dilemma you get when you discover a great writer with a lot of work - read them all up now greedily, or pace yourself! I'm doing the latter with Dickens.


Ha, aye!  



A380 said:


> If the other one is 'thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet' then read that next, its even better than Cloud Atlas.


It is indeed!  I decided to space it out by one book so am currently halfway through The Shore by Sara Taylor. It must be coincidence that everything I'm reading lately is interconnected stories!


----------



## stethoscope (Apr 7, 2016)

Festivalized: Music, Politics, Alternative Culture by Ian Abrahams & Bridget Wishart.


----------



## ringo (Apr 7, 2016)

bimble said:


> You know that feeling when you finish a book and feel at all at a loss, all bereft and abandoned because it was so damn good?
> That's just happened to me, because The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux.
> That's how good it is. So now I don't know what to do.



Grabbed a copy of this after reading your post, got 100 pages left. I want to leave work and go and finish it. I needed some proper escapism to lose myself in and this is perfect, it just gets better and better as he draws you into the madness


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 7, 2016)

Paul Theroux - The Pillars of Hercules. It's 20 years old so a bit out of date - like Theroux's views. But it is fascinating as he travels from one town to another. He does come across in this one as even more of a misanthrope than his previous effort - The Happy Isles of Oceania. It was the Japanese he railed against in that & in this one, it's the Germans, Spanish tourists in Gibraltar, the British in Spain and the Chinese. I'm only about 60 pages in so I'm sure there's more complaining...


----------



## JimW (Apr 7, 2016)

Recent reads have been Jane Smiley The Greenlanders, excellent sparse historical novel following a family over a couple of generations as the first Norse colony enters its last days. Great writing and a convincing evocation. Other one was a Philip Marsden travel/history thing on Armenia and it's diaspora called The Crossing Place IIRC. Good again, he writes well and.gets himself out there, including Karabakh in one of.the earlier flare-ups.


----------



## 50yrsInBrixton (Apr 10, 2016)

The English: A Portrait of a People by Jeremy Paxman


----------



## sojourner (Apr 11, 2016)

50yrsInBrixton said:


> The English: A Portrait of a People by Jeremy Paxman


I want to read that.

Prior to starting another David Mitchell, I read Broken and Betrayed by Jayne Senior, one of the founding members of Risky Business in Rotherham.  Too much filler, but saved by some startling tales about incompetence and suspected corruption in there. They never did find out who raided the offices and stole the paperwork...


----------



## weltweit (Apr 11, 2016)

If This Is A Man, The Truce, Primo Levi 

I have finished If This Is A Man and am well into The Truce. Good stuff, good to learn that part of history from an eye witness account.


----------



## sparkybird (Apr 11, 2016)

weltweit said:


> If This Is A Man, The Truce, Primo Levi


If This Is A Man should be compulsory reading for everyone


----------



## Cheesypoof (Apr 11, 2016)

Flann O Brien, At Swim Two Birds - brilliant.
and soon to read Sam Harris and Maajid Nawwaz, 'Islam and the Future of Tolerance,' and Christopher Hitchens final book, 'Mortality.'


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 11, 2016)

finally got a paper copy of EP Thompsons 'Making of the English Working Class' so now I may get beyond chapter three. Always get the eye droop reading non fiction tomes on aa screen. Fascinating stuff about Dissident traditons and liking seeing Northamptonshire shown as a hotbed of Radicalism and Dissidents lol. 3 prefaces, one from a michael kenny for this edition and two from the author. Hard going at times but no way near as dry and reference book as my brain remembered it. Closer to howard zinn in engaging style than to shirer who is narrative in his own way but quite dry.

it'll take me ages


----------



## weltweit (Apr 11, 2016)

sparkybird said:


> If This Is A Man should be compulsory reading for everyone


I agree.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 12, 2016)

Dan Rhodes - When The Professor Got Stuck In The Show
This is hilarious, keep proper belly laughing at it.
It's about a fictionalised and 'thrice-married' Richard Dawkins getting snowed in at a vicarage with his 'male secretary'.
If you like Barney Farmer's The Male Online, it'll be well up your street.
Has lots of puerile jokes, especially with the place names ("The trouble is, it can be a bit of a tight squeeze getting into Back Bottom; the road there is tricky at the best of times, who knows what state it will be in tomorrow? Still, if I can get the four-wheel drive as far as Front Bottom I should be able to navigate the ridge that separates the two....")
It also has one of the most perfect description of many cantankerous male Urban 75 poster/social media commentator:
"he had been a self-diagnosed depressive, a redundant divorcee-in-waiting who rarely left the house. He had spent his days hunched over his computer wearing makeshift pajamas, and sometimes not even those, as he wrote comment after comment on Internet news sites.
 He had been quite the expert on a range of topics: climate change; library closures; Iran's nuclear capability; infant nutrition; aspect ratios; press regulation; immigration; taxation; arts funding; assisted suicide; hacking; fracking; twerking; Pussy Riot; truancy; US fiscal policy; human rights; Vince Cable; free schools; Katie Hopkins; drone strikes; Operation Yewtree and more than anything, religion. He specialised in an absolute conviction that there was no such thing as God and at the first opportunity he would launch assaults on anybody who was not as devoutly atheistic as he was. Orphaned, and now abandoned, he was at one with all the misery of the world. The idea of eternal life horrified him and he had been drawn, inexorably, to nothingness. He needed to know that one day there would be an end to the pain and, while he waited for that day to come, word bombs flew from his bedsit on to the Internet".


----------



## Red About Town (Apr 12, 2016)

I know I am going to be disappointed (again) but the new Irvine Welsh book (about Begbie) is next on the list.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 13, 2016)

Hmmm. I've given up on 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' by David Mitchell. I really wasn't enjoying it at all. 

Instead, I've picked up a few books from the charity shop and am currently thoroughly enjoying 'A Tale Etched In Blood And Hard Black Pencil_'_ by Christopher Brookmyre.  It's made me laugh out loud quite a few times already.


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 13, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Hmmm. I've given up on 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' by David Mitchell. I really wasn't enjoying it at all.



I started it over Christmas but I couldn't get into it either, though maybe I'd try again later in the year.
I'm 3/4 of the way through Ghostwritten at the moment and really enjoying it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 13, 2016)

Why didn't you enjoy it,  sojourner?


----------



## ringo (Apr 14, 2016)

Motley Crue: The Dirt. Confessions of the world's most notorious rock band.

Billed as the ultimate LA band sleaze story of excess. 50 pages in and it's shit, may have to give up. You'd have to be 13 and really into spandex and the fantasy of the rock'n'roll lifestyle to remotely like it. Some books should be written by writers, not just the poorly edited egotistical musings of 'stars' with nobody to tell them to shut up.

It had better get more interesting than "My parents didn't understand me so I got wrecked on Jack Daniels and sprayed my hair and I hated myself but I was in love myself so I took too many drugs and fucked this ugly chick".

Fuck off. Wankers.


----------



## BoatieBird (Apr 14, 2016)

Red About Town said:


> I know I am going to be disappointed (again) but the new Irvine Welsh book (about Begbie) is next on the list.



IMO the last decent book he wrote was Skagboys (with Begbie) so perhaps there's hope for this one.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 14, 2016)

ringo said:


> Motley Crue: The Dirt. Confessions of the world's most notorious rock band.
> 
> Billed as the ultimate LA band sleaze story of excess. 50 pages in and it's shit, may have to give up. You'd have to be 13 and really into spandex and the fantasy of the rock'n'roll lifestyle to remotely like it. Some books should be written by writers, not just the poorly edited egotistical musings of 'stars' with nobody to tell them to shut up.
> 
> ...



You'd hate Wonderland Avenue by Danny Sugarman.  He doesn't even have the claim of being a rockstar - he just hung out with them


----------



## ringo (Apr 14, 2016)

rubbershoes said:


> You'd hate Wonderland Avenue by Danny Sugarman.  He doesn't even have the claim of being a rockstar - he just hung out with them



I read that in the early 90's, and his Doors specific book too, still got them. Quite liked it then, but I wouldn't be able to take more than a few pages of it or Morrison's poetry pseud shite these days


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 14, 2016)

ringo said:


> I read that in the early 90's, and his Doors specific book too, still got them. Quite liked it then, but I wouldn't be able to take more than a few pages of it or Morrison's poetry pseud shite these days



I liked Wonderland Avenue too. Maybe the amount of drugs I was taking at the time had something to do with it


----------



## ringo (Apr 14, 2016)

rubbershoes said:


> I liked Wonderland Avenue too. Maybe the amount of drugs I was taking at the time had something to do with it



Same here


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 14, 2016)

BoatieBird said:


> IMO the last decent book he wrote was Skagboys (with Begbie) so perhaps there's hope for this one.


and begbie in it was quite good. theres the zenith (Trainspotting, Glue) and the nadir (bedroom secrets of the masterchefs)

high hopes for the begbie one. Going to be grim to read how a man like that is made.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 14, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Why didn't you enjoy it,  sojourner?


I was struggling to concentrate on the story - which means that it simply wasn't grabbing me.


----------



## Red About Town (Apr 14, 2016)

Irvine Welsh

The character of Juice Terry was somewhat ruined for me in his most recent book. Fear same will happen with Begbie in this.

The Guardian review was a shocker too.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 14, 2016)

Red About Town said:


> Irvine Welsh
> 
> The character of Juice Terry was somewhat ruined for me in his most recent book. Fear same will happen with Begbie in this.
> 
> The Guardian review was a shocker too.


this is funny: 
The Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh – digested read


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Apr 14, 2016)

Just finished Kate Tempest's novel 'the bricks that built the houses' and I really enjoyed it. I was already familiar with characters so it took me a while to get on board with her new vision for them but it was an imaginative book. I wouldn't say it's the best book I've ever read but it's a good one, good plot, good dialogue, interesting narrative perspective and poetic and beautiful observations. 
She's a very sensitive writer, that's what came through most for me, her sensitivity and close onservations.
I do fucking love her off, though.


----------



## Voley (Apr 17, 2016)

Just started "Raw Spirit", Iain Banks book about travelling around Scotland in search of the perfect whisky. It's really enjoyable even if whisky isn't your thing. He goes off on all sorts of tangents (the Iraq War, particularly) and there are musings on why the Land Rover is a fantastic vehicle, a few wry comments on the literary world and some descriptions of The Highlands that made me want to pack my walking boots. His favourite recurring theme is how lucky he is to be being paid to go on holiday getting drunk. Good book. He comes across as a genuinely decent bloke.


----------



## campanula (Apr 18, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Hmmm. I've given up on 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' by David Mitchell. I really wasn't enjoying it at all.
> 
> Me too. I love David Mitchell's stuff, even the slightly twee Black Swan Green but 1000 Autumns completely defeated me too. Have tried numerous times (usually having run out of books) and flounder at 150 pages. It is, in my mind, weirdly anomalous.
> Just finished Cixin Liu's The Three Body Problem and am dithering about getting Dark Forest. I found a lot of TBP to be oddly affectless - although since a chunk involves virtual world stuff, the cool tone was in keeping and readable...but I have been gettng more and more fed up with the trilogy format - mainly because I have forgotten previous volumes and struggle to get  engaged in sequels as they tend to assume more familiarity and continuity than I can muster.



ffs - buggered up quote thingy again. soz.


----------



## campanula (Apr 18, 2016)

JimW said:


> Recent reads have been Jane Smiley The Greenlanders, excellent sparse historical novel following a family over a couple of generations as the first Norse colony enters its last days. Great writing and a convincing evocation.



Oh, I so loved that. Laconic and crystalline - a lovely meditative read. 1000 Acres similarly resonant. I even loved her horseracing book.

Failed to finish a clunky Kazuo Ishigura - The Buried Giant. Similarly attenuated language and constraint as Smiley...but awful, awful. Dull and depthless.


----------



## Greebo (Apr 18, 2016)

'Spring Snow' by Yukio Mishima.  I'm struggling to care at all what happens to any of the people mentioned in it.

If this were a film, it would be exquisitely depicted arthouse.


----------



## keybored (Apr 19, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> this is funny:
> The Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh – digested read



I didn't want to read that until I'd finished the book. Well worth the wait and better than the book.


----------



## Red About Town (Apr 20, 2016)

Finished the Blade Artist. Not as bad I as I thought it would be.
Hard to imagine Begbie though the way he is portrayed in this novel.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 20, 2016)

Kazuo Ishiguro - The Buried Giant
China Mieville - The Scar

Enjoying the latter more, but I'm in a funny mood.


----------



## Voley (Apr 20, 2016)

Them: Adventures With Extremists - Jon Ronson

The third book I've read of his in almost as many weeks. This one starts well with him overhearing David Icke slagging him off while he's in the bogs.


----------



## ringo (Apr 21, 2016)

Englishman - Toby Broom aka Mister Swing Easy
My mate Toby's book about his life, so far, as a reggae selector. From being introduced to soul and reggae by his older sister to visiting shady shubeens as a naive young white lad, to venturing into the intimidating world of the reggae specialist store,to playing reggae on the radio but never making it into the upper echelons of the DJ/selector heirarchy, it's a story that I and lots of my generation will recognise, especially DJ's and those of us in the reggae community. 

Told with wit and charm it's an enjoyable read, though a brief flick through does seem to suggest that I'm not in it, so words will be had 







A current best seller at Dub Vendor: 

Englishman by Toby Broom - Book all copies of this first consignment are signed and dated by the author


----------



## weltweit (Apr 21, 2016)

Just finished If This Is A Man, & The Truce, by Primo Levi. After the end he covers some of the questions he has received over the years and also explains that he only wrote about what he himself saw of the camps for example not expanding to the gas chambers of Birkenau which he knows about but did not himself witness. After such a barbaric time in the camps he retains an amazing humanity which lifts the spirits.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Apr 22, 2016)

Lavondyss - Robert Holdstock

Not as good as the first book, plots a bit winding and spending far to long explaining things that were already explained in the first book, also a bit disjointed. 

Enjoy his style though, wonderful imagery.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 22, 2016)

Just started The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz, by Denis Avey with Rob Broomby. An eyewitness account, large print which is nice, reminds me of another war tale I read recently, I know I am going to find it interesting if sobering reading.

He Denis Avey couldn't tell his story just after the war because no one would listen, then he bottled it up for 60 years suffering flashbacks, finally aged something like 90 he felt able to tell it, hence the book. While a prisoner of war he broke into Auschwitz by exchanging his British Army uniform for an incarcerated Jew's striped Lager clothing changing places.


----------



## MrSki (Apr 22, 2016)

weltweit said:


> Just started The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz, by Denis Avey with Rob Broomby. An eyewitness account, large print which is nice, reminds me of another war tale I read recently, I know I am going to find it interesting if sobering reading.
> 
> He Denis Avey couldn't tell his story just after the war because no one would listen, then he bottled it up for 60 years suffering flashbacks, finally aged something like 90 he felt able to tell it, hence the book. While a prisoner of war he broke into Auschwitz by exchanging his British Army uniform for an incarcerated Jew's striped Lager clothing changing places.


I seem to remember hearing him on the radio when the book was published. 

Amazing.


----------



## Geoffrey Kerr (Apr 23, 2016)

I have just finished last night The Hangmans Hitch a novel by Donna Maria McCarthy. The story is set in 18th Century South West England the main character Freddy initially a likeable dandy who gets cut off from his inheritance soon descends and he meets an evil man Joseph Black. The book is totally different to my normal reads and this book is far from normal. I usually read Philip Kerr and Alan Furst style books political thrillers. I really enjoyed the diversion into a new type of reading it may broaden my horizons who knows?


----------



## murphy1970 (Apr 24, 2016)

Just finished, And the land lay still by James Robertson, an epic novel set against 20th Century Scotland told from the vantage point of a left leaning nationalist.
The story flows faultlessly, with different families/characters intertwining over the decades to create a coherent narrative.
I'm now midway through Joyce Carol Oates imagined biography of Marilyn Monroe, Blonde, and I'm really enjoying it. I've never really had any great fascination with Monroe but Oates brings her to life and I'm unexpectedly engaged in a book despite knowing the tragic ending it is building toward.


----------



## flypanam (Apr 24, 2016)

David Harvey - Rebel cities
Garth Ennis - Preacher volume 3
Ivo Andric - Bosnian chronicle.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 24, 2016)

I think this may be the last book I read on Auschwitz for a while as I had quite a nasty dream last night.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 24, 2016)

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, by Karen Joy Fowler. Enjoying it.


----------



## little_legs (Apr 25, 2016)

_The Beautiful Struggle_ and _Between the World and Me_ by Ta-Nehisi Coates, loved them both. 

_The Noise of Time_ by Julian Barnes, the bastard made me cry. 

Currently reading the 5th installment of Knausgaard's _My Struggle_, it's very good.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 25, 2016)

Ooo I've not read that particular Julian Barnes one...might see if I can get hold of a copy


----------



## weltweit (Apr 25, 2016)

An odd thing has happened, Primo Levi, an Italian Jew, whose books I recently read, was imprisoned in the part of Auschwitz building the Buna Rubber IG Farben factory. Denis Avey whose book I am now reading, a British POW, was also engaged building the Buna works and it seems the bit of Auschwitz Avey broke into might well have been the very bit Primo Levi was incarcerated in.


----------



## campanula (Apr 26, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Kazuo Ishiguro - The Buried Giant
> China Mieville - The Scar
> 
> Enjoying the latter more, but I'm in a funny mood.



Grief - the Buried Giant - what utter turgid rubbish. Unfinished. Disappoint.

Neal Asher - The War Factory - back to form - enjoyed Dark Intelligence too. Fed up of trilogies though.
Picked up The Days of the Deer - Liliana Bodoc on impulse.


----------



## krtek a houby (Apr 26, 2016)

Stephen King - Hearts in Atlantis; apparently there's links to the Dark Tower series which I'm also reading whenever I get a second hand copy of the series.


----------



## ringo (Apr 27, 2016)

The Secret History - Donna Tartt. 
Yep, quite good isn't she, I see what all the fuss is about.


----------



## 50yrsInBrixton (Apr 27, 2016)

ringo said:


> The Secret History - Donna Tartt.
> Yep, quite good isn't she, I see what all the fuss is about.



Ok, that might be enough for me because I'm struggling to find a good read and _i loved The Goldfinch._


----------



## weltweit (Apr 27, 2016)

Bad planning, I am now without a book. Got to order some new ones pronto!


----------



## 50yrsInBrixton (Apr 27, 2016)

weltweit said:


> Bad planning, I am now without a book. Got to order some new ones pronto!



Are you talking to me?


----------



## weltweit (Apr 27, 2016)

50yrsInBrixton said:


> Are you talking to me?


not with that post no ..


----------



## 50yrsInBrixton (Apr 27, 2016)

weltweit said:


> not with that post no ..



Good, because you put people into a coma.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 27, 2016)

50yrsInBrixton said:


> Good, because you put people into a coma.


I should watch out then, conversing with me like that, you could be next!


----------



## 50yrsInBrixton (Apr 27, 2016)

weltweit said:


> I should watch out then, conversing with me like that, you could be next!



Yeah, I'm almos......no fuck you.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 27, 2016)

Bridget Christie - A Book For Her.  Very funny and enlightening.


----------



## 50yrsInBrixton (Apr 27, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Bridget Christie - A Book For Her.  Very funny and enlightening.



Yep, just done skim reviews, I can put that on my shortlist when less manic.


----------



## 50yrsInBrixton (Apr 27, 2016)

A Taste of honey
The book or the play?
A Taste of Honey A Taste of Honey


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 28, 2016)

campanula said:


> One for DotCommunist, I think - just finished Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky. Dunno if you read any of his insects series - 10 long books, but I found them diverting, if somewhat silly, but enjoyed them enough to pick up his first sf attempt which, writing as the zoologist he once was, proved highly entertaining (although not for the spider-phobic). Suprisingly moving, a mish-mash of first contact, ark ships, ecology and yep, insects. What's not to like?
> pm and I will pop it in the post.


this has picked up a nomination for this years Arthur C CLarke award


----------



## Voley (Apr 28, 2016)

A Decent Ride - Irvine Welsh

Juice Terry waxes lyrical on life in general while shagging everything that moves. You know the drill by now, I expect. Not one of his best but still funny at times. Has that ominous feeling that everything's about to go to shit bigtime that a lot of his books have. Always liked that about him. Not read anything by him for a while and it's been nice to get reacquainted with the atrocious folk that populate his mind.


----------



## campanula (Apr 28, 2016)

I have 'The Tiger and the Wolf, dottie - will pass it your way if it's any good.


----------



## Greebo (May 2, 2016)

Gone to ground - Marie Jalowicz Simon


----------



## colbhoy (May 4, 2016)

Just started The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.


----------



## weltweit (May 4, 2016)

Picked up The Associate, by John Grisham to read while I wait for the books I requested to come through. Half way through and enjoying it so far. Haven't read any Grisham before. It keeps you wanting to turn pages and this one is large print so easy on the eye.


----------



## Dr. Furface (May 4, 2016)

Sellevision by Augusten Burroughs. A friend recommended him to me and suggested I start with this one - a novel set in a US home shopping channel.


----------



## Voley (May 5, 2016)

I've just started on the first book of Game Of Thrones, having enjoyed the TV series so much. You might not hear from me for a while.


----------



## MrSki (May 5, 2016)

Voley said:


> I've just started on the first book of Game Of Thrones, having enjoyed the TV series so much. You might not hear from me for a while.


I have been reading these. I have been picking them up in charity shops for a pound but can't find the second part of book five so have put it on hold till it appears on a shelf for a quid.


----------



## Greebo (May 5, 2016)

What would Satan do? - Anthony Miller  

Satan's got fed up with God using him as a scapegoat, so he's quit his work in Hell and is walking the Earth in the USA.  Meanwhile, God has decided to start the End times (including the rapture, apolcalytic weather, and various plagues) whether Satan's doing his side of it or not.  Satan is, of course, pretty pissed off about this.


----------



## sojourner (May 5, 2016)

Kate Adie, The Kindness of Strangers, whilst gnashing quite badly when she displays her sickening privilege and attitudes. I thought I would quite like it, and I do in parts, but by god, you can tell her fucking background.


----------



## D'wards (May 5, 2016)

The new Irvine Welsh - The Blade Artist. Its the same old Welsh really - i like the underlying violence in the character (and of course not so underlying), but it makes no sense really. Begbie was a great character in the Trainspotting books, but the rehabilitation of him as loving artist is just too far-fetched.


----------



## belboid (May 5, 2016)

The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud.

A reply to _L'Etranger _narrated by 'the Arab's' brother. Seems pretty good from the opening chapter - “Mama’s still alive today”


----------



## Voley (May 5, 2016)

D'wards said:
			
		

> The new Irvine Welsh - The Blade Artist. Its the same old Welsh really - i like the underlying violence in the character (and of course not so underlying), but it makes no sense really. Begbie was a great character in the Trainspotting books, but the rehabilitation of him as loving artist is just too far-fetched.



I just finished A Decent Ride and had mixed feelings too. Bringing Juice Terry back for another book - not a bad thing at all - and it was genuinely funny at first but wore thin quickly. By the time we'd reached the incest/necrophilia bit I thought he'd run out of ideas and was just resorting to shock tactics to try and maintain interest. Pity. I love him when he's on form.


----------



## stockwelljonny (May 6, 2016)

Rabbit, Run by John Updike - saw John Updike on a list of books you should read and having never ready any picked this one. Have really enjoyed it, in particular the quality of the writing, think its quite remarkable. Read somewhere  Updike described as being like a fish in water in terms of his agility with language and plot, and that rings true. Its a story of a 27 year old man in middle America, a former high school sports star now coming to turns with married life. A great read. Have now ordered various other Updikes on amazon for pennies..


----------



## weltweit (May 8, 2016)

Just started

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
by Robert Pirsig

Just getting into it at the mo and liking it so far.


----------



## neonwilderness (May 8, 2016)

I finished The Lewis Man by Peter May the other day. I enjoyed it but didn't realise that it was part of a trilogy, so I hope I haven't spoilt it too much by reading the second book first.


----------



## belboid (May 8, 2016)

neonwilderness said:


> I finished The Lewis Man by Peter May the other day. I enjoyed it but didn't realise that it was part of a trilogy, so I hope I haven't spoilt it too much by reading the second book first.


mrs b did that, but it didn't matter too much. You have discovered one thing you shouldn't have, iyswim, but it shouldn't ruin the first one.


----------



## neonwilderness (May 9, 2016)

belboid said:


> mrs b did that, but it didn't matter too much. You have discovered one thing you shouldn't have, iyswim, but it shouldn't ruin the first one.


Yeah it worked ok as a standalone book, it didn't seem like anything was missing from the story. I'll keep an eye out for the others next time I'm at the market.


----------



## inva (May 9, 2016)

Spin Cycle by Zoe Strachan
About a third of the way into this and liking it a lot. Nothing much has happened yet but the characters draw you in well and there's a dark edge to it that I suppose will be brought out more later on.


----------



## ringo (May 9, 2016)

stockwelljonny said:


> Rabbit, Run by John Updike - saw John Updike on a list of books you should read and having never ready any picked this one. Have really enjoyed it, in particular the quality of the writing, think its quite remarkable. Read somewhere  Updike described as being like a fish in water in terms of his agility with language and plot, and that rings true. Its a story of a 27 year old man in middle America, a former high school sports star now coming to turns with married life. A great read. Have now ordered various other Updikes on amazon for pennies..



I bought the set of four in the series years ago as I generally like 20th Century US fiction, especially Pulitzer Prize winners of this type. I got a bit lost with it and gave up, but have been reading Richard Ford's US everyman trilogy The Sportswriter and have really enjoyed it, so will be going back to the Rabbit series soon I reckon. Thne baby in the bath bit still haunts me.


----------



## D'wards (May 9, 2016)

The Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh - in retrospect his worst book - and he has provided us with some contenders in the last decade. It just made no sense - the horrible violent acts perpetrated by the characters seemingly without any hint of the law getting involved, and with only scant motivation.

He was always one of my favourite authors, but he ain't alf brought his own average down over the last few titles.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 9, 2016)

D'wards said:


> The Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh - in retrospect his worst book - and he has provided us with some contenders in the last decade. It just made no sense - the horrible violent acts perpetrated by the characters seemingly without any hint of the law getting involved, and with only scant motivation.
> 
> He was always one of my favourite authors, but he ain't alf brought his own average down over the last few titles.


is it worse than Bedroom Secrets of The Masterchefs? I've been meaning to pick it up for completest reasons but if its not at least as good as skag boys I'm wondering wat the point is


----------



## D'wards (May 9, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> is it worse than Bedroom Secrets of The Masterchefs? I've been meaning to pick it up for completest reasons but if its not at least as good as skag boys I'm wondering wat the point is


 I think so - its just makes no sense - the character has so many unbelievable contradictions and motivations.
Maybe i'm being harsh because Begbie was a great creation - the "functioning" psychopath who plies his trade in the pubs and clubs. I feel Welsh has sullied his own character


----------



## DotCommunist (May 9, 2016)

D'wards said:


> I think so - its just makes no sense - the character has so many unbelievable contradictions and motivations.
> Maybe i'm being harsh because Begbie was a great creation - the "functioning" psychopath who plies his trade in the pubs and clubs. I feel Welsh has sullied his own character


shame. I knew it'd be difficult to show how such a man is made but things like Glue made me think he's up to the task. Eh maybe he's been phoning them in for longer than I care to admit


----------



## sojourner (May 9, 2016)

Gave up on the Kate Adie. It was shit.


----------



## D'wards (May 10, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> shame. I knew it'd be difficult to show how such a man is made but things like Glue made me think he's up to the task. Eh maybe he's been phoning them in for longer than I care to admit


This review sums up my feelings, in a more eloquent way
The Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh review – a troublesome follow-up to Trainspotting


----------



## stockwelljonny (May 10, 2016)

ringo said:


> I bought the set of four in the series years ago as I generally like 20th Century US fiction, especially Pulitzer Prize winners of this type. I got a bit lost with it and gave up, but have been reading Richard Ford's US everyman trilogy The Sportswriter and have really enjoyed it, so will be going back to the Rabbit series soon I reckon. Thne baby in the bath bit still haunts me.



Yes, the baby in the bath is pure horror. I read the Sportswriter last year and really enjoyed it. 

Am now reading Rebel Footprints - A Guide to London's Radical History - By David Rosenburg which is fascinating and inspirational about the start of the unions in London, chartism and the match girls


----------



## inva (May 10, 2016)

inva said:


> Spin Cycle by Zoe Strachan
> About a third of the way into this and liking it a lot. Nothing much has happened yet but the characters draw you in well and there's a dark edge to it that I suppose will be brought out more later on.


Finished this now, it was good. I'll have to see about getting more of her books.


----------



## Voley (May 12, 2016)

Voley said:
			
		

> I've just started on the first book of Game Of Thrones, having enjoyed the TV series so much. You might not hear from me for a while.



Not sure I'll finish this tbh. Don't like his writing style much. Plot's great, like, loads of good characters etc etc but I knew that already. I'll stick with it for a bit longer but might just end up watching the telly programme.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 12, 2016)

Voley said:


> Not sure I'll finish this tbh. Don't like his writing style much. Plot's great, like, loads of good characters etc etc but I knew that already. I'll stick with it for a bit longer but might just end up watching the telly programme.


Did you mislike it then?


----------



## Pickman's model (May 12, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Did you mislike it then?


doesn't sound to me like he considered it distasteful. more dis than mis i'd say


----------



## Orang Utan (May 12, 2016)

Pickman's model said:


> doesn't sound to me like he considered it distasteful. more dis than mis i'd say


Not in Martin's world. His use of 'mislike' got on my magic tits.


----------



## Pickman's model (May 12, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Not in Martin's world. His use of 'mislike' got on my magic tits.


you were misliking it


----------



## ringo (May 12, 2016)

Voley said:


> Not sure I'll finish this tbh. Don't like his writing style much. Plot's great, like, loads of good characters etc etc but I knew that already. I'll stick with it for a bit longer but might just end up watching the telly programme.



His writing is not great from a literary pov but he does knock out a good page turner and you get much more involved with the characters instead of having to concentrate on remembering who is who and what their relationship with everyone else is. Kind of wish I'd followed someone else on here's lead in missing out the Daenerys chapters though. I kept thinking something really imortant was going to happen so I'd better not skip anything


----------



## ringo (May 12, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Not in Martin's world. His use of 'mislike' got on my magic tits.



'Mummers farce' did it for me. And all the trudging. He should have given them magic carpets or coconuts or something.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 12, 2016)

I like the books a lot for the internal monolouges of characters. Davos is particularly good for this, it gives his on screen character a damn sight more depth.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 12, 2016)

I must have read the word trencher instead of plate at least a half a hundred times.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 12, 2016)

breaking of fasts.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 12, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> breaking of fasts.


Full Dornish Breaking Of Fast


----------



## Voley (May 12, 2016)

Glad it's not just me, then. Tbf I think I might've stuck with it if I hadn't already watched the telly programme. As it is I've started Bill Bryson 's follow up to Notes From A Small Island which is enjoyably wry.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 12, 2016)

they might also be difficult for people not on regular handshaking terms with high fantasy. Even though its not, it wears some similar clothing iyswim


----------



## Voley (May 12, 2016)

DotCommunist said:
			
		

> they might also be difficult for people not on regular handshaking terms with high fantasy. Even though its not, it wears some similar clothing iyswim



Yeah that's probably where I'm coming from. It's not my usual thing at all. Much as I like him I find Tolkein a bit clunky at times, even. I was hoping for more background to the TV series but no harm done. I'm still right into that.


----------



## krtek a houby (May 13, 2016)

Arnaldur Indridason's "Hypothermia", another Inspector Erlendur page turner. It's again concerned with missing people (but that's part of who Erlendur is) but this time around there seems to be some kind of supernatural undercurrent, which I wasn't expecting.


----------



## Pickman's model (May 13, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> Arnaldur Indridason's "Hypothermia", another Inspector Erlendur page turner. It's again concerned with missing people (but that's part of who Erlendur is) but this time around there seems to be some kind of supernatural undercurrent, which I wasn't expecting.


you've sold me on it, i'll give it a go


----------



## campanula (May 13, 2016)

Some tedious tripe called The Days of the Deer (Liliana Bodoc) Have run out of reading stuff so will have to persist for at least one more night. Puff on the front from Ursula LeGuin (although she did call it 'meditative' which should have warned me as a synonym for boring).


----------



## inva (May 14, 2016)

I'm reading Zeppelin Nights: London in the First World War by Jerry White. Very interesting social history book.


----------



## little_legs (May 16, 2016)

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara


----------



## Orang Utan (May 16, 2016)

little_legs said:


> A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara


I've been summing up the courage to read that for a while but it seems a bit harrowing for my current mood


----------



## little_legs (May 16, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> I've been summing up the courage to read that for a while but it seems a bit harrowing for my current mood



I know what you mean. In an interview she gave, Yanagihara said that she has not cried once while writing the book. I am only 160 pages and I cried twice. I keep reminding myself not to get too misty eyed because of what she said but the writing is so good and emotionally accessible, it's hard not to respond.


----------



## Draygo (May 20, 2016)

'Anna Karenina' - Tolstoy - finally.

Also 'The Weak Suffer What They Must?' by Yanis Varoufakis and 'The Many Faces of Anonymous' by Gabriella Coleman.


----------



## Virtual Blue (May 20, 2016)

A couple of year late...but I'm reading The Rosie Project (why, I do not know).


----------



## Orang Utan (May 21, 2016)

Virtual Blue said:


> A couple of year late...but I'm reading The Rosie Project (why, I do not know).


Graeme Simsion wrote it


----------



## seventh bullet (May 21, 2016)

Boundaries of Utopia - Imagining Communism from Plato to Stalin by Erik van Ree.


----------



## Voley (May 23, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> they might also be difficult for people not on regular handshaking terms with high fantasy. Even though its not, it wears some similar clothing iyswim


For all that, I'm giving the first Game Of Thrones book another go. I figured that if I could get over some of the crap acting in the first season of the telly series I can probably live with GRRM's writing style. The storytelling is winning the battle so far - I've ploughed through half the book in the last couple of days and am enjoying it now. Glad I stuck with it.


----------



## Voley (May 23, 2016)

ringo said:


> 'Mummers farce' did it for me.


Heh. I just got to that bit last night and thought of you grimacing at it.


----------



## inva (May 25, 2016)

Shadows On Our Skin by Jennifer Johnston
Coming of age novel about a boy growing up in Northern Ireland in I guess the 70s, when it was published. It's shaping up pretty well and, aside from a bit of a hard to believe friendship the kid strikes up with a school teacher, I like the sense of realism about the characters. Something about it makes me think of the kind of books we used to read in English class at secondary school, and in fact I think it would be good for that. It reminds me in particular of one I did for gcse, Spies by Michael Frayn. at the time I didn't much like it, but I think actually it was a pretty good book.


----------



## little_legs (May 26, 2016)

_Stoner_ by John Williams


----------



## krtek a houby (May 27, 2016)

Handling the Undead - John Ajvide Linqvist. This is the author who wrote Let the Right One in, this one is about zombies.


----------



## Wilf (May 27, 2016)

Irvine Welsh, Skagboys. Not as good as Trainspotting, but as prequels go. it's a good one.


----------



## neonwilderness (May 30, 2016)

Digging Up Mother by Doug Stanhope 

His memoirs detailing how he got into comedy and where his humour comes from.


----------



## weltweit (May 30, 2016)

Just finished Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig. There was a lot of reference to Greek philosophy much of which was over my head, but frequent reference to motorcycles brought it back to me. I looked forward to reading more so it was a good page turner, it works on a number of levels.


----------



## weltweit (May 30, 2016)

btw, not happy with the way libraries work in one respect. I got 4 books out recently and started into them, I read 2 books and was about to start a third when I noticed someone else had reserved it. This meant I couldn't renew it and seeing as I hadn't started it and had only 4 days left to read it in I will have to return it unread.


----------



## TikkiB (May 31, 2016)

Just finished A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson.  It's a brilliant book, funny and absolutely heartbreaking. It made me sob.


----------



## belboid (May 31, 2016)

TikkiB said:


> Just finished A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson.  It's a brilliant book, funny and absolutely heartbreaking. It made me sob.


would I need to read _Life After Life _before that, do you think?  As it is, I gather, a 'not exactly a sequel'


----------



## weltweit (May 31, 2016)

Just started Childhood's end, by Arthur C Clarke, enjoying it already.


----------



## TikkiB (May 31, 2016)

belboid said:


> would I need to read _Life After Life _before that, do you think?  As it is, I gather, a 'not exactly a sequel'


I don't think so.  I haven't read Life after Life, but I gather AGiR is more of a companion piece.  I didn't particularly like the look of Life of Life but I really want to now.


----------



## weltweit (May 31, 2016)

Anyone read John Steinbeck East of Eden and can tell me if it is any good?

I got it recently and am a bit shocked, it is massive, 700 pages ....


----------



## ringo (Jun 1, 2016)

weltweit said:


> Anyone read John Steinbeck East of Eden and can tell me if it is any good?
> 
> I got it recently and am a bit shocked, it is massive, 700 pages ....



Its brilliant. Have you read Of Mice And Men or The Grapes Of Wrath? They are shorter and better, so if you haven't read them I'd do that first to see if you like his style. If you do you'll love it, even his third best book is better than almost everything else.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 1, 2016)

weltweit said:


> Just started Childhood's end, by Arthur C Clarke, enjoying it already.


theres a half decent miniseries of this I enjoyed recently.


----------



## JimW (Jun 1, 2016)

Just finished Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth, superb both as a story and a meditation on the evils of the profit motive.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 1, 2016)

ringo said:


> Its brilliant. Have you read Of Mice And Men or The Grapes Of Wrath? They are shorter and better, so if you haven't read them I'd do that first to see if you like his style. If you do you'll love it, even his third best book is better than almost everything else.


Thanks for that, I might switch to one of them as 700 pages is going to take a while..... not that that necessarily matters mind..


----------



## campanula (Jun 1, 2016)

Oh, I based my child-rearing feeding methods entirely on a throwaway paragraph in Cannery Row - where the mother (Rosita? Rosetta?) strews beans under the table to waiting offspring. I adopted this in a heartbeat (although, because of doghairs, I did put a tarp down first).
I fucking love Steinbeck.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 3, 2016)

weltweit said:


> btw, not happy with the way libraries work in one respect. I got 4 books out recently and started into them, I read 2 books and was about to start a third when I noticed someone else had reserved it. This meant I couldn't renew it and seeing as I hadn't started it and had only 4 days left to read it in I will have to return it unread.


You can get it back out again though. And it's free. Stop whingeing 



campanula said:


> I fucking love Steinbeck.


Me too 

I am currently reading Stone Mattress by Margaret Attwood. It is fucking fantastic. 76 she is, and her writing is even better than it used to be.


----------



## campanula (Jun 3, 2016)

sojourner said:


> I am currently reading Stone Mattress by Margaret Attwood. It is fucking fantastic. 76 she is, and her writing is even better than it used to be.



Ordered!


----------



## sojourner (Jun 3, 2016)

campanula said:


> Ordered!


I was wondering what she'd be like now, but my god, she's all there and some!


----------



## SpookyFrank (Jun 3, 2016)

Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars

Only just started this but I'm enjoying it. It feels realistic, both scientifically and socially.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 3, 2016)

China Mieville - The Scar.
Loving this. Bas Lag is a beautifully rendered place. Wouldn't want to live there though.


----------



## campanula (Jun 3, 2016)

SpookyFrank said:


> Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars
> 
> Only just started this but I'm enjoying it. It feels realistic, both scientifically and socially.



Oh, lucky you - there are Blue and Green Mars yet to come. I really like KSR ...although he can veer alarmingly into prehistoric stuff - 'Years of Rice and Salt' and 'Shaman' which are...bewildering.


----------



## campanula (Jun 3, 2016)

sojourner said:


> I was wondering what she'd be like now, but my god, she's all there and some!



Yep, I like the way she blew off the literary world's mealy mouthed description of her sf/fantasy stuff - 'speculative fiction' ffs.
I think the Harper years sharpened her erudition and wit to a piercing spike which skewered hypocrisy and political sleaze...most especially on the environmental depredations.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 3, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> China Mieville - The Scar.



literally the best bas-lag novel in terms of an accomplished text. The ending plauged me for so long, I couldn't...well I can't spell it out while you are stilll yet to reach the end

my personal fave is still Iron Council. Theres just so much to unpack in it and the sense of hope & rage with that story...bastard recons he won't write anymore bas lags which is a shame cos other than his non bas lag book City & The City things are...patchy. I love Looking For Jake though, collection but the title story expresses a huge yearning, a loss and bewilderment. It also has a brilliant comic in it where this fella keeps seeing the wounded of ww1 on public transport and nobody else does. He keeps looking for them, looking for a noble war.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 3, 2016)

I fully intend to read all of his stuff.
I've only read Perdido Street Station (one of the best things I've ever read), King Rat (one of the worst things I've ever read) and Un Lun Dun (pretty good for YA literature).
Looking forward to Iron Council and the other non Bas-Lags. Embassytown and The City & The City in particular.


----------



## bookaddict (Jun 5, 2016)

just reading for the second time 'the belle fields' by lora adams.  a lovely story of a kitchen maid who gets a job in the kitchens of a local 'big house'.  it's a romantic fiction set at the turn of the 19th century. there's so many twists and turns and a happy and sad read at the same time.  obviously loads of research done by the author - her descriptive writing is quite good.  looking forward to the sequel promised soon.  would recommend this read to anyone who is interested in a way of life 'enjoyed' by our ancestors not so long ago and the vast void between those who had it all and the majority of ordinary folks who had a constant struggle to keep afloat!


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jun 5, 2016)

The Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas. I love this book for so many reasons, most of which exist outside of a critical / literary framing. 

Hello Urbanites!


----------



## Voley (Jun 7, 2016)

The Men Who Stare At Goats - Jon Ronson. This is a good enough book as it is but my library copy has clearly been in the possession of a total fucking fruitbat who has helpfully made notes in the margins. They're as entertaining as the book:

Jon Ronson: In 1995 the CIA closed them down.
Fruitbat: _OR DID THEY ?_

Jon Ronson: (Paragraph about a General with odd beliefs such as telepathy)
Fruitbat: ULTIMATE WEAPON OF WAR - REMOTE VIEWING NODES - _STUPIDITY: *COVER FOR WHAT REALLY GOES ON*_

Etc etc. Unfortunately he must've got bored/moved on to greater things by chapter 7 as the notes stop there.

OR DO THEY?


----------



## sojourner (Jun 8, 2016)

That's brilliant Voley 

The fella wanted to read Tess of the D'Urbervilles cos - shock horror - he has NEVER read it, OR seen that film with the ridiculously fucking sexy Nastassja Kinski! He doesn't even know the story!  So I got it out the library for him, but he's in the middle of Cloud Atlas so I'm re-reading it instead.  Loving it all over again, and already spitting with fury


----------



## ringo (Jun 8, 2016)

sojourner said:


> The fella wanted to read Tess of the D'Urbervilles cos - shock horror - he has NEVER read it



I did it for English Lit A level but the teacher was a geriatric misogynist with a creepy obsession with one of the girls in the class, teaching a feminist literature module. Everyone hated going to the lessons, I didn't bother reading much of it. It's put me off ever since but I might almost be ready to go back to it. 

I know they say a good teacher has an impact that stays with you forever, but a bad teacher does too.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 8, 2016)

ringo said:


> I did it for English Lit A level but the teacher was a geriatric misogynist with a creepy obsession with one of the girls in the class, teaching a feminist literature module. Everyone hated going to the lessons, I didn't bother reading much of it. It's put me off ever since but I might almost be ready to go back to it.
> 
> I know they say a good teacher has an impact that stays with you forever, but a bad teacher does too.


Oh what a cunt   Oh they certainly do - I can still name all the bastards who tried to grind me down!

Go for it mate - it's so well-written, and such a great story.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 8, 2016)

Started Hong Ying's Daughter of the River a few years ago. Let it slide because it's so relentlessly grim. But have found myself engrossed in the life she led in Chongqing and the atrocities of the cultural revolution and all that upheaval.


----------



## Voley (Jun 8, 2016)

sojourner said:
			
		

> That's brilliant Voley



I'm missing his unique take on things now I must admit. One has to wonder why he stopped writing so abruptly in Chapter 7. If I could scribble in the margin of this page it would undoubtedly say:

'SILENCED FOR GETTING TOO CLOSE TO THE TRUTH ???'


----------



## campanula (Jun 8, 2016)

Fall of Light - Steven Erickson. I recall being a trifle underwhelmed by Forge of Darkness, the first in this trilogy (trilogy - sigh...but at least there aren't 10 of them). Still, re-reading FoD before sinking into Fall of Light. Also reading a couple of |Margaret Atwoods - Moral Disorder and Stone Mattress (cheers, Sojourner) and am enjoying these artless and on the surface, almost homely tales...with a sharp edge of malice as seasoning.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 9, 2016)

Voley said:


> I'm missing his unique take on things now I must admit. One has to wonder why he stopped writing so abruptly in Chapter 7. If I could scribble in the margin of this page it would undoubtedly say:
> 
> 'SILENCED FOR GETTING TOO CLOSE TO THE TRUTH ???'


 Do it! Oh please, go on!


----------



## ElizabethofYork (Jun 9, 2016)

Kaleidoscope, by Laura Taylor.  Really enjoying it.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 9, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> literally the best bas-lag novel in terms of an accomplished text. The ending plauged me for so long, I couldn't...well I can't spell it out while you are stilll yet to reach the end
> 
> my personal fave is still Iron Council. Theres just so much to unpack in it and the sense of hope & rage with that story...bastard recons he won't write anymore bas lags which is a shame cos other than his non bas lag book City & The City things are...patchy. I love Looking For Jake though, collection but the title story expresses a huge yearning, a loss and bewilderment. It also has a brilliant comic in it where this fella keeps seeing the wounded of ww1 on public transport and nobody else does. He keeps looking for them, looking for a noble war.


Finished it now. Great stuff. Will get onto Iron Council soon enough


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 9, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Finished it now. Great stuff. Will get onto Iron Council soon enough


the question. Doul. Was he riding a wave? socially? or was he planned all along? remember the description of him fighting in the ring, from utter ferocity to monklike calm in a blink. Was doul playing the long game all along or did he ride the wave wearing that snarl then turn round with the face of a serene monk and act like it all just happened and he was swept along by history? design or skill? scheming or playing the moment?

I've re-read scar a dozen times and I still can't decide


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 9, 2016)

mieville deliberately makes it ambiguous, so neither!


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 9, 2016)

drove me mental for weeks. That and the Lovers, fanaticism or cultivated decadence? true stories about why the cutting or self mythologising psychos?

Things like that and of course, making coldwine-an essentianly hard to love character- the centre was a good trick. In a way he was able to look at new crobuzon- its spirit, its exceptionalism far better away from its streets. Far better through the eyes of a vaugely patriotic petit bourgoisie bookworm who suddenly comes under the full Eye of Suaron treatment.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 9, 2016)

ElizabethofYork said:


> Kaleidoscope, by Laura Taylor.  Really enjoying it.


  Awww! Thank you!


----------



## bluesheep (Jun 9, 2016)

I'm reading "Excursion to Tindari", which is a book from 2005 and which is part of the Montalbano-series written by the italian author Andrea Camilleri.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 9, 2016)

campanula said:


> Fall of Light - Steven Erickson. I recall being a trifle underwhelmed by Forge of Darkness, the first in this trilogy (trilogy - sigh...but at least there aren't 10 of them). Still, re-reading FoD before sinking into Fall of Light. Also reading a couple of |Margaret Atwoods - Moral Disorder and Stone Mattress (cheers, Sojourner) and am enjoying these artless and on the surface, almost homely tales...with a sharp edge of malice as seasoning.


is this another slab of tiste andii misery? cos I do love erickson but the misery must be leavened with humour which apparently the tiste of all stripes have evolved out of


----------



## campanula (Jun 9, 2016)

Dunno yet, Dottie cos I am re-reading FoD...and worryingly, I cannot recall the first reading at all. Even more worrying, the blurb for book2 seems to have not moved forwards from book 1 a single bit. Everyone is still doing exactly what they were doing throughout book1 (which wasn't very much). True though, Erickson does pathos very well indeed - he is in his element building damaged characters and yep, this lot are the usual earnest, joyless lot, with added psychoses.


----------



## ringo (Jun 10, 2016)

D'wards said:


> The new Irvine Welsh - The Blade Artist. Its the same old Welsh really - i like the underlying violence in the character (and of course not so underlying), but it makes no sense really. Begbie was a great character in the Trainspotting books, but the rehabilitation of him as loving artist is just too far-fetched.



+1, the whole premise of the book doesn't work.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 10, 2016)

Just finished Childhood's end, Arthur C Clarke. Enjoyed it, nice compact sci-fi story, small book which is a pleasant experience, will seek out more Arthur C Clarke.


----------



## mentalchik (Jun 11, 2016)

Let the Old Dreams Die -John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let The Right One In)

a collection of short stories and it's wicked !


----------



## Voley (Jun 11, 2016)

ElizabethofYork said:
			
		

> Kaleidoscope, by Laura Taylor.  Really enjoying it.



Same here. It's ace.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 11, 2016)




----------



## marshall (Jun 12, 2016)

Not my usual thing, but just finished, and enjoyed, The Vanishing of Ruth. 

Couple on one of those Magic Bus/Rainbow Tour type hippie trails disappear in Afghanistan in 1976 and, 30 years later, the girl's niece tries to work out what happened to them. Just makes me wish I'd been old enough to do that whole overlander trip; Turkey/Iran/Afghan/Delhi/Kathmandu. 

Anyone here go?


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jun 12, 2016)

Discipline & Punish - Michel Foucault


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 13, 2016)

Voley said:


> Same here. It's ace.


also. Just perusing a few before bed. 'Majority' grabbed me hard, the last two lines made want to see it done live hardcore. I know where they are from, joe hill ennit. But I didn't see that line coming, when it does its a right puncher. Will do a few more tomorrow night, I have one to read to the Tank when I get that far


----------



## May Kasahara (Jun 13, 2016)

Ursula le Guin - The Earthsea Quartet. I had only ever read A Wizard of Earthsea before,as a precocious child, and been slightly baffled by it, so thought I'd give the whole lot the time and attention they deserve. Completely hooked! Am on The Tombs of Atuan atm, wonderful stuff.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jun 13, 2016)

I'm nearing the end of Joe Hill's The Fireman.
I was really looking forward to reading this, but I've been slightly disappointed.
I like it well enough, but I don't love it.

It's a little overlong and has had a few too many twists and turns.

It reminded me of The Stand, but not done quite as well


----------



## Virtual Blue (Jun 13, 2016)

A Humour of Love


----------



## sojourner (Jun 13, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> also. Just perusing a few before bed. 'Majority' grabbed me hard, the last two lines made want to see it done live hardcore. I know where they are from, joe hill ennit. But I didn't see that line coming, when it does its a right puncher. Will do a few more tomorrow night, I have one to read to the Tank when I get that far


  It's always great at a punk/anarchist/benefit gig to get to the end and do those lines, and look out to see people's eyes light up and they start grinning and nodding  

Hope Tank likes it


----------



## sojourner (Jun 13, 2016)

I am in the middle of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and I got to THAT point yesterday, the wedding night, and fuck me if I didn't just start bawling me eyes out. I knew it was gonna upset me, cos it's upset me since I first saw the film in my teens, but my god. It fucking seriously rends me in two. And I couldn't even tell the fella cos he's gonna read it next! Was proper fucking upset for a good long while there


----------



## weltweit (Jun 13, 2016)

Well I am 10% into Steinbeck East of Eden and I have decided I will read it now, all 750 pages or whatever it is. I don't expect to finish it too quickly but the writing is good so it deserves to be read ! ..


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 13, 2016)

sojourner said:


> It's always great at a punk/anarchist/benefit gig to get to the end and do those lines, and look out to see people's eyes light up and they start grinning and nodding
> 
> Hope Tank likes it


not read it yet but I imagine 'dear margaret' goes down a storm in those gigs also  Literally just saw the title and thought, 'this'll be a fiery one'.


----------



## little_legs (Jun 14, 2016)

'My Brilliant Friend' by Elena Ferrante


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 14, 2016)

Just finished another Ross O'Carroll Kelly classic - The Shelbourne Ultimatum. Best written and funniest I've read yet.
Have started Robert A Heinlin's Starship Troopers, just to see what the fuss is over.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 14, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> not read it yet but I imagine 'dear margaret' goes down a storm in those gigs also  Literally just saw the title and thought, 'this'll be a fiery one'.


Certainly does haha. I think the best ever reception of that one was at a Class War benefit at the 1 in 12 club in Bradford. They nearly took the fucking roof off


----------



## Threshers_Flail (Jun 16, 2016)

little_legs said:


> 'My Brilliant Friend' by Elena Ferrante



What do you think? I´m just about to finish it (hopefully tonight) and I think it´s some of the best writing I have come across in years. She makes the trivial enthralling.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jun 16, 2016)

Foucault - Deleuze


----------



## little_legs (Jun 17, 2016)

Threshers_Flail said:


> What do you think? I´m just about to finish it (hopefully tonight) and I think it´s some of the best writing I have come across in years. She makes the trivial enthralling.



I like how she describes the feelings experienced by children, how they can sense when something is wrong without knowing what is actually happening, how daring and courageous children can be, how they fight with all their will to be unlike their parents.

It's also interesting how she describes the way friendship shapes a person's self. How, if you are lucky, a childhood friend can influence you to achive things you did not think you could achieve. And how much we care what friends think about us even if we don't want to admit it.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 19, 2016)

The Last of the Gentlemen Adventurers by Edward Beauclerk Maurice, with a big thank you to May Kasahara  for finding and posting it to me 

Also this brilliant book of poetry by a woman ont same publisher as me Flapjack Press - Steph Pike


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jun 22, 2016)

Lathe of Heaven - Ursula Le Guin


Cracking, and at the start eerily prescient of conditions today.


----------



## stethoscope (Jun 22, 2016)

Imogen Tyler - Revolting Subjects: Social Abjections and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jun 22, 2016)

Charles Dickens - Great Expectations

I have not read this for a while and so thought I would see how my view of the text might have changed.


----------



## inva (Jun 22, 2016)

stethoscope said:


> Imogen Tyler - Revolting Subjects: Social Abjections and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain.


what's that like?


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 23, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> ...
> 
> Have started Robert A Heinlin's Starship Troopers, just to see what the fuss is over.



Ah. Now I get it. One of the characters has a lengthy discussion with students, in which he dismisses psychologists, social workers and "do gooders" as being the main causes for breakdown in society. That and a lack of physical punishment. 

Don't know too much about if Heinlin was speaking his opinion through the character or what.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 23, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> Ah. Now I get it. One of the characters has a lengthy discussion with students, in which he dismisses psychologists, social workers and "do gooders" as being the main causes for breakdown in society. That and a lack of physical punishment.
> 
> Don't know too much about if Heinlin was speaking his opinion through the character or what.


oh he was. Read his essays (or don't, they are vile). Thing is the film is a satire where hienlens playing it with a straight face. If you enjoyed for the plot then try Moon is a Harsh Mistress. To my mind its the superior novel but everyone disagrees with me


----------



## Greebo (Jun 23, 2016)

The crimson petal and the white  - Michel Faber


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jun 23, 2016)

Foucault & The Iranian Revolution (Gender & The Seductions Of Islamism) - Janet Afrat & Kevin B Anderson


----------



## Virtual Blue (Jun 23, 2016)

sojourner's Kaeidoscope.


----------



## Shirl (Jun 23, 2016)

Inocents - How justice failed Stefan Kiszko and Lesley Moleseed by Jonathan Rose with Steve Panter and Trevor Wilkinson


----------



## yield (Jun 23, 2016)

Artaxerxes said:


> Lathe of Heaven - Ursula Le Guin
> 
> 
> Cracking, and at the start eerily prescient of conditions today.


Her homage to Philip K Dick. They went to Berkeley High School at the same time but didn't know each other.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 24, 2016)

The War in the West by James Holland. 

It's a history of WW2 which is  doing a good job of challenging many of my preconceptions and received wisdom.  It says Germany's early success  weren't due to them  being militarily advanced . The French had more tanks with better guns, more troops etc   The problem was the French being slow to act  and defensively minded. This may be known to many but wasn't to me .

I'm only half way through the first volume so no spoilers please


----------



## sojourner (Jun 27, 2016)

Shirl said:


> Inocents - How justice failed Stefan Kiszko and Lesley Moleseed by Jonathan Rose with Steve Panter and Trevor Wilkinson


Sounds interesting Shirl  - might borrow that off you


----------



## Shirl (Jun 27, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Sounds interesting Shirl  - might borrow that off you


Yes, you can have it once I finish it.

Johnathan Rose was one of the judges when I was on jury service last year.


----------



## Sea Star (Jun 27, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> If you enjoyed for the plot then try Moon is a Harsh Mistress. To my mind its the superior novel but everyone disagrees with me


I don't


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jun 27, 2016)

On The Uses & Disadvantages Of History For Life - Nietzsche


----------



## Virtual Blue (Jun 27, 2016)

Juggling 3 books at the same time.

Sun and Steel - Mishima, Yukio - this is my 4th reading and I'm in love with his words, more so now than ever before.


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 27, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> Arnaldur Indridason's "Hypothermia", another Inspector Erlendur page turner. It's again concerned with missing people (but that's part of who Erlendur is) but this time around there seems to be some kind of supernatural undercurrent, which I wasn't expecting.


Yeh I enjoyed this - thank you for the tip - and would be interested in any recommendations you might have


----------



## ringo (Jun 28, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> I've only read Perdido Street Station (one of the best things I've ever read)


Halfway through this, great stuff. Superbly paced, clever and unsettling but also a joy to read. Wish I could do a sickie and read it in the garden.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jun 28, 2016)

Covering Islam - Edward Said


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 28, 2016)

rubbershoes said:


> The War in the West by James Holland.
> 
> It's a history of WW2 which is  doing a good job of challenging many of my preconceptions and received wisdom.  It says Germany's early success  weren't due to them  being militarily advanced . The French had more tanks with better guns, more troops etc   The problem was the French being slow to act  and defensively minded. This may be known to many but wasn't to me .
> 
> I'm only half way through the first volume so no spoilers please




Fucking wanky bollocks.  This book covers 1939-41 and  I was looking forward to the next volume . 

Bloody twat James Holland hasn't written it yet


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 28, 2016)

Just finished Mortality by Christopher Hitchens. Really nice tome on death. I've been reading this short book for two months actually...but life....and death, got in the way.

Some other stuff on the go for ages....Islam and the future of Tolerance - Sam Harris and Majat Nawaaz, and I read an interesting one on Internet Trolls, written by a friend of mine. Am currently reading an autobiography of my Dad's friend, who was a former priest and music manager. Reading Tom Jones biography with my Mam, not bad. Have got my eye on 'Francis Bacon in your blood' more my kinda thing...

Francis Bacon in Your Blood: Michael Peppiatt: 9781632863447: Amazon.com: Books


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 30, 2016)

A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness. Just started.

Just can't read any non fiction at the moment, mind won't take it in


----------



## JimW (Jun 30, 2016)

Reread the first few stories in Primo Levi's Periodic Table. Years since I last did and had forgotten just how wonderful and so fully human it is. Sentimental old twat I was welling up at his tribute to the conscripted.Italian brickie who smuggles him food in Auschwitz and gives him a glimpse of uncorrupted humanity in the darkness.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 30, 2016)

Started 'Don't be a Daniel' by Tony Benn last night. Very interesting already.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 30, 2016)

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Oooh, scary. As such i try to only read it at night when its quiet by low lamp, or else you don't get the same effect


----------



## sojourner (Jul 1, 2016)

D'wards said:


> The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
> 
> Oooh, scary. As such i try to only read it at night when its quiet by low lamp, or else you don't get the same effect


Absolute classic that.


----------



## D'wards (Jul 1, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Absolute classic that.


Have you read any of her other spooky ones, and are they any good?


----------



## sojourner (Jul 1, 2016)

D'wards said:


> Have you read any of her other spooky ones, and are they any good?


Yeh, I got my Dad a collection by her for crimbo, and have to say, none of the others came near to TWIB. They were good, but that is particularly fucking brilliant.


----------



## Bajie (Jul 2, 2016)

Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince Talleyrand

I am fascinated by Talleyrand and this was an enjoyable read but I it is not a definitive biography and according to some reviews it has a whole host of historical inaccuracies and the title is no where near how Napoleon's and Talleyrand's relationship actually was.


----------



## neonwilderness (Jul 3, 2016)

I recently finished The Blackhouse by Peter May

Quite grim in places, but it made me want to go and visit Lewis!


----------



## innisfree (Jul 4, 2016)

Just read Twelve Minutes of Love - A Tango Story by Kapka Kassabova

Not only the most lyrical memoir I've read in recent times, but also the finest book on dance I've probably ever read. A nice cameo by Clive James, too.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 5, 2016)

Stalled a bit on the Tony Benn book cos I got Melvyn Bragg's 'The Adventure of English' out the charity shop and it's jampacked with interesting stuff!


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 5, 2016)

If you like The Adventure Of English, then David Crystal's The Stories Of English will be even more of a treat, sojourner


----------



## sojourner (Jul 5, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> If you like The Adventure Of English, then David Crystal's The Stories Of English will be even more of a treat, sojourner


Ooo ta for the heads up


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jul 5, 2016)

The Book of Sand & Shakespeare's Memory - Borges

I really like 'Shakespeare's Memory' and love the final line:

'I hit at last upon the only solution that gave hope courage: strict, vast music - Bach'


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 6, 2016)

The Water Knife - Paolo Bacigalupi

He does grimy near-future sci-fi verge of apocalypse stuff exceptionally well.


----------



## ringo (Jul 7, 2016)

Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

Only just started it but already beautiful, captivating writing.


----------



## Sprocket. (Jul 7, 2016)

Re-reading the first Bernard Samson trilogy, Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match by Len Deighton.
Pure cold war espionage.


----------



## JuanTwoThree (Jul 7, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> If you like The Adventure Of English, then David Crystal's The Stories Of English will be even more of a treat, sojourner



Crystal's 'Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language' often settles questions I ask myself. I can recommend to people who like that sort of thing 'The Secret Life of Words, How English Became English' (Henry Hitchings) as well as 'Words and Rules' and anything else  by Stephen Pinker.

Nothing so highbrow at the moment; I am in the middle of Ken Follet's Winter of the World. I'd read it but have no recollection of what happens next.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 8, 2016)

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kesey


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 8, 2016)

I'm reading a book called Earthly Remains, about historical practices of preserving bodies. It's fascinating.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 8, 2016)

May Kasahara said:


> I'm reading a book called Earthly Remains, about historical practices of preserving bodies. It's fascinating.


chapter on staking?

bodies got staked a lot back in the day


----------



## D'wards (Jul 8, 2016)

Just started The Possibility of an Island by Michel Houellebecq - good so far by it seems to be sci fi for Guardianista types who look down on sci fi. We'll see...


----------



## little_legs (Jul 8, 2016)

_The Girls_ by Emma Cline
Man, she can write.


----------



## ringo (Jul 11, 2016)

May Kasahara said:


> I'm reading a book called Earthly Remains, about historical practices of preserving bodies. It's fascinating.



That looks great, grabbing a copy . 

Parker Pearson was my tutor/dissertation supervisor, did loads of digs with him in the Outer Hebrides etc, very funny, drunken times. He did a great course on funerary practices comparing evidence from archaeology with current practices with Madagascan peoples etc.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jul 11, 2016)

Jealous!


----------



## innisfree (Jul 11, 2016)

Reading The City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan, as part of a dry research slew. But there's nothing dry here. Fourteenth century feminism. Wise, controlled rage - illuminating and lyrical. Down through the centuries, it speaks directly, intimately and empathetically of now. Surprisingly gripping. I'm underlining almost everything.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jul 11, 2016)

ringo said:


> Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
> 
> Only just started it but already beautiful, captivating writing.



I love the movie very much. The book has been on the list for years...have read some of it (accidentially in an article about Daphne De Maurier) not sure I will read it though, because of what happens (in the future). No spoilers.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 12, 2016)

One Man and his Bike - Mike Carter

Freelance Guardian type gets on a bike and cycles around the UK, not bad, fine for a tube read in the mornings.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 12, 2016)

So, I have now finished John Steinbeck, East of Eden. I had worried that it was very long but because it was very well written I didn't notice its length at all, I just ploughed through it enjoying every session. I will look out other Steinbeck books now ..


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jul 12, 2016)

Exemplary Stories - Cervantes


----------



## belboid (Jul 12, 2016)

*Lolly Willowes; or The Loving Huntsman, by Sylvia Townsend Warner*

Starts of like a very well observed, fairly genteel, faintly feminist, Edwardian novel about a youngish woman who has to go and live with her brother after the death of their father. Fairly light, perfectly enjoyable, and then...there is just one line, which you read, pause, go 'wtf?' and reread, and it realy said what you thought it did.  And then it's back to very well observed, comparatively genteel, slightly less faintly feminist, Edwardian novel. Then it get's a bit weirder, and then a bit weirder still.

If you read anything about it - including the literary Introduction, or any one sentence review, or, probably, the back cover, you discover smething which is much better left undiscovered, imo. The 'wtf?' is a real doozy of a 'wtf?' in that instance.

Bloody brilliant book, a must for anyone who likes words written down on a page.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jul 13, 2016)

Okay, so whilst working through 'Exemplary Tales' I took the opportunity to finish 'If This Is A Man' by Primo Levi. If you have never read this book please do, it is one of the few texts that demands to be read. I was especially struck by this:

'The living are more demanding; the dead can wait. We began to work as on every day'.

Echoes of Luke and Matthew being immediately apparent.


----------



## JimW (Jul 13, 2016)

Last two of Eoin McNamee's Blue Trilogy, linked stories about crime and cover-up in Ulster over a couple of decades. Couldn't get the first in an e-book but will seek it out.


----------



## ringo (Jul 19, 2016)

ringo said:


> Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
> 
> Only just started it but already beautiful, captivating writing.



That was brilliant, I know I'm going to go back and read that opening dream sequence again and again.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 19, 2016)

ringo said:


> That was brilliant, I know I'm going to go back and read that opening dream sequence again and again.


It's a great book isn't it?
Sneered at and dismissed as 'populist' in its day.


----------



## ringo (Jul 19, 2016)

BoatieBird said:


> It's a great book isn't it?
> Sneered at and dismissed as 'populist' in its day.


Was it? I didn't know that, it seemed to me to be the classic of its type that a thousand other books have tried to emulate.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 19, 2016)

Just starting : The Sleeper Awakes, H.G. Wells

Enjoying it so far


----------



## Yetman (Jul 19, 2016)

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
- that was a great adventure through the 20th century  The writer was Swedish, I didn't expect to like it, but it was fun enough for a holiday read, considering I found it falling apart in the bookshelf in the hotel bar.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
- another holiday read (managed 2 books in a week) which was a bit more heady than the first one, but a much deeper read with plenty of pretty much everything any book would have (except romance) in it. Recommended.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jul 19, 2016)

Against Theory - Steven Knapp & Walter Benn Michaels (1982)

Not a book but an early reactionary paper worth reading for those interested in Critical Theory.


----------



## Reno (Jul 19, 2016)

Edgewise: A Picture of Cookie Mueller by Chloe Griffin. 

Sometimes a person doesn't need to have been particularely famous to warrant a great biography, they just need to have lived and an interesting life and that Cookie Mueller did. She started out as one of the Dreamlanders in Baltimore as one of John Water's repertory company and then moved into the NYC punk scene where she became a writer and artist. She was a frequent subject on Nan Goldin's photographs and appeared in Subway Riders by Amos Poe before becoming one of the first semi-famous people to die of AIDS. 

The book is compiled from hundreds of interviews by those who knew her and really imerses you in the counter culture art scene of the East Coast in the 70s and 80s. I never knew much about her apart from the basics but have always been attracted to the scary/sexy don't-fuck-with-me quality she has in photos. She lived the life I was fantasising about as a teenager (apart from the early AIDS death thing)


----------



## Steel Icarus (Jul 19, 2016)

Just finished a book called Into the Black, about the history of the space shuttle. Recommended if you like that sort of thing.
Just started Will Gompertz's What do you think you're looking at?, a whistle-stop history of modern art.


----------



## Greebo (Jul 19, 2016)

Betty Zane - Zane Grey


----------



## inva (Jul 23, 2016)

I'm reading Lisa McKenzie's book Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain.

I like McKenzie, I've read a couple of pieces by her that I thought were very good but I have to admit I've been disappointed by this. I'm not sure what I was expecting from it, and it may be the problems I have with it are more problems with the type of book it is. I'm interested in the views of the people on the estate who she interviews wherever they're quoted and as you'd expect they have plenty of inteligent and thoughtful things to say on these issues. Aside from those direct quotations though it is to be honest fairly obvious and not terribly interesting.

I feel like if I was to just read the quotes and skip the bits in between I'd come away with just as much as reading the whole thing. I don't really know who the audience is for a book like this, maybe its a problem of sociological books in general I'm not sure. Part of it is maybe the distance that the format of the book creates - the people she talks to speak perfectly clearly but it then has to be sort of translated in the following text but to what end and for whose benefit? As I said, I can't really understand who the book is for or even really what it's trying to say. What I would have liked is much fuller and detailed interviews and much less explanatory writing I think.

It also has a pretty nauseating afterword by the ghastly Owen Jones, but that's probably not McKenzie's fault given that she is an anarchist as far as I know.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 24, 2016)

Complete works of Edgar Alan Poe. Bog book. There's a couple of shorts near the start where he tries humour. No edgar, just no.


----------



## Purdie (Jul 24, 2016)

I'm not.  Need new glasses but can't afford them.
I started one about the absurdity of Belgium.
But it's too hard work concentrating


----------



## Greebo (Jul 24, 2016)

Murder in Auschwitz.  It's an okayish read so far about a Jewish by birth lawyer ending up in the death camp (wife and daughters in Birkenau) marred by one glaring anachronism.  It's the time of the Weimar republic, and a gypsy accused of theft claims to have sold a horse in Mauerpark.  Mauerpark didn't exist before 1989.


