*What book are you reading ?

[chegrimandi]

yeh Stupid White men is good as a readable intro to the issues...delve more Julie if you are interested.....



at moment reading Looking on Darkness by Andre Brink....(thanks Cancer Research 99p!!)...South African about apartheid etc....just got into it today.....weather set fair for tmw...park beckons book in hand!!

 

[Gumbert]

Just finished Mark Steel's a stand up history of the French Revolution: Viva La Revolution.

In which he concentrates on the central characters of Danton, Marat, Robespeirre, Desmoulines, and the gullotine. He also blasts the officially historians like Simon Scharma for their lies or omitions. I've now got more on the girondins, jacobins and my favourites the san-cullotes(sp) Plus his humour is evident throughout.

One thing that also applied to the peasantry was the corvee, which involved them spending one day a week building and maintaining local roads. This system was introduced throughout France in 1737, as the desire for roads was growing. And no doubt anyone who objected was told,'We can't go back to the days of state handouts if we expect a modern day transport system, so there is no alternative to a public/ peasant partnership.'

Great read.

 

[chegrimandi]

given my location gumbert may have to check that book out!!

 

[proud american]

"Your Mother Naked"

by
Sheeza Bigun

 

[pbman]

Currently reading Ann Coulters new book Treason.

And every think you thought you knew about Joe McCArthy is a lie. LIberals have done to him and his reputaion, exacly what they acuse him of doing.

How's that for irony.

 

[Julie]

Originally posted by chegrimandi
yeh Stupid White men is good as a readable intro to the issues...delve more Julie if you are interested.....

I am chegrimandi - any suggestions?

 

[Orang Utan]

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry - only on the 5th page but I'm charmed already

 

[jamies]

I'm reading my mate's mum's book called After Breathless...it's shit, quite frankly. Will put a brave face on it though when telling her what I thought of it.

Jamie

 

[ICB]

Use of Weapons - Iain M Banks, having recently read Player of Games, Consider Phlebas and State of the Art - good stuff, I'm going to read them all

Also reading The BFG by Roald Dahl and LotR by JRRT to my boys most evenings.

 

[jamies]

The best book i've read in ages:

REALLY enjoyed 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.....for me one of few books with a good ending.

Re Nina: To Kill A Mockingbird is a great book, the language is stunning and the entire novel is so visual, you can feel the warm breezes

Jamie

 

[J77]

Great Expectations - Charlie Dickens

I'm on the second part of Pip's tale, and so far, it's a brilliant book...

Better than HP anyway

 

[Dubversion]

just finished toby litt's deadkidsongs, which i thought was absolutely brilliant, but the ending bothers me.

is it just an elaborate version of an 'it was all a dream' storyline cop out?

i can see that in a way it's maybe belittling their escapades - at the end of the day there's no way those things would really happen, and it shows their fantasies for what they were?

but it still seems a bit weak somehow..



anyway =

now i'm simultaneously reading Shakey - the rather hefty Neil Young biog - and Nelson Algren's Man With The Golden Arm, because it's been on my shelf for about 4 years and last night it actually fell on my head when i was finishing deadkidsongs (im not making this up) so i took that as a sign

 

[sojourner]

Originally posted by Dubversion

now i'm simultaneously reading Shakey

i bought that couple of weeks ago, but its been gathering dust since...i think its going to be more of a dip-into-now-n-then kinda book for me tho...great pics tho!

am about to start on charlotte gray, sebastian faulks...if it's anywhere NEAR as brilliant as birdsong i'll be happy as a happy thing can be

 

[Orang Utan]

Originally posted by sojourner

am about to start on charlotte gray, sebastian faulks...if it's anywhere NEAR as brilliant as birdsong i'll be happy as a happy thing can be

Nooooo! It's sub-Mill & Boon insipid sappy rubbish - Birdsong is a classic, but Charlotte Gray will taint your memory of it. Don't bother, please, you'll regret it.

 

[flypanam]

At the mo i'm reading

August Nimitz - Marx and Engels Contribution to the democratic breakthrough. Excellent stuff.

and will be starting soon

Monica Ali - Brick Lane

 

[wiskey]

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett.

