*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[Orang Utan]

Oscar Wao? I bought that for my mum cos of rave reviews here, then bought it for myself. Then she wasn't mad on it.

 

[llion]

David Lodge - 'How far can you go' - v funny, about the 'permissive society'/sixties
Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca

 

[Orang Utan]

Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca

wicked book - so overwrought but as all melodramas should be

 

[El Jefe]

Oscar Wao? I bought that for my mum cos of rave reviews here, then bought it for myself. Then she wasn't mad on it.

It's beautiful and sad and rousing and uplifting.

 

[llion]

I really enjoyed Oscar Wao too - has v interesting bits about Latin American history/politics as well as being v funny and moving
Hilary Mantel's new book, Wolf Hall, sounds like a corker - all about the Tudors/Thomas Cromwell etc. Not sure if its out yet. Sounds very different to her last one, Beyond Black, which I thought was brill, although very creepy.

 

[Orang Utan]

i've only read her book about the giant Charles O'Brien cos of my interest in the anatomist Hunter (whose macabre collection can be found at the Royal College of Surgeons) but it was great

 

[llion]

Just finished Marge Piercy's novel 'Vida', which is about a political fugitive in America in the seventies. Not as good her 'Woman on the Edge of time' but very interesting particuarly as it has obvious parallels with the real life experiences of women within the Weather Underground organization. Piercy seems very sympathetic to their cause, but also shows the moral complexities of what they were involved in.

 

[Orang Utan]

ooh, we seem to share tastes! I read Woman On The Edge of Time for bg and enjoyed it immensely

 

[llion]

Cool! I found out about 'Woman on the Edge of Time' by reading one of Scarlett Thomas's books, in which she bangs on quite a bit about good it is! Think its in 'The end of Mr Y'. Could be in Popco though. Think Scarlett Thomas is seriously under-rated. Her stuff is so complex and political and layered, but so gripping and readable as well.

 

[Dirty Martini]

You were right to do so.

My copy has an interview at the back, and there's a bit about the narrator's voice, and how the reader wants to spend time with it, and I thought 'Do I fuck, he was an irritating wanker with more money than sense who almost let his family fall apart'.

Aw, he's not that bad. He's a bit lost; it's his wife who's flaky beyond belief, breaks the family apart for however long it is.

I enjoyed the book.

OU should read it.

 

[sojourner]

can you recommend me a book from the list posted above? i need someone to make a decision for me - i keep reading internets and magazines and nowt else

I would have recommended Book of Dave myself

 

[El Jefe]

I would have recommended Book of Dave myself

that would have been my seconf suggestion - definitely Self's best novel.

But Oscar Wao is such a fresh and wonderful book...

 

[El Jefe]

I finished - and greatly enjoyed - The Scar. Pirates, monsters, vampires - what's not to like? And Mieville has totally calmed down with the adjectives and learned how to keep a plot together

 

[Yelkcub]

I would have recommended Book of Dave myself

Really? I found the language a little to 'try hard' and it put me off.

 

[sojourner]

Really? I found the language a little to 'try hard' and it put me off.

but the language was learned..from the book of dave

 

[Shevek]

Reading James Joyce's Dubliners at the moment. After that Ive got Luis Borges Labyrinths. Then want to read some Chekov short stories. Im trying to write short stories at the moment so want inspiration.

 

[DotCommunist]

I finished - and greatly enjoyed - The Scar. Pirates, monsters, vampires - what's not to like? And Mieville has totally calmed down with the adjectives and learned how to keep a plot together

And bellis coldwine is a wonderfully ambivalent, dislikable main character

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

that would have been my seconf suggestion - definitely Self's best novel.

But Oscar Wao is such a fresh and wonderful book...

I've got that Book of Dave from the library. Can't really get into it.

 

[Fictionist]

After that Ive got Luis Borges Labyrinths.

Borges. His work is wonderful.

 

[tastebud]

very much addicted to 'the cellist of sarajevo'.

 

[kittyP]

Royal Flash - The second in the Flashman series.

I am bloody loving in it.

I am sure someone will kill me for saying this but I see these books as a much more intelligent version of mills and boon for boys (and girls obviously).

Eek.

 

[Dozy]

I'm reading Collected Ghost Stories by M.R. James.

Some very creepy stories, written in a style I like. Noticed that a recurrent theme is one of a gentleman traveling in the countryside. Which is how I think he collected so many good ghost stories.

 

[Orang Utan]

very much addicted to 'the cellist of sarajevo'.

the title is so offputting

 

[bosco]

Currently on Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman. Like all his stuff, it's brilliant.

 

[kerb]

Just started to read 'The Minds Eye'


Few essays on photography by Cartier-Bresson.

 

[kerb]

I really enjoyed Oscar Wao too - has v interesting bits about Latin American history/politics as well as being v funny and moving
.

Yep it's a brilliant book. Bought that on advice from dillenger and El Jefe last year.

Cheers guys btw

 

[ericjarvis]

Just started Halting State by Charlie Stross. Excellent as usual.

 

[Random One]

White Teeth by Zadie Smith it's a bit ...meh... at the moment

 

[mentalchik]

The White Plague - Frank Herbert

 

[DotCommunist]

The White Plague - Frank Herbert

Scariness, specially given the pig-deah plague