*What book are you reading ?

[Orang Utan]

Sheepshagger is fantastic - it's got some horrendous violence in it but Griffiths' prose is so rich - his descriptions of the Welsh countryside are staggeringly beautiful - the antiheroe has a great voice too.

 

[madamv]

I quite want to read some good fantasy, just don't know where to start with it.

I really enjoyed Clive Barkers Weaveworld. Can pop in post or send with sparklefish if you fancy it

 

[Dubversion]

just started Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Froer, been meaning to get round to this for ages... Started well - made me laugh out loud on the bus

 

[Orang Utan]

Ti pretty good - I love the way English is so throughly mangled by Alex (is that his name?)

 

[Dubversion]

Ti pretty good - I love the way English is so throughly mangled by Alex (is that his name?)

Yeh, who is doing carnal in many of the positions.

 

[gaijingirl]

I just finished My Year of Meat, which surprised me in some ways but had a bit of a shit ending.

Starting Earthly Powers now - Anthony Burgess. Good opening sentence

I loved My year Of Meat.

Fantasy wise.. I LOVE the Lian Hearn: Tales of the Otori series (started as a trilogy but she recently wrote a 4th). They're just stunning! Sort of set in an unreal world, sort of based on Japan and it's magical and mythical legends...

(and I'm not usually a fantasy fan at all!)

 

[foo]

Regeneration - Pat Barker.

after accidentally reading the middle book of this trilogy recently, i'm now starting on this, the first one, which is a bit wierd but i'll get with it - because i know it'll be worth it.

she is a brilliant writer.

 

[Orang Utan]

The whole trilogy is absolutely mind blowing - it's strange, because although it deals with people coming to terms with the effects of humanity doing its worst to itself, you still come away from reading the books with a more benevolent view of mankind than you had before reading them - this is Pat Barker's special skill and she ought to be more appreciated for it.

 

[foo]

that's exactly it OU! bloody well put.

from what i've heard she's known best for her social commentary but her characters have real depth too, and the story-lines are gripping.

i wish she was better known/appreciated too.

 

[Dirty Martini]

Regeneration - Pat Barker.

after accidentally reading the middle book of this trilogy recently, i'm now starting on this, the first one, which is a bit wierd but i'll get with it - because i know it'll be worth it.

she is a brilliant writer.

I read The Ghost Road, which I think is the third in the trilogy, and liked it a lot. Maybe I should go back and start at the beginning.

 

[SubZeroCat]

The Mammoth Book of Erotica (various authors)

I'm too embarrassed to read it on the tube

 

[Pieface]

Starting Earthly Powers now - Anthony Burgess. Good opening sentence

I appear to have lost Earthly Powers

I am all at sea It's huge....how can I have lost this tome?

 

[ICB]

He invented the Pringles machine! !

I quite want to read some good fantasy, just don't know where to start with it.

The best are:

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
The Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin (and anything else she's written)
Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, so far so excellent

everything else I've read, including Tolkein, is pretty poor up against this lot. Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn by Robert Holdstock is also very good.

Of these King is probably the least literary but has some great ideas, Wolfe and LeGuin are probably the best writers technically speaking, some incredibly poetic prose and powerful original imagery in their stuff.

 

[Pieface]

I've read part of the Wizard of Earthsea series but I didn't quite *get* it - think I was a bit young. I want to read much more of her, she's an impressive writer.

His Dark Materials I've read aswell - I do think it's good but it has some really flawed episodes and I don't think he hits his stride until halfway through the second book. The first one got on my nerves but I have to take into account that it is a series written for children. He doesn't patronise his readers though and I think it's a marvellous trilogy and should be read in schools!

I'll look into Gene Wolfe - not going to read any Stephen King I'm afraid I've read enough of his stuff and the snob in me won't allow it any more

Found Earthly Powers It hadn't gone too far but in the hiatus have been happily waylaid by The Pirates' Adventure with Communists.

 

[mrkikiet]

if nobody speaks of remarkable things. Jon Mcgregor.