Its light reading. and nothing more, its humerous in places and light enough to miss a page and it really not matter.

so shuddup all of you

 

[Julie]

The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer.

Yet another Australian media magnate without a conscience.

 

[liampreston]

Re-reading The Blind Assassin at the moment.

 

[Ted]

'Island' by Aldous Huxley: making steady progress with that one.

Just finished 'Carter beats the Devil', entertaining but read too much like a prospective Hollywood movie script, all in all a little too polished and shamefully put on a level with 'The Woman in White' by Collins in the Telegraph literary review. Have they no soul.

 

[liampreston]

I'm convincing myself that this time I can read "The Blind Assassin" and understand the ending.....

 

[sojourner]

Originally posted by Orang Utan
Nooooo! It's sub-Mill & Boon insipid sappy rubbish - Birdsong is a classic, but Charlotte Gray will taint your memory of it. Don't bother, please, you'll regret it.

ooohhhhhhh....... what dya have to go n say that for? i was really lookin forward to it. well, obviously, being a stubborn cow, im gonna read it anyway. i may well have a different perception of it than u. bloody hope so anyway. not that i take any notice of critics, but most of the reviews iv read about it have been raving about it. ill let u know...

 

[Orang Utan]

Tell us what you think about it afterward but everyone I know who read it was disappointed by it - the heroine is so pathetic - Birdsong was so impressive, it was quite a shock to read something so mediocre. Sorry to put you off but I didn't want you to waste any of your precious time!

 

[sojourner]

OU - aww thanks for the concern...ill let ya know

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

'India- A History' by John Keay. Thought it was about time I read something about it that didn't start with the British arriving.

 

[Ciara]

'The Trial' by Franz Kafka. Not the best book ever but pretty good. Was gonna attempt to read it in German but then got some sense.

 

[Dr. Christmas]

Currently reading 'The Prince of Wales', new novel by John Williams of cardiff dead fame. It;s atypical JW book so far.

Recently also: the History of the British Empire by Lawrence James (right wing old nostalgic so and so). And I;ve got Joseph Stieglitz on Globlisation next on the bookshelf...

 

[Xtine]

Tutankhamen by Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. non-fiction.
still struggling with Serpent in the Sky by John Anthony West. can't tear thru that - have to pause and digest after almost every page.

 

[chemical_girl__]

i found a clockwork orange a bit.... confusing. im not sure what the point is......

bezza, maybe i just missed the point, but i certainly didnt think it was as profound as 1984 or brave new world........



i think -- burgess is trying to explore what human nature is; how much we are in control of it, how much is mere programming, what affects how we are, and whether there is some divine reason behind our actions.......

which ok, does sound quite profound....... but i didnt think burgess was arguing for any side in particular, which wpuld have been nice. i mean, i dont wanna be told what to think, but it needs SOME angling........ and the slang style - it's refreshingly honest, and i appreciate the stark contrast between the style and the subtext, but i think it detracts from it, more than anything. and alex is soooo violent - it just alienates the reader from the questions burgess is asking......



pretty good, but not that great.

 

[Klaatu]

latest reading

Like most of you, I'm probably reading more than one thing at a time, but my latest passion is Moby Dick, by Herman Melville.

Found a beautiful, small (near pocket-sized, so I can take it everywhere) hardcover edition (published in Hungary) for US$5, in a used-book store (in Birmingham, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit). Quite a steal, I think.

Had seen the classic Gregory Peck/Richard Basehart (50's) film many times since childhood, of course, and read the "Classics Illustrated" (comic-book, sorta), but never read the actual, original book.

First thing I noticed is what fine sentences this man wrote! If I were a teacher of English...Melville's name would be rolling off my lips.

 

[Klaatu]

Required reading

How many of you are like me, and have found that so many of the things (no, not just the "classics" they made you read in school) that some folks say you must read are utter tripe?

For example, as much as I love his other stuff (Midnight's Children, Imaginary Homelands--by all means, read this one), I just cannot get very far into Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, which earned him a fatwa, and is probably what he's best known for! Has anyone actually read this?

And what about writers like Pynchon, where you need a guidebook just to read the goddamned book?

Tell me I'm not alone, please!