*What book are you reading ?

[marty21]

comanche moon - larry mcmurtry

part of the lonesome dove trilogy, the early years, loving it

 

[Dubversion]

sticking with the Jonathan Letham, i've been dipping into a collection of essays called The Disappointment Artist, which is very good - basically about the relationship between his young identity and his young cultural life and what they say about each other..

but also reading Girl In Landscape, his very fucking odd kind of sci-fi book. But sci-fi doesn't do it justice - it's well strange. It's also his paean to The Searchers which I didn't get at first, till a large man's shadow loomed in a doorway with a harsh bright landscape behind him

 

[cfz]

Just finished reading Pryor Convictions and Other Sentences - Richard Pryor's autobiography. The sad thing is he had an amazing life, but he was so high on drugs he can't remember much of it.
There's a lack of detail.
BTW I wonder if his Super Nigger routine - about a black janitor with super powers working in the Daily Planet building inspired Hong Kong Phooey? (also a caretaker with super powers, who is a bit of a hipster)

 

[colbhoy]

I'm reading A Widow for One Year by John Irving.

This is my fifth Irving and I am thoroughly enjoying it, he is an extraordinary talent.

 

[Dubversion]

but also reading Girl In Landscape, his very fucking odd kind of sci-fi book. But sci-fi doesn't do it justice - it's well strange. It's also his paean to The Searchers which I didn't get at first, till a large man's shadow loomed in a doorway with a harsh bright landscape behind him

finished it, very odd book indeed, but very good. Raided My Back Pages in Balham yesterday and bought far too many books, currently ploughing through Who's In It?, a collection of interviews/portraits by Peter Bogdanovich, which is fascinating. Gets to the nub of how John Wayne is so compelling and iconic whilst still being a reactionary old cunt.

 

[phildwyer]

'Ludmılla's Broken Englısh' by DBC Pıerre. Absolutely hılarıous, better than 'Vernon God Lıttle.' Actually ıt probably needs ıts own thread, hang on...

 

[Orang Utan]

sticking with the Jonathan Letham, i've been dipping into a collection of essays called The Disappointment Artist, which is very good - basically about the relationship between his young identity and his young cultural life and what they say about each other..

but also reading Girl In Landscape, his very fucking odd kind of sci-fi book. But sci-fi doesn't do it justice - it's well strange. It's also his paean to The Searchers which I didn't get at first, till a large man's shadow loomed in a doorway with a harsh bright landscape behind him

Are you the kind of reader who binges on an author when you discover their genius? I'm the opposite - I have to save up my great authors so I don't run out of them too early

 

[tastebud]

My boy stole me his much loved Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller a little while ago, so in honour of his absence I'm reading that for now.
It's making me chortle.
I need some of Miller's huge appetite for life at the moment I think , so it's probably a perfectly timed read.
At the moment I'm not totally getting the, you either love it or hate it assertion by, well, everyone actually, but I think maybe I haven't read enough. I certainly don't hate it at all and will probably also take the advice of those that say: read it twice!

 

[Nina]

Tropic of Cancer? I think it was the last 50 pages that got me. They seemed to last a lifetime...

I've just fallen out with Graham Greene

Got a massive pile of books next to my bed and I think H G Wells is on the top, so I guess he's next for the slaughter..

 

[Fenian]

Sieze the Day, Saul Bellow

 

[Vintage Paw]

is it just me, or is the quality of US paperback bindings (usually) far superior to the UK ones?

not only is the cover often thicker, but the paper seems to (often) be of better quality- not sandpaper-bumpy, 100000 times recycled out of old toilet paper or whatever

I have often found it to be the exact opposite. I work in a bookshop and we get a few US imports over for customer orders, and the binding is either similar to UK binding or utterly horrible. For a start, the cover artwork is atrocious, secondly, oftentimes the pages aren't cut evenly, and is kind of like this /\/\/\/\/\/\ if you look along the pages when the book is closed. Ugh!

I am reading Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck at the moment. Only at chapter 3 but I think I will like it. Very good so far.
I just finished reading Revenge of the Lawn - Richard Brautigan. Utterly fantastic. Superb. Cannot recommend it enough.

 

[Jenerys]

Double post

 

[Jenerys]

Day of the Jackal is ok. I read The Fourth Protocol once when there was nowt else and felt soiled.