----------



## flypanam (Jul 25, 2016)

Ismail Kadare's Broken April. Seriously good, seriously short book concerning the Kanun laws of northern Albania

With it

Granta magazine's edition of new Irish writing (one of my mates help select some of the pieces.) I've only read Kevin Barry's memoir of Cork city so far but the edition seems promising.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jul 26, 2016)

The Lais of Marie de France

Puzzling, and quite strange as a collection of short tales.


----------



## tangerinedream (Jul 29, 2016)

I just read two sci do things, James Smythe's 'the echo' and the first one I can't remember the name of. First one was pretty good, about a disastrous space mission. The sequel was ok, but it felt like it was unnecessary. Quite well written, tight in a way that often sci fi isn't.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Jul 29, 2016)

The Odyssey - Homer (Fagles)


----------



## inva (Jul 30, 2016)

I'm making a start on The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition by Manisha Sinha
I'm intending to read this to complement a couple of other books I've read this year, The American Slave Coast by the Sublettes and the Counter Revolution of 1776 by Gerald Horne. The former covers the slave breeding industry and the latter the fears of abolition and slave revolt driving the formation of the US, while this book I'm hoping will be a good account of the abolition movement with a focus on its radicalism and wider connections. That's what it claims to be anyway so I'll see.

It's off to a decent start, showing early opposition to the transatlantic trade and how the formation of a racist ideology was contested from the beginning. There's already been some mention too of the role of St. Augustine and Fort Mose in Spanish Florida in slave resistance and its significance in arguments for abolition which figured heavily in Horne's book but hopefully here as it's a pretty massive lump of a book there will be a broader overview around the topic.


----------



## Hurin85 (Jul 31, 2016)

The light fantastic by Terry Pratchett .... still depressed will never just go into a book shop and see a new novel out from him.


----------



## weltweit (Jul 31, 2016)

Hrmpf I ordered three nice books from my library, got them and have almost finished the first but now I have a renewal warning and I can't renew the two that I have not yet read because some other bugger has reserved them! So I have 3 days to read two books or face fines! Very vexed!


----------



## D'wards (Aug 1, 2016)

Might start Wolf Hall next - but am in two  minds. My dad (avid  reader for 60+ years) loved it but my brother (English literature degree) said it was boring.

Any advice?


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 1, 2016)

its a good story, the tv adapt was unmissable. I only read 1st chapter on epub but its solid writing on a prose level


----------



## catinthehat (Aug 1, 2016)

LoveStar – a novel | Andri Magnason  Rereading Lovestar by Andri Magnason.  I recently re read his Dreamland book and it prompted me to re read this.  He was one of the candidates in the Presidency elections - I was torn between him and the eventual winner, a History Professor.  Lovestar is a bit PhillipK Dick like.


----------



## D'wards (Aug 1, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> its a good story, the tv adapt was unmissable. I only read 1st chapter on epub but its solid writing on a prose level


Why did you abandon it?


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 1, 2016)

D'wards said:


> Why did you abandon it?


prose was solid and the story great but I shit you not, the TV adapt was so good the prose would have to have been at level 11 to top it, I may well revisit at some oint but it was as though I'd seen the story told once so well the writing couldn't compete, which is a rare thing indeed.

Also I had just taken delivery of a cache of physical history books so I was curled up reading a photo history of late tsarist era architecture.


----------



## D'wards (Aug 1, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> prose was solid and the story great but I shit you not, the TV adapt was so good the prose would have to have been at level 11 to top it, I may well revisit at some oint but it was as though I'd seen the story told once so well the writing couldn't compete, which is a rare thing indeed.
> 
> Also I had just taken delivery of a cache of physical history books so I was curled up reading a photo history of late tsarist era architecture.


Fair do's. These days i cannot read a book if i've seen the film or tv series. Glad it wasn't like that in the old days mind you or else i would have missed out on some crackers.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Aug 1, 2016)

'Im not with the band - A writers life lost in music' by former Smash Hits journalist Sylvia Patterson. As a kid that grew up living and breathing music, I used to read Smash Hits religiously. I am about 30 pages in and enjoying this memoir immensely, especially since she has a fiercely critical eye of those she encounters.

I'm Not with the Band: A Writer's Life Lost in Music: Amazon.co.uk: Sylvia Patterson: 9780751558685: Books


----------



## Pickman's model (Aug 1, 2016)

aleister crowley, the world's tragedy (paris: privately printed, 1910)

you can find it online at The World's Tragedy - Aleister Crowley


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Aug 4, 2016)

Society Must Be Defended (Lectures 1976) - Foucault


----------



## weltweit (Aug 4, 2016)

I know I complained about my library not letting me have books long enough to read them. Partly because they all arrived for me at the same time. Well I went to return two books unread but reserved by another. I explained my situation and they kindly extended my time so I should now be able to read them. Yay!


----------



## weltweit (Aug 9, 2016)

I am now reading The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell.
It is quite grim so far.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 13, 2016)

Reading a book for a few hours a week can add two years to your life

Perhaps my reading will offset my former smoking, one can live in hope


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 13, 2016)

weltweit said:


> I am now reading The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell.
> It is quite grim so far.


Orwells poverty tourism. Try 'Down and out in Paris and London' next.

I've been taking some light relief with 'the tin princess' from Pullman (he of His Dark Material fame). He's a good touch but at the same time I sort of hate that Great Powers pre-revolutionary grand european adventure vibe you get from it. Its only a bog book though so I am not going to cast it aside


----------



## BigMoaner (Aug 13, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> Complete works of Edgar Alan Poe. Bog book. There's a couple of shorts near the start where he tries humour. No edgar, just no.


something tells me you weren't rolling around on the floor with tears in your eyes.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 13, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> something tells me you weren't rolling around on the floor with tears in your eyes.


hilarity very much did not ensue. Enjoyed re-reading Tell-Tale Heart though. Thats good Poe that is.


----------



## agricola (Aug 14, 2016)

"_Konrad Morgen:  The Conscience of a Nazi Judge_" by Pauer-Studer and Velleman.  A very short, but very interesting, account of the SS judge tasked with investigating and punishing non-sanctioned crimes in the concentration camp system.


----------



## ringo (Aug 16, 2016)

The Quiet American - Graham Greene
I love that feeling when you start a classic by one of your favourite authors, one of life's great pleasures.


----------



## flypanam (Aug 16, 2016)

Kevin  Barry - Beatlebone.

It's good. Cornelius O' Grady is my da.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Aug 17, 2016)

On Violence ( A Reader) - Bruce B. Lawrence & Aisha Karim


----------



## Mattym (Aug 17, 2016)

A German novel called 'Als wir traeumten', which I really liked. Given that German isn't my mother tongue, it can take me a while to get into some books, but this was no problem. It's about the lives of a group of boys growing up in Eastern Germany & crime etc. It was made into a film where the emphasis is on them starting their own club & discovering techno music but that only covers a few pages in the novel.

Now moving on to 'The man behind the mask'- Mark Archer- The story of Altern8.


----------



## inva (Aug 17, 2016)

inva said:


> I'm making a start on The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition by Manisha Sinha
> I'm intending to read this to complement a couple of other books I've read this year, The American Slave Coast by the Sublettes and the Counter Revolution of 1776 by Gerald Horne.


Having finished this, it's a pretty comprehensive account of the abolition movement, with a particular focus on black abolitionism and what Sinha calls radical abolition, and well worth reading.

I am glad I tackled those other two books first though as at times I felt that it didn't put some of the anti slavery/slave trade politics of the time into context as well as it might have. Where the Sublettes and Horne are very good is in illustrating how pro slavery factions would at various times argue against the Atlantic trade, or bringing slaves from Haiti or even argue for abolition in certain states, in order to secure the long term future of US slavery. The slave breeding industry documented in The American Slave Coast often clashed with the interests of the slave importers, and I think that wider view and how it related to abolition is sometimes lacking. All the same though it's a detailed book and it's real strength is to show that abolition was a broader and more radical movement than how it is often portrayed. One interesting comment was that the Knights of Labor called themselves inheritors of abolitionism, and I have a book on them lined up to read some time soon so it ties in nicely.


----------



## xsunnysuex (Aug 17, 2016)

My James by Ralph Bulger.  Harrowing beyond words.


----------



## Voley (Aug 17, 2016)

Really enjoying this atm which Orang Utan recommended a while back. Thanks for that.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Aug 18, 2016)

finished Ahdaf Soueif - In the eye of the sun yesterday.

Heavy shit - if you're into the 19th century victorian heroine epics you might enjoy this.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 18, 2016)

Finished The Road To Wigan Pier, George Orwell - and now have 4 days before The Player of Games Iain M Banks is due back to the library. I don't think I can manage it in 4 days.


----------



## belboid (Aug 18, 2016)

His Bloody Project- Graeme Macrae Burnet

Very ace collection of materials pertaining to the (fictional) murders by the authors great great great uncle. The killers journal gets us going. But then additional info makes us question his veracity. 

It starts well, then gets quite fascinating.  Especially interesting after the somewhat similar non-fiction recent Kate Summerscale book. Well worthy of its Booker nomination


----------



## D'wards (Aug 19, 2016)

500 Mile Walkies by Mark Wallington. First read this about 30 years ago, so thought it was time i read it again.

Lovely funny little travel book about a guy walking the west country coastal path with Boogie, his mate's streetwise mongrel


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Aug 19, 2016)

Culture & Anarchy - Matthew Arnold


----------



## Sea Star (Aug 19, 2016)

just started 'Girl in a Band' by Kim Gordon.


----------



## ringo (Aug 22, 2016)

The Football Factory - John King. Was a bit worried it would just be about the main hooligan character, which would have got quickly boring and I'd have given up, but the other characters are well chosen and complete a much more interesting picture of the time.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Aug 22, 2016)

Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt: Andrea Wulf

Great read, great bloke, great Scott we've known we were fucking up the planet for over 2 centuries now and we're still fucking it. Fuck capitalism.


----------



## bluescreen (Aug 22, 2016)

Artaxerxes said:


> Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt: Andrea Wulf
> 
> Great read, great bloke, great Scott we've known we were fucking up the planet for over 2 centuries now and we're still fucking it. Fuck capitalism.


I've been meaning to get this. Thanks for the reminder.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 22, 2016)

With a pause before I get my next A list book, I have fallen back on a trusted favourite, an Ian Rankin thriller!


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 24, 2016)

Just finished Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines. Most enjoyable. Started Adam Ant's autobiography.


----------



## Voley (Aug 24, 2016)

Lost At Sea - Jon Ronson, which is a collection of various articles of his. I always like his stuff, he reminds me of Louis Theroux a bit. I've already read a fair bit of this one though, it seems. I'm reading a chapter on Indigo Children atm which is by turns depressing and hilarious.


----------



## flypanam (Aug 26, 2016)

Mary McCarthy's The company she keeps.

Very good. Superb writing. Published in 1942, loosely based on the authors life. Worth checking out.


----------



## moon (Aug 26, 2016)

'American Gods' by Neil Gaiman, its very good so far..


----------



## Körperhaltung (Aug 26, 2016)

Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler.


----------



## moonsi til (Aug 30, 2016)

Read 'Just Kids' by Patti Smith about her moving to New York, meeting Robert Mapplethorpe and her journey into making music. I took it on holiday so I was able to read it in small stages throughout the day, go for a walk, a swim, read some more. I loved it.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Aug 30, 2016)

The New Orientalists - Ian Almond


----------



## rubbershoes (Aug 31, 2016)

Körperhaltung said:


> Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler.



2 to 1 Firky
4 to 1 Ninj
10 to 1 PBMan
100 to 1 Shergar


----------



## inva (Aug 31, 2016)

rubbershoes said:


> 2 to 1 Firky
> 4 to 1 Ninj
> 10 to 1 PBMan
> 100 to 1 Shergar


it was quite funny the way it had been totally ignored up til now


----------



## weltweit (Aug 31, 2016)

Finished Saints of the Shadow Bible, Ian Rankin - good like always.

Then read The Time Machine, H.G. Wells - a proper classic, short and to the point, well written and a good read. I felt as if I had already read it as who hasn't heard of the Eloy and Moorlocks from other sources but it was good to read the proper original story.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 31, 2016)

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. Gave in and bought it, plus Ghostwritten.  

Bought the film of Cloud Atlas too - the fella's just finished reading it so we're gonna watch this now. 2 hours and 52 mins - I love a film that lasts.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Sep 1, 2016)

The Silk Roads: A new history - Peter Frankopan


Not as good as I was hoping, somewhat simplistic in places.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 1, 2016)

Slaying the Badger by Richard Moore. It's mainly about the 1986 Tour de France and the rivalry/ friendship of LeMond and Hinault

If you don't follow professional cycling it'll probably be baffling but I loved the book. It's really illuminating about the characters of those two. 

Was Hinault being a complete bastard? Probably but there's a kernel of a decent motive. 

9/10 for cycling fans


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 2, 2016)

Just started China Meivelle's Perdido Street Station. An incredible imagination. If it's even half as good as The City and the City, I'm hooked.


----------



## inva (Sep 3, 2016)

Theories of Surplus Value Part 1 by Karl Marx
Off to a good start with this. I'm learning about the Physiocrats at the moment. It's interesting how Marx's comments on their analysis of capitalism, where they saw surplus-value as only generated by agricultural workers (as a 'gift of nature') seems to connect in a way with what I've read about the 'transition debate' of how Capitalism emerged out of Feudalism - specifically, in English agriculture. So maybe it's a recognition of how key that was to early capitalism, so much so that they were unable to see it functioning elsewhere. On the other hand, the Physiocrats seem to have been mainly French according to Wikipedia, so maybe not.

Once you get the hang of his language (which I suppose is just old fashioned as much as anything) I usually find Marx a pretty clear writer, and I'm making good progress. All the same though I'll probably have a read of something else alongside it as it's by no means an easy read.


----------



## marty21 (Sep 3, 2016)

Walking Man : The Secret Life of Colin Fletcher . Robert Wehrman. 

Saw a link for this, never heard of him before , Welsh , served in Special Forces in WW2 , lived all over the place afterwards.  Became famous in the 60s when he wrote a series of books about walking , epic walking. He wasn't the most friendliest of blokes but he kickstarted a whole outdoorsey lifestyle thing. Fascinating stuff , makes me want to read his books.


----------



## belboid (Sep 5, 2016)

Cameron McCabe – The Face On the Cutting Room Floor

An odd little book from 1937 (getting reissued tomorrow, coincidentally), about a murder in a film studio. The story of the book, and its author, is almost as interesting as the book itself. 

A medium success when originally released, it got reprinted in the sixties, but the publishers had to hold the royalties in trust, as they had no idea of who ‘Cameron McCabe’ actually was. Eventually they found out he was a Jewish German émigré, a communist who had studied under Willhelm Reich, and who had fled here in 1933, only then started learning English. He wrote The Face six months later, filled with spot on local idiom’s and sharp Chandleresque dialogue. He never wrote another novel, but had become a highly respected jazz critic and player, and then went on to become one of Europe’s leading sexologists (shortly after Kinsey had made the field vaguely respectable). 

The book itself – starring one ‘Cameron McCabe’ is an early example of postmodernist fiction, that shocked and surprised many contemporary reviewers, but enthralled enough of them for it to be a success. It’s (so far) sharp and sassy, witty and well paced, albeit with some language distinctly of its era.  Apparently it gets very weird/post-modern at the end, and becomes a meta novel about detective novels. So that sounds fun.


----------



## bimble (Sep 5, 2016)

Tonight I'll finish The Dispossessed (Ursula Le Guin). Great book and I'm sure it was someone on here mentioning it made me get it in the first place so thanks whoever that was.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 5, 2016)

I've made a start on Richard Hammonds bio and a book called Strike! about american socialist history.



bimble said:


> Tonight I'll finish The Dispossessed (Ursula Le Guin). Great book and I'm sure it was someone on here mentioning it made me get it in the first place so thanks whoever that was.


this is when I knew I loved Le Guin, haunting as fuck in four short pages:
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas  pdf


----------



## inva (Sep 5, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> I've made a start on Richard Hammonds bio and a book called Strike! about american socialist history.


The Jeremy Brecher book? That's on my list to read after it was recommended to me on here the other day. I'd be interested in what you think of it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 5, 2016)

inva said:


> The Jeremy Brecher book? That's on my list to read after it was recommended to me on here the other day. I'd be interested in what you think of it.


the same, grabbed it after the pdf was posted. I'll let you know, I've long had an interest in various periods of american socialist/labour history. And it is Labor Day after all! What better time to get started. Libertad reccomended me a book on the wobblies which I still haven't bought as yet and can't recall the title


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 5, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> the same, grabbed it after the pdf was posted. I'll let you know, I've long had an interest in various periods of american socialist/labour history. And it is Labor Day after all! What better time to get started. Libertad reccomended me a book on the wobblies which I still haven't bought as yet and can't recall the title



Is it this one? I picked it up in Tokyo a few years ago...


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 5, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> Is it this one? I picked it up in Tokyo a few years ago...



don't think so, don't think it used thenickname in the title. I have used the summoning blue though so we will find out.


----------



## Libertad (Sep 5, 2016)

Here you go DotCommunist,
Joe Hill: the IWW & the making of a revolutionary workingclass counterculture by Franklin Rosemont.

Joe Hill


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 5, 2016)

you are a ledge.


----------



## Hurin85 (Sep 5, 2016)

Going crazy for the Rome series atm by Conn Iggulden what a legend Julius was.


----------



## bimble (Sep 5, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> I've made a start on Richard Hammonds bio and a book called Strike! about american socialist history.
> 
> 
> this is when I knew I loved Le Guin, haunting as fuck in four short pages:
> The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas  pdf


That's almost hurtingly beautiful that is.

Question:
Imagine you had just finished the Dispossessed (and that it was your 1st Ursula Le Guin). Now also also imagine that you're a bit new to sci fi in general and that you were about to go away for 3 weeks alone to a faraway land and feeling a bit scared by the idea of not having a reliably good read with you at all times:

Would you take the Earthsea trilogy along or is there a better recommended beginners Le Guin ?


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 5, 2016)

bimble said:


> That's almost hurtingly beautiful that is.
> 
> Question:
> Imagine you had just finished the Dispossessed (and that it was your 1st Ursula Le Guin). Now also also imagine that you're a bit new to sci fi in general and that you were about to go away for 3 weeks alone to a faraway land and feeling a bit scared by the idea of not having a reliably good read with you at all times:
> ...


take Earthsea and Left Hand of Darkness. The latter is a really good companion piece to that Door Into Ocean I recc'd to you, not quite the same themes but deffo hitting similar notes.

The wizard of earthsea novels are great but they are YA fiction imo. Thats no problem to me, if its got wizards in it I am there. But it doesn't cover the same ground as her other stuff. Still an immensly satisfying and intriguing work.

You know Playboy used to publish sci fi inamongst the nudity? She sold to them under simply 'le guin'. When it came time to write out her cheque, her agent told them to make it out to her full name  they didn't like that a woman called Ursula had been published in their porno mag. lol.


----------



## bimble (Sep 5, 2016)

Thank you. 
(Am taking Door into Ocean but need backup plans just in case).


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 5, 2016)

bimble said:


> Thank you.
> (Am taking Door into Ocean but need backup plans just in case).


Escape Plans

Sisters of The Revolution : A Femimist Speculative Fiction Anthology


that should keep you going


----------



## D'wards (Sep 7, 2016)

Helter Skelter - about the Manson Family murders. A dangerous combination of extremely charismatic and extremely psychotic


----------



## moonsi til (Sep 7, 2016)

Last week I bought 'Go Set A Watchman' by Harper Lee then I bought 'M Train' by Patti Smith & started that today so will prob continue with that. To Kill A Mockingbird was a life changing book & film for me so I don't want to rush my reading. Ordered 'Girl In A Band' by Kim Gordon too so lots to look forward to.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Sep 7, 2016)

The Appointment - what your doctor really thinks during your ten-minute consultation, by Dr Graham Easton.  It's quite interesting to read a GP's perspective on dealing with patients.


----------



## jessaragen (Sep 8, 2016)

Final Diagnosis by Arthur Hailey


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 8, 2016)

jessaragen said:


> Final Diagnosis by Arthur Hailey


theres a name I haven't heard in a dogs age. He did a very good one about the chicago car industry hold on I will google...


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 8, 2016)

Wheels! Strong Medicine is also good iirc, scathing about big pharma before it became widely done


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 8, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> take Earthsea and Left Hand of Darkness. The latter is a really good companion piece to that Door Into Ocean I recc'd to you, not quite the same themes but deffo hitting similar notes.
> 
> The wizard of earthsea novels are great but they are YA fiction imo. Thats no problem to me, if its got wizards in it I am there. But it doesn't cover the same ground as her other stuff. Still an immensly satisfying and intriguing work.
> 
> You know Playboy used to publish sci fi inamongst the nudity? She sold to them under simply 'le guin'. When it came time to write out her cheque, her agent told them to make it out to her full name  they didn't like that a woman called Ursula had been published in their porno mag. lol.


She's also the daughter of Alfred Krober, one of the founding fathers of modern American anthropology. Which is what explains the ways in which social structure and culture are so much a part of her world building.


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 8, 2016)

Anyway, I'm currently reading Frank Herbert's _Dune. _I thought I'd read it years ago, but then I realised that I hadn't. It's gripping, and the world building is outstanding (there must be a whole generation of ecologists who were inspired to take up that career by the book) - and this compensates for the fact that the Paul Atreides character has  a bad case of the Mary Sue blues.

(a 14 year old political genius and martial arts expert? come on, Frank).


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 8, 2016)

dialectician said:


> finished Ahdaf Soueif - In the eye of the sun yesterday.
> 
> Heavy shit - if you're into the 19th century victorian heroine epics you might enjoy this.


Read that years ago - it's a good one, alright. The link between the personal and the political was very well done, I thought.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 8, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> Anyway, I'm currently reading Frank Herbert's _Dune. _I thought I'd read it years ago, but then I realised that I hadn't. It's gripping, and the world building is outstanding (there must be a whole generation of ecologists who were inspired to take up that career by the book) - and this compensates for the fact that the Paul Atreides character has  a bad case of the Mary Sue blues.
> 
> (a 14 year old political genius and martial arts expert? come on, Frank).


Prana-bindu bene gesserit training. Jessica was breaking the rules by training him and marrying the wrong man._ For the father nothing_. Giaus Helen Mohiam is fearsome. One of Herbert's themes in the Dune books is the development of humans as special weapons (and the bene gesserit centuries spanning breeding project). After the Butlerian Jihad humans never again trusted machine intelligence. So space fuedalism sort of. This is why they have Mentats, you cannot trust a clever machine.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 8, 2016)

also: orange catholic bible lol


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Sep 8, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> Read that years ago - it's a good one, alright. The link between the personal and the political was very well done, I thought.



Yeah I find it hard to emotionally follow along with educated characters in some English literature proper but something about Asya really clicked with me. Maybe in part because I can relate to some of the anxieties and contradictions she faces.


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 8, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> also: orange catholic bible lol


I think that may have been where I stopped reading, the first time I tried to read it.

He does at least try to depict a future that isn't Eisenhower-era AmeriKKKa in space.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 8, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> I think that may have been where I stopped reading, the first time I tried to read it.
> 
> He does at least try to depict a future that isn't Eisenhower-era AmeriKKKa in space.


I was startled when I found out how much earlier it was published I had assumed. 80's I thought. Sign of good sci fi imo. There is also Buddislam


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 8, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> I was startled when I found out how much earlier it was published I had assumed. 80's I thought. Sign of good sci fi imo. There is also Buddislam


There's a 'slipstream' novel by Brian Moore, called _Catholics _set sometime in this century but written in the 1970s. Anyway, part of the concept is that after the 'fourth Vatican council' the Mother Church started doing weird shit like linking up with the Buddhists.

Our religion teacher in school told us that he'd read it without realising that it was set in the future (or what was the future then, IYSWIM), and got afraid that he'd missed something.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 8, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> There's a 'slipstream' novel by Brian Moore, called _Catholics _set sometime in this century but written in the 1970s. Anyway, part of the concept is that after the 'fourth Vatican council' the Mother Church started doing weird shit like linking up with the Buddhists.
> 
> Our religion teacher in school told us that he'd read it without realising that it was set in the future (or what was the future then, IYSWIM), and got afraid that he'd missed something.


you'd like this. Quite rightly won awards, given to me by my brothers ex. Aliens are found on a planet. governments wring hands and debate. But not the Jesuits, oh no. What do Jesuits do? SEND A MISSION. 

The Sparrow (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## stockwelljonny (Sep 8, 2016)

ringo said:


> The Quiet American - Graham Greene
> I love that feeling when you start a classic by one of your favourite authors, one of life's great pleasures.


Yes, Greene does seem to create a unique atmosphere, quite heavy and often unpleasant but compelling. read the Honorary Consul recently and was surprised how much I enjoyed it, as a page turner but also quality bit of writing


----------



## stockwelljonny (Sep 8, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> Anyway, I'm currently reading Frank Herbert's _Dune. _I thought I'd read it years ago, but then I realised that I hadn't. It's gripping, and the world building is outstanding (there must be a whole generation of ecologists who were inspired to take up that career by the book) - and this compensates for the fact that the Paul Atreides character has  a bad case of the Mary Sue blues.
> 
> (a 14 year old political genius and martial arts expert? come on, Frank).


Never read this, putting it on the list ;-)


----------



## stockwelljonny (Sep 8, 2016)

Pol Pot - History of a Nightmare - Philip Short - just finished this. Chose it as realised that I don't know anything about the khmer rouge or about Cambodia generally. Was worried might be too horrendous but thought it was a really good book, set out cultural and geo political background really well and I learnt a lot. Was not sensationalist at all. Fascinating stuff about role of China/ Mao, US and split between Russia and China which I hadn't appreciated. Ended up with US, Kmer Rouge, China and King of Cambodia effectively on same side. Jesus wept.   %-/


----------



## weltweit (Sep 8, 2016)

Now reading Wilt in nowhere, Tom Sharpe.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 8, 2016)

Körperhaltung said:


> Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler.



And neither of you wrote/posted much after that


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 8, 2016)

flypanam said:


> Kevin  Barry - Beatlebone.
> 
> It's good. Cornelius O' Grady is my da.


I saw that the last time I was home, and nearly bought it. You may have decided me. . .


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Sep 8, 2016)

The Ambassadors - Henry James


----------



## seventh bullet (Sep 8, 2016)

stockwelljonny said:


> Pol Pot - History of a Nightmare - Philip Short - just finished this. Chose it as realised that I don't know anything about the khmer rouge or about Cambodia generally. Was worried might be too horrendous but thought it was a really good book, set out cultural and geo political background really well and I learnt a lot. Was not sensationalist at all. Fascinating stuff about role of China/ Mao, US and split between Russia and China which I hadn't appreciated. Ended up with US, Kmer Rouge, China and King of Cambodia effectively on same side. Jesus wept.   %-/



One of the better non-specialist books from a liberal journalist, but it was criticised by others for concentrating on Communist sources and at times it goes off into speculation about their politics and ideology.  He also received opprobrium for stating his belief that they are innocent of genocide, which isn't as controversial as it first appears, considering the academic debate that has been going on for many years.


----------



## stockwelljonny (Sep 9, 2016)

Interesting. I noticed his treatment of the killings as its obviously very difficult but he did make specific reference/ comparisons to the numbers killed by the French in Algeria and distinguished between deaths by disease and famine and outright murder. Came across to me as very well researched and humane treatment of complicated subject. I liked Phillip Short's style enough to follow on with with his book on Mitterrand, which am enjoying as well. Informative to a general reader and a good page turner, Mitterrand in the resistance then political shenanigans, find Algeria, settlers, De Gaulle etc and impact on France and French politics really interesting. Still going on obviously..


----------



## ringo (Sep 9, 2016)

stockwelljonny said:


> Yes, Greene does seem to create a unique atmosphere, quite heavy and often unpleasant but compelling. read the Honorary Consul recently and was surprised how much I enjoyed it, as a page turner but also quality bit of writing



Its the writing I'm into. Some of the stories are incredibly well planned and paced and at times so evocative of the faraway places his characters inhabit they can feel like the best travel writing. At other times the now completed outdated mysoginy and racism of his characters can be quite off putting, but his talent as a writer shines through everything.


----------



## stockwelljonny (Sep 9, 2016)

ringo said:


> Its the writing I'm into. Some of the stories are incredibly well planned and paced and at times so evocative of the faraway places his characters inhabit they can feel like the best travel writing. At other times the now completed outdated mysoginy and racism of his characters can be quite off putting, but his talent as a writer shines through everything



I found this quite interesting 

Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 3, Graham Greene


----------



## Sea Star (Sep 9, 2016)

I've just bought "Carol" by Patricia Highsmith to read for a LGBT women's book and film group meeting on Tuesday. Scared to death of going because I don;t know if I'm going to run into objections by being there. But I don;t see why I shouldn't be there!

Then I get an invite to an event about transgender politics on Tuesday and I'm conflicted. will still try to read book by Tuesday though. Been meaning to read Highsmith for about 20 years and never quite got round to it.


----------



## ringo (Sep 9, 2016)

stockwelljonny said:


> I found this quite interesting
> 
> Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 3, Graham Greene



Yes, but not that easy to read, they had a very stiff style of interviewing.


----------



## flypanam (Sep 12, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> I saw that the last time I was home, and nearly bought it. You may have decided me. . .



Do pick it up, it's a very good story. Really well written and very funny.


----------



## belboid (Sep 12, 2016)

flypanam said:


> Do pick it up, it's a very good story. Really well written and very funny.


I'd agree - except for maybe that one chapter that just seems to have no place in the book.


----------



## flypanam (Sep 12, 2016)

The one where Barry talks about his research? I thought that really good.


----------



## belboid (Sep 12, 2016)

Fair do's. It didn't work for me, but it didn't ruin the rest of it. Just seemed a bit...odd


----------



## Voley (Sep 12, 2016)

Just started The Revenant by Michael Punke as recommended by marty21. I like the film and the book is similarly fast-paced and enjoyable so far. Ta for that, marty. 

Punke dedicated it to his parents. His Dad's called Butch. Yes, Butch Punke.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 12, 2016)

weltweit said:


> Now reading Wilt in nowhere, Tom Sharpe.



I quite liked the first book - having found it from a list of 'Funniest books of all time' where it regularly appears. It's a bit dated now, in a kitsch cool kind of way, like Monty Python is. I didnt know he had written others. Let me know what you think


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 12, 2016)

Cheesypoof said:


> I quite liked the first book - having found it from a list of 'Funniest books of all time' where it regularly appears. It's a bit dated now, in a kitsch cool kind of way, like Monty Python is. I didnt know he had written others. Let me know what you think


Blott on the Landscape. I tell you no lie, its his funniest work. They kicked sharpe out of SA for doing satire on the regime as well. He is very funnyy, its perfect farce writing. The narrative builds and rolls with a few lols till eventually its all gone south and you are cracking up at the sheer dysfuntion of it all. Porterhouse blue also. Here's the one that got him kicked out of apartheid era SA as well. Riotous Assembly.


----------



## Sea Star (Sep 13, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> Blott on the Landscape. I tell you no lie, its his funniest work. They kicked sharpe out of SA for doing satire on the regime as well. He is very funnyy, its perfect farce writing. The narrative builds and rolls with a few lols till eventually its all gone south and you are cracking up at the sheer dysfuntion of it all. Porterhouse blue also. Here's the one that got him kicked out of apartheid era SA as well. Riotous Assembly.


I read my way through Tom Sharpe in my teens and early twenties. I found them very funny back then. I can imagine that they may have dated some what since though.


----------



## weltweit (Sep 14, 2016)

Cheesypoof said:


> I quite liked the first book - having found it from a list of 'Funniest books of all time' where it regularly appears. It's a bit dated now, in a kitsch cool kind of way, like Monty Python is. I didnt know he had written others. Let me know what you think



About half way through, honestly it isn't as funny as I recall others of his books, but it is well readable so I am going on with it.



DotCommunist said:


> Blott on the Landscape. I tell you no lie, its his funniest work. They kicked sharpe out of SA for doing satire on the regime as well. He is very funnyy, its perfect farce writing. The narrative builds and rolls with a few lols till eventually its all gone south and you are cracking up at the sheer dysfuntion of it all. Porterhouse blue also. Here's the one that got him kicked out of apartheid era SA as well. Riotous Assembly.



Yes, I think Blott and Riotous Assembly are better than this one.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Sep 14, 2016)

I, Superorganism - Learning to Love You're Inner Ecosystem. By Jon Turney. 

All about our symbiotic passengers.  

Apparently the oft-quoted '10-1' ratio of microbial vs. human cells isn't quite right. A 2013 study estimated that there are approximately 37 trillion cells in a typical human, and other studies suggest there are between 30 and 400 trillion microbial cells. Compared to our paltry 24,000 genes, over 10 million microbial genes have been identified so far in humans.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 15, 2016)

Taking a break from the Mievelle book at the moment, just finished The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. Now I understand why this book is so revered. If you haven't read it, give it a go. You'll probably finish it in one go.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Sep 15, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> Taking a break from the Mievelle book at the moment, just finished The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. Now I understand why this book is so revered. If you haven't read it, give it a go. You'll probably finish it in one go.



I read it and hated it. _Hated it_.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Sep 15, 2016)

Re-reading: Michel Foucault - The History Of Sexuality 1 (The Will To Knowledge)


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 15, 2016)

Beats & Pieces said:


> I read it and hated it. _Hated it_.



Yeah? I just zoomed through it. Didn't expect to like it as much as I did.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Sep 15, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> Yeah? I just zoomed through it. Didn't expect to like it as much as I did.



It is written in a very spare, almost elegant way. But I found it to be too superficial in the treatment of an immensely important subject, almost cynical in the attempt to capture or reflect a narrative moment.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 15, 2016)

Beats & Pieces said:


> It is written in a very spare, almost elegant way. But I found it to be too superficial in the treatment of an immensely important subject, almost cynical in the attempt to capture or reflect a narrative moment.



There is that, yes. I'm never sure about post 9/11 literature - what the approach should be. Iain Bank's Dead Air is another I wasn't sure about, initially. But it turned out to be full or anger and indignation and pretty funny, as well.

I believe Hamid's book was turned into a film some years ago - I don't think that would work - the elegance, as you put it, would be lost.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Sep 15, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> There is that, yes. I'm never sure about post 9/11 literature - what the approach should be. Iain Bank's Dead Air is another I wasn't sure about, initially. But it turned out to be full or anger and indignation and pretty funny, as well.
> 
> I believe Hamid's book was turned into a film some years ago - I don't think that would work - the elegance, as you put it, would be lost.



I didn't know about the film, I will see if I can find something online.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 15, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> There is that, yes. I'm never sure about post 9/11 literature - what the approach should be. Iain Bank's Dead Air is another I wasn't sure about, initially. But it turned out to be full or anger and indignation and pretty funny, as well.
> 
> I believe Hamid's book was turned into a film some years ago - I don't think that would work - the elegance, as you put it, would be lost.


You liked Dead Air? Blimey, I was embarrassed for Banks, it was so bad.


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 16, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> Prana-bindu bene gesserit training. Jessica was breaking the rules by training him and marrying the wrong man._ For the father nothing_. Giaus Helen Mohiam is fearsome. One of Herbert's themes in the Dune books is the development of humans as special weapons (and the bene gesserit centuries spanning breeding project). After the Butlerian Jihad humans never again trusted machine intelligence. So space fuedalism sort of. This is why they have Mentats, you cannot trust a clever machine.


I finished the second part of the book last night, and it struck me that Jessica Atreides is the real protagonist of the book. What do you reckon? 

And if the Fremen were meant to be JIHADIS IN SPAAAACE! they're really just hippies.


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 16, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> You liked Dead Air? Blimey, I was embarrassed for Banks, it was so bad.


The first chapter read like a real return to form. And then he left again.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 16, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> You liked Dead Air? Blimey, I was embarrassed for Banks, it was so bad.



Oh it's second rate, compared to his early stuff. But at the time of reading it, it was exactly what I needed. Even an off form Banks is still worth a read.


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 16, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> You liked Dead Air? Blimey, I was embarrassed for Banks, it was so bad.


It wasn't as bad as The Business, mind.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 16, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> It wasn't as bad as The Business, mind.



I read that & cannot remember a thing about it. Was it something to do with big business and an all powerful elite?


----------



## Libertad (Sep 16, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> It wasn't as bad as The Business, mind.



True, that really was shit. I persevered with it because Iain Banks but it was such shit that I can't remember anything about it except that it was shit. 

Did I mention that it was shit?


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 16, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> I finished the second part of the book last night, and it struck me that Jessica Atreides is the real protagonist of the book. What do you reckon?
> 
> And if the Fremen were meant to be JIHADIS IN SPAAAACE! they're really just hippies.


I'd say to start with, till paul comes into his own. For me the benegesserit breeding project as a whole was a mind blower, but then I was a teen.

the fremen also come into their own. I'll not say more except the novella length 'Dune Messiah' which follows should have been included in the same novel as a kind of 'part 2' or addendum.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 16, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> I read that & cannot remember a thing about it. Was it something to do with big business and an all powerful elite?


a transnational corporation that predates the vatican. I quite liked it, shite ending tho, she just marries some princling or some shit. I was checking to see where the missing pages containing an ending were


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 16, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> I'd say to start with, till paul comes into his own. For me the benegesserit breeding project as a whole was a mind blower, but then I was a teen.
> 
> the fremen also come into their own. I'll not say more except the novella length 'Dune Messiah' which follows should have been included in the same novel as a kind of 'part 2' or addendum.


That's what I was going to ask - should I bother with Dune Messiah and Children of Dune? Or is it one of those "good thing they never made a sequel to the Matrix" situations?


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 16, 2016)

Idris2002 said:


> That's what I was going to ask - should I bother with Dune Messiah and Children of Dune? Or is it one of those "good thing they never made a sequel to the Matrix" situations?



Messiah is a thoughtful, melancholy piece- a repudiation of presience and ultimate power. You know those character internal monolouges he does so well? theres a great one in Messiah 'The Moon Falls'

Children is also great, th OG trilogy is brilliant. As for the later books, well, ymmv


----------



## campanula (Sep 16, 2016)

I concur with DC - MoD and CoD are worth the read but tbh, the following output (there seems to be many) just got on my nerves...lots of chit-chat, politicking and vague action with nothing of the sense of epic innovation and solid world building of the initial trilogy...not helped because I despised Paul Atreides (what a whiner). Mind, I was 12 or so when I first read them.

I have tried (and failed) to love (or even like) China Mieville. Starting The Scar (again) because I have nothing else and it has a lot of pages thereby requiring no effort to look for anything else. Finding myself increasingly bewildered by bookshops these days - either everything or absolutely nothing looks suitable and the effort of sorting the trash from the jewels is...just...too...much..


----------



## infide1castr0 (Sep 17, 2016)

Currently reading - _Keep the Aspidistra Flying_ by George Orwell


----------



## MrSki (Sep 18, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> Blott on the Landscape. I tell you no lie, its his funniest work. They kicked sharpe out of SA for doing satire on the regime as well. He is very funnyy, its perfect farce writing. The narrative builds and rolls with a few lols till eventually its all gone south and you are cracking up at the sheer dysfuntion of it all. Porterhouse blue also. Here's the one that got him kicked out of apartheid era SA as well. Riotous Assembly.


I have always enjoyed his books but don't bother with 'The Wilt Inheritance' from 2010. Read it till the end thinking it must get better but was utter shite.


----------



## Mation (Sep 19, 2016)

mentalchik said:


> Just finished The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers


This is just beautiful science fiction. Glad it seems to be the first of a series but wish I could have done my usual trick of discovering stuff way way waaay after everyone else, such that she'd written the next one or several by now!


----------



## weltweit (Sep 19, 2016)

Finished Wilt in nowhere, Tom Sharpe - was ok and readable, but not as lol funny as some of his I have read.


----------



## flypanam (Sep 21, 2016)

Ismail Kadare - The general of the dead army

Post WWII an Italian general returns to Albania to recover the bodies of soldiers killed by the partisans. In his journey he meets a German general on a similar mission. There is lots to enjoy in this novel, especially the descriptions of Albania, the different cultures of the Albanian people and the story is surprisingly gripping.


----------



## kebabking (Sep 21, 2016)

with, i fear, no interest in yer high falutin' litritur, i'm currently reading the Penguin History of Britain: The Struggle for Mastery - Britain 1066 to 1284 by David Carpenter.







one of the most easily read - and easily absorbed - history books you're likely to read. packed with detail but above all else its a story, an engaging, interesting, well-written human story.


----------



## weltweit (Sep 21, 2016)

I just got two Arthur C. Clarke's out of the library.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 24, 2016)

weltweit said:


> I just got two Arthur C. Clarke's out of the library.


which ones man! I got three non fiction and two fiction on the go and its doing my head in, stopped this multi-book behaviour in my teens but it has crept back up on me. I blame non-fiction for it.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Sep 25, 2016)

*Francis Bacon in Your Blood *- a memoir by Michael Peppiatt. To paraphrase Francis himself, i am not a fan of fiction, having a preference for biography over novels, and ....this book is extremely good thus far. Well written and compelling by a protege that Francis hung around with for 30 years and entrusted with explaining him. You get to discover Francis Bacon's rather fatalist but cheerful view on life 'I'm optimistic about nothing' and raising his glass in celebration. There are lots of seedy bars, opulent surrounds, decadent meals and off colour characters. You get the sense of Francis having a kind of grandiosity, machismo, ruthlessness but also tenderness and massive generosity. His waspish, unwavering convictions in nothingness remain deliciously freeing. I'm a fan of his masochistic art and there is room for opinions, analysis, arousal, ideation. It never ends.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 25, 2016)

Knowledge is power. 
France is bacon.


----------



## weltweit (Sep 25, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> which ones man! I got three non fiction and two fiction on the go and its doing my head in, stopped this multi-book behaviour in my teens but it has crept back up on me. I blame non-fiction for it.


Haven't got them with me.

But at the moment I am reading "H.G. Wells and the World State" which I thought was a book by Wells but turns out to be an academic book about Wells. I have made it to page 130 but I am not as thrilled by it as I had hoped to be.

I may switch to the Arthur C Clarkes.


----------



## weltweit (Sep 25, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> which ones man!



Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter - Time's Eye

Arthur C. Clarke - The Hammer of God.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 28, 2016)

Just starting up Michael Herr's "Dispatches". Intense.


----------



## flypanam (Sep 30, 2016)

Chad Harbach's The art of fielding.


----------



## JimW (Sep 30, 2016)

belboid said:


> Just about finished _Red or Dead_.
> 
> Took a bit of getting into, the massively repetitive style is effective, but kind of annoying too. As a seventies Liverpool fan, I thought I knew the Shankly story, but soon realised I only knew it pretty vaguely, so wasn't sure about when they actually first won promotion or the title under him.  Which made each game quite exciting. And the times when one of the names of the truly great seventies team (_the_ greatest team ever) cropped up there was a real frisson of excitement.  Quite how any one who wasn't a seventies Liverpool fan would enjoy it, I dont know.


Just did a quick thread search and saw this, can answer your final question after these couple of years as I'm a third of the way into this and loving it - I think he's really capturing something about working class culture and way of being a good man that becomes almost epic. Plus there's the story of bootblacking Ian St John's bollocks for the disciplinary board.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Sep 30, 2016)

U.S.A - John Dos Passos.

A book that immediately calls to mind the word 'cinematic'. Enjoying it so far.


----------



## belboid (Oct 1, 2016)

belboid said:


> Cameron McCabe – The Face On the Cutting Room Floor
> 
> An odd little book from 1937 (getting reissued tomorrow, coincidentally), about a murder in a film studio. The story of the book, and its author, is almost as interesting as the book itself.
> 
> ...


Finally finished this on holiday, and how very well worth reading it was. The detective novel (if such it is) to end all detective novels. Quite brilliant, especially for 1937.  ringo marty21 I think you'd both really like it

After that, I tried to catch up with the Booker's - all three of which that i have done so far are very good. *Deborah Levy's Hot Milk *is probably the one with the most literary writing in it, and it's a very entertaining read. Not sure if it is as meaningful as it thinks it is, tho, and the (slight? secondary?) subtexts about Greece and austerity don't really say that much, I dont think.

It's certainly not as good as *Elizabeth Strout's My Name is Lucy Barton*. I was  bit dubious about it as it seemed to be another middle class woman in New York finds stuff out about her family at first.  But it's way better than that, turns out the woman in question is actually working class (made good?) and is so well put together, facts and memories drifting in and really building up the story neatly.  It didn't actually make the shortlist, probably because (imo) they'd already got one book with a working class female american protagonist, so they didn't need another one.

That book would be *Otessa Moshfegh's Eileen* - which is the best of the three quite easily, I think. The writing is much less neat than the Levy, but it is much truer for that. Eileen's a fascinating character, from a poor, broken, family, who gives away much more about herself than she realises in her writing. It's not quite 'gritty' but it's definitely not polished either, and it's definitely gripping as we find out just how and why this is her last week as 'Eileen.'  Very well worth a read. 
*
Paul Beatty's The Sellout* is up next, looks interesting, probably the last of the six that I'll bother with (unless one of the other two wins).  I think His Bloody Project is still the best of them so far though, and it'll have to go some to beat that.


----------



## belboid (Oct 1, 2016)

JimW said:


> Just did a quick thread search and saw this, can answer your final question after these couple of years as I'm a third of the way into this and loving it - I think he's really capturing something about working class culture and way of being a good man that becomes almost epic. Plus there's the story of bootblacking Ian St John's bollocks for the disciplinary board.


Nice one - let me know if you start skipping those long, repetitious, lists by the end of it!


----------



## Mation (Oct 4, 2016)

Mation said:


> This is just beautiful science fiction. Glad it seems to be the first of a series but wish I could have done my usual trick of discovering stuff way way waaay after everyone else, such that she'd written the next one or several by now!


Turns out the sequel is coming out this month, so I've pre-ordered it


----------



## sojourner (Oct 5, 2016)

Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland by WB Yeats

Hopeful by Omid Djalili

Cruelty by Roald Dahl


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Oct 5, 2016)

Security, Strategy, and Critical Theory - Richard Wyn Jones


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 5, 2016)

Mation said:


> Turns out the sequel is coming out this month, so I've pre-ordered it


made a start on this (angry planet). Bit unsure about the crew interactions so far, but I want to know whats going on so will stick with it. was a bit put off by the Neelix-ish scene at the start in the canteen but its intriguing enough to let that slide for now.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Oct 5, 2016)

Just finished *Dry Store Number 1 - Richard Fortey* very good, potted history of the Natural History museum and a brief sketch of its role and the importance of its work. 


Picked up *The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot *from a charity shop yesterday and started that this morning.


----------



## nastybobby (Oct 7, 2016)

Just started Peter Hook's new book: Substance - Inside New Order.

Four lines in and he's already called Bernard Sumner: 'a twat'.

Once I've read the whole thing, I may go through the book again, create a spread sheet and calculate how many times and how he abuses him over the 700 and odd pages.


----------



## inva (Oct 11, 2016)

Marx and Keynes: The Limits of the Mixed Economy by Paul Mattick
A really good book this, and just the kind of thing I was after - an excellent, clearly written Marxist analysis of post war Keynesianism.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 12, 2016)

Hellfire - Mia Gallagher. Really odd book set in Dublin about this girl and her family. The blurb mentions Harry Potter and Irivine Welsh but I can't see the connections yet...


----------



## D'wards (Oct 12, 2016)

Just starting Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Only about 60 pages in but loving it so far - the account of being a refugee in 1922 in Greece as the Turkish army attacked is enthralling


----------



## Idris2002 (Oct 12, 2016)

Zola's _Debacle, _his novel of the French defeat in 1870, and the suppression of the Paris commune.


----------



## weltweit (Oct 12, 2016)

Just finished The Hammer of God, Arthur C. Clarke - enjoyed it

The back of which lists his other works, which are multiple


----------



## sparkybird (Oct 13, 2016)

Artaxerxes said:


> Picked up *The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot *from a charity shop yesterday and started that this morning.



Not brilliantly written but a completely fascinating story
If it was a charity shop around Brixton it might have been my old copy!


----------



## sparkybird (Oct 13, 2016)

belboid said:


> *
> Paul Beatty's The Sellout* is up next, looks interesting, probably the last of the six that I'll bother with (unless one of the other two wins).  I think His Bloody Project is still the best of them so far though, and it'll have to go some to beat that.



I just started this, enjoy so far, made me laugh out loud a few times and some memorable lines.
Or maybe in comparison to Do not say we have nothing, another booker shortlist which I gave up on after 100 pages, anything is good!


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Oct 13, 2016)

It's not what I'm reading but I've just pulled a selection of books off my shelf for my boy (14yr old) to read. It was good fun actually. I've left a little post it note on each one to try and sell them to him a little. I'm going to leave them in the sofa as that's the first place he heads when he gets home


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 13, 2016)

You're a great mum, ShiftyBagLady 
(and potentially a great school librarian)


----------



## ShiftyBagLady (Oct 13, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> You're a great mum, ShiftyBagLady
> (and potentially a great school librarian)


Ah, thank you , you'll make me cry in a minute.
Don't think they'd let me loose in a school, particularly as I told him 1984 was his guide to school...


----------



## Voley (Oct 16, 2016)

That's ace ShiftyBagLady. 

I've just started 'Skagboys' by Irvine Welsh. Prequel to Trainspotting and very good so far. It's funny reading Renton being all drug snobby about heroin in the first few chapters when you know how it ends up. Good descriptions of Orgreave and a Northern Soul allnighter too. He's cracking when he's on form, Irvine Welsh.


----------



## The39thStep (Oct 16, 2016)

What did you do during the War- Richard Griffiths . Study of fascists in England during WW2.although the author avoids the easy subjects like Mosley, a lot of the case studies are members of the landed gentry or aristocracy whereas I would have liked some examples of rank and file fascists. However what does strike you in reading this is the relatively large amount of support for the UK far right and Hitler amongst the upper classes.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 16, 2016)

Voley said:


> That's ace ShiftyBagLady.
> 
> I've just started 'Skagboys' by Irvine Welsh. Prequel to Trainspotting and very good so far. It's funny reading Renton being all drug snobby about heroin in the first few chapters when you know how it ends up. Good descriptions of Orgreave and a Northern Soul allnighter too. He's cracking when he's on form, Irvine Welsh.


Orgreave made me roll my eyes, total renton as mary-sue again. Still it is very funny, overall certainly the best thing irvine welsh has done in ages


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 21, 2016)

I'm off to Torquay for a week tomorrow and I've just treated myself to Annie Proulx's _Barkskins _for my holiday read.
I've even broken my 'never pay the hardback price for a digital d/l' rule and paid £9.99 for it.


----------



## campanula (Oct 22, 2016)

Christ, finding it is bedtime with no book to hand - insomnia and tedium - have had to nick some tripe from one of the offspring - Cory Doctorow (can't recall title) - I am sure I tried one of these before and gave up in disgust...but it is either that or some Tory drivel from some old gardening buffer ( Hugh Johnson)  who writes (rubbish) for the Telegraph or such. I know I bore on endlessly about gardening but honestly, some discrimination please - it was a birthday pressie from next door neighbour who clearly spent 0.09 seconds in nearest charity shop.

eta - might have to rifle first aid box for some ancient vallium I keep for emergencies.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Oct 22, 2016)

Disaster Capitalism - Anthony Loewenstein


----------



## weltweit (Oct 23, 2016)

Just finished: Time's Eye, Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter

Which is a part of a 3 book series, the other two I find I have already read.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Oct 23, 2016)

Contending Visions of the Middle East (The History and Politics of Orientalism) - Zachary Lockman


----------



## Treacle Toes (Oct 23, 2016)

ShiftyBagLady said:


> It's not what I'm reading but I've just pulled a selection of books off my shelf for my boy (14yr old) to read. It was good fun actually. I've left a little post it note on each one to try and sell them to him a little. I'm going to leave them in the sofa as that's the first place he heads when he gets home



What a great thing to do ShiftyBagLady 

Of course I am intrigued to read your post it notes now! 

Honestly I don't think there is anything anyone could say to get me to try and read The Prince again. 

I am currently reading this:







Plus reading/line editing my friend's 2nd crime/detective novel.


----------



## Shirl (Oct 23, 2016)

Shirl said:


> Inocents - How justice failed Stefan Kiszko and Lesley Moleseed by Jonathan Rose with Steve Panter and Trevor Wilkinson


sojourner I've finally finished this book. It's made me incredibly angry. I've followed on line from where it left off and it's really bloody depressing. Give me a shout if you still want it and I'll post it on.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 25, 2016)

Shirl said:


> sojourner I've finally finished this book. It's made me incredibly angry. I've followed on line from where it left off and it's really bloody depressing. Give me a shout if you still want it and I'll post it on.


Hey Shirl  - yep deffo wanna borrow it ta.  I'll PM me address, thanks love x


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 25, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> Hellfire - Mia Gallagher. Really odd book set in Dublin about this girl and her family. The blurb mentions Harry Potter and Irivine Welsh but I can't see the connections yet...



ok, far far far better than the jacket blurb would indicate. Can't see the Harry Potter link at all but can see a bit of the Welsh vibe, in terms of vernacular. Story set in inner city Dublin over several decades around a family, drug abuse, loss and gangland activity. Sounds grim - and it is in part - but Mia Gallagher excels herself. Wonderful and haunting.


----------



## hash tag (Oct 26, 2016)

Great post from ShiftyBagLady earlier 
Well this is what is exciting me at the moment Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories – stories of a devil’s advocate
He may appear priveledged what with his background, education Etc. BUT he has had one hell of a life and twice stood as a Labour MP (Benn campaigned for him).
Some of his cases shaped the 20th century; George Blake, Christine Keeler, Lady Chatterley obscenity trial, Howard Marks, Tom Keating et al.
As a bye the bye, following reading about one or two of the cases has lead me to watching documentaries and films about them


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 26, 2016)

Savage Continent: Europe in the aftermath of WW11 by Kieth Lowe

forgot I had this loaded into my MagicScroll reading app library.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 26, 2016)

The Ladies of Grace Adieu & Other Stories - Susanna Clarke. Kind of a follow up/spin off from Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. So far, so good.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Oct 28, 2016)

On The Genealogy Of Morals - Nietzsche


----------



## Artaxerxes (Oct 28, 2016)

Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert Noonan


----------



## Libertad (Oct 28, 2016)

Artaxerxes said:


> Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert Noonan



Does it say "Noonan" on your copy?


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 28, 2016)

Libertad said:


> Does it say "Noonan" on your copy?


It's fanfic. Ends up with an orgy.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Oct 28, 2016)

Libertad said:


> Does it say "Noonan" on your copy?



No, its the kindle version I grabbed it from Gutenberg Project after seeing it discussed. I felt it fitting to give it his real name.




Orang Utan said:


> It's fanfic. Ends up with an orgy.


----------



## Libertad (Oct 28, 2016)

Artaxerxes said:


> No, its the kindle version I grabbed it from Gutenberg Project after seeing it discussed. I felt it fitting to give it his real name.



Bob Croker it is then.


----------



## Mation (Oct 29, 2016)

Mation said:


> Turns out the sequel is coming out this month, so I've pre-ordered it


Just finished this - A Closed and Common Orbit. I don't understand the title but, stars I loved the book. And now I have to wait until however long it takes her to write another one


----------



## D'wards (Nov 1, 2016)

Just finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - i very much enjoyed it, a superb book.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 3, 2016)

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. Mmmmm come to me David with your writing that so completely immerses me


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 3, 2016)

JG Ballard's _Super Cannes_. So far it feels like it's covering similar territory to  _Cocaine Nights_. Which isn't a bad thing.


----------



## kalidarkone (Nov 5, 2016)

I just finished ' Clothes,clothes,clothes, music,music,music,boys,boys,boys,' by Viv Albertine- (formally of the Slits) amazing! inspirational!  its her auto biography.  I feel bereft now I've finished it


----------



## kalidarkone (Nov 5, 2016)

I have begun reading ' The Hundred year old man ' by Jonas Jonasson . It's ok.


----------



## inva (Nov 7, 2016)

A History of Economic Thought by Isaac Ilych Rubin
I was recommended Rubin's book as a helpful one to read with Marx's Theories of Surplus Value and it is a very clear account of the development of political economy from the mercantilists to the break down of the classical era after Ricardo. It effectively places the various theorists in their historical context and fairly straightforwardly assesses their various merits and flaws. A very useful book.

I also read Rage by Lorenza Mazzetti which has its moments but on the whole is a bit muddled and dull in places. It;s a novel about a traumatised teenager facing adulthood in post war Italy, and it does capture the mentality of being that age along with disorienting and isolating grief pretty well, unfortunately just not in a way that's especially great to read.


----------



## campanula (Nov 7, 2016)

Revenger - Alistair Reynolds...unfortunately awful, simplistic, telegraphed. switching between Becky Chambers - A Long Way Down to a Small Angry Planet and His Bloody Project, Graeme Macrae Burnet


----------



## flypanam (Nov 8, 2016)

It broke my heart to finish 'The art of fielding' it was so good, the best book I've read in a while.

But finish it I did, so now I'm on to Jonathan Franzen's Purity. Not liking it so far, but will persist.

and

Mark Greif's Against Everything: on dishonest times


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Nov 8, 2016)

Genealogy As Critique (Foucault And The Problems Of Modernity) - Colin Koopman.

Probably one of the strongest attempts to synthesize different aspects of Foucault's work, especially in regard to Archaeology and Genealogy. He also writes well too!


----------



## EllenY (Nov 9, 2016)

Hana's suitcase - Karen Levine


----------



## Artaxerxes (Nov 11, 2016)

Euripidies - The Bachhae and other plays


Women of Troy is pretty powerful stuff for a play over 2000 years old.


----------



## weltweit (Nov 11, 2016)

I ran out of library books and have yet to get some more on order so I accepted Master And Commander by Patrick O'Brian as a sort of fill in book - from a nautical friend. At first I found the constant detailed descriptions of everything annoying but the style has grown on me and I am now half way through it. He has all of them, so if I like this one more could follow.

Has anyone else read any Patrick O'Brian? what did you think?


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Nov 11, 2016)

weltweit said:


> I ran out of library books and have yet to get some more on order so I accepted Master And Commander by Patrick O'Brian as a sort of fill in book - from a nautical friend. At first I found the constant detailed descriptions of everything annoying but the style has grown on me and I am now half way through it. He has all of them, so if I like this one more could follow.
> 
> Has anyone else read any Patrick O'Brian? what did you think?



Yes, I've read the series and recognise the description you give of finding the initial immersion annoying, but it really is worth the effort. Once you are familiar with the terminology (I found myself buying a guide to the terms etc) you gain so much more from the novels. O'Brian clearly cared deeply about crafting his books, once you recognise the effort and research he undertook your appreciation of him as a writer will grow.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Nov 12, 2016)

This is the one I bought.


----------



## NatM (Nov 15, 2016)

The Glorious Heresies - Lisa McIereney (think that's how you spell her name...)


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Nov 15, 2016)

Human, All Too Human - Nietzsche


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 15, 2016)

benedek lang, unlocked books: manuscripts of learned magic in the medieval libraries of central europe (university park, pa: pennsylvania state university press, 2008)


----------



## D'wards (Nov 19, 2016)

I was bought A Brief History of Seven Killings, but the person who bought it for me bought it for herself too, and is on the verge of abandoning it.
The reviews on Amazon are very mixed; lots love it, lots hate it.
Has anyone read it and would you recommend it? I have loads to read, and am loathe to abandon books once i start.


----------



## belboid (Nov 19, 2016)

D'wards said:


> I was bought A Brief History of Seven Killings, but the person who bought it for me bought it for herself too, and is on the verge of abandoning it.
> The reviews on Amazon are very mixed; lots love it, lots hate it.
> Has anyone read it and would you recommend it? I have loads to read, and am loathe to abandon books once i start.


It's fucking great.  helps a little if you are aware of some of the circumstances around the novels setting, but i don't think it makes that much difference


----------



## D'wards (Nov 19, 2016)

belboid said:


> It's fucking great.  helps a little if you are aware of some of the circumstances around the novels setting, but i don't think it makes that much difference


Cheers, i do know a little as i've seen all the various Bob Marley documentries over the years, but i'll read the wikipedia entry on the shooting, and elections.
Incidentally, did you see the Classic Album about Catch a Fire? Interesting to note that Blackwell took the master tapes and had country music players put extra bits on, with the Wailer's approval, to soften the sound a bit and make it more attractive to whites - and it worked an all.


----------



## ringo (Nov 21, 2016)

D'wards said:


> I was bought A Brief History of Seven Killings, but the person who bought it for me bought it for herself too, and is on the verge of abandoning it.
> The reviews on Amazon are very mixed; lots love it, lots hate it.
> Has anyone read it and would you recommend it? I have loads to read, and am loathe to abandon books once i start.


Its great, have a read of this, haven't checked for spoilers though...
A Brief History Of Seven Killings - Marlon James

That classic albums episode is surprisingly good, they can be a bit dull. Island released the original raw Jamaican mix before Blackwell et al added their rock noodlings a few years ago, well worth a listen. I like the polished release too though.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Nov 21, 2016)

Twilight Of The Idols - Nietzsche (again)


----------



## sojourner (Nov 25, 2016)

Fear, which is the new Ranulph Fiennes book. Disappointing. He's just rehashing all the stories I've read about in his other books, and trying to big up the fear factor.


----------



## Thaw (Nov 27, 2016)

I started reading Americanah but I hate it. The 2 main characters are dull and horrible and the idea of spending 400 pages with them is not nice. Does it get better?


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 28, 2016)

_Villain_ - Shuichi Yoshida. Crime fiction set in a quiet Kysushu district. Inevitably, the jacket blurb compares the writer to Stieg Larsson. He's not.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Nov 29, 2016)

Mansfield Park - Jane Austen


----------



## ringo (Nov 30, 2016)

The Zone Of Interest - Martin Amis

I used to love him when I was in my teens/twenties. Then he went really shit. Read his last, Lionel Asbo, because it was cheap in a charity shop. Unremittingly awful shit. 

Got this one because I got the epub free. I've just realised it's some sort of Aushwitz comedy. I'm ready to be offended but reviews seem fairly reasonable, the first couple of chapters quite readable. I still think he's a massive twat though.


----------



## campanula (Nov 30, 2016)

got 2 on the go - Echopraxia - Peter Watts (dystopian sf) and Nod - Adrian Barnes which sounded intriguing. Insomnia sets in across Canada...after  6 days of sleep deprivation, psychosis sets in and after 4 weeks the body breaks down and organs cease to function. Not everyone is affected. Panic sets in leading to a bizarre new world order.
Also dipping into The Cabaret of Plants - Richard Mabey.

eta - halfway through Nod - seriously creepish. Have an infected foot so not sleeping well, staying up all night reading a book about insomnia has not improved the vague dread I am now feeling. Not sure whether I have the fortitude to finish.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 1, 2016)

Paul Beatty - The Sellout

I understand that it is trying to be satire. I understand that. But this quote says it all for me, "It manages to eviscerate every social taboo and politically correct nuance, every sacred cow. While making us laugh, it also makes us wince. It is both funny and painful at the same time.”  (historian Amanda Foreman)

Hmm. Cheap laughs is what springs to my mind, tbh. Some of it is quite clever, _some _of it. The rest reminds me of an unfunny comedian pulling the 'irony' (not irony) card.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 5, 2016)

Stewart Lee's How I Escaped My Certain Fate... basically, annotations to three of his live shows plus bits in between. Very funny but I'd rather see him live.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 5, 2016)

Gave up on the Paul Beatty on account of it being way too shit to carry on with.

Now halfway through The Mandibles, by Lionel Shriver. Back on form


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Dec 5, 2016)

Foucault & Neoliberalism - Daniel Zamora & Michael C. Behrent (Eds.).


----------



## Libertad (Dec 6, 2016)

Top-Bar Beekeeping, Organic Practices For Honeybee Health by Les Crowder and Heather Harrell.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Dec 6, 2016)

The Philosophical Discourse Of Modernity - Jurgen Habermas

Specifically: The Critique Of Reason As An Unmasking Of The Human Sciences & Questions Concerning The Theory Of Power: Foucault Again


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 7, 2016)

Libertad said:


> Top-Bar Beekeeping, Organic Practices For Honeybee Health by Les Crowder and Heather Harrell.



You might have just solved a Christmas present dilemma for me!
I have a bee-keeping friend but I'm not sure if what she does is 'Top-Bar Beekeeping', would this book still be useful to her if she does something different?


----------



## Libertad (Dec 7, 2016)

BoatieBird said:


> You might have just solved a Christmas present dilemma for me!
> I have a bee-keeping friend but I'm not sure if what she does is 'Top-Bar Beekeeping', would this book still be useful to her if she does something different?



I'm afraid not, the book is hive type specific.


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 7, 2016)

Libertad said:


> I'm afraid not, the book is hive type specific.



Ah OK, thanks.
I wonder how I can casually slip that into a conversation?


----------



## Libertad (Dec 7, 2016)

BoatieBird said:


> Ah OK, thanks.
> I wonder how I can casually slip that into a conversation?



If you can find out what sort of hive she has and how long she's been bee juggling then I might be able to suggest a book for her.
I can thoroughly recommend this book though, even to non beeks:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honeybee-D...&qid=1481111636&sr=8-1&keywords=bee+democracy


----------



## flypanam (Dec 7, 2016)

Nitro mountain by Lee Clay Johnson.

Hard hitting Appalachian fiction.


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 7, 2016)

Libertad said:


> If you can find out what sort of hive she has and how long she's been bee juggling then I might be able to suggest a book for her.



Thanks 
These are the ones


----------



## Libertad (Dec 7, 2016)

BoatieBird said:


> Thanks
> These are the ones
> 
> View attachment 96726



They look like National hives. How long has she been beekeeping?


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 7, 2016)

Libertad said:


> They look like National hives. How long has she been beekeeping?



She's had a trad one in her garden for about 3 years (just got the first lot of honey from it).
The ones in the photo are on some land she's acquired and she's had them for about 6 months.


----------



## Libertad (Dec 7, 2016)

BoatieBird said:


> She's had a trad one in her garden for about 3 years (just got the first lot of honey from it).
> The ones in the photo are on some land she's acquired and she's had them for about 6 months.



She's got a few seasons under her belt then. I'd get her Seeley's book that I linked to but don't pay the Amazon asking price, click through the links and get it from Wordery. £16.87 as opposed to £22.95.


----------



## BoatieBird (Dec 7, 2016)

Brilliant. Thanks so much Libertad


----------



## Libertad (Dec 7, 2016)

You're most welcome.


----------



## campanula (Dec 10, 2016)

Libertad said:


> If you can find out what sort of hive she has and how long she's been bee juggling then I might be able to suggest a book for her.
> I can thoroughly recommend this book though, even to non beeks:
> 
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honeybee-D...&qid=1481111636&sr=8-1&keywords=bee+democracy



ordered! (just going into our second season beekeeping).


----------



## Libertad (Dec 10, 2016)

campanula said:


> ordered! (just going into our second season beekeeping).



I'm sure you'll love it.  A quick search suggests that there are quite a few Urban beeks.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 13, 2016)

Steve Jones's autobiog. Dire, predictable - I don't even know why I got it out the library


----------



## ringo (Dec 13, 2016)

Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson
Finally stopped reading books about the holocaust and nazis, completely in the wrong frame of mind for that. Onto something easy, good, entertaining and funny. Atkinson has become my go to author for escapism, just the right note of smart, homely page turner.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 14, 2016)

John Sladek's The Complete Roderick. 50 pages in and as many characters to get to know. Don't know how many are peripheral and it's difficult to keep up with who's doing what. Will perservere, though.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 20, 2016)

Well, I was attempting to read The Age of Bowie by Paul Morley, but one intro and two chapters of utter dribble have forced me to put it down.

Started reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern last night and loving it. Reminds me a little bit of Angela Carter and a bit of Rosie Garland, but is original enough for that not to matter.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Dec 20, 2016)

Kill everything that moves: The real American war in Vietnam by Nick Turse

It's fascinating but not cheerful


----------



## Sprocket. (Dec 21, 2016)

sojourner said:


> Well, I was attempting to read The Age of Bowie by Paul Morley, but one intro and two chapters of utter dribble have forced me to put it down.



Sorry to read this, I know that someone has bought me a copy for Christmas!  Will give it a go, hope it is not yet another unfinished tome destined for the charity shop!

I have just started Berlin Game by Len Deighton in the Game, Set and Match trio.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 21, 2016)

Sprocket. said:


> Sorry to read this, I know that someone has bought me a copy for Christmas!  Will give it a go, hope it is not yet another unfinished tome destined for the charity shop!


Well you never know, if you do actually like his writing, there's hope! I hadn't read anything by PM for eons, so it wasn't a pleasant surprise for me.


----------



## stockwelljonny (Dec 21, 2016)

Just finished Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami. Loved it, had to stay up late last night to finish! This is third Murakami after coming to him late, and love each of them..


----------



## weltweit (Dec 22, 2016)

Having read Master and Commander, Patrick O'Brian, and Post Captain, I am now reading HMS Surprise. I have the whole set I could work through though I think I will mix in some other books also.


----------



## danny la rouge (Dec 22, 2016)

weltweit said:


> Having read Master and Commander, Patrick O'Brian, and Post Captain, I am now reading HMS Surprise. I have the whole set I could work through though I think I will mix in some other books also.


Oh my god. I read Captain and Commander and thought it was one of the worst things I'd ever read. I gave it away to someone who drove 300 miles to give it me back. That's how much they didn't want it left in their house.


----------



## weltweit (Dec 22, 2016)

danny la rouge said:


> Oh my god. I read Captain and Commander and thought it was one of the worst things I'd ever read. I gave it away to someone who drove 300 miles to give it me back. That's how much they didn't want it left in their house.


