*What book are you reading ?

[spanglechick]

i just thought it was ridiculous to compare it to Portnoy's Complaint.

Ridiculous? I should explain...

It's many years since I read dice man - so I'm not making a literary comparison, as I'm sure I don't have that clear a memory of such things - it's the feeling of irritation that i felt then that seems so familiar when reading Rortnoy's complaint. I mean maybe the Roth book gets better - i've only read half - but I just feel like I don't want to hear any more of the fairly smug, first person narrative - maybe, more than I thought, I'm repelled by unsympathetic protagonists. And then there's this treatment of sex - maybe it's because of their time - but both books seem to have this attitude of "I'm so extreme in my sexuality" - when all they are is pretty much veering towards mysoginy (sp?) .

I mean, dice man leapt to mind for pretty subjective reasons (my reaction to it), and for shallow ones (setting, idea of psychiatry, alternative sexual practices,) so maybe it wasn't the most appropriate comparison, but i don't think it's ridiculous. I'm not comaparing it with Dickens or Chaucer ffs.

 

[Boogie Boy]

Finally finished Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. A hell of a slog. It's a good read, but twice as long as it needs to be and I found the ending a bit of a dissapointment.

I loved that book. Which edition did you read, as there are aparently two versions - a heavily edited text and a 'full' version.

BB

 

[Dubversion]

agreed.. i was saying that mart aped roth.

rheinhart is just another pirsig

ah, the way you quoted me made it look like you were relating amis to reinhart.

 

[IntoStella]

agreed.. i was saying that mart aped roth.

rheinhart is just another pirsig

No offence but can't you do this on a new thread, called "Which male Brit/US author is farthest up his own arse?" or something?

 

[Fledgling]

Well, I'll rise to that idea.

I've been busy reading a few good books.

Brighton Rock
The Plague
Cold Comfort Farm
Journey Without Maps
1421: The year China discovered the world

On the list now is my latest attempt to read Don Quixote and get past page 400. Here we go!!!!!!!!!

 

[maya]

No offence but can't you do this on a new thread,
called "Which male Brit/US author is farthest up his own arse?" or something?

...i thought all of them were?

 

[oneflewover]

Cold Comfort Farm

A lovely feel good book, smiles all the way through

 

[walktome]

Mi Moto Fidel by Christopher P. Baker

 

[Rohen]

Empty World by John Christopher Ps if anyone has a copy hold on to it as they are worth 30 times their cover price these days

 

[IntoStella]

A lovely feel good book, smiles all the way through

One of my very, very, very favourites.

I also recommend Bassett by Stella Gibbons if you can find a copy.

 

[IntoStella]

I had a very bookish weekend. I read Philip K Dick's The Man in the High Castle, which was one of the few of his books that I had somehow omitted to read; followed by Jonathan Coe's The Closed Circle. After that I finished Simon Armitage's contribution to the Penguin 70s series, King Arthur in The East Riding, which I cannot recommned highly enough. The Tyre is one of the most beautifully written and funniest short stories I have ever read. It's £1.50. Go and buy a copy.

Now I'm reading Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate, which I am enjoying enormously.

In between all that I'm rereading Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart (which on second reading is clearly at least partly an homage to Fowles's The Magus) and am about to start Patrick Hamilton's Hangover Square.

How do I find the time to go to the pub?!

 

[DrRingDing]

Ecstacy Reconsisdered: Nicholas Saunders.

 

[Pickman's model]

How do I find the time to go to the pub?!

take the book with you?

 

[IntoStella]

take the book with you?

I do, actually. It's true.

 

[Dubversion]

i finished Norwegian Wood, which was utterly utterly heartbreaking.

so i'm reading Houllebecq's Platform to cheer myself up

 

[anfield]

I loved that book. Which edition did you read, as there are aparently two versions - a heavily edited text and a 'full' version.

BB

Think I must have read the full version - it was over 600 pages long.

 

[I'm at work]

I've just finished A Passage to India by EM Forster - superb , real modern feel to it given it was written in 1924.

http://urbanbookreview.blogspot.com/ - I done a small review here

 

[onemonkey]

i finished Norwegian Wood, which was utterly utterly heartbreaking.

this time i am in complete agreement


finished money so back to don quixote for me

 

[onemonkey]

I've just finished A Passage to India by EM Forster - superb , real modern feel to it given it was written in 1924.

haven't read that one

Howard's End is one of my all time favourites but I wasn't too chuffed with Room with a View so never got round to P to the I.

 

[parallelepipete]

'But n Ben A-Go-Go' by Matthew Fitt

Post-global warming sci-fi written in Scots! (Found it in the local library by accident) I've caught myself reading it aloud, trying to recreate the Clyde accent of 2090! (which fails miserably, since I'm from Hants )

 

[maya]

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami,
Dissolving Modernity by some pompous professor,
and
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood

 

[Here we go]

'But n Ben A-Go-Go' by Matthew Fitt

Post-global warming sci-fi written in Scots! (Found it in the local library by accident) I've caught myself reading it aloud, trying to recreate the Clyde accent of 2090! (which fails miserably, since I'm from Hants )

Any good? i was looking at that the other day, but it was £10.99!

 

[IntoStella]

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami,

Yay. Excellent choice, madam.

The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood

I went to borrow this off a friend the other day and he'd bloody sold it. Selling books is evil.

 

[tastebud]

so i'm reading Houllebecq's Platform to cheer myself up

cheeky monkey!

 

[Cerberus]

Slick by Daniel Price

&

The Stars tennis Balls by Stephen Fry



Both pretty decent..well keeping me amused anyway

 

[Thunderponce]

Reading "Goats" by Mark Poirer -he is the best author you've never heard of.

 

[Badgers]

Just starting 'The Curious Incedent of the Dog in the Night Time' by Mark Haddon

 

[foo]

Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe

i've been meaning to read this for ages...it's a bit of an epic! someone said it was made into a film - anyone know who's in it or if it was any good?

 

[kyser_soze]

Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe

i've been meaning to read this for ages...it's a bit of an epic! someone said it was made into a film - anyone know who's in it or if it was any good?

The film comes under the heading of 'guilty pleasure' to watch - it's by Brian de Palma and stars Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks and Melanie Griffiths as the three leads and deviates substantially from the book in a number of areas...but I quite like BdPs camera style and can ignore most of it's somewhat massive faults

What it comes down to is 'Can you imagine Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, Master of the Universe'?

 

[foo]

What it comes down to is 'Can you imagine Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, Master of the Universe'?

er.......Tom Hanks as Sherman?

good god, no!!!



edit: for now, i'll just stick with the book i reckon.