 

[ICB]

I first read A Wizard of Earthsea at about 12 and loved it but when I re-read it for the first time a few years ago, along with the other four, and subsequently read it to my sons, it opened up on at least two more levels. I still don't quite get it and perhaps never will, I suspect it resonates with insight and wisdom that's forever beyond me. I've still got "The Other Wind", "Tales of Earthsea" and "Gifts" to look forward to.

Haven't read any King apart from Talisman (co auth Peter Straub, superb) and the Dark Tower (great but not quite as good). I think I'd hate his other stuff, but then I'm not a fan of any horror writing apart from classic gothic novels. I can just about forgive his occasionaly slip up and Americanism because the ideas and characters are sufficiently compelling.

Agree with you about Pullman, sometimes captivating, other times annoying; like the idea of it being a part of the curriculum, should be part of a critical thinking course at 14.

Holdstock is well worth a look, nothing irritating or clumsy in the style (which is high praise, I'm increasingly fussy these days) and all sorts of interesting ideas, I must get hold of Mythago Wood.

Always found Burgess a bit portentous (up his own arse).

 

[Pieface]

I haven't read any Burgess so I'll see how I get on with it. Thanks for the ideas

 

[sunflower]

Just finished 'Dark Fire' by C.J Sansom. Murder mystery set in Tudor London. Absolutely brilliant and especially of interest to me as it's based around Blackfriars and St Pauls where I work. Highly recommend to anyone interested in history/London/thrillers. He really brings the past to life.Can't wait to read the next one

 

[chooch]

The Big Sleep

 

[Boogie Boy]

Always found Burgess a bit portentous (up his own arse).

It does depend on how serious you imagine Burgess to have been whilst involved in writing. He can be extremely funny, often in an obvious way, but he is equally adept at the subtle reference (which may or may not be annoying or percieved as being pretentious - requiring the reader to have an assumed cultural knowledge). I really didn't enjoy 'Earthly Powers' at all, and I certainly wouldn't consider it to be typical of Burgess.

A far more enjoyable read might be 'A Dead Man In Deptford', in which Burgess gives a masterclass in conveying Elizabethan expression without resorting to heavy handed use of 'thee' and 'thou'. His short stories can be equally appealing.

BB

 

[MightyAphrodite]

My favourite book ever ever ever...ive read it 20 times probably and found a copy in my sisters stuff when i was having a nose around so started it again...

 

[Boogie Boy]

Just read 'The Black Tulip' by Dumas. Short and utterly pointless.

BB

 

[Dubversion]

absolutely loving Everything Is Illuminated - Brod especially is an amazing character..

 

[trashpony]

I'm reading the unimaginatively titled 'We Are At War' - a collection of Mass Observation diaries from WWII which was my secret santa bookgroup gift from La Hollis.

I'm enjoying it very much. I'm particuarly interested by the parallels between now and then in terms of slagging off the usual suspects - immigrants, feckless mothers and shirkers.

Plus ca change I suppose

 

[Dirty Martini]

I finished Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo last night and loved it. Lots of stuff to think about and writing to marvel at, like all the great Modernists. Zeno is a brilliant character.

Is there a big point about not letting the truth getting in the way of a good story?

This comes into focus later in the book, particularly in the last section, where he talks about his psychoanalysis. Lots of stuff about how, as a speaker of Triestine dialect rather than Italian, he has to compromise on the truth because he doesn't have the words. And anyway, he makes a lot of stuff up to piss his analyst off

I've started Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais, but I might leave that humming in the background while I get on with The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss.

 

[May Kasahara]

I am awaiting delivery of 'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier and 'Rebecca's Tale' by Sally Beauman; the latter is my next bookgroup read, and gives me the kick up the arse I've always needed to read the former.

 

[Boogie Boy]

I've reached a point in 'The Discovery of Heaven', by Harry Mulisch, where I am seriously considering if it is worth reading on. Usually I always finish a book once I have started it but this story has run out of steam...........


BB

 

[chooch]

I finished Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo last night and loved it. Lots of stuff to think about and writing to marvel at, like all the great Modernists. Zeno is a brilliant character.

Looking forward to reading this when I'm in England.

 

[Dirty Martini]

Looking forward to reading this when I'm in England.

Have you got the William Weaver translation? It's pretty good ...

 

[Dubversion]

finished Everything Is Illuminated.

Nearly made me cry on the bus.