Ha, well I wasn't sure I would like it, nor was the person who lent it me, at first I was quite undecided but after a while I found I had read half of it so I continued..


----------



## Radical-Cliff (Dec 22, 2016)

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying - Marie Kondo


----------



## nogojones (Dec 22, 2016)

S☼I said:


> Kill everything that moves: The real American war in Vietnam by Nick Turse
> 
> It's fascinating but not cheerful


Halfway through this as well. I promised myself  a few months back that I'd watch a few happy movies/read a few happy books. This don't fall under that catagory, so I'm also reading some P.G. Wodehouse short stories to keep me from the edge


----------



## colbhoy (Dec 27, 2016)

D-Day, The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor.


----------



## campanula (Dec 29, 2016)

Not really enjoying Cixin Liu's Dark Forest so dithering between B. Catling - The Vorrh and Jonas Jonasson -  'The hundred year old man who fell out of a window and disappeared'.


----------



## Franjipan2112 (Dec 31, 2016)

Nearly Finished Dangerous Sea by David Roberts


----------



## muvva (Jan 1, 2017)

Things no one will tell fat girls- Jes Baker


----------



## KeeperofDragons (Jan 1, 2017)

The Leveller Revolution by John Rees and dipping into Doctor Who The Whoniverse both I got for Christmas


----------



## izz (Jan 3, 2017)

I'm a few stories into Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson. Woman was a twisted genius, able to conjure evil from the mundane.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 4, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Started reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern last night and loving it.


Absolutely fucking loved this book, thoroughly recommended!!

Now reading Working the Phones by Jamie Woodcock, with thanks to the heads-up from
mango5   It's fab


----------



## Voley (Jan 4, 2017)

A Clash of Kings - George R.R Martin. 

I'm probably doing this the wrong way round - reading the books after watching the telly programme - but it's good seeing how much extra stuff was written. It's not like the telly programme is brief - there's seven seasons of it so far - but there's loads more in the books. Good little plotline developing with Sansa and the drunk knight bloke she saved from Joffrey atm for example. I don't remember that from the TV series. Very enjoyable.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 4, 2017)

Voley said:


> A Clash of Kings - George R.R Martin.
> 
> I'm probably doing this the wrong way round - reading the books after watching the telly programme - but it's good seeing how much extra stuff was written. It's not like the telly programme is brief - there's seven seasons of it so far - but there's loads more in the books. Good little plotline developing with Sansa and the drunk knight bloke she saved from Joffrey atm for example. I don't remember that from the TV series. Very enjoyable.


it's covered extremely briefly in S2 in one episode with Tony Way as Dontos. Way is in loads of things, you'll prob recognise him:

ETA: just had a quick look at IMDb and he's in 6 episodes! I can only remember the one where Sansa persuades Joffrey not to make Dontos drink himself to death


----------



## Voley (Jan 4, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> View attachment 98263
> ETA: just had a quick look at IMDb and he's in 6 episodes! I can only remember the one where Sansa persuades Joffrey not to make Dontos drink himself to death


Yes that's the only bit I remember too. ''Drink your fill on my nameday'' etc. 6 episodes though? Maybe they did cover it a bit more than I remember.  Anyhow it looks like it's going off on a tangent I didn't predict anyhow and I'm enjoying the meandering plot.


----------



## Mattym (Jan 4, 2017)

Just finished 'The power of the dog' by Thomas Savage. Fantastic story and characterisation and reasonably quick to complete.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jan 4, 2017)

*H*HhH

 a novel about a journey to find out more about Heydrich, the Butcher of Prague.
A far better read that it sounds


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 4, 2017)

Voley said:


> Yes that's the only bit I remember too. ''Drink your fill on my nameday'' etc. 6 episodes though? Maybe they did cover it a bit more than I remember.  Anyhow it looks like it's going off on a tangent I didn't predict anyhow and I'm enjoying the meandering plot.


I recall now that there's a brief scene where he's playing the fool in Joffrey's court as instructed, but I think he just hangs about in court scenes after that, until he helps Sansa get away from King's Landing after the Joffrey's demise.


----------



## Voley (Jan 4, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> until he helps Sansa get away from King's Landing after the Joffrey's demise.


Ah, right, was that him? Yes, that ties in with the bit I've just read. I've just got to the bit where Theon unwittingly tries to get off with his sister, now.  They'd not changed that much for the telly. You'd think that was humiliation enough but it's all downhill for him from here.

I do like the additional stuff in the books, though. Tyrion's chapters are even more scheming, somehow. Feels like I'm watching the director's cut.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 4, 2017)

Voley said:


> Ah, right, was that him? Yes, that ties in with the bit I've just read.


I've read and watched it so I can't remember which bit happened in book or tv now. 
I'm about to read A Feast For Crows again as I skipped it loads last time and my pa is about to read it. we've been watching the tv series too, but are only up to S2. it is interesting going through it again and noting the differences. I think A Storm Of Swords/S3 are where the tv and books start to diverge massively.


----------



## Red About Town (Jan 4, 2017)

The Football Factory - John King. Bought it at least 15 years ago. Skimmed through it at the time. Saw the film when it was released and forgot all about the novel.
Started reading it again this week and it is superb. Can't put it down....


----------



## Voley (Jan 4, 2017)

Red About Town said:


> The Football Factory - John King. Bought it at least 15 years ago. Skimmed through it at the time. Saw the film when it was released and forgot all about the novel.
> Started reading it again this week and it is superb. Can't put it down....



''Coventry are fuck all.''

One of my favourite opening lines.


----------



## Wilf (Jan 5, 2017)

Voley said:


> A Clash of Kings - George R.R Martin.
> 
> I'm probably doing this the wrong way round - reading the books after watching the telly programme.


To be honest, at the moment, George RR Martin is probably watching the telly version before _writing_ the rest of the series.


----------



## districtline (Jan 10, 2017)

Peter Ackroyd's London biography. Some interesting stories in there but the book could have done with a bit more structure...


----------



## sojourner (Jan 12, 2017)

Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman - short fictions. Excellent. Never read anything by him before - any recommendations?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 12, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman - short fictions. Excellent. Never read anything by him before - any recommendations?


Neverwhere probably his strongest. A fable in the tradition of Other London fantasies. Really good read. American gods, well thats a keeper. Being made into a TV series as we speak, starring ian mcshane. Imagine that an old order of gods was passing a way and the new gods arisin, what would they be? gods of data, gods of cars.

I'll warn ye tho that he can veer on the twee-Stardust is great if you can accept a little of the twee cos he does that one very fey and faery


----------



## sojourner (Jan 12, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> Neverwhere probably his strongest. A fable in the tradition of Other London fantasies. Really good read. American gods, well thats a keeper. Being made into a TV series as we speak, starring ian mcshane. Imagine that an old order of gods was passing a way and the new gods arisin, what would they be? gods of data, gods of cars.
> 
> I'll warn ye tho that he can veer on the twee-Stardust is great if you can accept a little of the twee cos he does that one very fey and faery


Cheers dotty

I don't mind faery - quite like it in fact, so no worries on that score.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 12, 2017)

You might like The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, sojourner


----------



## sojourner (Jan 12, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> You might like The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, sojourner


Cheers yeh, that one's been recommended to me on my FB shout out a lot too


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 18, 2017)

The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain by derek wilson. A change from social or war history. so far a bit light, on the level of a tv docu but it hints at digging deeper later


----------



## Voley (Jan 20, 2017)

Finished ''A Brief History Of Time.'' I can say I've read it, trying to claim that I understood it would be pushing my luck a bit. I get black holes a bit more now, though, and that was the bit I was most interested in. I got lost at the bit about quarks and never really got back into it after that. Now back to the second book in the Game of Thrones saga which is more my intellectual level tbh.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Jan 20, 2017)

I've just finished a depressing book - 'How to Survive a Plague, the story of how activists amd scientists tamed AIDS'. All about the HIV crisis in the 80s and 90s, until effective drug treatment became available.  

How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS: Amazon.co.uk: David France: 9780307700636: Books


----------



## campanula (Jan 21, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Cheers yeh, that one's been recommended to me on my FB shout out a lot too



Oddly, this was much enhanced by the situation in which it was read (for me). Ordinarily, my sarcastic snarkiness would rise to the forefront with even a sniff of fey...but sitting in the woods in the horsebox, it was just the ticket. I sincerely doubt I would have enjoyed it's featherlight narrative in a grimly urban setting.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 22, 2017)

Just finished Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Outstanding and old fashioned.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 24, 2017)

Mega-City Zero- a judge dredd story (modern) which has a satirical look at web culture inamongst the usuals

Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher. Wish I'd read this a few years ago.


----------



## weltweit (Jan 24, 2017)

The Player of Games, Iain M Banks

This is the third time I have had this out of my local library, the first two times I didn't get round to it before my time was up, this time I am well into it and enjoying it. I including this I may have now read all Banks's Culture books. Shame there won't be any more.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jan 25, 2017)

sojourner just for balance, I hated Neverwhere with a particular passion. Smoke and Mirrors mostly excellent though.

I've just started reading If This Is A Woman, by Sarah Helm. A little light escapism from the horrors of our current climate


----------



## Sprocket. (Jan 25, 2017)

The Invention of Tradition, Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (Editors)


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 25, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman - short fictions. Excellent. Never read anything by him before - any recommendations?



The _Sandman_ series. Myths, legends, serial killer conventions... it's out there and is one of the best things he's written. IMHO.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 25, 2017)

Thanks May and krtek

Am about a third of the way through Castro - My Life, an autobiog structured in question and answer form. Am quite depressed at the mo and felt somewhat lifted by reading about the brilliance of the rebellion against Batista.


----------



## ringo (Jan 25, 2017)

Thank You, Jeeves - PG Wodehouse
Never read any or seen any of the adaptations. Started off wondering what the fuss was about, now just beginning to enjoy it. Still a bit unsure, but so many mates worship them I have to give one a go.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 25, 2017)

Wolves of the Calla - 5th book in The Dark Towers series. Loving the references to his other works.


----------



## Voley (Jan 26, 2017)

'Reeling In The Years' - Mark Radcliffe. He picks a record for every year of his life and talks about what it meant to him at the time. It's a bit disappointing so far tbh. I really laughed at 'Showbusiness', his book about all the crap bands he'd been in, so was expecting something similar. This one's not as funny as it thinks it is, sadly, although he has had one pop at The Stereophonics that made me chuckle. I'm hoping it'll improve as he gets to the punk years.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 27, 2017)

krtek a houby said:


> Wolves of the Calla - 5th book in The Dark Towers series. Loving the references to his other works.



Argh! Donald Trump gets a mention regarding dodgy property deals!


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 27, 2017)

Voley said:


> 'Reeling In The Years' - Mark Radcliffe. He picks a record for every year of his life and talks about what it meant to him at the time. It's a bit disappointing so far tbh. I really laughed at 'Showbusiness', his book about all the crap bands he'd been in, so was expecting something similar. This one's not as funny as it thinks it is, sadly, although he has had one pop at The Stereophonics that made me chuckle. I'm hoping it'll improve as he gets to the punk years.


----------



## ringo (Jan 27, 2017)

ringo said:


> Thank You, Jeeves - PG Wodehouse
> Never read any or seen any of the adaptations. Started off wondering what the fuss was about, now just beginning to enjoy it. Still a bit unsure, but so many mates worship them I have to give one a go.



Less sure. The crux of the farce rests upon Wooster blacking up and the ensuing hilarity that causes.There is some great writing, and definitely some real wit, but I can't stand farce and the racist/colonial/class/outdated shite is the nail in its coffin. 

Farce's as a trope in general make me want to give up, whether book or film, because they tend to rest on the very predictable notion that the hero will get into an ever more ridiculous scrape but it will all get sorted out in the end. In this case, presumably, sorted out by Jeeves every time. 

Am I just being being curmudgeonly or should I make an effort? Not far to go, I'll probably finish it now.


----------



## hot air baboon (Jan 27, 2017)

...arguably its quite subversive isn't it - the upper class males are total idiots whilst the servant Jeeves and the women are invariably streets ahead in intelligence & force of character...I seem to recall one fearsome aunt and her pet pug ...._Jabberwocky  _


----------



## ringo (Jan 27, 2017)

hot air baboon said:


> ...arguably its quite subversive isn't it - the upper class males are total idiots whilst the servant Jeeves and the women are invariably streets ahead in intelligence & force of character...I seem to recall one fearsome aunt and her pet pug ...._Jabberwocky  _


Yes, that's true, I'll give him that. It's mainly farce I don't like.


----------



## Voley (Jan 28, 2017)

Pickman's model said:


>



It has a bit, I'm pleased to say. Just read a chapter on Kraftwerk, who I've never liked much, that is so enthusiastically-written I'm inclined to give them another listen.


----------



## D'wards (Feb 4, 2017)

Struggling a bit with Wolf Hall. About 160 pages in, 500 to go.

Determined to finish it


----------



## weltweit (Feb 5, 2017)

I am reading The Mauritius command, Patrick O'Brian and The Night Manager, John Le Carre


----------



## MrSki (Feb 6, 2017)

weltweit said:


> I am reading The Mauritius command, Patrick O'Brian and The Night Manager, John Le Carre


I am reading the Patrick O'Brian books but am picking them up in charity shops so not worrying too much about the order. Also am re-reading The Wheel of Time.


----------



## weltweit (Feb 6, 2017)

MrSki said:


> I am reading the Patrick O'Brian books but am picking them up in charity shops so not worrying too much about the order. ..


I find them easy reading and I like that a chapter lasts about as long as I want to read in one sitting.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 8, 2017)

Still ploughing through Castro's autobiog. He repeats himself a lot.


----------



## Sea Star (Feb 8, 2017)

I'm reading the Bruce Springsteen autobiography. So far it's a mixture of riveting stories, & insights into the music, and fairly boring bollocks about Vietnam vets and the American dream.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Feb 9, 2017)

Candide - Voltaire


----------



## ringo (Feb 10, 2017)

Fup - Jim Dodge

"One hundred year old Grandaddy Jake and his enormous grandson Tiny live life on the fringes, drinking whiskey, building fences, boasting of immortality. But then, Fup arrives – an ass-kicking, web-footed, feathery sonofagun. See, Fup is a duck. A very big duck. A very big duck indeed... And she is going to change their world forever."

Loving this. Only a small novella so it'll be done in a day or two - brilliant, wild and funny.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 11, 2017)

RW Southern, The Making of the Middle Ages.


----------



## bimble (Feb 11, 2017)

Sweet Thursday, which is the sequel, sort of, to Cannery Row. 
I love John Steinbeck. What a human being.


----------



## weltweit (Feb 11, 2017)

bimble said:


> Sweet Thursday, which is the sequel, sort of, to Cannery Row.
> I love John Steinbeck. What a human being.


Cannery Row is on my to read list!


----------



## Voley (Feb 11, 2017)

weltweit said:


> Cannery Row is on my to read list!


Put it at the top! It's ace.


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 11, 2017)

Finally got round to starting on Lonesome Dove, loving it so far.
It's made me smile quite a bit so far, but according to marty21 it _will _make me cry


----------



## Boyo (Feb 12, 2017)

"Seven Pillars of Wisdom". I had tried to read it many years ago, but was disappointed that it didn't have the immediate exciting fascination of the film, "Lawrence of Arabia." Very immature, I was.

Reading it now, I find it totally engrossing. It's also very illuminating, with regard to the old-time "Arab" mindset. One gets a better slant on the origins of the present-day global situation, vis a vis the "arab world".


----------



## sojourner (Feb 13, 2017)

BoatieBird said:


> Finally got round to starting on Lonesome Dove, loving it so far.
> It's made me smile quite a bit so far, but according to marty21 it _will _make me cry


Seconded. It deffo will.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Feb 14, 2017)

1984 - Orwell


----------



## stockwelljonny (Feb 14, 2017)

Executioners Song - Norman Mailer. First Mailer have read, its flipping long and had a few breaks but its compelling, v atmospheric and some great writing


----------



## stockwelljonny (Feb 14, 2017)

bimble said:


> Sweet Thursday, which is the sequel, sort of, to Cannery Row.
> I love John Steinbeck. What a human being.



on the lighter side of Steinbeck but I loved Travels with Charlie, him driving round the states in 1960 in a camper truck with loads of booze and his dog, chatting to people he met to try and get a feel for the country he lived in.


----------



## Voley (Feb 14, 2017)

stockwelljonny said:


> on the lighter side of Steinbeck but I loved Travels with Charlie, him driving round the states in 1960 in a camper truck with loads of booze and his dog, chatting to people he met to try and get a feel for the country he lived in.


I think there's only that and 'The Long Valley' that I've yet to read by Steinbeck. Like the sound of that one, ta.


----------



## tedsplitter (Feb 16, 2017)

Just finished 'Journeyman', the autobiography of Ewan MacColl. I'm a fan and I liked it but it raises almost as many questions as it answers. What was he doing while World War 2 was happening? Like, literally, one chapter ends in 1939, the next one starts in 1945. There's hardly any substantial information about his first two marriages, and why doesn't he tell us more about his five kids? There's lots about theatre techniques, but hardly anything much about other folksingers and musicians besides Peggy Seeger.  A strange but enjoyable book by the Stalin of British folk music.


----------



## ringo (Feb 16, 2017)

Dirty Havana Trilogy - Pedro Juan Gutierrez

Grimy poverty, amoral and nefarious adventures and a lot of filthy sex in Cuba. Probably best read on your gap year on a Thailand beach. Well written and entertaining.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 16, 2017)

Started Number 9 Dream by my beloved David Mitchell last night. Wonderful already.  The poetic bastard


----------



## weltweit (Feb 18, 2017)

weltweit said:


> I am reading The Mauritius command, Patrick O'Brian and The Night Manager, John Le Carre


I am a bit dissapointed in The Night Manager, I am now half way through, and hardly anything has happened!

eta: just after half way through though it suddenly picks up, a book of two halves.


----------



## D'wards (Feb 20, 2017)

Just finished Wolf Hall - Cromwell is a fascinating subject, as is Henry VIII, and she painted a great portrait of the two men (as well as associated others - Thomas More - grrrr).

Her characterisation is fantastic - some of the best i've read.

I just found the writing style pretty hard going, so i doubt i'll read the sequels


----------



## Biddlybee (Feb 20, 2017)

ringo said:


> Fup - Jim Dodge
> 
> "One hundred year old Grandaddy Jake and his enormous grandson Tiny live life on the fringes, drinking whiskey, building fences, boasting of immortality. But then, Fup arrives – an ass-kicking, web-footed, feathery sonofagun. See, Fup is a duck. A very big duck. A very big duck indeed... And she is going to change their world forever."
> 
> Loving this. Only a small novella so it'll be done in a day or two - brilliant, wild and funny.


I haven't read that for years!

Have you read Stone Junction?


----------



## Biddlybee (Feb 20, 2017)

Just started The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter.


----------



## weltweit (Feb 20, 2017)

D'wards said:


> Just finished Wolf Hall - Cromwell is a fascinating subject, as is Henry VIII, and she painted a great portrait of the two men (as well as associated others - Thomas More - grrrr).
> 
> Her characterisation is fantastic - some of the best i've read.
> 
> I just found the writing style pretty hard going, so i doubt i'll read the sequels


I have been loaned it, but it is a lot of pages!!


----------



## D'wards (Feb 20, 2017)

weltweit said:


> I have been loaned it, but it is a lot of pages!!


It is! I actually read it quite quick so i can be done with it. Some people love the style - me old dad for instance - but my brother (who has a degree in English literature) abandoned as it was turgid.

Just remember "he" is almost always Cromwell.

On a side note, Thomas More and the 16th century Catholic Church make ISIS look like the Sally Army.


----------



## weltweit (Feb 20, 2017)

I have a few smaller books to read before I have to read it .. will see how I feel as I progress


----------



## ringo (Feb 20, 2017)

Biddlybee said:


> I haven't read that for years!
> 
> Have you read Stone Junction?


No, I'll look for it, ta.  
Glad Dodgers arrived


----------



## Sea Star (Feb 20, 2017)

D'wards said:


> Just finished Wolf Hall - Cromwell is a fascinating subject, as is Henry VIII, and she painted a great portrait of the two men (as well as associated others - Thomas More - grrrr).
> 
> Her characterisation is fantastic - some of the best i've read.
> 
> I just found the writing style pretty hard going, so i doubt i'll read the sequels


I tried to read this in 2015 and I got stuck around the middle. I think I'll have another go this year. When I was with it the book was fantastic so I know I just need to try a bit harder.


Reading a book about the making of David Bowie's "Low" right now, by Hugo Wilken. Better than I expected for £2.50 or whatever it cost me. Well researched. Lot's of stuff I didn't previously know.


----------



## D'wards (Feb 20, 2017)

Pennine Walkies by Mark Wallington - lovely little travel book about a fella doing the Penine Way with his dog, Boogie.

His two others - 500 Mile Walkies and Boogie up the River are both good little reads - very funny, although i suspect over 70% of what happens is made up - by the third one the dog would be at least 15 - but nonetheless they are happy little travel books


----------



## catinthehat (Feb 20, 2017)

Halldor Gudmundssons biography of Halldor Laxness.  I only just started it and so far a bit disappointing but I think that is because I wrongly thought it would be like reading Laxness - and nothing really compares to that.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Feb 20, 2017)

The Rainbow - DH Lawrence


----------



## Ming (Feb 22, 2017)

Black Edge. A book about Steven A Cohen, SAC Capital and the dirty shenanigans that took him from $7000 to $13,000,000,000. He's now known for his art collection and his philanthropy (lol).

If you want to see crime on a different level have a look at this documentary about the subject (books better but this a good primer). And surprise, surprise no he didn't go to jail.


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 22, 2017)

Just finished book 5 of The Dark Tower series. Whoa; that's getting mad meta.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 22, 2017)

Anna Jaden said:


> Life on the edge


by who?


----------



## Sea Star (Feb 22, 2017)

Hope to be starting War & Peace later today. 

Hope to be finishing before next winter.


----------



## weltweit (Feb 22, 2017)

Finished The Night Manager. Bit disappointed with the ending.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 22, 2017)

After the coup- Jon Scalzi


----------



## belboid (Feb 22, 2017)

Wofgang Streeck - How Will Capitalism End?

David Keenan - This Is Memorial Device


They make for an interesting contrast


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Feb 22, 2017)

Decolonizing Dialectics - George Ciccariello-Maher

Really enjoying this, provocative, insightful, and highly readable.


----------



## bimble (Feb 22, 2017)

Beats & Pieces said:


> Decolonizing Dialectics - George Ciccariello-Maher
> 
> Really enjoying this, provocative, insightful, and highly readable.


What did you think of The Rainbow?


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Feb 22, 2017)

bimble said:


> What did you think of The Rainbow?



Deeply moving. The only thing that I have read previously by Lawrence (many years ago) was 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', which I recall being bored by. In this instance I loved Lawrence's writing, the sense of rhythm, the use of vernacular is very poetic. More than this I loved the sense of exploration regarding the psychology of the characters, the relationships between men and women.

I've downloaded a heap of his other stuff - including his poetry - to explore further.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Feb 23, 2017)

A Letter To American Working Men (1918) - Lenin

Not a book, just a simple pamphlet.


----------



## little_legs (Feb 24, 2017)

'The End of Eddy' by Édouard Louis


----------



## Wilf (Feb 24, 2017)

krtek a houby said:


> Just finished book 5 of The Dark Tower series. Whoa; that's getting mad meta.


5 - or 6 (Song of Susannah)?  6 really does get a bit meta (but I won't spoilerise it).


----------



## little_legs (Feb 24, 2017)

Ming said:


> Black Edge. A book about Steven A Cohen, SAC Capital and the dirty shenanigans that took him from $7000 to $13,000,000,000. He's now known for his art collection and his philanthropy (lol).



I heard Sheelah Kolhatkar, the author of the book, talking about the book on NPR Fresh Air a few days ago, I was particularly shocked by her account of Dr Sid Gilman, sad but horrible at the same time.


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 24, 2017)

Wilf said:


> 5 - or 6 (Song of Susannah)?  6 really does get a bit meta (but I won't spoilerise it).



Yeah, there's been references as the series goes on to all sorts. I'm kind of enjoying all that maybe more than the actual story...


----------



## Sea Star (Feb 24, 2017)

AuntiStella said:


> Hope to be starting War & Peace later today.
> 
> Hope to be finishing before next winter.


well, I've started. It's actually rather good. The characters are so well drawn, dialogue is excellent. Actually makes me laugh. The problem will be when i start forgetting who is who.


----------



## Ming (Feb 25, 2017)

little_legs said:


> I heard Sheelah Kolhatkar, the author of the book, talking about the book on NPR Fresh Air a few days ago, I was particularly shocked by her account of Dr Sid Gilman, sad but horrible at the same time.


Yeah. People assume medical doctors are paragons of virtue. Like any other profession you get the good and the bad (morally and professionally).
ETA: If you think of them as applied scientists who can operate under duress it's a better way of looking at them. Doesn't imply an immediate moral superiority.


----------



## D'wards (Feb 28, 2017)

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy - about a third in and loving it.

After reading about five of his novels McCarthy is defo my favourite author - his writing is sublime


----------



## weltweit (Feb 28, 2017)

I am reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. It is apparently his first book which I can say is surprising because it is completely excellent and I can say that despite only being 130 pages in. Well worth picking up if you have the chance. Apparently also a film but I can't see the film being a patch on the book!


----------



## D'wards (Feb 28, 2017)

weltweit said:


> I am reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. It is apparently his first book which I can say is surprising because it is completely excellent and I can say that despite only being 130 pages in. Well worth picking up if you have the chance. Apparently also a film but I can't see the film being a patch on the book!


The film is great.

I must read this, i do like a western


----------



## Cheesypoof (Mar 3, 2017)

Finished 'The Little Friend' by Donna Tartt. She is one of the best writers I have ever read, since Dickens or Truman Capote but despite her jawdropping craftsmanship....I didnt like it much. Talked about it too much elsewhere but its a great plot that then goes off on a meandering trajectory....not gonna spoil it as its still worth reading but....

Also read - dont laugh - 'What Planet am i on?' by Shaun Ryder - his exploration of UFO sites around the world, especially in the starlit skies of the Atacama desert, Chile. He believes in it, and apparently saw a UFO himself in Salford when he was about 16, before he did drugs. Facinating and well written wry observations which we'd only expect from the man. Read it in two days, loved it

Currently reading the novella, Great Granny Webster, by Lady Caroline Blackwood. Strange (and was nominated for the booker prize in about 1978) but she lost to Philip Larkin. She was never taken seriously but its really good.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 3, 2017)

Cheesypoof said:


> Currently reading the novella, Great Granny Webster, by Lady Caroline Blackwood. Strange (and was nominated for the booker prize in about 1978) but she lost to Philip Larkin. She was never taken seriously but its really good.


Nerd correction:
Paul Scott won it in 1977 with Staying On. Larkin was the chairman of judges.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Mar 3, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> Nerd correction:
> Paul Scott won it in 1977 with Staying On. Larkin was the chairman of judges.



Thanks, that is correct! The reason, Philip Larkin said was because it was a tale so autobiographical it couldnt stand as fiction


----------



## little_legs (Mar 9, 2017)

Currently reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Why on earth have I waited until 2017 to read it!? 

Recent reads: 
*
Eileen *by Ottessa Moshfegh
It never fucking happened, this is what I kept telling myself while I read it. Booker (or whatever that prize is called) is so overrated. 

*Swing Time *by Zadie Smith
A piss poor attempt to write about poor people and the problems of social class in the UK and the US by an author who has been rich for too long rendering her incapable of relating to and writing about poverty. Predictable bullshit from Smith. Shut up. It never fucking happened.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 11, 2017)

Atonement but Ian McEwan.

I saw the film years ago. He's such an accomplished writer that even his lesser books are worth reading.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 11, 2017)

Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World


and for my fiction I'm reading 2016's 'Vader' comic about the man in black, plus some collected Nikolai Dante 2000ad books to follow


----------



## ringo (Mar 13, 2017)

Rodigan: My Life In Reggae - David Rodigan

A good read. Not too much of the endlessly summarised history of reggae and lots of entertaining and charmingly self-effacing anecdotes from one of the most well respected players in the UK reggae industry. He's a top bloke, always very approachable and friendly, who is very clearly driven by his passion for reggae and that comes across well in the book, just as it does in real life. Nice one Rodders.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 13, 2017)

Gave up on Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell cos it started to anger me.


----------



## YouSir (Mar 13, 2017)

Tai Pan - The sequel to Shogun by James Clavell. Not as immersive as the Samurai era one but still nicely consuming if you like a bit of historical/political scheming. Can get a bit heavy though, not the prose or subject matter, just the lack of any lighter moments amidst the drama. Apparently there's another 4 books after this one too, although one more might be my limit for now. Consumed Shogun in about 2 days though, so that's well worth a look.


----------



## Voley (Mar 17, 2017)

stockwelljonny said:


> on the lighter side of Steinbeck but I loved Travels with Charlie, him driving round the states in 1960 in a camper truck with loads of booze and his dog, chatting to people he met to try and get a feel for the country he lived in.


Just started this. First chapter on why anyone decides to travel is superb. Proper soul-stirring stuff. Can see myself rattling through this very quickly.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 21, 2017)

Read 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' by Neil Gaiman on Saturday. Loved it. Brilliant story-telling, and so close to those feelings of childhood trauma. 

Now reading 'The Heart Goes Last' by Margaret Atwood. More fantastic story-telling - am gripped.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (Mar 21, 2017)

Forget Foucault - Jean Baudrillard

This is painful to read.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 21, 2017)

I've just finished _Atonement _by Ian McEwan.  Just brilliant.

 It's elegantly written and the way the plot wraps up at the end is masterful

Is it as good as _Saturday_?	That was read 15 years or more ago and my recollection of is dimmed.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 21, 2017)

Also, I've decided not to finish The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.	Like Ian McEwan she tells great stories in a beautiful way.  I read most of the book ages ago but stopped when I was ill.  I've gone back to it and have only about five pages left.  But I'm not going to read them.  Not yet anyway.

Like all her books she has larger than life characters, absorbing plots and a  delicious lightness with language  She's only written three  novels in the last twenty years and the next one could be years/decades off.  I don't want to feel that I have nothing fresh of hers to read, so I'm leaving that last sliver unread.  I don't know how the plot wraps up.  But that's a price worth paying


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 21, 2017)

rubbershoes said:


> Also, I've decided not to finish The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.	Like Ian McEwan she tells great stories in a beautiful way.  I read most of the book ages ago but stopped when I was ill.  I've gone back to it and have only about five pages left.  But I'm not going to read them.  Not yet anyway.
> 
> Like all her books she has larger than life characters, absorbing plots and a  delicious lightness with language  She's only written three  novels in the last twenty years and the next one could be years/decades off.  I don't want to feel that I have nothing fresh of hers to read, so I'm leaving that last sliver unread.  I don't know how the plot wraps up.  But that's a price worth paying


I only ever read Secret History but its stayed with me for a long time. 

I have this on download for my next history book, hoping its more in depth than the Plantagenets one I last read, a lightweight history was that. No meat to it just x did y.

The Borgias and Their Enemies: 1431-1519  by christopher hibbert


----------



## weltweit (Mar 23, 2017)

Finished Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. The book was so rich and well written, I enjoyed it so much, a little indifferent to the ending but I recommend it.

Also just finished Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich. At the start I thought I was not going to like it as after Cold Mountain the prose seemed too simplistic but I soon got into it and it was a fun and quick read.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Mar 23, 2017)

I'm reading Finnegans Wake, but I'm struggling to stay motivated to keep going; it seems to have strayed over the line into difficult for the sake of being difficult.


----------



## ringo (Mar 23, 2017)

Empire Of The Sun - JG Ballard

Inspired by the opening lines thread, and also having enjoyed a lot of his fiction. 2/3 of the way through it. A bit slow in places but the writing is phenomenal at times so well worth sticking with it for the more than occasional flashes of brilliance.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 23, 2017)

ringo said:


> Empire Of The Sun - JG Ballard
> 
> Inspired by the opening lines thread, and also having enjoyed a lot of his fiction. 2/3 of the way through it. A bit slow in places but the writing is phenomenal at times so well worth sticking with it for the more than occasional flashes of brilliance.


Brilliant book!  Been trying to get my Dad to read it for ages now. Reckon he'd love it.


----------



## Biddlybee (Mar 23, 2017)

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou


----------



## sojourner (Mar 23, 2017)

Biddlybee said:


> I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou




How you finding it Bee?


----------



## Biddlybee (Mar 23, 2017)

Only 10 pages in, because no time to read, but it feels familiar (and I'm reading it in her voice ).

Edit: not reading it, but hearing the words. If that makes any sense... when you know someone's voice you hear the text in their voice. Is that just me?


----------



## sojourner (Mar 23, 2017)

Biddlybee said:


> Only 10 pages in, because no time to read, but it feels familiar (and I'm reading it in her voice ).
> 
> Edit: not reading it, but hearing the words. If that makes any sense... when you know someone's voice you hear the text in their voice. Is that just me?


It's not just you  Especially not with a voice as distinct as hers


----------



## sojourner (Mar 24, 2017)

Reading Allowed, by Chris Paling.

He worked in a library and this is a collection of stories about the various people, books, history etc in his library and surrounding branch libraries. He's very strong on why we need libraries.  It's very topical for me right now as our local council are currently doing a survey about library usage, to 'transform' the libraries, but I reckon it's a sneaky way of trying to prove disinterest and therefore provides a good reason to close them.

It's a quirky and entertaining collection of little tales, with plenty of pathos and politics.


----------



## bi0boy (Mar 26, 2017)

Oliver Sacks - On The Move
you don't expect the autobiography of a neurologist to mention that time he got road rage on his motorbike and tried to pull someone's nose off, and that in hindsight he thought it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do


----------



## flypanam (Mar 27, 2017)

Ivo Andric - The bridge over the Drina


----------



## stockwelljonny (Mar 28, 2017)

Thus Bad Begins by Javier Marías - Novel set in Madrid years following death of Franco, very readable mix of thriller and entertaining digressions and musings on growing up, sex, morals, art. Hadn't heard of this writer before and was a bookshop recommendation but enjoying a lot. Lots of really good characters and I love reading about Madrid in the late 70's and early 80's with people getting up to no good. Also features a very credible cameo by Herbert Lom


----------



## weltweit (Mar 29, 2017)

Just finished Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian. It is the fifth in his series and the fifth I have read. I find them easy reading and a little like boys own cartoons of heros and daring do on the high seas. Now starting The Fortunes of War.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 30, 2017)

Started reading The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. So far, so good. Am a bit spoiled after reading that Neil Gaiman book.


----------



## Voley (Mar 30, 2017)

Girl In A Band - Kim Gordon. Like what I've read so far. I've always thought she was cool as fuck mind.


----------



## Sea Star (Mar 30, 2017)

downloaded the works of Stephen King. Going to work my way through from beginning as I haven't read those books since I was a kid.

Read Rage on Tuesday and Carrie today. Carrie is much better than I expected. A beautiful book - and before while i identified with the bullying aspect, this time there was a whole different level of appreciation. Also, I'd forgotten how much I used to enjoy King's work before he became so long winded. So, I have Salem's Lot lined up for tomorrow.


Voley said:


> Girl In A Band - Kim Gordon. Like what I've read so far. I've always thought she was cool as fuck mind.


yeah - read that last year. It's a good book. And yes. cool. as. fuck. 

oh, and i read Lou Reed biog, followed by Patti smith, followed by the Kim Gordon book and what I was struck by was the common elements. All more interested in art than pop music, all inhabiting the same geography, even some of the personalities involved overlapped.


----------



## stockwelljonny (Mar 30, 2017)

AuntiStella said:


> downloaded the works of Stephen King. Going to work my way through from beginning as I haven't read those books since I was a kid.
> 
> Read Rage on Tuesday and Carrie today. Carrie is much better than I expected. A beautiful book - and before while i identified with the bullying aspect, this time there was a whole different level of appreciation. Also, I'd forgotten how much I used to enjoy King's work before he became so long winded. So, I have Salem's Lot lined up for tomorrow.
> 
> ...



On New York 70s tip, really enjoyed Inside the-dream-palace, about the Chelsea hotel. Was expecting stories of excess and a great range of ny characters, which it does really well, but also has some really interesting bits about New York before the hotel was built, unexpected social history stuff. A really good read, well researched and not cheesy. Saw that Stanley Bard, the owner of the Chelsea died recently. Worse jobs to have had... 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/...l?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share


----------



## Voley (Mar 31, 2017)

That sounds up my alley, too, stockwelljonny. Ta, will keep an eye out.


----------



## stockwelljonny (Mar 31, 2017)

Voley said:


> That sounds up my alley, too, stockwelljonny. Ta, will keep an eye out.



Btw there's a good BBC Arena doc on the Chelsea from 1981, on Iplayer. Its hilarious, full of eccentric characters, super heart warming infact, makes me want a timemachine  Chelsea Hotel, Arena - BBC


----------



## Voley (Apr 5, 2017)

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt. Really good so far. Great characters, plot that could go anywhere, good descriptions of New York. It's over a decade since I read 'The Secret History' and I'd forgotten her knack for conveying complex characters in just a few brief sentences. Very enjoyable so far.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 6, 2017)

Voley said:


> The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt. Really good so far. Great characters, plot that could go anywhere, good descriptions of New York. It's over a decade since I read 'The Secret History' and I'd forgotten her knack for conveying complex characters in just a few brief sentences. Very enjoyable so far.



I heart Boris


----------



## sojourner (Apr 6, 2017)

Started 'Moonglow' by Michael Chabon last night. He doesn't write with the same luscious flow as David Mitchell, Ray Bradbury, or Neil Gaiman, but some of his lines are breathtakingly good, and I love the way he subtly slides ideas over, so you have to backtrack a bit when you realise what's going on.


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 6, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Started 'Moonglow' by Michael Chabon last night. He doesn't write with the same luscious flow as David Mitchell, Ray Bradbury, or Neil Gaiman, but some of his lines are breathtakingly good, and I love the way he subtly slides ideas over, so you have to backtrack a bit when you realise what's going on.


Have you read The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay? One of the most satisfying reads ever.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 6, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> Have you read The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay? One of the most satisfying reads ever.


Yeh, read that ages ago


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2017)

re-reading Ready Player One. Its flaws are a lot more apparent on the re-read and it's not aged well even though its not very old. I still think it will make a good film tho, which is apparently in the works


----------



## ringo (Apr 7, 2017)

The End Of The Affair - Graham Greene

I didn't know I was still yet to read some of his best writing, what a treat. Heart breaking and incisive, incredibly emotive writing. I don't know if there's something autobiographical in this, because it's so real and painfully articulate or it could just be that he's one of the best writers there has been. Or both.

ETA: Based on Greene's own extramarital relationship with Lady Catherine Walston, and dedicated to her.


----------



## ringo (Apr 10, 2017)

ringo said:


> The End Of The Affair - Graham Greene



Brilliant, would have gone straight into my top ten favourite books if the end hadn't drifted off into Greene's eternal uneasiness with his catholic beliefs. His writing is so precise it's surgical, and the keening pain of the protagonist cuts so painfully to the quick you're right there with him in his grief, but it's all clumsily sidetracked by overlong questions on the articles of faith. 

The effects of religious belief on the characters was central, but the pondering on bigger questions distracted far too much from the experiences of the characters.


----------



## campanula (Apr 12, 2017)

The pile of abandoned books is simply vast - The Goldfinch, for example, I gave up on with only 30 or so pages left (disappointing rubbish), Ranging from charity shop emergencies (a couple of Jessie Burton's , some rubbish about a 100 year old man, through to sf (Adam Roberts and Ken Macloud - dunno why I keep persevering with this tedious pair). Lonesome Dove, courtesy of this very thread - attempted, discarded. Wolf Hall - another. Spending hard cash and got a trio of sf summer books at the ready - Neal Asher's return to form with the last of the Transformation trilogy, The Infinity Machine.  Ian Macdonald's 'Wolf Moon' (cheers Dotty - this one's thanks to you) - always got him mixed up with the dull Ken Macleoud (sp?)and the new Kim Stanley Robinson 'New York 2140'.
Passed Streek's Buying Time to daughter...who has hauled it around the entire Norwich Children's Services office.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 12, 2017)

I love ken dearly for his fall revolution series but horses for courses etc


campanula said:


> Ian Macdonald's 'Wolf Moon'



He's brilliant with prose style as well as ideas, haven't read the above yet I think. He's like Aldiss or Gene Wolfe for me, in the same headspace. Would be stacked together on the shelves if I wasn't all about the ebook these days. I've been off my sci fi game book wise for a few months, been on the non fic so Wolf Moon will be a nice re entry.

e2a

if you haven't try his steampunk YA trilogy Planesrunner. V. Good yarn, a steampunk many worlds tale


----------



## sojourner (Apr 12, 2017)

Oh hey campanula  - completely off topic here, but I bought some campanula plants at the weekend, partly because they look easy to keep alive and they're purple, but cos I thought of you when I saw them


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 12, 2017)

Adam Roberts is not dull. How can you say that, campanula ?
He's the most interesting SF writer alive imo.
Big ideas explained entertainingly. That's his USP.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 12, 2017)

Also - how come you didn't finish Lonesome Dove?


----------



## campanula (Apr 12, 2017)

Oh cheers, sojourner, hope they do well for you (obvs, they are a very favourite plant family). What sort are they?
 Lonesome Dove just failed to grip me at all...and I gave it a couple of goes. I guess I was expecting a Steinbeck type of narrative (who I love) and having a hard time engaging with anyone in the book. Not discounting having a third attempt - especially when that nightmare insomnia hits...but I have been allowing myself to not finish books for a few years...and swing between guilt and relief...as rather more books are discarded than read.
Oh OU, I have attempted numerous AR books - Salt, On, Stone...the latest to hit the bedroom floor in boredom is Gradisil. Got up to nearly page 200 before realising that I didn't actually give a shit about a single (shallow) character...I guess it really is horses for courses but I just cannot connect emotionally with any of the people who inhabit AR world.Big ideas are all very well but without an emotive charge and a sense of authenticity, I just don't have the patience anymore to enter that world...although I have made allowances for the likes of Neil Asher and Richard Morgan who are very much in the heroic space opera mould. I guess it is part of getting older - time telescopes somewhat and I am less inclined to 'make do' with anything which does not deserve my limited time and energy. I admit to not enjoying any of Iain M Banks books either.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 13, 2017)

Ah fair enough. I stopped trying to finish books I didn't like absolutely ages ago. Life's too short!  I think Lonesome Dove was close to my heart cos I always wanted to be a cowboy  

Erm - I thought they were 'just' campanula  They're purple, if that helps


----------



## sojourner (Apr 13, 2017)

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed Moonglow by Michael Chabon.  I think it's either gonna be Nail Gaiman 'Neverwhere' next, or 'One Day in December - Celia Sánchez and the Cuban Revolution ' by Nancy Stout. Will sit down with them both later and have a little feel of them before deciding.


----------



## Shirl (Apr 13, 2017)

campanula said:


> The pile of abandoned books is simply vast - The Goldfinch, for example, I gave up on with only 30 or so pages left (disappointing rubbish),


I'm now reading The Goldfinch  I chose it because I enjoyed her first two books and I have given up on three books already this year. The books I've given up are were all crime novels (my favourite bedtime reading) but although I enjoy a good crime the writing has to be decent. The three I gave up on were very poorly written and I wanted some grown up writing. I'm really enjoying it so far. How come you gave up with only 30 pages to go? I don't get anywhere near the end of books I give up on although I tend to read more than I should incase they improve but they never do


----------



## Voley (Apr 13, 2017)

I'm enjoying The Goldfinch too. I'm about a third in. Can't predict where it's going at all.


----------



## Sea Star (Apr 13, 2017)

Getting through Salems Lot was a struggle. It just got pretty tedious tbh and I kept avoiding it. Thinking twice about my Kingathon now. Having a break anyway and going to try the first Game of Thrones book again - last time i got confused about who was who around the halfway point.


----------



## campanula (Apr 13, 2017)

I really liked The Secret History and The Little Friend so I was very disposed to like the Goldfinch -I even stumped up for the hardback when it came out...and such a disappointment. True, the people in Tartt's books are from a different echelon (to me) yet she was able to make entitled poshos both vulnerable and engaging - quite a feat...but alas, this did not translate at all to the ludicrous and empty-headed Theo. What a little shit! I lumbered through the book feeling more and more hateful (and as an inveterate druggie myself, it was definitely not any ethical quandaries about excess hedonism) Honestly, I was down to the last chapter when I realised I could not give even the tiniest fuck what happened next. Yep, Shirl, my step-ma in law is a huge crime fan so I get a lot of stuff from her...handily filtered since I agree - the writing must be good (and, like sf and fantasy, often isn't).


----------



## campanula (Apr 13, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Erm - I thought they were 'just' campanula  They're purple, if that helps



They tend to fall into 2 groups - tall herbaceous types such as our native 'bats in the belfry (c,trachelium) or the smaller alpines (Dalmatian and Carpathian campanulas). Both can usually be cut back or dead-headed to prolong the bloom season or get a second go-round. Generally trouble-free mannerly plants.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 18, 2017)

campanula said:


> They tend to fall into 2 groups - tall herbaceous types such as our native 'bats in the belfry (c,trachelium) or the smaller alpines (Dalmatian and Carpathian campanulas). Both can usually be cut back or dead-headed to prolong the bloom season or get a second go-round. Generally trouble-free mannerly plants.


I don't think they're the tall ones campanula . The info said they'd grow sort of bowl-like. I'm a bit shit with plants but I do like a little greenery and wildish type flowers.

Anyhoo, currently reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Not enjoying it as much as Ocean, but still quite good.


----------



## ringo (Apr 19, 2017)

The Little Friend - Donna Tartt
Enjoying it, but 11% in nothing has happened. So far it seems like a bit of an attempt to emulate America's favourite book, To Kill A Mocking Bird, which is OK, I like TKAMB and I like reading Tartt's writing, but I'd like something to happen now please.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 21, 2017)

Foundation and Empire by Asimov

kabbes Idon't know if you got around to this novella but it's a foundation book I actually quite like, its incredibly quaint but somehow charming.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Apr 21, 2017)

Just finished reading Lord of the Rings for the first time since I was about 12? 13? 


It was a lot easier this time around because it was on Kindle rather than an all in one torso sized hardback and a lot easier to read in general, found it an exhilarating and enchanting blast to read. It was both familiar yet different to how I remembered it from last time and from the films. 

The films are visually very similar to the images conjured up by the book but lacking so much nuance and depth compared to the actual books. The characters are also markedly different to a shocking extent, Faramir in particular is just a completely different person. I knew there were differences but its just jarring how vast those differences are when laid out on the page.


----------



## kabbes (Apr 21, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> Foundation and Empire by Asimov
> 
> kabbes Idon't know if you got around to this novella but it's a foundation book I actually quite like, its incredibly quaint but somehow charming.


Indeed, some of my favourite books as a kid.  Set me off on my love of 1940s-1970s sci fi.


----------



## stockwelljonny (Apr 23, 2017)

Saul Bellow Adventures of Augie March. I'm loving it. First Bellow I've read, tried Herzog a few years ago but got stuck. This one is a joy, haven't ready anything like it, wasn't expecting to enjoy it, is proper madcap adventure through inter war Chicago, as Augie gets into all sorts of scrapes as a street corner salesman, crap get a away driver, dog groomer, book stealer and the language is electric, tumbles out with real zip and momentum. Fair play Mr B .


----------



## ViolentPanda (Apr 23, 2017)

Just had a music/musician biography splurge, re-read Lloyd Bradley's "Bass Culture", Michael Bracewell's Roxy Music opus "Re-make/Re-model", John Powell's "How Music Works" and David Sheppard's "On Some Faraway Beach: The Life and Times of Brian Eno".  Still have David Hendy's "Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening" and Charles White's "The Life and Times of Little Richard" to go.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Apr 24, 2017)

Lud-in-the-Mist - Hope Mirrlees

So this is where Neil Gaiman stole half of his plots from...


----------



## not-bono-ever (Apr 26, 2017)

Blitzed-  the story of Drugs in Nazi Germany

and not like aspirin or penicillin either

It was the title that caught my eye TBF


----------



## sojourner (Apr 28, 2017)

'Pussy' by Howard Jacobson. Snorting my fucking head off reading it


----------



## flypanam (May 3, 2017)

Marshall Berman - Modernism in the streets

Dipping in and out of this collection of essays. Really enjoyable.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 3, 2017)

donna tartts 'the goldfinch'

just read this which is free to read 1st issue. Charmingly old school comic:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/PandaExpressWebsite/files/shadowhero/shadow_hero.pdf


----------



## Orang Utan (May 3, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> donna tartts 'the goldfinch'


any good?


----------



## DotCommunist (May 3, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> any good?


12 pages in and her prose style has me locked again. I'm hoping its as good as Secret History


----------



## Voley (May 3, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> any good?


I'm about halfway through it. It's great. I have absolutely no idea where the plot's going at all. Really enjoying it. First one of hers that I've read since 'The Secret History' too.


----------



## ringo (May 4, 2017)

ringo said:


> The Little Friend - Donna Tartt
> Enjoying it, but 11% in nothing has happened. So far it seems like a bit of an attempt to emulate America's favourite book, To Kill A Mocking Bird, which is OK, I like TKAMB and I like reading Tartt's writing, but I'd like something to happen now please.


Loving this now too, nearly finished


----------



## ViolentPanda (May 4, 2017)

Julian Cope's "Copendium".


----------



## aileen (May 8, 2017)

The sleeper awakes (H. Wells)


----------



## weltweit (May 8, 2017)

aileen said:


> The sleeper awakes (H. Wells)


I read that earlier this year and enjoyed it.  hope you do also.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 8, 2017)

Dark Intelligence by Neal asher. Ripping through it at pace, standard space opera/military sf but done with ashers excellent imagination and style.


----------



## aileen (May 8, 2017)

weltweit said:


> I read that earlier this year and enjoyed it.  hope you do also.


Thank you!  Right now really like it!


----------



## mod (May 8, 2017)

THE GRAPES OF WRATH.


----------



## sojourner (May 8, 2017)

mod said:


> THE GRAPES OF WRATH.


One of the greatest books ever written


----------



## mod (May 8, 2017)

sojourner said:


> One of the greatest books ever written



Only a 1/4 through but I do love it. He's very very rich in the way he describes things without it getting tedious.


----------



## FreguentLy (May 10, 2017)

Ulysses . just started


----------



## sojourner (May 11, 2017)

Nomad by Alan Partridge. It's okay. A few gentle laughs. Not brilliant.


----------



## sojourner (May 15, 2017)

Traffic: Why we drive the way we do, and what it says about us, by Tom Vanderbilt.  Promising start, now turned to boring sludgy pseudo science.


----------



## colbhoy (May 16, 2017)

The Snowman by Jo Nesbo.


----------



## Artaxerxes (May 17, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Traffic: Why we drive the way we do, and what it says about us, by Tom Vanderbilt.  Promising start, now turned to boring sludgy pseudo science.




This should go in the Transport forum


----------



## sojourner (May 17, 2017)

Artaxerxes said:


> This should go in the Transport forum


Hehe, aye - or if there was a Boring As Shit forum, it could go there too!


----------



## campanula (May 17, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> Dark Intelligence by Neal asher. Ripping through it at pace, standard space opera/military sf but done with ashers excellent imagination and style.



Yep, I enjoyed it too...having got a trifle bored with Asher. The second (War Factory) is even better but infuriatingly, the final one was...not. It went on...and on. Honestly, I can't even remember the title. I admit to enjoying the especially gruesome visceral biological shit but this was a bit manly stuff by numbers. Disappoint.
I had a duo of sf treats - both finished now and only charity shop rubbish to look forward to at present. I really liked Kim Stanley Robinson's New York 2310. Got to lend it to eldest but will send it your way at some point if you want.

Found an old David Brin book on bookshelves - Startide Rising...so will fall back on that to stave off insomnia.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 17, 2017)

campanula said:


> Yep, I enjoyed it too...having got a trifle bored with Asher. The second (War Factory) is even better but infuriatingly, the final one was...not. It went on...and on. Honestly, I can't even remember the title. I admit to enjoying the especially gruesome visceral biological shit but this was a bit manly stuff by numbers. Disappoint.
> I had a duo of sf treats - both finished now and only charity shop rubbish to look forward to at present. I really liked Kim Stanley Robinson's New York 2310. Got to lend it to eldest but will send it your way at some point if you want.


for sure, I don't always get on 100% with KSR but his ideas...well thats usually enough 

I did War Factory as well, theres no easy torrents for the third yet (their will be soon i imahine). I have to know the fate of Penny Royal, so no doubt I'll be reading that as soon as its on the torrent sites


----------



## campanula (May 17, 2017)

Well I have it,  and can send it your way but could you send it back as I have to pass on to offspring.So,yeah, if you want to get into it asap and don't mind passing it back (hardback, soz), will happily post that one now. Happen to know offspring still on DI so no urgency either


----------



## DotCommunist (May 18, 2017)

campanula said:


> Well I have it,  and can send it your way but could you send it back as I have to pass on to offspring.So,yeah, if you want to get into it asap and don't mind passing it back (hardback, soz), will happily post that one now. Happen to know offspring still on DI so no urgency either


nah m8, save the postage, I'll steal it from the internet in due time. Thankyou for the offer tho!


----------



## sojourner (May 24, 2017)

Zadie Smith - Swing Time

Finding it hard to put this one down.


----------



## ringo (May 25, 2017)

The Son - Phillip Meyer

Epic Texan family drama spanning the period between the end of the Indian/Mexican wars and the discovery of oil leading to the wealthy oil barons. Great bit of writing - Lonesome Dove meets Dallas. Recording the televised series on Sky for when I've finished.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 6, 2017)

Watership Down - wow those rabbits have exciting advertures!


----------



## campanula (Jun 12, 2017)

Dark Eden - Chris Beckett. Naomi Alderman - The Power and a random bookshop pick Sleeping Giant - Sylvain Neuvel.(got paid for a heap of garden work)

Several times, I have picked up and pondered getting Brian Catling's The Vorrhh. Anyone else read this?


----------



## sojourner (Jun 15, 2017)

Started Barkskins by Annie Proulx. It's a frigging epic!


----------



## frogwoman (Jun 22, 2017)

Just finished The Murder of William of Norwich - the origins of the blood libel in medieval Europe .

most of the stuff in it I didn't already know - it talks about how the blood libel myth was essentially propagated by wealthy elements within the church and prominent noblemen rather than being something popularly believed, and that most ordinary people were very sceptical. also that a lot of it was about money - the king and wealthy churchmen would use the threat of it to blackmail jews into giving them money. just completely fucked.

but it does have some really interesting details about medieval life in England at that time and the civil war which was happening around the time of William's death. really interesting and well researched, if depressing. it makes the point that the kid likely got killed by mercenaries in the middle of the civil war and discusses various theories about who could have done it.

a lot of shit i had no idea about. for example it makes the point that people used to get taken on guided tours of where the blood libel was supposed to have happened including pointing out the houses of the jews who were meant to have done it. it seems like most of the people weren't even anti-semites (although obviously the whole thing was organised for antisemitic purposes), they just had an interest in gore and death, like it was like going on a guided tour about jack the ripper or something.


----------



## planetgeli (Jun 22, 2017)

And the weak suffer what they must? - Yanis Varoufakis.

Good luck with those negotiations Mrs May you insignificant leader of a completely unimportant (to the EU) nation.


----------



## Threshers_Flail (Jun 22, 2017)

The Making of the English Working Class - E.P. Thompson


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 24, 2017)

Just finished Miles Davis biography,' Miles' it is very raw and ripe with anecdotes which are quite shall we say, tasty. A sweeping masterpiece of his music and life and quite an education, in many ways. First line of the book: _'Listen. The greatest feeling I ever had in my life—with my clothes on—was when I first heard Diz and Bird together in St. Louis, Missouri, back in 1944.1 was eighteen years old and had just graduated from Lincoln High School. It was just across the Mississippi River in East St. Louis, Illinois._

He was from an affluent background, and his dad was a dentist and very rich. Miles says he came from people who were 'somebodys' and this is absolutely true. He got into Julliard and legged it once he saw what was going down in Mintons. His story charts every character or as he would say 'every cat and motherfucker' and the journey he had through heroin addiction (as well as everyone else) and his musical experiences. He name drops a lot but why shouldn't he? He's Miles Davis.

Miles is a great storyteller. And there one story he tells that is so haunting that it will stay with me for the rest of my life. It is so moving, you just cry.

I would also like to point out that Miles - towards the end of his life, looking at the future points his creative genius compass squarely in ONE direction ONLY and that was at PRINCE. He heaps astonishing praise on Prince as being the only modern composer with any real talent. For me - as a Prince fan - and indeed, brought to this book thanks to Prince - was reaffirming and quite wonderful to read (not that_ I_  or many of you, need that affirmation).


----------



## Ptolemy (Jun 27, 2017)

Cheesypoof said:


> Just finished Miles Davis biography,' Miles'...



I read this book a few years ago and it really was great. I'm not a huge fan of autobiographies, but this is well worth picking up. Like he's talking directly to you.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 27, 2017)

Ptolemy said:


> I read this book a few years ago and it really was great. I'm not a huge fan of autobiographies, but this is well worth picking up. Like he's talking directly to you.



Yep. He's a great storyteller. His whinging about music from the 60's onwards (with a few exceptions) is kind of amusing...but he does credit younger musicians like Wynton Marsalis and Ornette Coleman on their technical skills, so I don't find him quite as 'bitter' as he has been accused of....he freely admits to being a massive fan of earlier peers and heaps praise on the personalities of most of them too. They seemed to be very close and supportive of each other....when horns weren't being pawned and suits nicked.


----------



## flypanam (Jun 27, 2017)

Miya Tokumitsu's Do what you love and other lies about success and happiness. Pretty good analysis of the nature of work.

Matt Ruff's Lovecraft country. Really loved his Bad monkeys novel, this has a lot to live up to.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 29, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Started Barkskins by Annie Proulx. It's a frigging epic!


I've had to put it down. She's gone against her own unspoken rule about brevity and meaning. In between passages of sheer literary glory, there are great big fucking wads of endless incredibly boring shit. Oh, Annie


----------



## BoatieBird (Jun 30, 2017)

sojourner said:


> I've had to put it down. She's gone against her own unspoken rule about brevity and meaning. In between passages of sheer literary glory, there are great big fucking wads of endless incredibly boring shit. Oh, Annie



I was really disappointed with it too 
I stuck it out to the bitter end, mostly because I was reading it on holiday and I had the time to plough through it.
Some of the characters are beautifully written (as always), but it doesn't really make up for all the boring bits.


----------



## Idaho (Jun 30, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Nomad by Alan Partridge. It's okay. A few gentle laughs. Not brilliant.


It's worth it just for the line :

"sports scientists are just PE teachers with laptops".


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 30, 2017)

Injustice: Gods Among Us

superman has decided enough is enough and he's going to kill or imprison without charge all the traditional enemies. Not the most highbrow of reading I'll grant you but the artwork is good and the story works


----------



## Longipas (Jul 5, 2017)

I am reading this book about Steve Jobs. Interesting person, not easy life, great man.


----------



## ringo (Jul 5, 2017)

Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

Best thing I've read in ages, really funny. The old testament ranting, almost medieval rural characters are brilliant, with names like Seth, Amos, Urk and Reuben. My family are Sussex farmers, the patriarch encumbent on the farm when this book was based in the 1930's was my Grandad, Shadrach, who seems to have been just like the characters here. The older members of my family all talk like that too 

The language is incredible, I can't wait to call someone a capsy wennet.

Cold Comfort Farm


----------



## flypanam (Jul 7, 2017)

Really enjoying Matt Ruff's Lovecraft country, so much so I'm just reading 10 pages a day to keep enjoying the experience. Great style, easy to read but a very good examination of race in the US.

Also reading Angela Nagle's 'Kill all normies: online culture wars from 4chan and tumblr to Trump and the alt right. Just arrived yesterday, two pages in and it's already informative. Review here The alt-right and the death of counterculture


----------



## genesisDoes1t (Jul 7, 2017)

When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

-----------------------
THIS IS WHAT I'M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW:
-Rapper DaBaby, dude who wears a diaper but can actually rap: www.audiomack.com/album/artist1984/billion-dollar-baby
-R.I.P. prodigy of Mobb Deep, Infamous album on repeat
-4:44 Jay-Z


----------



## D'wards (Jul 10, 2017)

Halfway through The Darling Buds of May. It really is delightful, as the memorable tv series was.
However, there's a darker undertone to the book as mariette is pregnant and she's not sure which waster the father is, so pop thinks Charley would fit the bill, so sets to matchmaking them


----------



## sojourner (Jul 11, 2017)

Al-Britannia: My Country, by James Fergusson. Quite interesting, but am halfway through and still wincing at some of his attitudes and phrasing.

Also, Plum, by Hollie McNish, cos am gonna review it. Oh dear. Think this might be my first ever bad review. Bit stunned tbh. I'm a big fan of hers.  Again am halfway through, so it might pick the fuck up in the second half. It's still not gonna be a great review though even if it does.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 11, 2017)

Idaho said:


> It's worth it just for the line :
> 
> "sports scientists are just PE teachers with laptops".


I didn't finish it in the end. Boring.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 11, 2017)

BoatieBird said:


> I was really disappointed with it too
> I stuck it out to the bitter end, mostly because I was reading it on holiday and I had the time to plough through it.
> Some of the characters are beautifully written (as always), but it doesn't really make up for all the boring bits.


Full marks to you then BoatieBird . I kept falling asleep! Life is too fucking short to spend slogging through all that. It took the best ideas of Accordion Crimes and That Old Ace in the Hole and wadded them up with endless mundanity. A real shame.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 11, 2017)

ringo said:


> Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
> 
> Best thing I've read in ages, really funny. The old testament ranting, almost medieval rural characters are brilliant, with names like Seth, Amos, Urk and Reuben. My family are Sussex farmers, the patriarch encumbent on the farm when this book was based in the 1930's was my Grandad, Shadrach, who seems to have been just like the characters here. The older members of my family all talk like that too
> 
> ...


I've just reserved it in our library, cheers ringo


----------



## ringo (Jul 11, 2017)

sojourner said:


> I've just reserved it in our library, cheers ringo


Nice one, its very funny and I think you'll like the creativity of the language.


----------



## mod (Jul 11, 2017)

mod said:


> THE GRAPES OF WRATH.



What an amazing book. Best I've read for years.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 11, 2017)

mod said:


> What an amazing book. Best I've read for years.


I think it's one of THE greatest books ever written. Ever.

The fella's just started reading it, having only ever been aware of the story via Woody Guthrie's lyrics.  I can't wait for him to finish it so we can discuss it!


----------



## mod (Jul 11, 2017)

sojourner said:


> I think it's one of THE greatest books ever written. Ever.
> 
> The fella's just started reading it, having only ever been aware of the story via Woody Guthrie's lyrics.  I can't wait for him to finish it so we can discuss it!



Film with Henry Fonder was good too but they avoided the 'milk of human kindness' mental ending.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 11, 2017)

mod said:


> Film with Henry Fonder was good too but they avoided the 'milk of human kindness' mental ending.


Film was _okay, _but yeh - to miss that out is unforgivable, to me.  Breaks my heart just thinking about it.


----------



## mod (Jul 11, 2017)

sojourner said:


> I think it's one of THE greatest books ever written. Ever.
> 
> The fella's just started reading it, having only ever been aware of the story via Woody Guthrie's lyrics.  I can't wait for him to finish it so we can discuss it!



Yep. Up there with The Tin Drum and The Star Rover for me as one of my favourite books.


----------



## D'wards (Jul 15, 2017)

The Son by Philipp Meyer. 

Love a violent western, me.

Can a anyone recommend any apart from Cormac McCarthy or Patrick DeWitt?


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 17, 2017)

D'wards said:


> The Son by Philipp Meyer.
> 
> Love a violent western, me.
> 
> Can a anyone recommend any apart from Cormac McCarthy or Patrick DeWitt?



Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove, also Butcher's Crossing by John Williams.


----------



## izz (Jul 17, 2017)

Bother. I needs me another Wolf Hall or Bring up the Bodies. The final one won't be out for ages and I've read every other word she's written. Anyone have any ideas ?


----------



## Voley (Jul 17, 2017)

About halfway through American Gods, Neil Gaiman. Really into it, will watch the telly programme after.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 18, 2017)

izz said:


> Bother. I needs me another Wolf Hall or Bring up the Bodies. The final one won't be out for ages and I've read every other word she's written. Anyone have any ideas ?


Rose Tremain? Music & Silence is a good one


----------



## Sea Star (Jul 18, 2017)

Jerusalem by Alan Moore

It's a big book!


----------



## kebabking (Jul 18, 2017)

Land of Giants, Max Adams.

House of Treason, Robert Hutchinson.

In Search of the Dark Ages, Michael Wood.

piling through Land of Giants, its walks along the early Medieval roads of Britain - like Adams previous book _King in the North _its fantastically readable, entertaining, and interesting beyond measure.


----------



## izz (Jul 18, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> Rose Tremain? Music & Silence is a good one


Never read anything by her so I shall look it out - very many thanks.


----------



## izz (Jul 18, 2017)

dp.


----------



## D'wards (Jul 21, 2017)

The Son by Philipp Meyer - violent sweeping western. Fantastic


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 23, 2017)

izz said:


> Bother. I needs me another Wolf Hall or Bring up the Bodies. The final one won't be out for ages and I've read every other word she's written. Anyone have any ideas ?



If you want something historical, try The Gunpowder Plot by Antonia Fraser


----------



## sojourner (Jul 25, 2017)

Walking Through Fire by Nawal El Saadawi. Really interesting.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 25, 2017)

The Last English Revolutionary by Tom Wintringham. Interesting stuff so far.


----------



## cristyd (Jul 27, 2017)

The Moon and Sixpence Novel by W. Somerset Maugham


----------



## izz (Jul 29, 2017)

Just romped through The Essex Serpant, Sarah Perry. Very immersive, beautifully written, recommended.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 29, 2017)

izz said:


> Just romped through The Essex Serpant, Sarah Perry. Very immersive, beautifully written, recommended.



I'm choosing some holiday reading atm and that was on my shortlist so I've just downloaded it 

Can anybody tell me where's a good place to start with China Mieville?


----------



## izz (Jul 29, 2017)

Perdido Street Station is said to be one of his best BoatieBird. Personally I don't like China Mieville that much, although I have tried to. Doubtless many think he's amazing but as with any author, have to try the books for yourself doncha ?


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 29, 2017)

Cheers izz, he's one of those authors that I've been meaning to read for ages but never seem to get round to it.


----------



## izz (Jul 29, 2017)

BoatieBird said:


> Cheers izz, he's one of those authors that I've been meaning to read for ages but never seem to get round to it.


Welcs of course, don't just listen to me, listen to the massed hordes about to post and say he's amazing. Then come back and tell us what you think after your hollybobs


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 29, 2017)

BoatieBird said:


> Can anybody tell me where's a good place to start with China Mieville?


I started with Perdido Street Station. It's the first of a trilogy set in the same fantasy world


----------



## sparkybird (Aug 11, 2017)

BoatieBird said:


> I'm choosing some holiday reading atm and that was on my shortlist so I've just downloaded it
> 
> Can anybody tell me where's a good place to start with China Mieville?



Like.... The bin?
Seriously, I tried 2, can't even recall which, found them badly written and dull.

But he's popular
My favourite of this genre has got to be the death of grass
Have a super holiday!!

Edit. You're probably back by now! How was China?


----------



## BoatieBird (Aug 11, 2017)

I'm still on holiday! 
Currently on a re-read of Stephen King's It (I think I originally read it about 25 years ago).

I think I'll give China a miss for the time being.


----------



## weltweit (Aug 11, 2017)

Has anyone read any Irvine Welsh? I have just been given "A Decent Ride" ..


----------



## bookaddict (Aug 11, 2017)

Wonder if this book I came across is unique?  'Say Kangaroo' by Five Sisters is a compilation of poems written by the 5, covering their growing up and teen years in the 50's and 60's.  A lot of the poems took me back to my childhood with holidays, schooling, Christmases, pets etc etc. all having a space in the book.  It explains the 5 were from a close-knit family where mum did her best with a husband who worked all hours but apparently liked a drink! There are illustrations too done by the contributors.  Only a couple of pounds from Amazon anyone interested.  Holiday time for me and am reading 'The Belle Fields' by Lora Adams again.  Anyone who enjoyed Downton Abbey will enjoy this - it covers the ups and downs of a young girl working in the local Big House, many twists and turns, unexpected end and very descriptive parts covering celebrations in the mansion for those above and below stairs.  Easy reading and can't wait for the sequel mentioned - Ashes of Roses.  Again a couple of pounds on to my Kindle - from Amazon.  Hope anyone trying either enjoy!


----------



## David Clapson (Aug 12, 2017)

I'm about to reread Riddley Walker, for the 3rd or 4th time. I've bought a nearly new hardback copy of the Expanded Edition for £23 Riddley Walker: The Expanded Edition. Very excited. It's arriving next week. I think I'll be reading it every year for the rest of my life so the hardback seemed justified. My paperback is v tatty and I'm always lending it to people.  What I really want is the new illustrated Folio edition, but at £295 it's a bit steep. Apocalyptic masterpiece Riddley Walker gets stunning Folio Society re-release


----------



## flypanam (Aug 16, 2017)

Currently reading Nancy MacLean's Democracy in chains: the deep history of the radical right's stealth plan for America. I bought this in Canada, when I was visiting the in laws. Has caused quite a stir with plenty of Koch favouring bullies trying to get her thrown out of her job at Duke University.

