*What book are you reading ?

[walktome]

I read Dead Girls by Nancy Lee yesterday and now I am reading Schindler's List.

 

[andy2002]

I just finished it (Saturday) this morn. 'Twas great! In fact.. I'd seriously recommend it!

<edit: you're right about the main character though.. and just wait till you get to the debate/argument he has with his daughter. you'll like him even less then, i think.>

I have around 80 pages to go and at this stage am not really enjoying it very much. I just don't like any of the characters – Henry, Daisy, Theo, Grammaticus are all just awful smug creatures. I actually want something horrible to happen to all of them.

 

[Flashman]

The Damnation Game - Clive Barker. Re-reading it as I read it in the '80s. Can't remember if it was this shit back then. Why bother? I don't know.

 

[tastebud]

I have around 80 pages to go and at this stage am not really enjoying it very much. I just don't like any of the characters – Henry, Daisy, Theo, Grammaticus are all just awful smug creatures. I actually want something horrible to happen to all of them.

that's what someone said about the characters in atonement. it didn't really have that effect on me, i have to say. perhaps i'm more tolerant than i thought! i really enjoy the way he writes so perhaps that overrides the hatred for the middle-class smug spoilt characters in his books. i surprise myself actually as i do see what you mean.

 

[andy2002]

that's what someone said about the characters in atonement. it didn't really have that effect on me, i have to say. perhaps i'm more tolerant than i thought! i really enjoy the way he writes so perhaps that overrides the hatred for the middle-class smug spoilt characters in his books. i surprise myself actually as i do see what you mean.

I think the book has some lovely moments – the pages where Henry goes to visit his mum are particularly evocative and moving. But I'm finding it very difficult to get over my dislike of the characters (I actively loathe Daisy despite her opinions on the war being the same as mine) and McEwan's desire to show off what a clever chap he is by flaunting all the research he's done into neurosurgery. If you're going to write about a neurosurgeon, of course you have to know what you're talking about but its constant referencing just seems a bit pointless and forced to me.

 

[foo]

. I just don't like any of the characters – Henry, Daisy, Theo, Grammaticus are all just awful smug creatures. I actually want something horrible to happen to all of them.

my thoughts too. the unbearable smugness of the characters irritated me too much. i do think he's a good writer though, and have enjoyed some of his other books so i may try Saturday again...

i've just started a japanese ghost story. (can't remember the name at the moment cos i'm at work). it's pretty good so far though.

 

[tastebud]

I think the book has some lovely moments – the pages where Henry goes to visit his mum are particularly evocative and moving. But I'm finding it very difficult to get over my dislike of the characters (I actively loathe Daisy despite her opinions on the war being the same as mine) and McEwan's desire to show off what a clever chap he is by flaunting all the research he's done into neurosurgery. If you're going to write about a neurosurgeon, of course you have to know what you're talking about but its constant referencing just seems a bit pointless and forced to me.

He is a bit too precise/ott yes, and I do wonder how accurate this is for the thoughts of a middle-aged successful neurosurgeon. I hadn't thought about it as showing off on McEwan's part, but I guess it could be.

I thought his loving marriage and accounts of his relationship with his wife made for a refreshing change, I liked the fact that I could relate to the political stuff - it brought back a lot of memories, I guess - and the beautiful way he writes.

I especially loved one of the references to evolution; man needing sleep but fearing being eaten; resolved at the present time by central locking. I think stuff like that makes up for the slightly spoilt and objectionable characters.

I definitely didn't have any strong feelings towards any of the characters, no but I didn't really expect to.

 

[andy2002]

I especially loved one of the references to evolution; man needing sleep but fearing being eaten; resolved at the present time by central locking. I think stuff like that makes up for the slightly spoilt and objectionable characters.

I'd be the first to admit it's beautifully written and that the book is certainly full of the kind of diverting, thoughtful passages you mention. I might try another of his books after I finish Saturday and see if I like it any better.

 

[tastebud]

I'd be the first to admit it's beautifully written and that the book is certainly full of the kind of diverting, thoughtful passages you mention. I might try another of his books after I finish Saturday and see if I like it any better.

enduring love is wonderful. as is atonement. although with atonement you might find yourself disliking the characters - i didn't actually cos i'm a sucker for love/romance (i actually got my closing line for emails to my bf when he's away from that book ) - but can see why one might.

 

[happytobe...]

I'm reading High Society by Ben Elton. Was recommended to me by a friend. I'm about half way through, am enjoying it and am also reading it quite regularly. (Haven't got really into a book in quite a while, bar Harry Potter but the only reason I read them these days is 'cos it's got kind of compulsive regardless of quality and I want to know what happens at the end.)

I wouldn't necessarily say I'm enjoying High Society, well I am. but some of it's quite...strong?I'm not sure what the right word is. Anyway, good book so far so I'm giving it the thumbs up

 

[D'wards]

Reading Shogun by James Clavell - is great and compelling but really really long.
Even if i read 20 pages a day (my average) it'll take a couple of months.

 

[onemonkey]

The Birthday of the World - Ursula le Guin

first of hers i had ever read.. collection of short stories set on far flung planets ages after a human diaspora.. all manner of very different societies, genders and moralities and yet all of them are in some way essential like us.

very impressive.

