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*What book are you reading? (part 2)

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! :mad:
 
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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
 
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.
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
DotCommunist said:
Or start this Bradbury collection.
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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.
 
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.

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.
Click to expand...


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.
 
DotCommunist said:
:cool:
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.
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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 :mad: Will have to buy I suppose.
 
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 :mad: Will have to buy I suppose.
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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
 
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


I Sing the Body Electric

Illustrated Man

Martian Chronicles

Now and Forever

R is for Rocket
Click to expand...
Aww, lovely of you mate but I cannae read shit online. Hurts me eyes. I need actual books and that. Paper.
 
sojourner said:
Aww, lovely of you mate but I cannae read shit online. Hurts me eyes. I need actual books and that. Paper.
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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
 
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.
 
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.

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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
BoatieBird said:
It's the OED and the Oxford American that come as standard, but it also has a translate function for foreign words.
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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.
 
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.
Click to expand...
I think you can do that with the newer Kindles. Underlining/marking for sure.
 
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.
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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.
 
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