*What book are you reading ?

[harlow]

"Three Cups of Tea"

 

[Roadkill]

Judith Flanders - Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain

David Ross - The Steam Locomotive: A History

David Kynaston - Austerity Britain, 1945-51

 

[jonnyd1978]

Just finished "Suite Francais" by Irene Nemirovsky. Excellent! An account of the occupation of France during WWII written by someone who was there and who was killed at Austwitz. Only recently translated into English and published using the bits she had written and her collection of notes. It's a fiction but I'm sure alot was based on her own experiences and what she saw going on around.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Just finished 'Babylon' by Victor Pelevin. Excellent book if not a bit loaded with bizarre sybology, some of which went over my head. However it's worth reading for the description of how advertising, television and the media work, which is superb in itself.

 

[ViolentPanda]

"Japrocksampler" by Julian Cope, and "Fringe and Fortune: The Role of Critics in High and Popular Art"by Wally Monroe Shrum Jr.

 

[kyser_soze]

'The Reality Dysfunction' by Peter Hamilton, recently finished 'Galactic North' by Reynolds and 'Conventions of War' by Walter J Williams...both good SF...got Neutronium Alchemist and Adam Robert's new one, Splinter...

 

[moonsi til]

I just finished 'Half a Yellow Sun' which I adored. Now have just strarted Stuart Maconies 'Pies and Prejudice'.

I have a 2 week beach holiday at the end of January and Im looking forward to spending my days leisure reading.

 

[El Jefe]

Michael Chabon's Gentlemen Of The Road (working title, 'Jews With Swords', ), a kind of knowing Jewish swashbuckler...

 

[El Jefe]

"Japrocksampler" by Julian Cope,

I'm ashamed to say I think I learned more 19th and 20th century Japanese history in that book than I'd ever learned previously

 

[Dillinger4]

Michael Chabon's Gentlemen Of The Road (working title, 'Jews With Swords', ), a kind of knowing Jewish swashbuckler...

I saw that reviewed! I found the idea behind it fascinating, and Michael Chabon is a great writer.

Would you recommend it? Coz I might put it on my shopping list.

 

[El Jefe]

It's short and not particularly substantial, but it's lots of fun, like The Princess Bride was, for example. Half-price in hardbook in Waterstones at the moment, too

 

[D'wards]

Just starting "If you liked School, You'll love work" by Irvine Welsh, i normally race through his stuff, so should be done in a few days...

 

[Barking_Mad]

Leo Tolstoy - A Confession & Other Religious Writings

*hearts Tolstoy*

 

[miss direct]

I just read Hotel World by Ali Smith. It was a bit strange but I enjoyed some parts.

 

[baffled]

Just starting Daniel Johnson's White Queen and Red King :How the cold war was fought on the chessboard, I have read a lot of positive reviews so I am looking forward to it.

 

[tufty79]

I just read Hotel World by Ali Smith. It was a bit strange but I enjoyed some parts.

ooh that's one of my faves have you read any of her other short stories?

 

[JerryLundegaard]

Finished 'The Double' by Dostoyevsky, excellent though claustrophobic and not always enjoyable read, and I must say I was glad it was only 150 pages long.
I've also nearly finished 'The Gambler' by the same author which is very enjoyable and surprisingly straightforward.

 

[Dillinger4]

The Double is a brilliant story.

The way Dostoyevsky writes is more than a bit tedious though.

 

[cyberfairy]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cock-Lane-Ghost-Haunting-Johnsons/dp/0750938692

One of the most exciting books I have ever read-and true! The epilogue was the the most scary and thrilling thing ever...

 

[Dirty Martini]

An Introduction to English Poetry by James Fenton. Useful and more than a bit interesting.

 

[bodach]

A Scots Quair by Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

 

[May Kasahara]

S P Somtow - Vampire Junction

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cock-Lane-Gh.../dp/0750938692

One of the most exciting books I have ever read-and true! The epilogue was the the most scary and thrilling thing ever...

That sounds pretty good! Plus it makes me chuckle that the Amazon link says Cock Lane Ghost Haunting Johnsons

 

[El Jefe]

Michael Chabon's Gentlemen Of The Road (working title, 'Jews With Swords', ), a kind of knowing Jewish swashbuckler...

Actually, I've got bored with this. As great as Chabon is, he can't seem to do the basic swashbuckling thrills a book like this needs

 

[lontok2005]

Just started to read 'The Line of Beauty' by Alan Hollinghurst. So far, so fucking amazing! Not a dud sentence in nearly a hundred pages. Absolutely stunning, absorbing prose.

I love it when a book really sucks me in

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I've got several on the go. I'm reading two aloud to Blind Lemon at the moment (Far from The Sodding Crowd & a collection of Wodehouse's Jeeves novels) and the new collection of the Mitford sisters letters, Necropolis and short stories by Muriel Spark for myself.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

The Double is a brilliant story.

The way Dostoyevsky writes is more than a bit tedious though.

Russian doesn't translate well.

 

[Dillinger4]

Russian doesn't translate well.

The other Russian novels I have read don't seem that bad.

Tolstoy seems to translate really well in fact, as does Lermontov and Solzhenitsyn. Gogol less so, maybe, but Dostoyevsky is just awful to plough through sometimes.

Although I am in no way saying he is shit.

 

[Dirty Martini]

Equal Danger by Leonardo Sciascia.

 

[Dirty Martini]

Equal Danger by Leonardo Sciascia.

Is great. Sciascia does irony like no other writer -- it drives his books.

This one isn't as strong as the others of his I've read, but still better than most others'.

 

[Orang Utan]

Russian doesn't translate well.

I've always been very impressed by Russian translations - they've always read much more clearly than the English equivalent. Not that I know any Russian.