For fun I've just started Undermajordomo minor by Patrick DeWitt.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 18, 2017)

Read Cold Comfort Farm recently by Stella Gibbons, after reading ringo 's post about it. Enjoyed it mate, thanks  Slight squirm in a couple of places, but also actually laughing out loud in many more. The asterisks   

Just finished Footnote by Boff Whalley - excellent, interesting and really well written.

Currently reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I've tried to read it twice before and didn't take to it, but the fella was a big fan of it years ago and thinks fondly of it, so am giving it another go. It's still a bit dreary in parts, but I shall carry on, cos am halfway through now.  

What struck me was the description of the Guide itself. The book was published in 1979, but the description of it perfectly matches any smart phone of our generation. Love sci-fiey stuff for that.  The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury has shedloads of 'Tomorrow's World' moments too.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 18, 2017)

Oh, am also reading Alexei Sayle's collection of short stories, Barcelona Plates. Quirky, first story is brilliant, the others not quite so.


----------



## D'wards (Aug 18, 2017)

weltweit said:


> Has anyone read any Irvine Welsh? I have just been given "A Decent Ride" ..


Don't read any Welsh post 2001 that isn't Trainspotting based.

Before that they are all great


----------



## izz (Aug 20, 2017)

I've just finished rereading the first St Clare's book by Enid Blyton. I first read it and became quite addicted to the series about, oh gosh 40 years ago or more when I was an early teen in a comprehensive in a not terribly amazing town oop North, I loved them for the total escapism then, a more total contrast between the book and life you simply couldn't find. Now though, goodness, how shallow the woman was, how totally self-deluding. It was a good exercise to do, but I shan't be reading any more.


----------



## Mattym (Aug 20, 2017)

D'wards said:


> Don't read any Welsh post 2001 that isn't Trainspotting based.
> 
> Before that they are all great



I read Skagboys a while ago & really enjoyed it, which is going along with what you suggest.


----------



## D'wards (Aug 21, 2017)

Just started Frankenstein in the 1931 version. Very good so far, and easy to read considering it's 200 years old


----------



## sojourner (Aug 21, 2017)

izz said:


> I've just finished rereading the first St Clare's book by Enid Blyton. I first read it and became quite addicted to the series about, oh gosh 40 years ago or more when I was an early teen in a comprehensive in a not terribly amazing town oop North, I loved them for the total escapism then, a more total contrast between the book and life you simply couldn't find. Now though, goodness, how shallow the woman was, how totally self-deluding. It was a good exercise to do, but I shan't be reading any more.


That's really interesting izz 

I too was obsessed with the St Clare's books as a kid, and often wonder how I would react now.


----------



## BoatieBird (Aug 21, 2017)

sojourner said:


> That's really interesting izz
> 
> I too was obsessed with the St Clare's books as a kid, and often wonder how I would react now.



I was obsessed too, St Clare's _and _Mallory Towers.
I read a lot about Enid Blyton when I did my OU module on Children's Literature.
Interesting stuff, kinda goes against what you'd expect kids to like these days, but she really is perennially popular.
My mum was a reception class teacher for many years and all the kids she taught throughout the years loved the stories in Blyton's 5 minute tales and 10 minute tales and would always request them.

There are lots of parallels between her boarding school stories and the Harry Potter series.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 22, 2017)

I'm hooked. I've seen a box set of the St Clare's stories on scamazon. Gonna get them. I got so much pleasure from them as a child, they were a genuine lifesaver for me when I was a deeply unpopular and lonely kid.


----------



## D'wards (Aug 22, 2017)

D'wards said:


> Just started Frankenstein in the 1931 version. Very good so far, and easy to read considering it's 200 years old


I've now swapped to the 1818 version as advised by a colleague. More gore apparently. Reread from Victor's tale and its quite different.


----------



## izz (Aug 22, 2017)

sojourner said:


> I'm hooked. I've seen a box set of the St Clare's stories on scamazon. Gonna get them. I got so much pleasure from them as a child, they were a genuine lifesaver for me when I was a deeply unpopular and lonely kid.


empathise hugely, hope you benefit from them.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 24, 2017)

izz said:


> empathise hugely, hope you benefit from them.


Cheers. I'll let you know.

In other news, I am now on The Restaurant at the end of the Universe *yawn* Better than fucking sleeping pills. Might be lobbing this one.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Aug 27, 2017)

Hare with Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal

It's weird reading someone else's family history, especially from a perspective where they've clearly been middle or upper class for well over a century and can talk of houses in the French countryside to escape Paris.


----------



## Voley (Aug 27, 2017)

Just started 'Don't You Leave Me Here,' Wilko Johnson's autobiography. Fantastic so far - he writes like he plays guitar. Fast, blunt, choppy, in yer face. Difficult to put down; great book.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 27, 2017)

Gotham by Gaslight, an Elsewhere DC comic that imagines a turn of the 19th century gotham where Jack the Ripper pays a visit. Cracking art.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 29, 2017)

Moby Dick; a helluva read but got bogged down in a chapter detailing various species of whales. I'm quite taken with the humour in it so far, although I imagine it gets very dramatic as it goes om.
Botchan (Master Darling) - early 20th century novel by Soseki Natsume. A schoolteacher encounters odd folk out in the sticks.


----------



## Voley (Aug 29, 2017)

What Planet Am I On? by Shaun Ryder. 

In-depth analysis of the phenomenon of aliens/UFO's by the world's most accomplished space case. If it doesn't solve all the mysteries of the universe by chapter 3 I'll be most disappointed.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 29, 2017)

Went into Liverpool to put out flyers, and made the mistake of looking down whilst in News from Nowhere. £40 odd quid later...

Anyway, I am currently reading this Review | Protest! Stories of Resistance, Ra Page (ed.) | Book of the Week - BookBlast® Diary and loving it.

I also started the first book in the St Clare's series. Slight contrast! With distance, I can see now what I loved in them. There's stability, inclusion, and boundaries, and if you fuck up, authority figures treat you with fairness and kindness, not dire and unjust or cruel punishments. There's a camaraderie between the pupils too. This was the total opposite of my life as a child. I was worried I'd hate them, but I remember the stories soooo well, that it's actually been a proper wallowing experience 

There was a change of a word though, a word I especially remember because I had to look it up in the dictionary as a kid. 'Wont' has been replaced with 'way'


----------



## catinthehat (Aug 29, 2017)

Im reading The Hearing Trumpet by Leononara Harrington alongside her biography.  She was a surrealist artist and the Hearing Trumpet is described as a surrealist novel and was written in the 1960s.  She is a fascinating artist and the book is really unusual, funny and she writes like she paints - you can discern her style iyswim.  Thoroughly recommend either novel or biography or better still both.


----------



## BoatieBird (Aug 29, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Went into Liverpool to put out flyers, and made the mistake of looking down whilst in News from Nowhere. £40 odd quid later...
> 
> Anyway, I am currently reading this Review | Protest! Stories of Resistance, Ra Page (ed.) | Book of the Week - BookBlast® Diary and loving it.
> 
> ...



There was a move a few years ago to update the language in Blyton's books, but it obviously didn't work as most of the changes have since been reversed
Famous Five go back to original language after update flops


----------



## Artaxerxes (Aug 29, 2017)

BoatieBird said:


> There was a move a few years ago to update the language in Blyton's books, but it obviously didn't work as most of the changes have since been reversed
> Famous Five go back to original language after update flops




Gosh!


----------



## bookaddict (Sep 13, 2017)

Hi again and a bit of news.  The Belle Fields by Lora Adams above has now had the promised sequel published.  I've been waiting for ages for answers to how certain characters turned out and the *Ashes of Roses *certainly does that and more.  Got it in e.book form and read it in just a couple of 'sittings'.  Glad one of the main characters got just what they deserved and surprised how some of the others got on?  Fast moving and again well written with obvious loads of research - I can thoroughly recommend this one to you!  Would suggest though that having a look at Belle Fields first and then Ashes of Roses has been more enjoyable for me but suppose with the prologue it's not essential?  Would love to see anyone's comments on here who wants to give either a try?  Good reading - now for a second look at Ashes!!


----------



## campanula (Sep 16, 2017)

Orfeo - Richard Powers - another one of his which references music (composing). Loved 'In the Time of Our Singing' and enjoying this one.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 17, 2017)

James S. A. Corey, 'Leviathan Wakes'

first book in the Expanse sequence. The prog was that good I had to give the books a go.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 18, 2017)

One Day In December: Celia Sanchez and the Cuban Revolution, by Nancy Stout

Only 3 chapters in and gobsmacked already at her level of involvement and organisation. I had no idea it was her who scouted out the potential landing points for the Granma and recruited all the farmers


----------



## ringo (Sep 18, 2017)

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Quite slow, and its still not clear what purpose the sci-fi story serves, but the writing is so strong and interesting it doesn't matter at this point.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 18, 2017)

ringo said:


> The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
> Quite slow, and its still not clear what purpose the sci-fi story serves, but the writing is so strong and interesting it doesn't matter at this point.


Have you read Alias Grace? It's excellent


----------



## ringo (Sep 18, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> Have you read Alias Grace? It's excellent


No, I've only read a short story by her before but will definitely be reading more.


----------



## sojourner (Sep 18, 2017)

ringo said:


> No, I've only read a short story by her before but will definitely be reading more.


I can't think of anything she's written that I haven't enjoyed


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 18, 2017)

sojourner said:


> I can't think of anything she's written that I haven't enjoyed


alias grace has been adapted for tv - can't wait to see it


----------



## sojourner (Sep 18, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> alias grace has been adapted for tv - can't wait to see it


Ooo interesting. Is it gonna be on terrestrial then?


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 18, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Ooo interesting. Is it gonna be on terrestrial then?


Not sure what terrestrial means anymore, but it's going to be on Netflix


----------



## sojourner (Sep 18, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> Not sure what terrestrial means anymore, but it's going to be on Netflix


 1,2,3 or 4 is what I mean by it.

Anyway, I have Netflix so that's good.


----------



## D'wards (Sep 18, 2017)

Just finished Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. Fantastic. It's pretty short and easy to read, but is so thought provoking and carries some pretty heavy themes including aging, and the difficulties of being a liberal in modern day S.A.


----------



## David Clapson (Sep 19, 2017)

David Clapson said:


> I'm about to reread Riddley Walker, for the 3rd or 4th time. I've bought a nearly new hardback copy of the Expanded Edition for £23 Riddley Walker: The Expanded Edition. Very excited. It's arriving next week. I think I'll be reading it every year for the rest of my life so the hardback seemed justified. My paperback is v tatty and I'm always lending it to people.  What I really want is the new illustrated Folio edition, but at £295 it's a bit steep. Apocalyptic masterpiece Riddley Walker gets stunning Folio Society re-release



They offered me £30 off and I couldn't resist...it's such a beautiful thing to own, and I'm getting a better understanding of the language with the huge pages and the illustrations...it's mesmeric. Already one of my favourite possessions. Hard to describe the bond I feel with it.


----------



## D'wards (Sep 22, 2017)

Read 16% of Master and Commander. Abandoned. Was awfully boring with too much maritime jargon


----------



## ringo (Oct 5, 2017)

ringo said:


> The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
> Quite slow, and its still not clear what purpose the sci-fi story serves, but the writing is so strong and interesting it doesn't matter at this point.


That was great


----------



## sojourner (Oct 6, 2017)

Still reading the Celia Sanchez book and the Protest one, and the Enid Blyton ones, and now also reading Travels Into Bokhara by Alexander Burnes. If I just read one book at a time I might finish the fucking things faster


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 6, 2017)

Still on Moby Dick and finsished The Devil in the White City by Eril Larson. Nothing to do with W12; it tells the true story of the 1893 World Fair about the architects who managed to build it and a serial killer on the loose. Would make a decent film, I reckons.
Now reading John Man's Samurai - the Last Warrior. Accessible look at Saigo's deeds and the end of the samurai.


----------



## weltweit (Oct 6, 2017)

D'wards said:


> Read 16% of Master and Commander. Abandoned. Was awfully boring with too much maritime jargon


You get used to the maritime jargon if you stick to them.

I am now on The Thirteen Gun Salute, Patrick O'Brian. Which is the 13th of the series. I find them nicely paced bed time reading, just before I drift off.


----------



## flypanam (Oct 7, 2017)

Ismail Kadare - The palace of dreams.

Slowly making my way through all his works. Great writing and great stories.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 11, 2017)

Mark Kurlansky's Non-Violence -  The History of a Dangerous Idea.

Got this years back from a mate, started it. Left it. Back in it. Very accessible; more now than the first time I tried it.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 13, 2017)

Just started House of Chains by Steven Erikson. As usual, it's a question of trying to remember the ever increasing load of characters but I expect to get swept up in it, nevertheless.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 17, 2017)

krtek a houby said:


> Just started House of Chains by Steven Erikson. As usual, it's a question of trying to remember the ever increasing load of characters but I expect to get swept up in it, nevertheless.



160 pages in and I realise I've skipped Memories of Ice. Stupid boy.


----------



## Voley (Oct 17, 2017)

Just started my first Ian Rankin novel. Knots and Crosses. Really like the style and the character of Rebus already.


----------



## ringo (Oct 17, 2017)

Secret Diary Of A Call Girl - Belle De Jour 
Quite entertaining and occasionally titillating, but far more chick lit/Sex In The City than I was expecting. Never saw the TV series but can see how that would work because it's much portrayed as much more pleasant and fun than the grimmer realities of the job might suggest.


----------



## D'wards (Oct 22, 2017)

Holidays in Hell by P.J. O'Rourke.

Contains sweeping generalisations in every chapter that would get The Guardian frothing at the keypad these days, but is done with a glint in his eye and often makes me chuckle out loud.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 23, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Travels Into Bokhara by Alexander Burnes


 I should have realised this, but the level of geographical detail in this is utterly arse numbing.  Am making pathetic attempts at continuing to read it.

Celia Sanchez book got me all fired up, absolutely fantastic. So many achievements. My new hero 

Now reading 'The Unwomanly Face of War' by Svetlana Alexievich, about Russian women's experiences in WW2.


----------



## Sprocket. (Oct 23, 2017)

The Snowman by Jo Nesbo.
Not because of the current film, more to do with it being on offer for 99p on Kindle.
Enjoyable and grisly.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 23, 2017)

Titanichus by Dan Abnett
yes its a warhammer novel, but its a Dan Abnett one so its not hackwork but actually decently written future war


----------



## bubblesmcgrath (Oct 23, 2017)

The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye... By David Lagercrantz.


----------



## Hellsbells (Oct 23, 2017)

Night at the Circus. Am quarter of the way through. It's BRILLIANT. Even the book design is amazing, like this box of magic


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 23, 2017)

Sprocket. said:


> The Snowman by Jo Nesbo.
> Not because of the current film, more to do with it being on offer for 99p on Kindle.
> Enjoyable and grisly.



Love the Nesbo Harry Hole books. Formulaic but comfortingly so.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 23, 2017)

Hellsbells said:


> Night at the Circus. Am quarter of the way through. It's BRILLIANT. Even the book design is amazing, like this box of magic


by Angela Carter?


----------



## Hellsbells (Oct 23, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> by Angela Carter?



No, got the titles muddled. It's actually The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. 
The Angela Carter one's great too though


----------



## stockwelljonny (Oct 23, 2017)

Knausgaard - My struggle - Book 1 - Enjoying it a lot, captures intensity of teenage life really well and there's plenty going on to keep you turning the pages.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 23, 2017)

Hellsbells said:


> No, got the titles muddled. It's actually The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
> The Angela Carter one's great too though


this is one of the reasons it's important to always mention the author of a book as well as the title


----------



## sojourner (Oct 23, 2017)

Hellsbells said:


> No, got the titles muddled. It's actually The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
> The Angela Carter one's great too though


I read it last year and was similarly knocked out by it


----------



## weltweit (Oct 23, 2017)

Voley said:


> Just started my first Ian Rankin novel. Knots and Crosses. Really like the style and the character of Rebus already.


I have read quite a few Rankin novels, they are suitably gripping enough to keep you at them and it doesn't seem to matter too much what order you read them in.


----------



## Voley (Oct 23, 2017)

weltweit said:


> I have read quite a few Rankin novels, they are suitably gripping enough to keep you at them and it doesn't seem to matter too much what order you read them in.


I think my library's got the lot. I've already got Hide And Seek lined up next. I'm intrigued by the ones with musical references on the title  (Let It Bleed, Dead Souls).


----------



## weltweit (Oct 23, 2017)

Voley said:


> I think my library's got the lot. I've already got Hide And Seek lined up next. I'm intrigued by the ones with musical references on the title  (Let It Bleed, Dead Souls).


Yes, my library has loads also, in fact it was often because I recognised Rankin as an author I could trust for an enjoyable read that I selected them again and again. I even took one out twice by mistake.

Should also try Mark Billingham because he writes thrillers well also.


----------



## colbhoy (Oct 23, 2017)

Bottom of the 33rd by Dan Barry. An account of the longest professional baseball game ever played. Fascinating read but definately for baseball enthusiasts only.


----------



## campanula (Oct 28, 2017)

Hagseed - Margaret Atwood (although the weird red edging of the pages almost put me off).
The hidden world of trees - Peter Wohlleben.
Clade - James Bradley


----------



## Sprocket. (Oct 28, 2017)

Industry and Empire by 
Eric Hobsbawm.


----------



## weltweit (Oct 28, 2017)

I am still well ensconced in the Patrick O'Brian series, on book 14 now. I might take a break after this one to read something else for a change. Not that I am not enjoying them because I am.


----------



## ringo (Oct 30, 2017)

campanula said:


> The hidden world of trees - Peter Wohlleben


Added to my wishlist for Xmas, ta


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 30, 2017)

'first strike weapon'

zombies, speznats and a soviet attack on america in 1987

pretty good


----------



## Wilf (Nov 1, 2017)

krtek a houby said:


> Love the Nesbo Harry Hole books. Formulaic but comfortingly so.


Aye (unlike the film, which was rubbish ).


----------



## Sprocket. (Nov 1, 2017)

Wilf said:


> Aye (unlike the film, which was rubbish ).


Sorry to hear that, though you might have saved me a few quid!
I owe you a pint.
I can heartily recommend the Norwegian versions of Headhunters and Jackpot though!


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 1, 2017)

17 contradictions and the end of capitalism by david harvey

I've not read anything by him since brief history of neoliberalism and had forgotten that he has an engaging not overly dry style.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 2, 2017)

Nearly finished La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman.


----------



## ringo (Nov 3, 2017)

sojourner said:


> Nearly finished La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman.


Me too, 93% read, according to my Kindle


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Nov 4, 2017)

Finally reading blindness by josé Saramago after intentionally putting it off.

s'alright, though the state of nature whataboutery really does wear thin. still his elliptical run on sentence style scratches that reading equivalent of e-z-listening really nicely and the dialogue is like a tv show in written form. so it still keeps me engaged in  a stream of consciousness fashion. I'm not finding the book as profound as all the critical acclaim foisted on it - it especially seems to be devoid of absurdism, which i would find essential when tackling disability. It is subtly comedic in a grim way though.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Nov 6, 2017)

dialectician said:


> Finally reading blindness by josé Saramago after intentionally putting it off.
> 
> s'alright, though the state of nature whataboutery really does wear thin. still his elliptical run on sentence style scratches that reading equivalent of e-z-listening really nicely and the dialogue is like a tv show in written form. so it still keeps me engaged in  a stream of consciousness fashion. I'm not finding the book as profound as all the critical acclaim foisted on it - it especially seems to be devoid of absurdism, which i would find essential when tackling disability. It is subtly comedic in a grim way though.



Three quarters of the way through — i retract what i said earlier, this is trying to be some sort of atheist divine comedy but ends up deploying the hackneyed old trick of using disability as an allegory for the worlds sins.

Gonna finish it though just cos its worth reading to get angry about.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 7, 2017)

May Hobbs - Born To Struggle

Yet another properly inspirational woman


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 8, 2017)

I am reading Giulia Enders' Gut: The Inside Story Of Our Body's Under-rated Organ
It is FASCINATING. I'm only on the first chapter and I already know loads of interesting things about saliva (presumably she starts at the top and works her way down to the bottom)One of those books so full of little-known facts (to me at least), that you want to stop reading on every page and tell EVERYONE what you've just discovered, whether they want to hear them or not.
Apologies in advance to anyone I see in the next month or so for talking about spit, sick and poo.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 9, 2017)

I expect that'll have a bit about the vagus nerve then Orang Utan ? Fascinates me that does. I heard about it on urban, think it might have been story that mentioned it, and I found a really great way to control excess adrenaline before gigs.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 9, 2017)

sojourner said:


> I expect that'll have a bit about the vagus nerve then Orang Utan ? Fascinates me that does. I heard about it on urban, think it might have been story that mentioned it, and I found a really great way to control excess adrenaline before gigs.


Not yet, though I expect so!


----------



## BoatieBird (Nov 9, 2017)

Kazuo Ishiguro's _Never Let Me Go_.

Wow! 
One of those authors whose name I'm familiar with, but who I'd never read.
I can't wait to read more of his work.


----------



## ringo (Nov 10, 2017)

BoatieBird said:


> Kazuo Ishiguro's _Never Let Me Go_.
> 
> Wow!
> One of those authors whose name I'm familiar with, but who I'd never read.
> I can't wait to read more of his work.


I recently picked up all of his novels, after he won the Nobel Prize, been meaning to get to them. I think there's a Japanese gardener in one that caught my eye.

ETA: _*An Artist of the Floating World* - _About an artist and gardener looking back on his life and politics.


----------



## ringo (Nov 17, 2017)

Last Argument Of Kings - Joe Abercrombie

Read the first two three years ago, felt it got a bit tired and crap by the end of book two and couldn't be bothered to finish it until now. Glad I did because the the third is the best book,for once I'm glad it's massive because I don't want it to end.


----------



## campanula (Nov 18, 2017)

A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

Several people have raved on about this so, pleased with the value for money, vast number of pages, I set off to read this...and have been riveted with an almost visceral hatred of just about every character (all male) in this horrible, utterly improbable misery ride. To complain seems almost as mean as dissing Helen Keller but truly, it took over 600 pages for the central character to finally off himself (i would have done it at page three). A ghastly, manipulative wail about 4 New York glitterati - an actor, an artist, an architect and a lawyer (give me a fucking break).
My advice - don't.


----------



## campanula (Nov 18, 2017)

ringo said:


> Last Argument Of Kings - Joe Abercrombie
> 
> Read the first two three years ago, felt it got a bit tired and crap by the end of book two and couldn't be bothered to finish it until now. Glad I did because the the third is the best book,for once I'm glad it's massive because I don't want it to end.



Yep, I got a tad bored with his 'western' book...but by the 'half a' series, he seems back on amusing tack. Effortless Sunday reading of the best type.
Don't however, bother with 'Sharp Ends' - a set of short (and mostly telegraphed) variations on his first set of novels.

Mmm, I generally find the lean and elegant writing of Kazuo Ishigura to be cool and nicely laconic...until I came across the unreadable utter rubbish of 'The Buried Giant''. How could he have fallen so far into such impenetrable drivel. Unfinished.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 18, 2017)

oi, spoiler campanula 
I have A Little Life on my to read shelf


----------



## campanula (Nov 18, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> oi, spoiler campanula
> I have A Little Life on my to read shelf



Oh, it is pretty clear where this is going - it has been mentioned in reviews numerous times (a sensitive dealing of suicide etc.etc,.) I just wished it all occurred sooner...like the beginning.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 20, 2017)

Just started reading Laurence Rees - World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West, and Ginette Leach - Orange Gate Journal.

LR's book has given me a few surprises already. I bloody love him. 

GL's book is about her experiences of the Orange Gate at the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp


----------



## colbhoy (Nov 20, 2017)

Live by Night by Dennis Lehane.


----------



## ringo (Nov 21, 2017)

campanula said:


> Yep, I got a tad bored with his 'western' book...but by the 'half a' series, he seems back on amusing tack. Effortless Sunday reading of the best type.
> Don't however, bother with 'Sharp Ends' - a set of short (and mostly telegraphed) variations on his first set of novels.


Disappointed with the end of Argument Of Kings. It was all over when my Kindle still only registered 85% completed. Not sure what the last 15% of a 700-odd page book just tying up the odd loose end was meant to achieve. Shame, some good bits but the patchiness of the trilogy makes me wary of trying another epic of his.


----------



## Voley (Nov 21, 2017)

Just started 'Extreme Rambling' by Mark Thomas. Sets off to walk the length of the West Bank wall. Good so far, his usual mix of decent comment / pissing about. Quite interested to hear his take on Israel/Palestine, a topic I don't know enough about.


----------



## ringo (Nov 23, 2017)

1984 - George Orwell
Haven't read it since 1984. I remembered how good it was then, even to a 14 year old, but now as a growed up its incredible. And depressing and impressive and brilliant but scary.


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 23, 2017)

Back on House of Chains after getting 160 pages in only to realise I hadn't read Memories of Ice, yet.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 23, 2017)

krtek a houby said:


> Back on House of Chains after getting 160 pages in only to realise I hadn't read Memories of Ice, yet.


Authors?


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 23, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> Authors?



My bad, 'twas urban helped turn me onto his books


----------



## D'wards (Dec 3, 2017)

Just finishing the third Harry Potter book. I avoided them cos they're kids books and being a ponce, a bit of playa hatin. 

I think they are great - the plots, pacing and characterisation are all perfect. Plus they are fun to read and she's invented a fantastic magical world.

I predict they'll be quite popular


----------



## sojourner (Dec 8, 2017)

Just finished Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers.  As a comment on capitalism and the real value of life, it works.


----------



## ringo (Dec 12, 2017)

All That Man Is - David Szalay
Pretty shit really. A series of unrelated short stories, linked only by the vague progression of the age of the male protagonist in each chapter. Most of the tales centre on failing at sex, love and life in general and all of the characters range from unlikeable to complete arseholes.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 12, 2017)

Finished Stuart Maconies' The Pie at Night. Fascinating book about the north of England full of facts and histories. Makes me wish I'd visited more places during my years in the UK.
 Currently reading Nell Dunn's Up the Junction. Someone mentioded it here recently and I realised that I should probably get round to digging out my ancient copy of it. Saw the film when it was on telly years back.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 13, 2017)

krtek a houby said:


> Finished Stuart Maconies' The Pie at Night. Fascinating book about the north of England full of facts and histories. Makes me wish I'd visited more places during my years in the UK.
> Currently reading Nell Dunn's Up the Junction. Someone mentioded it here recently and I realised that I should probably get round to digging out my ancient copy of it. Saw the film when it was on telly years back.



Just finished it. Grim, poverty, predatory men, back street abortions, racism,homophobia. A brutal take on the swinging 60s.

Back of the book advertises all sorts of other interesting novels, this one looks unusual:

When the Kissing Had to Stop - Constantine Fitz Gibbon

"Described as the most frightening novel of this generation,the shattering theme of this book is of a Britain in which moral degeneration allows every kindof vice to flourish, pitched battles are fought between police and gangsters and a Ban the Bomb movement sweeps a Socialist megalomaniac into power - allowing the Russians to occupy the country"


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 15, 2017)

Just finished _Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare_ by John Toohey. It basically the story of what happens after Bligh and the rest of the "loyalists" are forced into the launch and the 4 thousand mile journey across the south Pacific. It's a bit more favourable to Bligh than usual but he still comes across as prone to tantrums.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 18, 2017)

In the midle of All Men Are Mortal by Simone de Beauvoir.

I'd forgotten how suffocating it felt to read a novel by an existential writer


----------



## ringo (Dec 18, 2017)

If You Liked School You'll Love Work - Irvine Welsh
I knew it was going to be shit, but not this shit.


----------



## Sprocket. (Dec 18, 2017)

Just downloaded, Sherlock Holmes Christmas Special: The Blue Carbuncle-Sherlock Holmes Christmas Case & 63 other short stories by Conan Doyle, in one edition for £0.49.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 18, 2017)

ringo said:


> If You Liked School You'll Love Work - Irvine Welsh
> I knew it was going to be shit, but not this shit.


the last story with the table football champion from fife is OK but the rest is proper dire

I'm on Meiville's 'October'


----------



## D'wards (Dec 21, 2017)

ringo said:


> If You Liked School You'll Love Work - Irvine Welsh
> I knew it was going to be shit, but not this shit.


I loved Welsh for the first 3 or 4 books of his career. Since then he's done his best to prove my live wrong, bit by bit


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 21, 2017)

D'wards said:


> I loved Welsh for the first 3 or 4 books of his career. Since then he's done his best to prove my live wrong, bit by bit


Is there anything worth reading that was published after Porno? I think I stopped reading him after that


----------



## rubbershoes (Dec 29, 2017)

Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household

I read it years ago but it's come up at a book group

It's the ultimate boys own adventure of single combat.  Written with an intimate feel for the landscape


----------



## Ceej (Dec 30, 2017)

Sad to hear that Sue Grafton - author of 25 'Alphabet' crime books passed away yesterday. I was given 'Y is for Yesterday' for Christmas. RIP Sue - it's been fun x


----------



## izz (Dec 31, 2017)

Just put down The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler. Very moving account of ordinary (and less ordinary) lives impacted by the Second World War. Recommended.


----------



## Red About Town (Jan 1, 2018)

Starting Bounce by Matthew Syed on my commute to work tomorrow. Have read some snippets from it before so know what to expect.


----------



## izz (Jan 1, 2018)

Barkskins by Annie Proulx. For some unknowable reason the publication of this had escaped me but I'm thrilled to report the woman can still write.


----------



## Riklet (Jan 2, 2018)

Orang Utan said:


> Is there anything worth reading that was published after Porno? I think I stopped reading him after that



Skagboys is really good! He only wrote it a few years back but the writing is top notch. Explores the Trainspotting characters' developing personalities fantastically too.


----------



## flypanam (Jan 5, 2018)

Stuart Jeffries - Grand hotel abyss: the lives of the Frankfurt School
Boris Akunin - The winter queen. An Erast Fandorin mystery.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 5, 2018)

Finished Kenzaburo Oe's _A Personal Matter _& am halfway through _Reefer Madness_ by Eric Schlosser. Fascinating, even if it is out of date but what with the current US situation, it may well be back in reading lists...


----------



## YouSir (Jan 5, 2018)

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, first of his I read after spotting the name somewhere on here. Not bad, had forgotten how eagerly Sci Fi builds up it's own language though, still adjusting to his.

Just finished 'The Son' by Philipp Meyer too, worked through that in a couple of days and enjoyed it.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 5, 2018)

izz said:


> Barkskins by Annie Proulx. For some unknowable reason the publication of this had escaped me but I'm thrilled to report the woman can still write.


I was a huge fan of Annie P but thought this one was absolutely shit. Seemed she broke her own rules and there was just tons of nonsense filler in there. I was really disappointed by it 

I'm currently reading:

You Can't Spell America Without Me by Alec Baldwin and Kurt Andersen

The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump by Robert Sears

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

All presents. 

Not sure about the last one yet. Writing's not that good but am intrigued by the slow reveal.


----------



## izz (Jan 5, 2018)

sorry she let you down sojourner, I'll check back in when I'm done


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 5, 2018)

I must admit that I was disappointed by Barkskins too izz 
I stuck at it and got to the end, but I thought it wasn't a patch on her other stuff.
Of course, her worse writing is still better than some other author's best writing, but still a disappointment.


----------



## Voley (Jan 5, 2018)

Just started 'Long Road From Jarrow' by Stuart Maconie. Really good so far. He sets off on the 80th anniversary of the march/crusade to see what's changed/what hasn't and do his usual wry observational thing. Worth reading for the prologue alone where he absolutely nails how divided post-EU referendum Britain is. I'll rattle through this, I expect. He's a very engaging writer.

Also reading 'Money: The Unauthorised Biography' by Felix Martin which is a good book for me as economics don't thrill me generally. Martin is good at looking at how the pre-money barter economy is supposedly a bit of a myth and, crucially, explaining financial concepts that tend to evade me in language that even I can understand. Two good reads on the go just now.


----------



## Voley (Jan 5, 2018)

rubbershoes said:


> Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household
> 
> I read it years ago but it's come up at a book group
> 
> It's the ultimate boys own adventure of single combat.  Written with an intimate feel for the landscape


I did that for O Level English Lit. Our teacher was savvy enough to choose a thriller for us. Everyone in the class really enjoyed it. I wouldn't mind rereading it - I can remember our teacher getting us to critique the chauvinism in it and having a lively debate about sexism in Bond movies. Good bloke, Rhys Griffiths, our English teacher. Very good at getting apathetic teenage kids interested in literature.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 8, 2018)

Voley said:


> Just started 'Long Road From Jarrow' by Stuart Maconie. Really good so far. He sets off on the 80th anniversary of the march/crusade to see what's changed/what hasn't and do his usual wry observational thing. Worth reading for the prologue alone where he absolutely nails how divided post-EU referendum Britain is. I'll rattle through this, I expect. He's a very engaging writer.


Ooo that looks good Voley  - I love his writing style too.


----------



## Mrs D (Jan 9, 2018)

Irresistible Poison


----------



## Voley (Jan 10, 2018)

sojourner said:


> Ooo that looks good Voley  - I love his writing style too.


He's excellent on Brexit. He's a remainer but is appalled at the liberal media's lazy stereotyping of the working class leave vote as racist and/or thick. This is in between some good travel writing with gentle humour / discussions of what makes a good pork pie and some accurate analysis of the parallels between 30's Britain and now. I'm about halfway through - really recommend it.


----------



## colbhoy (Jan 11, 2018)

I am currently reading The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill. He is the creator of Dalziel and Pascoe but this is a stand-alone story. I'm about 100 pages in and is fairly promising so far.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 11, 2018)

The Enemy at the Gate: Hapsburgs, Ottomans and the battle for Europe by Andrew Wheatcroft

It centres on the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683, but includes the long history of the Ottomans and Hapsburgs being beastly to each other, in the name of religion.  There's plenty of heads on spikes, impalement and flayings, if you like that kind of thing.  

 And of course when the two empires  decided to be friends and fight on the same side it didn't end well for them.

Quite an engaging book for history wonks


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 11, 2018)

Voley said:


> He's excellent on Brexit. He's a remainer but is appalled at the liberal media's lazy stereotyping of the working class leave vote as racist and/or thick. This is in between some good travel writing with gentle humour / discussions of what makes a good pork pie and some accurate analysis of the parallels between 30's Britain and now. I'm about halfway through - really recommend it.




Hope and Glory is a cracker too. Well worth getting hold of


----------



## sojourner (Jan 18, 2018)

Read 'The Haunting of Hill House' by Shirley Jackson over two nights recently, excellent story.

The Miniaturist' by Jessie Burton is the biggest pile of wank I've read in a long time. This is why I dislike receiving books as presents. I'm halfway through and am just gonna give up on it.

Keep dipping into 'Daemon Voices' by Philip Pullman that I got the fella for christmas (it's Pullman, we both love him, it's safe ) - most excellent!


----------



## Cloo (Jan 31, 2018)

Just finished 'Oracle's Queen' the last of the Tamir Trilogy by Lynn Flewelling. Highly recommend this series for anyone missing George RR Martin and looking for some good fantasy. It's not especially like GRRM as such, less gritty but still quite dark, but, importantly, well written. As my mum has said, a lot of fantasy has good ideas but not very good writing, and this one does have gripping writing, good characters, and also features quite a lot of gay characters, bad and good, and a character who changes gender at its centre, which is written about well and sensitively. Apparently her books often feature gay characters and alternative gender identities as she felt she hadn't seen enough of this is fantasy. She spins a great yarn, so top marks for this if you like quality fantasy.


----------



## Sprocket. (Feb 2, 2018)

Dark Continent : Europe's Twentieth Century by Mark Mazower.


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 5, 2018)

Just finished Ursula Le Guin - The Dispossessed. Magnificent and unlike any other sci-fi I've read.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 5, 2018)

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. I bought it for the fella for christmas and as he's only just started La Belle Sauvage, I couldn't wait for him to read it first


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 6, 2018)

Nell by Nell McCafferty - fascinating look at life in the Bogside, only 50 pages in but she's a fierce, engaging, darkly humorous voice.


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 8, 2018)

The Norman conquest by Marc Morris.  Less R_eturn of the Mack_, and more R_eturn of the King
_
It's a detailed look (for history wonks) at the Norman conquest, and what led to it.  He looks back over a century to Alfred and those pesky Vikings to show how those earlier events led to 1066.  He's good at considering the weight and veracity of the differing sources, and manages to stop the narrative getting bogged down.  

Some of the post Conquest rebellions are less interesting, though I like his tale of one incident  when William's army was besieging Exeter following a Godwinson-inspired uprising.  William had one of his captives blinded on in full view of the walls , to encourage the defenders to submit.  The response of one defender was to drop their trousers and fart in his general direction.  A thousand years later, Exeter is much the same

 7/10


----------



## Virtual Blue (Feb 8, 2018)

The Brave Athlete - Calm the Fuck Down and Rise to the Occasion - Simon Marshall/ Lesley Peterson.

up to Chapter 9 - so far so good. This book is helping me cope with stupid internal (and peer) pressures immensely.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 9, 2018)

Bought Memento Mori by Muriel Spark this week, after being amused by AL Kennedy's remarks about it on the Muriel Spark prog on iplayer.  The fella's away gigging all weekend so am gonna get right stuck into it


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 9, 2018)

Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel

A true life tale of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years for no discernible reason.  During this time the only word he said was Hi on the single occasion when he bumped into a hiker.

A short but interesting  read.


----------



## Voley (Feb 12, 2018)

Just started 'Ruth And Martin's Album Club' where people are given a record of some repute that they've never heard and have to review it. JK Rowling on The Violent Femmes, Ian Rankin on Madonna's first album, that kind of thing. I bought it because it contains Tim Farron on 'Straight Outta Compton' which is one of the best accidental Partridge things  I've seen in ages. ''Much as I admire Eazy E, Dr Dre and Ice Cube the Liberal Democrats take a rather different approach to them on law and order ...''  Very good so far.


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 14, 2018)

Nutshell by Ian McEwan. Only a few chapters in but liking it so far. It's making me laugh


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 15, 2018)

Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson. As usual, I am scratching my head over all the new characters and trying to remember who was who from previous instalments. Luckily, also as usual, Erikson's writing is so engrossing that I'm being swept along by it all.


----------



## panpete (Feb 15, 2018)

Joseph Campbell, wish I had known who he was when I was a teen.


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 15, 2018)

rubbershoes said:


> Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel
> 
> A true life tale of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years for no discernible reason.  During this time the only word he said was Hi on the single occasion when he bumped into a hiker.
> 
> A short but interesting  read.



Not much dialogue, then?


----------



## sojourner (Feb 15, 2018)

sojourner said:


> Bought Memento Mori by Muriel Spark this week, after being amused by AL Kennedy's remarks about it on the Muriel Spark prog on iplayer.  The fella's away gigging all weekend so am gonna get right stuck into it


This is excellent. Like much of her writing, it is dense as fuck, so I am taking my time to savour it and reading one chapter at a time


----------



## D'wards (Feb 15, 2018)

The Kenneth Williams Diaries.

Interesting to note he lived with the extremes of emotion, he either loves something or hates it.
He talks of suicide from his early 20s too. It's something that shadowed him his whole life until he finally went through with it


----------



## planetgeli (Feb 15, 2018)

_Riding the Iron Rooster _by Louis Theroux's dad. Aka Paul Theroux. Might be 30 years out of date, but I doubt it's 30 years out of date to almost everyone here. 

Nothing wrong with a travel book about riding a train around China with multiple references to the Cultural revolution.


----------



## D'wards (Feb 15, 2018)

Voley said:


> Just started 'Ruth And Martin's Album Club' where people are given a record of some repute that they've never heard and have to review it. JK Rowling on The Violent Femmes, Ian Rankin on Madonna's first album, that kind of thing. I bought it because it contains Tim Farron on 'Straight Outta Compton' which is one of the best accidental Partridge things  I've seen in ages. ''Much as I admire Eazy E, Dr Dre and Ice Cube the Liberal Democrats take a rather different approach to them on law and order ...''  Very good so far.


Stewart Lee on Ziggy Stardust infuriated me 
He didn't like it, but then not liking stuff is kind of his thing I suppose  (unless it's that fucking guitarist who plays tuneless drivel who's name escapes me)


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 16, 2018)

Fear and Loathing on the campaing trail '72. Never got round to this one and it was a mere pound in the charity shop so why not.


----------



## hash tag (Mar 1, 2018)

Listening to R4's you and yours at lunch time I rushed out and bought this. Only published today and struggling to put it down Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain - James Bloodworth; | Foyles Bookstore


----------



## weltweit (Mar 1, 2018)

I am reading The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett 1929. At the very beginning I wondered whether I would like it but the more I read the more I like, 2/3 in now.


----------



## stethoscope (Mar 3, 2018)

Lisa Mckenzie - Getting By

Bit late, but finally, and its excellent.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 5, 2018)

Muriel Spark - Curriculum Vitae

It's her autobiog, up to a certain point, and is absolutely fascinating. Her work with the Foreign Office and as editor of the Poetry Society is illuminating, and I just love her economy with words.


----------



## Voley (Mar 5, 2018)

This. And it's fucking ace.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 5, 2018)

Voley said:


> This. And it's fucking ace.


I tried to fucking order that but the bollocking bloody library hasn't sodding got it


----------



## Voley (Mar 5, 2018)

Orang Utan said:


> I tried to fucking order that but the bollocking bloody library hasn't sodding got it


My fucker had it.


----------



## ManchesterBeth (Mar 5, 2018)

gave in: heart of darkness.

A tedious, orientalist, anti-black dirge that tries to dazzle you with metaphors  and long winding descriptions whilst decentring the real actors and reducing them to primitives. I feel no compassion for marlow and I doubt i will for kurtz either.

100% recommend people read Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih instead. a book that really should have attained classic status by now in the english world.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 6, 2018)

The Leveller Revolution: Radical Political Organisation in England 1640-1650 by Jon Rees

been meaning to read a book on the levellers for ages. 

Voley  I got that swearing book as well and read the roman chapter last night. Dead useful, I've known for ages that roman attitudes to sex were way way different to ours but I've never had explained through the medium of naughty epigrams


----------



## Hellsbells (Mar 6, 2018)

dialectician said:


> gave in: heart of darkness.
> 
> A tedious, orientalist, anti-black dirge that tries to dazzle you with metaphors  and long winding descriptions whilst decentring the real actors and reducing them to primitives. I feel no compassion for marlow and I doubt i will for kurtz either.
> 
> 100% recommend people read Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih instead. a book that really should have attained classic status by now in the english world.



Urghhh Heart of Darkness still makes me shudder from my uni days.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 6, 2018)

Yeh, I wasn't keen on HoD meself!

I NEED that fucking book about bastard swearing though!


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 6, 2018)

I loved Heart Of Darkness, but I was very young then (well, 21, so practically a child, and studying it in the first year at university).
I remember it being anti-racist and sort of anti-imperial, but I also remember studying Orientalism and Said pointing out that while Conrad does decry treating people different according to the colour of their skin, he never attempts to humanise the people of colour he writes about. They are all just sticks and angles, to recall (perhaps inaccurately) one scene in the books


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 6, 2018)

Oh man, what happened to me? When I was young I thought nothing of wolfing down huge densely-written tomes. I even liked Middlemarch. Find it really tricky now! I wish Infinite Jest had come out when I was a youth. I would have ploughed through it in no time


----------



## marty21 (Mar 12, 2018)

East of Eden - John Steinbeck- haven't read any Steinbeck in years but they had a load of his novels on kindle for 99p so I bought a few really enjoying it , he is a beautiful writer.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 13, 2018)

Bit obsessed with Muriel Spark at the mo - SUCH a clever writer without being a smart arse.

Almost finished Loitering With Intent.


----------



## weltweit (Mar 13, 2018)

marty21 said:


> East of Eden - John Steinbeck- haven't read any Steinbeck in years but they had a load of his novels on kindle for 99p so I bought a few really enjoying it , he is a beautiful writer.


I read that last year, liked it a lot, very well written I thought.


----------



## ringo (Mar 15, 2018)

I'm reading the wrong Nothing But The Night

I meant to read the one by John Williams, who wrote the excellent Butcher's Crossing and the over rated borefest Stoner. But I grabbed the Kindle book of the same name by John Blackburn. 
It's a horror, featuring a wild murderess and a sinister evil entity. Or something. I don't like horror, but it's old school The Omen style horror so quite entertaining.

Was a movie too, featuring Cassandra from Only Fools And Horses and Papa Lazarou


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 15, 2018)

Barkskins by Annie Proulx. 

I'm three quarters in and still  waiting for it to get going


----------



## sojourner (Mar 21, 2018)

rubbershoes said:


> Barkskins by Annie Proulx.
> 
> I'm three quarters in and still  waiting for it to get going


A common problem.

I was her number one fan until this brick of shit.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 21, 2018)

Jane Hawking - Travelling To Infinity.


----------



## blossie33 (Mar 22, 2018)

marty21 said:


> East of Eden - John Steinbeck- haven't read any Steinbeck in years but they had a load of his novels on kindle for 99p so I bought a few really enjoying it , he is a beautiful writer.



I love John Steinbeck, I'm reading his 'A Russian Journal' at the moment, it's a sort of travel diary about his visit to Russia with the photographer Robert Capa in 1948.


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 23, 2018)

_The Nazis - a Warning from History _by Lawrence Rees. Never got to see the series and the book is accessible but have temporarily shelved it because of the unrelenting horror and picked up Ballard's_ Low Flying Aircraft_.


----------



## colbhoy (Mar 25, 2018)

Reading Fall of Giants by Ken Follett.


----------



## marty21 (Mar 25, 2018)

blossie33 said:


> I love John Steinbeck, I'm reading his 'A Russian Journal' at the moment, it's a sort of travel diary about his visit to Russia with the photographer Robert Capa in 1948.


Might check that out , adored East of Eden , dont know why I hadn't read it before. And a book of similar vintage that I really enjoyed is Eastern Approaches - Fitzroy Maclean.  He travelled around Russia when he was a diplomat there in the 30s . Then he was in the SAS during the war , fighting in Africa , after that he went to the Balkans and worked with Tito until the end of WW2.


----------



## kropotkin (Mar 25, 2018)

Yeah, I've been inspired by these few posts to read it next. I only discovered him a few years ago when I read grapes of wrath. Just incredible


----------



## ringo (Mar 26, 2018)

The Scar -  China Miéville


----------



## Hellsbells (Mar 26, 2018)

East of Eden is such an epic book. I actually preferred it to Grapes of Wrath. Need to start reading Steinbeck again. There's quite a few books of his I've not read.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 26, 2018)

krtek a houby said:


> _The Nazis - a Warning from History _by Lawrence Rees. Never got to see the series and the book is accessible but have temporarily shelved it because of the unrelenting horror and picked up Ballard's_ Low Flying Aircraft_.


I fucking love Laurence Rees. He writes INTERESTING history books, and I proper respect his research too.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 26, 2018)

Hellsbells said:


> East of Eden is such an epic book. I actually preferred it to Grapes of Wrath. Need to start reading Steinbeck again. There's quite a few books of his I've not read.




Grapes of Wrath is actually my number one favourite book of all time.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 26, 2018)

Anyway, I got sidetracked from the Jane Hawking book by Bridget Christie's 'A Book For Her' which I bought on Saturday. Just the job at a time when I've been coming under fire from certain male poets taking a loathing to me and my choice of language.  Was laughing out loud, on my own, to this


----------



## leohartmann (Mar 26, 2018)

I'm reading Michel Houellebecq - "Submission" now.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Mar 27, 2018)

The Count of Monte Cristo. The first third was really good, but then it switched viewpoint characters and got a bit bogged down in the middle.


----------



## krtek a houby (Mar 27, 2018)

sojourner said:


> I fucking love Laurence Rees. He writes INTERESTING history books, and I proper respect his research too.



Was lucky to meet him some years back, got him to sign the book. He then asked me what I thought of it and I sheepishly replied that I hadn't got round to reading it yet


----------



## sojourner (Mar 27, 2018)

krtek a houby said:


> Was lucky to meet him some years back, got him to sign the book. He then asked me what I thought of it and I sheepishly replied that I hadn't got round to reading it yet


----------



## Cheesypoof (Mar 29, 2018)

Finished Viv Albertine's autobiography Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys. Really fantastic, honest writing.

She has a new book coming out by Faber this week, which i will also be reading


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 12, 2018)

The last fighting tommy

harry patch's autobio. Interesting stuff, the way he describes his youth and the old west country villages and quarries really does speak of a different time.

Scabbed during the general strike as well :/


----------



## Thimble Queen (Apr 12, 2018)

I'm on the last stretch of Book of Dust. I'm almost disappointed that I'm meeting a friend this evening  Well luckily it's straight after work thing so I'll still have time to get a decent chunk of it done before bedtime


----------



## ringo (Apr 16, 2018)

Madonna In A Fur Coat -  Sabahattin Ali

Still waiting for something to happen, but intrigued enough to stick with it and find out what the fuss is about. 

The other day I was trying to convince Mrs R and teenager R that it is enough to enjoy a book just for the quality of the writing, regardless of the story or subject matter. They were extremely unimpressed. 

This is the kind of book which proves the point. Touching and beautifully observed, even though nothing noteworthy has occurred in the first quarter of the novel.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 16, 2018)

The Only Story - Julian Barnes

He does tend to write about the same things over and over, but most writers do tbh. He is a genuinely enjoyable writer though.


----------



## flypanam (Apr 17, 2018)

Chronicle in stone - Ismail Kadare
Adventures in Marxism - Marshall Berman


----------



## ginger_syn (Apr 19, 2018)

The Day of the Doctor by Steven Moffat,
 Twice upon a time by Paul Cornell. 
Both of  them a delight to read.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 19, 2018)

A very British scandal by John Preston 

Well written account of bad boy Jeremy Thorpe.

All politicians are bastards. He went outside the law, but he's no less principled than the rest


----------



## seeformiles (Apr 19, 2018)




----------



## farmerbarleymow (Apr 19, 2018)

rubbershoes said:


> A very British scandal by John Preston
> 
> Well written account of bad boy Jeremy Thorpe.
> 
> All politicians are bastards. He went outside the law, but he's no less principled than the rest



Read that a while back - he was a bit of a bastard wasn't he.

Just finished Straight Jacket by Matthew Todd. All about how gay people are significantly more likely to experience destructive behaviours due to societal pressure around 'normal' sexuality and homophobia, etc. A thoroughly depressing book.

Just started The Secret Barrister about how fucked up the criminal justice system is.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 19, 2018)

farmerbarleymow said:


> Read that a while back - he was a bit of a bastard wasn't he.
> 
> Just finished Straight Jacket by Matthew Todd. All about how gay people are significantly more likely to experience destructive behaviours due to societal pressure around 'normal' sexuality and homophobia, etc. A thoroughly depressing book.
> 
> Just started The Secret Barrister about how fucker up the criminal justice system is.



I'm getting snippets of the secret barrister in the trade press.

It's depressingly familiar


----------



## Thimble Queen (Apr 19, 2018)

seeformiles said:


> View attachment 133196



I read that when I was a teenager. Proper heartbreaking.

I'm reading The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates. I read his other book Between the World in Me last year and both books are utterly wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time.


----------



## Voley (Apr 19, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> The last fighting tommy
> 
> harry patch's autobio. Interesting stuff, the way he describes his youth and the old west country villages and quarries really does speak of a different time.
> 
> Scabbed during the general strike as well :/


Like the sound of that one, Dotty, ta for that. My library has it.


----------



## ringo (Apr 20, 2018)

ringo said:


> Madonna In A Fur Coat -  Sabahattin Ali
> 
> Still waiting for something to happen, but intrigued enough to stick with it and find out what the fuss is about. The other day I was trying to convince Mrs R and teenager R that it is enough to enjoy a book just for the quality of the writing, regardless of the story or subject matter. They were extremely unimpressed. This is the kind of book which proves the point. Touching and beautifully observed, even though nothing noteworthy has occurred in the first quarter of the novel.


A more heartfelt paean to love I don't think I've ever read. A slow burner, and frequently the protagonists' inability to act or cope with their emotions is so acute that it's painful, but that is an indicator of the power of the writing.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 20, 2018)

Dipping in and out of 'Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race' by Renni Eddo-Lodge, and 'Daemon Voices' by Phillip Pullman - both excellent.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 20, 2018)

Maya Angelou is one of my holy trinity of writers, seeformiles . Are you reading the full 5 books of the series? You should.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Apr 20, 2018)

sojourner said:


> Dipping in and out of 'Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race' by Renni Eddo-Lodge, and 'Daemon Voices' by Phillip Pullman - both excellent.



Yesss I loved 'why I'm no longer.... ' so great. 

In addition to the beautiful stuggle, mentioned in a previous post. I'm also reading Assata Shakur's autobiography. I'm about 40 pages in and it's brilliant and empowering so far.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Apr 20, 2018)

sojourner have you read The Good Immigrant?


----------



## seeformiles (Apr 20, 2018)

sojourner said:


> Maya Angelou is one of my holy trinity of writers, seeformiles . Are you reading the full 5 books of the series? You should.



On the strength of this one, I think I will be


----------



## sojourner (Apr 20, 2018)

seeformiles said:


> On the strength of this one, I think I will be


Do it, definitely.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 20, 2018)

Thimble Queen said:


> sojourner have you read The Good Immigrant?


Nope - you recommend it then?


----------



## Thimble Queen (Apr 20, 2018)

sojourner said:


> Nope - you recommend it then?



Yeah for def. It's a selection of essays on different aspects of being black and brown in the UK. It's very good. One of my fave things I've read in the last year or so. REL has a piece in there and that's what made me mention it


----------



## sojourner (Apr 20, 2018)

Thimble Queen said:


> Yeah for def. It's a selection of essays on different aspects of being black and brown in the UK. It's very good. One of my fave things I've read in the last year or so. REL has a piece in there and that's what made me mention it


Ace, thank you.  Just reserved it at the library


----------



## not-bono-ever (Apr 20, 2018)

Fukuyama- After the neocons ( yes I know)

Aldous Huxely- Mortal Coils

Andrew Hussey - The French Intifada- the long was between France and its arabs

The Hussey one is a good casual read actually - worth it if you are unfamiliar with the story behind the banlieues and frances bloody colonial history


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Apr 20, 2018)

Thimble Queen said:


> sojourner have you read The Good Immigrant?



That's in my (growing) pile of unreads.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Apr 20, 2018)

farmerbarleymow said:


> That's in my (growing) pile of unreads.



If you can't commit to it all at once, read it essay by essay


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Apr 20, 2018)

Thimble Queen said:


> If you can't commit to it all at once, read it essay by essay



I'd have to find it first.  I've no idea where it is as I've got way too many books, many stored in boxes.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Apr 20, 2018)

farmerbarleymow said:


> I'd have to find it first.  I've no idea where it is as I've got way too many books, many stored in boxes.



Good job it's the weekend


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Apr 20, 2018)

Thimble Queen said:


> Good job it's the weekend



No, I'm not going to look through lots of boxes for a bloody book.


----------



## Thimble Queen (Apr 20, 2018)




----------



## farmerbarleymow (Apr 20, 2018)

Thimble Queen said:


>



I'll let you know when I find it.  I also bought the follow up title from the publisher on the working class.  Like the first one, I've no idea where that is either.


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 5, 2018)

Maybe this thread is being updated at the moment....but can i give a HUGE shout to Viv Albertine's To throw away unopened? startling and rather brilliant.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 5, 2018)

Cheesypoof said:


> Maybe this thread is being updated at the moment....but can i give a HUGE shout to Viv Albertine's To throw away unopened? startling and rather brilliant.


Is this a new memoir or summat else? Loved her autobiography


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 5, 2018)

Orang Utan said:


> Is this a new memoir or summat else? Loved her autobiography



Yeh its a new book about her relationship with her Mam. Astounding. One of the best books I have ever read!


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 5, 2018)




----------



## krtek a houby (May 6, 2018)

Just finished The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson, now on The Secret Place by Tana French.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (May 7, 2018)

Currently working through 'Middlemarch'.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 7, 2018)

Beats & Pieces said:


> Currently working through 'Middlemarch'.


I loved that book. Coincidentally, I listened to an In Our Time about it today. Worth a listen, even though Bragg sounds half-cut in it.


----------



## Beats & Pieces (May 7, 2018)

Orang Utan said:


> I loved that book. Coincidentally, I listened to an In Our Time about it today. Worth a listen, even though Bragg sounds half-cut in it.



Thanks - I will take a listen once I have finished the book.


----------



## flypanam (May 9, 2018)

Corey Pein's Live work work work die: a journey into the savage heart if silicon valley.

A good read and take down of tech and the ideologies of those in it.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 11, 2018)

The Battle of the Atlantic by Jonathan Dimbleby

A very clear account of how some massive egos on the Allied side almost fucked up WW2.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (May 12, 2018)

'Revenger" by Alastair Reynolds.

Haven't read any sci-fi for a while and glad I picked this up from the library as it was excellent. 

Interesting that there had been some comments that it is young adult fiction, though I don't think Reynolds himself has said so. I can see why given the age of the protagonist but other than that I didn't see it except i think I'd have loved it at age 16!


----------



## cupid_stunt (May 12, 2018)

* HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - somewhat different & 'off the wall'...*

Just finished reading a trilogy on the life of Reg & Dorothy Calvert, written by their oldest daughter, Reg turned down The Beatles when they asked him to be their manager, when they were just a backing band for one of his singers.  He went on to be shot death by someone looking to muscle in on his 60s offshore pirate radio station, based on an ex-army fort in the Thames Estuary.

It's a truly fascinating true life story, that involves the likes of their involvement with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Fortunes, Screaming Lord Sutch, and turning down a business proposal from Reggie Kray. It was Reg Calvert's idea that 'Lord Sutch' should first stand for election as a publicity stunt, at first for the 'Teenagers Party', which later became the 'Official Raving Loony Party'.

Reg was the 'ideas' man, but Dorothy was very much the brains that held his projects together, which was hard for a woman back in the 60s, and the book covers her frustrations of being a woman in a man's world, as it was back then.

1 - *Popcorn to Rock 'n' Roll* covers their early life, falling in love just after WW2, money was tight, Reg brought an old bus & converted it into a home. When he hears Bill Haley's 'Rock Around the Clock', he decides to bring Rock 'n' Roll to the UK, and so the story begins, as they embark on forming groups & putting on dance nights.

2 - *Clifton Hall - the School of Rock 'n' Roll* covers the period when they brought an old mansion near Rugby & moved in various musicians that formed their bands, and played at their dances, with regular visits from many chart topping groups that also used to perform at their dances, including The Beatles. This extraordinary household was the home of much music, fun, laughter, massive explosions (crazy home made fireworks & battles), and sadly some heartbreak in the family.

This is when Reg moved into music publishing & managing acts like The Fortunes & Screaming Lord Sutch, although he never actually got around to earning anything out of Sutch, they were friends, interestingly he always paid his musicians well & never did contracts, allowing them freedom to come & go.

He was a good guy [overall] in the music industry, refusing to accept record contracts for his 'boys', when it would involve them having to bend-over and take a shafting. Although, he did make a mistake, that he later regretted, when he passed on an offer to one of his female singers (the one The Beatles had been backing) that basically involved sex. He was both a good guy & a bit of a bastard too, especially at times towards his wife.	

3 - *Shivering Sands - Pirate Radio* covers Reg & Sutch taking over a former army fort, Shivering Sands, in the Thames Estuary to launch Radio Sutch as a publicity stunt, when Sutch got bored, Reg brought him out & re-launched it as Radio City, which did well, but was ever as popular as the big two pirates - Radios Caroline & London.

The success of Radio City was such that a former investor in another pirate station, Major Oliver Smedley - former vice-chairman of the Liberal Party, decided to muscle in, and sent out a gang of armed boarders to take over the fort & force the station off-air, to give him an negotiating advantage. When Reg went to comfort him at his home in Essex, he was shot dead, and somehow due to establishment connections, Smedley got off scot-free! The chapters on the court cases, how badly the prosecution conducted themselves, and the shear injustice of it all, made me very angry.

After that, Dorothy took-over running Radio City, and was approached by Reggie Kray, who wanted the station to be part of the Kray's empire, she, being a absolutely amazing woman, was brave enough to refuse his offer! 

The death of Reg forced the government to bring forward plans to force all the offshore pirate stations off air, with the Marine, etc, [Broadcasting] Offences Act.

I admit, it was the pirate radio connection that interested me, but that was actually only part of what has been a most fascinating read, so much covered, love, life struggles, the bands, the music, pirate radio, the politics of the time, and so much more.

If you are looking for something a bit different, and 'off the wall', I would highly recommend reading these books, they are truly griping.

* Book 1 is on Amazon, whilst books 2 & 3 were combined & re-published in hardback under the title 'Life and Death of a Pirate' - available from the Radio Caroline web-shop.

The home of Radio Such & later Radio City...


----------



## sojourner (May 14, 2018)

Thimble Queen said:


> sojourner have you read The Good Immigrant?



I'm halfway through The Good Immigrant Thimble Queen . I think everyone should read this book. I am half gobsmacked and half shamed by some of the stuff that simply did not occur to me. That thing about the Other box, and East Asian people (and statistics). Fucking hell.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (May 14, 2018)

One for Pickman's model - odd bookmarks.

Bacon and a used condom - obviously someone into wolfbagging.


----------



## Thimble Queen (May 14, 2018)

sojourner said:


> I'm halfway through The Good Immigrant Thimble Queen . I think everyone should read this book. I am half gobsmacked and half shamed by some of the stuff that simply did not occur to me. That thing about the Other box, and East Asian people (and statistics). Fucking hell.



Don't feel shame mate. There's no reason why stuff like this should occur to you unless you go through it or if your loved ones do. If you want any more recommendations on this theme LMK.


----------



## Thimble Queen (May 14, 2018)

Today I started reading Feminism Is For Everybody by bell hooks. The language is quite straight forward so it makes it easy enough to sneak read at work


----------



## sojourner (May 15, 2018)

Thimble Queen said:


> Today I started reading Feminism Is For Everybody by bell hooks. The language is quite straight forward so it makes it easy enough to sneak read at work


I read a fair bit of bell hooks when I was at uni in the late 90s. Brilliant.


----------



## sojourner (May 15, 2018)

Thimble Queen said:


> Don't feel shame mate. There's no reason why stuff like this should occur to you unless you go through it or if your loved ones do. If you want any more recommendations on this theme LMK.


Yeh - throw some stuff my way.  

And thank you.


----------



## cupid_stunt (May 15, 2018)

Thanks to those recommending 'The Good Immigrant', just ordered a copy.


----------



## belboid (May 15, 2018)

Laurent Binet - The Seventh Function of Language.


It owes a massive debt to Eco, bring an amalgam of Name of the Rose & Foucaults Pendulum so far. But damn, it’s good fun. More total intellectual masturbation, but hey, what japes.


----------



## colbhoy (May 17, 2018)

Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember by John Feinstein. Very good so far.


----------



## kropotkin (May 17, 2018)

cupid_stunt said:


> Thanks to those recommending 'The Good Immigrant', just ordered a copy.


Me too. Thanks in advance


----------



## sparkling (May 18, 2018)

I’m listening to Eleanor olifant is absolutely fine. 
Loving it. Both laugh out loud and terribly sad.


----------



## Voley (May 20, 2018)

I've just ordered 'The Good Immigrant' from the library too.


----------



## danny la rouge (May 20, 2018)

"Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump" by Asad Haider.

So far it's taken from articles and essays I've already read, but it's good stuff. 

Verso


----------



## flypanam (May 23, 2018)

Solar Bones - Mike McCormack. An hour in the kitchen alone with his thoughts. Muses on modern Ireland. All in one sentence too.

Stewart Edwards - The Paris Commune 1871


----------



## belboid (May 23, 2018)

Pierre Bayard - Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong

The dog was not to blame! Holmes ws completely misled, the actual killer was......


----------



## krtek a houby (May 23, 2018)

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. Initially I was put off by the title and jacket blurb. Made it seem full of forced zaniness but 100 pages in and am quite enjoying it.


----------



## Baronage-Phase (May 23, 2018)

Atlas Of The Great Irish Famine...edited by John Crowley..William J.Smith and Mike Murphy.
Massive book...it's one of those ones you read at a table.
Huge collection of essays.
It's a reprint...



A lot of prints of material from the time such as the above flier that was distributed in July 1847.
"At a time when over 3 million people were collecting rstions from the government's soup kitchens. Under the provision of the Poor Law Extension Act passed in June 1847 the burden of relief would eventually fall on the Poor Law system...which was singularly ilk-equipped to deal with a crisis on the scale of the famine. The result was a humanitarian disaster...."

Workhouse plan...



And below is a photo of the workhouse in Roscrea with the names if those who died between March and October 1848.




And this....the instruction on how to make the cheapest soup...in a country that was exporting it's food to England..


----------



## sojourner (May 24, 2018)

Neil Gaiman - View From The Cheap Seats

Excellent. Had me welling up with how he feels about libraries and words and books in general - mirrors mine exactly.


----------



## Virtual Blue (May 24, 2018)

Dune and Homo Deus


----------



## Virtual Blue (May 24, 2018)

sojourner said:


> Neil Gaiman - View From The Cheap Seats
> 
> Excellent. Had me welling up with how he feels about libraries and words and books in general - mirrors mine exactly.



That one is on my list...


----------



## ringo (May 24, 2018)

Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
So far it's really not what I was expecting. Very smart, incisive and well written though.


----------



## Fosters Mackem (May 24, 2018)

An amazing book chosen randomly, I can't believe how good it was


----------



## sojourner (May 24, 2018)

ringo said:


> Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
> So far it's really not what I was expecting. Very smart, incisive and well written though.


One of my fella's all time favourite books that.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 24, 2018)

Fosters Mackem said:


> An amazing book chosen randomly, I can't believe how good it was


Did Alfred Warner write it? If not, who?


----------



## Fosters Mackem (May 24, 2018)

Orang Utan said:


> Did Alfred Warner write it? If not, who?



Juliet Conlin - Alred Warner is the character or Alfred Werner


----------



## DotCommunist (May 24, 2018)

Empire Games, the latest in Stross's many worlds series. 

Larry Elliot, Europe Didn't Work but I'm only 70 pages in on that whereas the Stross book is nearly done. Getting a bit formulaic really, that and his Laundry stuff, but its a good formula


----------



## Threshers_Flail (May 24, 2018)

Finally managed to make it past the first few pages of Crime and Punishment, just in time for the bank holiday weekend.


----------



## miss direct (May 24, 2018)

I'm reading two books: The woman in the window, and Homo Deus.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 24, 2018)

miss direct said:


> I'm reading two books: The woman in the window, and Homo Deus.


Authors FFS! 
I know a few authors/writers. It can take years to write a book and then someone posts the title of a book without mentioning the person who spent all that time writing it.


----------



## miss direct (May 24, 2018)

ALL RIGHT!! A J Finn wrote the Window one and Yuval Noah Harari Homo Deus. You're as strict as the American librarian who runs the book club here in Istanbul. She banned me from coming to the group once


----------



## Orang Utan (May 24, 2018)

miss direct said:


> ALL RIGHT!! A J Finn wrote the Window one and Yuval Noah Harari Homo Deus. You're as strict as the American librarian who runs the book club here in Istanbul. She banned me from coming to the group once


Too right if you never credit the people who went to the trouble of writing it!


----------



## miss direct (May 24, 2018)

Orang Utan said:


> Too right if you never credit the people who went to the trouble of writing it!


Oh, that was for a different reason. I'd only read 85% of the book and asked if I could still attend, but was told to stay away  Even though the next time I went, the loudest (most annoying) people were those that hadn't even read a page of the book!


----------



## Orang Utan (May 24, 2018)

miss direct said:


> Oh, that was for a different reason. I'd only read 85% of the book and asked if I could still attend, but was told to stay away  Even though the next time I went, the loudest (most annoying) people were those that hadn't even read a page of the book!


oh fucking hell - she wouldn't like the U75 South London Book Group when I was a member, where at least 50% of the group hadn't finished or even started the book. It was ace.


----------



## ringo (May 25, 2018)

sojourner said:


> One of my fella's all time favourite books that.


It's incredible. Near the beginning a plane flies overhead, soaring and diving, writing a slogan in the sky, and the writing is very much like that. I can see why a poet would appreciate the flow and style of it.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 28, 2018)

Over two days I finished Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem trilogy. Last two books, The Dark Forest and Death's End. 

In China its called 'Remembrance of Earth Past' but it makes more sense to market as Three Body Problem here, A the first book was a hit and B its a notably sci fi esque name. But I prefer the romance of the chinese version. 

It don't get much better than this. Toward the end (1 am) I started to think , well where the fuck can you go now? you'd have to 



Spoiler: ending



go to the ends of the very ends. Oh fair fucks liu my man, thats what ya did



Theres an odd bit about humankind in a garden of eden phase of high luxury where all the men become 'feminized' and thus weak towards a hostile force like the trisolarians, as if the waning of the 'male' and waxing of the 'female' principles in humanity led a turn to beauty and ultimately defencelessness. Not sure about that all that but yeah


Theres some brilliantly cynical asides that are so matter of fact its only looking back after a page or so you realise how drily its been done. Its interesting that his 'time travel' sleepers do a hundred or 40-60 year hops in hibernation and return to find everything so radically changed, theres an eye for his own history. yeah I'd recommend this trilogy hard


----------



## krtek a houby (May 28, 2018)

Joseph Heller's Catch 22.

50 pages in and it's... ok.


----------



## weltweit (May 28, 2018)

krtek a houby said:


> Joseph Heller's Catch 22.
> 
> 50 pages in and it's... ok.


Long way to go then - it is long - I liked it though and read it twice, about 2 years apart.


