*What book are you reading ?

[cyberfairy]

Darkmans by Nicola Barker-was fantastic read for first 600 or so pages then went a bit sillywhich was a shame as really enjoying it Superb use of language and very funny perceptive look at a group of dysfunctional people living in Ashford who get taken over by seventeenth century jester. I think!

 

[Orang Utan]

Nicola Barker is great and so very very strange

 

[cyberfairy]

Nicola Barker is great and so very very strange

Have 'Behindlings' to read now. I like strange but did think towards end of Darkmans, went a bit beyond a farce when before it had been so slow moving but involving. I love the way she writes though-can make anything sound poetic without being forced. Funny too

 

[foamy]

The comfort of strangers - Ian McEwan.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I just finished The Fall of Berlin by Anthony Beevor, and now I'm reading a fictional novel called The Last Legion.

It's martial month.

 

[glaucon]

I've just finished reading the collected short stories of Katherine Mansfield. I'd never heard of her till recently - I came across her name in conecction with Virgina Woolf who she used to hang out with and (I think) is very similar stylistically.

She's very easy to read - they really are short stories; most of them just a few pages long but they certainly got under my skin and were, without exception, very moving.

The edition I got was a new (published this year) Penguin Classics. If you like short stories I'd highly recommend her as she's a master of the form.

 

[slutter]

I`m re-reading 1984 for about the 3rd time

Hence i`m lurking on this thread for a bit of inspiration

Try The Forever war by Joe Haldeman - its old, but I'm reading it for the first time - its freaky and very well written ...

 

[thought]

Shoe String Safari - Travels and Adventures and Experiences in Africa, by John Whittingham...


And Alice in Wonderland! - Well I am reading it to our little un Illustrated by - Peter Weevers.

 

[fractionMan]

I just bought revelation space and some book by neil gaiman.

 

[Spudinka]

Have just read The LA Diaries by James Brown, it was very moving. A must read for anyone connected with addiction in any way, a great insight into it all.

Love this thread by the way, but it's not going to help my book addiciton.

 

[Star Dove]

I've just finished Redemption Falls by Joseph O'Connor.

It's supposed to be the 2nd part of a trilogy carrying on from Star of the Sea. Set in the years immediately after the American Civil War, he's written a much more ambitious novel that in the end certainly pays off.

 

[obanite]

I just finished The Fall of Berlin by Anthony Beevor, and now I'm reading a fictional novel called The Last Legion.

It's martial month.

Ah, the one by Valerio Massimo Manfredi about the fall of Rome? I thought it was ok, but his Alexander trilogy was much better

 

[no-no]

Just finished Samurai Williams, William Adams was one of the first englishmen to settle in Japan.Well, he was kind of stranded there and ended up staying for more than 10 years.

He did pretty well out there but his troubles started when the europeans started to arrive in numbers.

It's funny to hear that europeans have always been coarse,uncouth,louts especially the dutch and the english.

 

[no-no]

Try The Forever war by Joe Haldeman - its old, but I'm reading it for the first time - its freaky and very well written ...

I agree, thats a goodun

 

[cyberfairy]

Just given up on Book Of Dave by Will Self-really like premise and Dave's sections but found myself struggling too much with the 'Mockni' language and just not quite understanding it enough-feel cross at myself for not getting it

 

[Boogie Boy]

Just started 'American Psycho' by Bret Easton Ellis.

BB

 

[Tuft]

Just about finished with Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic, and about to start The Light Fantastic.

I should probably pick up Jose Saramago's All the Names again, but I'm also busy reading James Gibson's The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception for work.

 

[foamy]

Just started 'American Psycho' by Bret Easton Ellis.

oooh, i love that book

just started: The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan

 

[Madusa]

Im reading Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller and Chaos by James Gleick. Took it on holiday but didnt get very far. Lying on the beach reading about weather predictions and the butterfly effect strangely didnt do it for me.

Giving it another go.

 

[lights.out.london]

William Gibson - Pattern Recognition for the umpteenth time

Stephen Wolfram - A New Kind of Science ongoing, stretching my maths and understanding of chaos theory

 

[obanite]

William Gibson - Pattern Recognition for the umpteenth time

Stephen Wolfram - A New Kind of Science ongoing, stretching my maths and understanding of chaos theory

He took a duck in the face!

My new character in WoW is called Cayce

 

[lights.out.london]

He took a duck in the face!

My new character in WoW is called Cayce

I inhabit a dream world from a Gibson novel.

The new one is out in a week or two.

 

[fear-n-loathing]

on the bus, its the history of ken kasey and merry pranksters. not great but an interesting read

 

[tufty79]

oooh, i love that book

just started: The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan

brillian stuff. if a little squeamy.

wake up, sir - jonathon ames

i'm only on chapter two i'm really liking it, but just not in a read-y mood
actually, i'm going to go back to bed with it. now.

 

[Madusa]

brillian stuff. if a little squeamy.



i'm only on chapter two i'm really liking it, but just not in a read-y mood
actually, i'm going to go back to bed with it. now.

um, what happened to photoshop, lady?!!

 

[Dubversion]

after a few week's 'dipping' - into Wreckers of Civilisation (the TG book), Reynold's Bring The Noise, stuff like that - i'm about to slide into the bath a crack the spine of Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Police Union. This guy better be good, after all the hype

 

[sojourner]

Cormac McCarthy - The Road

Loving it so far, only read about 30 pages though

 

[Dubversion]

"loving it"?

that'll change to something like "slipping into a dark dark hole of despair and grief" any time now

 

[sojourner]

"loving it"?

that'll change to something like "slipping into a dark dark hole of despair and grief" any time now

Haha

Yes. Fuck me, I'll never complain about being hungry or cold ever EVER again

Loving the minimal use of language - really impressed with how it mirrors the landscape, and huge emotions/ideas are expressed with barely a sentence

 

[purves grundy]

May-June New Left Review