I particularly love the way he explores the inner world of characters from anything other than the upper middle class:

'What d'ya mean Guvnor?', said the sturdy Sergeant, whose thoughts were already straying to the 'slap-up' that Edna was preparing even now in their net-curtained council home, a haven of Brasso and boot polish deep in one of the less salubrious estates just south of the river. Bill Smyth, despite his upper crust name, explained away sheepishly as 'just one of those things' during the endless dominoes sessions at the Pig and Whistle, was a copper of the old school. He devoted his dogged attentions to two major loves- coarse fishing and West Ham United- with equal devotion and optimism. He was as unflappable in solid, unspectacular duty as his yeomen ancestors. And always ready to take on the burden of blooding a young officer straight out of one of the more 'progressive' universities.

He's also famous for the "woman naked in front of the mirror" scenes. As if us girls, take our towels off in front of the mirror and then run our hands over our bodies as though discovering them for the first time with no mention of the discovery of cellulite

Latest read: The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

 

[Grandma Death]

JM Coatzee-Disgrace and its an excellent book thus far.

 

[mrkikiet]

JM Coatzee-Disgrace and its an excellent book thus far.

it continues to be a good book.
i'm re-reading 1984.

 

[foamy]

The Accidental - Ali Smith

given to me by my mother who said she couldnt read it but i'm finding it ok

 

[maya]

just pasting this from my earlier thread, thought it needed wider recognition, so spread the word:

"Counterculture Through The Ages" by R. U. Sirius (a.k.a. Ken Geoffman) and Dan Joy...

...go on, you know you want to read it!

 

[spartacus mills]

'The Lurking Fear and other stories' - H.P. Lovecraft.

 

[Philbc03]

Help! I've got three on the go!

They are:

Marxist Theories of Imperialism - Anthony Brewer, 1990
Freedom Summer - Doug McAdam, 1988
Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole, 1980

 

[Rollem]

recently finished Stump by Niall Griffiths, though nothing at the mo

oh, i like niall griffiths 'grits' is a great book imo, and sheepshagger and kelly and victor aren't too bad either (if somewhat dark!)

has anyone read "the virgin suicides"? a girl at work has given me a copy...

 

[Dubversion]

has anyone read "the virgin suicides"? a girl at work has given me a copy...

it's absolutely fantastic. Writing like you wouldn't believe

 

[chooch]

'Stasiland' by Anna Funder, which I liked. Bizarre fucking place, the DDR, full of psychotics.

I've just read that on an airport whim. Good it was.

Also finished Jim Dodge Stone Junction. Didn't rate it at all. Very disappointing after liking Not Fade Away. Thomas Pynchon liked it though, presumably because it makes the Crying of Lot 49 look more charming and less wanky.

Now ploughing through more Joseph Roth...

 

[Boogie Boy]

Picked up a copy of 'Crowds And Power' by Elias Canetti, which is proving to be very interesting.

BB

 

[districtline]

'Stasiland' by Anna Funder, which I liked. Bizarre fucking place, the DDR, full of psychotics..

stasiland. propaganda der reaktion.

 

[Dubversion]

"Hardboiled Hollywood" - Max Decharné's look at the real stories behind the best Hollywood crime / mob movies. Very good indeed - it's rare that somebody known primarily as a musician writes this well, but there's nothing of the dilletante about Decharné.

 

[Dirty Martini]

stasiland. propaganda der reaktion.

Yeah well. She's actually pretty good at steering away from overt moral judgement imo; it's a book of stories about E Germans rather than a history of the DDR. And I think that she does a good job of making the backdrop of those stories the fact that people also led ordinary lives too. Part of the book is about how perceptions of the other side of the Wall have been warped through history and revision.

The Stasi appears to have been run and staffed by aging psychos and smooth-talking enthusiasts of power and influence (their own). It humiliated and hurt people, and helped run the country on a set of shaky fictions, large and small. Is anyone saying any different?

Is this book part of a general attempt to grind the memory of the DDR into the dust? Nah.

If you've got a suggestion for a more 'balanced' view of the DDR ...

 

[elevendayempire]

Just finished The Crimson Petal and the White. Bugger me, that was good.

SG

 

[foo]

just finished Running With Scissors - Augusten Burroughs.

if you've reached adulthood having survived an insane family - read it!

i feel blessed.

 

[jeff_leigh]

just started The Gunslinger part 1 of The Dark Tower Series been meaning to read this book for about 5 years

 

[Kenny Vermouth]

I've just finished David Seabrook's "Jack of Jumps", an investigation into the unsolved murders of eight prostitutes in West London between 1959 and 1965.