----------



## weltweit (May 28, 2018)

I have forgotten to note the books I have been reading since about half way through 2017 which is a pain. What I have definitely read is the following: 

7) Desolation Island, Patrick O'Brian
8) The Fortune of War, Patrick O'Brian
9) The Surgeon's Mate, Patrick O'Brian
10) The Ionian Mission, Patrick O'Brian
11) Treason's Harbour, Patrick O'Brian 
12) The Far Side Of The World, Patrick O'Brian 
13) The Reverse Of The Medal, Patrick O'Brian 
14) The letter of marque, Patrick O'Brian  
15) The Thirteen-Gun Salute, Patrick O'Brian  
16) The Nutmet Of Consolation, Patrick O'Brian  
17) Clarrisa Oakes, Patrick O'Brian  
18) The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O'Brian  

Reading in 2018 (estimated start) 
----------------
1) The Commodore, Patrick O'Brian  
2) The Yellow Admiral, Patrick O'Brian  
3) The Hundred Days, Patrick O'Brian  
4) Blue at the Mizzen, Patrick O'Brian 

I know this because I have now read all of them and enjoyable they were also. 

I had access to all of them via someone's collection. Now I guess it is back to the library!


----------



## sojourner (May 29, 2018)

ringo said:


> It's incredible. Near the beginning a plane flies overhead, soaring and diving, writing a slogan in the sky, and the writing is very much like that. I can see why a poet would appreciate the flow and style of it.


The fella's a musician and songwriter ringo , but he has a poetic heart 

It's also the playing with the concept of time that he loves. He used to lecture on it, back when John Moores still employed part-time staff, so can discuss it endlessly


----------



## DotCommunist (May 31, 2018)

Finished 'The Difference Engine' By Gibson & Sterling

good stuff, alt history thing set in the late 1800s england.


----------



## kropotkin (May 31, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> Over two days I finished Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem trilogy. Last two books, The Dark Forest and Death's End.
> ...
> Theres some brilliantly cynical asides that are so matter of fact its only looking back after a page or so you realise how drily its been done. Its interesting that his 'time travel' sleepers do a hundred or 40-60 year hops in hibernation and return to find everything so radically changed, theres an eye for his own history. yeah I'd recommend this trilogy hard




Yeah, I really enjoyed the second one- which had a put-the-book-down-and-marvel at his genius idea moment when I got to the proper exposition of "the dark forest" idea. I had the same experience with the Reveal in "Player of Games" by Banks, or in some of the short story collection "Stories of you Life and Others" by Ted Chiang.

you can't beat sci-fi for that.

I'll read the third soon on this recommendation!


----------



## Thimble Queen (Jun 2, 2018)

I'm reading Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala. It's great so far. Another one for sojourner


----------



## sojourner (Jun 4, 2018)

Thimble Queen said:


> I'm reading Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala. It's great so far. Another one for sojourner


Ooo cheers lovely!


----------



## Virtual Blue (Jun 4, 2018)

Somebody I use to Know - Wendy Mitchell


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 4, 2018)

weltweit said:


> Long way to go then - it is long - I liked it though and read it twice, about 2 years apart.



I don't mind long books at all, just that Catch 22 isn't doing it for me. So far. I will persevere!


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 4, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> Finished 'The Difference Engine' By Gibson & Sterling
> 
> good stuff, alt history thing set in the late 1800s england.



Mm, must give this another shot. Tried it about 20 years ago and it's been gathering dust ever since.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 5, 2018)

Just did 'Embers of War' by Gareth L Powell. This was basically a half decent yarn wrapped in some pretty flimsy space opera gown and shamelessly shallow with it. I want the cool things and I_'m not going to work at why and how they are here._ 
Now obviously what is not wanted is poorly written or even highly derivative exposition dumps to explain things like that but a unique twist or a piece of writing delivered with plot reason and beauty, too much to ask? Here he is on the AI in the books 'They were carefully restricted from self upgrades or replication, minds partially grown from the stem cells of humans and dogs'

And thats it! Thin gruel indeed, very thin. Only finished because he writes a story, aa bare bones tale, engagingly. A mixture of tight plotting and sympathetic characters (all one of them) and just a hint of humour keeps the pages turning. Biggest problem is telling multiple characters from 1st person perspective. It can be done, but the authorial voice ends up becoming the voice of all characters. Irvine Welsh has this issue and George RR Martin (although the portly sex case is better at keeping characters internal monologues distinct enough to prevent blurring). 

I give this a 4/10. Lazy wank really, but someone gave him money for it so theres hope for us all yet...


----------



## D'wards (Jun 7, 2018)

Laughing Gas by P.G. Wodehouse. It's the first of his I've read.

About half way through. It's hilarious and has made me laugh out loud a few times so far - his dialogue is fantastic, as his his turn of phrase.

I predict a bright future for the lad Wodehouse


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 18, 2018)

weltweit said:


> Long way to go then - it is long - I liked it though and read it twice, about 2 years apart.



Ok, finished it and it is quite an amazing, darkly comic but infuriating book. And there's a sequel - Closing Time. Which probably is disappointing as that's a tough act to follow.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 18, 2018)

krtek a houby said:


> Ok, finished it and it is quite an amazing, darkly comic but infuriating book. And there's a sequel - Closing Time. Which probably is disappointing as that's a tough act to follow.


I have read the sequel and you are right it isn't quite up there with Catch22 but I enjoyed it, there is the same sort of insanities from Catch22 and it is somehow nice to see where the characters have ended up.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 18, 2018)

krtek a houby said:


> Ok, finished it and it is quite an amazing, darkly comic but infuriating book. And there's a sequel - Closing Time. Which probably is disappointing as that's a tough act to follow.


what did you find infuriating about it? I can see why you might find it so if you were expecting a linear narrative or an actual plot. 
don't bother with Closing Time btw


----------



## Grump (Jun 18, 2018)

'The Angel's Game', Carlos Ruis Zafon. Dark and disturbing it is really gripping, verges on being a supernatural thriller but is about human failings and the dark side of life in Barcelona.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 19, 2018)

Orang Utan said:


> what did you find infuriating about it? I can see why you might find it so if you were expecting a linear narrative or an actual plot.
> don't bother with Closing Time btw



The repetition, the humour... initially. But I got used to it and there were certain lines that reminded me of Douglas Adams, oddly enough. This one made me laugh out loud:

_The two young lieutenants nodded lumpishly and gaped at each other in stunned and flaccid reluctance, each waiting for the other to initiate the procedure of taking Major Danby outside and shooting him. Neither had ever taken Major Danby outside and shot him before._


----------



## Liza Grey (Jun 21, 2018)

I reread the book "Allatra" for the second time . This is just an encyclopedia of knowledge!


----------



## Liza Grey (Jun 21, 2018)

I am delighted with the books of A. Novih "Sensey".


----------



## planetgeli (Jun 21, 2018)

The Running Hare (The secret life of farmland) by John Lewis-Stempel.

‘Indisputably one of the greatest nature writers of his generation’. Or any generation.

There’s a one page preface. It begins,

“Now that I look back, I see that I have written with some anger.”

And concludes,

“Really:I just want the birds back.”

Me too John. Me too.

He’s written loads, including Meadowland:The Private Life of an English Field, which is brilliant.

Stanley Edwards might also be interested to hear he wrote Foraging: The Essential Guide to Free Wild Food. 

Really.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 21, 2018)

Dominion by sansom

Alt history, appeassment won and britain is a german client state, chirchill in hiding. Might sack it off for dullness. It's nice on detail work but plodding. There are too many alt histories set in the nazi winnin timeline imo


----------



## ringo (Jun 22, 2018)

After the incredible writing of Virginia Woolf's 'Mrs Dalloway' I'm now enjoying the absolute gem that is Laurie Lee's 'Cider With Rosie'.

Deciding to read the classics and greatest books ever written has been life transforming. Glad I didn't read this as a school kid though, I would have just said it was too much like growing up with my yokel farmer family and scorned it. Reading it as an adult is a joy.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 22, 2018)

I quite fancy that one ringo 

I'm halfway through American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and although I'm not QUITE as confused as I was when I was a third of the way through, I'm still pretty fucking wtf. I'm kinda half loving a lot of the references and then being completely lost by other parts. Gonna finish it though. Perhaps it may gel, who knows? No spoilers though.


----------



## ringo (Jun 22, 2018)

It's great sojourner , definitely recommended, as is the later comic rural novel Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

I enjoyed American Gods, but there were a few gods I'd never heard of so that made it tricky. Not as tricky as anyone trying to watch the TV version who hadn't read the book, because they didn't explain any of it.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 22, 2018)

ringo said:


> It's great sojourner , definitely recommended, as is the later comic rural novel Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.
> 
> I enjoyed American Gods, but there were a few gods I'd never heard of so that made it tricky. Not as tricky as anyone trying to watch the TV version who hadn't read the book, becasue they didn't explain any of it.


Cheers, I'll see if the library's got it then.

Yeh, I spotted them real early on, but didn't realise at that point that it was meant to be a god. Just thought 'ooo, Wednesday, I know where that name comes from...and ooo Low Key, I wonder if he means.....' etc  I hadn't quite 'got' the central concept I think. And it does meander a bit.


----------



## ringo (Jun 22, 2018)

sojourner said:


> Yeh, I spotted them real early on, but didn't realise at that point that it was meant to be a god. Just thought 'ooo, Wednesday, I know where that name comes from...and ooo Low Key, I wonder if he means.....' etc  I hadn't quite 'got' the central concept I think. And it does meander a bit.


It was one of those books which reminded me that most great novels manage to come in at about 220 pages


----------



## sojourner (Jun 22, 2018)

ringo said:


> It was one of those books which reminded me that most great novels manage to come in at about 220 pages


Heheh yehhh, and he even says in the preface that he'd chopped it down loads already! Fucking hell Neil - in dager of doing a King with it


----------



## hash tag (Jun 25, 2018)

Have just bought Protest. Stories of resistance. Have read the intro already. It's looking like a great read

Protest: Stories of Resistance | Socialist Review


----------



## sojourner (Jun 25, 2018)

hash tag said:


> Have just bought Protest. Stories of resistance. Have read the intro already. It's looking like a great read
> 
> Protest: Stories of Resistance | Socialist Review


Tis good that - I read it a few months ago


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 25, 2018)

Part three in Ransom & herbets Voidship trilogy






little place opened in town called the Bookcave, does SF, fantasy and horror second hand. Open 3 days a week, bonus. Got the above from there, three pahnds


----------



## flypanam (Jun 26, 2018)

Franz Werfel's The forty days of Musa Dagh.

Story of an Armenian village that fought back against the Ottoman empire at the time of the genocide. Weighs in at 800+ pages.


----------



## danny la rouge (Jun 27, 2018)

Fault Lines by sojourner. Because she's threatened violence on me if I don't read all of it!


----------



## krtek a houby (Jun 27, 2018)




----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 27, 2018)

Ongoing - angel of grozny
Ongoing - Ascent of man by Grayson Perry innit

Just finished - The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and its Arabs - very good of you have not touched on French North African colonial history before. still good as a refresher if you have
Just finished - The $ 12 Million Stuffed Shark - why the art market is utterly corrupt  and you are a twat for falling for it basically


----------



## sojourner (Jun 27, 2018)

danny la rouge said:


> Fault Lines by sojourner. Because she's threatened violence on me if I don't read all of it!


----------



## PursuedByBears (Jul 2, 2018)

Just starting Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. I've read a few WWI books this year in the anniversary of the armistice but this has been recommended by several people. Looking forward to it, chapter one is intriguing!


----------



## sojourner (Jul 2, 2018)

PursuedByBears said:


> Just starting Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. I've read a few WWI books this year in the anniversary of the armistice but this has been recommended by several people. Looking forward to it, chapter one is intriguing!


I liked it, but hated everything else I read by him


----------



## ringo (Jul 2, 2018)

The Secret DJ - Anonymous
In the mould of a modern Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas rather than the inside story of the realities of being a pro DJ, but no doubt much more fun for being so. No great surprises, if you've read Brandon Block's autobiography or any similar its the same story of legendary caners getting up to no good to the point of self destruction.

Never really been into mainstream house and never had any interest in going to Ibiza, but it's a fun bit of summer holiday reading. My proper DJ mates told me who it is, but I had to Google him as I'd never heard of him . If you're into the music and the whole Ibiza thing then its probably worth a look.


----------



## Wilf (Jul 2, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> Part three in Ransom & herbets Voidship trilogy
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Any good? I read the jesus incident about 30 years ago and can't remember a think about it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 2, 2018)

Wilf said:


> Any good? I read the jesus incident about 30 years ago and can't remember a think about it.


The second one, Lazarus effect, is the strongest. ascen factor is still good but ransom wrote most of it as Herbert died iirc. It has his fingerprints all over it still


----------



## Wilf (Jul 2, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> The second one, Lazarus effect, is the strongest. ascen factor is still good but ransom wrote most of it as Herbert died iirc. It has his fingerprints all over it still


Cheers. Sounds better than the ones Herbert's idiot son did with Kevin Anderson.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 2, 2018)

I'm giving up on American Gods, it's pissing me off.


----------



## Wilf (Jul 2, 2018)

sojourner said:


> I'm giving up on American Gods, it's pissing me off.


I stuck with it, despite the authors rather full of himself introduction. The _very_ end is a bit shit, but I remember it being pretty good all the way through.

I realise, to be honest, as a review that was neither informative nor helpful.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 2, 2018)

Wilf said:


> I stuck with it, despite the authors rather full of himself introduction. The _very_ end is a bit shit, but I remember it being pretty good all the way through.
> 
> I realise, to be honest, as a review that was neither informative nor helpful.


Actually, it is helpful. I was considering hanging on and ploughing through it just to see if the ending would be worth it, but from what you say, it isn't.   It's wayyyy too fucking long. Proper self-indulgent amount of detail and words. Fuck it. Just ordered a couple of Muriel Spark books as a treat. She writes the most beautifully condensed prose I've ever read.


----------



## Wilf (Jul 2, 2018)

sojourner said:


> Actually, it is helpful. I was considering hanging on and ploughing through it just to see if the ending would be worth it, but from what you say, it isn't.   It's wayyyy too fucking long. Proper self-indulgent amount of detail and words. Fuck it. Just ordered a couple of Muriel Spark books as a treat. She writes the most beautifully condensed prose I've ever read.


Can't say what I'm referring to without being very spoileryish, but the shit bit was a minor theme in the story. To be honest, even though I only read it about 6 years ago, I can't remember how or how well the big story resolves.


----------



## D'wards (Jul 2, 2018)

The Woman who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend. 

It's ok, you always get something very readable with dear departed Sue.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 2, 2018)

Charles Stross Dark State, the latest in his Merchant Princes stuff. Didn't know it was out yet, forgot it was due iyswim


----------



## weltweit (Jul 2, 2018)

I recently read A Decent Ride by Irvine Welsh - I found it a bit crude but I did read all of it so it can't be all bad. 

I am now reading The Colour of a Dog Running Away by Richard Gwyn. I am just over half way through it and I definitely recommend it, really nicely written and a story that engages in a very pleasant way. Set in Barcelona and Catalonia, if you have spent any time there you will find lots of local points of interest in the story. Recommended.


----------



## seventh bullet (Jul 2, 2018)

On Stalin's Team: The Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics - Sheila Fitzpatrick.


----------



## Dragnet (Jul 5, 2018)

Just finished Sadie Plant's The Most Radical Gesture: The Situationist Intentional in a Postmodern Age (pdf here.

I thought it was decent; the first chapter or two, putting the ideas of the SI in clear language, and in historical context, was helpful for someone like me who finds some of their writing, and writing about them, to be a bit inaccessible. It managed to lose me a bit when it went on to relate these ideas to the post-structuralists; probably need to re-read a lot of that.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 6, 2018)

For a few years now- 2007 onwards at least- I've been able to find out the influences people writing in sci fi/fantasy/etc mention as having impacted on their own work (google). Often see a lot of things I'd read from the past mentioned, sometimes new mentions. On here as well, where it might get a mention in say this thread (its got an odd tone) , I never did see Chronicles of an Age of Darkness mentioned. Finally decided to buy two of them from the internet, paperbacks for a penny but the postage is more, which troubles me. Seems off somehow.

it was always something that I had completely forgotten as a tale except now and then, discussing the subject of fantasy classics and good reads specifically (not often so). Its lurked at the back of my head for so long I had to buy. Walrus and the Warwolf, Women and the Warriors- they stuck in the back of my head as odd brilliant gems. So why not.

I got the Wishstone and the Wonderworkers plus the Wazir and the Witch. Both chronologically after the three I have already read.

its not a sequence of books either, in the normal way of fantasy. Weirdly rich and involved in a seemingly pulp structure.

they all have these old school cheese fantasy covers, and I am hoping for yellowed pages.


----------



## PursuedByBears (Jul 6, 2018)

I read those years ago and all I remember is that I enjoyed them but all the details have gone now


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 18, 2018)

PursuedByBears said:


> I read those years ago and all I remember is that I enjoyed them but all the details have gone now



its clearly taking the mick to a high degree and has some interesting literary conceits/framings novel to novel. I laughed a lot and theres genuine gold among the demented stuff. Picked up another three from the series at a small place called bookcave that specialises in 2nd hand fantasy and sf. Places like that are 10 a penny in big towns but this is the only one in kettering and I'm buying while its there. Better that than amazon get the money


----------



## campanula (Jul 18, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> Over two days I finished Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem trilogy. Last two books, The Dark Forest and Death's End.
> 
> In China its called 'Remembrance of Earth Past' but it makes more sense to market as Three Body Problem here, A the first book was a hit and B its a notably sci fi esque name. But I prefer the romance of the chinese version.
> 
> ...



Mmmm, read the first one and wasn't engaged. Have dithered whether to bother with the remaining 2...convince me they are a radical change from the vaguely gaming conceit and who the fuck are the Trisolarians cos I have no solid conception of them to present any sort of possible threat or anything else.



weltweit said:


> I have forgotten to note the books I have been reading since about half way through 2017 which is a pain.
> QUOTE]
> 
> Yep, I forgot to add anything after 2nd January


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 18, 2018)

campanula said:


> .convince me they are a radical change from the vaguely gaming conceit and who the fuck are the Trisolarians cos I have no solid conception of them to present any sort of possible threat or anything else


yeah it goes beyond the wallbreaker stuff which I know was a bit cheese but I liked it anyway. Way beyond. Can't help you with trisolarians lol but I think the first one explains the life cycle, the star system etc and how they might evolve. At the start. It was a good long time between me reading the first and then the second two, I read 3 body when it was released then the other two some time after they were both out. Its worth your time imo.


----------



## Baronage-Phase (Jul 28, 2018)

Got it a year ago but I'm only getting a chance to read it now.


----------



## Yogibear (Jul 28, 2018)

Got a couple on the go as usual. Sidharta by Herman Hesse and Arrival by Ted Chiang.


----------



## Baronage-Phase (Jul 28, 2018)

Siddhartha is a great book.


----------



## starfish (Jul 28, 2018)

1984. I thought it was about time.


----------



## Wilf (Jul 29, 2018)

Dead Man's Trousers - Irvine Welsh. Follow on to Blade Artist, which follows Porno, I think, though I haven't read that - all of which follow Trainspotting - but are all preceded by Skagboys. Are you keeping up at the back?  Anyway, certainly flawed: feels like he's giving it another shake, doesn't write women characters well (and there's that thing about whether the misogyny of his characters is actually him) plus there's an implausibility about Begbie as there was in Blade Artist. But there's enough vibrancy in his writing, strong portrayals of hedonism and ageing and the like. Certainly readable.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 29, 2018)

alan moore's 'From Hell'. All the better for b&w, its top drawer writing.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 29, 2018)

Just signed up to a three month free trail of kindle unlimited.

Its prime members only but you can cancel that straight after. 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....-amazing-amazon-kindle-unlimited-deal.amphtml

Started with Dogs of War: Adrian Tchaikovsky.

 Don't forget to cancel before Amazon slurps your first payment.


----------



## Yogibear (Jul 29, 2018)

Artaxerxes said:


> Just signed up to a three month free trail of kindle unlimited.
> 
> Its prime members only but you can cancel that straight after.
> 
> ...



That looks like a really interesting book. AI and genetic manipulation - “My name is Rex. I am a Good Dog"


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 29, 2018)

Yogibear said:


> That looks like a really interesting book. AI and genetic manipulation - “My name is Rex. I am a Good Dog"



I've blasted halfway through it already, it's fantastic.

It's a lot like We3 but looks like there's going to be more of an after action section about what it means to be human.


----------



## kebabking (Jul 30, 2018)

Aelfreds Britain - war and peace in the Viking Age. Max Adams.

Much more, and much better, than a biography of King Aelfred of Wessex, it's more a biography of the Viking Age, both in Britain and further afield, with Aelfred as a bit part player.

Really good, really readable - Adams' _The King in the North _was equally worthwhile.


----------



## danny la rouge (Aug 3, 2018)

Read the intro yesterday, but just getting the chance to start chapter one now. I've got a cup of tea and the Fournier/Backhaus Brahms Cello Sonatas on in the background. (I know it well enough not to divert my attention).

I'll let you know how I get on.


----------



## danny la rouge (Aug 6, 2018)

So far not very impressed.  He spent a long time setting up what appears to be a pretty tenuous case for substitutionism.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 7, 2018)

Everyday Sexism, by Laura Bates.  It's fucking enraging me, page by page. I don't think I've ever identified with the content of a book so much.


----------



## ringo (Aug 13, 2018)

A friend who is very senior in publishing recommended her favourite book, so I'm having a go at that: The Discovery Of Heaven by Harry Mulisch.
Supposed to be the most popular novel in Holland, enjoying it so far. It's massive, with equally large ideas, concepts and non-stop theories and distractions, history, philosophy, everything. A bit of a challenge, but so far so good.


----------



## Dragnet (Aug 18, 2018)

Just finished Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King by Lloyd Bradley. It's taken me a while to get round to a book specifically focused on reggae, having been a fan of it for over a decade; reading this, though, has filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. Still, I wish the author wasn't as dismissive of a lot of the 80's/90's dancehall stuff - not to mention having a pop at Smiley Culture, who I think he refers to as 'gimmicky'.


----------



## PursuedByBears (Aug 18, 2018)

Dragnet said:


> Just finished Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King by Lloyd Bradley. It's taken me a while to get round to a book specifically focused on reggae, having been a fan of it for over a decade; reading this, though, has filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. Still, I wish the author wasn't as dismissive of a lot of the 80's/90's dancehall stuff - not to mention having a pop at Smiley Culture, who I think he refers to as 'gimmicky'.


Adds to reading list


----------



## not-bono-ever (Aug 18, 2018)

retro - Gorky park - never acutally read it before- freebie found in a box of books (aka middle class front garden wall recycling)


----------



## Humirax (Aug 18, 2018)

The City and the City by China Mieville. Murder mystery set in a dystopian future. Only just started it.

I have finished Prisoner 155 by Augustin Comotto, a graphic novel about the remarkable life of dedicated anarchist Simon Radowitzky, I found it a powerful and educational biography, great stuff. By reading it you learn not just about Radowitzky but about history, including the history of the anarchist movement during the time he lived.


----------



## Humirax (Aug 18, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> alan moore's 'From Hell'. All the better for b&w, its top drawer writing.


I have a copy, a great piece of work, haunting. Not finished it yet though.


----------



## Humirax (Aug 18, 2018)

ringo said:


> I'm now enjoying the absolute gem that is Laurie Lee's 'Cider With Rosie'.


Certainly one of the most enjoyable and well written books I've read.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Aug 18, 2018)

Michael Pollan - How To Change Your Mind: The new science of psychedelics


----------



## circleline (Aug 21, 2018)

Fascinating .Haven't seen the film; am bit scared of horses but beautiful, intelligent and fascinating creatures I am understanding..


----------



## Ralph Llama (Aug 21, 2018)

Johnny Vodka said:


> Michael Pollan - How To Change Your Mind: The new science of psychedelics



This looks good... and long overdue !



Interesting bit on Eleusinian Mysteries - Wikipedia


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 21, 2018)

1981. Two men head over the border to Donegal to illegally cut some turf and discover the body of a child. Lots of commentary about the hunger strikers. A real page turner.


----------



## Sprocket. (Aug 22, 2018)

Governing the World: The History of an Idea, 1815 to the Present.
Mark Mazower.


----------



## Voley (Aug 22, 2018)

Just read 'The Call Of Cthulhu' for the first time. I feel an obsession coming on.


----------



## tedsplitter (Aug 23, 2018)

Leila Ahmed - Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
Laleh Bakhtiar (translator) - the Sublime Quran
Frederick Engels - The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
Helen MacFarlane: Red Republican: Essays, Articles and Her Translation of the Communist Manifesto
Alan Moore / Kevin O'Neill - The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Century: 1910


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Aug 23, 2018)

circleline said:


> View attachment 144596
> 
> Fascinating .Haven't seen the film; am bit scared of horses but beautiful, intelligent and fascinating creatures I am understanding..


Loved that, was my favourite book I read last year. The film is pretty good too.

I'm currently about halfway through The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Aug 23, 2018)

Voley said:


> Just read 'The Call Of Cthulhu' for the first time. I feel an obsession coming on.


I've been wanting to read some Lovecraft, don't think I've read anything by him aside from a couple of short stories when I was a teenager. Wasn't he a massive racist though - does any of that come through in his writing?


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 23, 2018)

I'm on Grunts by Mary Gentle. Its quite funny, the idea is a bog standard tolkien middle earth clone world, and the orcs decide to steal a dragons horde, a horde cursed with 'you will become like those whose treasure you stole'. Through unexplained dimensional oddity the dragons horde contains US Marine corp weaponry, vehicles etc. So Orc MArines. Its one joke but its a good joke, and she writes well so it carries


----------



## Voley (Aug 23, 2018)

Buddy Bradley said:


> I've been wanting to read some Lovecraft, don't think I've read anything by him aside from a couple of short stories when I was a teenager. Wasn't he a massive racist though - does any of that come through in his writing?


In the one I've read so far, yes it does. It's written from the pov of a professor from a previous time though so actually gives it a feel of authenticity. Probably not intended tbf but I  could imagine someone from that time  believing in the superiority of his race. Others by him are meant to be worse from what I've heard mind. I've only read one story so far.


----------



## 8115 (Aug 27, 2018)

I've just read an incredible book called "This is the Life" by Alex Shearer. I'm pretty sure I got it in a charity shop. It's about a man looking after his dying brother and its reminiscent of Raymond Carver at his finest, without being a pastiche.


----------



## moonsi til (Aug 27, 2018)

In the past 2 weeks I have read 5 books due to being on holiday. It was great lounging with a beer/sangria & just relaxing into a book. From those I recommend The Underground Railroas by (I think) Colson Whitehead & Revolutionary Ride Through Iran by Lois Pryce.


----------



## rubbershoes (Aug 27, 2018)

Seven deadly sins by David Walsh

He is a journalist who spent ten years on and off trying to prove Lance Armstrong was doping.  I've read many of the other books about this so little of it was new. It's still a fascinating read to see Lance's web of influence stifle the truth for so long before the weight of evidence gets too much. Mennonite farmboy Floyd Landis had to clear his conscience and tell all


----------



## Wesley rodgers (Aug 29, 2018)

The long goodbye.  (Chandler.) Re-reading his novels and short stories.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 29, 2018)

About to finish an Inspector Rebus. I've only read one Rankin before (one of his early ones - not Rebus) and this is quite an agreeable page turner.

Fleshmarket Close.


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 29, 2018)

Buddy Bradley said:


> I've been wanting to read some Lovecraft, don't think I've read anything by him aside from a couple of short stories when I was a teenager. Wasn't he a massive racist though - does any of that come through in his writing?



Sometimes but his real rants were contained within letters to his contemporaries, I believe. He did marry a Jewish woman, but then, racism is hardly logic.

The ugly sentiments aside, his stories are cracking reads and very influential.


----------



## ginger_syn (Aug 30, 2018)

Doctor who and the daleks by David Whitaker, an interesting read and fun.


----------



## ginger_syn (Aug 30, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm on Grunts by Mary Gentle. Its quite funny, the idea is a bog standard tolkien middle earth clone world, and the orcs decide to steal a dragons horde, a horde cursed with 'you will become like those whose treasure you stole'. Through unexplained dimensional oddity the dragons horde contains US Marine corp weaponry, vehicles etc. So Orc MArines. Its one joke but its a good joke, and she writes well so it carries


Always think of this book when watching the Lord of the rings films. Its a good read.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 30, 2018)

ginger_syn said:


> Always think of this book when watching the Lord of the rings films. Its a good read.


the author is clearly having a lot of fun, introducing the Alien made me laugh out loud. I mean why not? Aliens is a great marines in trouble And monster film, throw it in there.


----------



## ginger_syn (Aug 30, 2018)

I really feel i shouldn't have laughed out  loud at the elf splitting bit, but I did.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Aug 31, 2018)

Just finished reading The Radium Girls by Kate Moore.  All about the young women who worked painting watch and instrument duals with radium in the 1920s in the US, and their fight to get compensation.

Plenty of depictions of the effects of radiation from the radium deposited in their bones.  They suffered horrendous medical problems as a result, with plenty of them dying young. 

Unsurpringly, the companies behaved like complete bastards.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 2, 2018)

This is the first in the Broken Earth trilogy. Fantasy has to be pretty engaging/unusual to grab me these days and this one manages it. Its really well written with an intriguing world. Got a 2016 Hugo in the best novel category. A deserved win by the looks, the writing is commanding


----------



## flypanam (Sep 3, 2018)

Ismail Kadare - The traitor's niche.

Set in the Ottoman empire after the death of Ali Pasha, a pretty good story, told well, about the Albanian state under Hoxha.


----------



## TruXta (Sep 3, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> This is the first in the Broken Earth trilogy. Fantasy has to be pretty engaging/unusual to grab me these days and this one manages it. Its really well written with an intriguing world. Got a 2016 Hugo in the best novel category. A deserved win by the looks, the writing is commanding


Decent read. I think all three won the Hugo.


----------



## Wilf (Sep 3, 2018)

TruXta said:


> Decent read. I think all three won the Hugo.


Hmmm.... and in my local library. I like a bit of intelligent fantasy writing me.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 4, 2018)

I moved straight onto Obelisk Gate without pause having read Fifth Season in a couple of days.So thats a recc lol


----------



## D'wards (Sep 10, 2018)

The Moon's a Balloon - The David Niven autobiography. 

Still in his pre filmstar days, but the man is some raconteur. Interesting to read about a lad who is not the most studious and pretty mischevious, but entrenched in the public school system of the 20s.
How they tried everything to get him into a top public school, but in the end the kids that don't make the grade are fucked off to the forces. Often as officer class


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 25, 2018)

I read the Death's Head 3 books from David Gunn. Its really shamelessly trashy military sci fi, tight plotting and war is hell etc. This bio:
'The brief biography of the author provided by his publisher states that Gunn comes from a service family, that he has undertaken assignments in the Middle East, Central America, and Russia, and that he lives in the United Kingdom' 
of the author is well sparse and amusingly might be an unacknowledged nom de plume for Jon Courtenay Grimwood. Who knows. I can't say it was crap because I read all three but... very brain bubblegum.

Finished Angel Station by Guy Gibson, a scottish sci fi author which was a little more engaging. Onto his Shoals sequence of novels.


----------



## Wilf (Sep 26, 2018)

Just started The Son, by Jo Nesbo. It's another Norwegian crime thriller but without Harry Hole (or indeed anybody from those novels). In fact the style and plotting _feel like_ a Harry Hole novel, with a different cast. Very competent writing/translating, as you'd expect, but it's a bit like another trip round the same block.


----------



## Wilf (Sep 26, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> I moved straight onto Obelisk Gate without pause having read Fifth Season in a couple of days.So thats a recc lol


I got the 5th Season out of the library, after your discussion on here. It's on my pile.


----------



## Wilf (Sep 26, 2018)

Wilf said:


> Just started The Son, by Jo Nesbo. It's another Norwegian crime thriller but without Harry Hole (or indeed anybody from those novels). In fact the style and plotting _feel like_ a Harry Hole novel, with a different cast. Very competent writing/translating, as you'd expect, but it's a bit like another trip round the same block.


 Entirely random thought: it's interesting reading someone with a long running series based around one character trying to do the same with another leading cop or whatever. In the one I'm reading you can see him establishing what will no doubt be a tense but productive relationship between the old established cop and the new high flying degree educated rookie (just about the biggest cliché in there is in crime thrillers). I'm a very undemanding reader of fiction, I like to forget the author and just get absorbed in the story. But reading an author developing a new set of characters, really brings the author and their toolkit back into view.


----------



## hash tag (Sep 27, 2018)

rubbershoes said:


> Seven deadly sins by David Walsh
> 
> He is a journalist who spent ten years on and off trying to prove Lance Armstrong was doping.  I've read many of the other books about this so little of it was new. It's still a fascinating read to see Lance's web of influence stifle the truth for so long before the weight of evidence gets too much. Mennonite farmboy Floyd Landis had to clear his conscience and tell all



By Contrast to that is Christophe Bassons book My Clean Break A Clean Break by Christophe Bassons, Peter Cossins | Waterstones
A right carry on is Anquetil's Sex, Lies and Handlebar tape Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape by Paul Howard | Waterstones

I have just picked up Michelle Lyons Death Row and read the first two chapters at work last night Death Row: The Final Minutes by Michelle Lyons | Waterstones


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 27, 2018)

_Black and British_ - A Forgotten History by David Olusoga. Fascinating and harrowing.
Also reading _Loop_ by Koji Suzuki, apparently it's part of his _Ring_ trilogy but so far, it appears to be a stand alone effort. Which is fine, as I haven't read the other two in the series.


----------



## extra dry (Sep 27, 2018)

Something by Martin Mcgartland IRA informer. And a horror by C.J Tudor.The chalk man. Only a few pages in, bit like S. King.


----------



## flypanam (Sep 29, 2018)

A coffee table book called ‘Soviet era postcards from the Eastern Bloc’ lots of postcards of brutalist buildings, really beautiful book. 

Keith Gessen’s ‘A terrible country’ a novel based on gessen’s experiences returning to Russia to stay with his gran.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 1, 2018)

Face To Face, by Professor Jim McCaul.

I somehow came across the work of Harold Gillies, and became fascinated with it, and it led to finding this book. I'm totally engrossed by it.


----------



## circleline (Oct 1, 2018)

Really fascinating.  Gutted though that I missed this year's Open Gardens event, where No.49 Bankside opened up its 'secret' walled garden (right next door to The Globe theatre) for the very first time.  If only to exclaim at how damp and dank it seemed.  (The cellars date back to the Tudor inn that stood on this site previously and the fishponds are (presumed, falsely) rumoured to date from the original pike gardens from Tudor times).

49 Bankside | London Parks & Gardens Trust


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 4, 2018)

krtek a houby said:


> _Black and British_ - A Forgotten History by David Olusoga. Fascinating and harrowing.
> Also reading _Loop_ by Koji Suzuki, apparently it's part of his _Ring_ trilogy but so far, it appears to be a stand alone effort. Which is fine, as I haven't read the other two in the series.



Just add regarding Loop



Spoiler



Having finished it today - it totally is part of_ The Ring_ mythos but in a weird alternative world/cyberpunk way


----------



## jusali (Oct 4, 2018)

Yuval Noah Harari - 21 Lessons for the 21st Century..........


----------



## William of Walworth (Oct 5, 2018)

Just started reading this







It's absolutely fascinating! And well written


----------



## William of Walworth (Oct 5, 2018)

Oh yes, recently finished this -- brilliant  
All about the highs and lows of the UK free-festival era from roughly Isle of Wight Festival's dissident event outside its gates (1970) to Castlemorton (very much including Stonehenge but also lots of smaller events).

Abrahams and Wishart are editors and only contribute small amounts themselves, the vast majority of it is anecdotes and  memories and short themed chapters from those involved either as organisers, performers or simply people "just going along to festival X, man!"


----------



## weltweit (Oct 5, 2018)

I just read Bill Bryson, The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid. 

About his early life. Amusing and easy to read.


----------



## D'wards (Oct 8, 2018)

A friend at work gave me a Martina Cole book the read. The Good Life.

Awful stuff - cheesy Mills and Boon style romance where the men are brutal violent arseholes, but who love their muvvas and only torture those who deserve it. 2/5 at best


----------



## planetgeli (Oct 8, 2018)

Lyrical. Dark.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Oct 14, 2018)

All I've read so far are the picture captions, but I Genuinelol'd a couple of times. I'm going to enjoy this.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 14, 2018)

Homicide: A year on the killing streets. Quite good.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Oct 14, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> Homicide: A year on the killing streets. Quite good.


Oh yeah, that's a fantastic read.


----------



## belboid (Oct 14, 2018)

After being crap at novel reading all year, I’m finally catching up a bit.

*Muriel Spark* - *Memento* *Mori*.  Very funny meditation on death and what it means to us. Reminded me a bit of Lolly Willowes, in that it seems to be just a genteel pastiche of bourgeois values, but is actually cutting and rather wicked. It also has a character in it called Granny Trotsky.

*Jennifer* *Egan* - *Manhattan* *Beach*. A far more ‘traditional’ Novel then A Visit from the Goon Squad, tho that does it no harm for the most part. I loved the first three-quarters, but as the climaxes started to build it became a bit obvious, with scenes I just didn’t quite believe. Still well written and enjoyable, but not quite as good as it might have been.

*Anna Burns - Milkman*.  Unnamed people during the troubles in the early seventies. I’m only a third of the way in, and I suspect it may turn into a ‘boys and their toys’ view, but it’s gripping stuff so far.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 15, 2018)

I fucking HEART Muriel Spark, belboid , and that book is bloody hilarious int it?


----------



## belboid (Oct 16, 2018)

sojourner said:


> I fucking HEART Muriel Spark, belboid , and that book is bloody hilarious int it?


It’s magnificent. mrs b started it last night and was immediately giggling away. 

I’ve only read that, Ballad of Peckham Rye and the Prime of... I must correct this.


----------



## pengaleng (Oct 16, 2018)

I have got this for me new life


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 16, 2018)

_Pride and Prejudice_ - Jane Austen.

Based on a classic telly series (with a wet-shirted Colin Firth) and not as inpenetrable as I thought it might be.


----------



## ringo (Oct 16, 2018)

krtek a houby said:


> _Pride and Prejudice_ - Jane Austen.
> 
> Based on a classic telly series (with a wet-shirted Colin Firth) and not as inpenetrable as I thought it might be.


If there was a thread called 'Books you thought would be shit but turned out to be great', this would be my entry.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 16, 2018)

belboid said:


> It’s magnificent. mrs b started it last night and was immediately giggling away.
> 
> I’ve only read that, Ballad of Peckham Rye and the Prime of... I must correct this.


Yes deffo - read anything of hers that you can get your hands on. Such condensed writing, so much in so few words, with a ferociously cutting sense of humour


----------



## Isis Elektra (Oct 16, 2018)

I've not long finished reading the Wheel of Time series for the second time.. It's an awful lot of reading.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 16, 2018)

Isis Elektra said:


> I've not long finished reading the Wheel of Time series for the second time.. It's an awful lot of reading.



twice? 





Once was enough for me


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 16, 2018)

Isis Elektra said:


> I've not long finished reading the Wheel of Time series for the second time.. It's an awful lot of reading.



Plain awful, I'd call it. 2 books in was enough for me.


----------



## Isis Elektra (Oct 16, 2018)

I loved them,, they started off a little slowly but then I really got into them


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 16, 2018)

Isis Elektra said:


> I loved them,, they started off a little slowly but then I really got into them



There's some great ideas in there but I found there were also too many lengthy periods with not a lot going on.


----------



## PursuedByBears (Oct 16, 2018)

I've just started re-reading Wheel of Time.  Enjoying it so far but aware I may regret deciding to do this!


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 16, 2018)

the journey was long but I did finish them all, by choice and it was worth it. Rumours abound about a series, which could potentially be good.



Isis Elektra said:


> I loved them,, they started off a little slowly but then I really got into them


I thought Sanderson did a good job of finishing the series off as well, it wasn't *the same* authorial style but it was good enough.


----------



## Sprocket. (Oct 17, 2018)

Judgment on Deltchev - Eric Ambler.
After a slight prompt from another thread.


----------



## Pickman's model (Oct 17, 2018)

w.b. yeats 'a vision and related writings'


----------



## Isis Elektra (Oct 18, 2018)

You won't regret it,I hope.


----------



## Isis Elektra (Oct 18, 2018)

It was quite noticeable.. I was reading it and thinking no way this character would have said this in that way.. It was acceptable and I'm glad it got finished, but it was never quite Robert Jordan


----------



## Isis Elektra (Oct 18, 2018)

I'm quite into Nick Alexander at this point too, similarly different genre but quite interesting for a "light read"


----------



## Baronage-Phase (Oct 19, 2018)

Eternity's Sunrise: The Imaginative World of William Blake by Leo Damrosch.

Beautifully written with a great insight into Blake, his life, poetry, art and imagination...And his philosophy of life.  
Beautiful quality colour plates and illustrations. 100 in all.


----------



## MrSki (Oct 19, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> the journey was long but I did finish them all, by choice and it was worth it. Rumours abound about a series, which could potentially be good.
> 
> 
> I thought Sanderson did a good job of finishing the series off as well, it wasn't *the same* authorial style but it was good enough.


There is  a lot more humour in the last couple of books. 7 8 & 9 are a bit boring though. I have done it thrice.


----------



## MrSki (Oct 19, 2018)

Am currently reading "Hitman Anders & the Meaning of it all" by Jonas Jonasson. Same author as The Girl that saved the King of Sweden & the 100 year old man who did a bunk.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 19, 2018)

MrSki said:


> There is  a lot more humour in the last couple of books. 7 8 & 9 are a bit boring though. I have done it thrice.


reasons I can't face anther go through that are not 'theres too much new stuff to read':
Nynaeve's braid tugging and a million other jordantropes

How long it takes to power everyone up. I know some build up is needed and you couldn't have rand just throwing deathgates around in book one but fuck me, its a saga in itself just getting Egwene to Amrylin position.

Characters who should have died or gone away yet never do e.g Thom Merrilin

Almost all perrin ayabara subplots should have been sacrificed in order to spend more time with matt cauthons guerilla/irregulars force

After malazan Book of The Fallen I demand my fantasy epics include hi explosives and better war.

I might re read the last one at some point tho!


----------



## iona (Oct 22, 2018)

About a third of the way through this atm





It's brilliant, he breaks stuff down into simple analogies (firing a bow & arrow through slats in a fence to measure light's polarisation; electrons bouncing round a pinball machine where you win either a car or a goat ) that you don't need any science knowledge to understand. Really interesting too.


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 24, 2018)

Chasing Fireflies by Charles Martin.   Family secrets and folksy wisdom in rural Georgia


----------



## sojourner (Oct 25, 2018)

Just started Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor. Well-written, not too dry.


----------



## D'wards (Oct 25, 2018)

Let's see what all the fuss around One Hundred Years of Solitude is all about


----------



## sojourner (Oct 26, 2018)

Started reading Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell last night. Had reserved it at the library on the strength of what Voley  had said about it. About a third of the way through and enjoying it so far


----------



## Wilf (Oct 26, 2018)

PippinTook said:


> Eternity's Sunrise: The Imaginative World of William Blake by Leo Damrosch.
> 
> Beautifully written with a great insight into Blake, his life, poetry, art and imagination...And his philosophy of life.
> Beautiful quality colour plates and illustrations. 100 in all.


I enjoyed Peter Ackroyd's biography of Blake. Cannae remember much about it though, except he was constantly on the cadge to various patrons for funding to keep and body and soul together. Oh and sitting outside his house with his wife... in the nip.


----------



## Baronage-Phase (Oct 26, 2018)

Wilf said:


> I enjoyed Peter Ackroyd's biography of Blake. Cannae remember much about it though, except he was constantly on the cadge to various patrons for funding to keep and body and soul together. Oh and sitting outside his house with his wife... in the nip.



Speaking of Ackroyd, I'd like to read his biography of Alfred Hitchcock. Have you read it?


----------



## Wilf (Oct 26, 2018)

PippinTook said:


> Speaking of Ackroyd, I'd like to read his biography of Alfred Hitchcock. Have you read it?


No. I read a few of his about 10 years ago - limehouse golem, hawksmoor, the John Dee book and the Blake one, maybe others, but not that.


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 31, 2018)

Battle for the Falklands by Hitler Hastings  

For such a tory tubthumper, his account of the competing historical claims for the islands is surprisingly balanced


----------



## D'wards (Nov 2, 2018)

One Hundred Years of Solitude. 

Bejesus it's dull, but I'm gonna persist


----------



## twentythreedom (Nov 3, 2018)

Just starting How To Be Right In A World Gone Wrong by James O'Brien of LBC


----------



## D'wards (Nov 3, 2018)

twentythreedom said:


> Just starting How To Be Right In A World Gone Wrong by James O'Brien of LBC


Be interested to see what you think. I listen to him on LBC when he's not talking about Brexit - so  not that much. Its not that i disagree with him, its just that i cannot bear to hear any more about it.

His book got a bit of a shoeing in the Guardian, who described him as a bully and a show off, and that a lot of his book is transcriptions of his LBC phone calls


----------



## twentythreedom (Nov 3, 2018)

D'wards said:


> Be interested to see what you think. I listen to him on LBC when he's not talking about Brexit - so  not that much. Its not that i disagree with him, its just that i cannot bear to hear any more about it.
> 
> His book got a bit of a shoeing in the Guardian, who described him as a bully and a show off, and that a lot of his book is transcriptions of his LBC phone calls


Only got it today but I will update. 

I hope he does a book about Mystery Hour


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 5, 2018)

I'm reading a bio of James Angleton (CIA chief from BITD) Called 'Ghost'. He admired and met Ezra pound in his youth, heh. Says he met Philby first in '44 which iirc was when philby was already working for the other side, I had it in my head that he was turned in the spanish civil war.


----------



## ringo (Nov 6, 2018)

Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
Enjoying this, it's a couple of years since I read the first two and good to get back to the characters. He has a deceptively easy style that suddenly becomes quite gritty and incisive on the politics and culture of the time. His writing has a great rhythm. Quite satisfying to read a long book which will likely prevent me from reaching my target in the annual reading thread and not really caring because it's more important to enjoy reading.

I do have to avoid the tendency to hear the narration out loud in that good old boy, home on the range, pally southern drawl many old cowboy movies used to employ. Always found that mildly annoying, but have managed so far to put it aside. Some books I want to finish and some like this could happily go on forever.


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 6, 2018)

Grimm's Fairy Tales - Brothers Grimm

Short tales compiled by the brothers from Germanic folklore. Kind of repetitive, plot-wise but hey, literature.


----------



## Virtual Blue (Nov 7, 2018)

Name of the Wind.


----------



## PursuedByBears (Nov 7, 2018)

Virtual Blue said:


> Name of the Wind.


Great book, as is number 2, but don't hold your breath for Rothfuss to actually finish the series!


----------



## sojourner (Nov 7, 2018)

ringo said:


> Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
> Enjoying this, it's a couple of years since I read the first two and good to get back to the characters. He has a deceptively easy style that suddenly becomes quite gritty and incisive on the politics and culture of the time. His writing has a great rhythm. Quite satisfying to read a long book which will likely prevent me from reaching my target in the annual reading thread and not really caring because it's more important to enjoy reading.
> 
> I do have to avoid the tendency to hear the narration out loud in that good old boy, home on the range, pally southern drawl many old cowboy movies used to employ. Always found that mildly annoying, but have managed so far to put it aside. Some books I want to finish and some like this could happily go on forever.


Love love LOVE this book, so fucking much   As does marty21


----------



## flypanam (Nov 7, 2018)

The idiot - Elif Batuman

So far so good, definitely deserves all the praise that has been heaped on it.


----------



## stuff_it (Nov 7, 2018)

Knocking on Heaven's Door by Lisa Randall - my mum bought it for me. It's about CERN and the LHC, though published just before they found the Higg's Boson.


----------



## Virtual Blue (Nov 7, 2018)

PursuedByBears said:


> Great book, as is number 2, but don't hold your breath for Rothfuss to actually finish the series!



Fucking Chandrians.

Agreed...a great book.


----------



## PursuedByBears (Nov 7, 2018)

I've just finished Chris Packham's Fingers in the Sparkle Jar which I really liked and really resonated with my experiences of having (undiagnosed) High Functioning Autism - the obsessions, the incomprehension about how other people think and feel.  Also great on the nature stuff.

I'm now about to start to re-read Good Omens before the TV series starts on Amazon.  I also want to finish a book of Blake's poetry and Thoreau's Walden Pond as I'm half-way through both.


----------



## porp (Nov 8, 2018)

D'wards said:


> One Hundred Years of Solitude.
> 
> Bejesus it's dull, but I'm gonna persist


You are a better person than me, then. Recently started and gave up. I really liked Nobody Writes to the Colonel so I thought would like this.


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 8, 2018)

porp said:


> You are a better person than me, then. Recently started and gave up. I really liked Nobody Writes to the Colonel so I thought would like this.



I started it 22 years ago


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 13, 2018)

Just finished Richard Morgans pastiche of himself in 'Thin Air'. Excellent Get Carter reference 'you're a big man and your in shape, but with me its on a helix level'.

currently on: Why Marx Was Right by terry eagleton which is ok


----------



## sojourner (Nov 13, 2018)

Still reading Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor. Struck by the incessant monstrous brutalities on both sides. Fuck me. But also slightly hysterically cheered by the bloody-mindedness and resourcefulness of the Russians


----------



## seventh bullet (Nov 13, 2018)

sojourner said:


> But also slightly hysterically cheered by the bloody-mindedness and resourcefulness of the Russians



The locals, army and civilian alike, certainly threw everything they had, including the kitchen sink, at the Germans for a gruelling near six months.


----------



## Griff (Nov 20, 2018)

Just about to start Voices of the Windrush Generation by David Matthews. Looking forward to it after reading his first book Looking For a Fight. I also went to school with him and is probably now one of the people I've known the longest other than my mother.


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 20, 2018)

*The Garden of Last Days*  by Andre Dubus III


It consist of interweaving stories just before 9/11.

It's good on getting inside the heads of people doing bad things and justifying  to themselves that they're good


----------



## porp (Nov 20, 2018)

So I recently started reading Nevil Shute. I had vaguely meant to read On The Beach for a while. It really is the most unsettling book. If you can imagine a 1950s English suburban conservative take on nuclear war- essentially meeting the end of the world with a "mustn't grumble" attitude. It is in turns complacent, audacious, unselfconscious, chilling...it will stay with me for a long time.


----------



## flypanam (Dec 5, 2018)

Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 5, 2018)

last two weeks I read Primo Levi 'If this is a man' and for lighter stuff Genevieve Cogman's 'The Invisible Library' 
Am currently on 'narcoland' by anabel hernbandez, had it for a while and bush snr dying reminded me to tackle that.


----------



## weltweit (Dec 9, 2018)

Iain Banks, The Steep Approach To Garbadale. 

This is the first non sci-fi book of his that I have read, it was a gift, I am about 1/3 way in and enjoying it so far.


----------



## weltweit (Dec 9, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> last two weeks I read Primo Levi 'If this is a man' ….



I read that about a year ago, and another from him. They make you think ..


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 9, 2018)

weltweit said:


> I read that about a year ago, and another from him. They make you think ..


not light reading, no


I'm currently on Noumenon which is a sci fi story by Marina J Lostetter

quite good, if a bit offhand


----------



## ringo (Dec 17, 2018)

ringo said:


> Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry


That was great, a treat from start to finish.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 17, 2018)

just read Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko. Its ukranian, was published over a decade ago but got an english translation this year. Really enjoyed it, went through it in one evening/early morning. Hopefully the sequel makes it to translation soon. I don't know what it was like in the original (obviously) but the translation is elegant and unfussy. Its a fantasy.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 17, 2018)

ringo said:


> That was great, a treat from start to finish.


Did you cry then?


----------



## ringo (Dec 17, 2018)

sojourner said:


> Did you cry then?


No, but I was annoyed with Call for not having the guts to talk to his son.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 17, 2018)

ringo said:


> No, but I was annoyed with Call for not having the guts to talk to his son.


I sobbed my eyes out!


----------



## BristolEcho (Dec 30, 2018)

Just finished a Book of Dust. 



Spoiler: Click



Think I preferred the first half of the book to the second half. I got a bit bored of the constant running in the second half, where as the first half had some intrigue to it. 

It was nice to be back in that world though. I've noticed that the next book is set after HDM, so I think I will try to read the previous ones again before then.


----------



## porp (Jan 5, 2019)

Just finished 'Hired' by James Bloodworth.

Basically a Guardian journo spends six months doing zero hours and casual jobs. It is much better than I thought it would be.

What I liked is that he goes  beyond the tick list of things you would expect to find (low wages, grinding uncertainty, shit housing, atomised workers) and gets to the telling  details -  the job agencies repeatedly and casually underpaying, the workers too fearful to defend themselves, landlords and agents cheerfully ripping off tenants, the DBS check delays that stop people getting work, the way anxious workers have learned to parrot  slogans abut the 'freedoms' of self employment.

I don't know if he consciously set out to do an Orwell, but there are strong echoes of The Road to Wigan Pier -  the lists of weekly living expenses, the morning sights and smells of the modern dosshouse, why poor people prefer chips to brocolli, and other things.


----------



## PursuedByBears (Jan 6, 2019)

Bought this today with some birthday Waterstones vouchers, I've been looking forward to reading this.  It's 500+ pages and written by Ad-Rock and Mike D as the two surviving members.


----------



## Ptolemy (Jan 7, 2019)

Since I read _Germinal _and _Nana_ at the end of 2017, I've slowly been going through the _Rougon-Macquart_ cycle of novels by Zola. I love the way it captures the seedy, corrupt, sexually-charged and all-round hypocritical atmosphere of 19th century French bourgeois life, as well as the colossal economic injustice faced by the working class whose labour kept these middle-class and upper-class sleazebags in their unearned luxury.

In about September of last year, I thought I'd make the effort to read them in the order Zola intended, and it's been my main reading project since then.

I just finished _*The Dream*_ - the one largely non-naturalistic novel that Zola wrote for the series. I'm not a sentimental person when reading, but this fairy-tale novel of an orphan girl falling in love with the son of a lord made me bawl my eyes out - such a sad, yet hopeful, uplifting and pure story.

I feel a bit more on _terra firma_ with _*The Conquest of Plassans*_ which I just started reading tonight. The story of a mysterious and seemingly sinister priest who comes to live in the central town of the series, his strange purposes and the double-edged relationship he has with his amiable buffoon of a landlord, it's shaping up to be another entertaining read. Dripping with paranoia, backbiting and a vague sense of foreboding which is increasing chapter by chapter...


----------



## ringo (Jan 8, 2019)

Wanderlust is taking hold, or a need to escape, and have bought a pile of travel writing. 

Starting A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby today.

Just finished Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck.

For most of his one man and his dog travels through 1960 America it's interesting but not astounding. Not pedestrian, but the insights of place and humanity are quite hard won.

Then, just as the journey seems to be gently coasting to a close and he starts to think of home he visits a school in Texas where he witnesses crowds of baying rednecks scream abuse at a small girl attending a previously white only segregated school and he goes full Steinbeck.

At first his shock and sadness is palpable but measured. Then his experiences and conversation with locals lays bare the violence and indecency of the situation, and reveals a wisdom and understanding only a writer of his prowess could portray.

Finally he is struck with a sickened anger at the horror and unfairness of what he has seen and writes of it with a clarity and persuasiveness equalled only in his greatest two novels, Of Mice And Men and The Grapes Of Wrath.


----------



## D'wards (Jan 8, 2019)

Kill your Friends by John Niven.

It's horribly and cynically cynical. Some of my friends were signed to a major label around the time it was written and I think I recognise some of the names of A&R people mentioned.


----------



## BristolEcho (Jan 8, 2019)

D'wards said:


> Kill your Friends by John Niven.
> 
> It's horribly and cynically cynical. Some of my friends were signed to a major label around the time it was written and I think I recognise some of the names of A&R people mentioned.



Really enjoyed that book. His book about Jesus was amusing too.


----------



## D'wards (Jan 8, 2019)

BristolEcho said:


> Really enjoyed that book. His book about Jesus was amusing too.


I'm enjoying it too. Found it a little Irvine Welsh lite to start but I like Irvine Welsh so that's not a criticism. 
In fact it's better than  most of Welsh's output in the last 20 years.

Are his other novels as, erm,  nasty?


----------



## BristolEcho (Jan 8, 2019)

They are a mixed bag really. The second coming I personally found amusing. Straight white male I can't even remember and don't remember being impressed when I read it. 

I have his others in my list to slowly work my way through.


----------



## sovereignb (Jan 8, 2019)

D'wards said:


> Kill your Friends by John Niven.
> 
> It's horribly and cynically cynical. Some of my friends were signed to a major label around the time it was written and I think I recognise some of the names of A&R people mentioned.





D'wards said:


> I'm enjoying it too. Found it a little Irvine Welsh lite to start but I like Irvine Welsh so that's not a criticism.
> In fact it's better than  most of Welsh's output in the last 20 years.
> 
> Are his other novels as, erm,  nasty?



Just finished the sequel Kill Em All - not as funny, or maybe the novelty has worn off me. Entertaining enough though and nasty, in a slightly different way this time.

Ive read most of his others, albeit a little while back. None as cutting as KYF...The Amateurs comes close though.​


----------



## BristolEcho (Jan 11, 2019)

Currently reading George Orwell - Ode to Catalonia. Anyone on U75 read this?


----------



## D'wards (Jan 11, 2019)

A Breath of Fresh Air by H.E. Bates. 

The second darling buds of may book. It's delightful. A real palate cleanser after the nastiness of Kill Your Friends.

To be cliched, it really harks back to a simpler time, when a man could have a full English every morning without worrying about his arteries too much.


----------



## Argonia (Jan 12, 2019)

Plateforme by 
*Houellebecq*

*(in French)Plateforme (roman) — Wikipédia*


----------



## circleline (Jan 12, 2019)

D'wards said:


> A Breath of Fresh Air by H.E. Bates.
> 
> The second darling buds of may book. It's delightful. A real palate cleanser after the nastiness of Kill Your Friends.
> 
> To be cliched, it really harks back to a simpler time, when a man could have a full English every morning without worrying about his arteries too much.




I read 'Lark Rise to Candleford' recently.  Never watched the TV series. The books (a trio of memoirs) were a surprisingly informative glimpse into English village life in late 1800s (they were published in 1947).  A gentle recollection of facts and scenes of times past.  IE. Pudding was_ always_ served as a starter course (sometimes with a few currants and raisins) before the main dish of a bit of bacon and veg from the garden; obviously as a filler, as in the tradition of Yorkshire pudding.  The only time it wasn't was when the pig was killed - 'who needed pudding when there was so much meat on offer?'  And that old favourite 'Mead' went by the contemporary sounding name of 'metheglin'.  Enjoyed this romp into the past much more than I thought I would.


----------



## Skin1 (Jan 14, 2019)

Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee.
I am formulating the opinion that Leonard was the problem. Never seen 'him' and his behaviour deeply analysed! As such. The dynamic of the relationship seems to always picture him as the 'prop' the 'saviour' the person who gave and limited her exposure to people for 'her' good. There is something less than symbiotic occuring to me about him. Not evidenced as such. but a gut feeling. About his relationship with Virginia. I am always suspicious of 'saints and rescuers'  Normally something dark and controlling lurks beneath. 
I have never really been able to read Virginia's books (to date) But her 'Moments of Being' is very precious and her diaries fascinating!


----------



## miss direct (Jan 14, 2019)

Not intellectual at all but I'm watching you by Lisa Jewell - really enjoyed it.


----------



## NnamAries (Jan 17, 2019)

Currently reading *Born in Crime* by *Trevor Noah. *Talks about the challenges of the people of South Africa during the apartheid period. So far very interesting and a bit funny too.


----------



## Ptolemy (Jan 21, 2019)

About 200 or so pages into Tolstoy's _Anna Karenina_ - trying again after a first failed attempt to read it at university. I think there are so many wonderful passages in it, whether description or observation.


----------



## Argonia (Jan 22, 2019)

Ptolemy said:


> About 200 or so pages into Tolstoy's _Anna Karenina_ - trying again after a first failed attempt to read it at university. I think there are so many wonderful passages in it, whether description or observation.



I've just started that as well.


----------



## ringo (Jan 22, 2019)

Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
To me her novels are like a cup of tea and a hug.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 23, 2019)

ringo said:


> Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
> To me her novels are like a cup of tea and a hug.



She's releasing the 5th Jackson Brodie book in June


----------



## PursuedByBears (Jan 26, 2019)

I'm about 60 pages into The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope. It's not exactly the literary classic I was expecting but it is hugely enjoyable!


----------



## ringo (Jan 28, 2019)

The Lawless Road - Graham Greene
In which Greene reveals his total and holistic odiousness - he hates Mexico, Mexicans, socialists, women, non-Catholics, most Catholics, Mexican food, poor people and just about everybody else he meets. I hate this book.


----------



## Virtual Blue (Jan 31, 2019)

Finished Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss - massive, massive journey. enjoyable and wished it didn't end.

Now reading Stoner - John Williams


----------



## Ming (Feb 2, 2019)

Just finishing Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements. Poor Bob Stinson...


----------



## ringo (Feb 7, 2019)

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt. 
Just as good as the first two, shame she's not more prolific, but then she might not be as good if she was.


----------



## nogojones (Feb 7, 2019)

ringo said:


> The Lawless Road - Graham Greene
> In which Greene reveals his total and holistic odiousness - he hates Mexico, Mexicans, socialists, women, non-Catholics, most Catholics, Mexican food, poor people and just about everybody else he meets. I hate this book.


Ha. That's the same impression I got from The Power and the Glory, but I quite enjoyed it


----------



## ringo (Feb 7, 2019)

nogojones said:


> Ha. That's the same impression I got from The Power and the Glory, but I quite enjoyed it


The Power and the Glory was gthe work of fiction he based on his travels recorded in The Lawless Road, it's one of the few of his I haven't read yet.
I'm glad I stuck with it. He was still odious, but it seemed like he went through some kind of breakdown on the trip so it was worth reading the deranged rantings of one of our greatest writers going through a traumatic experience. Not much fun for him though


----------



## circleline (Feb 7, 2019)

Bloody love Donna Tartt!  Was I damned chuffed off on holiday to Poland with a brand new (rare that for me, usually 2nd hand) copy of  'The Goldfinch' in my bag; delays at the airport?  No problem here.  Loved 'The Little Friend' much more than 'The Secret History', most people's first choice.  She's so witty!  Such technicolour writing!  Yeah, wish she were more prolific, too...But, blimey:  a new book by Donna Tartt is an event worth waiting for...




ringo said:


> The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt.
> Just as good as the first two, shame she's not more prolific, but then she might not be as good if she was.


----------



## BoatieBird (Feb 8, 2019)

I preferred The Little Friend over The Secret History too circleline.
Recent re-read The Little Friend and loved it just as much, possibly more, the second time around.

Her three books have been released in 1992, 2002 and 2013 so I reckon we can't expect anything much before 2023


----------



## ringo (Feb 8, 2019)

I preferred The Secret History, but both head and shoulders above most other contemporary fiction. Really enjoying The Goldfinch.


----------



## flypanam (Feb 8, 2019)

Jacob Bacharach  - The bend of the world.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 18, 2019)

I read Blindness by Jose Saramago recently - apart from a few wincey moments where he offended my feminism, it was mostly a very interesting book.

Currently re-reading Close Range by Annie Proulx. Realised it had been 20 years since I last read it! Proper enjoying it. The fella's reading Accordion Crimes. I might just re-read everything I have by her


----------



## Virtual Blue (Feb 18, 2019)

musashi - eiji yoshikawa.


----------



## flypanam (Feb 25, 2019)

Olga Tokarczuk - Drive your plow over the bones of the dead.

Old woman living in Poland, learns of a neighbours death. Noirish novel commences. Gripping so far.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 6, 2019)

Snow falling on cedars by David Guterson

I'm really enjoying it. A bit of courtroom drama with ethnic prejudice


----------



## belboid (Mar 6, 2019)

Just finished Maurice Druon's The Iron King - the first in his The Accursed Kings septet, which GRRM completely ripped off for his septet.

As one might expect, it's a rip-roaring read, not particularly brilliantly written (or maybe, translated), but better than that other bloke, and without annoying things like spelling Sir as Ser. No dragons (or promise thereof) either. Made all the better by actually being overwhelmingly true. Knowing the GoT storylines probably helps get your head around some of the characters and the convoluted plotlines, because they're already vaguely familiar.

Now I just have to try to knock out the next six before the final series starts!


----------



## BristolEcho (Mar 6, 2019)

Recently I've read a book about lutz Pfannenstiel who was the first goalkeeper to play on all 6 recognised continent's. At times he came across like a bit of a dick, but I enjoyed it for the insight into far off leagues. 

Also read a short book on Pancho Villa which was good. I'm listening to the podcast about the Mexican Revolution so I'll definitely be reading more about this. 

Made a start on The Last Kingdom today. Never read any Cornwall so looking forward to it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 6, 2019)

Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco. Keep having to look up the french words in the numerous descriptions of dining, should have paid attention in gcse french.


----------



## campanula (Mar 6, 2019)

BoatieBird said:


> I preferred The Little Friend over The Secret History too circleline.



Me too...but I absolutely LOATHED the Goldfinch. hated everyone in it...especially the odious Theo.


----------



## campanula (Mar 6, 2019)

DotCommunist said:


> Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco.



didn't finish. Not even to the middle.  Not really sure why, but I have been increasingly reluctant to carry on reading unless gripped by 50 pages or so - the walls are stacked with piles of unread stuff. Currently wavering with AncillarySword (got 2 and 3 of Leckie's set for 50p each)...and  Cixin Liu's Dark Forest languishing also.
It is seriously upsetting as the only thing worse than having a crap book at bedtime is NO book at bedtime (hopeless insomniac).


----------



## kalidarkone (Mar 6, 2019)

I'm reading One thousand white women by Jim Fergus. I'm loving it.
It's based on the premise that in 1873 a Cheyanne Chief approached the American president and asked for 1000 white women in order to increase the Cheyanne 's dwindling numbers. (There is scant evidence that there is any truth in this). The US government set up a programme that surprisingly many women applied to. Women from prisons and mental asylums were also recruited. It is told in the form of letters and  a journal written by May Dodd former mental asylum patient.
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 6, 2019)

campanula said:


> Me too...but I absolutely LOATHED the Goldfinch. hated everyone in it...especially the odious Theo.



How can you not fall for Boris' roguish charm?


----------



## ringo (Mar 6, 2019)

campanula said:


> Me too...but I absolutely LOATHED the Goldfinch. hated everyone in it...especially the odious Theo.


Even Hobie? I want him to be my Uncle.


----------



## ringo (Mar 6, 2019)

sojourner said:


> The Miniaturist' by Jessie Burton is the biggest pile of wank I've read in a long time. This is why I dislike receiving books as presents. I'm halfway through and am just gonna give up on it.


About 20% in and I'm really enjoying this. I am a bit obsessed with any historical (or otherwise) story set in Amsterdam at the moment though as my ancestors lived there for at least 300 years before coming over here in the 1880's.


----------



## BoatieBird (Mar 6, 2019)

campanula said:


> Me too...but I absolutely LOATHED the Goldfinch. hated everyone in it...especially the odious Theo.



I loved The Goldfinch too!



rubbershoes said:


> How can you not fall for Boris' roguish charm?



Absolutely this


----------



## belboid (Mar 6, 2019)

Boris was an absolutely ridiculous character.  But I did still love the book.


----------



## campanula (Mar 6, 2019)

ringo said:


> Even Hobie? I want him to be my Uncle.



Sadly eclipsed by the humongous twattery of Theo. So bitterly disappointed as I was thoroughly pro-Tartt (paid full hardback price - a rare, rare thing for this cheapskate.


----------



## kropotkin (Mar 6, 2019)

I found both of those books irritating- really overrated. And too long.


----------



## extra dry (Mar 8, 2019)

The Gulag Archipelago. Quite the page turner. Try read it on my lunch breaks.


----------



## flypanam (Mar 10, 2019)

Terry Eagleton - Materialism.

Good introduction to materialism.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 11, 2019)

Re-reading Postcards by Annie Proulx. An absolute belter of a book this, intensely creative and poetic, completely absorbing. I had forgotten what a genius she is.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 26, 2019)

Postcards was an utter delight to re-read, such a fucking amazing writer.

Started The Shipping News now, and again - knocked out by her skill for storytelling


----------



## weltweit (Mar 27, 2019)

I have rather stupidly stopped noting down what I am reading - a shame - back to making lists I think.. 

I have just finished Sam Llewellyn, The Shadow In The Sands. 

A good read.


----------



## hash tag (Mar 29, 2019)

I just started reading Unreasonable Behaviour. Even if you don't go in for the photography thing, he is a lovely character and it's a great biography. Have just ripped through the first hundred pages..
His childhood, growing up during the war, his evacuations (striking his sister went to a well to do family, he went to a poor farm), his first jobs, his National service. Cracking read so far.
Unreasonable Behaviour by Don McCullin | Waterstones


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 2, 2019)

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay.

An interesting modern horror book with a sprinkling of apocalyptic cultish thinking and paranoia.


----------



## flypanam (Apr 30, 2019)

Oisin Fagan's Hostages.

A series of novella and short stories.  The first story is about a bomb that is born, lives and dies in a secondary school in country Meath, another accounts for family history of the Costelloes from the middle ages to the start of the revolution in 2144. Great stuff. I've enjoyed a lot of new writing recently but this is the pinnacle so far. Inventive and entertaining, funny and scathing too. A writer worth looking out for.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (May 13, 2019)

Chernobyl - history of a tragedy by Serhii Plokhy.  

A detailed account of the lead up to the accident and the aftermath, and how the political dimension affected how the disaster was handled.  Really interesting book - definitely worth reading.


----------



## krtek a houby (May 13, 2019)

This. Last of the (10 book) series. Tbh, I felt the last couple of books lost the momentum a wee bit (so many characters being introduced) but I've soldiered on...


