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*What book are you reading? (part 2)

Finished Sam Harris 'Waking up: A Guide to spirituality without religion' and kind of disappointed me. I dont know what i was expecting, but unlike his verbal debates, it read like a PHD dissertation, I can handle that but it was kind of boring and waffly. My religious Dad read it too and it was rather dull. That said, i look forward to his short new book, with Majit Nawazz, Conversations on Islam i think its called.

Currently reading 'Dead Interesting, stories from Glasnevin cemetary' - the stories of the folks buried in Dublin's legendary resting place - just down the road from me. All the plots are taken so i wont be buried there, sadly. But the stories are just wonderful, and very moving. The author - who was curator and historian for many years and a highly revered Dublin character - Shane Mac Thomais, sadly took his own life a few years ago, which makes his accounts of those buried there and also death itself - all the more poignant.
 
Finished Sam Harris 'Waking up: A Guide to spirituality without religion' and kind of disappointed me.

Shame, on a similar tip I'm reading "Care of the Soul" by Thomas Moore. I resisted when it was first recommended to me because as an atheist I argued that I don't have a soul. I was convinced to start it on the basis that the part of me touched by music and love is the same as 'the soul' without the religion.

So far so good, enjoying the idea that aspects of ancient/historical wisdom and art can still have great meaning for us now, in tangent with modern psychological methods. Mainly I like how he doesn't suggest that the individual needs "fixing" to get more meaning and depth or happiness in life in the way therapists might attempt to "cure" patients.
Instead, from what I have read so far, he seems to be saying we should allow some of our seemingly negative behaviours, accepting that we are who we are because of our past experiences and relationships. We should learn from them, not leave them behind, sometimes even accepting our negative ways and making room for them in our lives instead of fighting unwinnable battles.

I think. Anyway, I'm interested enough to read more and find out.
 
Currently reading Hans Fallada (Rudolf Ditzen) A Small Circus.

Fascinating but bloody hard work! 250 pages from 600 to go.
 
Vincent Brome's 'The International Brigades 1936-1937', just realised there is a slightly longer book from Vrome covering the whole of the Civil War up til 1939 but borrowed this from a friend and glad to have it. A real gem.
 
Mythago Wood - Robert Holdstock - Thought it was amazing, very good fantasy that plays with myths and legends, a few bits are wrong but they do match up with what the protagonist and society knew of ancient societies at the time (set in the 1940's)

1000 AD - Robert Lacey - Annoyed at this only a couple of pages in, repeats the trope of everyone dying by their 50's
 
how often do you get swappies in a modern novel eh? :cool:
Ooo have you read it too then? I am loving it, have to say. Really refreshing to read, and he's not afraid to use vernacular that may not be as well understood in say 10 years time. Beautifully poetic too and I love the premise of it.
 
Ooo have you read it too then? I am loving it, have to say. Really refreshing to read, and he's not afraid to use vernacular that may not be as well understood in say 10 years time. Beautifully poetic too and I love the premise of it.
yeah, that and cloud atlas (films quite good too- wakowski siblings who done the matrix direct). Theres a confidence to his writing iyswim? he's good and he knows it. Not flashy or sensational but. Measured.
 
I am halfway through: If Not Now, When? by Primo Levi .. it was translated from Italian, mostly well translated but on occasion I notice. Good book so far though.
 
yeah, that and cloud atlas (films quite good too- wakowski siblings who done the matrix direct). Theres a confidence to his writing iyswim? he's good and he knows it. Not flashy or sensational but. Measured.
I'm gonna have to get more of his stuff.

Yes, absolutely that. Which makes the Crispin Hershey part all the funnier :D
 
Goran Vojnovic - Yugoslavia, my fatherland.

Not a great read. Simple plot and a family as Yugoslavia break up metaphor. One or two passages about life in schools for young ex Yugoslavs were pretty good. Not shite enough to stop reading, not good enough to be enthralled.
 
Slavoj Zizek - The Year of Dreaming Dangerously.

