*What book are you reading ?

[twistedAM]

Cormac McCarthy 'The Road'...great but not recommneded bedtime reading. Was just about to nod off one night and suddenly got to the bit where he found the private army's "food locker"
I feel another nightmare coming on later!

 

[chooch]

Michel Faber- The Fahrenheit Twins
Short stories from a youngish British geezer I'd not heard of. Really very good in parts- well-crafted and disturbing.

Also on the go- A.M. Homes - The End of Alice.
Next up- Truman Capote In Cold Blood

 

[tastebud]

It's not as laugh-out-loud funny but it is just as profound. Keep reading it, it will be worth it in the end. Closing time is also worth reading. It isn't catch 22 (but of course the sequel) but it is as an important book. See it in the same perspective as Johnny Cash's later work compared to the early stuff, telling us about what happens when we get older.

Without really knowing, that is, I'm still quite young, I think this is pretty accurate. Something Happened is definitely worth sticking with. I didn't, the first time round, but when you get to about half way through you realise that it's definitely worth finishing. I feel like I've learnt something from that book. Something pretty f*cked up but nevertheless, definitely worth a read.

 

[LDR]

i am reading the amber spyglass by philip pullman...it's holding my interest just about...

I've just about finished it myself. I can hardly put it down. I'll have read all three books in under a week.

I think the trilogy is brilliant and one of the most entertaining stories I've had the pleasure of reading in some time.

It shits on bloody Harry Potter from a very great height.

 

[kyser_soze]

James Clavell's Noble House.

Some of it's cringingly 'Brit expat in Asia' but he's equally rude about everyone (Brits shouldn't be there, Chinese hate everyone who isn't Chinese but have respect for certain quai loh who have the same outloook as 'civilised persons', American's out of their depth in Asia (it's set in 63 just before the big troop increases in Vietnam), and early 60s 'woman in business' stereotype...good bit of airport novel hokum, and his descriptions of Hong Kong (stuff like the lack of running water to most homes, even the rich Brits and Chinese having to use a bucket, only being able to shower once every few days; the smell of Aberdeen harbour etc) are really good.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Mortality by Nicholas Royle

Mortality by Nicholas Royle

nice collection of short stories - highly recommended by me

 

[Final]

James Clavell's Noble House.

Some of it's cringingly 'Brit expat in Asia' but he's equally rude about everyone (Brits shouldn't be there, Chinese hate everyone who isn't Chinese but have respect for certain quai loh who have the same outloook as 'civilised persons', American's out of their depth in Asia (it's set in 63 just before the big troop increases in Vietnam), and early 60s 'woman in business' stereotype...good bit of airport novel hokum, and his descriptions of Hong Kong (stuff like the lack of running water to most homes, even the rich Brits and Chinese having to use a bucket, only being able to shower once every few days; the smell of Aberdeen harbour etc) are really good.

Good book (I preferred Shogun and King Rat, but not because there was anything wrong with NH).

 

[Rainingstairs]

the sin city library and lg wades 6th ed. of organic chem. the stark difference between the two is about to drive me nucking futs.

 

[Paris Garters]

Just finished 'American Scream' by cynthia true, a biography of Bill Hicks.
Not terribly well written but an interesting insight into the guy. Worth it if you're into his comedy.

 

[smoooch]

im reading Gerald Seymour's book the Untouchable. So far so good

 

[mrkikiet]

Butterfly's tongue by Manel Rivas.
selected short stories related to the Spanish Civil War

 

[Nina]

Bill Bryson

The Short History of nearly Everything.

I must say, it certainly isn't short. I'm half way through and in pain.

All the stuff I should know but it's a chore to read it.

 

[Rainingstairs]

Bill Bryson

The Short History of nearly Everything.

I must say, it certainly isn't short. I'm half way through and in pain.

All the stuff I should know but it's a chore to read it.

yeah i found it kind of gossipy and unfactual. *yawn

 

[sojourner]

Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

Finally finished this today. I got a bit fed up with it at times, which is why it took me so long to finish, but all in all, it was a beautiful read...funny, poetic, and insightful

Just started Once in a House on Fire, by Andrea Ashworth, cos one of me mates has read it and wants to have a chat about it

 

[cutandsplice]

yeah i found it kind of gossipy and unfactual. *yawn

I totally agree. I gave up about 3 quarters through and read a book on Parmenides instead. A much better use of my time.

 

[andy2002]

Jake Arnott's 'Johnny Come Home' – one of the original print run with the stuff that landed its publishers in court still included.

 

[DotCommunist]

I started Stephen Kings Rose Madder but it's a bit shit, so I'll be re-reading Julian Rathbones 'Kings of Albion'

 

[foo]

just went to the pub and finished All Families are Psychotic - Douglas Coupland.

i've read it before but forgot how bloody hilarious and life afirming a story it is.

he reminds me of a demented John Irving and as with Running With Scissors, i'm always pleased to read about a family more nuts than my own.