----------



## Part 2 (May 13, 2019)

Chav Solidarity by D. Hunter. It's very good, you can read exerpts here:

https://www.chavsolidarity.com/

To the political left Hunter's people are the ignorant and the ill informed, to the victorious right they are the unwashed and discarded waste product of the labouring class. Chav Solidarity is part autobiography, part meditation on trauma, class and identity, part one finger salute into the face of respectability politics, but mostly an articulation of the contradictory heart of Chavvy shit heads across the U.K.

This collection of essay's pick apart the lived experiences of its author. Hunter uses his experiences as child sex worker, teenage crack addict, violent thug and community activist to examine the ways in which our classed experiences shape the ways in which we think and do our politics.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 13, 2019)

krtek a houby said:


> This. Last of the (10 book) series. Tbh, I felt the last couple of books lost the momentum a wee bit (so many characters being introduced) but I've soldiered on...



Just the nine Ian C Esselmont ones to finish then, and the Kharkanas trilogy


----------



## krtek a houby (May 13, 2019)

DotCommunist said:


> Just the nine Ian C Esselmont ones to finish then, and the Kharkanas trilogy



Not sure I have the stamina just now. That said, it's The Culture novels for me next, I reckons 

(are they any good, the trilogy and ICE books?)


----------



## DotCommunist (May 13, 2019)

krtek a houby said:


> Not sure I have the stamina just now. That said, it's The Culture novels for me next, I reckons
> 
> (are they any good, the trilogy and ICE books?)


he isn't quite the writer Erickson is but they are good enough. Kharkanas is...dark, broody. All the long dark introspective tiste andii musings etc


----------



## krtek a houby (May 13, 2019)

DotCommunist said:


> he isn't quite the writer Erickson is but they are good enough. Kharkanas is...dark, broody. All the long dark introspective tiste andii musings etc



Does that have the two moody necromancers in it? Can't remember the names off the top of my head but they were an amusing diversion a couple of books back...


----------



## DotCommunist (May 13, 2019)

krtek a houby said:


> Does that have the two moody necromancers in it? Can't remember the names off the top of my head but they were an amusing diversion a couple of books back...



bauchelaine  and korbal broach, no. Its set long before that. I honestly can't recommend, its too dark and 'epic', its only 2 books in (and I suspect the third will never come, Eriksons talked about how he didn't enjoy writing these. Contractual obligation? I think so. e2a this says its 'on hold'  )

absoultely make time for IAn C.E though, his prequels series (Path to Ascendancy) showing the rise of kellanved and dancer is *kisses fingers*


----------



## BristolEcho (May 13, 2019)

Part 2 said:


> Chav Solidarity by D. Hunter. It's very good, you can read exerpts here:
> 
> https://www.chavsolidarity.com/
> 
> ...



Yeah I really want to read this. 

Working my way through the Last Kingdom books at the moment.


----------



## isvicthere? (May 13, 2019)

"Capital in the 21st century" Thomas Piketty.


----------



## D'wards (May 21, 2019)

The Adventurous Young Rascals of Rosignol by Johnny L Zainul.

It's my friend's uncle's book, about his childhood in Guiana in the 50s. My friend did the running around organising and Uncle Johnny wrote it.

It's written with a real joie de vivre and enthusiasm- it has at least one exclamation mark every paragraph.
I'm very much enjoying it, and I make it a point to read published books by pals. Think he's having trouble getting word out there and sales are slow- although the Guiana embassy have just put up a poster for him.

The Adventurous Young Rascals of Rosignol https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785453726/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_g0-4CbFZBE9A8


----------



## Virtual Blue (May 22, 2019)

I'm reading The Shining for the first time - so, so different to the film.

Also, Kindred - Octavia E. Butler. 

Enjoying both.


----------



## hash tag (May 30, 2019)

I've finally dusted of Dan Jones tome, the  Templars. I was expecting it to be heavy going. It's an easy read about a wealthy, controlling, blood thirsty group of religious bigots. Nearly finished the first section which mostly deals with their formation. A surprisingly easy but very informative read. Could rank as one of my best ever reads.
The Templars by Dan Jones | Waterstones


----------



## colbhoy (Jul 14, 2019)

I'm reading Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon (The Wire). Had it in the house for years but the size of it was putting me off reading it. It is very good!


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 16, 2019)

Rising out of hatred: the awakening of a former white nationalist by Eli Saslow.

The tale of Derek Black who was born to a family at the heart of American white nationalism (his father ran st*rmfront) and how he realised that everything he'd believed was nasty, hateful and shit. 

The most interesting part was  discussing the rise of Trump and how he adopted the language and concerns of white nationalists.


----------



## moonsi til (Jul 22, 2019)

I managed 4 books on holiday last week. Was pure bliss. The stand out book was ‘the devil all the time’ by Donald Ray Pollock that I thought would make a great film & today I found it will be a film released next year!


----------



## flypanam (Jul 24, 2019)

Just picked up a very cheap edition of Edith Durham's High Albania.

If it's as good as Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon I'm in store for a treat. I'm not usually into travelogues.


----------



## BristolEcho (Jul 24, 2019)

Still working through The Last Kingdom series. Book 3 down and pretty good.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 24, 2019)

Almost finished the Reggie Perrin trilogy. Nearly put it down a few times because oh my fucking LORD the casual racism and sexism are just gobsmacking, but I've continued with it because some of the books are really funny and thought-provoking. Fuck me though, wouldn't be recommending it to anyone!


----------



## BristolEcho (Jul 29, 2019)

BristolEcho said:


> Still working through The Last Kingdom series. Book 3 down and pretty good.



Also I've been listening to Audiobooks when I sleep or am doing stuff around the house:

Alan Partridge - Nomad. Absolutely perfect for an audiobook. Thought it lost its way with the last few chapters, but really enjoyed it overall. I did have the book but never read it as it needs Coogans delivery. 

Listening to Harry Potter - Prisoner of Azkaban too as it's something I've read a million times and I don't think I'd Re-read it now due to there being too many other things out there. 

Got David Mitchell's audio book for when I'm traveling. 

Think I'll mainly stick to books I've read previously and light-hearted audio books. 

Going to get DH Hunters - Chav Solidarity book for when I go away too.


----------



## flypanam (Aug 6, 2019)

Read two classics recently:

Oisin Fagan’s Nobber: the plague in Norman Ireland leads to some right blood letting with the fucking vulture walking away unharmed. Says quite a bit about modern Ireland. 

Kevin Barry’s night boat to Tangier. Kind of like Godot, but with two auld lads remembering the past while looking for a daughter. Says a lot about the nightmare of history and the weight of tradition. If you liked Beetlebone you’ll like this. The language is pure cork too.


----------



## belboid (Aug 6, 2019)

flypanam said:


> Kevin Barry’s night boat to Tangier. Kind of like Godot, but with two auld lads remembering the past while looking for a daughter. Says a lot about the nightmare of history and the weight of tradition. If you liked Beetlebone you’ll like this. The language is pure cork too.


Really want to read that one, will deffo go and illegally download it now


----------



## Steel Icarus (Aug 6, 2019)

Just received delivery of Michael Collins' _Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey_


----------



## rubbershoes (Aug 7, 2019)

Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline.

Secrets, lies and death in suburban America. It turns out that being wealthy and beautiful doesn't make you happy or moral


----------



## gosub (Aug 7, 2019)

Erewhon by Samuel Butler


----------



## krtek a houby (Aug 7, 2019)

_Homicide - A Year on the Killing Streets_ by David Simon

Grim.


----------



## D'wards (Aug 8, 2019)

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

Only 100 or so pages in but loving it so far


----------



## rubbershoes (Aug 16, 2019)

Heartstone by CJ Sansom

A massive slab of medieval murder makes ideal holiday reading


----------



## 5t3IIa (Aug 16, 2019)

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. It popped up in conversation so we got it from the library 

 It’s _awful_, really badly written. He says ‘Land Cruiser’ 40 times per page during the, uhm, Land Cruiser bit  The screenwriter for the film is a genius.


----------



## bluescreen (Aug 16, 2019)

5t3IIa said:


> Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. It popped up in conversation so we got it from the library
> 
> It’s _awful_, really badly written. He says ‘Land Cruiser’ 40 times per page during the, uhm, Land Cruiser bit  The screenwriter for the film is a genius.


I can totally believe that. I read _Timeline_ when I found it where I was staying in France (part of it is set there) and it was one of the most badly written books I've read. They could use it on a creative writing course for examples of How Not To And Why. Cringe. But I could see it would probably make a passable film if they had a smart scriptwriter.


----------



## 5t3IIa (Aug 17, 2019)

Finished JP. Am back to Andrew Marr’s History of the World. It’s good on the transition stuff, from us (humans) becoming, and sorting ourselves out into which branch is going to win the race, and from nomadism to farming to warring to religionality to etc and so on. I love the transition stuff...like, why isn’t Fishbourne Roman Palace (near my ancestral lands) not a going concern anymore? Surely a bit of upkeep and mixed use over the years (1,974 years) could have maintained it


----------



## D'wards (Aug 21, 2019)

Just finished A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

A fantastic book. Best I've read for years.

The characters are well crafted and distinct,  and it teaches the uninformed reader a lot about the political situation in India from partition to the 80s.
Furthermore i felt I learned lots about the toxic caste system and how Indian society is continuously poisoned by the horrible corruption. The poor bearing the brunt of it, of course.
I have discussed this book with various indian colleagues and shown them passages and they have confirmed it is an accurate portrayal of that time and place.


----------



## flypanam (Aug 27, 2019)

Patrick Kavanagh - Collected poems
Michael Broers - Napoleon: soldier of destiny


----------



## Ceej (Sep 7, 2019)

I was given 'Never Greener' by Ruth Jones for my holidays. I'd hoped Nessa might have something witty or original  to say - nope.


----------



## flypanam (Sep 19, 2019)

Bruno Schultz - Collected stories


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 19, 2019)

_The South_ - Colm Toibin's first novel


----------



## circleline (Sep 20, 2019)

Bought this for 20p at the book sale.  First Corgi paperback edition.  Not available on Amazon.  £89 upwards on Abebooks.  Great selection of photos; 'of its time' commentary.  Chuffed.


----------



## Wilf (Sep 20, 2019)

krtek a houby said:


> _The South_ - Colm Toibin's first novel


Loved it.


----------



## D'wards (Sep 20, 2019)

Doctor Sleep- the sequel to The Shining. Enjoyable so far - 15% in.
King is always readable ime


----------



## Wilf (Sep 20, 2019)

D'wards said:


> Doctor Sleep- the sequel to The Shining. Enjoyable so far - 15% in.
> King is always readable ime


Loved that too, though I worry how the film of it will turn out. _IT_ was shit.


----------



## Detroit City (Sep 20, 2019)

I'm half-way through _Revenger_ by British sci-fi author Alistair Reynolds.  Its pretty good.


----------



## isvicthere? (Sep 20, 2019)

Just finished 'Utopia for realists' by Rutger Bergman today. Think I might try something in Spanish next (first time, slow!)


----------



## weltweit (Sep 20, 2019)

I am a bit pissed of with myself, I am still reading plenty but for about the last year I failed to maintain my list of books I have read which served a great purpose of stopping me starting the same book more than once. 

It transpired largely because I had a bumper haul of books at Christmas which meant I didn't have to return to the library till about now, I had been working my way though them nicely but didn't keep tally.


----------



## krtek a houby (Sep 21, 2019)

Just started Ken MacLeod's _Cosmonaut Keep_ & loving it from the start. Has a Peter F Hamilton recommendation on the cover, which bodes well as he also introduced the last sci-fi classic I read - _The Forever War_ by Joe Haldeman.


----------



## Ascanio (Sep 23, 2019)

Lost in America. Kafka


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Sep 25, 2019)

Just finished _A Little Life_ (Hanya Yanagihara). One of those books where you start off thinking you're never going to be able to keep all the different characters' names straight, but by the end you're never going to be able to forget them. It's been a long time since a book has kept me up reading long into the night.


----------



## danny la rouge (Sep 29, 2019)

Struggling with A Confederacy of Dunces. Long meant to read it. Finally getting around to it, but I’m not impressed. I don’t see the humour. I’m just irritated. I’ve persevered quite a while waiting for humour, but it’s not revealing itself to me. I might dip back into my pile of Andrea Camilleris instead.


----------



## brogdale (Sep 29, 2019)

rubbershoes said:


> Heartstone by CJ Sansom
> 
> A massive slab of medieval murder makes ideal holiday reading


Somehow, I chanced upon a 'second-hand' paperback copy of the new(ish) latest in the Shardlake series _Tombland _back in June in a charity shop in Kingston. They wanted £3.99 for it, but I only had £2.50 on me and they kindly accepted what I had. Read it over the Summer and enjoyed it mutely (like all the other Shardlakes tbh). Quite epic in nature and pretty convincing on the Kett's rebellion stuff.
Found out the other day it's not been out in paperback that long; reckon I must have lucked out with a reviewers copy or summit?


----------



## BristolEcho (Oct 1, 2019)

A Little Hatred - Joe Abercrombie. 

Any JA fans here? I'm just starting to get into this which is a follow on from his previous trilogy.


----------



## PursuedByBears (Oct 1, 2019)

Looking forward to reading that, think I'll re-read the others first.


----------



## BristolEcho (Oct 1, 2019)

PursuedByBears said:


> Looking forward to reading that, think I'll re-read the others first.



Yeah I've had to wiki a few things to recap. Wasn't sure at first to be honest, but it's growing.


----------



## flypanam (Oct 3, 2019)

John Lanchester's The Wall. I suppose it's okay in a YA way. Not sure it deserved a Booker nomination.


----------



## circleline (Oct 21, 2019)

A Book of Travellers' Tales, Eric Newby - Delightful, eventful and sometimes hilarious read..


----------



## Detroit City (Oct 21, 2019)

I'm reading _Shadow Captain_ by Alastair Reynolds, the second installment in the Revenger series.  The third book comes out Jan, 2020


----------



## BristolEcho (Oct 23, 2019)

BristolEcho said:


> A Little Hatred - Joe Abercrombie.
> 
> Any JA fans here? I'm just starting to get into this which is a follow on from his previous trilogy.



Taken me ages as I didn't read for a while, but I am now just under half way through this. 

Found it pretty confusing at first and to be honest I really wasn't sure. The characters are starting to develop though and I've got some great quotes from it too.


----------



## D'wards (Oct 24, 2019)

Any ebook fans, I've found a handy little site where you can download, um, evaluation copies of most books.

Can pm address if wish...


----------



## PursuedByBears (Oct 24, 2019)

Yes please!


----------



## Jennastan (Oct 24, 2019)

After a failed delivery Amazon gave me a £20 gift voucher so I've bought Gary Lachman's biographies of Aleister Crowley and Madam Blavatsky. Not sure why I have developed an interest in such things, but it's been building for a while. Time to scratch that itch!


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 24, 2019)

Yes please D'wards


----------



## MsHopper (Oct 26, 2019)

D'wards said:


> Any ebook fans, I've found a handy little site where you can download, um, evaluation copies of most books.
> 
> Can pm address if wish...


Yes please


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Oct 27, 2019)

Inspired by someone on here I thought I'd read Kim having never read any Kipling. I know he's considered pretty dodge, but I quite enjoyed it. Been years since I've read a "classic" as well, think I'm going to try and do a few more.


----------



## Virtual Blue (Oct 28, 2019)

The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie 

Spectacular. Where have I been all this time? How did I miss this?


----------



## BristolEcho (Oct 28, 2019)

Virtual Blue said:


> The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie
> 
> Spectacular. Where have I been all this time? How did I miss this?



Great series. On the newest book as posted above and it's great.


----------



## D'wards (Oct 29, 2019)

Just finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt as I'd twice heard Bob Mortimer saying it was his favourite novel, and if it's good enough for Bob it's good enough for me.

I very much enjoyed it.

After I finished I went back to Desert Island Discs to see what bob said about it.

He was talking about My Secret History by Paul Theroux 

So I'll read that soon


----------



## danny la rouge (Oct 29, 2019)

D'wards said:


> Secret History by Donna Tartt as I'd twice heard Bob Mortimer saying it was his favourite novel,


I liked it too. But I read another of her books and wasn’t as impressed.


----------



## D'wards (Oct 30, 2019)

danny la rouge said:


> I liked it too. But I read another of her books and wasn’t as impressed.


I've heard The Goldfinch is excellent


----------



## danny la rouge (Oct 30, 2019)

D'wards said:


> I've heard The Goldfinch is excellent


Thats the one I didn’t like. I didn’t think the characters rang true and I thought it dragged. But what do I know - it won awards.


----------



## BoatieBird (Oct 30, 2019)

danny la rouge said:


> I liked it too. But I read another of her books and wasn’t as impressed.



The Little Friend is excellent, one of my favourite books.


----------



## D'wards (Nov 1, 2019)

I've started first part of the James Herriot vet books.
I'm loving it, can see why they were so popular. 
I didn't realise they were funny books, have me literally loling


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 2, 2019)

Ken Macleod's _Engine City_, final part of the _Engines of Light trilogy_. 
What a great series and thanks to urban for recommending this author.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Nov 6, 2019)

Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy.

Struggling with it a little, to be honest - it's just meandering and doesn't seem to go anywhere.


----------



## D'wards (Nov 6, 2019)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy.
> 
> Struggling with it a little, to be honest - it's just meandering and doesn't seem to go anywhere.


I love it! My favourite book. It hasn't got a strong plot but has some great scenes and the starkest violence you'll ever read.
Have you got to the Comanche attack yet?


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Nov 6, 2019)

D'wards said:


> I love it! My favourite book. It hasn't got a strong plot but has some great scenes and the starkest violence you'll ever read.
> Have you got to the Comanche attack yet?


Yes - I like his style, and some of the characters are good once they got going, but the middle of it is all a bit repetitive and same-y. I read No Country a few years ago, and don't remember it being this much of a slog.


----------



## moonsi til (Nov 12, 2019)

Just been on holiday & finished Tracy Thorns ‘Naked At The Hall’ which is overall about singing.

Then read ‘Captain Corellis Mandolin’ -this I bought in a charity shop & had been on my shelf a while. It took me 50 pages to get into it but after I was fully absorbed & still thinking about it now & missing the people I read about.

I was then down to the few books on my Kindle (can’t get connected to Kindle shop) so I browsed the hotel library must most books in German. Found Bear Grylls autobiography so read that. I quite liked it as it was partly about Mount Everest which I love reading about. Finished that in a day so back to Kindle & started my first ever Jane Austin so now reading ‘Pride & Prejudice’ - will admit it’s a slight struggle but I’m plodding on.


----------



## Argonia (Nov 12, 2019)




----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 12, 2019)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Yes - I like his style, and some of the characters are good once they got going, but the middle of it is all a bit repetitive and same-y. I read No Country a few years ago, and don't remember it being this much of a slog.



It's challenging but worth it. Very different style from, say, _The Road
_
Currently reading some WW2/spy thriller - _Nemesis_ by Rory Clements. Not my normal thing but a page turner, all the same.


----------



## flypanam (Nov 12, 2019)

Samuel Stein's Capital City: gentrification and the real estate state.

One of those Jacobin series books that Verso does. Pretty intersesting with some good references. I think the idea that gentrification is 'the theft of space from labor and its conversion into spaces of profit' is very good.


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Nov 13, 2019)

well, this is one I will not be reading....


Lucy Ellmann’s 1,000-page novel Ducks, Newburyport has won the £10,000 Goldsmiths prize for “fiction at its most novel”, praised by judges as a “masterpiece”.

Ducks, Newburyport is the stream of consciousness novel....Made up of just eight sentences, with no paragraph breaks...

how on Earth are you supposed to read that on 30 minute bus rides?  I’d be forever loosing my place

it might be quite an accomplishment to write, but I like my novels with paragraphs so I can stop and think, or do something else..


----------



## BristolEcho (Nov 17, 2019)

BristolEcho said:


> Taken me ages as I didn't read for a while, but I am now just under half way through this.
> 
> Found it pretty confusing at first and to be honest I really wasn't sure. The characters are starting to develop though and I've got some great quotes from it too.



The middle to end is really great. The last few chapters were a bit of a drag, but it's nicely built for the next book. Can't wait. 

Anyone recommend any decent books non-fiction books on China?


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 18, 2019)

BristolEcho said:


> The middle to end is really great. The last few chapters were a bit of a drag, but it's nicely built for the next book. Can't wait.
> 
> Anyone recommend any decent books non-fiction books on China?



I recall enjoying Behind the Wall by Colin Thubron when I read it 25 years ago.
China has changed even more than I have in that time


----------



## JimW (Nov 18, 2019)

BristolEcho said:


> The middle to end is really great. The last few chapters were a bit of a drag, but it's nicely built for the next book. Can't wait.
> 
> Anyone recommend any decent books non-fiction books on China?


Contemporary-ish? Meisner's Mao's China and After, Wang Hui China's New Order worth a look, not read his more recent one on the economy.
I'm currently bang up to date reading Fire Over Luoyang about the end of the Han and the Three Kingdoms period.


----------



## blameless77 (Nov 18, 2019)

D'wards said:


> Any ebook fans, I've found a handy little site where you can download, um, evaluation copies of most books.
> 
> Can pm address if wish...



As a writer I fucking hate people who do this. Buy it or borrow it from the library you tight git!


----------



## blameless77 (Nov 18, 2019)

D'wards said:


> Any ebook fans, I've found a handy little site where you can download, um, evaluation copies of most books.
> 
> Can pm address if wish...



I've reported your post.


----------



## D'wards (Nov 18, 2019)

blameless77 said:


> I've reported your post.


----------



## D'wards (Nov 18, 2019)

blameless77 said:


> I've reported your post.


What would you like? To have me banned up nice from these boards?


----------



## BristolEcho (Nov 18, 2019)

JimW said:


> Contemporary-ish? Meisner's Mao's China and After, Wang Hui China's New Order worth a look, not read his more recent one on the economy.
> I'm currently bang up to date reading Fire Over Luoyang about the end of the Han and the Three Kingdoms period.



Across the spectrum so that's handy thanks. I realised why while watching Reggie in China yesterday just how little I know beyond the basics of post war China. Thanks too both. 

Getting on with the Last Kingdom for now, but will fancy some non-fiction after that.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 20, 2019)

I read the Alan Moore interview where he says he can make a case for Birth of A Nation being the first superhero film which reminded me to finally have a go at Jerusalem. Its already shaping up to be great but the setting is my youth stomping grounds, pedestrians eye to all the routes, the Super Sausage all night truck stop, the tower blocks that replaced the Boroughs. Its great because I can *see* where the characters are walking, what the horizon looks like.


----------



## kebabking (Nov 20, 2019)

Warlords and Holy Men - Scotland AD80-1000.

Alfred P Smyth.


----------



## BristolEcho (Nov 20, 2019)

kebabking said:


> Warlords and Holy Men - Scotland AD80-1000.
> 
> Alfred P Smyth.



Looks great.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 26, 2019)

The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, cos someone bought it for the fella's birthday. Never considered reading it before, but I 'enjoyed' it, through a haze of screaming injustice and rage.  Now I'm gonna have to read bloody Jane Eyre.


----------



## Sprocket. (Nov 27, 2019)

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn.
A true story of a middle age couple who lose everything as well as her husband being terminally ill. They decide to walk the West-Coast Path, with basic equipment and hardly any money, wild camping and going hungry often. Amazing story of the strength that being out there gives.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 28, 2019)

Sprocket. said:


> The Salt Path by Raynor Winn.
> A true story of a middle age couple who lose everything as well as her husband being terminally ill. They decide to walk the West-Coast Path, with basic equipment and hardly any money, wild camping and going hungry often. Amazing story of the strength that being out there gives.


Ooo that sounds interesting. I'm gonna add that to my Xmas present ideas list for myself!


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Dec 4, 2019)

I'm reading _The Doomsday Book_ by Connie Willis - 21st century historian accidentally gets stuck in 14th century Britain during the Black Death. Brilliant, really loving it.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Dec 4, 2019)

DotCommunist said:


> I read the Alan Moore interview where he says he can make a case for Birth of A Nation being the first superhero film which reminded me to finally have a go at Jerusalem. Its already shaping up to be great but the setting is my youth stomping grounds, pedestrians eye to all the routes, the Super Sausage all night truck stop, the tower blocks that replaced the Boroughs. Its great because I can *see* where the characters are walking, what the horizon looks like.


Jerusalem is the only potential challenger to Ulysses for my favourite ever book.


----------



## D'wards (Dec 4, 2019)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Jerusalem is the only potential challenger to Ulysses for my favourite ever book.


You must be one tough customer!


----------



## D'wards (Dec 5, 2019)

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent.

I am enjoying it but finding the child abuse aspect a little bit upsetting tbh


----------



## flypanam (Dec 5, 2019)

Andrey Platonov - The foundation pit.


----------



## Sprocket. (Dec 17, 2019)

Just Kids by Patti Smith.
Her years living in near destitution at times with Robert Mapplewell. A beat away from the Beat Generation and how she evolved along with Mapplewell into artists.
Enjoyable.


----------



## ringo (Dec 18, 2019)

sojourner said:


> The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, cos someone bought it for the fella's birthday. Never considered reading it before, but I 'enjoyed' it, through a haze of screaming injustice and rage.  Now I'm gonna have to read bloody Jane Eyre.


Incredible book, really powerful and evocative writing.

Voyage In The Dark is good too.


----------



## ringo (Dec 18, 2019)

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

Reached my annual target and fancied reading one of those books I've always wanted to get to. Considered by many to be the greatest work of literature ever written, and so far very good.


----------



## Nikkormat (Dec 18, 2019)

ringo said:


> Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy



I really enjoyed Anna Karenina, well worth the time.

I am reading Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo. It's okay, but nothing special so far.


----------



## Detroit City (Dec 18, 2019)

The Prefect - Alastair Reynolds


----------



## N_igma (Dec 19, 2019)

Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake. 

This is a strange book, too real to be fantasy but too fantasy to be real. Peake spends a lot of time setting the scene and the imagery and world is very descriptive. The plot, as a result, just seems to meander with no real focus. Not sure if I like it or not, I like the idea of it all but it can be way too wordy at times. I’ll keep reading though.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Dec 23, 2019)

Just read _Drunken Baker_ by Barney Farmer - was a birthday present from my brother, only found out afterwards that it's based on a Viz strip.

It was excellent, a sort of stream of consciousness prose poem touching on alcoholism, regret, grief, the death of the high street, and the changing prospects for young people over generations. Highly recommended, and you can finish it in a single reading.


----------



## imposs1904 (Dec 23, 2019)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Just read _Drunken Baker_ by Barney Farmer - was a birthday present from my brother, only found out afterwards that it's based on a Viz strip.
> 
> It was excellent, a sort of stream of consciousness prose poem touching on alcoholism, regret, grief, the death of the high street, and the changing prospects for young people over generations. Highly recommended, and you can finish it in a single reading.



If Twitter's your thing he has a good page.


----------



## toblerone3 (Dec 29, 2019)

isvicthere? said:


> "Capital in the 21st century" Thomas Piketty.



I've just started this. Any good?


----------



## isvicthere? (Dec 29, 2019)

toblerone3 said:


> I've just started this. Any good?



You need to stick with it, but yeah. I discovered from a quiz show the other night, that only 2.4% of people who start it, finish it. 

I´m one of the 2.4%!


----------



## isvicthere? (Dec 29, 2019)

Trying to finish Mary Beard´s history of Ancient Rome "SPQR" before NYE, to have it in my list of books read in 2019.


----------



## Sprocket. (Dec 29, 2019)

Sprocket. said:


> Just Kids by Patti Smith.
> Her years living in near destitution at times with Robert Mapplewell. A beat away from the Beat Generation and how she evolved along with Mapplewell into artists.
> Enjoyable.


Mapplethorpe.
iPhone correction, (it did it again when I typed the correction) and not reading before posting.


----------



## Wilf (Dec 30, 2019)

isvicthere? said:


> You need to stick with it, but yeah. I discovered from a quiz show the other night, that only 2.4% of people who start it, finish it.
> 
> I´m one of the 2.4%!


I had to read it for work - and I'm still one of the 2.4%


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Dec 30, 2019)

isvicthere? said:


> Trying to finish Mary Beard´s history of Ancient Rome "SPQR" before NYE, to have it in my list of books read in 2019.


I'm finding that really hard going - it jumps back and forth too much referring to different periods. Not really holding my attention.


----------



## izz (Jan 6, 2020)

I'm re-reading The Seabird's Cry, Adam Nicholson.  It's factual but lyrically written, a complete delight and if you read nothing else this year, this is definitely worth a whirl.


----------



## flypanam (Jan 6, 2020)

Just started Tony Tulathimutte's Private Citizens. Four Stanford graduates who know each other but don't know each other struggle through San Francisco at the height of the tech boom. Looks at them as their expectations are lowered then dashed...the guardian hated it.


----------



## Virtual Blue (Jan 14, 2020)

The final chapters of Last Argument of Kings.

Can anyone recommend the 3 standalone books? I am very much enjoying the First Law universe.


----------



## PursuedByBears (Jan 14, 2020)

Virtual Blue said:


> The final chapters of Last Argument of Kings.
> 
> Can anyone recommend the 3 standalone books? I am very much enjoying the First Law universe.


I though the standalones were better than the First Law (and I liked the First Law), the first two (Best Served Cold and The Heroes) were particularly good.  I want to re-read all of them before I start A Little Hatred.


----------



## Virtual Blue (Jan 14, 2020)

PursuedByBears said:


> I though the standalones were better than the First Law (and I liked the First Law), the first two (Best Served Cold and The Heroes) were particularly good.  I want to re-read all of them before I start A Little Hatred.



Thanks that's good info.
Will start Best Served Cold next - good value for money these books - they last for fucking ages.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 16, 2020)

Am halfway through The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman.  I had to re-read La Belle Sauvage first to brush up.  I do like both books, but they seem a little...longwinded.


----------



## Virtual Blue (Feb 10, 2020)

Best Served Cold - good, good read.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 10, 2020)

Finished Viv Albertine's 'To Throw Away Unopened'. Absolutely loved it.

Now reading 'Jane Eyre', and being totally surprised that I love this also! Wuthering Heights always been one of my faves and for some reason, I didn't think the other Brontes would be as good. Wrong.


----------



## Sprocket. (Feb 10, 2020)

sojourner said:


> Finished Viv Albertine's 'To Throw Away Unopened'. Absolutely loved it.
> 
> Now reading 'Jane Eyre', and being totally surprised that I love this also! Wuthering Heights always been one of my faves and for some reason, I didn't think the other Brontes would be as good. Wrong.


Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are two of the greatest ever written.
Can I also recommend Viv Albertine’s Clothes... Music ... Boys...., if you haven’t already read it.


----------



## seeformiles (Feb 10, 2020)

Anthony Bourdain - “Medium Raw”  

I loved his “Kitchen Confidential” as it took me back to my catering days and the completely crazy booze and drug fuelled atmosphere of macho violence that was pretty standard 30 years ago. Hopefully things have improved a bit since then.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 10, 2020)

Sprocket. said:


> Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are two of the greatest ever written.
> Can I also recommend Viv Albertine’s Clothes... Music ... Boys...., if you haven’t already read it.


Yeh Sprocket.  - for some strange reason, I thought the other Brontes wouldn't be as good. Stupid. I read Wide Sargasso Sea at crimbo and thought I'd better now read JE - arse about tit I know, but better late than never.

Yes! I bought the CMB book yesterday haha


----------



## Sprocket. (Feb 10, 2020)

sojourner, Jane Eyre has been a favourite of mine for years and being honest I didn’t appreciate Wide Sargasso Sea much at all. For me, Wuthering Heights is one of the best ghost stories ever created.
I hope you enjoy Viv’s book as much as I did.

Have you read The Italian by Ann Radcliffe? another absolute classic.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 12, 2020)

Sprocket. said:


> sojourner, Jane Eyre has been a favourite of mine for years and being honest I didn’t appreciate Wide Sargasso Sea much at all. For me, Wuthering Heights is one of the best ghost stories ever created.
> I hope you enjoy Viv’s book as much as I did.
> 
> Have you read The Italian by Ann Radcliffe? another absolute classic.


Unusual choice for a bloke, has to be said Sprocket.  but tells me a lot about you as a man, and I like that   

Wide Sargasso Sea made me furious, on behalf of the female protagonist, as well as revealing not-very-nice stuff about Rochester.  Might be worth another read. Always a time and place for a book, and not necessarily when you're reading it first time.

Oh, WH is up in my top 10 of all time. 

Yeh I'm looking forward to reading the VA book!  My to-read pile is increasing all the time at the mo - the MaddAdam trilogy by Margaret Attwood that my daughter got me for crimbo, a solar system one by Brian Cox, two Norah Ephron books mentioned in VA's book (I Feel Bad About My Neck, and I Remember Nothing), the new VA book, and A Game Of Birds And Wolves by Simon Parkin 

I haven't read that Ann Radcliffe one, but shall stick it on the list ha  Cheers!


----------



## sojourner (Feb 12, 2020)

You'll have already read The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and Turn of the Screw by Henry James then, Sprocket. ?


----------



## Sprocket. (Feb 12, 2020)

sojourner said:


> You'll have already read The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and Turn of the Screw by Henry James then, Sprocket. ?



Yes sojourner, read both of those. I think there are about three copies of Woman in Black, in the house.

Thanks for the comments regarding Jane Eyre, my cousin gave me a copy, I still have when I was about fourteen. She said it would make me a better person!


----------



## izz (Feb 15, 2020)

Less than a month until The Mirror And The Light. Time to re-read the previous two


----------



## kalidarkone (Feb 15, 2020)

I'm reading 'The book of dust part two-The secret commonwealth' by Philip Pullman. I reread 'His dark materials' (read 15 years ago) and then 'Belle Sauvage. Really really enjoying it.


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 15, 2020)

Just finished Iain M Banks _Against a Dark Background_, loved it. Felt a bit like Douglas Addams in some places. Left it open for a sequel but alas, not to be.
Currently reading Colm Toibin's _The Heather Blazing_, which I'm sure will have me in tears like most of his other novels.


----------



## izz (Feb 15, 2020)

Apologies if I've posted about this already but those loving the classics, or discovering them, there's this:- The Rough Guide to Classic Novels (Rough Guides Reference Titles): Amazon.co.uk: Simon Mason: 9781843535164: Books


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Feb 15, 2020)

Dictator Literature by Daniel Kalder.  The sub-title is 'a history of bad books by terrible people' - each chapter is on a dictator and goes into detail about their lives and what nonsense they produced.  Got through Lenin and Stalin so far - the next chapters are on Mussolini, Hitler and Mao.


----------



## bookaddict (Feb 15, 2020)

Enjoying (for the second time) The Belle Fields and its sequel Ashes of Roses by Lora Adams.  Anyone into romantic fiction will enjoy these - twists and turns from beginning to end and an emotional roller coaster of a read.  Sad, happy, moving and unexpected end to the first book - could not expect that and had to wait a whole year for the sequel to see what happened next - it was well worth the wait!  If anyone tries these am sure you will enjoy - was unable to put them down!


----------



## Kilgore Trout (Feb 17, 2020)

Been reading several Saul Bellow novels recently. Herzog was my favourite. Hard to summarize, but a middle aged divorced man struggling through life and maybe going a little bit mad in the process. The odd snippets here and there, recollections from childhood or an observation are amazingly well written. The guy is a genius.


----------



## belboid (Feb 27, 2020)

just picked up a copy of Mirror and the Light.

I may be gone for a few days


----------



## sojourner (Mar 2, 2020)

Spartacus by Howard Fast.  Wayyy more homosexuality in it than the film  Although I do believe there was that famous scene with Tony Curtis that was cut...

A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin. Premise is great - very interesting and a fab slice of history.  Shame the writing's fucking dreadful.

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron. I bought this cos Viv Albertine quoted her. It's absolute fucking tat, with the (very) odd funny line in it.


----------



## flypanam (Mar 2, 2020)

Doxology by Nell Zink

Like Franzen but better, maybe. 

In the tradition of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Gessen's A Terrible Country, Harbach's The Art of Fielding, and Paula Fox's Desperate Characters I'm reading it slowly as I don't want it to end.


----------



## ringo (Mar 2, 2020)

izz said:


> Apologies if I've posted about this already but those loving the classics, or discovering them, there's this:- The Rough Guide to Classic Novels (Rough Guides Reference Titles): Amazon.co.uk: Simon Mason: 9781843535164: Books


Like the look of that, ta.


----------



## izz (Mar 2, 2020)

ringo said:


> Like the look of that, ta.


It's rather splendid and you are very welcome


----------



## izz (Mar 3, 2020)

On Thursday I shall be reading The Mirror And The Light and I am veh veh excited


----------



## danny la rouge (Mar 3, 2020)

sojourner said:


> I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron. I bought this cos Viv Albertine quoted her. It's absolute fucking tat, with the (very) odd funny line in it.


She wrote You’ve Got Mail. Never mind her neck; she should feel bad about that.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 4, 2020)

danny la rouge said:


> She wrote You’ve Got Mail. Never mind her neck; she should feel bad about that.


Vaguely heard of it. I got another one too, also because Viv bloody Albertine quoted it. Fucksake.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 4, 2020)

Proper loving Spartacus  Feeling the need to read a lot more about the Servile Wars now. Had no idea how wide ranging and successful they'd been - all fired up!


----------



## belboid (Mar 4, 2020)

sojourner said:


> Vaguely heard of it. I got another one too, also because Viv bloody Albertine quoted it. Fucksake.


she did write Slikwood, which _is _great, But everything else....meh


----------



## belboid (Mar 4, 2020)

belboid said:


> just picked up a copy of Mirror and the Light.
> 
> I may be gone for a few days


Bloody hell, it’s getting really difficult to avoid massive spoilers. Fortunately I got to the off switch only half a sentence after one reviewer said ‘and it ends...’ tonight

I know it’s history n all that, and I know in the end He’s going to be dead, but I don’t know the detail and I’ve spent ten bloody years not googling it, so don’t screw it for me now you bastards!


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Mar 4, 2020)

That's just the problem. I'm reading a few books because I keep starting a new one about half way through. Alot of what I read is political so at the moment I'm reading Anarchy Works by Peter Gelderloos (a great read), but also Breaking Free (Tin Tin), a graphic novel with Tin Tin gone full anarchist militant mode- alot of fun that one, and I have to confess I've been reading The Leaderless Revolution by Carne Ross (not bad but not great, and not what I was expecting either), aswell as the Spanish Cockpit by Franz Berkenau, a first hand, neutral account of the Spanish Civil War, both critical and in praise of the Spanish Anarchists (an interesting read).

Berkenau praises the anarchist industrial collectives as efficient and effective, but is critical of what he hears about the anarchists' treatment of people that they (apparently wrongly) accuse of being fascists, he is also very critical of how they treated religious people. In one part of the book he describes anarchist militants forcing religious people to burn their own personal religious objects.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Mar 7, 2020)

The Singularity Is Near
Ray Kurzweil


----------



## Sprocket. (Mar 10, 2020)

Fludd by Hilary Mantle. Quite funny.


----------



## seeformiles (Apr 7, 2020)

Just finished Cosby Fanni Tutti’s autobiography “Art Sex Music” and very good it was too. Some pretty grim details of her relationship (personal and professional) with GPO and s/he doesn’t come out of it well at all. It’s pointed me towards lots of other music that’s escaped my attention - although going down the “Industrial” rabbit hole is pretty strange and challenging trip at times.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 13, 2020)

Since I recently got a smartphone my reading has suffered but I am glad to say that I am now getting back into it and at the moment I have started The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. 

Initially I wondered at his humour which I have enjoyed in the past but today I found myself LOLing at it and I am sure there is a lot more amusement to come.


----------



## chainsawjob (May 18, 2020)

Currently reading Why be Happy when you Can be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. Her writing flows so easily, and is sparse enough to keep up interest.  I like how she reflects on the psychology of thoughts, feelings and human behaviour, in a way that seems therapy-informed (to me). I find myself nodding along with things I recognise, in time/place and in the things people do or how they make sense of the world. She's very perceptive. 

Before that, I read The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory. Chuffed that I finished it because I haven't read a whole book in ages, years even, I thought I'd ruined my concentration for books by reading stuff online. It took me three quarters of the book to really get into it, and prefer it to browsing online. But towards the end the story picked up pace, and I was gripped. It's about Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard, wives of Henry VIII. She's very good on the psychological aspects of the characters and how they deceive themselves, and their self-talk. Even though I knew how it was going to end, I think how she caught the atmosphere of fear and paranoia in the court of a vicious, capricious megalomaniac who thought he was the embodiment of god on earth, was very compelling. Also how she illuminated the way the world then was run by/for men, and women had very little agency, and Henry's wives were really only for one thing, getting heirs. I enjoyed it. Not the best one of hers I've read, but I love the historical detail and the historical invention in them all.


----------



## chainsawjob (May 18, 2020)

belboid said:


> just picked up a copy of Mirror and the Light.
> 
> I may be gone for a few days



One for my list


----------



## weltweit (May 23, 2020)

Just started The World According To Garp, John Irving - already enjoying it.


----------



## pseudonarcissus (May 23, 2020)

I’ve just started rereading Giovanni’s Room as I’ve been going through a bit of a James Baldwin phase. I know I read it before, I can picture the cover. It must be more than 30 years ago...but I realize I have absolutely zero recollection of what happens.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 24, 2020)

Just finished The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, which I really enjoyed despite my initial uncertainty.

He traces his family history via ownership of a set of Japanese ornaments.  Great writing.  Fascinating story.

Highly recommended


----------



## flypanam (Jun 5, 2020)

Tommy Orange's There There

A novel about Native Americans in Oakland centering on a big event, the powwow. funny and very well written.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 5, 2020)

chainsawjob said:


> Currently reading Why be Happy when you Can be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. Her writing flows so easily, and is sparse enough to keep up interest.  I like how she reflects on the psychology of thoughts, feelings and human behaviour, in a way that seems therapy-informed (to me). I find myself nodding along with things I recognise, in time/place and in the things people do or how they make sense of the world. She's very perceptive.


I absolutely bloody love JW to bits, and that's a great book


----------



## sojourner (Jun 5, 2020)

Catching up on this thread - I finished the Maddadam trilogy by Margaret Attwood, which was enjoyable, but a bit loosely-written, in as much as I kept losing focus.  Very topical though.

Read Kirk Douglas's autobiog The Ragman's Son, after a mate posted some allegations on FB about him following his death. He's always been a bit of a hero to me, so I thought I'd educate myself. Wish I hadn't now. He's a man of a certain generation with a bit of a fucked up childhood, and his ideas about masculinity and women left me not only cold, but open-mouthed with disgust.  It was interesting to read, but has completely changed how I see him now. I didn't go into it with rose-tinted specs, but I wasn't expecting some of the stuff he came out with, at all. And some of it bordered on fucking paedophilia.  

Also devoured Viv Albertine's Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys, which was an absolute joy, so much detail about that time, her honesty matches my own, and I couldn't put it down.

I started trying to read The Italian by Ann Radcliffe, on Sprocket. 's recommendation, and mate - I'm sorry but it's pretty much unreadable  The sentence structure is ridiculously complex (yeh I know I know, 1797 and that), there's far too much unnecessary detail about landscapes and people and EVERYTHING, and I was struggling to read it and enjoy it, so it's binned for now.  It would be perfect for literary analysis, there's tons I could write about it in an essay, but for pure enjoyment? Nah.

I read the 'Coronaverses: Poems from the Pandemic' anthology, in which I have two poems. All the poems in it were written in the first 2 weeks of lockdown and capture that time perfectly. Even now, reading them feels like they happened a long time ago, so much has changed since then. Worth picking up a copy if you can, as all profits go to the We Shall Overcome movement, helping homeless folk to eat and live.

Currently awaiting Bird Cloud: A Memoir Of Place by Annie Proulx (squee! I didn't even know it existed til last week!), annnnd Olive Kitteridge: A Novel in Stories, by Elizabeth Strout, as it looks like it's up my street.


----------



## Sprocket. (Jun 5, 2020)

Sorry, sojourner, I was mid studies when I read it some years back. Eng Lit course as it happens.
My next suggestion will be less intense.


----------



## campanula (Jun 5, 2020)

Have only been doing re-reads for months...but to celebrate a new customer, I bought and have been enjoying Ted Chiang's 'Exhalation'. I really enjoy the short story genre (when done well) and having read Chiang's previous 'Stories of your life and others', I will have to  introduce reading rations - although, tbf, I also bought Adrian Tchaikovsky's 'Children of Ruin'.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jun 5, 2020)

I loved Olive Kitteridge sojourner, I hope you enjoy it.
There's a follow up just been released - Olive, Again - I'm waiting for the price to drop before I get it on Kindle.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 5, 2020)

My world by Peter Sagan. 

Strictly for pro cycling nerds like myself. It's exactly what you'd expect from Peter Sagan sitting down with a ghost writer. 

Very casual and conversational. Amusing in places. And confirmation that the riders found the 2016 world championship race as boring to ride as it was to watch


----------



## sojourner (Jun 5, 2020)

BoatieBird said:


> I loved Olive Kitteridge sojourner, I hope you enjoy it.
> There's a follow up just been released - Olive, Again - I'm waiting for the price to drop before I get it on Kindle.


Oh well if you love her then I probably will too


----------



## Sprocket. (Jun 5, 2020)

William Fotheringham -Sunday in Hell.
The story behind the incredible 1976 film by Jorgen Leth of the brutal Paris - Roubaix classic A Sunday in Hell.
Cracking insight into the savage race that resulted in one of the best cycling films ever made. Built around my hero Eddy Merckx as well as Francesco Moser and Freddy Martens.
Like the Sagan book above being read by rubbershoes maybe one for the enthusiast and life long fans.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 5, 2020)

Sprocket. said:


> William Fotheringham -Sunday in Hell.
> The story behind the incredible 1976 film by Jorgen Leth of the brutal Paris - Roubaix classic A Sunday in Hell.
> Cracking insight into the savage race that resulted in one of the best cycling films ever made. Built around my hero Eddy Merckx as well as Francesco Moser and Freddy Martens.
> Like the Sagan book above being read by rubbershoes maybe one for the enthusiast and life long fans.



As it happens, I watched the film this week. Quite a period piece as much as a story about the race


----------



## purves grundy (Jun 5, 2020)

Geoff Mann’s _In The Long Run We Are All Dead_


----------



## jeff_leigh (Jun 6, 2020)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Jun 6, 2020)

Lot by Bryan Washington.

Short stories set in Houston, TX, and very good. the blurb says it’s one of Obama’s favourite books of last year. I think endorsement of his sucessor or predecessor would kill sales of anything literary


----------



## Reno (Jun 23, 2020)

The only good thing about the current crisis is that I finally got back into reading novels. I thought it would be non-fiction books for the rest of my life now.

I'm currently reading The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber whose Under the Skin was the last novel which I loved. It's about a christian missionary who travels to another planet to spread the word of Jesus, while his wife remains on earth, which is threatened by environmental disaster. The aliens are a little too keen to embrace Jesus and the previous missionary has disappeared under mysterious circumstances.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 24, 2020)

Finished Bird Cloud by Annie Proulx. Not a novel, but with some beautiful prose, and fascinating detail about flora, fauna and housebuilding!

Now on the only (but most famous) book of Ray Bradbury's that I've never read - The Martian Chronicles. Have already had several cerebral orgasms over his imagination and language super-skills. Poetic as FUCK.


----------



## Clair De Lune (Jun 24, 2020)

Divergent mind - Jenara Nerenberg


----------



## N_igma (Jun 29, 2020)

I’ve just finished Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas  Pynchon. I like his style and tone and I don’t think you need to understand every single thing that’s going on or get every 1940s pop culture reference to get a grasp of the story he’s telling. I’m not going to read it again but I am going to buy a copy of Mason and Dixon which seems to be the next logical step for me.


----------



## Nikkormat (Jun 29, 2020)

_The Flight_ by Gaito Gazdanov. Not far into it, but so far it's excellent. Gazdanov is a contender for being my favourite writer - try _Night Roads_.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Jun 30, 2020)

Just finished _Heavy_, by Kiese Laymon. It's a memoir, written to his mother, touching on addiction in many shapes, love, abuse, language, fatness, and being a black man in the American south. Recommended.


----------



## flypanam (Jul 4, 2020)

Tom Lutz’s Born Slippy, a bit of a bromance, mixed with a bit of caper with a dash of critique of late capitalism. 

A throughly good read.


----------



## sojourner (Jul 15, 2020)

Finished 'Amy and Isabelle' by Elizabeth Strout, and now on 'Abide With Me', same writer.

BoatieBird  - I absolutely love her writing


----------



## Nikkormat (Jul 15, 2020)

The Weimar Republic by Detlev Peukert. Detailed but quite readable.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jul 15, 2020)

Finished Don Quixote, now reading Blind Willow (Murakami), 2 Stoned (ALO) and The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins).

Depends on what mood I'm in, I'm flicking between them.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jul 15, 2020)

sojourner said:


> Finished 'Amy and Isabelle' by Elizabeth Strout, and now on 'Abide With Me', same writer.
> 
> BoatieBird  - I absolutely love her writing





I thought you might!


----------



## Throbbing Angel (Jul 15, 2020)

Just finished _Tales of Muffled Oars - Magnus Mills_' latest - it was OK - self published for some reason (dropped by Bloomsbury?)

About halfway through _Ian Rankin's WestWind.  _I can see why he used to say that he wouldn't allow it to be republished (but has now caved due to fan pressure/money/whatever)


----------



## sojourner (Aug 5, 2020)

I bought 'The Penelopiad' by Margaret Atwood, without realising what it was referring to. So now I'm having to read Homer's 'The Odyssey', in order to find out about Penelope before the Atwood book! I bought the Wordsworth Classic translation at first, but it was fucking unreadable, so now I'm reading the Robert Fagles one, and quite enjoying it. Soooo many characters though. No way I can remember them all.


----------



## Nikkormat (Aug 6, 2020)

_The Social Contract_ by Rousseau.


----------



## platinumsage (Aug 14, 2020)

"A Pleasant Treatise Of Witches Their Imps, and Meetings, Persons bewitched, Magicians, Necromancers, Incubus, and Succubus's, Familiar Spirits, Goblings, Pharys, Specters, Phantasms, Places Haunted, and Devillish Impostures: With The difference between Good and Bad Angels, and a true Relation of a good Genius" By A Pen Neer The Covent Of Eluthery

It's easy going for a non-fiction book on a topic unfamilair to me, I'd recommend it for light bedtime reading.









						A pleasant Treatise of Witches, their Imps and Meetings, Persons Bewitched ... and Devillish Impostures. By a pen neer the Covent of Eluthery
					





					books.google.co.uk


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Aug 15, 2020)

I’ve just finished The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi; it’s very good.

A novel about a gender nonconforming person‘s death in Nigeria.


----------



## Nikkormat (Aug 17, 2020)

Just about to start _The Cossacks_ by Tolstoy.


----------



## Sprocket. (Sep 4, 2020)

With The End in Mind:  How to Live and Die Well by Kathryn Mannix.

Emotionally moving, informative and life affirming.


----------



## kropotkin (Sep 4, 2020)

She got angry with me on good reads when I criticised that


----------



## Sprocket. (Sep 4, 2020)

kropotkin said:


> She got angry with me on good reads when I criticised that


From a professional angle or as a reader/patient?


----------



## kropotkin (Sep 5, 2020)

Professional - it was good, but just said the same thing again and again. Not really a useful book for those involved in palliating patients, more to educate the lay person.


----------



## Sprocket. (Sep 5, 2020)

kropotkin said:


> Professional - it was good, but just said the same thing again and again. Not really a useful book for those involved in palliating patients, more to educate the lay person.



Having now read three-quarters of it I have become aware of some repetition. As a lay person, but a very experienced cancer patient I bought this following a podcast from the You, me and the big C series where it was discussed. There is a need for a discussion about bringing the topic of death to be brought back into the families and communities.

But I think in all honesty I should probably start a thread on the appropriate board, if it’s not too morbid.


----------



## Sprocket. (Sep 8, 2020)

Finished the book by Kathryn Mannix and now on 
Crete, the Battle and the Resistance by Antony Beevor.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Sep 8, 2020)

Just finished _Half of a Yellow Sun_, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, set during the Biafran revolution and Nigerian civil war in the late 60s. Really enjoyed it, some extremely tense moments as the war catches up with the characters.


----------



## 8ball (Sep 8, 2020)

kropotkin said:


> Professional - it was good, but just said the same thing again and again. Not really a useful book for those involved in palliating patients, more to educate the lay person.



Lay people don’t _all_ necessarily need the same message hammering in again and again. 

Reading Sirens Of Titan by Vonnegut.
Weird in a good way.


#notalllaypeople


----------



## Sprocket. (Sep 8, 2020)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Just finished _Half of a Yellow Sun_, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, set during the Biafran revolution and Nigerian civil war in the late 60s. Really enjoyed it, some extremely tense moments as the war catches up with the characters.


I remember that dreadful conflict from the BBC news as a child.  I am interested in reading this.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Sep 8, 2020)

Sprocket. said:


> I remember that dreadful conflict from the BBC news as a child.  I am interested in reading this.


They made a film of the book in 2014 too, with Thandie Newton, John Boyega and Chiwetel Ejiofor:


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Sep 10, 2020)

I'm just finishing *Fake Law* by the secret Barrister. 

It is very informative, and a little scary. I'm glad I don't live in the UK any more


----------



## sojourner (Sep 16, 2020)

I bought The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, not realising what it referred to until I read the back cover blurb. So then I had to read The Odyssey before I could start it!  Having never read The Odyssey, I bought completely the wrong translation, the George Chapman one, which is pretty much unreadable to a modern eye. I got the Robert Fagles one then, which opened it right up for me, and was actually beautifully poetic, and I believe stuck to many of the original phrases. Anyway, loved it, but had some major problems with it. Atwood picked up on all my problems with it in The Penelopiad  Very glad I have read both now.

Have just started Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates, after reading an interview with her, and after looking up the Men Who Go Their Own Way site. Fuck me, don't go there unless you're feeling mentally well, or it's a big ole dark pit to fall in. The posters section alone is one of the most disturbing things I've seen. Goes way further than rape 'jokes'.


----------



## izz (Sep 16, 2020)

Hello booky people, can anyone recommend an introduction to group psychology and dynamics ?


----------



## seventh bullet (Sep 16, 2020)

Mountain Fires: The Red Army's Three-Year War in South China, 1934-1938 by Gregor Benton.

The guerilla fighters left behind to allow the safer retreat of Long Marchers, their tenacity, failures and the eventual formation of the New Fourth Army.


----------



## Shellee (Sep 18, 2020)

Re reading Untied Kingdom , by  James Lovegrove. It's entertaining enough but that's not why we're passing it around again, it's because it's about a dystopian future where.......

_"After a series of disastrous political decisions the United Kingdom has finally fallen foul of the International Community. Ostracized and bombed at random, the country has fallen apart. With the infrastructure in ruins tiny communities struggle on, relying on ancient traditions and myth for their structure and identity. "_

That has to be Brexit, you think?  No, it was published in 2003 as a reaction to the Balkan War but hey, it's prophetic.  I need a Brexit edition, Christmas stocking gift for 
Brexiters.


----------



## rubbershoes (Sep 18, 2020)

Saddam - The secret life by Con Coughlin

It turns out Mr Hussein was always a nasty chap.

Interesting book, though I don't know how much more I can read about him bumping off his former friends


----------



## izz (Oct 4, 2020)

It's like this, I passed our Waterstones yesterday and a book in the window caught my eye. As we're all masked up at the moment my glasses, without which I can't see anything, fogged to the extent I couldn't find the book in the shop and so I asked the kind assistant to find it for me and bought it blind. I now hate myself as I would never have bought the damn thing - 'The Madness of Crowds'  which is waaaaaaaaaaaay more rightwing than I would have considered even looking at. So - what do I do ? I can't really take it back and don't wish to perpetrate anything like this by giving it to charity - recycling ? Use it to start the fire ?


----------



## planetgeli (Oct 4, 2020)

Just finished *Beyond the Oxus - Monica Whitlock *

A good account of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the 20th century. Tajikistan particularly tragic as in the 1990s they had a civil war which went so unreported and unwatched by outside observers they can't even put an accurate number on those who died. Estimates are between 20,000 and 100,000 to give you some idea. They've also spent the whole century being fucked over by Russia or whatever neighbour took their fancy to killing them. And themselves. Hell of a hard place to live.

Uzbekistan sounds like a political shithole. It's name can be taken to mean 'home of the free' - which is deeply ironic for somewhere that has suffered effective dictatorship or proxy rule by USA (who used it for air bases in the Afghan war) for a lot of the time.

Now reading *Bread and Ashes - Tony Anderson *which is about travel and politics in the mountains of Georgia.


----------



## Nikkormat (Oct 6, 2020)

_The Pelican History of Greece_ by Andrew Robert Burn. It's quite dry, but I am learning a bit.


----------



## Aladdin (Oct 21, 2020)

NEVER MIND THE B#LL*CKS
HERE'S THE SCIENCE
by Professor Luke O Neill.
A scientist's guide to the biggest challenges facing our species today  


Really enjoying this


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 22, 2020)

Just finished Piransesi by Susanna Clarke, her last book was Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell so as soon as I saw she had a new novel out I was on it. I wish she was more prolific because this is peerless writing, easily the best novel of the year for me.


----------



## krtek a houby (Oct 22, 2020)

Chester Himes - The Big Gold Dream.

Cops, killers and religious conmen in 50s/60s Harlem. Page turner.


----------



## izz (Oct 23, 2020)

I'm on page 44 of Atlas Shrugged. Feel quite meh about it thus far, is it worth pursuing Urbs ?


----------



## Sprocket. (Oct 26, 2020)

The Private Life of the Hare.
John Lewis-Stempel.
A lovely, little book of prose. It was a recent  gift from a friend and I am finding it delightful.


----------



## planetgeli (Oct 26, 2020)

Sprocket. said:


> The Private Life of the Hare.
> John Lewis-Stempel.
> A lovely, little book of prose. It was a recent  gift from a friend and I am finding it delightful.



Is that _The Running Hare_? I enjoyed that. Even better was _Meadowland. _Enormous amount of knowledge of nature.


----------



## Sprocket. (Oct 26, 2020)

planetgeli said:


> Is that _The Running Hare_? I enjoyed that. Even better was _Meadowland. _Enormous amount of knowledge of nature.


He wrote _The Running Hare _and _Meadowland_,  I will be reading those soon no doubt. My mate who sent me the book is a real countryman and a big fan of the books.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 26, 2020)

The Winter of Our Discontent, John Steinbeck. Some horrible glaring isms in this emerging from the protagonist, but some absolutely fucking glorious analyses and comments on the nature of capitalism.


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 26, 2020)

Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks. Started it a few weeks ago and then got side tracked onto Hitler's Last Days by Gerhard Boldt.


----------



## Sprocket. (Oct 26, 2020)

sojourner said:


> The Winter of Discontent, John Steinbeck. Some horrible glaring isms in this emerging from the protagonist, but some absolutely fucking glorious analyses and comments on the nature of capitalism.


I love Steinbeck.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 27, 2020)

Sprocket. said:


> I love Steinbeck.


Me too, one of my all time faves.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 27, 2020)

rubbershoes said:


> Saddam - The secret life by Con Coughlin
> 
> It turns out Mr Hussein was always a nasty chap.
> 
> Interesting book, though I don't know how much more I can read about him bumping off his former friends


Interesting side-hustle as a romantic novelist too


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 27, 2020)

DotCommunist said:


> Just finished Piransesi by Susanna Clarke, her last book was Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell so as soon as I saw she had a new novel out I was on it. I wish she was more prolific because this is peerless writing, easily the best novel of the year for me.


She has had a chronic illness which got in the way of her writing - was housebound for a while, hence the subject of the novel


----------



## BristolEcho (Nov 1, 2020)

Joe Abercrombie - The Trouble With Peace. 

There are a few fans here of these series right? Next book is fucking good. I'm really tempted to go and read the originals again now as there's so much I forget. I had the audio books but they just don't stick.


----------



## felixthecat (Nov 2, 2020)

Sprocket. said:


> With The End in Mind:  How to Live and Die Well by Kathryn Mannix.
> 
> Emotionally moving, informative and life affirming.


 If you havent read Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air do so.

It is, as the cover note says, about what makes life worth living in the face of death. Its beautifully written


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Nov 2, 2020)

There is a new site that allows you to buy books from independent bookshops









						Bookshop
					






					uk.bookshop.org
				




Guardian article about it









						'This is revolutionary’: new online bookshop unites indies to rival Amazon
					

Bookshop.org, which launched in the US earlier this year, has accelerated UK plans and goes online this week in partnership with more than 130 shops




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## Reno (Nov 2, 2020)

I just finished Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix, a humorous horror novel about a haunted Ikea store (name changed for copyright reasons). It was entertaining enough, the best thing is that it looks like an Ikea catalogue and each chapter heading advertises a piece of furniture, which becomes increasingly sinister. The novel itself is very lightweight.



Now I'm 50 pages into Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick, which is gripping. Based on interviews it's the story of six ordinary North Koreans about day to day life there.


----------



## Little Piranha (Nov 2, 2020)

farmerbarleymow said:


> There is a new site that allows you to buy books from independent bookshops
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Excellent news. 

Just used this to order Piranesi, thanks for the heads up DotCommunist, I really like her writing too.


----------



## krtek a houby (Nov 13, 2020)

Reno said:


> I just finished Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix, a humorous horror novel about a haunted Ikea store (name changed for copyright reasons). It was entertaining enough, the best thing is that it looks like an Ikea catalogue and each chapter heading advertises a piece of furniture, which becomes increasingly sinister. The novel itself is very lightweight.
> 
> View attachment 237014
> 
> Now I'm 50 pages into Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick, which is gripping. Based on interviews it's the story of six ordinary North Koreans about day to day life there.



Amazing books and you can see why it garnered awards.


----------



## kropotkin (Nov 13, 2020)

1. Suttree - Cormac Mccarthy
2. The Order of Time - Carlo Rovelli
3. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
4.  Exhalation - Ted Chiang
5. The Secret Commonwealth - Philip Pullman
6. Birds Without Wings - Louis de Berniere 
7. The Peripheral - William Gibson
8. Proxima Rising - Brandon Q. Morris
9. She Came to Slay: the Life and Times of Harriet Tubman - Erica Armstrong Dunbar
10. Radicalized - Corey Doctorow
11. American Dirt - Janine Cummins 
12. Energy and Civilisation--a History - Vaclav Smil
13. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk
14. The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher - Hilary Mantel
15. Lampedusa - Steven Price
16. I am Legend - Richard Matheson
17. Lovecraft Country - Matt Ruff
18. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
19. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
20. The Long Walk - Richard Bachman/Stephen King
21. The Plague - Albert Camus
22. All Systems Red - Martha Wells
23. Artificial Condition - Martha Wells
24. Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells 
25. Exit Strategy - Martha Wells
26. Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 - Albert Marrin
27. High Rise - J. G. Ballard
28. The Girl With All the Gifts - M. R. Carey
29. The Rules of Contagion - Adam Kutcharski
30. Girl, Woman, Other - Bernadine Evaristo
31. Night Boat to Tangier - Kevin Barry
32. Recursion - Blake Crouch
33. The Risk Pool - Richard Russo
34. The Vanished Birds - Simon Jiminez
35. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Attwood
36. A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom - John Boyne
37. Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky
38. James Baldwin - If Beale Street could Talk
39. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
40. The World at Night - Alan Furst
41. Red Gold - Alan Furst


----------



## Detroit City (Nov 13, 2020)

Just ordered Obama’s new memoir off Amazon, should be here in a few weeks...


----------



## hash tag (Nov 13, 2020)

I am reading this. It was bought because of the Guardian review. I didn't think I would like it but it's turning out to be quite and insight. Mrs Tag and I have both been into Wandsworth nick for open gardens day. I am just reading how the white collars in the there helped with the write ups for Grayling and Truss's reforms. It's shit. It's an eye opener and if anyone thinks being inside is like a holiday camp, they should read this.








						A Bit of a Stretch by Chris Atkins review – how to survive in prison
					

An acclaimed documentary film-maker was given a five-year sentence for tax fraud. He details his time behind bars in a shocking, scathing, entertaining account




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## Hearse Pileup (Nov 13, 2020)

I'm tossing up starting "Capitalist Realism" by Mark Fisher (recommended to me by the band REAL(s) - who named themselves after it), and "The Last Man"; a book by Mary Shelley that is apparently the first example of dystopian fiction.

I tend to skew fiction usually but I know that I should probably engage with the ideas I have more by reading more theory 😅


----------



## sojourner (Nov 16, 2020)

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. Always loved the film, loved the remake too, but never read the book. Perfect for last night's howling wind and rain.


----------



## Elpenor (Nov 16, 2020)

I've just finished the Kunt and the Gang autobiography, iKunt and now reading the biography of Ben Ryan who coached Fiji to Olympic Gold in rugby sevens


----------



## Nikkormat (Nov 17, 2020)

_The Twelve Chairs_ by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov. 70 pages in and I'm enjoying it a lot.


----------



## MrSki (Nov 17, 2020)

sojourner said:


> Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. Always loved the film, loved the remake too, but never read the book. Perfect for last night's howling wind and rain.


Was listening to a book phone in on 5live & this came up as many listeners favourites so might give it a go myself. Let us know what you think please.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 17, 2020)

MrSki said:


> Was listening to a book phone in on 5live & this came up as many listeners favourites so might give it a go myself. Let us know what you think please.


I'm halfway through and loving it


----------



## sojourner (Nov 21, 2020)

Susan Hill, 'Mrs de Winter', a sequel to Rebecca. 2 chapters in and enjoying it. She's caught the mood and descriptions of landscapes very well so far.


----------



## HAL9000 (Nov 29, 2020)

New Michael Connelly book

       The Law Of Innocence (2020)

       featuring Mickey Haller

Connelly has written so many books, some of the later books are getting increasingly implausible compared to his early books like "black echo".   (assuming he's writing the book and not getting a team of other people to do the work)

But I enjoyed reading this book, and it moves at fast pace.  (plausibily is streched in places, some might say its implausible  )


----------



## D'wards (Dec 7, 2020)

Can anyone recommend a book about ww2? Nothing too heavy- in the same vein as the Paxman one about ww1


----------



## StoneRoad (Dec 7, 2020)

Re-reading the book about Felix, the Hudderfield Station Cat ...

I wanted something light and entertaining for bedtime yesterday.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 7, 2020)

sojourner said:


> Susan Hill, 'Mrs de Winter', a sequel to Rebecca. 2 chapters in and enjoying it. She's caught the mood and descriptions of landscapes very well so far.


This just got really irritating in the end. Wouldn't recommend.

Now reading The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 7, 2020)

D'wards said:


> Can anyone recommend a book about ww2? Nothing too heavy- in the same vein as the Paxman one about ww1


D'wards  Laurence Rees is always a reliable and clear writer World War Two: Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West: Amazon.co.uk: Rees, Laurence: 9781846077944: Books


----------



## colbhoy (Dec 7, 2020)

Eventide by Kent Haruf, second in his series of books set in Holt, Colorado. It’s very good.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Dec 7, 2020)

Dubliners, James Joyce. I'm not normally a short story kind of a person, but this is very good so far. Makes me want to re-read Ulysses.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Dec 7, 2020)

BristolEcho said:


> Joe Abercrombie - The Trouble With Peace.
> 
> There are a few fans here of these series right? Next book is fucking good. I'm really tempted to go and read the originals again now as there's so much I forget. I had the audio books but they just don't stick.


I have A Little Hatred next in my pile to read, hoping I can then hold out until TTWP comes out in paperback because I already have too many Abercrombie hardbacks.


----------



## BristolEcho (Dec 7, 2020)

Buddy Bradley said:


> I have A Little Hatred next in my pile to read, hoping I can then hold out until TTWP comes out in paperback because I already have too many Abercrombie hardbacks.



I've been listening to Red Country on audio book too after reading it before. Slow at times but still very good! I am really enjoying the new series of books too. It's based around industrialisation and then the usual JA twists and turns + great characters. Have you read his young adult stuff? That was good too.


----------



## rubbershoes (Dec 7, 2020)

Human traces by Sebastian Faulks. 

150 pages in and it's pretty dull so far


----------



## Kevbad the Bad (Dec 7, 2020)

The Mystery of Ernie Taylor's Abdomen by Jonathan Evans.


----------



## thismoment (Dec 7, 2020)

HAL9000 said:


> New Michael Connelly book
> 
> The Law Of Innocence (2020)
> 
> ...



I’m listening to Night Fire. It’s my first time listening to an audio book.Enjoying it so far, I like Connelly’s books but wasn’t sure that I’d be able to follow and audiobook well. 
I’ll look out for Connelly’s latest book next


----------



## Wilf (Dec 8, 2020)

thismoment said:


> I’m listening to Night Fire. It’s my first time listening to an audio book.Enjoying it so far, I like Connelly’s books but wasn’t sure that I’d be able to follow and audiobook well.
> I’ll look out for Connelly’s latest book next


I suspect I'm reading about 2 audiobooks to 1 written at the moment (in terms of novels, though to be honest I'm not reading much else at the moment). Tends to be free ones on youtube - one book split up over about a week's washing up.


----------



## BristolEcho (Dec 8, 2020)

I finsihed The Secret Commonwealth by Phillip Pullman. The first book was pretty dull. This second one has really annoyed me due too:



Spoiler: Click



Firstly Malcolm loving Lyra. I hate love stories at the best of time, but teacher in love with student?  Then batted off throughout as "being adults now" hmmm. 

The pointless rape scene too....

And then the general story just being hit and miss. I'm really disappointed to be honest. I suspect for all my sins I will want to see how it pans out. 

I'm going to sleep now but might comeback to add more context I just needed to share my frustration.


----------



## Wilf (Dec 8, 2020)

BristolEcho said:


> I finsihed The Secret Commonwealth by Phillip Pullman. The first book was pretty dull. This second one has really annoyed me due too:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yep. Agree with you about both books.


----------



## bellaozzydog (Dec 8, 2020)

John Cooper Clark I wanna be yours. 
Auto biography.

