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*What book are you reading ?

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I'm reading 'The Brief & Frightening Reign of Phil' and 'In Persuasion Nation' by George Saunders, a novella and short stories.
 
cutandsplice said:
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.
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having finally finished it, i find that to be quite a good summary

glad i got to the end but it wasn't an easy book..


and therefore completely unlike Armadillos and Old Lace by Kinky Friedman what i read next
 
Reading The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton.

Seem to have gotten bogged down in texts for my course - would like to make time to read some of the other stuff that has been languishing on my bookcases for the past forever :rolleyes: :)
 
Just finished Augusten Burroughs' Possible Side Effects. Wonderful.

Now started Perfume. Trying to read it before going to the flicks.
 
Fancied nostalgie pig-out so did Irvine Welsh-Ecstasy. Probably sad, but entirely necessary. Lining up to tackle the archaeological soc's 3000 year history of the town. Not exactly a novel, but with pubs all closed by 21.00 it will need some Yank-style padding.
 
Have now finished Jake Arnott's 'Johnny Come Home' - not bad but probably not as enjoyable as the Harry Starks books. Interestingly, the character that ended up getting Arnott and his publishers into big legal trouble - Tony Rocco - is probably the most minor character in the entire story, only appearing in a handful of pages late on.

Derek Raymond's 'I Was Dora Suarez' is next...
 
Dubversion said:
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 :)
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You just reminded me I have this sitting waiting for my attention - so I started it, Edith Wharton can wait a couple of hours. Just off to finish it.
 
i'm most currently reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. it's fab. i've read most of his other books (not Cannery Row) and i think via osmosis he's my favourite author.

Lots of people seem to hate/get bored by his books, but for someone reason i've got an instant connection with his writing, i'm hooked, engrossed and whisked away within seconds. and he's funny

it's weird why some books do that and some do the opposite: for example i've never got past the first chapter of Catch 22 because it sends me to sleep. as the italians say, strano
 
maximilian ping said:
i'm most currently reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. it's fab. i've read most of his other books (not Cannery Row) and i think via osmosis he's my favourite author.

Lots of people seem to hate/get bored by his books, but for someone reason i've got an instant connection with his writing, i'm hooked, engrossed and whisked away within seconds. and he's funny

it's weird why some books do that and some do the opposite: for example i've never got past the first chapter of Catch 22 because it sends me to sleep. as the italians say, strano
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I've only read the obligatory Of Mice and Men and the utterly astounding The Grapes of Wrath. I have 'Tis the Winter of our Discontent and Cannery Row (which for the longest time I was convinced was called Canary Row :oops: ) on my shelf waiting to be read.

Finished Pirates! in and Adventure with Communists and The Custom of the Country yesterday. Now started reading Willa Cather's The Professor's House - only read the first chapter so far but it seems far more modern than it is.
 
The Worldly Philosophers, very interesting. I just finished The Unknown Terrorist, was just average. Very preachy.
 
'Elizabeth', Karen Usborne's excellent biography of the novelist Elizabeth von Arnim. Beautifully written and researched. In fact, sod spending time on the computer, even if there are no kids about to prevent me from gaining online access till some godforsaken hour...I'm signing off to continue reading it.
 
Dirty Martini said:
I'm reading 'The Brief & Frightening Reign of Phil' and 'In Persuasion Nation' by George Saunders, a novella and short stories.
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Finished these. I love George Saunders, he's got a unique voice, and there are good things on every page of the stories, but he seems a lot angrier in this collection, which leads to some fairly clunky fingerpointing. One of his prime targets here is the creation and servicing of consumer desire. He's always very funny, conjuring up dystopias of an indeterminate American future of theme parks and bizarre consumer goods alongside a recognisably 'now' mode of American speech. In fact, he catches the rhythms of speech like no other writer I've ever read.

His stories are like the most hilarious dreams you've ever had.

The long story, '...Phil' is cute, but one of the weaker things he's done.

He's a difficult writer to describe, I haven't done a very good job of it, but you'd definitely like Saunders if you like Brautigan or Vonnegut or sharp US satire in any medium. Start with 'Civilwarland in Bad Decline' though. The stories in there are, by and large, masterpieces.

georgesaundersland

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Now I'm halfway through and enjoying 'The Spy Who Came In From The Cold'.
 
maximilian ping said:
i'm most currently reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. it's fab. i've read most of his other books (not Cannery Row) and i think via osmosis he's my favourite author.

Lots of people seem to hate/get bored by his books, but for someone reason i've got an instant connection with his writing, i'm hooked, engrossed and whisked away within seconds. and he's funny
Click to expand...

I love East of Eden, about 3 years ago I read most of Steinbeck's works, The Winter of our Discontent is perhaps the one novel of his that I still really want to read. Cannery Row is definitely worth a look, and it's short so you'll read it in a few hours, very warm humourous book. I'm not sure why people would get bored with Steinbeck unless they'd been force fed of Mice and Men at school and been subsequently turned off due to over analysing the novel. He is a fantastic writer, the Grapes of Wrath IMO ranks alongside the Ragged Trousered Philanphropists as one of the great 20th century social novels. When I visited the Us afriend told me that some of Steinbeck's works were still considered suspect even today and that some school libraries had been reluctant to stock some novels. If that's true I'm worried, his descriptive powers and amusing, believeable characters make for fine reading.


Currently reading The Victim by Saul Bellow and Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, the latter reminds me of Steinbeck somewhat.
 
Dubversion said:
Now finally started 20,000 Streets Under The Sky. Absolutely loving it so far
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Wahey, another Hamiltonian :D

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I finished the Le Carre. It was fun, but I was expecting something more I think. Nicely atmospheric, well plotted, serviceable prose.

What's the must-read Le Carre?

Now I'm onto Julian Maclaren-Ross, Collected Memoirs. I'm starting with the Memoirs of the Forties. Lots of pub-going, literary lunches and impecuniousness.
 
2 on the go at the mo - And Still I Rise by Doreen Lawrence (a mate wants me to read it so we can talk about it), and The World Unseen by Shamim Sarif, for book club. The latter is a bit meh, tbh, and I think I might have to be a bit howwible and unkind about it. I've read deeper studies into race and sexuality relations on the back of a fag packet.

I'm looking forward to the next bookclub choice (we do two per meet, woo) which is Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller - I think there might be a bit more to it than TWU.
 
2 on the go as well - the 3rd book of the acorna series by Anne Mcaffery, Acornas people.

I'm also reading Artemis fowl by Eoin Colfer, and which is apparently a kids book - although Im really enjoying it. Nice easy reading but entertaining enough to keep my interest.
 
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