What’s the most offensive book you own?

[krtek a houby]

I have a copy of Crash by Ballard that I couldn't finish. I read part of it on a train, going like this --> and then stopped because I thought I'd be sick.

Haven't read it (Crash)but his sequel to the semi-autobiographical Empire of the Sun, The Kindness of Women, goes all meta and includes Crash type scenarios in the story line...

 

[Roadkill]

Many years ago not-bono-ever was giving away books and I took a carrier bag-full off his hands, mostly of communist literature from eastern Europe in the 1980s. I wouldn't call a volume of Nicolae Ceaucescu's speeches offensive, but it's certainly delusional - amusingly so in places, until you remember what his regime inflicted on its own people...

 

[not-bono-ever]

its awful turgid stuff, a bookshop in Bucharest in '89 had shelves of these and nothing else

 

[JuanTwoThree]

I remember my father in a holiday cottage picking up a paperback called Mandingo, reading a page or two and flinging it on the fire. I of course looked at it in WH Smith at the earliest opportunity and saw what he meant

Unpardonable shite from the start and I imagine onwards. I read two pages in hot-cheeked shame and fled.

 

[Sprocket.]

Service manual for a Mitsubishi diesel.
It reeks of diesel and engine oil and is therefore restricted to the garage.

 

[D'wards]

I used to have a copy of Ten Little Niggers by Agatha Christie. I no longer have it but can't recall where it went down.

 

[Roadkill]

its awful turgid stuff, a bookshop in Bucharest in '89 had shelves of these and nothing else

I can't help wondering whether at least one of the soldiers who shot Ceaucescu was thinking, 'that's payback for making me read all that shit' as he pulled the trigger.

 

[Spandex]

I used to have a copy of Ten Little Niggers by Agatha Christie. I no longer have it but can't recall where it went down.

That's my favourite Agatha Christie book. Great murder mystery novel.

It was also called Ten Little Indians, but is usually called And Then There Were None. ATTWN is the name the book was given when it was first published in the US in 1940, with the rhyme changed to Ten Little Soldiers in the story, so it wasn't uncontroversial when it first came out.

 

[D'wards]

That's my favourite Agatha Christie book. Great murder mystery novel.

It was also called Ten Little Indians, but is usually called And Then There Were None. ATTWN is the name the book was given when it was first published in the US in 1940, with the rhyme changed to Ten Little Soldiers in the story, so it wasn't uncontroversial when it first came out.

It's a fantastic book. I think, for me, her best. I've seen the tv series, couple of films and the stage play too.

Iirc it was set on Nigger Island in the original because on the map it looked like a man with big lips

I listened to a podcast all about Christie recently where they suggested you couldn't even say "it was ok at the time" because she was definitely offensive about those sort of things, even for the time.
She weaves a fantastic yarn though.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

It's a fantastic book. I think, for me, her best. I've seen the tv series, couple of films and the stage play too.

Iirc it was set on Nigger Island in the original because on the map it looked like a man with big lips

I listened to a podcast all about Christie recently where they suggested you couldn't even say "it was ok at the time" because she was definitely offensive about those sort of things, even for the time.
She weaves a fantastic yarn though.

Oh she's the most horrific snob as well. Absolutely horrific. But I adore her and what we now call And Then There Were None is, I agree, one of her very best.

 

[Pickman's model]

Oh she's the most horrific snob as well. Absolutely horrific. But I adore her and what we now call And Then There Were None is, I agree, one of her very best.

the murder of roger ackroyd is a cracking book too. but telling the most offensive thing about it would be to give the game away.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Our man in havana has the N word in its opening sentence.

 

[Pickman's model]

I remember my father in a holiday cottage picking up a paperback called Mandingo, reading a page or two and flinging it on the fire. I of course looked at it in WH Smith at the earliest opportunity and saw what he meantView attachment 211071

Unpardonable shite from the start and I imagine onwards. I read two pages in hot-cheeked shame and fled.

is that the book the film of the same name is based on?

 

[xenon]

I read American Psycho when it first came out and there's loads of similarly sick shit in it. When they made the film I wondered how it would ever be released but they completely changed it into a comedy/farce. Nothing like the book at all.

other way round for me. I saw the film years ago and then read the book. It made me feel sick. Not just the violence but the endless lunches and descriptions and namedropping of suit designers, showy yuppie food et cetera. So I guess job done.

 

[D'wards]

Oh she's the most horrific snob as well. Absolutely horrific. But I adore her and what we now call And Then There Were None is, I agree, one of her very best.

This is a good listen (apart from the horrible pronunciation of English place names)

Agatha Christie: Queen of the Murder Mystery - Stuff You Should Know

Agatha Christie was a great writer of murder mystery novels and is probably the best selling author of all time. Listen in today to learn her story.

pca.st

 

[xenon]

I like both. Saw the film first read the book the day later. Or was it the other way around.

I didn't mind high rise, I wouldn't read it a second time but it was ok. The film was fucking terrible

 

[rubbershoes]

other way round for me. I saw the film years ago and then read the book. It made me feel sick. Not just the violence but the endless lunches and descriptions and namedropping of suit designers, showy yuppie food et cetera. So I guess job done.

