*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[El Sueno]

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]

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]

.... 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]

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]

Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

 

[elevendayempire]

I am trying to finish Quicksilver. It's a bit turgid and didactic.

 

[ringo]

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]

Now engrossed by Vernor Vinge - Rainbows End.

Note that the grammatical error in the title is deliberate and commented on in the book.

 

[tastebud]

i loved 'shadow of the wind' and 100 pages in this is equally as enjoyable.

ugh. i thought it terrible

 

[Roadkill]

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]

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]

Complete Manual of Surveillance Training - it's good so far.

 

[Fictionist]

Will be starting Sylvia Plath's 'The Bell Jar' (12) tonight.

 

[Dirty Martini]

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]

Building servers from home and listening to spotify. Tiny bit of facebooking. News on bbc.

 

[live_jayeola]

Complete Manual of Surveillance Training - it's good so far.

Where did you get that? Are you in the industry?

 

[Grub str. hack]

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]

'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]

Think I'll start World War Z tonight

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

Think I'll start World War Z tonight

fair do's. those WMD's are only gathering dust after all.

 

[Part 2]

 

[llion]

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]

i gave up with middlemarch, just couldn't get into it at all.

 

[Dirty Martini]

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]

Serendipities - Umberto Eco (13)

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

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]

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]

PD James - A Certain Justice

Lots of plot twists. 40 odd pages to go and I still don't know whodunnit.

 

[DotCommunist]

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]

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.

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.