Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

*What book are you reading ?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dr_Gonzo said:
Down and out in Paris and London - George Orwell
Click to expand...

I found that a bit middle class tourist, tho it sounds like he was authentically skint. Interesting book.
 
Kaka Tim said:
I found that a bit middle class tourist, tho it sounds like he was authentically skint. Interesting book.
Click to expand...

I think if someone did the samething today it would be but back then I think it was a different situation. Even if it was though the stories and characters in it make it worth reading and it does sound like he was actually expereincing what he describes.
 
Mrs Magpie said:
“In Your Garden Again” (1953) by Vita Sackville-West....it's interesting to see how she changed the face of horticultural columns...some of it comes over as very snobbish and dated, but it's an interesting read all the same.....
Click to expand...

I keep In Your Garden next to my bed. It's very soothing in the night I find despite her shocking snobbery. Have you read Dear Friend and Gardener by Christo Lloyd and Beth Chatto? I'm going to dig that out and have a quick read this week as I'm going to Beth Chatto's gardens next week. :)
 
Dr_Gonzo said:
I think if someone did the samething today it would be but back then I think it was a different situation. Even if it was though the stories and characters in it make it worth reading and it does sound like he was actually expereincing what he describes.
Click to expand...

Agreed with KT, but that's a really good point. His desire to educate himself and others is admirable.
 
sojourner said:
Sarah, by JT LeRoy, got it as a double from Amazon together with The Heart is Deceitful, and so far, I'm really enjoying it. The way that child prostitution is being normalised is scary, but I think it really helps the reader to understand the perspective of a person living that life.
Click to expand...
This is an incredible bit of writing. Took me to places I hadn't predicted, and I think you should all read it. There ain't a genre for this :)
 
jugularvein said:
i'm reading Corpsing, by Toby Litt
Click to expand...
i have a horrible feeling that toby litt is not going to write another decent novel. deadkidsongs was good, with potential but since then he has churned out very little worth reading in it's entirety.

currently reading all-American Ads 60s. good clean futuristic fun.
 
I've just read 'Meridian' by Alice Walker.

i liked the fact that that this person who rebelled against her society didnt opt for the house and 2.4 children as she got older. she was against the oppression of her race and class and didnt conform even though she was told it was out of "fashion."

Felt there a bit too much heavy detailed character biopics on peripheral characters but still a good yarn.

Just about to read 'If not know, when?' by Primo Levi. I've started this once before but stopped cos uni degree and reading lists came round at the wrong time so gonna put my feet up in a bit and get into it. Haven't read any of his other works so... i'll see what its like.
 
I'm reading a lovely little book called Los girasoles ciegos (the blind sunflowers) by Alberto Méndez, given to me by a friend.
 
I’m currently reading two

Martyrs (innocence, vengeance, and despair in the middle east) Joyce M Davis
&
Harrington on hold’em Dan Harrington & Bill Robertie
 
finished J-Pod..

definitely in the less essential Coupland box - but very very funny in places.

he does seem to veer between the heartbreaking - Life After God, Eleanor Rigby, Hey Nostradamus - and the pretty throwaway. This one was more about the gags and the cool observation but still a damn good read
 
kerb said:
I've just read 'Meridian' by Alice Walker.

i liked the fact that that this person who rebelled against her society didnt opt for the house and 2.4 children as she got older. she was against the oppression of her race and class and didnt conform even though she was told it was out of "fashion."
Click to expand...
Excellent book. My holy trinity of African American female writers is Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou. They can do no wrong in my eyes
 
I'm reading The Joke's Over, by Ralph Steadman. So far, so good - but I think if I'd have been mates with HST I'd have lamped him one several times over :D Mace, for god's sake!! :eek: :D
 
Reading James Fenimore Cooper's The Deerslayer - jolly good read. Racist, sexist and everything else you would expect of America circa. 1840. Last in the series that included Last of the Mohicans - although set before the other four books in chronological terms.
 
Just started World's End by T C Boyle - very odd so far, a bizarre quasi-ghost story (i think) about a feckless bloke in 60s New York State and his relationship with his dutch ancestors.

not sure where it's going, but Boyle never lets me down :)
 
All I've got, which ain't much. The Emperor's Tomb, the Therapy of Avram Blok, a couple of Hrabals.
If I get bored enough I may reread Gravity's Rainbow, like some kind of difficult book namedropping twat.
 
Just given up on Michael Collins' 'Life and Times of a Teaboy' as I was starting to get a bit weary of the self-pity but will pick it up again.

Moved on to Anita Desai's 'The Zigzag Way'. It's a nice change of scene. Not too sure about her being "one of Tolstoy's inheritors - The Times" though.
 
I'm reading

DooDaa by ralph Steadman
Lono by Hunter S Thompson and Ralph Steadman
Wild Highway by Bill Drummond and Mark Manning
 
I don't do alot of reading, in fact I almost never read, I'm more of a movie buff myself. But just recently life's been getting me down so to accompany my mood I decided to start reading a book I got for Christmas entitled -

Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit?: The Encyclopedia of Modern Life
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Just-Me-Everything-Shit-Encyclopedia/dp/0316729531

It's absoulutly hilarious, if you need a good giggle at the world then pick up a copy.
 
Savage Henry said:
I'm reading

DooDaa by ralph Steadman
Lono by Hunter S Thompson and Ralph Steadman
Wild Highway by Bill Drummond and Mark Manning
Click to expand...

Lono is excellent. I was lucky to be in San Francisco last year to get a signed copy of the 1000 Taschen edition although it cost me £300. I bought it on amazon for the retail price of £150 but some fucker either at parcel force or amazon stole it. I've also got an orginal edition from the 80s.

I'm reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey at the moment, it's a set book for my non fiction writing class as part of my jounrnalism degree. I'm about a 1/5 through it and I'm not quite sure what I make of it yet knowing about the bits that were made up or exagerated.
 
Dr_Gonzo said:
Lono is excellent. I was lucky to be in San Francisco last year to get a signed copy of the 1000 Taschen edition although it cost me £300. I bought it on amazon for the retail price of £150 but some fucker either at parcel force or amazon stole it. I've also got an orginal edition from the 80s.

I'm reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey at the moment, it's a set book for my non fiction writing class as part of my jounrnalism degree. I'm about a 1/5 through it and I'm not quite sure what I make of it yet knowing about the bits that were made up or exagerated.
Click to expand...


I've got a signed copy too although it's not the limited edition it was signed by Ralph Steadman personally :cool:

I also have Memories of Hunter S Thiompson signed but I haven't started reading that yet !
 
Just started The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

After that hoping to get enough time to read The Good Life by Jay McInerney. Anyone read it? Good? Bad? It's a sequel of sorts to Brightness Falls - anyone read that? Good? Bad?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

tommers
What (comics) are you reading right now?
2 3
Replies
62
Views
1K
tommers
tommers
Pickman's model
  • Poll
Dedication's what you need: the 2025 reading challenge thread
2 3 4 5
Replies
124
Views
3K
rich!
R
ska invita
Comfortable chairs you can read books in
2
Replies
35
Views
807
Hollis
Hollis
Eivets Rednow
What gives you writing inspiration/energy?
Replies
4
Views
147
Eivets Rednow
Eivets Rednow
frogwoman
Books everyone thinks are great but you hated (and vice versa)
3 4 5 6 7
Replies
206
Views
5K
Yuwipi Woman
Yuwipi Woman
Back
Top Bottom