*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[catinthehat]

Halldor Gudmundssons biography of Halldor Laxness. I only just started it and so far a bit disappointing but I think that is because I wrongly thought it would be like reading Laxness - and nothing really compares to that.

 

[Beats & Pieces]

The Rainbow - DH Lawrence

 

[Ming]

Black Edge. A book about Steven A Cohen, SAC Capital and the dirty shenanigans that took him from $7000 to $13,000,000,000. He's now known for his art collection and his philanthropy (lol).

If you want to see crime on a different level have a look at this documentary about the subject (books better but this a good primer). And surprise, surprise no he didn't go to jail.

 

[krtek a houby]

Just finished book 5 of The Dark Tower series. Whoa; that's getting mad meta.

 

[Orang Utan]

Life on the edge

by who?

 

[Sea Star]

Hope to be starting War & Peace later today.

Hope to be finishing before next winter.

 

[weltweit]

Finished The Night Manager. Bit disappointed with the ending.

 

[DotCommunist]

After the coup- Jon Scalzi

 

[belboid]

Wofgang Streeck - How Will Capitalism End?

David Keenan - This Is Memorial Device


They make for an interesting contrast

 

[Beats & Pieces]

Decolonizing Dialectics - George Ciccariello-Maher

Really enjoying this, provocative, insightful, and highly readable.

 

[bimble]

Decolonizing Dialectics - George Ciccariello-Maher

Really enjoying this, provocative, insightful, and highly readable.

What did you think of The Rainbow?

 

[Beats & Pieces]

What did you think of The Rainbow?

Deeply moving. The only thing that I have read previously by Lawrence (many years ago) was 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', which I recall being bored by. In this instance I loved Lawrence's writing, the sense of rhythm, the use of vernacular is very poetic. More than this I loved the sense of exploration regarding the psychology of the characters, the relationships between men and women.

I've downloaded a heap of his other stuff - including his poetry - to explore further.

 

[Beats & Pieces]

A Letter To American Working Men (1918) - Lenin

Not a book, just a simple pamphlet.

 

[little_legs]

'The End of Eddy' by Édouard Louis

 

[Wilf]

Just finished book 5 of The Dark Tower series. Whoa; that's getting mad meta.

5 - or 6 (Song of Susannah)? 6 really does get a bit meta (but I won't spoilerise it).

 

[little_legs]

Black Edge. A book about Steven A Cohen, SAC Capital and the dirty shenanigans that took him from $7000 to $13,000,000,000. He's now known for his art collection and his philanthropy (lol).

I heard Sheelah Kolhatkar, the author of the book, talking about the book on NPR Fresh Air a few days ago, I was particularly shocked by her account of Dr Sid Gilman, sad but horrible at the same time.

 

[krtek a houby]

5 - or 6 (Song of Susannah)? 6 really does get a bit meta (but I won't spoilerise it).

Yeah, there's been references as the series goes on to all sorts. I'm kind of enjoying all that maybe more than the actual story...

 

[Sea Star]

Hope to be starting War & Peace later today.

Hope to be finishing before next winter.

well, I've started. It's actually rather good. The characters are so well drawn, dialogue is excellent. Actually makes me laugh. The problem will be when i start forgetting who is who.

 

[Ming]

I heard Sheelah Kolhatkar, the author of the book, talking about the book on NPR Fresh Air a few days ago, I was particularly shocked by her account of Dr Sid Gilman, sad but horrible at the same time.

Yeah. People assume medical doctors are paragons of virtue. Like any other profession you get the good and the bad (morally and professionally).
ETA: If you think of them as applied scientists who can operate under duress it's a better way of looking at them. Doesn't imply an immediate moral superiority.

 

[D'wards]

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy - about a third in and loving it.

After reading about five of his novels McCarthy is defo my favourite author - his writing is sublime

 

[weltweit]

I am reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. It is apparently his first book which I can say is surprising because it is completely excellent and I can say that despite only being 130 pages in. Well worth picking up if you have the chance. Apparently also a film but I can't see the film being a patch on the book!

 

[D'wards]

I am reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. It is apparently his first book which I can say is surprising because it is completely excellent and I can say that despite only being 130 pages in. Well worth picking up if you have the chance. Apparently also a film but I can't see the film being a patch on the book!

The film is great.

I must read this, i do like a western

 

[Cheesypoof]

Finished 'The Little Friend' by Donna Tartt. She is one of the best writers I have ever read, since Dickens or Truman Capote but despite her jawdropping craftsmanship....I didnt like it much. Talked about it too much elsewhere but its a great plot that then goes off on a meandering trajectory....not gonna spoil it as its still worth reading but....

Also read - dont laugh - 'What Planet am i on?' by Shaun Ryder - his exploration of UFO sites around the world, especially in the starlit skies of the Atacama desert, Chile. He believes in it, and apparently saw a UFO himself in Salford when he was about 16, before he did drugs. Facinating and well written wry observations which we'd only expect from the man. Read it in two days, loved it

Currently reading the novella, Great Granny Webster, by Lady Caroline Blackwood. Strange (and was nominated for the booker prize in about 1978) but she lost to Philip Larkin. She was never taken seriously but its really good.

 

[Orang Utan]

Currently reading the novella, Great Granny Webster, by Lady Caroline Blackwood. Strange (and was nominated for the booker prize in about 1978) but she lost to Philip Larkin. She was never taken seriously but its really good.

Nerd correction:
Paul Scott won it in 1977 with Staying On. Larkin was the chairman of judges.

 

[Cheesypoof]

Nerd correction:
Paul Scott won it in 1977 with Staying On. Larkin was the chairman of judges.

Thanks, that is correct! The reason, Philip Larkin said was because it was a tale so autobiographical it couldnt stand as fiction

 

[little_legs]

Currently reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Why on earth have I waited until 2017 to read it!?

Recent reads:

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
It never fucking happened, this is what I kept telling myself while I read it. Booker (or whatever that prize is called) is so overrated.

Swing Time by Zadie Smith
A piss poor attempt to write about poor people and the problems of social class in the UK and the US by an author who has been rich for too long rendering her incapable of relating to and writing about poverty. Predictable bullshit from Smith. Shut up. It never fucking happened.

 

[rubbershoes]

Atonement but Ian McEwan.

I saw the film years ago. He's such an accomplished writer that even his lesser books are worth reading.

 

[DotCommunist]

Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World


and for my fiction I'm reading 2016's 'Vader' comic about the man in black, plus some collected Nikolai Dante 2000ad books to follow

 

[ringo]

Rodigan: My Life In Reggae - David Rodigan

A good read. Not too much of the endlessly summarised history of reggae and lots of entertaining and charmingly self-effacing anecdotes from one of the most well respected players in the UK reggae industry. He's a top bloke, always very approachable and friendly, who is very clearly driven by his passion for reggae and that comes across well in the book, just as it does in real life. Nice one Rodders.

 

[sojourner]

Gave up on Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell cos it started to anger me.