*What book are you reading ?

[Vintage Paw]

Currently reading (for pleasure, which is considering the amount of uni reading I have to do) The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and am enjoying it muchly.

 

[sojourner]

Stephen Fry - The Liar and the Hippopotamus

 

[Pie 1]

Currently half way through Self Help by Edward Docx.
It's really very enjoyable.

Impressively confident & fluid writing for only his 2nd novel (not read his other one).
Great characters & structure, superb discriptve detail in the settings - his pictures of London & NY are spot on so I must presume that his St Petersberg is also.
It's witty in the right places, knowing without being smug or arch, and does a very nice line in melancholy.

Think he going to be one to watch if he keeps up this standard.

 

[Nikkormat]

Just finished The Civil War: The War of the Three Kingdoms 1638-1660 by Trevor Royle. I started it in May

About the begin reading Setting The Desert On Fire, T.E. Lawrence and Britain's secret war in Arabia, 1916-1918.

 

[idioteque]

 

[TheDave]

The Ancestor's Tale - Richard Dawkins

Finally got round to reading it and I haven't put it down since, starts quite slowly explaining the format of the book, technical stuff but then it changes to some wonderful flowing prose that mixes advanced biology neatly into a way the layman can understand. Although most people know Dawkins for his anti-religious stuff, his works on biology and evolution are where he really shines.

 

[chooch]

The Collected Stories of John Cheever. Decent enough so far...

Better than decent. There are some great stories in here, though at least half can be reduced to New England family squanders old money or quiet suburban man does something weird.

He can turn a perfect sentence'n'all.

 

[foamy]

Case Histories - Kate Atkinson. I think she is my new favourite thing ever

 

[foo]

i like Kate Atkinson too you could also try Behind the Scenes at the Museum (i think that's what it's called)

i'm reading Russell Brand's Booky Wook. one son gave it to the other son for his birthday and i've nicked it

and i'm enjoying it.

 

[foamy]

foo - i've read behind the scenes and One Good Turn so bought everything else she ever wrote and am making my way through it.
Let me know if 'My Booky Wook' is good, i'm not Brands biggest fan but i'm intrigued about the book

 

[SpookyFrank]

I'm reading Dostoevsky's 'the devils' for the second time. It's the sort of book that only really makes sense when you've already read it and you know what it's about

 

[foo]

foo - i've read behind the scenes and One Good Turn so bought everything else she ever wrote and am making my way through it.
Let me know if 'My Booky Wook' is good, i'm not Brands biggest fan but i'm intrigued about the book

well i'm enjoying it. as i read it, i make sure i'm speaking like him in my head. cos it's fun.

im not too sure i believe all his stuff about herion and crack (quite what a mess/an addict he was) but i'm not sure why i'm unsure...something doesn't quite ring true.

i still like what he does with words/language though, on telly and in this book. and laughed out loud at the 'Drug and Drink(s)' musings at the beginning. give it a go, then tell me what you think!

 

[El Jefe]

The extracts I read in the paper were wonderful - very funny, but also quite honest and thoughtful. I've always taken his addiction claims etc at face value (I remember hearing about him at the time), but others doubt it.

 

[foo]

The extracts I read in the paper were wonderful - very funny, but also quite honest and thoughtful. I've always taken his addiction claims etc at face value (I remember hearing about him at the time), but others doubt it.

thing is, i remember Brand from when my boys first got into him - the MTV club stuff and his RE:Brand thing (my eldest has been Brand's Biggest Fan for years ). and even though he seemed pissed etc. i have been around both heroin and crack addicts, and he just didn't seem to behave like an addict.

sorry, that probably doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[El Jefe]

It does

Maybe he just had enough money to support himself through it? If you're not scrabbling around for money to keep yourself going, a lot of the problems are eased and you can probably function better in 'normal' life. Or is that a bit simplistic?

 

[foo]

It does

Maybe he just had enough money to support himself through it? If you're not scrabbling around for money to keep yourself going, a lot of the problems are eased and you can probably function better in 'normal' life. Or is that a bit simplistic?

not at all, you're probably right. anyway, my doubting doesn't take anything away from the book being a cracking good yarn!

(i said that like him in my head)

 

[mrs quoad]

Criminology at the Crossroads. Feminist Readings in Crime and Justice came through from Amazon yesterday.

For the first time in ages, I'm actually thoroughly excited. It's an old-ish book, but the list of authors and their topics / chapters is absolutely mindblowing...

Gosh gosh gosh.

And it's MINEMINEMINE so I can mark it all in pencil

 

[Barking_Mad]

120 pages left of 'The Brothers K' - gtop banana read although I think i'd probably need to read it 2 or 3 times to get the full picture.

 

[no-no]

Tau Zero - Poul Anderson

 

[Larry O'Hara]

Criminology at the Crossroads. Feminist Readings in Crime and Justice came through from Amazon yesterday.

For the first time in ages, I'm actually thoroughly excited. It's an old-ish book, but the list of authors and their topics / chapters is absolutely mindblowing...

Gosh gosh gosh.

And it's MINEMINEMINE so I can mark it all in pencil

just as I suspected.

 

[Larry O'Hara]

Nothing specific yet, but in a month's time I will for sure have back in my possession my library, including 10,000+ books that have been in storage for 3 years.

 

[cliche guevara]

The Long Dark Teatime Of The Soul - Douglas Adams

Apparently it's his worst book, but by anyone else's standards that means it's fucking excellent. Only about 20 pages in thoug so will withold judgement for now. Didn't think that the first Dirk Gently book was anywhere near as good as H2G2 series though.

 

[mrs quoad]

YAWN!!! Sounds like fair comment, cliche

I found it just a wee bit painful. But that was - admittedly - roughly 20 years ago

 

[nks487]

Humm, Just finished Lee Child "The Killing Floor" in 5hrs this evening with breaks to check if the cat wanted to come in - can anyone beat me? .

I have "The Looming Towers" Lawrence Wright and "The God Delusion" by Dawkins lined up. I've been told that "God Delusion" by Dawkins is a bit school mam'ish in tone. i.e. talking down to readers "I am more intelligent than you lot.." sort of thing.

I've read all of Dawkins other stuff. I liked it but then I am converted a long time ago.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Just finished the Bros. K.

Stunning stuff and at that end I seemed to get something in my eye, not sure what it was

Now reading Victor Pelevin's 'Babylon'

 

[Dillinger4]

I finished The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon last week.

Right now, I am reading The Philosophers Magazine.

 

[the button]

William Cobbett's Rural rides (which is about his various tours of England in the 1820s, rather than shagging farm animals). 19th century radicalism. Oh yeah.

 

[Dillinger4]

William Cobbett's Rural rides (which is about his various tours of England in the 1820s, rather than shagging farm animals). 19th century radicalism. Oh yeah.

Oh I saw a program about that on BBC2. With that really enthusiastic and earnest chap. The one who likes walking everywhere.

 

[the button]

Oh I saw a program about that on BBC2. With that really enthusiastic and earnest chap. The one who likes walking everywhere.

It's a good read, but the Penguin classic is prohibitively expensive -- over a tenner, IIRC. I got an old 2 volume Everyman edition off EBay for £3.

 

[bluestreak]

That sounds like something I want to read. I haven't read any Cobbett since A Level history!