*What book are you reading ?

[Dirty Martini]

I've just finished Carpenter's Gothic by William Gaddis. It's a great novel -- not an easy read, but very rewarding. A vicious satire on the relationship between religion and politics in the US. References tele-evangelism, Reagan's attack on the 'evil empire', the teaching of creationism in the southern states, America's surrogate wars against the Soviet Union in Africa, etc. Written in 1985, but replace Africa with the Middle East and it could have been written yesterday.

A convoluted, deliberately stagey plot (the action takes place exclusively in a Carpenter's-Gothic-style house on the Hudson River). World events arrive in the form of phone calls (hundreds of them) and newspapers. Plenty of shocking twists. Strange, frequently beautiful rhythmic prose.

'... she watched them out only long enough to see the books tumbled into the leaves as he came off the step, to see wind flapping the raincoat stooped picking them up as though they'd been flung in that boisterous climb of school out for the day and even the laughter she couldn't hear now, getting the door closed against it, turning away so that when the car made the turn down the hill, the wave of a hand leavetook the blind windows of simply a house.'

I commend it to this thread.

 

[tastebud]

that's SO beautifully written!
(at least in the original version)
...have you read the first chapter yet?
just his words alone on the page, made me cry

Yeah, I'm pretty impressed with the first few pages actually.
(It's the English version BTW. Did you read the Icelandic version?)

 

[maya]

Yeah, I'm pretty impressed with the first few pages actually.
(It's the English version BTW. Did you read the Icelandic version?)

no, i read the ********* version. *taps nose*

but i reckon his language will "carry over" into beauty in any form, anywhere!

 

[tastebud]

*********

Aha. Gotcha'!

Off topick: I wanna go to Iceland sooooo much!

Anyway, I finished Ian McEwan & it was disturbing. I'm mighty glad that he moved away from his darker stuff; not appreciated at bedtime.
Still very well written in parts though.

 

[maya]

Off topick: I wanna go to Iceland sooooo much!

i went to reykjavik last year, it was brilliant, but too fucking cold!!

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Becoming Strangers - Louise Dean.

Sort of a charming tale about things that happen when you're old and on your last holiday or, on your last holiday because you're dying prematurely and your wife never loved you??? Dunno. Lost on me this one. Found it a bit patronising to it's characters. Perhaps it was supposed to be


Are you Experienced ? - William Sutcliffe.

A shallow travel novella for a shallow generation. Thankfully, the author knew what he was doing. It's quite funny. I've read similar that are just bloody annoying.


The Graft - Martina Cole.

Brutal paedo gangster novel. All the more brutal for it's simplicity. But, why do people want to read about an ugly world they supposedly live on the periphery of? Didn't like it but, I read it! Then again, I have been known to glance the pages of a spent Daily Mail and wonder why people want to be scared


Possibly the uncoolest reading on the Urban book list. Not my choice. Someone recommend a good book please.

 

[Dirty Martini]

Not my choice. Someone recommend a good book please.

I think you'd enjoy 'Of Love and Hunger' by Julian Maclaren Ross (Penguin Classics). Very funny, a bit moving.

 

[tastebud]

i went to reykjavik last year, it was brilliant, but too fucking cold!!

it's also bloody fucking expensive! was planning to go this year (& two years ago or so, actually); the flights are one thing but the cost of stuff when you get there is simply kur-razy!
(the workers are really well proteacted by unions - p'raps why it's so expensive for visitors..?)
anyway i left the book at my other job yesterday, so today i've gone back to east of eden by steinbeck. i'd be interested to know if john steinbeck has ever written a non-depressing book!

 

[maya]

it's also bloody fucking expensive! was planning to go this year (& two years ago or so, actually); the flights are one thing but the cost of stuff when you get there is simply kur-razy!
(the workers are really well proteacted by unions - p'raps why it's so expensive for visitors..?)

well, after the nightlife of ******, where beer prices make a month's wages = a night out, i don't think i even noticed!! lol

...go if you want to go vix, but perhaps a good idea to save some extra money months/weeks in advance! (-don't want to be stranded in a reykjavik bar with not enough cash to pay the bill, eh? )

BTW back on topic:

...i'm still on "the Granta Book Of India", but generously interspersed with some ultra-highbrow articles on politics/kunst in Le Monde Internationale (that make my brain hurt! but in a good way...), and a SF anthology thingy, called "The Best Of SF" or something, very mixed quality writing so far...Fave must be the already established authors who've chucked out some memorable short stories...