Marshland GARETH e Rees

spooky trippy hackney marshes tales


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Dec 8, 2020)

BristolEcho said:


> I've been listening to Red Country on audio book too after reading it before. Slow at times but still very good! I am really enjoying the new series of books too. It's based around industrialisation and then the usual JA twists and turns + great characters. Have you read his young adult stuff? That was good too.


I read the first one (Half a King, I think?) but didn't enjoy it enough to bother picking up the sequels. Red Country is probably my least favourite of his so far, although I still loved it - Best Served Cold and The Heroes would probably be top of the list.


----------



## Part 2 (Dec 8, 2020)

Pleased to rediscover this thread. I've read loads more since March than in previous years. 

Just thrown the towel in on Patrick Melrose. 60 pages in and not a fucking clue what I've read.

Next to read, Jake Arnott - The Long Firm


----------



## thismoment (Dec 8, 2020)

Wilf said:


> I suspect I'm reading about 2 audiobooks to 1 written at the moment (in terms of novels, though to be honest I'm not reading much else at the moment). Tends to be free ones on youtube - one book split up over about a week's washing up.



me too! I’ve logged 5 hours in 4 days listening in the kitchen whilst cleaning and cooking. That’s a lot of cleaning and cooking!!
Should be finished 1 book by the end of the week.I’m quite pleased as the most I usually listen to is podcasts that are about an 1hr long.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 8, 2020)

BristolEcho said:


> I finsihed The Secret Commonwealth by Phillip Pullman. The first book was pretty dull. This second one has really annoyed me due too:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yep, also



Spoiler: Click



Whereas Pullman did a quite magnificent job of writing from a young girl's perspective in the first trilogy, in these books he is coming across as a sleazy middle-aged man trying to write from a young adult's perspective. Made me feel quite queasy in places, and that, combined with the endless bloody rambling, the almost-paedo-like behaviour of Malcolm, is enough to put me off bothering with the final one, whenever it comes out. Shame that, cos before this trilogy, I thought the sun shone out of his arse


----------



## sojourner (Dec 8, 2020)

Part 2 said:


> Pleased to rediscover this thread. I've read loads more since March than in previous years.
> 
> Just thrown the towel in on Patrick Melrose. 60 pages in and not a fucking clue what I've read.
> 
> Next to read, Jake Arnott - The Long Firm


I prefer this one to the other. The other one seems to be about some sort of challenge, which isn't the point of reading at all for me. I'll read what I want whenever I feel like, I don't want any (internal or external) pressure to compete or complete a set amount of books


----------



## BristolEcho (Dec 8, 2020)

sojourner said:


> Yep, also
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler: Spoiler 



Yep. The angle doesn't even feel natural and was totally uncessary. We don't know what will happen I guess, but it doesn't look good. I like some of the story such as the background with Magisterium and at times it has been well written, but also at times awful. A shame as I expected to love theme even if I knew it would not be able to match my love for HDM.


----------



## Part 2 (Dec 8, 2020)

sojourner said:


> I prefer this one to the other. The other one seems to be about some sort of challenge, which isn't the point of reading at all for me. I'll read what I want whenever I feel like, I don't want any (internal or external) pressure to compete or complete a set amount of books



It was a post of your elsewhere that reminded me not to put myself through the torment of reading something I'm not clicking with. 

A shame because my mate sent me it and he's usually good at recommending stuff but not this time. I envy people who can just pick up and read anything.


----------



## Nikkormat (Dec 15, 2020)

_A Vindication of the Rights of Men_ & _A Vindication of the Rights of Woman_ by Mary Wollstonecraft. Part of my "it's time I worked my way through the political works I missed when I studied politics" campaign.


----------



## 8115 (Dec 17, 2020)

The White Album by Joan Didion. I don't know what I think yet, I'm only one chapter in. My friend sent it to me a while ago but then I watched a straight-to-Netflix film where they mercilessly took the piss out of someone for saying the book was their bible so I'm a bit cautious. It's very of-its-time so far.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 18, 2020)

Still struggling on 3 books, started reading Peter Bagge comics again, but whilst an interesting fictional document of the era, they haven't aged well.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Dec 18, 2020)

krtek a houby said:


> started reading Peter Bagge comics again, but whilst an interesting fictional document of the era, they haven't aged well.


There's definitely a lot in his politics and opinions that goes over your head when you're a teenager, but you look at in a different light decades later. I read Sweatshop recently, which was kind of a retread of the types of characters you find in Hate, but far less insightful and interesting.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 18, 2020)

Buddy Bradley said:


> There's definitely a lot in his politics and opinions that goes over your head when you're a teenager, but you look at in a different light decades later. I read Sweatshop recently, which was kind of a retread of the types of characters you find in Hate, but far less insightful and interesting.



It's a conundrum, cos at the time, I read the comics in my twenties and while some of the stories and language was iffy, still enjoyed them. It's not as reactionary as maybe Dave Sims but there's some stuff that's just not acceptable. With hindsight, obvs.


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Dec 18, 2020)

Still reading Deadliest Enemy - our war against killer germs by Michael Osterholm.  Started it several months back but have not read much at all since then - think its because I'm not travelling on the train anymore as I used to read a lot while travelling.  









						Deadliest Enemy
					

A leading epidemiologist shares his "powerful and necessary" stories from the front lines of our war on infectious diseases and explains ...



					www.goodreads.com


----------



## Part 2 (Dec 22, 2020)

Gone back for another shot at Patrick Melrose. Glad I did, it's ...just demands a bit more attention than I was giving it first time round.


----------



## chilango (Dec 24, 2020)

Just started 84k by Claire North and it's a late contender for my favourite (fiction) book of the year.


----------



## Nikkormat (Dec 25, 2020)

Nikkormat said:


> _A Vindication of the Rights of Men_ & _A Vindication of the Rights of Woman_ by Mary Wollstonecraft...



The first book was weak, the second made excellent points but was a difficult read, worth persevering with though.

Now starting _The Seven Who Were Hanged_ by Leonid Andreyev.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 25, 2020)

God's Englishman: Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution by Christopher Hill


----------



## flypanam (Dec 28, 2020)

My reading has been terrible this year so I'm making an effort to get back into it with:

Max Haiven's Revenge capitalism.
Renata Adler's Speedboat.


----------



## Nikkormat (Jan 3, 2021)

Nikkormat said:


> Now starting _The Seven Who Were Hanged_ by Leonid Andreyev.



Time well spent; a great book.

Now on _Maus_ by Art Spiegelman.


----------



## D'wards (Jan 4, 2021)

I'm reading The Terror by Dan Simmons. 

I'm very much enjoying it but it's quite slow and is over 1000 pages I think (I'm reading on kindle).
Its largely set in a ship stuck in ice over the North Pole for two years, so the scene is the same. 
Has anyone read it ?


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 4, 2021)

D'wards said:


> I'm reading The Terror by Dan Simmons.
> 
> I'm very much enjoying it but it's quite slow and is over 1000 pages I think (I'm reading on kindle).
> Its largely set in a ship stuck in ice over the North Pole for two years, so the scene is the same.
> Has anyone read it ?


Yeah loved it. The tv adaptation is great too. I didn’t find it slow. Plenty happens and it’s a fast read.


----------



## D'wards (Jan 4, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Yeah loved it. The tv adaptation is great too. I didn’t find it slow. Plenty happens and it’s a fast read.


Aside from the monster aspect, I am fascinated by the way humans cope under intense hardship, and the fact they volunteered for these hardships.

When I've finished this I'll probably delve into the attempts to find the north west passage - an interesting part of history for sure


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 4, 2021)

D'wards said:


> Aside from the monster aspect, I am fascinated by the way humans cope under intense hardship, and the fact they volunteered for these hardships.
> 
> When I've finished this I'll probably delve into the attempts to find the north west passage - an interesting part of history for sure


My dad has a huge collection of books about Antarctic and Arctic expeditions. He has a number of books on the Franklin expedition. I can ask him about a reading list if you want?


----------



## D'wards (Jan 4, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> My dad has a huge collection of books about Antarctic and Arctic expeditions. He has a number of books on the Franklin expedition. I can ask him about a reading list if you want?


Yah, if you could ask him for one catchall type book rec that would be great 👍


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 4, 2021)

D'wards said:


> Yah, if you could ask him for one catchall type book rec that would be great 👍


Will do. I remember seeing a Michael Palin book on the Erebus but it’s just about that an he ship I think


----------



## Nikkormat (Jan 6, 2021)

_Baudolino_ by Umberto Eco.


----------



## Sprocket. (Jan 6, 2021)

Golden Hill by Francis Spufford.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 6, 2021)

D'wards said:


> Yah, if you could ask him for one catchall type book rec that would be great 👍


The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage
 by Anthony Brandt


----------



## D'wards (Jan 6, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage
> by Anthony Brandt


Great,  cheers boss


----------



## D'wards (Jan 7, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage
> by Anthony Brandt


----------



## tufty79 (Jan 7, 2021)

Riddley Walker. In small doses


----------



## Sprocket. (Jan 13, 2021)

Rereading All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The different tactic of trying to take an election prior to polling day as opposed to after the count.


----------



## belboid (Jan 26, 2021)

Just finished _The Hair-Carpet Weavers_, by Andreas Eschbach.

it’s really quite odd, about a society where a group of men have to spend their lives weaving carpets made from the hair of their wives and daughters. They are ‘discovered’ and the search to found out wtf they do this gets underway.

a friend gave it to me after becoming frustrated at the constant changes in narrator and scene.  I was tempted to do so but stuck with it and was very glad I did.  Very neatly woven together plot that looks lovely at first but becomes truly awful when you step back and realise the gruesome whole.


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 11, 2021)

Lord of the Rings. 

Not read it for 40 years    and I'd thought I'd give it another spin. It's hard to get the films out of my mind and just see the book for what it is. So far I'm enjoying it a lot. 

I left my original copy in Andover bus station in 1980. If anyone's passing, could they pop in and pick it up for me. Thanks


----------



## flypanam (Feb 18, 2021)

Mark O’Connell - Notes from an apocalypse


----------



## planetgeli (Feb 18, 2021)

Horizon by Barry Lopez

I'll admit I'd never heard of him. Bought on a whim (and because it's got 500 pages) it's interesting so far. Mixture of autobiography and travel, taking in six (quite extreme) regions of the world and some history I didn't know, about the occasional person mainstream history doesn't care much about. Searched him on here and I see chilango is a fan of one of his books. This is the first he's written for over 10 years.


----------



## Pickman's model (Feb 18, 2021)

tim stapleton, warfare and tracking in africa, 1952-1990


----------



## Roseygirl (Feb 18, 2021)

Hi everyone, hope you don't mind me joining in, just finished Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, I loved this book and have seen it's been turned into a film but I'm scared to watch it because the book was so good, anyone seen it?
Sorry for jumping in, I couldn't find a say hello thread x


----------



## chilango (Feb 18, 2021)

planetgeli said:


> Horizon by Barry Lopez
> 
> I'll admit I'd never heard of him. Bought on a whim (and because it's got 500 pages) it's interesting so far. Mixture of autobiography and travel, taking in six (quite extreme) regions of the world and some history I didn't know, about the occasional person mainstream history doesn't care much about. Searched him on here and I see chilango is a fan of one of his books. This is the first he's written for over 10 years.



His _Arctic Dreams_ was brilliant (at least I thought it was when I read it, in a tent in the Arctic with not a lot else to do, 15 years ago. I still have it on my shelves, so that might say something.

I did later, however, read a couple of his others and didn't think much of the at all.


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 18, 2021)

Roseygirl said:


> Hi everyone, hope you don't mind me joining in, just finished Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, I loved this book and have seen it's been turned into a film but I'm scared to watch it because the book was so good, anyone seen it?
> Sorry for jumping in, I couldn't find a say hello thread x



Welcome to urban. There isn't an introduce yourself thread and tbh, it generally goes better when people just dive into threads that interest them, rather than throwing a big _look at me I'm new_ post. 

The film is fine. Glenn Close is magnificent in it. Until the end of the film, I didn't realise it was based on a book. And until then, I was sort of wondering what the point of the film was. It's not that it's bad, it  just doesn't go anywhere other than being about his life.


----------



## Roseygirl (Feb 20, 2021)

Ah didn't know Glenn Close was on it. So reluctant to watch it after reading the book. It reminded me of where the crawdads sing in as much as the feelings. I might watch it, did you actually enjoy the film? Compared to the book ?


----------



## LeytonCatLady (Feb 21, 2021)

Winter King by Bernard Cornwell.


----------



## LeytonCatLady (Feb 22, 2021)

Thief Of Time by John Boyne.


----------



## belboid (Feb 22, 2021)

Black Spartacus - the epic life of Toussaint Louverture, by Sudhir Hazareesingh

Excellent biography of the great Caribbean revolutionary.  The eighty years since CLR James wrote Black Jacobins has unearthed lots of detail on Louvertures early life which the author uses to create a picture of the great man as, essentially, always a brilliant man to whom genius came naturally.  It is too well written to be called hagiographic, but it does say everything he did was inspired by his cunning and brilliance with a healthy dose of love of nature thrown in too).  He makes Louverture more of his own man than James does, in that he isn’t simply applying french revolutionary ideas to his locality, he was creating a unique combination of African, creole and European beliefs to forge a new society.   

Not without its faults, but an excellent read.


----------



## sojourner (Feb 22, 2021)

Ecce Homo - Nietzsche. It's unintentionally funny, and almost complete gibberish. 

The Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer. A German soldier's first-hand account of being on the Eastern Front in WW2.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Feb 25, 2021)

Just finished _Of Human Bondage_, by Somerset Maugham. Absolutely fantastic book, recommended for everyone to read.


----------



## planetgeli (Feb 25, 2021)

planetgeli said:


> Horizon by Barry Lopez
> 
> I'll admit I'd never heard of him. Bought on a whim (and because it's got 500 pages) it's interesting so far. Mixture of autobiography and travel, taking in six (quite extreme) regions of the world and some history I didn't know, about the occasional person mainstream history doesn't care much about. Searched him on here and I see chilango is a fan of one of his books. This is the first he's written for over 10 years.



This turned dull btw.


----------



## LeytonCatLady (Feb 25, 2021)

_Black Cabs_ by John McLaren.


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 25, 2021)

Roseygirl said:


> Ah didn't know Glenn Close was on it. So reluctant to watch it after reading the book. It reminded me of where the crawdads sing in as much as the feelings. I might watch it, did you actually enjoy the film? Compared to the book ?



Haven't read the book so can't compare. But the film is OK. I'd it's a favourite book, and you don't want your view of it sullied on anyway, or if you're prone to shouting at the TV about in consistencies in adaptations, then don't watch it


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 25, 2021)

I've read the book and lasted about half an hour with the film. Just awful - Glenn Close comes off as an overacting BoSelecta character.


----------



## Nikkormat (Feb 25, 2021)

Just finished Umbert Eco's _Baudolino_. Hard to get into, but worth persevering with.

Now started _Imagined Communities_ by Benedict Anderson. Seems promising.


----------



## D'wards (Feb 25, 2021)

Roseygirl said:


> Hi everyone, hope you don't mind me joining in, just finished Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, I loved this book and have seen it's been turned into a film but I'm scared to watch it because the book was so good, anyone seen it?
> Sorry for jumping in, I couldn't find a say hello thread x


Put it on me to read list


----------



## D'wards (Mar 18, 2021)

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. 

Have about a quarter left and am loving it. Very easy to read style, a bit like Stephen King. 
I saw the film  years ago and unfortunately think I can vaguely remember the ending which is a shame as I'd love to find out what happened cold.
I've read Shutter Island but think I'll probably read a lot more Lehane now


----------



## Nikkormat (Apr 11, 2021)

Nikkormat said:


> Now started _Imagined Communities_ by Benedict Anderson. Seems promising.



It took me until last week to finish this. Last week I got through Sergei Dovlatov's _Pushkin Hills_, Philip Kerr's _March Violets_, and then started Frantz Fanon's _The Wretched of the Earth_. I should finish that in a couple of days, and next will be _The Buddha's Return_ by Gaito Gazdanov.


----------



## BigMoaner (Apr 11, 2021)

Decoding Jung's Metaphysics

Brilliant, heart pounding at times stuff





__





						Decoding Jung's Metaphysics: The archetypal semantics of an experiential universe: Amazon.co.uk: Bernardo Kastrup: 9781789045659: Books
					

Buy Decoding Jung's Metaphysics: The archetypal semantics of an experiential universe by Bernardo Kastrup (ISBN: 9781789045659) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.



					www.amazon.co.uk


----------



## stockwelljonny (Apr 11, 2021)

Just finished The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, loved it, gripping and original. Hadn’t heard of the author before but apparently it won the Booker a few years ago. Story of an Australian soldier in ww2 and after.


----------



## kropotkin (Apr 11, 2021)

That's a very moving book


----------



## stockwelljonny (Apr 11, 2021)

kropotkin said:


> That's a very moving book


Yes impressively handled. Made me want to read other books of his. Read an interview with him and he sounds like an interesting bloke, living in Tasmania.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 11, 2021)

An impeccable spy  by Owen Matthews. 

Biography of a top level Soviet spy on Japan in WW2


----------



## Elpenor (Apr 11, 2021)

Would that be Richard Sorge? I've heard about him, he featured in a few other books I've read.


----------



## Zabo (Apr 11, 2021)

Recently finished reading all the published translated works of _Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky _- some twice over. If you like Gogol or Bulgakov you will appreciate his work. Some of his stories are very funny but most are pointedly anti-Bolshevik. All I have to do now is wait for NYRB to release whatever works of his they can find to get translated.

He is sadly known for saying: "I am known for being unknown".


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 12, 2021)

Elpenor said:


> Would that be Richard Sorge? I've heard about him, he featured in a few other books I've read.



Yes.  There's quite a few books and a few films as well.

Despite the excellent and accurate information he was sending to Moscow, Stalin didn't belive him, due to being a paranoid maniac


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 12, 2021)

This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health - Nathan Filer
Chernobyl: The History Of A Nuclear Catastrophe - Sergei Plokhy


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 14, 2021)

Restless by William Boyd. One of the ones I picked up on a local phone box book exchange. 

It's a rather unengaging spy tale. I haven't read any other William Boyd for twenty years and remember he was better than this


----------



## Elpenor (Apr 14, 2021)

I think a reference to your man Sorge in this one too


----------



## bellaozzydog (Apr 14, 2021)

Albert Camus, The Plague


----------



## D'wards (Apr 15, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Chernobyl: The History Of A Nuclear Catastrophe - Sergei Plokhy


Whilst I enjoyed this i found it a bit heavy on politics and a little light on human interest stories for my tastes.
I think there is another book of interviews with the men there and the people living in the town so I should probably read that.


----------



## Sprocket. (Apr 18, 2021)

Just started, 
Travels With Charley : In Search of America by John Steinbeck.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 18, 2021)

The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodward. Its good yarr.  theres a rubbishy netflix docu covering the same ground at the mo which makes the bold reach that 'the pirate republic influenced the american revolution'. The book does not make this claim as yet.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 23, 2021)

Elpenor said:


> I think a reference to your man Sorge in this one too



Typical. You wait ages for a tale of Soviet espionage etc..

I've got Ben Macintyre's Agent Sonja waiting to be read and he's going to be in that too. That'll have to wait for another year. There's only so many dead letter drops you can take.

Restless featured the Venlo incident, which also appeared in another book I read recently. I can't remember what it is though. It had a young woman infiltrating British fascists


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 24, 2021)

Many of my current books are ones from phone box book exchanges so the quality is variable. By far the worst book I've read this year is Girls' Night Out. I can't remember who it's by and can't be bothered to look. Despite the title it's not chick lit fluff, but would like to be a thriller. 

It irritated me greatly for several reasons. The two main characters had no self awareness at all, and no understanding of each other, despite having been friends for 20 years and worked closely together all that time. They seemed surprised how they and their friend reacted to events, even though it seemed to be completely in keeping with how they are. Even worse, it seemed that the author shared that lack of awareness of their natures . 

And the the ending was meant to be a big twist.  Yes it was a twist and no, I doubt anyone would see it coming, because it's completely out of character


----------



## flypanam (Apr 24, 2021)

Stewart Edwards - The Paris Commune, 1871.

150th anniversary of the commune. Seemed like a good time to find out more. Just through the first chapter but it’s fascinating.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 24, 2021)

Finished My Abandonment by Peter Rock. Read it cos the brilliant Leave No Trace film was based on it. Very different in one big respect. Still excellent.

Now ploughing through Berlin by Antony Beevor. He stuffs his books with an incredible amount of detail. Some gruesome stuff about the Red Army's 'immoral phenomenon' (the fudged phrase used by the top brass to refer to mass rape). I thought it was 'just' when they entered Berlin. Wrong. Also not 'just' German women, their own too. Brutal.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Apr 24, 2021)

I've just started _A boy and his dog at the end of the world_ by C.A. Fletcher. Promising start. Like _The Road_ for kids with added dog stuff


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 24, 2021)

S☼I said:


> I've just started _A boy and his dog at the end of the world_ by C.A. Fletcher. Promising start. Like _The Road_ for kids with added dog stuff


Think I’ve seen the film of that with a teenage Don Johnson


----------



## Steel Icarus (Apr 24, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Think I’ve seen the film of that with a teenage Don Johnson


Unlikely, it's only a year old


----------



## fishfinger (Apr 24, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Think I’ve seen the film of that with a teenage Don Johnson


That's just called "A boy and his dog".


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 24, 2021)

fishfinger said:


> That's just called "A boy and his dog".


Aye the book was Harlan Ellison and Charlie Fletcher wrote this one


----------



## flypanam (May 6, 2021)

Eric Vuillard’s The war on the poor.

Fictional account of Thomas Muntzer and the reformation. Very short, comes in at 80 pages.


----------



## BristolEcho (May 10, 2021)

I'm coming to the end of the audiobook a for Joe Abercrombie's first law series. Read the books previously and the audiobook are exceptional. Pacey is great and I really enjoyed working my way through them. I will do Best Served Cold and The hero's at some point too. I have already done Red Country.

Reading The Last Kingdom series still at the moment. I am on book 10 I think and will probably just work through the rest of the series.

I have a book on Mercia to read afterwards for some Non-Fiction.


----------



## A380 (May 10, 2021)

Just read the new Andy Weir= Project Hail Mary. Brilliant, better than the Martian and far better than Artimis. If you like hard SF I'd recommend.


----------



## flypanam (May 14, 2021)

Benjamin Labatut’s When we cease to understand the world.

a science novel. Worth the hype, especially for the maths.


----------



## Nikkormat (May 17, 2021)

_China To Me_ by Emily Hahn. Started on the tram this morning; enjoying it so far. An American journalist in China, 1935-43.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 5, 2021)

Kolmya Tales by Varlam Shalamov.


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Jun 5, 2021)

I'm re-reading The Lord of the Rings, for the first time in ages (not sure I've read it since the films came out, tbh). I think it's mostly just giving me a stock of "Well, actually, in the book..." to break out next time the films happen to be on telly...


----------



## Nikkormat (Jun 8, 2021)

Simone Weil: An Anthology.


----------



## bmd (Jun 10, 2021)

Birdbox. I remembered the film the other day and wondered what the book was like, after I'd watched it. It is my kind of book. Living in a world, alone, being suspicious of everyone else and yet wanting to trust them. Horrible deaths aplenty. The sense of foreboding smiles out of every page. It has actually had a bit of a hit on my mental health, its dragged me that far into it's world. Things fall apart.

There's a sequel too.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 10, 2021)

The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville. 

Hard men doing hard man stuff post Good Friday Agreement.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jun 10, 2021)

Finished The Mirror and the Light yesterday
Hard going at times, but ultimately rewarding, it hasn't left me yet and I'm struggling to find anything else I want to read next.
I've usually got at least the next 2 or 3 books lined up in my head  
Might start working my way through Stephen King's short story collections, starting with 1978's Night Shift.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 10, 2021)

Just finished Sinead's memoir. Funny, slightly deranged, batshit on occasion - she seems to have really got her shit together now, and that's explained shockingly in the book.


----------



## kropotkin (Jun 10, 2021)

DotCommunist said:


> Kolmya Tales by Varlam Shalamov.


That's bleak


----------



## bmd (Jun 10, 2021)

sojourner said:


> Just finished Sinead's memoir. Funny, slightly deranged, batshit on occasion - she seems to have really got her shit together now, and that's explained shockingly in the book.



I saw her rant about Woman's Hour the other day. I really like her.


----------



## LeytonCatLady (Jun 16, 2021)

_London: A Novel _by Edward Rutherfurd. It tells the story of London as a city through the ages, with a different era for each chapter, finishing up in the book's publication year of 1997. I probably learnt more history from that than I did as a schoolkid.


----------



## Nikkormat (Jun 29, 2021)

_Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine_ by Anne Applebaum.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 29, 2021)

Every day is mother's day by Hilary Mantel

Well observed and well written


----------



## nottsgirl (Jun 29, 2021)

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner. I’m about a third of the way through. It’s quite good but not amazing so far.


----------



## flypanam (Jul 3, 2021)

Benjamin Bratton - The revenge of the real: politics for a post pandemic world.

two chapters in, like the style which is cutting. Agree with the premise of no return to the dysfunctional normal.


----------



## Chz (Jul 5, 2021)

A friend has introduced me to the Murderbot Diaries series. I've no idea how I missed this before, it's wonderful.


----------



## han (Jul 5, 2021)

I'm currently reading a book called Silence In The Age Of Noise by Erling Kagge. He's an explorer who walked to the South Pole alone. It's beautifully written, about listening, mindfulness, and our ability to be alone with no distractions....


----------



## sojourner (Jul 6, 2021)

han said:


> I'm currently reading a book called Silence In The Age Of Noise by Erling Kagge. He's an explorer who walked to the South Pole alone. It's beautifully written, about listening, mindfulness, and our ability to be alone with no distractions....


Nice one - have just ordered it.

I'm currently reading The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. My lass insisted I read it, and it's quite enjoyable, though littered with Young Adult Fictiony stuff, like all the characters have to be described physically when you first come across them, from their dress to their appearance to their personality, and there's a couple of 'kooky' characters. It's a bit irritating, but I'm carrying on cos there's a lot of space stuff in there, which is irresistible to me.


----------



## b_eleanor__ (Jul 7, 2021)

Hi) just read the playbook Martin McDonagh The Beauty Queen of Leenane & The Pillowman & A Behanding in Spokane, recommend.


----------



## flypanam (Jul 10, 2021)

The 32: an anthology of Irish working class voices.

a friend of mine has a piece in this.
Anyway I’ve just started it so here’s a review The 32: a diverse, moving and tantalising collection on on class in Ireland


----------



## shifting gears (Jul 10, 2021)

Hans Fallada - Alone in Berlin

It’s about a couple living in Berlin through WW2 who are strongly opposed to the Nazi regime and start their own small form of resistance. What is brilliant about this book is the way it conveys the horror of living under totalitarianism - the fear and suspicion of everyone around you, when a quick word to the Gestapo could land you in the concentration camp.

I believe it is based on real people but I’m avoiding looking into that until I’ve finished it.

About 2/3 of the way in so far, brilliant book.


----------



## BristolEcho (Jul 10, 2021)

shifting gears said:


> Hans Fallada - Alone in Berlin
> 
> It’s about a couple living in Berlin through WW2 who are strongly opposed to the Nazi regime and start their own small form of resistance. What is brilliant about this book is the way it conveys the horror of living under totalitarianism - the fear and suspicion of everyone around you, when a quick word to the Gestapo could land you in the concentration camp.
> 
> ...


Yes this is a great book. It's quite slow but worth it. I might try to get it on audio book to have a relisten.


----------



## RedRedRose (Jul 11, 2021)

They turned ‘Alone in Berlin’ into a movie staring Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson, which is half decent.

In addition, Hans Fallada’s life is discussed on a BBC podcast. He has a very interesting backstory.


----------



## BristolEcho (Jul 11, 2021)

RedRedRose said:


> They turned ‘Alone in Berlin’ into a movie staring Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson, which is half decent.
> 
> In addition, Hans Fallada’s life is discussed on a BBC podcast. He has a very interesting backstory.


For some reason I thought he only wrote one book and disappeared but that doesn't seem to be the case from when I looked earlier. Remember it was an interesting story so I'll check out the podcast.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jul 17, 2021)

not-bono-ever said:


> Stepney Words - been looking for an original for a while now. fuckin' hell. the poems bring me to tears


  50 years since Stepney words was published


----------



## LeytonCatLady (Jul 17, 2021)

not-bono-ever said:


> 50 years since Stepney words was published
> 
> View attachment 278995


My old flatmate had that book! One of her faves.


----------



## LeytonCatLady (Jul 25, 2021)

_Choirboys _by Joseph Wambaugh. It's about 10 cops from the LAPD who get together after work for secret drink and sex sessions in a local park, euphemistically referred to as "choir practice".


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Jul 25, 2021)

I'm reading "Black Lamb and Grey Falcon" by Rebecca West. It's a book about her travels through the former Yugoslavia in the 1930s, and a lot of history of the Balkans, particularly the battle of Kosovo and the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. I remember hearing an extract on R4 Book at Bedtime when I was a kid, and 35 or so years laster I'm getting round to reading it. The print edition must be well over 1000 pages; it's long. I suspect I would like Ms West very much politically, but it is very well written and fascinating history of a part of the world I know very little about.

I've also started a collection of Thom Gunn's letters. it's not really providing the light relief I was expecting.

I'm currently in hotel quarantine before working offshore next week but I'm struggling to concentrate for long periods.


----------



## Nikkormat (Jul 28, 2021)

I read Philip Kerr's _A German Requiem_ yesterday. A Bernie Gunther detective story, very easy reading. 

Today I started _The Zone_ by Sergei Dovlatov, a memoir based on the author's time as a prison camp guard in the USSR.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 29, 2021)

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser. 


No spoilers please


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 30, 2021)

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

I liked this.   Interweaving characters and it's not clear to begin with who the book focuses on.  

She has a deft touch of mentioning really important events that have happened or are going to happen,  and not making a fuss about them. So the tension shifts from what happens to how it happens.


----------



## Nikkormat (Aug 1, 2021)

Nikkormat said:


> I read Philip Kerr's _A German Requiem_ yesterday. A Bernie Gunther detective story, very easy reading.
> 
> Today I started _The Zone_ by Sergei Dovlatov, a memoir based on the author's time as a prison camp guard in the USSR.



_The Zone_ is excellent. I've read three of Dovlatov's books so far, and enjoyed them all. 

Now on _Heaven's Command_, the first volume of Jan Morris's _Pax Britannica_ trilogy. Great so far.


----------



## sojourner (Aug 3, 2021)

The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes.  Loving it. Whenever I've been faced with Keep Out/Private Property signs, my overwhelming urge is to defy them. Fuck off owning land, knobheads.


----------



## han (Aug 4, 2021)

I'm currently reading 'Becoming', by Michelle Obama. A beautifully written, honest and vulnerable book where she tells her life story. Yes she was the president's wife. But as a black woman from the 'wrong' side of Chicago, she has a very interesting story to tell, and I warmed to her immediately


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 6, 2021)

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood 
A dystopian novel set in a near-future New England, in a strongly patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state, known as Republic of Gilead, that has overthrown the United States government.


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 11, 2021)

The Wind up Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Aug 11, 2021)

Swindled - from poisoned sweets to counterfeit coffee - the dark history of the food cheats, by Bee Wilson.  Started it a while ago but picked it up again today - an interesting and very detailed account of how bad things used to be.


----------



## han (Aug 12, 2021)

I've just finished 'The Untethered Soul', which is a book about living mindfully and with present moment awareness. It reminds the reader that keeping our own death in mind as a constant presence frees us to live joyfully and with full appreciation of life. It guides the reader how to remove life long blockages that impede our joy, and to love others unconditionally. The principle is that we only need to transform our inner selves, not everything/one around us (which of course would be impossible). It's beautifully written; but one definitely needs to leave one's cynicism at the door in order to fully appreciate it .


----------



## isvicthere? (Aug 12, 2021)

Just got my first e-reader, and on it I´m reading "Austerity: the history of a dangerous idea" by Mark Blyth, while at the same time re-reading (after a break of about 38 years) "Absolute beginners" by Colin MacInnes in a second-hand paperback.


----------



## Serene (Aug 12, 2021)

han said:


> I've just finished 'The Untethered Soul', which is a book about living mindfully and with present moment awareness. It reminds the reader that keeping our own death in mind as a constant presence frees us to live joyfully and with full appreciation of life. It guides the reader how to remove life long blockages that impede our joy, and to love others unconditionally. The principle is that we only need to transform our inner selves, not everything/one around us (which of course would be impossible). It's beautifully written; but one definitely needs to leave one's cynicism at the door in order to fully appreciate it .


Thank you for that. I just downloaded a copy of that. I will read it shortly.


----------



## platinumsage (Aug 15, 2021)

Other People's Children - Joanna Trollope


----------



## Nikkormat (Aug 16, 2021)

_Deep Play_ by Paul Pritchard, about the author's years as a top climber (mainly on the dole) in the 1980s and early 1990s.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 17, 2021)

Jonathan Swift: His life and his World-Leo Damrosch (computer)
Dark Imperium: Plague Wars- Guy Haley (phone)
Fighter- Len Deighton (bog)


----------



## jeff_leigh (Aug 17, 2021)

han said:


> I've just finished 'The Untethered Soul', which is a book about living mindfully and with present moment awareness. It reminds the reader that keeping our own death in mind as a constant presence frees us to live joyfully and with full appreciation of life. It guides the reader how to remove life long blockages that impede our joy, and to love others unconditionally. The principle is that we only need to transform our inner selves, not everything/one around us (which of course would be impossible). It's beautifully written; but one definitely needs to leave one's cynicism at the door in order to fully appreciate it .


Russell Brand recommends this book on his YouTube channel, I’ll give it a go


----------



## han (Aug 18, 2021)

jeff_leigh said:


> Russell Brand recommends this book on his YouTube channel, I’ll give it a go


Good ol' Russell. He's ace isn't he!


----------



## N_igma (Aug 18, 2021)

FINALLY….finished Infinite Jest today. What an experience still reeling from it lol.


----------



## bellaozzydog (Aug 18, 2021)

Ernest Becker The denial of death


----------



## Nikkormat (Aug 19, 2021)

_The Beggar and Other Stories_ by Gaito Gazdanov.


----------



## isvicthere? (Aug 19, 2021)

Just started "How Britian ends" by Gavin Esler.


----------



## han (Aug 22, 2021)

I'm currently reading 'Breath - the new science of a lost art' by James Nestor. 

It's a fascinating book about how we breathe, how the way we breathe has changed over evolution, and how impactful good breathing is on our health. Bloody brilliant. I'm only a few chapters in and already I'm like 'feck! I need to change the way I breathe!'.


----------



## isvicthere? (Aug 22, 2021)

isvicthere? said:


> Just started "How Britian ends" by Gavin Esler.



"How BRITAIN  ends"! That is my most common typo!


----------



## bellaozzydog (Aug 22, 2021)

Doing a multi-book read but had to chin it off as it was getting confusing and dark.

Ernest Becker The Denial of death Versus Julian Cope 131 a Time shifting Gnostic hooligan road novel

Just picked up treasure island for a bit of light relief instead


----------



## Steel Icarus (Aug 22, 2021)

Currently reading



Soon to be reading


----------



## belboid (Aug 22, 2021)

bellaozzydog said:


> Julian Cope 131 a Time shifting Gnostic hooligan road novel


this does start very shittily indeed, I wasn't sure if I wanted to read four hundred pages of that when I started it, but it does lighten up and is actually very good in places.


----------



## Nikkormat (Aug 25, 2021)

Nikkormat said:


> _The Beggar and Other Stories_ by Gaito Gazdanov.



It was, as usual for Gazdanov, excellent.

Now on _Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty_ by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.


----------



## Badgers (Aug 25, 2021)




----------



## sojourner (Aug 25, 2021)

han said:


> I'm currently reading 'Breath - the new science of a lost art' by James Nestor.
> 
> It's a fascinating book about how we breathe, how the way we breathe has changed over evolution, and how impactful good breathing is on our health. Bloody brilliant. I'm only a few chapters in and already I'm like 'feck! I need to change the way I breathe!'.


One of the meditations that I keep coming back to starts and ends with gratitude for my/our breath, to feel it coming in and leaving nostrils, then to feel it coming into and out of lungs, then to feel it feeding the whole of our body, and I only have to start doing that to feel calmer and instantly more balanced (and grateful!).


----------



## han (Aug 25, 2021)

sojourner said:


> One of the meditations that I keep coming back to starts and ends with gratitude for my/our breath, to feel it coming in and leaving nostrils, then to feel it coming into and out of lungs, then to feel it feeding the whole of our body, and I only have to start doing that to feel calmer and instantly more balanced (and grateful!).


That's lovely  
I feel that good breathing is key to health and happiness. The book has made me change how I breathe and focusing the mind on our breathing is immediately calming isn't it - sure works for me!


----------



## sojourner (Aug 25, 2021)

han said:


> That's lovely
> I feel that good breathing is key to health and happiness. The book has made me change how I breathe and *focusing the mind on our breathing is immediately calming isn't it* - sure works for me!


Absolutely. Also, doing the long breath in, holding it for 4 or 5 seconds, then long breath out - it's like a quickfix for the mind!

I love that we're finding all this out at the time when we most need to, too


----------



## seeformiles (Aug 25, 2021)

“Small Hours” - a biography of John Martyn


----------



## belboid (Aug 26, 2021)

*Amia Srinivasan - The Right to Sex*

A collection of six essays from Oxford philosophy professor Srinivasan dealing with various aspects of sex, sexism and the impact of class, race and our general attitudes upon it.

Only read two so far - on 'believing women' and the 'right to sex' itself.  Both are excellent, asking powerful and important questions and giving answers that go way beyond the easy or comfortable. 

Very highly recommended.


----------



## belboid (Aug 27, 2021)

belboid said:


> *Amia Srinivasan - The Right to Sex*
> 
> A collection of six essays from Oxford philosophy professor Srinivasan dealing with various aspects of sex, sexism and the impact of class, race and our general attitudes upon it.
> 
> ...


I’ve now finished it and it just got better and better.  Absolutely brilliant book, a must read.

the essay where the title comes from - https://www.lrb.co.uk/session?redir...zsMWGku54D3WNG6Wxb/MgUW2yw0qlFSXuwWgqTHIqJWkQ


----------



## han (Sep 6, 2021)

sojourner said:


> I love that we're finding all this out at the time when we most need to, too



I love the way that can happen... in life...!

Currently I'm reading an amazing book that I haven't been able to put down. 'The Choice' by Edith Eger. She's an Auschwitz survivor who shares her story of her time in the camp and then her liberation and life afterwards, emigration, marriage, kids, work. But mainly it's about her inner work - how she is eventually able to deal with her trauma and become a psychotherapist herself and help others with their trauma. An inspiring book.

And she's still alive, in her 90s, with great grandchildren.


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 6, 2021)

slowly reading robert conquest's 'the great terror: a reassessment'


----------



## Kevbad the Bad (Sep 6, 2021)

Pickman's model said:


> slowly reading robert conquest's 'the great terror: a reassessment'


Is it any good? (so far)


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 6, 2021)

Kevbad the Bad said:


> Is it any good? (so far)


i read the first edition, published in 1968, many years ago and - rather perversely given the subject matter - enjoyed it. this later version is very interesting but (i'm halfway through) hasn't yet really answered my question, why the fuck did stalin think this was a good idea?

e2a: you can borrow an electronic copy at the internet archive, The great terror : a reassessment : Conquest, Robert : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive - scroll down and it says you can borrow a pdf or ebook for 14 days


----------



## han (Sep 6, 2021)

Pickman's model said:


> why the fuck did stalin think this was a good idea?


Maybe he was just a psychopath?


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 6, 2021)

han said:


> Maybe he was just a psychopath?


i think it's got to be more complex than that. the communist party after the purges had almost none of the people who had been in it before 1917. all the auld bolsheviks were killed. i've seen it described as a revolution from above. but while the first lot killed were people who had at various times opposed stalin, later tranches of victims included loyal stalinists. this wasn't stalin on his own but stalin with a group of other people (themselves often later shot).


----------



## chainsawjob (Sep 10, 2021)

han said:


> I'm currently reading a book called Silence In The Age Of Noise by Erling Kagge. He's an explorer who walked to the South Pole alone. It's beautifully written, about listening, mindfulness, and our ability to be alone with no distractions....


I've bought this for my brother, thanks for the recommendation.


----------



## Nikkormat (Oct 4, 2021)

Primo Levi's _The Periodic Table_. Excellent so far.


----------



## han (Oct 4, 2021)

After reading two books by a woman who survived Auschwitz, I'm now reading Legendary Children - The First Decade of Rupaul's Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life'. It's very good - all about the influences on the programme and how it's evolved. Nice and lighthearted  . And a present from mango5, thanks mate! X


----------



## belboid (Oct 11, 2021)

Graeme Macrae Burnet’s new novel _Case Studies.  _

like _His Bloody Project_, it claims to be a collection of found documents interspersed with his own research.  In this case it’s a woman ‘investigating’ the anti-psychology therapist who she blames for her sisters suicide.  

I wasn’t quite drawn in immediately, the woman’s voice sounded a bit too contrived, but by fifty pages in he’d done enough for me to either have been wrong, or to not care. A fine mix of intrigue and humour, with undoubtedly horrible moments due to crop up quite soon.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 12, 2021)

My Name Is Leon by Kit de Waal. Halfway through. It's very engaging, sad, spot on with how it feels to be a kid facing hardships.


----------



## Chz (Oct 12, 2021)

Shuggie Bain. Rare is the Booker winner that I can put up with for long periods. I consider that praise.


----------



## belboid (Oct 12, 2021)

belboid said:


> Graeme Macrae Burnet’s new novel _Case Studies.  _



One of those novels which I had to keep putting down for the last thirty pages cos I didn’t want it to end and was literally holding my breath as it did.  

Brilliant.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 12, 2021)

belboid said:


> One of those novels which I had to keep putting down for the last thirty pages cos I didn’t want it to end and was literally holding my breath as it did.
> 
> Brilliant.


Didn’t like his Maigret homage much, but this looks more like it


----------



## shifting gears (Oct 12, 2021)

Albert Camus - The Plague

A comment feels superfluous 😬


----------



## Nikkormat (Oct 19, 2021)

Nikkormat said:


> Primo Levi's _The Periodic Table_. Excellent so far.



One of the very best books I've ever read.

Now on _Pax Britannica: The Climax of Empire_ (part 2 of the trilogy) by Jan Morris.


----------



## nottsgirl (Oct 27, 2021)

Chz said:


> Shuggie Bain. Rare is the Booker winner that I can put up with for long periods. I consider that praise.


I’ve been wanting to read this, I might have it on my bookshelf. I’m reading Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor after it was recommended as along the lines of Sally Rooney. It’s fairly good.


----------



## nottsgirl (Oct 27, 2021)

I also just read Exciting Times by Naiorse Dolan, which _was_ Rooney-lite.


----------



## D'wards (Oct 27, 2021)

Just finished Shuggie Bain. Completely depressing but utterly compelling tale of how alcoholism can tear lives and families apart. 
Even though fiction, your heart aches for the titular character. 

Living in poverty on estates/schemes can be as grim as it gets.


----------



## T & P (Oct 27, 2021)

_Have his Carcase_ by Dorothy Sayers. I’m working through her Peter Wimsey detective mystery novels, and this is so far great.

I only got to read very recently an article on Sayers’s personal life and struggles and how they influenced her novels, and it certainly adds an extra dimension to the main recurring characters in the series.

One of my all-time favourite golden era crime mystery authors anyway


----------



## rubbershoes (Oct 28, 2021)

I've finally finished Antonia Fraser's The Six Wives of Henry VIII.  What a great book. It's informative and interesting but with an easy style. 

And I think I've got this topic nailed down next time it comes up in a pub quiz. 

Top fact - none of the six wives have any living descendants.


----------



## sojourner (Oct 28, 2021)

Invisible Women (Exposing data bias in a world designed for men) by Caroline Criado Perez. Fascinating stuff, scary, some of it I already knew, some I'm deeply shocked by.  I read the article in the Guardian ages ago about it, and only just got round to buying the book. 

And I'm also reading Heidi! Well, re-reading. It was one of my favourite books as a child, must have read it tens of times. Very comforting, great bedtime reading.


----------



## belboid (Nov 7, 2021)

Paul McCartney - The Lyrics

In which Paul discusses the circumstances in which the songs were written.  I’m just reading odd songs, as it were. 

I am disappointed that The Frog Chorus is not included.


----------



## sojourner (Nov 8, 2021)

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Prequel to the Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Nov 19, 2021)

Chz said:


> A friend has introduced me to the Murderbot Diaries series. I've no idea how I missed this before, it's wonderful.


I just binged the 6 books in about 3 days.

Now I'm checking out her rakusa books.


----------



## Nikkormat (Nov 24, 2021)

_We_ by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Dystopian sci-fi from 1920. I'm only a few pages in but am enjoying it so far.


----------



## ginger_syn (Nov 24, 2021)

The eye of the world. by Robert jordan, aiming for a re-read of the series.


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 25, 2021)

I'm enjoying The Murderer's Ape by Jakob Wegelius


----------



## D'wards (Nov 30, 2021)

Just finished Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.

Wonderful, brilliant, Fantastic.

Best book I've read for years. Don't look up what it's about, just read it if you fancy it


----------



## chainsawjob (Nov 30, 2021)

Those Who Were Dancing: from the rave to the grave by Mark Sleigh



A murder mystery set in the aftermath of the illegal rave scene.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Dec 1, 2021)

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen



> It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be given passage aboard the last flights out of the country. The general and his compatriots start a new life in Los Angeles, unaware that one among their number, the captain, is secretly observing and reporting on the group to a higher-up in the Viet Cong. _The Sympathizer_ is the story of this captain: a man brought up by an absent French father and a poor Vietnamese mother, a man who went to university in America, but returned to Vietnam to fight for the Communist cause. A gripping spy novel, an astute exploration of extreme politics, and a moving love story, _The Sympathizer_ explores a life between two worlds and examines the legacy of the Vietnam War in literature, film, and the wars we fight today.



The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen


----------



## Nikkormat (Dec 2, 2021)

Nikkormat said:


> _We_ by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Dystopian sci-fi from 1920. I'm only a few pages in but am enjoying it so far.



Excellent and I recommend it. 

Now on _Travelers in the Third Reich_ by Julia Boyd, accounts by visitors to Germany between the wars.


----------



## planetgeli (Dec 2, 2021)

_Empires of the Indus - The story of a river. _By Alice Albinia.

Travel/history book starting with partition in 1947. Good so far and has the best opening paragraph of any travel book I've ever read - wouldn't have been out of place as the opening to a novel.


----------



## D'wards (Dec 6, 2021)

ATTENTION  

There's an app called Moodreads where you put which book you are reading in and it plays specific tailored music to match. 

Free on android at the moment


----------



## rubbershoes (Dec 13, 2021)

rubbershoes said:


> I'm enjoying The Murderer's Ape by Jakob Wegelius



Just finished this and really liked it. It's classed as a children's book but it needn't be. Enjoyable and touching. And easy to read.


----------



## sojourner (Dec 14, 2021)

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. Loving it so far, halfway through.


----------



## surreybrowncap (Dec 14, 2021)

I have just started reading Andrew Birkin’s “J.M. Barrie and The Lost Boys”
I’m also viewing his excellent BBC drama on the subject from 1978.


----------



## BigMoaner (Dec 14, 2021)

__





						Zen and Zen Classics: Selections from R. H. Blyth by R. H. Blyth. Franck, Frederick: Very Good Soft cover (1992) 1st Edition | Trinity Books
					

Available now at AbeBooks.co.uk - Soft cover - Heian - 1992 - Book Condition: Very Good - 1st Edition - No Jacket - Softcover. Very Good Plus condition, no creases, no slant, tight clean unmarked, NO age toning. Heian, 1992. Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Illustrated 290 pages.



					www.abebooks.co.uk


----------



## rubbershoes (Dec 14, 2021)

Transition by Iain M Banks. 

As ever, you're thrown straight in and have to wait for it to be revealed. Enjoying it so far


----------



## shifting gears (Dec 14, 2021)

sojourner said:


> Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. Loving it so far, halfway through.



This is on my list!


----------



## shifting gears (Dec 14, 2021)

Michael Moorcock - The Whispering Swarm

Kinda a personal memoirs crossed with fantasy of a hidden, alternate historical London… intriguing so far after 70-odd pages…


----------



## sojourner (Dec 15, 2021)

shifting gears said:


> This is on my list!


Good, because it's excellent.


----------



## Nikkormat (Dec 17, 2021)

An Evening With Claire by Gaito Gazdanov. Of his books translated into English, this is the only one I've not yet read.


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 17, 2021)

rubbershoes said:


> Transition by Iain M Banks.
> 
> As ever, you're thrown straight in and have to wait for it to be revealed. Enjoying it so far


I was looking for things from him I hadn't read, and this was it. Good book. I read a comment from Iain regarding the writing of it:
"With Transition, I wanted to prove something. I wanted to show I could do something like The Bridge again because until now, that has been my favourite."

now I'll have to re-read the bridge for a compare and contrast


----------



## BristolEcho (Dec 18, 2021)

Just finished The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie. I fucking love him and the books are great. Apparently he's starting a complete new series, but there will hopefully be more TFL in the future. First 1/4 was a bit slow, but then it gets building.

I listened to all the audio books this year by Stephen Pacey. I'll definitely get this one to complete the set as he really brings it alive.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 18, 2021)

Getting bogged down in the third book of the Riverworld saga. Philip Jose Farmer's pulpy sexist style grates after a while. Knew it was going to be hard going but ugh, still another book to go after this...


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 18, 2021)

DotCommunist said:


> I was looking for things from him I hadn't read, and this was it. Good book. I read a comment from Iain regarding the writing of it:
> "With Transition, I wanted to prove something. I wanted to show I could do something like The Bridge again because until now, that has been my favourite."
> 
> now I'll have to re-read the bridge for a compare and contrast



It's good enough (love that kind of sci-fi theme, etc) but The Bridge is the superior book, imho


----------



## MrCurry (Dec 18, 2021)

Shamed by today’s realisation that I never read any more, I’ve just picked up Flashman’s Winter and started reading.  Let’s hope i stick with it to the end.


----------



## Kaka Tim (Dec 28, 2021)

2009 LDV Convoy Owners manual. Disappointingly is doesn't  resolve the question - "Why the fuck wont it fucking start!?!" - maybe its in the sequel.


----------



## Ĝasper (Dec 28, 2021)

Nikkormat said:


> _We_ by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Dystopian sci-fi from 1920. I'm only a few pages in but am enjoying it so far.


What was the verdict?


----------



## Ĝasper (Dec 28, 2021)

Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow. Bit long winded and repetitive but still the best book I can remember reading.


----------



## Nikkormat (Dec 28, 2021)

Ĝasper said:


> What was the verdict?



Worth reading. It clearly influenced brave New World and 1984. It is less polished than either, but it has a different quality. I recommend it.


----------



## BigMoaner (Dec 28, 2021)

occasionally like page turning true crime and took a punt on this. glad i wasn't put off by the shitty cover. i've read most of the major Manson books and this one is one of the best. Pretty much filled with quotes from the main family members. Page turning, fascinating. The swinging sixties turning horrifically sour builds up in teh mind.






						The Manson Family: More to the Story eBook : Lansing, H. Allegra: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
					

The Manson Family: More to the Story eBook : Lansing, H. Allegra: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store



					www.amazon.co.uk


----------



## Sue (Jan 1, 2022)

sojourner said:


> Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. Loving it so far, halfway through.


Me too. Very good if very grim.


----------



## krtek a houby (Jan 1, 2022)

A Brighton set cop thriller by one Peter James. Not sure am liking it. Apparently, this Peter James is a big seller but had never heard of him before.


----------



## bellaozzydog (Jan 1, 2022)

Veteran hood, rage and hope in British ex military life. Joe Glenton

Mr Glenton paints a really good picture of types of veteran, issues with soldiers and politics ploughs through a bit of socialist/activist military history.

Predictably he is scornful the officer class which can potentially devalue his message as being a bit “chippie”

As a late entry socialist I did learn a lot of interesting military/political history but it was all fairly superficial

Book is worth its cover price alone for his scathing in-depth dismantling of MP Jonnie Mercer which is brutally on the ball

He’s never going to wade into the mire of be-blazered, medal jangling beret wearing ex forces gammons and come out with a bunch of newly converted socialist shock troops but a decent snapshot of where we are in regard to the current jingoistic flag waggling troop love

6/10


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Jan 2, 2022)

I was thinking of posting this to the Urban reading list thread, but can't find it. I've really been enjoying reading my physical copy of With the Peasants of Aragon by Augustin Souchy Bauer - which is also available free online :  theanarchistlibrary.org/library/augustin-souchy-with-the-peasants-of-aragon  I finished reading it before Christmas.

I find it very interesting and nice to be transported to that time and place. It is ofcourse debatable wether libertario Communismo was actually achieved in Aragon and a Romanian comrade I chat to sometimes on facebook is not a fan of the voucher system they had - he says that it's not ideal coz vouchers are still a form of exchange, which got me interested in anarchist economics. He recommended I read The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics, and he agreed that Fields, Factories and Workshops is a good starting point about the subject.

Ofcourse, things were not ideal and are not likely to be in any revolutionary situation. During the Spanish revolution the war certainly affected things (shortages, including a labour shortage - many workers were at the front fighting the fascists), as did other factors. But it seems to me that the Spanish anarchists and peasants really did achieve something positive, especially in Aragon, a way of living that was certainly better than what came before and afterwards and it's good to read of the imrpovements to the lives of the people. Also nice to read about the churches being put to various good uses. One of the end parts of this publication (the Road to Catalonia) is also an interesting read, as is all of it. And it was interesting to read about how the minority of individualists lived and were treated. The part about the FAI 'concentration camp' was also fascinating and powerful.

Anyway, I don't know who has read this and who hasn't, some of you may have read it. But here is an extract which gives an example of life in anarchist Aragon, though things did differ a bit from place to place :









						With the Peasants of Aragon
					

Augustin Souchy With the Peasants of Aragon Libertarian Communism in the Liberated Areas 1982 With the Peasants of Aragon: Libertarian Communism in the...




					theanarchistlibrary.org
				




I am particularly interested in the Spanish revolution at the moment and intend to read more on it, aswell as other topics.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 2, 2022)

I read the Diary of Peter Hagendorf, a mercenary in the 30 years war. Baking bread and burying his children in between sacking strongholds and switching sides twice. The cruel wars in high germany. Its part of 'The 30 years War: A documentary history', which is what I'm reading atm.
​


----------



## Ĝasper (Jan 3, 2022)

Young team by Graeme Armstrong. Social realism, coming of age, about neds (chavs). Cuts close to the bone.


----------



## Voley (Jan 3, 2022)

Bob Mortimer's autobiography. Like having him sat in your room chatting shit with you. Very enjoyable. Particularly liked the bits about New Cross in the early 90's. I lived just down the road.


----------



## bellaozzydog (Jan 3, 2022)

Voley said:


> Bob Mortimer's autobiography. Like having him sat in your room chatting shit with you. Very enjoyable. Particularly liked the bits about New Cross in the early 90's. I lived just down the road.


I enjoyed it a lot. Incredibly how little confidence he seems to have had.

Reading it flew by


----------



## rubbershoes (Jan 5, 2022)

Hot Milk by Deborah Levy. 

50 pages in and enjoying it so far.


----------



## BristolEcho (Jan 5, 2022)

Finished Captilism Realism book which I mentioned in the Mark Fisher thread. 

Listened to Sword of Kings by Bernard Cornwell which was good and now I'm on to the final book of the Last Kingdom series. I will buy it and read it next. 

Listening to Master of War by David Gilman now. I am working through the series audiobooks as I've already read the books. Looking forward to it.


----------



## Diamond (Jan 6, 2022)

flypanam said:


> Benjamin Labatut’s When we cease to understand the world.
> 
> a science novel. Worth the hype, especially for the maths.



Just finished this - really excellent, I thought.


----------



## campanula (Jan 7, 2022)

Hinterland by Phil A Neel. Had bought it for daughter but idly turning the pages, I was pulled in. Lyrical yet dour. Saw the term 'fulfillment centre' for the first time in the UK (a ghastly DPD logistics hub on the edge of a dreary Snettisham industrial estate). Felt chastened and somewhat dreary myself.


----------



## Nikkormat (Jan 7, 2022)

Nikkormat said:


> An Evening With Claire by Gaito Gazdanov. Of his books translated into English, this is the only one I've not yet read.



It was excellent. I really recommend Gazdanov to anyone who has not tried him. His pure fiction is good, but he is better at fiction drawn from his own experience as a soldier in the Russian Civil War and as an emigre in Paris: _Night Roads_, _The Spectre of Alexander Wolf_, and _An Evening With Claire_.

Now on _Foucault's Pendulum_ by Umberto Eco.


----------



## Mattym (Jan 7, 2022)

The Amur River- Colin Thubron

Here's an extract which I read a few months ago and then it turned up for Xmas...
Forbidden territory: on horseback to the source of one of Earth’s most formidable rivers


----------



## sojourner (Jan 7, 2022)

I'm back on Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez, after a bit of a break. Still enraged by it all.


----------



## planetgeli (Jan 7, 2022)

sojourner said:


> Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. Loving it so far, halfway through.



My gf is reading this.


Ĝasper said:


> Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow. Bit long winded and repetitive but still the best book I can remember reading.



I'm about to start this.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 7, 2022)

planetgeli said:


> My gf is reading this.


I loved it. Grim as fuck, but authenticity rings through it like a big bright bell.


----------



## sojourner (Jan 12, 2022)

Started Bernadine Evaristo's 'Girl, Woman, Other' the other night. Promising start.


----------



## flypanam (Jan 12, 2022)

Lea Ypi’s  Free: coming of age at the end of history.

A very good memoir, paints a picture of the Hoxha regime that is terrifying as is the rise of free markets that replaced Hoxhaism. The epilogue is good and pretty political in that it centres a left case for freedom.

Stuart Jeffries’s Everything all the time, everywhere: how we became post modern. S’alright so far, I like the idea of looking at post modernism through all its works.

Finally my last Xmas voucher went on The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen. A very very funny novel…worth hunting down a loan or buying. Beautifully written fictional account of a horrid family.

ETA fucking autocorrect


----------



## BristolEcho (Jan 12, 2022)

flypanam said:


> Lea You’d Free: coming of age at the end of history.
> 
> A very good memoir, paints a picture of the Hoxha regime that is terrifying as is the rise of free markets that replaced Hoxhaism. The epilogue is good and pretty political in that it centres a left case for freedom.
> 
> ...


Going to check out the first book.


----------



## flypanam (Jan 12, 2022)

Her name is Ypi not whatever garbage autocorrect suggested.


----------



## Diamond (Jan 12, 2022)

Plutarch's Greek Lives - really accessible translation by Robin Waterfield - highly recommended.


----------



## izz (Jan 27, 2022)

Currently making a second attempt on the mountain that is The Golden Notebook. Has anyone made it through or should I follow my instincts and frisbee it into the charity box ?


----------



## Voley (Jan 27, 2022)

We Are Nature - Ray Mears

Just started it, really enjoying it. Ordered a sale copy from Blackwells and they've sent me a signed copy.


----------



## nottsgirl (Jan 27, 2022)

izz said:


> Currently making a second attempt on the mountain that is The Golden Notebook. Has anyone made it through or should I follow my instincts and frisbee it into the charity box ?


I read it about twenty years ago. It didn’t blow me away. It’s a bit slow, from memory. I go by the theory that life is too short to read a book you don’t enjoy. Maybe I’d get more out of it now.

I’m currently reading The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. It’s pretty good so far.


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 7, 2022)

A Foreign Field by Ben Macintyre. 

Interesting factual book about four British and Irish soldiers who got detached from their units during a retreat early in WW1 and ending up hiding out in a French village.


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 7, 2022)

I started House of Correction by Nicci French but dumped it after 30 pages as it was terrible. Apparently it was shortlisted for the CWA Golden Dagger award


----------



## bellaozzydog (Feb 7, 2022)

Miriam Margolyes 

This much is true

Absolute legend of a woman and entirely without a filter


----------



## Nikkormat (Feb 9, 2022)

Nikkormat said:


> Now on _Foucault's Pendulum_ by Umberto Eco.



I enjoyed this. Eco is never easy for me, but this was interesting and fun. 

Next is _The Man Who Would Be King and Other Stories_ by Rudyard Kipling.


----------



## flypanam (Feb 9, 2022)

Fatale by Jean Patrick Manchette. 

French Noir. Very short, bloody, funny, and righteous.


----------



## Mattym (Feb 13, 2022)

Mattym said:


> The Amur River- Colin Thubron
> 
> Here's an extract which I read a few months ago and then it turned up for Xmas...
> Forbidden territory: on horseback to the source of one of Earth’s most formidable rivers


The first time I've ever read a book by a travel writer. Absolutely loved it. Where next in terms of great travel books?


----------



## Sprocket. (Feb 13, 2022)

Mattym said:


> The first time I've ever read a book by a travel writer. Absolutely loved it. Where next in terms of great travel books?


One of my favourite reads of all time is a travel book published in 1975.
The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux.

It’s the story of his journey from London across Europe and Asia to Japan and his return on the Trans-Siberian Express.

I loved this book and in 2006 he retraced the journey and that is documented in his book.
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star.


----------



## Fairweather (Feb 13, 2022)

An old bloke who lives on our street passed this onto me last week, he also telled me that Raymond Postgate's son Oliver was the man who created and wrote some of my childhood favorites like Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine and The Clangers.


----------



## Mattym (Feb 13, 2022)

Sprocket. said:


> One of my favourite reads of all time is a travel book published in 1975.
> The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux.
> 
> It’s the story of his journey from London across Europe and Asia to Japan and his return on the Trans-Siberian Express.
> ...


Will look into this, thank you Sprocket.
Just ordered another Thubron book about the Silk Road.


----------



## Mattym (Feb 13, 2022)

Sprocket. said:


> One of my favourite reads of all time is a travel book published in 1975.
> The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux.
> 
> It’s the story of his journey from London across Europe and Asia to Japan and his return on the Trans-Siberian Express.
> ...


Ordered it- looking forward to it! It's 4th in the queue though of things I want to read.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 13, 2022)

Sprocket. said:


> One of my favourite reads of all time is a travel book published in 1975.
> The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux.
> 
> It’s the story of his journey from London across Europe and Asia to Japan and his return on the Trans-Siberian Express.
> ...


Also his trip around the coast of Britain - The Kingdom By The Sea. He’s a surly bugger sometimes but he’s writes so well and always meets interesting folk.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 13, 2022)

you might also enjoy Patrick Leigh Fermor, Jan Morris and Freya Stark


----------



## Sprocket. (Feb 13, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Also his trip around the coast of Britain - The Kingdom By The Sea. He’s a surly bugger sometimes but he’s writes so well and always meets interesting folk.


Absolutely, The Kingdom by the Sea is a good read, I also enjoyed The Old Patagonian Express.


----------



## Nikkormat (Feb 14, 2022)

Mattym said:


> The first time I've ever read a book by a travel writer. Absolutely loved it. Where next in terms of great travel books?



I really like Wilfred Thesiger - _Arabian Sands_ and _The Marsh Arabs_ are his best. Also try Eric Newby - _A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush_.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Feb 14, 2022)




----------



## sojourner (Feb 14, 2022)

sojourner said:


> Started Bernadine Evaristo's 'Girl, Woman, Other' the other night. Promising start.


Really loved this. Reminded me in many ways of Maya Angelou. 100% recommend.

Started The Shining by Stephen King. Watched the film Doctor Sleep recently, read reviews/interviews where SK had approved of it cos it set right some of the stuff in Kubrick's film that he hadn't liked. Realised I'd never read The Shining, so thought to remedy that. Am enjoying it.


----------



## Mattym (Feb 14, 2022)

Thanks for all those travel book recommendations. That'll keep me busy until Christmas.


----------



## Ĝasper (Feb 19, 2022)

Political Freud, by Eli Zaretsky
I love the left freudian analysis.


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 19, 2022)

Mattym said:


> Thanks for all those travel book recommendations. That'll keep me busy until Christmas.



The Fearful Void by Geoffrey Moorhouse about his trip across the Sahara, is a good read


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Feb 19, 2022)

The World Turned Upside Down : Radical Ideas During the English Revolution by Christopher Hill. A great read.


----------



## Mattym (Feb 19, 2022)

Have just started Why the Germans do it better.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 21, 2022)

I have just finished The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk


----------



## Ĝasper (Feb 21, 2022)

AmateurAgitator said:


> The World Turned Upside Down : Radical Ideas During the English Revolution by Christopher Hill. A great read.


Classic book.


----------



## inva (Feb 22, 2022)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Not read any Austen since doing Pride & Prejudice at school in about 2004. Really enjoying it.


----------



## BristolEcho (Feb 23, 2022)

Just finished Warlord the last book in the The Last Kingdom Saga. Brilliant really enjoyed the ending. I will relisted to the audio books at some point. 

Going to read Men who hate women after it was recommended here. 



AmateurAgitator said:


> The World Turned Upside Down : Radical Ideas During the English Revolution by Christopher Hill. A great read.


This sounds good added to list. 

Also doing the Harry Potter audiobooks (I know.)


----------



## rubbershoes (Feb 25, 2022)

The Ratlines by Phillipe Sands. Looking at the career and post-war hiding of a senior SS officer. 

The podcast on this was interesting


----------



## Dillinger4 (Feb 25, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> The Ratlines by Phillipe Sands. Looking at the career and post-war hiding of a senior SS officer.
> 
> The podcast on this was interesting



I read this, it was really interesting.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 2, 2022)

The Dalai Lama - Stages of Meditation


----------



## izz (Mar 2, 2022)

sojourner said:


> The Dalai Lama - Stages of Meditation


How's it working out for you ? 

I've just inhaled Silence of the Girls by the ever-amazing Pat Barker. Immersive, interesting and worth a whirl.


----------



## flypanam (Mar 2, 2022)

Dillinger4 said:


> I have just finished The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk


It’s in my pile. Should I move it up?


----------



## sojourner (Mar 2, 2022)

izz said:


> How's it working out for you ?
> 
> I've just inhaled Silence of the Girls by the ever-amazing Pat Barker. Immersive, interesting and worth a whirl.


Only just started it 🙂 Will report back. Got heavily into meditating over the last year or so, and wanted to know more about Buddhist meditation. I love the breath-based meds.

Ooo, love Pat Barker! Will get hold of that.


----------



## T & P (Mar 2, 2022)

Re-reading The Never Ending Story, the first time since I was a kid. I first read the book before the film had come out, and it might arguably be my favourite children’s book ever. Certainly one that stands up to being read again as a grownup.

As a slight derail, I regularly worry about my indescribably shit short term memory and what it might suggest health wise later in life. But I was very pleased to see I am actually remembering certain sentences/ quotes from the book pretty much word by word, more than three decades after I last read it. My long term memory at least is working okay


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 2, 2022)

T & P said:


> Re-reading The Never Ending Story, the first time since I was a kid. I first read the book before the film had come out, and it might arguably be my favourite children’s book ever. Certainly one that stands up to being read again as a grownup.
> 
> As a slight derail, I regularly worry about my indescribably shit short term memory and what it might suggest health wise later in life. But I was very pleased to see I am actually remembering certain sentences/ quotes from the book pretty much word by word, more than three decades after I last read it. My long term memory at least is working okay


Bist du Deutscher?


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Mar 3, 2022)

I am reading The Remains of the Day.  The film/book never looked like my sort of thing at all (toffs), but the combination of Adam Buxton going on about it a lot and me really loving Never Let Me Go persuaded me...  I must be enjoying it because I'm getting through it really quickly.  Been a while since I read Never Let Me Go, but I'm sure there are a few similarities between the two books.


----------



## T & P (Mar 3, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Bist du Deutscher?


No, I'm not German. My aunt, who's always been a bookworm, bought it for me. I hadn't heard of it when I first got it.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 3, 2022)

flypanam said:


> It’s in my pile. Should I move it up?



Yes. This is Olga Tokarczuk's masterpiece. It is not perfect, but it is all the better for that. I think it was published in Polish in 2012 or around then, and translated into English fairly recently, but it feels very relevant to now, and to right now. A good part of the novel is set in Podolia in what is now Ukraine, within a week or two of finishing this book, Russia invaded Ukraine. Then, as of now, this has been a part of the world with mixed, uncertain, unresolved and changing identities. I found the portrayal of Jacob Frank to be deeply fascinating. The book never shows the events from his perspective, only from the perspective of all the people Frank interacts with through the events of the novel, so you only see him from the outside. This portrayal of Jacob Frank also feels very relevant to the present moment. I also ended up learning quite a lot about Judaism, its history in Eastern Europe, and more abstract ideas from Kabalah and the Zohar.

This is a long book and is not always an easy read, but it is interesting and rewarding, and I have found myself thinking about it quite a lot after finishing it, so I would definitely recommend it, and there really is no better time than right now to read it.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 3, 2022)

sojourner said:


> Only just started it 🙂 Will report back. Got heavily into meditating over the last year or so, and wanted to know more about Buddhist meditation. I love the breath-based meds.
> 
> Ooo, love Pat Barker! Will get hold of that.



If you want any recommendations on books about Buddhism and / or meditation, let me know! At the very least I could recommend some poetry that I reckon you would love (if you haven't read it already!), the poetry in particular definitely helped me deepen my practice.

If I could recommend just one book about Buddhism though, I would recommend this:

The Heart Sutra translated by Red Pine

You can google the Heart Sutra and find it very easily, it is short enough to fit on a couple of pages. It is the translation and the collection of commentary by Red Pine that make this book worth reading. There is a sense that the Heart Sutra contains absolutely everything you need to know about Buddhism. There is a lot to unpack, and that is why the collected commentary is so valuable.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 3, 2022)

Thank you Dillinger4 , yes please to all recommendations. I didn't know where to start tbh, so made myself pick 2 books. The other is The Little Book of Buddhism 😄

I'll get the Heart Sutra one.


