TruXta
tired
Cheers, will see if I can find it.
*What book are you reading? (part 2)
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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
sovietwave
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.
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
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.
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
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.
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
sovietwave
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.
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.
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
Great stuff, I'm looking forward to reading more too.
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
Поехали!
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 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 Brief History of Neoliberalism - David Harvey.
stupid dogbot
Haughty and Superior
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
Really, really enjoying it.
Really, really enjoying it.
D'wards
IT'S YOUR DECISION DANIEL
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
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
Epistemic nuisance
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.
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.
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
take me to the feeling
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?'
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
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
Macaroni cheese controller
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
Love his outrage at society, and the best descriptions of priggish pomposity anywhere
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
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.
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
So many particulars. So many questions.
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
starting it tomorrow, just finishing my review of Stros' Neptunes Children before I read anything else
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
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
One on one? You're crazy.
I enjoyed it - just finished the last of them -
May Kasahara
take me to the feeling
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
Oooh, I am actually jealous of you getting to read it for the first timeEnjoy.
I've got you to thank for making me pick up my first Joe Hill book. So thank you very much
JelliedBills
New Member
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.
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.
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JelliedBills
New Member
A cracking little book; I read it in a day and was quite touched by it.
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