 

[tastebud]

well, after the nightlife of ******, where beer prices make a month's wages = a night out, i don't think i even noticed!! lol

Really? Gosh!

...go if you want to go vix, but perhaps a good idea to save some extra money months/weeks in advance! (-don't want to be stranded in a reykjavik bar with not enough cash to pay the bill, eh? )

I have actually just booked flights to Turkey & India so I'm set for a while.. p'raps next year.

 

[maya]

Really? Gosh!

well, so i did exaggerate a little bit...
but it sure is expensive!

I have actually just booked flights to Turkey & India so I'm set for a while.. p'raps next year.

...yay! you lucky gal!
(can i get a tiny souvenir thingy from india? oh, come on- can i? )
*joke

India is...i don't know...i've always been fascinated with it, that and the Far East...dunno why...the "ancient" feel to a country...lots of culture and traditions...the romanticist "orientalist" love of the Other...
or simply the music, people or the food...the philosophies...the attitudes...anything

 

[tastebud]

well, so i did exaggerate a little bit...
but it sure is expensive!

...yay! you lucky gal!
(can i get a tiny souvenir thingy from india? oh, come on- can i? )
*joke

India is...i don't know...i've always been fascinated with it, that and the Far East...dunno why...the "ancient" feel to a country...lots of culture and traditions...the romanticist "orientalist" love of the Other...
or simply the music, people or the food...the philosophies...the attitudes...anything

Yep. Me too! Since I was about twelve - you verbalised my feelings about it quite well there *gets excited again* - Well seeing as you're lovely I will try to remember to get you an elephant keyring or something.. I have your address after all.
----
Anyway back to books. Yesterday, because I didn't want to drink all night, I read Margaret Atwood's new book: The Tent. Personally, I absolutely loved it. I felt like I was inside her head. Subsequently read the reviews of the book & they are not so positive. True, it's completely self-indulgent but at her time of life, who can blame her!
It was one of the best things I've read for a while..

 

[sojourner]

Just finishing Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg, and boi (in-joke ) did THAT kick my head into overkill. One of those books that was waiting for me to read I think. I started it with one idea in my head that I wanted to investigate, and came out the other end having had one mini identity crisis and with a hunger to read more transgender literature.

 

[jeff_leigh]

just started Mort

 

[maya]

re: Atwood, i had a similar "a-ha!"-moment when i first picked up her (pretty recent) novel "The Blind Assassin", the first few pages i didn't like her style at all, then i warmed to it, then i loved it-

the "stories within stories"- format seemed unnecessarily complicated at first, then when you grasped the basics of who was who and what happened when, it became unputdownable...
although some of the "other" characters never came alive that much to me, the fantastic heroine and narrator of the story is one that i'll probably remember forever...the twist at the ending (-why didn't i see it coming? in fact i didn't!-) is especially moving, and make you realise how much she's had to sacrifice in her life- ultimately, it seems, for nothing in return...

i had to sit for a long time with the book in my knee after i'd finished, letting the ending really sink in...that's what they call "great impact", i believe...
i'm now seeking out everything she's ever written, just to get more of that beautifully stylized language which (i confess) seems to be her strongest point over plot, but what a language!
it's been a long time since i could just twitch my toes in sheer delight over such wonderfully phrased sentences...many of which i had to read twice, just to make sure the music of them wasn't something i've just made up in my own mind...
...sigh. *melts*

 

[walktome]

I've always liked Margaret Atwood, aside from reading her in school my dad also has some of her books.

Right now I'm reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (finally). I've seen the movie enough times, it's about time I read the book. I'm going to be writing an essay on it for class, which I find hilarious.

