*What book are you reading ?

[sojourner]

with someone like that, do you want to read all their books ASAP or ration them out carefully? I am of the latter camp

I tried OU, was very disciplined, but I had to read the last 2 on the trot I'm afraid. I did manage to put another book in between the first few, but then went on a buying frenzy and they kept pleading with me from the bookshelf

Sigh. What next? I am reading a particularly frisky book of lesbian cowboy short story erotica that's rather good, Rode Hard Put Away Wet, but that's more of a dip-in book, iykwim

I have 13 new books to get through thanks to a sale at Oxfam and News from Nowhere...and Amazon, damned Amazon. Can't decide what's next

 

[Paris Garters]

Vive la revolution by mark steele. It's a very entertaining and informative account of the french revolution. He is a trot, but he's fucking funny.

 

[sojourner]

In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

Starting out well

 

[Dubversion]

Vive la revolution by mark steele. It's a very entertaining and informative account of the french revolution. He is a trot, but he's fucking funny.

I did actually learn quite a bit as well, I'm not big on historical accounts so I'm afraid I'm enough of a simpleton to be happy to be spoonfed some history along with the the shits'n'giggles

I've started reading Hayden Herrera's biography of Frida Kahlo, which I'm already enjoying and very much looking forward to getting properly stuck into

 

[Paris Garters]

I did actually learn quite a bit as well, I'm not big on historical accounts so I'm afraid I'm enough of a simpleton to be happy to be spoonfed some history along with the the shits'n'giggles

Me too! I struggle a bit with non-fiction sometimes, I can find it too dry even if it's something I'm really interested in.
Self education with laffs! Yay!

Anyone got any recommendations for other eminently readable political history books?

 

[Mr_Nice]

The Google Story

Only just started but its a cracking read

 

[maya]

just to echo the sentiments of others already, i've finally started reading annie proulx' books and she's great... !

i regret my snobbiness now (have the slightly unsympathetic habit of shunning writers/artists who get too popular, totally ridiculous really )

 

[chooch]

Just starting The Macguffin, still having a stab at William Gaddis JR, though very slowly, and have The Radetzky March for the bus. All good.

 

[rekil]

Death And The Penguin - Andrey Kurkov. About a hack who shares an apartment with a penguin and has a run in with gangstas.

 

[Pie 1]

Just finished Richard Ford's The Lay of The Land. Beautifully written 3rd outing for Frank Bascombe (The Sportswriter & Independence Day), although ultimately, not quite as fulfilling as the first two.

Now reading Paul Auster's New York Trilogy - first time I've read anything of his - he's a little on the pretentious side isn't he?

 

[Dirty Martini]

Just starting The Macguffin

In for a treat.

 

[chooch]

In for a treat.

Hope so.

Not sure what I made of Zeno's Conscience overall. Liked it, but not as much as I thought I was going to twenty pages in.

 

[Wide Eyed Angel]

Just started 'Fingersmith' by Sarah Waters which after a little search of this thread sounds like it'll be right up my street. It seems very engaging already which is always a good start!

 

[milesy]

douglas coupland - "all families are psychotic"

it took me a while to get the feel for this one, which was unusual as every book of his that i've read has gripped me right away, but it didn't take long to get into it properly and once again i'm rocketing through and chuckling away.

 

[jbob]

About 100 pages into The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Door stopper of a book, but it's moving along quickly.

 

[Dubversion]

douglas coupland - "all families are psychotic"

it took me a while to get the feel for this one, which was unusual as every book of his that i've read has gripped me right away, but it didn't take long to get into it properly and once again i'm rocketing through and chuckling away.

it's the coupland I like least, to be honest. It's his hysterical soap opera elements to the fore and it just annoyed me. Not sure I even finished it

 

[Orang Utan]

Just starting The Macguffin

Who's it by? Was looking for this in the shop and no one knew it

 

[Yetman]

Haruki Marakami - The Wind Up Bird Chronicle

I'm about a third though and its intriguing.....you replicate the main character's own confusion and eagerness to find out what the hell is going on from the start hence keeping you hooked.....can see it getting mightily weird later on though

 

[Dirty Martini]

Who's it by? Was looking for this in the shop and no one knew it

It's by Stanley Elkin. Probably quite difficult to get hold of in a shop, unless you can find a place with a good selection of Dalkey Archive books. I got mine from US amazon, it took two months to arrive.

Elkin's one of those widely praised but little-read great American writers. The MacGuffin is a great novel, you won't be disappointed

 

[Orang Utan]

Cheers - Waterstone's don't have it their database!

 

[Dirty Martini]

Scandalous.

(dalkeyarchive.com have it for $10.36)

 

[Orang Utan]

I don't buy books online - I like browsing in real shops

 

[chooch]

Scandalous.
(dalkeyarchive.com have it for $10.36)

Got mine secondhand on amazon. Dirt cheap. Also available from many places via abebooks...

 

[Dirty Martini]

Not sure what I made of Zeno's Conscience overall. Liked it, but not as much as I thought I was going to twenty pages in.

Really? I thought it got stronger as it went on. The section about his wife and mistress got me bogged down, but the big section, on his business misadventures, I really loved. Nice final section too.

 

[Dirty Martini]

I don't buy books online - I like browsing in real shops

Fair enough, I much prefer shops myself. Unfortunately, all the bookshops in my town have very small English-language fiction sections. If I used them, I'd never stop reading about the tired English middleclasses throwing it all up to become olive growers in Tuscany.

 

[Orang Utan]

Well luckily I live in London - I hate mail order cos I want the book or CD or whatever it is in my hand right away to take home

 

[Pieface]

I am reading a fantaseh trilogeh

It is somewhat unbelievable

 

[sojourner]

I am reading a fantaseh trilogeh

It is somewhat unbelievable

Does what is says on the tin then? It's nice to rely on some things in life eh?

 

[Belushi]

Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson.

Used to love hard SF when as a teen, but haven't read any in years. Picked this up as its been recomended on here before and very good it is too.

 

[chooch]

If I used them, I'd never stop reading about the tired English middleclasses throwing it all up to become olive growers in Tuscany.

Not exactly short of that here n'all. And John Grisham. And an oddly skewed selection of alleged classics. Not sure whether that's owt to do with demand, or just publishers dumping stock long after it's dropped out of the Sunday papers in the Enlgish-speaking world.