*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[Orang Utan]

But.. really ?
Ridley Walker is an example of why it's worth your time time to read something that isn't like totally easy from page one. Hoban is/was a writer full of humanity and humour and wisdom and that particular book is the essence of all of those things.
The dave book on the other hand, whilst on the surface a passable copy of the above, is just another cynical throwaway I'm so clever airport paperback.

I don't agree at all. But it's Saturday night. Another time!

 

[bimble]

I don't agree at all. But it's Saturday night. Another time!

I respect you for your flag changing, even though your reading leaves a lot to be desired. Go forth and party.

 

[Orang Utan]

I respect you for your flag changing, even though your reading leaves a lot to be desired. Go forth and party.

Have you read Paul Kingsnorth's The Wake?
Another addition to the odd English canon

 

[bimble]

Have you read Paul Kingsnorth's The Wake?
Another addition to the odd English canon

No i haven't, and quite frankly not taking recommendations from you given your above displayed lack of judgement.

 

[Orang Utan]

No i haven't, and quite frankly not taking recommendations from you given your above displayed lack of judgement.

How conceited. Never mind.

 

[bimble]

Ok apologies. Will put on list then come back and annoy you when I've read it

 

[Orang Utan]

Ok apologies. Will put on list then come back and annoy you when I've read it

Don't judge a person by one book they have read and liked just cos you haven't!

 

[krtek a houby]

Brazil Maru by Karen Tei Yamashita. Japanese immigrants in Brazil and the lives they lead.

 

[DotCommunist]

Three Moments of an Explosion by China Mieville

I was going to buy it but then I saw the contents. The swine has included not one but two stories from 'Looking for Jake' in it! cheeky cunt. Downloaded, I'm not paying twice

 

[JimW]

I got a thumping great hardback set of Fernand Braudel's Civilisation and Capitalism shelfbender trilogy from a local charity shop (eight quid and hardly read I reckon!)and have finally got round to starting it. Read a fair bit abou tthe period he's covering but still finding a lot of interesting new stuff. he's definitely not in the PC brigade with some of his language, and I don't think you can blame the translator. See if I can make it the whole way through, only a few hundred pages into Volume One (Structures of Everyday Life) so far.
ETA or put another way, will I make it for la longue durée?

 

[hash tag]

Just getting to the end of Alan Johnson's Please Mr postman, great book. This follows straight on from This Boy. His poor sister, grief

 

[ringo]

Finished Horace Panter's book 'Ska'd for Life.' It's a very frank account of gigging and how The Specials fell apart but I was a little disappointed - he seems like a distant person and a bit of a square (albeit brilliant bass player), even a bit boring but he admits this candidly and I quite liked him by the end of the book. I had to read this cos they are my favourite band, and I think Jerry Dammers is one of the greatest songwriters of all time (up there with Prince and Gershwin). I am a little in love with Jerry - not just his music but his fiercely anti racist stance and persona and mystique - wish he would write a book (so does Horace - of course he never will!!).

To give Horace credit, he is extremely honest and can be very funny at times. He admits his own shortcomings and is a very humble man, deserved of the sobriquet 'Horace Gentleman.' I look forward to also reading Neville Staples autobiography, which i imagine will be much more insightful, colourful and cheeky.

I've had Panter's book for years but never got round to it. Their first LP is still my favourite album; can't bring myself to read a history of them that isn't like a speed fuelled riot.
Read Neville Staples' autobiography this year though and it's packed full of great stories which really live up to expectations.

 

[sojourner]

Finished MR James' 'A Haunted Doll's House and other stories'. There was one story on about how a fella's reading in his room, and keeps thinking he sees bats out of the corner of his eye. Then it says 'what if something other flopped over the windowsill, hairy and' and just at that point the fucking cat landed on the table next to me and I shot about 6 foot in the fucking air THIS is why I can't read ghost stories when the fella isn't home!!

 

[sojourner]

Anyway, it was brilliant, although he is of that time where they use six words when one would suffice.

I also started and finished 'Beautiful You' by Chuck Palahnuik. Brilliant!!

 

[belboid]

Got through Slade House by David Mitchell, yesterday. A light, amusing, companion piece to Bone Clocks, which works better in some ways for being shorter, although I don't know if I'd have bought the final chapter without knowing the bigger backstory. It's interesting to see how he developed his twitter story into the first chapter, it works a hell of a lot better here than it did on twitter. But I do hope he has had his fill of Atemporals and Horology, as it is just silly.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

But I do hope he has had his fill of Atemporals and Horology, as it is just silly.

