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*What book are you reading ?

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if nobody speaks of remarkable things, by Jon McGregor

Gripping, so far. Simply but well written - intricate, but uncomplicated, and poetic in parts

Liking it, lots
 
hotelinsane said:
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
For the millionth time.
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there are lots of others you know

they lend them for free in what remains of the libraries

move on up :) put the ice axe down as wel.....
 
Finished Miami Blues by Charles Willeford.

Great stuff. An object lesson in how to structure a crime novel. Facts can be beautiful when it's all hardboiled.

What a fascinating life Willeford led.

Now I'm going to read He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond, or maybe Shah of Shahs by Ryszard Kapuscinski.
 
Victorian London: The Life of a City, 1840-1870 - Liza Picard.

It's really, really good. :cool: Although it's about London, much of what it has to say applies to other cities of the time as well. It's very informative, nicely researched and very well-written. I'd recommend it. :cool:
 
Finished He Died With His Eyes Open. All in all, it was disappointing. The detective in the Factory novels is a fascinating character, but there's something very flat and old-fashioned about Raymond's characterisation of British life, which might be a consequence of the fact that he lived abroad for so long, and that his much-vaunted links to the underworld had run out by the time he returned and become literary underworld links and tall stories told in The Coach and Horses.

Having 80s hoodlums speak like 50s Kings Road slags is badly misjudged, and there's some really jarring cod psychopathology thrown in for good measure.

I'm beginning to think his first, The Crust On Its Uppers, is by far the best thing he did.
 
I'm reading Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys. I'm really enjoying it but I find it quite oppressively sad in places. There are some really eloquent and though provoking passages in it like this one:
Please, please, monsieur et madame, mister, missis and miss, I am trying so hard to be like you. I know I don't succeed, but look how hard I try. Three hours to choose a hat; every morning an hour and a half trying to make myself look like everybody else. Every word I say has chains round its ankles; every thought I think is weighted with heavy weights. Since I was born, hasn't every word I've said, every thought I've thought, everything I've done, been tied up, weighted, and chained? And, mind you, I know that with all this I don't succeed. Or I succeed in flashes only too damned well. . . . But think how hard I try and how seldom I dare. Think -- and have a bit of pity. That is, if you ever think, you apes, which I doubt.
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Almost finsihed it, think i will go for something lighter next
 
Dubversion said:
it's just astonishing, isn't it? :)
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It's just put a huge smile on me. You read all these books, they're great, you like the atmosphere or the memories they're making, then every so often, but not that often, you read something like this. So much stuff these days is machine-tooled, you forget what handmade is like :)
 
Dirty Martini said:
It's just put a huge smile on me. You read all these books, they're great, you like the atmosphere or the memories they're making, then every so often, but not that often, you read something like this. So much stuff these days is machine-tooled, you forget what handmade is like :)
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exactly. the premise is entertaining enough, but to marry it to such a fantastic style, to enable you to get inside Lionel's thought processes but in a way that seems just totally natural - that's phenomenal.

his other stuff is great too
 
just finished Queen Camilla by Sue Townsend, have to say i was really disappointed by it and had to remind myself several time during reading that it wasn't written by Ben Elton :(

not a patch on Adrian Mole.
 
Just finished J-Pod by Douglas Coupland - really, really enjoyed it. A funny Coupland book makes a change from his recent output. Have the Gum Thief to read which is clearly going to be one of his more, what's the word, emotional for the what of a better word, efforts - am svaing that as a treat though.

Am reading "This Book Will Save Your Life" atm - am not sure if it won't get on my wick quite soon though...:confused:
 
Just finished Atonement - what a book that was, fantastic - 8.5/10

Think i'll start on Ham & Rye by Charles Bukowski now.
 
Fledgling said:
Well I've started Borhers Karamazov finally, bought it in March. Was tempted to put it off because I am perturbed by large books but buying something and not reading it is bad and more importantly this might turn out to be one of the greatest books I've read.
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Barking_Mad said:
Just finished Dostoevsky's - 'House of The Dead'. Very interesting read of prison life in Siberia!

Next up, Dostoevsky's - 'The Brothers Karamazov'.

996 pages to go!
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Well what did you think of it? Sad to say, I never had the patience to finish my 'great russian novel', so I copped out and settled for some crime noir Chandler instead... :oops:

Thing is, even though those huge novels are a bit intimidating and takes a while to get into- I tend to just njet over the looong, triple russian names that all sound the same when you're not used to that sort of thing anyway- If you're determined enough to plow through the tome all the way to the bitter end, it ends up being one of the greatest books you've ever read and the flowery, 18th century language is beautiful and you just want to cry and read the damn thing over again...
At least that's what I felt when finishing the Master And Margarita...
Bulgakhov rocks... Perhaps one of my favourite books ever, that... :)
 
i was reading lady something by margraret atwood, but it's pretty boring. it's the first thing of hers i've read, and i'm fairly turned off. people tend to like her, but i can't figure out why yet?
 
henrytheoctopus said:
i was reading lady something by margraret atwood, but it's pretty boring. it's the first thing of hers i've read, and i'm fairly turned off. people tend to like her, but i can't figure out why yet?
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Atwood is generally fantastic, but she's got a few duds among her massive output- you just have to find (and stick with) the good stuff- Try "The Blind Assassin" for example, which is brilliant...

However, I know nothing can be loved or liked by everyone- Follow your instincts and see what kind of books you like, regardless of critical acclaim/scorn there will always be some books and authors which "won't be for you", IYSWIM... The trick is to find those who are, and read them...
Then let everybody else have their opinions, only you know what you like.
 
Reading Al Gore's Assault on Reason, ok so far although far too focused on how great the US and its constitution is...
 
i like to give things second, third even fourth chances. my flatmate has the one you recommended, so i'll give it a go. i'm currently not reading anything at the moment anyway, i need something new...
 
douglas coupland's latest - the gum thief

interesting, liking it so far.
story telling within stories through letters.
 
currently reading and loving Kate Atkinsons 'One Good Turn' :cool:
really pleased that i found something i actually wanted to read on my book shelf, i was just about to give up all hope and spend loads of money at amazon :rolleyes:
 
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