*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[Orang Utan]

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]

you should try that Victoria Hislop, LTC - your eyes will pop right out in an apoplectic fury

 

[Orang Utan]

Is she related to Ian?

 

[May Kasahara]

i wondered that myself actually

he must be well ashamed, if she is - it's awful.

 

[Orang Utan]

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]

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]

Consider Phlebas - continuing my discovery of the joys of Banks.

 

[DotCommunist]

Consider Phlebas - continuing my discovery of the joys of Banks.

The main character is a cunt working for cunts.


good tale tho.

 

[DotCommunist]

oh and pls, do Inversions next. It is a sly Culture song

 

[bluestreak]

Cheers for that. *puts book down*

 

[DotCommunist]

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]

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]

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]

Jihad in the Qur'an & Sunnah - Sheikh Abdullah Bin Muhammad Humaid

 

[DotCommunist]

Having another crack at Jerusalem Commands. I'm actually enjoying the 1st person narrative now where before I was repulsed by the twat.

 

[sojourner]

Yes!!! A new Annie Proulx collection of short stories Fine Just The Way It Is. Already brilliant

 

[Dillinger4]

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]

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]

Song Of Kali - Dan Simmons

 

[jeff_leigh]

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]

Orlando Figes: A People's Tragedy: Russian Revolution, 1891-1924

 

[El Jefe]

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]

The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
Sir Gawain & The Green Knight - Anon

 

[DotCommunist]

The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
Sir Gawain & The Green Knight - Anon

which version? The Tolkien edited one?

 

[xenon]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.