*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[madamv]

I am currently reading a chicky kind of book, but enjoying it. The Forget-me-not Sonata - Santa Montefiorre.

I have In the Frame - Helen Mirrens autobiog waiting in the wings...

 

[ChrisC]

The State of the Art by Iain M Banks.

Good book that.

 

[starfish]

Good book that.

Read the first couple of stories then a read a few other books & have gone back to it.
Should read a few more of his.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Just finished Michael J. Fox's autobiography (Lucky Man), was very well written, particularly when it comes to the Parkinson's side of things.

About to start on one of the Richard Morgan books that just arrived from Amazon (what's the one to read right after Altered Carbon?)

"Broken Angels" and then "Woken Furies" is the sequence of the Takeshi Kovacs novels

I have just started Iain M. Bank's "Excession" in my quest to read all the culture novels

 

[Bakunin]

I've just started 'Gaspipe', a biography of Anthony 'Gaspipe' Casso, senior mobster in the Lucchese 'family' of New York.

Waiting in the wings I have:

'Executioner' - A memoir written by Victorian hangman James Berry.

'Wiseguy' - Nicholas Pileggi's memoir about the life and criminal career of a certain Henry Hill. This book was the basis of the film 'Goodfellas.'

'Murder Machine' - A book about New York's notorious 'Gemini Crew', so called because they were a Mafia crew that hung out at the Gemini Lounge nightspot and were, between them, responsible for over 200 murders in the New York area.

 

[maya]

'Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams' (1794) by William Godwin (father of Mary Shelley, née Godwin)

 

[El Jefe]

just finished Reflections in A Golden Eye by Carson McCullers.
That should see me right for southern Gothic melodrama for a bit, I think

 

[maya]

^ the Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole must be on your reading list, then? (but I reckon you've already read it)

 

[El Jefe]

^ the Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole must be on your reading list, then? (but I reckon you've already read it)

yeh, it's great. Always meant to watch the movie but never got round to it.

 

[maya]

Didn't know that.
I think The Ballad Of The Sad Café was made into a film aswell, but never bothered to investigate- i think Vanessa Redgrave is in it
Perhaps some books are best left alone... As books.

 

[El Jefe]

Read The Informers by Brett Easton Ellis in a few hours.

he really is a one-trick pony, no?

"we did loads of drugs and fucked and then talked about consumer goods and now I feel so... shallow".

 

[Fictionist]

The Illiad - Homer

(Again)

 

[DotCommunist]

The Illiad - Homer

(Again)

by man-murdering Hector and proud Priam, you sail your black-hulled ship into this forum and challenge the horse taming Trojans with your bronze coated greek behaviour?

*wrastles with Fictionist*

 

[The Octagon]

"Broken Angels" and then "Woken Furies" is the sequence of the Takeshi Kovacs novels

Thanks, started Broken Angels last night

 

[belboid]

I think The Ballad Of The Sad Café was made into a film aswell, but never bothered to investigate- i think Vanessa Redgrave is in it

tis deeply, deeply disappointing

 

[sojourner]

Cold Mountain by someone Frazier

perfect reading for my fucked head

 

[Dirty Martini]

Joseph Roth's reports from France (The White Cities) were utterly brilliant and, as he got closer to the outbreak of war, very moving. Incredibly fresh for stuff written 70, 80 years ago. Utterly modern.

If anyone's interested, copies are floating around remainder shops -- because people are silly and don't recognise one of the 20th century's greatest writers when they see him.

Now I'm reading Cause For Alarm by Eric Ambler.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

getting stuck into 'a fraction of the whole' by steve toltz which is quite entertaining and enjoyable. an aussie low-life's thrills and spills with some philosophical bits thrown in on top.

 

[Fictionist]

by man-murdering Hector and proud Priam, you sail your black-hulled ship into this forum and challenge the horse taming Trojans with your bronze coated greek behaviour?

*wrastles with Fictionist*

 

[Zeppo]

We need to talk about Kevin Lionel Shriver. Anyone read it? Forty pages in - interesting but someone told me it is a disturbing book.

 

[sojourner]

We need to talk about Kevin Lionel Shriver. Anyone read it? Forty pages in - interesting but someone told me it is a disturbing book.

Yeh, I've read it

Really liked it

Well yes of course it's disturbing, but that shouldn't even be an issue in any decision to read it or not, should it?

 

[El Jefe]

The Business by Iain Banks.

jesus. does it get any better, i'm about 1/3rd through and wondering if Banks is just waste of time past the first couple of books

 

[DotCommunist]

The Business by Iain Banks.

jesus. does it get any better, i'm about 1/3rd through and wondering if Banks is just waste of time past the first couple of books

it's a shaggy dog story. The ending is just odd. I enjoyed it for the journey iyswim but in retrospect it's not a great plot. An entertaining tale rather than a grabbing plot.

 

[El Jefe]

it's a shaggy dog story. The ending is just odd. I enjoyed it for the journey iyswim but in retrospect it's not a great plot. An entertaining tale rather than a grabbing plot.

well I finished it, but I'm not sure why I bothered. He used to be SUCH a great writer. But plot aside, even the actual writing in this sucked - stuffed with exposition, awkwardly placed cultural references, clichés... Horrible

 

[DotCommunist]

on a serious note I srsly reccomend Dan Simmons 2 parter Illium and Olympos

It's a great sci fi twist on Homer. Loses its' way a bit during the second book. Still a really entertaining twist on an old tale. Manages humour and pathos and a good romp. It's the works that made me actually read the good bits of Illiad where even Keats hadn't managed to do so.

 

[DotCommunist]

well I finished it, but I'm not sure why I bothered. He used to be SUCH a great writer. But plot aside, even the actual writing in this sucked - stuffed with exposition, awkwardly placed cultural references, clichés... Horrible

I enjoyed it, but it's a flawed work. Try The Bridge instead. It's a far wierder and more satisfying read

 

[El Jefe]

I enjoyed it, but it's a flawed work. Try The Bridge instead. It's a far wierder and more satisfying read

ah, i've read all of them up to Whit, I think...

 

[El Jefe]

going to try Atwood's Blind Assassin now.

Basically, being skint, I'm working through Pieface's books...

 

[Fictionist]

on a serious note I srsly reccomend Dan Simmons 2 parter Illium and Olympos

It's a great sci fi twist on Homer. Loses its' way a bit during the second book. Still a really entertaining twist on an old tale. Manages humour and pathos and a good romp. It's the works that made me actually read the good bits of Illiad where even Keats hadn't managed to do so.

Thanks for that DC, I'll look at that and let you know if it works for me. Sci-Fi isn't usually my thing.

You tamer of horses......

 

[DotCommunist]

Thanks for that DC, I'll look at that and let you know if it works for me. Sci-Fi isn't usually my thing.

You tamer of horses......

heh, they are as satisfying as Rosy fingered at dawn

Simmons is an odd fella. Also does some sci fi that is all Keats as a character. The man clearly knows his classics. Doesn't work with the keats really, but the Homer is inspired. His protagonist is some crusty scholiia type and it works really well.