 

[laptop]

The Birthday of the World - Ursula le Guin

Must try to find that.

I think you should try to find her Malafrena - similar themes in some ways to The Disposessed but closer to Planet Earth.

I've just finished Violent London - anyway, I've stopped dipping into it.

Some seriously impressive sentences; I have several whole new views of the Gordon Riots; but... oy! It's hard to read a book that so badly needs editing - "No! This paragraph belongs there, three pages back! And... who the fuck are you talking about? Who was Jeremiah Dubb? Explain now!"

Right. Back to the rest of Mason and Dixon. Fucking ecellent.

And then maybe I'll finish Q.

An interesting series of nested interrruptions

 

[chooch]

Mason and Dixon...
...Q.

Corkers both, but I'd be inclined to throw in a little light bollocks.

Still wading through Ehud's Dagger. And solidly progressing through the Master and Margarita.
In moments of laziness, also skipping through through an Iain M Banks doorstop The Algebraist and Seeing is Believing by that geezer that wrote Easy Riders and Raging Bulls.

 

[siarc]

Right. Back to the rest of Mason and Dixon. Fucking ecellent.

And then maybe I'll finish Q.

how far have you read? a few weeks ago i left it about half way through when it was getting dull. too many provincial early americans and an overabundance of cartographicke folderol. the intermission spent in england was excellent though, some of the little detours (eg the oriental pygmies) come across like gogol.

 

[chooch]

an overabundance of cartographicke folderol.

Aye. Makes it tricky to read quickly, but I don't think it's as dense as Gravity's Rainbow. My laziness certainly skews my rating of his books- The Crying of Lot 49 seems to be widely hated and Vineland ignored. But I like 'em.

 

[laptop]

an overabundance of cartographicke folderol.

Not to speak of astronomickal gimcrackery

More than 3/4 the way through. There seem to be more diversions and divertissements. I'd recommend picking it up again.

Though I do keep wondering whether there's some structural joke I'm missing... since Seamen Bodine keeps re-appearing, is the Line the re-temporalised Agregat 000, or something?

 

[jeff_leigh]

just started Exquisite Corpse - Poppy Z Brite recommended by cyberfairy on another thread

 

[Philbc03]

Just started Washington Irving's 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories' (1820) ... and still reading Capital.

 

[ck]

John Steinbeck's "Of Mice And Men"

 

[andy2002]

Finished Ian McEwan's "Saturday" over the weekend and thought its last 80 or so pages were pretty much excellent, with the ending particularly strong. I still hate most of the characters though.

 

[theantlion]

The Jim Corbett Omnibus

 

[pootle]

I'm reading "How I Used to Live" which is actually a kids book, but who cares.

 

[Dubversion]

I've just finished Violent London - anyway, I've stopped dipping into it.

Some seriously impressive sentences; I have several whole new views of the Gordon Riots; but... oy! It's hard to read a book that so badly needs editing - "No! This paragraph belongs there, three pages back! And... who the fuck are you talking about? Who was Jeremiah Dubb? Explain now!"

yeh, i had the same problem. interesting and well researched but it kind of splurged onto the page

 

[han]

I'm reading Kate Adie's autobiography, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance..

 

[tastebud]

i've started middlesex. it's okay so far. can't really say much more than that yet..

 

[dolly's gal]

stuart - a life backwards

it's excellent! and it won a guardian award last year (nonethefrigginless!) so it must be good

nah, it's ace - recommend highly

 

[foo]

Finished Ian McEwan's "Saturday" over the weekend and thought its last 80 or so pages were pretty much excellent, with the ending particularly strong. I still hate most of the characters though.

having finished the strange japanese ghost story (probably not the best choice of reading when currently an insomniac...), i tried Saturday again. and failed. yep, the unbearable smugness again. twice tried, i'll give it away as i know i won't bother with it again.

i'm now in between dipping in to Solid Foundation - David Katz a book about reggae abs bought me for my birthday and the Kite Runner - Khaled Hossseni. i'm enjoying both so far....

 

[Boogie Boy]

I've just finished 'Tamburlaine Must Die' by Louise Welsh, and to be honest it has to be the shoddiest writing I have have the misfortune to read for some time. I came away with the strong impression that half way through writing the book (or rather novella) she lost interest in the material, and could not be bothered to develop any themes or ideas to sustain or interest the reader. This was a shame as the material available regarding Marlowe and his fellow dramatists is considerable. Despite this Welsh appeared to think that a few short references to work written by Marlowe would sustain the interest of the reader, or even (being cynical) lend the writing an air of intellectual authority or credibility.

Lazy. Lazy. Lazy.

She should read 'A Dead Man In Deptford' by Burgess.

BB

 

[milesy]

"misadventures" by sylvia smith, courtesy of MysteryBookRecommender. it's very funny, and cool in a zen-like fashion, but i feel a bit guilty about laughing because i'm not sure if the author (if she actually exists) intended her journals to be funny in their matter-of-factness. i feel a bit like a...smug guardian reader, enjoying someone else's simplicity in an ironic "isn't it quaint" kind of way. sorry MG, please don't beat me up again

after this i will be reading valley of the dolls.