----------



## flypanam (Mar 7, 2022)

William Maxwell's 'So long see you tomorrow' heartbreaking in all the best ways. He builds the community with such economy and goes off in some amazing riffs.


----------



## izz (Mar 8, 2022)

Johnny Vodka said:


> I am reading The Remains of the Day.  The film/book never looked like my sort of thing at all (toffs), but the combination of Adam Buxton going on about it a lot and me really loving Never Let Me Go persuaded me...  I must be enjoying it because I'm getting through it really quickly.  Been a while since I read Never Let Me Go, but I'm sure there are a few similarities between the two books.


Lovely, pivotal but heartbreaking moment in there, makes me cry every time. I'm currently on The Dark Vault by Schwab, which I'm enjoying hugely 😊


----------



## BristolEcho (Mar 12, 2022)

Finished Men who hate Women - Laura Bates. Really good. Covered some stuff I knew, but lots that I didn't and had some good thoughts on ways to combat the problems. 

Also finished Harry Potter Philosopher's stone Audiobook. First time I've worked through these since I was a kid and I can't help but think they need some child safeguarding policies to be put in place. 

Next: 

Book: Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart - Saw this on here too I think.
Audiobook: Currently working my way through Wool by Hugh Howie. Read the books and it's good to revisit it in Audio format.


----------



## BristolEcho (Mar 12, 2022)

Johnny Vodka said:


> I am reading The Remains of the Day.  The film/book never looked like my sort of thing at all (toffs), but the combination of Adam Buxton going on about it a lot and me really loving Never Let Me Go persuaded me...  I must be enjoying it because I'm getting through it really quickly.  Been a while since I read Never Let Me Go, but I'm sure there are a few similarities between the two books.


I am going to add Never Let Me Go to my audiobook list. I read the original book and watched the film, but can't remember what I thought about it so would be good to listen to it.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 13, 2022)

I've been on The Busconductor Hines by James Kelman. It's not one of his best. 

But yesterday I was distracted by A Guinea Pig Pride & Prejudice. The classic novel with some important scenes recreated by guinea pigs in period costume.

 Here we see Lizzie being wooed by the oily Mr Collins 



It's an easier read than the original. You can get through it in 10 minutes.


----------



## Nikkormat (Mar 14, 2022)

Rosa Luxemburg biography by Dana Mills. Very readable so far.


----------



## inva (Mar 14, 2022)

Just started Naming Names by Victor S. Navasky on the Hollywood blacklist, HUAC and all that. I've been wanting to read something about it for a while and so far this seems like a good choice.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 14, 2022)

Just finished Mark Lanegan's 'Sing Backwards and Weep' autobio, now onto Purgatory Mount by Adam Roberts.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 16, 2022)

DotCommunist said:


> Just finished Mark Lanegan's 'Sing Backwards and Weep' autobio, now onto Purgatory Mount by Adam Roberts.


And? What did you think?


----------



## sojourner (Mar 16, 2022)

I'm halfway through Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake as well as the Dalai Lama book now. My daughter outlaw has read EL and wants to talk about it when we visit next week.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 16, 2022)

sojourner said:


> I'm halfway through Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake as well as the Dalai Lama book now. My daughter outlaw has read EL and wants to talk about it when we visit next week.



I read Entangled Life recently, very interesting. There is so much in the life of fungi that really is absolutely astonishing. They really do defy any and all categorisation. My impression after reading Entangled Life is that we as humans would do well to learn from the life of fungi. They existed before us, they made so much of the rest of nature possible, and they will without question outlive humanity as well. I love that they can exist symbiotically with algae as lichen. I think there is so much to be gained from further study of fungal life, I think there are lessons to be learned that might change everything.

You might also like The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing 



> Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world—and a weed that grows in human-disturbed forests across the Northern Hemisphere. Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s account of these sought-after fungi offers insights into areas far beyond just mushrooms and addresses a crucial question: What manages to live in the ruins we have made? The Mushroom at the End of the World explores the unexpected corners of matsutake commerce, where we encounter Japanese gourmets, capitalist traders, Hmong jungle fighters, Finnish nature guides, and more. These companions lead us into fungal ecologies and forest histories to better understand the promise of cohabitation in a time of massive human devastation. The Mushroom at the End of the World delves into the relationship between capitalist destruction and collaborative survival within multispecies landscapes, the prerequisite for continuing life on earth.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 16, 2022)

Dillinger4  What's really struck me out of all of it so far is the seemingly obvious (when you think about it!) theory that the impression/feeling of 'interconnectedness', that is so much a feature of any trip, could be related to the actuality of everything _genuinely_ _being_ _connected_ via mycelium. He uses the Carpenter ant example of a physical takeover by fungi (and how gobsmacking is THAT?!), and relates the interconnectedness to a possible mental takeover. It's such a logical proposition, and makes absolute sense of every time I've ever felt that. 

Oh without doubt, fungi are the most impressive 'being' we have on planet Earth - not quite flora, not quite fauna, more robust than everything else in existence, and operate in countless ways.

Ta for the tip!


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 16, 2022)

sojourner said:


> And? What did you think?


I thought he was funny, fucked up and not without a certain self-absorption but very human with it. His eye for the trivial but engrossing anecdote had me laughing. Theres a lengthly passage about how much he hated Liam Gallagher when forced to work with him that's worth the cover price alone.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Mar 17, 2022)

I'm in the middle of Entangled Life and tbh I'm finding it a bit hard-going.  There's an obvious overlap with Michael Pollan's How To Change Your Mind and I thought Pollan managed to bring science to life in a more accessible and engaging way.  (If you haven't read the Pollan book, it does take occasional detours away from psychedelics - e.g. how other animals perceive the world, the wood wide web, etc.)


----------



## sojourner (Mar 17, 2022)

Johnny Vodka said:


> I'm in the middle of Entangled Life and tbh I'm finding it a bit hard-going.  There's an obvious overlap with Michael Pollan's How To Change Your Mind and I thought Pollan managed to bring science to life in a more accessible and engaging way.  (If you haven't read the Pollan book,* it does take occasional detours away from psychedelics *- e.g. how other animals perceive the world, the wood wide web, etc.)


Tbf, Entangled Life is about much more than psychedelics anyway. What are you finding hard going about it?


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Mar 17, 2022)

sojourner said:


> Tbf, Entangled Life is about much more than psychedelics anyway. What are you finding hard going about it?



Yeah, I know it's about more than psychedelics.  But I guess my main interests in shrooms are the psychedelic and the foraging/culinary aspects.  I find some of the other science, or at least the way he describes it, a bit dry.  I'm not too far from the end and aim to finish it though.  It's just become a bit of a victim of me deciding to have two books on the go, a fiction and a non-fiction one, and me preferring the fiction one (The Remains of the Day).


----------



## sojourner (Mar 17, 2022)

Johnny Vodka said:


> Yeah, I know it's about more than psychedelics.  But I guess my main interests in shrooms are the psychedelic and the foraging/culinary aspects.  I just find some of the other science, or at least the way he describes it, a bit dry.  I'm not too far from the end and aim to finish it though.  It's just become a bit of a victim of me deciding to have two books on the go, a fiction and a non-fiction one, and me preferring the fiction one (The Remains of the Day).


Understood.

And yeh I know - I make myself read nonfiction because a) I am genuinely interested in learning more, and b) I can't just read fiction forever. Can I?


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 17, 2022)

I’ve got both the Pollan and the Sheldrake in on my to read bookcase. I read the introduction to the Sheldrake with wariness as his pop is a nutbar, but it really is fascinating for the reasons sojourner and Dillinger4 state. Can’t wait to really get stuck in to it


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Mar 17, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> I’ve got both the Pollan and the Sheldrake in on my to read bookcase. I read the introduction to the Sheldrake with wariness as his pop is a nutbar, but it really is fascinating for the reasons sojourner and Dillinger4 state. Can’t wait to really get stuck in to it



Merlin is at least slightly mystical, as well as being a scientist.  That's my interpretation of him anyway.     Despite what I said about the book, I've really enjoyed his appearances on various podcasts.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 17, 2022)

Johnny Vodka said:


> Merlin is at least slightly mystical, as well as being a scientist.  That's my interpretation of him anyway.


I concur


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 17, 2022)

I have the Michael Pollan book too and started reading it around the same time as Entangled Life, but stopped at about a third of the way in order to read the rest of Entangled Life. I intend to finish it sometime soon. They compliment each other quite well.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 17, 2022)

Johnny Vodka said:


> Merlin is at least slightly mystical, as well as being a scientist.  That's my interpretation of him anyway.     Despite what I said about the book, I've really enjoyed his appearances on various podcasts.


Mystical ie spiritual ie delusional


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Mar 17, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Mystical ie spiritual ie delusional



Not sure that follows.  There's a boundary to our scientific understanding.  Who knows what lies beyond that?

He was on Russell Brand's podcast. Pretty sure he discussed spiritual stuff there.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 17, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Mystical ie spiritual ie delusional


That's quite a leap you've made there.   Would you call the Dalai Lama delusional?



Johnny Vodka said:


> Not sure that follows.  There's a boundary to our scientific understanding.  *Who knows what lies beyond that?*


And if Entangled Life teaches you anything, it's this. Fungi go way beyond our categorisations and current knowledge.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Mar 17, 2022)

So this is well worth a listen, regardless of what you think of Brand.  Much of the running time is given over to Sheldrake's thoughts on spirituality and religion.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 17, 2022)

sojourner said:


> That's quite a leap you've made there.   Would you call the Dalai Lama delusional?
> 
> 
> And if Entangled Life teaches you anything, it's this. Fungi go way beyond our categorisations and current knowledge.


Yes I would call the Dalai Lama delusional


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 17, 2022)

Johnny Vodka said:


> So this is well worth a listen, regardless of what you think of Brand.  Much of the running time is given over to Sheldrake's thoughts on spirituality and religion.



No chance!


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 17, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Yes I would call the Dalai Lama delusional


Dunno why you’re shocked, sojourner !!
Him and his pals believe he’s a living god.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Mar 17, 2022)

all existence as a human being is somewhat delusional, I'm sure the Dalai Lama would agree


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 17, 2022)

Dillinger4 said:


> all existence as a human being is somewhat delusional, I'm sure the Dalai Lama would agree


On that I agree. I just react badly to the word ‘spiritual’ or ‘mystical’ cos they imply something that I believe does not exist.


----------



## sojourner (Mar 18, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Dunno why you’re shocked, sojourner !!
> Him and his pals believe he’s a living god.


🙏
😁


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Mar 18, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> On that I agree. I just react badly to the word ‘spiritual’ or ‘mystical’ cos they imply something that I believe does not exist.



Merlin doesn't believe in God though.  Mystical/spiritual are pretty vague terms which can mean different things to different people, but if you're not willing to listen to what he actually says on the topic...


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 18, 2022)

Johnny Vodka said:


> Merlin doesn't believe in God though.  Mystical/spiritual are pretty vague terms which can mean different things to different people, but if you're not willing to listen to what he actually says on the topic...


I’ve read him though so I did listen. Just think his morphic resonance stuff is a bit of a reach.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Mar 18, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> I’ve read him though so I did listen. Just think his morphic resonance stuff is a bit of a reach.



You're thinking of his dad... correct me if I'm wrong.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 18, 2022)

Johnny Vodka said:


> You're thinking of his dad... correct me if I'm wrong.


Yes. That’s who I was talking about.
I haven’t read the mushroom book yet.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Mar 18, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Yes. That’s who I was talking about.
> I haven’t read the mushroom book yet.



All my posts about spirituality/mysticism/religion (including the link to the Russell Brand podcast) have been with regards to Merlin.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 18, 2022)

Johnny Vodka said:


> All my posts about spirituality/mysticism/religion (including the link to the Russell Brand podcast) have been with regards to Merlin.


Uh oh, wish I didn’t know that now


----------



## Cloo (Mar 19, 2022)

Just finished reading Lorna Doone. Saw a copy on a pile of charity books and I had this recollection that it had been this big canonical classic... but no one seems to talk about it anymore. So thought I'd read - I did wonder if it was out of fashion as there was some hideously cultural unacceptable facet in it (like, I dunno, a vengeful evil 'blackamoor' or something) but nothing of the sort. It's a cracking read, albeit a long one, and while very old fashioned in some senses is suprisingly different from other books of its era in the narrator's self-consciousness (for example, he's very open about the fact that he doesn't think he's smart enough to understand the political shenanigans affecting the country around him, or what the hell's going on in London society when he visits it), and some suprisingly  well drawn and unsentimental female characters too. Also really keeps it ambiguous until the very last minute as to whether there's a happy ending or not.


----------



## mod (Mar 19, 2022)

Shuggie Bain
by Douglas Stuart

Really enjoying it but like most books these days it’s taking me an age to finish. This is 100% down to my iPhone. I read about 20% of what I used to pre smart phone times. Something I’m trying to  address but without success so far. I’ve started leaving me phone at home when I go out so I can be in the moment more. And read. I feel so grateful these things were not around in my teens and 20s and part of my 30s. 

Sorry …..I went off on one there.


----------



## BristolEcho (Mar 20, 2022)

mod said:


> Shuggie Bain
> by Douglas Stuart
> 
> Really enjoying it but like most books these days it’s taking me an age to finish. This is 100% down to my iPhone. I read about 20% of what I used to pre smart phone times. Something I’m trying to  address but without success so far. I’ve started leaving me phone at home when I go out so I can be in the moment more. And read. I feel so grateful these things were not around in my teens and 20s and part of my 30s.
> ...


Also reading this and enjoying it so far.


----------



## Pickman's model (Mar 21, 2022)

sebastian barry, days without end


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 21, 2022)

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and how it changed the world by Laura Spinney. Published in 2017. 

Very interesting. There's a few references to people doubting what they were being told and acting like complete arses. 

The book's main theme is that  that pandemic has been overlooked in comparison with WW1, despite killing significantly more.  Europe and (European) America had better health monitoring, better public health measures  and much lower Spanish flu death rates than developing nations. We were hit harder by the war and developing nations hit harder by the flu. There's horrifying snippets including one Akaskan settlement losing 85% of its population in 5 days. 

The author believes that interest in the Spanish flu is growing, reflected in the increasing number of books about it. That may have been true in 2017 but probably not now


----------



## Throbbing Angel (Mar 21, 2022)

Ghosted - Jenn Ashworth


----------



## Steel Icarus (Mar 21, 2022)

_The heart of everything that is: the untold story of Red Cloud, an American legend_ by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin


----------



## Nikkormat (Mar 22, 2022)

Nikkormat said:


> Rosa Luxemburg biography by Dana Mills. Very readable so far.



I recommend this - short, not terribly detailed, but very readable and good as an introduction. I'm now back to finishing a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling.


----------



## rubbershoes (Mar 22, 2022)

Just started Racing Through the Dark: The Fall and Rise of David Millar by David Millar


----------



## Nikkormat (Mar 28, 2022)

Vendulka by Ondřej Kundra

_"Famed Czech Avant-garde photographer Jan Lukas snapped an offhand portrait of twelve-year-old Vendulka Vogl in March 1943. A friend of the Vogls, Lukas was saying goodbye to the family, who were soon to leave Prague for a concentration camp."_


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Mar 31, 2022)

Am currently reading Nestor Makhno : Anarchy's Cossack by Alexandre Skirda. A very interesting read.


----------



## Nikkormat (Mar 31, 2022)

Nikkormat said:


> Vendulka by Ondřej Kundra
> 
> _"Famed Czech Avant-garde photographer Jan Lukas snapped an offhand portrait of twelve-year-old Vendulka Vogl in March 1943. A friend of the Vogls, Lukas was saying goodbye to the family, who were soon to leave Prague for a concentration camp."_



Finished. Highly recommended. It's short, easy reading, but moving. Book Depository in UK have it.


----------



## BristolEcho (Apr 1, 2022)

mod said:


> by Douglas Stuart
> 
> Really enjoying it but like most books these days it’s taking me an age to finish. This is 100% down to my iPhone. I read about 20% of what I used to pre smart phone times. Something I’m trying to  address but without success so far. I’ve started leaving me phone at home when I go out so I can be in the moment more. And read. I feel so grateful these things were not around in my teens and 20s and part of my 30s.
> 
> Sorry …..I went off on one there.


15% of this left. Tough read must admit.

Would like something a bit lighter next maybe comedy (can be dark) based but not to long.

Read the Wool Audiobook 1 was as good as I remembered and have the second one lined up.


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Apr 1, 2022)

BristolEcho said:


> Listening to the Revolutions podcast and they are doing the Russian Revolution at the moment. The
> 
> 15% of this left. Tough read must admit.
> 
> ...



I really didn’t get on with Shuggie Bain. As I said on another thread…it was so bloody humourless. I, and I suspect a lot of us, remember thatcher’s Britain. My recollection of working class Glasgow was that you’d always find something to have a laugh about. This book was just unremitting grimness. 

I’m currently enjoying “The Magician” by Colm Toibin. Slightly disappointed it didn’t  sound more like Mann’s writing. Coetzee’s Master of Petersburg, about Dostoyevsky, seemed to work better .


----------



## Throbbing Angel (Apr 1, 2022)

Joined a new library yesterday.
Borrowed Mayflies by Andrew Hagan (O'Hagan?)


----------



## seeformiles (Apr 1, 2022)

Reading Bob Mortimer’s Autobiography - his gentle and amusing recollections are the antidote to the current climate of gloom.


----------



## mod (Apr 1, 2022)

BristolEcho said:


> 15% of this left. Tough read must admit.
> 
> Would like something a bit lighter next maybe comedy (can be dark) based but not to long.
> 
> Read the Wool Audiobook 1 was as good as I remembered and have the second one lined up.



He's just bumped into another (older) kid who should also be at school. Older kid talked him into getting into an old washing machine and then spins it so fast and hurts him. Older kids dad turns up and beat the shit out of him. Once he recovers he sexually abuses Shuggie. 

His alcoholic mum has just been introduced to valium.  

Yeah....its very bleak and brutal but I'm enjoying it. 

Being a fan of Irvine Welsh I prefer his style of writing much more with a colloquial use of the scottish (edinburgh) accent. The way he writes its impossible not to read the characters talking in an Edinburgh accent. Fitba (football) etc.


----------



## BigMoaner (Apr 1, 2022)

Gk Chesterton’s orthodox. He’s defence of Christianity. He’s so obvious a Tory but he hides it a lot. But I like him. He has some great ideas about “progress” and he’s good at rubbishing so much stuff on the right and left. “If you think progress is so natural and inevitable why do we spend so much effort and agony to try to progress at all?” is a particular favourite.


----------



## Kevbad the Bad (Apr 1, 2022)

Just read "The Rock Blaster" by Henning Mankell. An easy read. The life of a worker damaged by an industrial accident in which he loses an eye, several fingers and has a damaged penis. Swedish, lefty, right-on bloke. A meditation on life in many ways, its meaning and lack of meaning.


----------



## Ranbay (Apr 2, 2022)




----------



## sojourner (Apr 6, 2022)

pseudonarcissus said:


> I really didn’t get on with Shuggie Bain. As I said on another thread…it was so bloody humourless. I, and I suspect a lot of us, remember thatcher’s Britain. My recollection of working class Glasgow was that you’d always find something to have a laugh about. This book was just unremitting grimness.


Yeh, it's from a child's perspective though innit and though you could find something to have a laugh about if you're older and a bit more resilient, a kid wouldn't.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 6, 2022)

mod said:


> He's just bumped into ...


Wanna spoiler that for people who haven't read it yet?!


----------



## sojourner (Apr 6, 2022)

Anyhoo, I'm now reading White Roots by Bernadine Evaristo. Excellent. I love her writing.


----------



## mod (Apr 6, 2022)

sojourner said:


> Wanna spoiler that for people who haven't read it yet?!



I didnt think about that. I cant edit it now. Its only 2 pages from near the start so don't thing its going to reveal much. 

It gives people an idea what its like though. The vibe.

But noted. Use spoiler feature in the future.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 6, 2022)

mod said:


> I didnt think about that. I cant edit it now. Its only 2 pages from near the start so don't thing its going to reveal much.
> 
> It gives people an idea what its like though. The vibe.
> 
> But noted. Use spoiler feature in the future.


It would piss me off mightily had I not already read it.

I think if you're going to read Shuggie Bain, you have an inkling of what it's likely to be like without spoilers, you know it's going to be pretty bleak.

Thank you.


----------



## mod (Apr 6, 2022)

sojourner said:


> It would piss me off mightily had I not already read it.
> 
> I think if you're going to read Shuggie Bain, you have an inkling of what it's likely to be like without spoilers, you know it's going to be pretty bleak.
> 
> Thank you.



I promise never to do it again. The last thing I want to do is piss anyone off mightily.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 6, 2022)

mod said:


> I promise never to do it again. The last thing I want to do is piss anyone off mightily.


That's very good of you


----------



## ringo (Apr 6, 2022)

mod said:


> Shuggie Bain
> by Douglas Stuart
> 
> Really enjoying it but like most books these days it’s taking me an age to finish. This is 100% down to my iPhone. I read about 20% of what I used to pre smart phone times. Something I’m trying to  address but without success so far. I’ve started leaving me phone at home when I go out so I can be in the moment more. And read. I feel so grateful these things were not around in my teens and 20s and part of my 30s.
> ...


Just read this. I was halfway through it when I on was Jury Service. Another juror gave me a pained smile and told me to stick with it cos it was worth it. It was but blimey, not one I'd read again.


----------



## ringo (Apr 6, 2022)

Just starting Slow Horses by Mick Herron. The Gary OIdman series looks good but thought I'd read them first.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 6, 2022)

ringo said:


> Just starting Slow Horses by Mick Herron. The Gary OIdman series looks good but thought I'd read them first.



There's a few books to get through. Good reads


----------



## ringo (Apr 6, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> There's a few books to get through. Good reads


I had a feeling I'd like it so bought the box set of 6 books. So far I'm really enjoying it.


----------



## BristolEcho (Apr 7, 2022)

Read Shuggie Bain. It was okay, but felt there were bits missing. I'll give his other book a roll. 

Going to read High Rise JG Ballard next. Never read any of their stuff before.


----------



## rubbershoes (Apr 8, 2022)

BristolEcho said:


> Going to read High Rise JG Ballard next. Never read any of their stuff before.



Ballard is a fantastic writer. High Rise is good. I also like Kingdom Come and Super-Cannes.


----------



## BigMoaner (Apr 10, 2022)

Essays of Schopenheur and some true crime on the side


----------



## Nikkormat (Apr 11, 2022)

Nikkormat said:


> I'm now back to finishing a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling.



I like some of Kipling's stuff, but god, half of these stories were dull as shit. 

Now on the third book of Jan Morris's Pax Britannica trilogy, Farewell The Trumpets.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Apr 11, 2022)

Finished "Entangled Life", and rather enjoyed it in the end.

Now on to:
"Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus" (for non-fiction)
and
Cormac McCarthy's "Cities of the Plain" (for fiction)


----------



## Winot (Apr 11, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> Ballard is a fantastic writer. High Rise is good. I also like Kingdom Come and Super-Cannes.


Reread High Rise in lockdown. Not one of my better ideas.


----------



## izz (Apr 13, 2022)

Having recently failed to make it much into Moby Dick I tried to watch the two-parter on Amazon Prime. Didn't make it through that either, so the superdupermegaluper dinky pocket-size book goes into the charity box and I'm rereading The Mirror And The Light, once again, Ms Mantel does it for me. From the outset, the sense of doom is quite gripping, as Thomas makes the enemies that will play a part in his downfall and the prose is lovely.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 13, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> Ballard is a fantastic writer. High Rise is good. I also like Kingdom Come and Super-Cannes.


Drowned World worth a shout also.


----------



## Ĝasper (Apr 16, 2022)

The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuinn. One of the best books ive ever read.


----------



## BristolEcho (Apr 23, 2022)

I am really struggling with High Rise which I'm a bit annoyed about. I'm halfway through and I guess it's picking up, but there's something about it that's just not grabbing me. Frustrating as it's short and I was thinking I'd get through it nice and quick.


----------



## sojourner (Apr 24, 2022)

Capitalism and Slavery by Eric Williams. Only 2 chapters in and have already learned a fuckton of gobsmacking info.

Buddhism for Beginners by Gabriel Shaw. Turns out I had the rebirth concept completely wrong, duh. Makes perfect sense now.


----------



## BristolEcho (Apr 30, 2022)

BristolEcho said:


> I am really struggling with High Rise which I'm a bit annoyed about. I'm halfway through and I guess it's picking up, but there's something about it that's just not grabbing me. Frustrating as it's short and I was thinking I'd get through it nice and quick.


Gave that up. Really don't see why it's rated so highly as I just couldn't buy into it, didn't care about the characters, and generally didn't like the writing style bar the odd nice bit here and there. Will give some of his other books a go.


----------



## Chz (May 2, 2022)

Bunny
By Mona Awad
I'm struggling to describe it. It would be an injustice to leave it at "dark and trippy", but it's the closest I've come to it. Very entertaining work of fantastic imagination. The Kindle lets me highlight turns of phrase I particularly like, and I see I've noted "She gives me the full hate bouquet of her smile. Every fuck you flower." 

It won't be for everyone; certainly not if you're looking for a defined plot with beginning and end.


----------



## rubbershoes (May 17, 2022)

Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro 
By a long way, this is my favourite book I've read this year. 

It's about friendship, reality and mortality, and is beautifully written.


----------



## Nikkormat (May 19, 2022)

_Illuminations_, collected writing of Walter Benjamin. Still on the introduction.


----------



## Nikkormat (May 19, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro
> By a long way, this is my favourite book I've read this year.
> 
> It's about friendship, reality and mortality, and is beautifully written.



Maybe I lack empathy or something, but I really didn't get anything from _Never Let Me Go_. So many people whose opinions I respect love it, I'm prepared to accept the failing is mine. I found it dull and predictable. Maybe I should try again.


----------



## furluxor (May 19, 2022)

Colors Demonic and Divine: Shades of Meaning in the Middle Ages and After by Herman Pleij. He has some strong opinions I don't always agree with but the history of colour in the middle ages is fascinating. Most loved colour in Western Europe? Blue, and has been since XII century. Did they sometimes make purple out of elephants' blood? We will never know but there are claims.


----------



## Cloo (May 20, 2022)

Right, I have started Infinite Jest and I am reading it partly to see why it has a reputation as a book beloved by That Kind of Guy. We'll probably take me 4-6 weeks, though I do have a holiday and a return train journey to Nottingham in that time which should give me more reading hours than usual.


----------



## izz (May 23, 2022)

Romped through Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister in about three days and it was most splendid, not the most heartbreakingly beautiful prose you'll ever read but very nicely plotted and un-putdownable


----------



## sojourner (May 23, 2022)

Just started Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee.  Apart from one line that raised an eyebrow, the language is absolutely sumptuous. I'm loving it *so* much!


----------



## Epona (May 23, 2022)

Whereas I've (or rather OH has but I read them too) been borrowing books from a little library/book swap thingy at Bushey station and it seems to be full of saucy smut


----------



## AmateurAgitator (May 23, 2022)

sojourner said:


> Just started Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee.  Apart from one line that raised an eyebrow, the language is absolutely sumptuous. I'm loving it *so* much!


I love that book. Some of the best writing ever.


----------



## sojourner (May 23, 2022)

AmateurAgitator said:


> I love that book. Some of the best writing ever.


It's incredibly poetic. I can sink into it like a luxurious pillow.


----------



## AmateurAgitator (May 23, 2022)

sojourner said:


> It's incredibly poetic. I can sink into it like a luxurious pillow.


Yep same here.


----------



## extra dry (May 24, 2022)

Which one to start, set a goal too finish all 4 by july 27th.


----------



## manji (May 24, 2022)

From the Fires of War: Ukraines AZOV Movement and the Global Far Right. Brilliant goes back to the 1900s and how Fascism has been embedded into its society. Very interesting ending about the potential rise of large military militias dotted around the world similar to Al Queda.


----------



## BristolEcho (May 28, 2022)

Audiobook: Toby Clements: Winter Pilgrims - "re-reading" old books I've read. This is the first in a four part series set during the war of the roses following a Cannon and Nun who split from their priory and then end up involved in the war. I still like this book though some of the love story is boring. I'll definitely finish the series. He didn't write any more books after this as far as I can see.

Reading: Children of Men. Quite enjoying this. I always quite liked the film but it must be 10 years since I last watch it. The books quite different so far, but I'm finding it interesting though not sure what to make of it.  It's mentioned a lot in Mark Fishers book so I'm going to go back and re read those parts of his book so I know what he is actually talking about.


----------



## Nikkormat (Jun 2, 2022)

_Feline Philosophy - Cats and the Meaning of Life_ by John Gray. I really enjoyed John Gray's earlier writing, but his articles over the past five or so years have been patchy. I'm hoping this is a return to form.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 5, 2022)

Just finished He Used Thought as a Wife by Tim Key.
Overall I enjoyed it but was ready for it to end when it did (which may be in part that the print was so small and I found it a strain to read)

Just started The Green Mile- good old reliable Stephen King


----------



## moonsi til (Jun 5, 2022)

Finally finished ‘The Salt Path’ by Raynor Winn. Thoroughly enjoyed it despite how long it took me to read.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 5, 2022)

moonsi til said:


> Finally finished ‘The Salt Path’ by Raynor Winn. Thoroughly enjoyed it despite how long it took me to read.


Its worth reading 500 Mile Walkies by Mark Wallington- the book that inspired it.

Read it a few times and it's one of my favourites


----------



## moonsi til (Jun 5, 2022)

Fab, thanks for recommendation.

I started the SW coastal path June 2021 but only doing 2 weekends per year so going to be a while. Start from beautiful Clovelly in October.


ETA: just ordered ‘500 Mile Walkies’


----------



## D'wards (Jun 5, 2022)

moonsi til said:


> Fab, thanks for recommendation.
> 
> I started the SW coastal path June 2021 but only doing 2 weekends per year so going to be a while. Start from beautiful Clovelly in October.


Brilliant. It does seem an amazing thing to do, but it's a time sink!


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 6, 2022)

D'wards said:


> Brilliant. It does seem an amazing thing to do, but it's a time sink!



Not so bad if you do it in one go. The record is 10 days 12 hours and 6 minutes


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 6, 2022)

The Coming of the Third Reich by David J Evans. V.good.


----------



## D'wards (Jun 6, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> Not so bad if you do it in one go. The record is 10 days 12 hours and 6 minutes


Blimey, isn't that 60 miles a day?


----------



## D'wards (Jun 6, 2022)

moonsi til said:


> Fab, thanks for recommendation.
> 
> I started the SW coastal path June 2021 but only doing 2 weekends per year so going to be a while. Start from beautiful Clovelly in October.
> 
> ...


Lmk what you think of it. Its not "heavy" like the Salt Path but just a humorous travel book.
He also did one about rowing the Thames "Boogie up the River" and the Pennine Way whose name escapes me.

Quiz question- when he rowed the Thames he started at Teddington rather than where it meets the ocean. What are the two reasons why?


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 6, 2022)

D'wards said:


> Blimey, isn't that 60 miles a day?



Yep.


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Jun 7, 2022)

One of the books I'm reading at the moment is Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman. Have been meaning to read it for ages. Its a good read.


----------



## Epona (Jun 7, 2022)

D'wards said:


> Lmk what you think of it. Its not "heavy" like the Salt Path but just a humorous travel book.
> He also did one about rowing the Thames "Boogie up the River" and the Pennine Way whose name escapes me.
> 
> Quiz question- when he rowed the Thames he started at Teddington rather than where it meets the ocean. What are the two reasons why?



Not read it, but presumably it's to do with it being tidal between the ocean and Teddington?


----------



## D'wards (Jun 7, 2022)

Epona said:


> Not read it, but presumably it's to do with it being tidal between the ocean and Teddington?


Correct! Its hard to row on a tidal river. 

Plus rowing through Central London you might get a cruise ship up your arse


----------



## bcuster (Jun 9, 2022)

I just finished:
_His Bloody Project_,  book by Graeme Macrae Burnet

Found this under the wiki footnotes:









						His Bloody Project: Author returns to the scene of the crime
					

The quiet Highland settlement of Culduie is an unlikely setting for a dark and heinous crime.



					www.bbc.com


----------



## nottsgirl (Jun 14, 2022)

The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. Half way through, enjoying it so far.


----------



## hash tag (Jun 14, 2022)

This is a cracking and very interesting book even if at times I feel it is a bit about the author and her "difficulties"
When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope review – how to respond to catastrophe

DO NOT read if you are squeamish, likely to have nightmares or recently suffered a loss or bereavement . Whilst waiting for my medical procedure yesterday I read the chapter where
she details about what went wrong with her husbands Tonsillectomy after he had been discharged from hospital - not the best of times to read something like that


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 14, 2022)

hash tag said:


> This is a cracking and very interesting book even if at times I feel it is a bit about the author and her "difficulties"
> When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope review – how to respond to catastrophe
> 
> DO NOT read if you are squeamish, likely to have nightmares or recently suffered a loss or bereavement . Whilst waiting for my medical procedure yesterday I read the chapter where
> she details about what went wrong with her husbands Tonsillectomy after he had been discharged from hospital - not the best of times to read something like that


perhaps you should try ugo bardi's 'before the collapse: a guide to the other side of growth'  Before the Collapse


----------



## hash tag (Jun 14, 2022)

Pickman's model said:


> perhaps you should try ugo bardi's 'before the collapse: a guide to the other side of growth'  Before the Collapse


More about the philosophy than the practicalities?
Reminds me, in one chapter Lucy describes how quickly a flood occurs and how the aftermath is utterly devastating, for years to come 😞


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 14, 2022)

hash tag said:


> More about the philosophy than the practicalities?
> Reminds me, in one chapter Lucy describes how quickly a flood occurs and how the aftermath is utterly devastating, for years to come 😞


i think it's a cracking read, it's definitely not dry


----------



## stockwelljonny (Jun 14, 2022)

Just finished Black Sea by Ascherson. Had it on the shelf for a long time and enjoyed it v much, prompted by topicality, dense mix of travelogue and history and helpful context to current situation in Ukraine. Old school quality travel book. 

Now started Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, read it probably 20 years ago and remembered it being special but forgot the plot, the doctor, the parrot, the wife and her lover, what a lovely book, properly takes you away on a surreal adventure 👍


----------



## srb7677 (Jun 14, 2022)

I am reading _Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921_, by Antony Beevor.

The author is something of a right winger which is best born in mind when reading this but he is a reasonably good and accurate historian.

Prior to this I read _The Starmer Poject: A Journey to the Right_, by Oliver Eagleton.

This is a damning indictment of Keir Starmer and those currently leading the Labour Party.


----------



## T & P (Jun 14, 2022)

Hannibal. As far as the outcome for Clarice and Dr Lecter goes, the ending is rather different to the film adaption   

Haven’t finished the TV series yet so if anyone comments please don’t mention what happens there.


----------



## Nikkormat (Jun 20, 2022)

Just finished John Stuart Mill's essays On Liberty, Considerations on Representative Government, Utilitarianism, and The Subjection of Women. Over the past year or so, I've been trying to get through those political texts I feel I should have read years ago. Can't say it's doing much for me. I'm getting bits, I suppose.

Now starting _No Hurry to Get Home_ by Emily Hahn. Likely more fun than the above.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 21, 2022)

Post-Truth by James Ball. My daughter got it for my birthday. It was published in 2017 so it's kinda fascinating to know how things have panned out since he wrote it.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 21, 2022)

hash tag said:


> This is a cracking and very interesting book even if at times I feel it is a bit about the author and her "difficulties"
> When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope review – how to respond to catastrophe
> 
> DO NOT read if you are squeamish, likely to have nightmares or recently suffered a loss or bereavement . Whilst waiting for my medical procedure yesterday I read the chapter where
> she details about what went wrong with her husbands Tonsillectomy after he had been discharged from hospital - not the best of times to read something like that


Put it on my Books To Buy list - cheers.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 22, 2022)

The deaths of December

An absolutely ridiculous book, and I don't know why I stuck with it for as long as I did.  Serial killer nonsense, killing one person every December for the last 20 odd years.  All in a pattern, and all methodical.

Until the book starts when, for no reason, they change their pattern and method. 

I read this pile of shit  until about 15 pages from the end,  when I thought fuck it and decided not to see it through.  I don't care how it ends.

Wouldn't recommend


----------



## nottsgirl (Jun 24, 2022)

Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney. Too early on in the book to pass comment.


----------



## nottsgirl (Jun 26, 2022)

Three Rooms by Jo Hamya.


----------



## bimble (Jun 26, 2022)

I’ve been reading young adult fantasy books only, nothing else,  since a few weeks into the invasion of Ukraine. And they are fecking great.
Just finished the bartameus trilogy, fecking brilliant stuff, funny and kind and escapist.
What next any ideas? This is not at all my usual fare but I want to keep it up for a year the genre.


----------



## BristolEcho (Jun 26, 2022)

bimble said:


> I’ve been reading young adult fantasy books only, nothing else,  since a few weeks into the invasion of Ukraine. And they are fecking great.
> Just finished the bartameus trilogy, fecking brilliant stuff, funny and kind and escapist.
> What next any ideas? This is not at all my usual fare but I want to keep it up for a year the genre.


Hmm I quite liked Joe Abercrombies attempt. Half a king was the first one I think?

I finished Children of Men. It was alright but ran out of steam.

Currently listening to Order of the Pheonix. About 20 hours in.

Reading Dan Jones - Power and Thrones. First book of his I've attempted to read. It covers European Medieval History from the fall of the Roman Empire so a lot to get through and it's huge, but very readable so far.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 26, 2022)

bimble said:


> I’ve been reading young adult fantasy books only, nothing else,  since a few weeks into the invasion of Ukraine. And they are fecking great.
> Just finished the bartameus trilogy, fecking brilliant stuff, funny and kind and escapist.
> What next any ideas? This is not at all my usual fare but I want to keep it up for a year the genre.



Enders Game?


----------



## bimble (Jun 26, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> Enders Game?


Someone was talking about that yesterday! But as a film. Ok.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jun 26, 2022)

bimble said:


> Someone was talking about that yesterday! But as a film. Ok.



I'm guessing it's based on a book. Don't know for sure


----------



## bimble (Jun 26, 2022)

There was a deviation, couple of nights ago i read The End We Start From, by megan hunter. 
Highly recommend, it's tiny, more a poem than a novel.


----------



## RedRedRose (Jun 27, 2022)

Dmitri Volkogonov - Autopsy For An Empire, seven biographies of the leaders of the USSR. Some of the key historical events are not covered in detail, but its quite penetrative on the failings of the regime and the leaders. Contains lots of anecdotes, as it's from an ex-military general no less. I found the bits on Andropov and Chernenko particularly useful.

Vladislav Zubok - Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union, released this year. Vis a vis Volkogonov, dwells more on the emergence of various nationalisms and the contradictions in Gorbachev's social policy.


----------



## sojourner (Jun 29, 2022)

Nella Last's War - the diaries of Nella Last. I recently watched Housewife, 49, and was interested in reading the actual diaries.  

The editors did a preface though, and at the exact point they are telling the reader how they had to clean up her grammatical errors, there's a fucking typo. A missing word. Fucking absolute knobheads. I hope they burn in shame.


----------



## MrCurry (Jun 29, 2022)

sojourner said:


> Nella Last's War - the diaries of Nella Last. I recently watched Housewife, 49, and was interested in reading the actual diaries.
> 
> The editors did a preface though, and at the exact point they are telling the reader how they had to clean up her grammatical errors, there's a fucking typo. A missing word. Fucking absolute knobheads. I hope they burn in shame.


Maybe her ghost cleaned up their preface for them. Spitefully. 👻


----------



## sojourner (Jun 29, 2022)

MrCurry said:


> Maybe her ghost cleaned up their preface for them. Spitefully. 👻


Did make me laugh though.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 1, 2022)

Peeling the Onion by Gunter Grass. 

It must be 20 years since I've read anything by him) and I'd forgotten his style. It took a while to get back into his meandering way but I liked t after that. 

It's autobiographical from childhood to the publication of The Tin Drum. Childhood nazi enthusiasm, his brief war service, and the chaotic post war period. 

It's not his best book but it took me back to my Grass days


----------



## Nikkormat (Jul 6, 2022)

_Jews Don't Count_ by David Baddiel. Worth reading.


----------



## seventh bullet (Jul 6, 2022)

Communism in India: Events, Processes & Ideologies - Bidyut Chakrabarty


----------



## Nikkormat (Jul 8, 2022)

_The Decameron_ by Giovanni Boccaccio


----------



## seventh bullet (Jul 12, 2022)

Late Stalinism: The Aesthetics of Politics - Evgeny Dobrenko


----------



## seventh bullet (Jul 12, 2022)

RedRedRose said:


> Dmitri Volkogonov - Autopsy For An Empire, seven biographies of the leaders of the USSR. Some of the key historical events are not covered in detail, but its quite penetrative on the failings of the regime and the leaders. Contains lots of anecdotes, as it's from an ex-military general no less. I found the bits on Andropov and Chernenko particularly useful.
> 
> Vladislav Zubok - Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union, released this year. Vis a vis Volkogonov, dwells more on the emergence of various nationalisms and the contradictions in Gorbachev's social policy.



Have a look at The Intellectuals and Apparatchiks: Russian Nationalism and the Gorbachev Revolution by Kevin C. O'Connor.

On the CPSU bureaucrats and Russian nationalist intellectual mileu who found common cause in aiming to save an imperilled USSR from Gorbachev's reforms (also intended to save the system from collapse).


----------



## RedRedRose (Jul 12, 2022)

seventh bullet said:


> Have a look at The Intellectuals and Apparatchiks: Russian Nationalism and the Gorbachev Revolution by Kevin C. O'Connor.
> 
> On the CPSU bureaucrats and Russian nationalist intellectual mileu who found common cause in aiming to save an imperilled USSR from Gorbachev's reforms (also intended to save the system from collapse).


Thanks. I managed to find a copy. 

As it happens, I finished the Zubok book yesterday; chapters on the coup and the conclusion aside, it was a bit of a slog.


----------



## nottsgirl (Jul 24, 2022)

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller. Half way through, very good so far.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jul 24, 2022)

Easing my way back into books after a shitty year, haven't read this pulpy space adventure in yonks


----------



## sparkling (Jul 24, 2022)

Just finished Klara and the Sun which I loved.  I was doubting my concentration levels until I started reading this book and then became totally absorbed so realised it was not my concentration that was lacking, but was the crappiness of my previous book.

Now about to start Smile by Roddy Doyle.


----------



## nottsgirl (Jul 26, 2022)

nottsgirl said:


> Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller. Half way through, very good so far.


Finished this, it was really excellent. She’s written a few other books so I’ll look them out.


----------



## Nikkormat (Jul 27, 2022)

_The Real Sherlock Holmes - The Hidden Story of Jerome Caminada_ by Angela Buckley. Caminada was a detective in late 19th century Manchester. Readable and interesting.


----------



## rubbershoes (Jul 28, 2022)

Darkside by Belinda Bauer. 

Crime in a small inward-looking Exmoor village. 

I'm enjoying the parochial outlook. Complicated crimes are investigated by Dulverton police; really complicated ones by Tiverton, and for murder they get a copper down from Taunton, which must be all of 20 miles away. 

And there's a bit of Devon dialect in it too. Right, bey?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 28, 2022)

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson.

Just finished his Darwinia and was encouraged to look for more work by the man. Deft, accomplished writing, big ideas, interesting influences


----------



## Mattym (Jul 28, 2022)

Am halfway through and really enjoying 'A Village in the Third Reich' by Julia Boyd & Angelika Patel. Great insight into how Nazism took a hold/ was resisted in a traditional Bavarian village.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-...scism/julia-boyd/angelika-patel/9781783966219


----------



## nottsgirl (Jul 28, 2022)

Just finished Fault Lines by Emily Itami which I enjoyed. Just starting Wintering by Katherine May.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 28, 2022)

Mattym said:


> Am halfway through and really enjoying 'A Village in the Third Reich' by Julia Boyd & Angelika Patel. Great insight into how Nazism took a hold/ was resisted in a traditional Bavarian village.
> 
> https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-...scism/julia-boyd/angelika-patel/9781783966219


Ooh didn’t  Boyd also write that Travellers In The Third Reich book?


----------



## Mattym (Jul 28, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Ooh didn’t  Boyd also write that Travellers In The Third Reich book?


Yes- would you recommend that? I'm slow on the uptake.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 28, 2022)

Mattym said:


> Yes- would you recommend that? I'm slow on the uptake.


Aye! Fascinating stuff!


----------



## Mattym (Jul 28, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Aye! Fascinating stuff!


Great- Will definitely put that on the list. Love the way Boyd puts it all together.


----------



## Mattym (Jul 28, 2022)

Mattym said:


> Great- Will definitely put that on the list. Love the way Boyd puts it all together.


That's the current pile to get through first.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 28, 2022)

Mattym said:


> That's the current pile to get through first.


I have a whole bookcase of to-be-reads!


----------



## Mattym (Aug 2, 2022)

Have now moved on to this...
Rubble and Repression: An Intimate Look at Germany in the Decade After Hitler


----------



## furluxor (Aug 2, 2022)

I'm reading The Price of Salt, or Carol by Patricia Highsmith. I felt somewhat lukewarm about the movie but the book is strong so far (I'm merely a chapter in).


----------



## rubbershoes (Aug 2, 2022)

We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver. 

I knew the basic premise of what it was about, and have avoided watching the film. 

What a fantastic book. It works well as an epistolary novel as everything develops from one point of view. 

Highly recommended


----------



## nottsgirl (Aug 5, 2022)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.


----------



## furluxor (Aug 5, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver.
> 
> I knew the basic premise of what it was about, and have avoided watching the film.
> 
> ...



I was very puzzled by the book. Was the mother character supposed to be unlikable? Are you supposed to be abhorred by the son's behaviour but then gradually start to feel sympathy for him given the kind of people his parents are? Is it supposed to be a sort of dark joke where the ending of the book (the son's impending doom and the awkward reconciliation, possibly out of fear) is scarier than the grotesque description of the murders? I'd love your take on this.


----------



## Chz (Aug 7, 2022)

_Terra Incognita_ by Sara Wheeler. 
Someone has the idea to send an actual writer to Antarctica in the mid-90s. It's quite entertaining and informative in equal bouts. Definitely a change from the usual polar writing.

I think someone here recommended it, but it doesn't seem to be in this thread.


----------



## Thistlewaite (Aug 9, 2022)

I am currently reading "50 Shades Darker."


----------



## Mattym (Aug 18, 2022)

Vasily Grossman's 'Stalingrad'


----------



## ElizabethofYork (Aug 18, 2022)

Just finished Where The Crawdads Sing.  Loved it.


----------



## rubbershoes (Aug 18, 2022)

The Death of Marco Pantani by Matt Rendell. 

The title gives away the ending


----------



## seeformiles (Aug 18, 2022)

David Niven “The Moon’s a Balloon”


----------



## rubbershoes (Aug 21, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> Darkside by Belinda Bauer.
> 
> Crime in a small inward-looking Exmoor village.
> 
> ...




This had a very disappointing ending.

Shame


----------



## bluescreen (Aug 23, 2022)

Just started reading Ghost Signs by Stu Hennigan, which is in the form of a diary about delivering emergency food and meds parcels during lockdown in Leeds. Horrific stories of poverty and deprivation. Not something you can take more than a few pages at a time. Haven't got far into it but my initial impression is it should be required reading for every MP, and the Cabinet should be locked in until they've all finished it.


----------



## Nikkormat (Aug 23, 2022)

seeformiles said:


> David Niven “The Moon’s a Balloon”



Fantastic book. _Bring On The Empty Horses_ is also worth a go.

I'm still on _The Decameron_, but am also reading _A Hero of Our Time_ by Mikhail Lermontov.


----------



## Pickman's model (Aug 23, 2022)

Thomas Flanagan, the end of the hunt


----------



## hash tag (Sep 4, 2022)

Pickman's model said:


> perhaps you should try ugo bardi's 'before the collapse: a guide to the other side of growth'  Before the Collapse


Have just discovered this which I suspect is a much better read than dust. I gather VM is a very good writer but can't believe the book is so old 








						Forensics by Val McDermid - Defrosting Cold Cases
					

This book by Val McDermid from 2014 is still relevant today. Old unsolved cases are in the news with the improvements in forensic sciences.




					defrostingcoldcases.com


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## porp (Sep 5, 2022)

seeformiles said:


> David Niven “The Moon’s a Balloon”


Did you like it? In our house, it was much read and much loved and the paperback eventually disintegrated.


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## hash tag (Sep 6, 2022)

seeformiles said:


> David Niven “The Moon’s a Balloon”


Thats a blast from the past.


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## Nikkormat (Sep 6, 2022)

Still on _The Decameron_, but started Tony Judt's _Post War_. 50 pages or so in and it's brilliant.


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## bluescreen (Sep 6, 2022)

Nikkormat said:


> Still on _The Decameron_, but started Tony Judt's _Post War_. 50 pages or so in and it's brilliant.


That reminds me that I've got _The Memory Chalet _somewhere and have been meaning to read it for ages. I'll go and look for it now.


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## izz (Sep 6, 2022)

Having rediscovered my reading mojo I've recently reread Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies as well as An Experiment In Love. Pondering going through The Mirror And The Light again but in the meantime read A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee, which I like very much. The prose and the formal, considered tone reminds me of Kazuo Ishiguro and the plot includes episodes from the lives of comfort women during the second world war which are a difficult read but inform our hero's subsequent actions.


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## Elpenor (Sep 8, 2022)

llion said:


> Alexander Baron - From the city, from the plough. Fantastic novel about the D-Day landings written in 1948 by an author who had witnessed the events as a solider. Quite a short novel, but he builds a really rich portrait of all the different characters in the battalion. Earthy, raw and unflinching.


I am reading this at the moment and agree with everything in this post


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## rubbershoes (Sep 12, 2022)

The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre

Typical Macintyre book, this one about KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky


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## nottsgirl (Sep 14, 2022)

I just read a book called Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier about a teenage mum who falls in love with one of the customers at her pizza delivery job. It was quite good. 4*. Not sure what I’m going to read next.


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## izz (Sep 15, 2022)

Am rereading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. I'd forgotten how drily witty it is. 

Has anyone read any of his Baroque series and if so would you recommend any book in particular ?


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## Chz (Sep 15, 2022)

izz said:


> Am rereading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. I'd forgotten how drily witty it is.
> 
> Has anyone read any of his Baroque series and if so would you recommend any book in particular ?


I found the Baroque dead boring. There's definitely good stuff in there, but it's like he frightened his editor too much for them to do their damn job. 
Much preferred the one where the Moon blows up.


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## kropotkin (Sep 15, 2022)

Oh God. Everything by Stephenson after Snow Crash and the Diamond Age is 3 times too long. His editor needs to get editing.


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## izz (Sep 15, 2022)

Chz said:


> I found the Baroque dead boring. There's definitely good stuff in there, but it's like he frightened his editor too much for them to do their damn job.
> Much preferred the one where the Moon blows up.





kropotkin said:


> Oh God. Everything by Stephenson after Snow Crash and the Diamond Age is 3 times too long. His editor needs to get editing.


Darn. I was pretty much expecting this though, last time I read Cryptonomicon I thought the middle could do with some serious prunage but hey, triumph of hope over expectation and all that, and there are plenty of his earlier works I haven't got yet, so I guess it's all good


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## nottsgirl (Sep 26, 2022)

Strangers and Friends by J. Courtney Sullivan. Enjoying it so far.


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## izz (Sep 26, 2022)

After the untimely death of Hilary Mantel, and finding a book of hers I didn't have, I bought Mantel Pieces and it's fucking brilliant, I'd say her factual writing and literary reviews are even better than her fiction. Oy vey what a loss.


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## zenie (Sep 26, 2022)

Ruth Rendell - Harm Done audiobook. Included with audible membership.

This one is a bit gruesome.

Am I officially middle aged listening to Rendell? ☹️


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## chainsawjob (Oct 1, 2022)

Seven Kinds of People you find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell

If you're thinking of reading this, don't bother! I was given it for my birthday. He's written several based on his experience of being a bookshop owner. He's rude and misanthropic about his customers. I'm surprised he has any (assuming his descriptions of people are based on true life)! And surprisingly free with describing his staff and their experiences

Gave up after a chapter. Not pleasant. A judgemental and superior-attitude book.


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## DotCommunist (Oct 1, 2022)

By chance I was reminded of an author who I really enjoyed reading and somehow completely forgot about. Carl Hiaasen, in this particular  case I'm reading Squeeze Me. A vicious and funny eye for floridas elites, corruption, mystery and conservation. Good yarns.


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## furluxor (Oct 1, 2022)

kropotkin said:


> Oh God. Everything by Stephenson after Snow Crash and the Diamond Age is 3 times too long. His editor needs to get editing.



I've only ever read Snow Crash (well, listened to an audiobook) and if that's the apex of Stephenson's writing powers, I'm out. It does move along at a fun pace and YT was a cool character but it felt like such a bro book. Here's a cool action scene. Here's some tough talk. Here's the motorcycle/leather coat/L33T HACKER STUFF. Maybe it's just its age showing?


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## Chz (Oct 1, 2022)

furluxor said:


> I've only ever read Snow Crash (well, listened to an audiobook) and if that's the apex of Stephenson's writing powers, I'm out. It does move along at a fun pace and YT was a cool character but it felt like such a bro book. Here's a cool action scene. Here's some tough talk. Here's the motorcycle/leather coat/L33T HACKER STUFF. Maybe it's just its age showing?


It's both of its time, and a lot of its biggest fans read it as a YA. I think it's a superlative example of its type, but its type isn't for everyone by any means.


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## friedaweed (Oct 1, 2022)

I've just started the latest New Naturalist which is called Trees









						Trees
					

Trees




					blackwells.co.uk
				




I've been reading the new naturalist for about 8 years now but I think this is the one I have most looked forward to. 

The next one I'm a bit excited about is on Small Mustelids but I'll have to wait till next October for that to be published.


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## nottsgirl (Oct 3, 2022)

nottsgirl said:


> Strangers and Friends by J. Courtney Sullivan. Enjoying it so far.


Really enjoyed this. She’s written 5 other books so I’ll look out for them.


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## nottsgirl (Oct 4, 2022)

Just starting Can you hear me? by Elena Varvello.


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## bcuster (Oct 4, 2022)

do audio books count?   if so, i'm thoroughly enjoying "the tenant of wildfell hall" by anne bronte on my evening's drive home...


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## bluescreen (Oct 4, 2022)

bcuster said:


> do audio books count?


Why wouldn't they? I don't use them personally (don't like headphones) but have never understood why some people hold them as somehow less.


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## izz (Oct 5, 2022)

Just read Life Class by Pat Barker. It's good but not a patch on her Regeneration trilogy, which is splendid.


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## rubbershoes (Oct 17, 2022)

Just finished two books about America's dirty underbelly

_Blacktop Wasteland _by SA Cosby is about  a man trying to make the right choices, but his past gives him the wrong options

_Bewilderness _by Karen Tucker is about addiction, friendship and fucking up again and again.

If you're going to read either, _Blacktop Wasteland_ is the better one


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## Nikkormat (Nov 3, 2022)

Taking a break from _The Decameron_ and Tony Judt's _Postwar_ to read _The Passenger_ by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz. Good so far.


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## nottsgirl (Nov 8, 2022)

nottsgirl said:


> Just starting Can you hear me? by Elena Varvello.


Didn’t like this much at first but in the end really liked it. It’s a very thoughtful book, it just took a while to get in to.


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## seventh bullet (Nov 9, 2022)

It's not something I've bothered with in a long while, that being fiction (unless you count studies on the official culture of Stalinism), but I've been revisiting Idoru, which was the first William Gibson novel I read when a teen way back when (what hair I have left is now turning grey). 

I still enjoy his talent for fleeting but vivid description, including the comedic kerfuffle in the bathroom of the love hotel where the characters eventually converge, day-glo sex toys accidentally scattered everywhere.


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## seeformiles (Nov 10, 2022)

Currently enjoying a gentle read


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## porp (Nov 10, 2022)

chainsawjob said:


> View attachment 345297
> 
> Seven Kinds of People you find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell
> 
> ...


I read his other book Diary of a Bookseller, which I got from the library, ironically. Yes, agree on his attitude and judgement showing through. I wonder if the whole unworldly bookish misanthrope thing  is put on, which if anything would be worse.


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## belboid (Nov 10, 2022)

porp said:


> I read his other book Diary of a Bookseller, which I got from the library, ironically. Yes, agree on his attitude and judgement showing through. I wonder if the whole unworldly bookish misanthrope thing  is put on, which if anything would be worse.


It was when he wrote, about 3/4 of the way through iirr, that he didn’t know that his (much abused) part time staff had a right to holidays! He’d been an employer for at least ten years and wanted us to feel sorry for him because his employee wanted the rights she was entitled to.  

A cunt.


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## izz (Nov 10, 2022)

Following watching the Netflix docu Barbaric Genius about John Healy, I've just read The Grass Arena and very interesting and well-written it is too. Describes life on the streets in London and the repeated run-ins with the law, stretches of time in prison and so forth. Much is made elsewhere of his violence but to be honest, if his memoir is accurate then at least some of his violence was in self-defence and without it he wouldn't have survived. May try some of this fiction.


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## rubbershoes (Nov 11, 2022)

izz said:


> Following watching the Netflix docu Barbaric Genius about John Healy, I've just read The Grass Arena and very interesting and well-written it is too. Describes life on the streets in London and the repeated run-ins with the law, stretches of time in prison and so forth. Much is made elsewhere of his violence but to be honest, if his memoir is accurate then at least some of his violence was in self-defence and without it he wouldn't have survived. May try some of this fiction.



Such a good book.  I read it every few years to remind myself how lucky I am


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## izz (Nov 11, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> Such a good book.  I read it every few years to remind myself how lucky I am


I can absolutely see why that would work for you, my 'book to read when feeling unnecessarily sorry for myself' is The Road


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## rubbershoes (Nov 11, 2022)

izz said:


> I can absolutely see why that would work for you, my 'book to read when feeling unnecessarily sorry for myself' is The Road



And when you want to feel angry, watch the film of The Road and wonder how they could have fucked the ending up so much


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## Elpenor (Nov 11, 2022)

chainsawjob said:


> View attachment 345297
> 
> Seven Kinds of People you find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell
> 
> ...


Think I got this in a charity shop. Can’t check as bookshelves are behind lots of other things at the moment. May not be worth a read if it’s the same book.


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## BristolEcho (Nov 11, 2022)

Reading: The Handmaid's Tale - about 6 chapters in and it's good so far. 

Audiobook:

Working my way through the Mistborne Trilogy which I've read previously. 

Also power and thrones - Dan Jones: I read half the book but it's taken me nearly a year so I reckon the audiobook will be easier. It's a great book though.


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## sojourner (Nov 14, 2022)

izz said:


> Following watching the Netflix docu Barbaric Genius about John Healy, I've just read The Grass Arena and very interesting and well-written it is too. Describes life on the streets in London and the repeated run-ins with the law, stretches of time in prison and so forth. Much is made elsewhere of his violence but to be honest, if his memoir is accurate then at least some of his violence was in self-defence and without it he wouldn't have survived. May try some of this fiction.


I saw the doc when much younger and was hugely struck by it. 

Also read the book, and his struggles with the publishers, who were cunts to him tbh.


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## sojourner (Nov 14, 2022)

After a long reading hiatus, I'm now reading The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage, and absolutely loving it.  I watched the film a while back, so know what's going on, but still loving the story. As always, there's loads more in the book.


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## rubbershoes (Nov 15, 2022)

sojourner said:


> After a long reading hiatus, I'm now reading The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage, and absolutely loving it.  I watched the film a while back, so know what's going on, but still loving the story. As always, there's loads more in the book.



What a fantastic film that was.. It didn't occur to me that it was adapted from a book. I might well put that on my Christmas list


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## rubbershoes (Nov 20, 2022)

sojourner said:


> I'm now reading The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage, and absolutely loving it.  I watched the film a while back, so know what's going on, but still loving the story. As always, there's loads more in the book.


I'm now reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier , and absolutely loving it. I watched the film a while back, so know what's going on, but still loving the story. As always, there's loads more in the book.


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## sojourner (Nov 20, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> I'm now reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier , and absolutely loving it. I watched the film a while back, so know what's going on, but still loving the story. As always, there's loads more in the book.


😁👍

Yeh, read that years ago, it's ace 😎


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## nottsgirl (Nov 21, 2022)

The Thursday Murder Club. It’s not amazing so far but it was a present.


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## nottsgirl (Nov 23, 2022)

Keeping the House by Tice Cin. Interesting so far.


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## Nikkormat (Nov 29, 2022)

_The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder _by Patricia Highsmith, a collection of short stories about animals that gain revenge on people who have wronged them. Three stories in and I'm enjoying it.


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## May Kasahara (Nov 29, 2022)

Sounds like something I'd enjoy Nikkormat.

I'm currently reading a Japanese novel called Breasts and Eggs. It's a bit boring.


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## nottsgirl (Nov 29, 2022)

nottsgirl said:


> Keeping the House by Tice Cin. Interesting so far.


Gave up on this for the moment, now I’m reading How to murder your family. It’s very readable but not much else.


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## izz (Nov 29, 2022)

Currently on The Luckiest Guy Alive and I wanna be Yours, John Cooper Clark. Not enjoying the poetry as much as I would like but there's absolutely no doubt the man can turn a rhyme 

_Animal grace and social ease
In a scratch-yer-eyes-out red chemise
The picture of iconic sleaze
With a soundtrack of ironic cheese _

I'll probably buy the other poetry book(s) as well, mind


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## nottsgirl (Dec 7, 2022)

Best British Short Stories 2022.


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## RedRedRose (Dec 9, 2022)

Asa Briggs - Victorian Cities
Stuart Maconie -  Long Road from Jarrow: A journey through Britain then and now


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## Orang Utan (Dec 9, 2022)

Ruth Kinna - The Government Of No One: The Theory and Practice Of Anarchism
Katherine Rundell - The Golden Mole And Other Living Treasures
Anna Keay - The Restless Republic: Britain Without A Crown
Emily St John Mandel - The Glass Hotel
Jenny Uglow - Hogarth


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## rubbershoes (Dec 19, 2022)

_A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology_ by Mike Rinder.

 I've always been aware that Scientology sucks people in and empties their bank account.  But I wasn't aware quite how evil they were and what steps they'd go to protect their reputation, and attack anyone who criticised them.  Now I am.  Their _Fair Game_ policy allows them (according to their own rules) to ruin the lives, families and businesses of anyone who speaks out against them.  It's appalling, and the worst of it is that it's all done simply so that scientology can continue to make money from its adherents/victims.

The founder of scientology, L Ron Hubbard appears to be nothing more than a conman who possibly ended up believing his own bullshit. His successor, David Miscavige appears to be a just a sadist.


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## rubbershoes (Dec 19, 2022)

.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 19, 2022)

It's been nice knowing you rubbershoes 😢but I for one welcome our Galactic Confederacy overlords 🫡


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## Orang Utan (Dec 19, 2022)

rubbershoes said:


> .


 i can only assume you regretted your earnestly but rashly expressed admiration of my literal choices and thus deleted them out of coquettish modesty


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## rubbershoes (Dec 19, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> i can only assume you regretted your earnestly but rashly expressed admiration of my literal choices and thus deleted them out of coquettish modesty



It could be that, or it could me commenting on a post of yours,  then realising yours was from 2008 and me thinking my reply didn't live it up to the 14 years I've clearly been thinking about it

Either works for me


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## Mattym (Dec 19, 2022)

sojourner said:


> After a long reading hiatus, I'm now reading The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage, and absolutely loving it.  I watched the film a while back, so know what's going on, but still loving the story. As always, there's loads more in the book.


My dad was a complete book fan/fiend and would always try to buy loads of books for us for Christmas & birthdays- usually those entered for one of the prizes. He died a couple of years ago & 'Power of the Dog' was one of the last books he bought for me/us  & it's such a great story, I have no interest in seeing the film.


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## rubbershoes (Dec 20, 2022)

Mattym said:


> My dad was a complete book fan/fiend and would always try to buy loads of books for us for Christmas & birthdays- usually those entered for one of the prizes. He died a couple of years ago & 'Power of the Dog' was one of the last books he bought for me/us  & it's such a great story, I have no interest in seeing the film.



I suspect Father Christmas may have got that for me


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## izz (Dec 20, 2022)

nottsgirl said:


> Best British Short Stories 2022.


Any standouts ?


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## hash tag (Dec 21, 2022)

Gassed by Rob Evans Gassed: Behind the Scenes at Porton Down - Lume Books
I have tried for a along time to get this out of print book and prices quoted for it are around £70.
Was recently sent a free copy by someone in the post; what an interesting book, what a shit nation Britain is.


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## DotCommunist (Dec 21, 2022)

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Memory. I hope its as good as the space octopus one, that was mint.


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## nottsgirl (Dec 21, 2022)

izz said:


> Any standouts ?


About a third of them were really good. I’d recommend it. I’ve given it away now so I can’t name names.


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## izz (Dec 22, 2022)

nottsgirl said:


> About a third of them were really good. I’d recommend it. I’ve given it away now so I can’t name names.


I'll look out for it


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## stockwelljonny (Dec 22, 2022)

Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood By Justin Marozzi. Getting to the end of this and have enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting, fascinating 2000 year history, all the ups and downs of the city and its people and various rulers. Well told, very readable and informative. Love the orange Penguin non fictions.


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## nottsgirl (Dec 22, 2022)

izz said:


> Any standouts ?


There’s a really good one about a conservatory salesman and one science fiction type story about bitey sex games but there are other good ones too.


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## nottsgirl (Dec 22, 2022)

izz one of them is available here which is where I first read it.






						SSP 2021 HOGAN (Single Sit) — Galley Beggar Press
					






					www.galleybeggar.co.uk


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## Nikkormat (Dec 26, 2022)

_The Good Soldier_ by Ford Madox Ford. 

I did not expect to enjoy it, but found it strangely gripping. Very good.


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## Fallon (Dec 28, 2022)

Barcelona Dreaming by Rupert Thomson.

Don't read fiction too often but enjoying this. Very well written.


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## sojourner (Dec 30, 2022)

Food for Life by Tim Spector. A (requested)  xmas gift. Really interesting, and I'm trying to now eat with this in mind.


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## jeff_leigh (Dec 31, 2022)

Just finished Dostoevsky’s The Idiot starting one about the Knights Templar


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## Nikkormat (Jan 5, 2023)

Nikkormat said:


> Still on _The Decameron_, but started Tony Judt's _Post War_. 50 pages or so in and it's brilliant.



Finally finished Postwar this morning. Excellent from start to finish. 

Now on Wittgenstein's _Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus__. _


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## jeff_leigh (Jan 6, 2023)

Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
​​


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## T & P (Jan 7, 2023)

_Peril at End House_. I love Golden Era crime novels, but I guess due to having watched TV adaptations of so many of Agatha Christie’s works, I have actually read only a handful of them. But as I’ve never seen any adaptation of the aforementioned novel, I gave it a go this week, and it’s bloody brilliant. One of the most engaging stories and in particular mind blowing endings of any Christie tales I can think of


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## rubbershoes (Jan 7, 2023)

_The Last Pilot_ by Benjamin Johncock.  It's a debut novel that shows some promise but ultimately doesn't deliver .  It covers some of the same ground as Tom Wolfe's _The Right Stuff,_ seeing the early American manned space programme through the eyes of the test pilots that were selected for Mercury and Gemini .  Although the real astronauts are in it, the main protagonist is fictional.  

I've got two main problems with the book.  It seems too derivative of Tom Wolfe and if you've read _The Right Stuff, _you're not going to get much more from this.

And also the ending.  Pancho getting Jim out of a military hospital?.  I don't think so.  And if all that is just his imagination, it goes on too long


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## rubbershoes (Jan 7, 2023)

_Harbour _by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who wrote _Let the Right One In_ .  Some could see it as a horror book about a community on a small island in the Stockholm archipelago, where their seemingly bucolic life, masks the malign supernatural forces that oppress them causing   disappearances, possession, murder and an obsession with The Smiths.

Others may see the book as a perfectly normal tale of life in the country.

I couldn't possibly comment.


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## izz (Jan 7, 2023)

rubbershoes said:


> _Harbour _by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who wrote _Let the Right One In_ .  Some could see it as a horror book about a community on a small island in the Stockholm archipelago, where their seemingly bucolic life, masks the malign supernatural forces that oppress them causing   disappearances, possession, murder and an obsession with The Smiths.
> 
> Others may see the book as a perfectly normal tale of life in the country.
> 
> I couldn't possibly comment.


Ah. You've been to Priddy.


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## Johnny Vodka (Jan 7, 2023)

The Catcher in the Rye.  There's an Adam Buxton podcast episode devoted to it, so thought I should read before listening..  Really easy book to get through.


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## AmateurAgitator (Jan 7, 2023)

Johnny Vodka said:


> The Catcher in the Rye.  There's an Adam Buxton podcast episode devoted to it, so thought I should read before listening..  Really easy book to get through.


I recently got a copy of that. It was recommended to me by a friend. I've not started it yet though.


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## Nikkormat (Wednesday at 4:07 PM)

Nikkormat said:


> Now on Wittgenstein's _Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus__. _



Well, I understood maybe 5% of that.

Next up is _The Inhabited Island_ by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.


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## campanula (Friday at 2:32 PM)

Fabric, a history of the material world. Victoria Finlay. I generally enjoy a history of things (salt, cod) but am less chuffed at the narrators continual insertion of themselves.

Also reading Mother's Boy - by the lovely Patrick Gale. The reading equivalent of a warm bath with narcotics - required reading for dismal January.


----------