 

[sojourner]

i'm now seeking out everything she's ever written,

I can highly recommend Surfacing and Alias Grace

 

[tastebud]

re: Atwood, i had a similar "a-ha!"-moment when i first picked up her (pretty recent) novel "The Blind Assassin", the first few pages i didn't like her style at all, then i warmed to it, then i loved it-

the "stories within stories"- format seemed unnecessarily complicated at first, then when you grasped the basics of who was who and what happened when, it became unputdownable...
although some of the "other" characters never came alive that much to me, the fantastic heroine and narrator of the story is one that i'll probably remember forever...the twist at the ending (-why didn't i see it coming? in fact i didn't!-) is especially moving, and make you realise how much she's had to sacrifice in her life- ultimately, it seems, for nothing in return...

i had to sit for a long time with the book in my knee after i'd finished, letting the ending really sink in...that's what they call "great impact", i believe...
i'm now seeking out everything she's ever written, just to get more of that beautifully stylized language which (i confess) seems to be her strongest point over plot, but what a language!
it's been a long time since i could just twitch my toes in sheer delight over such wonderfully phrased sentences...many of which i had to read twice, just to make sure the music of them wasn't something i've just made up in my own mind...
...sigh. *melts*

Yep! I feel exactly the same way about The Blind Assassin. I think it's certainly my favourite of her books - that I've read so far.
I too seek to read everything she's ever written before I get too much older..
I love Alias Grace and Oryx & Crake too (some of her other stuff not *as* much, but still extremely enjoyable) but definitely think The Blind Assassin wins. You couldn't help but fall in love with the protagonist and that's quite often the case with her books - this kind of erases any feelings re the plot not being particularly strong, for me.

Maya, you should really read her new book, I have a feeling you will enjoy it immensely too (though there are shortcomings, she's amazing & they cease to matter).

 

[Grego Morales]

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. I've never really read any Sci-fi before, but I think I'll read more after this.

 

[mrkikiet]

alain de 'tremendous insight' botton - consolations of philosophy. considerably better than the art of travel in that there is some interesting stuff in it, that isn't his own feelings and thoughts. But, his writing style annoys me.

 

[spartacus mills]

'100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed' by Melissa P.

 

[madamv]

Just finished Sparklefish's hysterically funny Starter for ten - David Nicholls. I rarely laugh out loud to comedians or books, this one had me in fits. Lovely style of writing. Having just read Girlfriend in a Coma and Eleanor Rigby back to back, I wanted some chick lit but couldnt stomach it when choosing. This was my next best choice and although it was easy to read, it wasn't chick lit.

Now on Bodies - Jed Mercurio. Definately back to the concentration whilst reading!!

BTW Vixen, you may like to check out Felicity Kendals autobiog. Her early years were spent in India touring with her Fathers theatre company. A lovely read.

 

[tastebud]

BTW Vixen, you may like to check out Felicity Kendals autobiog. Her early years were spent in India touring with her Fathers theatre company. A lovely read.

- Will check that out in July, cheers -

 

[anfield]

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson

 

[baldrick]

Yeah BA's reading my copy at the mo' and really likes it too. I'm jealous. I think it's possibly McEwan's best yet.

you are joking? ian mcewan used to be one of my favourite writers, but i think he's completely lost the plot lately. atonement and saturday - both beautifully written, but dull. dull. dull.

the child in time, the innocent - fantastic mcewan books.

saturday, atonement - disappointing mcewan books.

 

[tastebud]

you are joking? ian mcewan used to be one of my favourite writers, but i think he's completely lost the plot lately. atonement and saturday - both beautifully written, but dull. dull. dull.

the child in time, the innocent - fantastic mcewan books.

saturday, atonement - disappointing mcewan books.

Hmm I disagree. I couldn't put Saturday down. Perhaps you were expecting it to be something it wasn't.

As for Atonment, it was brilliant albeit far longer than it should have been.

I think Enduring Love is the best one. I don't like his 'darker' stuff so much. Whilst he writes them well, they *bother* me a bit - but that's probably because I'm a wuss.

As for the two you just mentioned, I haven't actually read them. I will do at some point though. I did really like The Cement Garden - I think that was the first one of his I read (when I was about 18) - but In Between the Sheets was a bit crap.

Different people, different tastes, I guess..

 

[mentalchik]

Just about to start Stephen King's new book "Cell" !

 

[lizz9911]

James Patterson's Hide and Seek.

BTW: I bought it used at my local library for 25 cents!

 

[foamy]

Ash Wednesday by Ethan Hawke
just started it, it's not earth moving but certainly a good read for the tube

 

[CharlieAddict]

tender is the night - f. scott fitzgerald.