But that's the point of the book isn't it. The shallow superficiality of the times

 

[Proper Tidy]

I like both. Saw the film first read the book the day later. Or was it the other way around.

I really wanted the film to be good, was dead excited going to watch it, thought it would translate well to film (I'd already read the book). Just too much going on at once, everything got lost, was like watching the plot hurtle along at 70mph then hit the window with a splat. A shame.

I wondered at time if it was cos I'd read the book already but my other half also thought it was shit and too manic and she'd never read the book and wouldn't even let me tell her what it was about before going the cinema

 

[not-bono-ever]

other way round for me. I saw the film years ago and then read the book. It made me feel sick. Not just the violence but the endless lunches and descriptions and namedropping of suit designers, showy yuppie food et cetera. So I guess job done.

The book is a perfect snapshot of the time but its is meant to annoy n irk.not a good read by any means, but it works, never reading it again tho'

eta, point already made

 

[xenon]

I really wanted the film to be good, was dead excited going to watch it, thought it would translate well to film (I'd already read the book). Just too much going on at once, everything got lost, was like watching the plot hurtle along at 70mph then hit the window with a splat. A shame.

I wondered at time if it was cos I'd read the book already but my other half also thought it was shit and too manic and she'd never read the book and wouldn't even let me tell her what it was about before going the cinema

The book is definitely more drawn out. shit hits the fan a lot quicker in the film. As I recall. but actually yeah, I think I read at the book same weekend after seeing the film and they become a bit blurred together.

 

[JuanTwoThree]

is that the book the film of the same name is based on?

Yes, but I can't believe that a 1970s film about breeding slaves, prize-fighting and so on was as repulsive as a 50s book, not that I have seen the film. Though really I haven't read the book either. I probably glanced at its numerous sequels though and built up the impression that if anything they were even more repugnant.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

the murder of roger ackroyd is a cracking book too. but telling the most offensive thing about it would be to give the game away.

Cracking!! The most offensive thing about it? Put it in a spoiler. I've read it a few times but I forget.

 

[ginger_syn]

I used to have a copy of Ten Little Niggers by Agatha Christie. I no longer have it but can't recall where it went down.

Mine is in a box in the cupboard.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Physical copy?

Difficult. Probably some of the older books with questionable sections.

The bit with the Prince in Doctor Dolittle springs to mind as super uncomfortable.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle/Chapter 11 - Wikisource, the free online library

en.m.wikisource.org

 

[bellaozzydog]

Nudge, Thaler and sunstein

reading it to get a picture of what the enemy is up to.

these are the American nudge unit people

really offensive and patronising views of normal people as slow, bad decision making sheep

there is psychology behind this, butvthey dress nudging up as liberal patronism to make society a better place, in reality it’s how to manipulate sheeple, developed for marketing and profit driven consumers but re-tooled for socio-political policy makers

give them the perception of choice but as “choice architects” make sure they chose the options you want them to

Sadly it works because their target audience Us/U.K. plc appear to be slow thinking sheeple

very depressing my worst book this year despite being interesting (like watching an autopsy interesting)

 

[scifisam]

It's a fantastic book. I think, for me, her best. I've seen the tv series, couple of films and the stage play too.

Iirc it was set on Nigger Island in the original because on the map it looked like a man with big lips

I listened to a podcast all about Christie recently where they suggested you couldn't even say "it was ok at the time" because she was definitely offensive about those sort of things, even for the time.
She weaves a fantastic yarn though.

Christie also had several sympathetic non-white characters, though. There was occasional casual use of racist words that didn't even fit the times she was writing in, but when it came to the actual storylines, she mostly didn't treat her non-white characters any worse than the white ones.

 

[D'wards]

Christie also had several sympathetic non-white characters, though. There was occasional casual use of racist words that didn't even fit the times she was writing in, but when it came to the actual storylines, she mostly didn't treat her non-white characters any worse than the white ones.

In Death in the Clouds she was talking about a newly formed couple, and what they have in common.
I can't recall exactly but the gist was "they both liked cocaine and walks on the beach at night, and they also disliked rain, crowded tube trains and blacks"

The podcast I linked to upthread is very interesting. She had some drama herself, after her husband left her she went missing. Her car was found almost hanging off a cliff. A massive search was organised.
She turned up in a spa hotel where she had booked herself in, telling no one she was there.

The podcast does kind of suggest her books were formulaic, not not necessarily in a negative way. Like she seeded clues so when the reveal came it's not just out of the blue with no indication, which is a bugbear in whodunnits by lesser writers

 

[blairsh]

Got one of those coffee table/toilet reads, called, 'How To Say "Fuck Off " in fifty different languages'.

It's not just fuck off, it's all sorts of horrible stuff

 

[Reno]

The podcast I linked to upthread is very interesting. She had some drama herself, after her husband left her she went missing. Her car was found almost hanging off a cliff. A massive search was organised.
She turned up in a spa hotel where she had booked herself in, telling no one she was there.

There was a film about that in the 70s, starring Vanessa Redgrave as Christie. It tried to make her disappearance into a mystery from her books, not being entirely successful.

Agatha (film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[imposs1904]

I have The Turner's Diaries as an ebook.

Do ebook's count?