 

[Dirty Martini]

I finished Craven House by Patrick Hamilton.

For Hamilton fans, this early novel seems to come some way down the list but I can't see why. It's got some of his finest comic set-pieces and is strongly plotted. It's very poignant about the social changes wrought by the First World War, and features the outside world in a much more sustained way than most of his other books. I also realised what a fine "serious" novelist he would have made; some of his atmosphere is the equal of anyone writing at the time, and he's brilliantly economical when he wants to be about the reasons why people follow social convention without thinking about it.

And he was only 22 when he wrote it, the bastard.

 

[Dubversion]

I finished Craven House by Patrick Hamilton.

For Hamilton fans, this early novel seems to come some way down the list but I can't see why. It's got some of his finest comic set-pieces and is strongly plotted. It's very poignant about the social changes wrought by the First World War, and features the outside world in a much more sustained way than most of his other books. I also realised what a fine "serious" novelist he would have made; some of his atmosphere is the equal of anyone writing at the time, and he's brilliantly economical when he wants to be about the reasons why people follow social convention without thinking about it.

And he was only 22 when he wrote it, the bastard.

nearly started 20,000 Streets Under the Sky last night but was still a bit wobbly after the tragic end of Frida so i started reading The Pirates' Adventures With The Communists instead

 

[Dirty Martini]

nearly started 20,000 Streets Under the Sky last night but was still a bit wobbly after the tragic end of Frida so i started reading The Pirates' Adventures With The Communists instead

I was flicking through 20,000 Streets again earlier, just to see how much darker and more controlled he became later on, though the first book in that trilogy was written only a couple of years after Craven House.

There are a couple of new editions of Slaves of Solitude just out, so hopefully he's going to start getting the run he deserves

 

[chooch]

I finished Craven House by Patrick Hamilton.
For Hamilton fans, this early novel seems to come some way down the list but I can't see why....

Love to get hold of it. I'll see what abebooks can offer.

Slaves of Solitude

My favourite Hamilton so far. It's on hour at the moment, else I'd reread now.

 

[zenie]

My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time

Just started this - so far so good

 

[foamy]

Just started this - so far so good

i really enjoyed 'War Crimes For The Home' by Liz Jensen, perhaps when you've finished this we could swap?

 

[5t3IIa]

Jake Arnott's 'Johnny Come Home' – one of the original print run with the stuff that landed its publishers in court still included.

I was using a scruffy paperback of The Long Firm to wipe the condensation off bus windows a month ago - than I realised that JA's signature at the front was running! I got it from a charity shop and hadn't even clocked it


I'm now on A World Lit Only By Fire by William Manchester. Devastatingly readable (sometimes a bit crusty on moral issues though) on the Dark Ages and transition to the the Ranaissance :thumbup:

 

[May Kasahara]

Just finishing 'I know why the caged bird sings' by Maya Angelou, for my book club. As warm and uplifting as a hot bath after a long cold day, I can see why it's often on the curriculum in secondary schools - it's very evocative of a time and place, without being hard-edged or brutally upfront.

Once that's done, I shall be diving into Introduction to Social Research by Keith Punch *sigh*. I want to read some non-book club books - need to make more time for reading.

 

[sojourner]

Just finishing 'I know why the caged bird sings' by Maya Angelou, for my book club. As warm and uplifting as a hot bath after a long cold day, I can see why it's often on the curriculum in secondary schools - it's very evocative of a time and place, without being hard-edged or brutally upfront.

Fantastic book, I can't sing its praises too highly. I LOVE Maya Angelou.


Have you got the rest of the books in the series May?

 

[May Kasahara]

I used to have all of them (inherited from mum) - they sat on my shelves, unread, for about 10 years before I finally decided that if I hadn't got round to them by now, I was never going to, and purged them.

I have really enjoyed IKWTCBS but to be honest I still probably wouldn't get round to reading the rest if they were still on my shelves. Not sure why, maybe I'm just rubbish eh

 

[sojourner]

I used to have all of them (inherited from mum) - they sat on my shelves, unread, for about 10 years before I finally decided that if I hadn't got round to them by now, I was never going to, and purged them.

I have really enjoyed IKWTCBS but to be honest I still probably wouldn't get round to reading the rest if they were still on my shelves. Not sure why, maybe I'm just rubbish eh

Weirdo

She captures so much of black politics in her later books, and I found it fascinating to read how she changed as society did. She's also brutally honest about her parenting, or lack of it, on occasion.

 

[Treebeak]

Just finished Crazy by Benjamin Lebert. Small book described as 'the catcher in the rye for the mtv generation'. Pretty good description : about a disolusioned teenager in boarding school 'growing up'. Lebert wrote it when he was 16 - thoughtfully and well written for a kid.