This.

 

[Orang Utan]

Getting to the end of Michel Faber's The Book Of Strange New Things and am pretty much blown away. Best that you don't know anything about it before you read though

 

[hash tag]

Just getting to the end of Alan Johnson's Please Mr postman, great book. This follows straight on from This Boy. His poor sister, grief

Just finished. Another well written, interesting and very engaging book from AJ taking is his start in the unions, his ride up the scale and interest in politics.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Getting to the end of Michel Faber's The Book Of Strange New Things and am pretty much blown away. Best that you don't know anything about it before you read though

Don't see why that's more the case here than for any other theological speculative fiction.

 

[Orang Utan]

Don't see why that's more the case here than for any other theological speculative fiction.

Didn't say it was. I just knew very little about it when I picked it up and was glad I didn't read any reviews in detail.
I also didn't know anything about Under The Skin when I read that. Glad of it too.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Under the Skin is like the one about the family with an adoptive monkey, though, there's a good case for reviewers to tread carefully.

 

[rubbershoes]

Its the only thing I've read by her but its a corker of a book. Stayed with me for ages

FFS man sort yourself out . Donna Tartt's only written three books and they're all excllent.

Put down whatever sci fi nonsense you're reading and get stuck into The Little Friend

 

[DotCommunist]

Got through Slade House by David Mitchell, yesterday. A light, amusing, companion piece to Bone Clocks, which works better in some ways for being shorter, although I don't know if I'd have bought the final chapter without knowing the bigger backstory. It's interesting to see how he developed his twitter story into the first chapter, it works a hell of a lot better here than it did on twitter. But I do hope he has had his fill of Atemporals and Horology, as it is just silly.

I'll get this next. And I hope he flogs the horology horse for a few more books because its cool.

 

[sojourner]

Got through Slade House by David Mitchell, yesterday. A light, amusing, companion piece to Bone Clocks, which works better in some ways for being shorter, although I don't know if I'd have bought the final chapter without knowing the bigger backstory. It's interesting to see how he developed his twitter story into the first chapter, it works a hell of a lot better here than it did on twitter. But I do hope he has had his fill of Atemporals and Horology, as it is just silly.

Oh. I read Slade House first and have just bought Bone Clocks. I didn't realise they were linked, although I did get an inkling cos of something mentioned at the end of Slade House.

Will I be okay to read BC now do you think or have I bollocksed it up for myself belboid ?

 

[belboid]

Oh. I read Slade House first and have just bought Bone Clocks. I didn't realise they were linked, although I did get an inkling cos of something mentioned at the end of Slade House.

Will I be okay to read BC now do you think or have I bollocksed it up for myself belboid ?

oh, you'll be fine. There are a few things that you will pick up on rather sooner than you would otherwise have done, but it wont make a massive difference. Plus, the joy of Mitchell is his skill with finally crafted sentences and endearing characters, rather than his stories, which are merely conduits for him to show off his cleverness.

Which isn't a bad thing, I hasten to add.


Did the end work for you, by the way? Or did it seem just a bit barking?

 

[Orang Utan]

Under the Skin is like the one about the family with an adoptive monkey, though, there's a good case for reviewers to tread carefully.

That's one book I have that I probably won't read because of that spoiler and I don't normally give a shit about them

 

[Maurice Picarda]

That's one book I have that I probably won't read because of that spoiler and I don't normally give a shit about them

I didn't say what book it was, though.

 

[Orang Utan]

I didn't say what book it was, though.

I know, but down the drain we go. Now i know why people get the arse about it.
Though I have a friend who would admonish me for saying The Call Of The Wild had a dog in it.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

It's still very much worth reading.

 

[belboid]

Just finished Numero Zero by Umberto Eco, a farcical satire on the media and conspiracy theories (what else?) set just before the rise of Berlusconi. Only 150 pages, easy to knock out in one sitting. Not his best or most subtle by a long chalk, but an entertaining read where you know some bits of the CT are true (as in really, actually, true) and other surely aren't, but other bits..it's hard to say unless you know a lot about post war Italian politics.

Had anyone told me at the beginning of the year that I'd complete entire books by David Mitchell and Umberto Eco in a day apiece, I'd have said they were barking.