His ideas are really interesting but his writing isn't always great. Or maybe I'm just a bit too thick to understand everything he's trying to say.
 
Reading The Sisters Brothers - absolutely brilliant. I like a western anyway, but really enjoying this. Great characters, plot, dialogue, pacing - what more do you need?
 
Had to give up on this. It said in several places on the cover that it was "hilarious" and that the character Alex was a great comic character. I got to p127 without even a vague smile, never mind hilarity. But not only that: it was just repetitive, misogynist whining. I was waiting for it to go somewhere. I was waiting for the point. I have decided that if one is to come (which I doubt), I'm willing to forgo the chance of ever discovering it in return for not having to read any more of the same thing being said four times a page every page.


It only works if you read it when you're a teenager
 
I'm reading John Seymore's Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency and day dreaming about owning five acres of land, a pig, a cow and some chickens.
 
Mihail Sebastian - For two thousand years.

Written in the 30's, its a fictional account of Mihail's life in an increasingly anti semitic Romania. It caused a stir when published because Mihail included theories and works of Criterion group members who were in thrall of the Iron Guard such as Emil Cioran and philosophers such as Nae Ionescu. It is a beautifully written, you can really feel the oppressive atmosphere and the blows.
 
I'm stuck and need help: When I'm feeling good I read non fiction but when down or distracted can only do novels, and this is one of those times. Tonight I'll finish 'All the Light We Cannot See' by someone called Anthony Doerr, which has worked perfectly for my addled little mind (decent well written but easy page-turner type historical fiction).
I'm going to a bit bereft when I finish this thing and the night table just has a pile of non fiction on that I can't face at all.:(
Please can anyone recommend a big fat page turner of a novel that is well written and maybe not one of those top 100 things that i've probably already munched my way though on other fiction binges?

Shantaram is the biggest fattest page turner going

And it's all true :hmm:

Have you read all three by Donna Tartt? If not, do

Soimething by Michael Chabon - try The Yiddish Policeman's Union

Something by Neville Shute, Iain Banks, Graham Greene ?

If you want some page-turnery non fiction try some Ben Macintyre. Wartime spy shennanigans like Agent Zigzag,
 
Shantaram is the biggest fattest page turner going

And it's all true :hmm:

Have you read all three by Donna Tartt? If not, do

Soimething by Michael Chabon - try The Yiddish Policeman's Union

Something by Neville Shute, Iain Banks, Graham Greene ?

If you want some page-turnery non fiction try some Ben Macintyre. Wartime spy shennanigans like Agent Zigzag,
Danna tart all consumed, sadly, also Greene Banks & Chabon - but yeah, been putting off that Shantaram thing for just such an emergency as this, thanks for reminding me (though I thought that book was only for backpackers?) :)
 
Analdur Indridason - The Draining Lake. An Inspector Erlendur case tracing the discovery of a skeleton in a lake outside Reykjavik. What is the connection between this and a group of idealistic students in Leipzig in the 1950s?


(don't answer that; I haven't got to the end, yet)
 
Danna tart all consumed, sadly, also Greene Banks & Chabon - but yeah, been putting off that Shantaram thing for just such an emergency as this, thanks for reminding me (though I thought that book was only for backpackers?) :)

Ex backpackers can enjoy it too :oops:

How about Gillian Flynn? Hers are all dark and suspenseful.
I'm guessing you'll have read enough Cormac McCarthy
Alasdair Gray?
 
Have munched my way though the flynns & cormacs yep.. Alasdair Gray looks good, cheers. Still got the cowboy book above to come next though, if I ever finish the tome that's being used as a sleeping aid at the mo. :)
 
yeah, that and cloud atlas (films quite good too- wakowski siblings who done the matrix direct). Theres a confidence to his writing iyswim? he's good and he knows it. Not flashy or sensational but. Measured.

Absolutely; and there's the occasional cameos from characters from other stories but they don't detract from the tales.
 
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