*What book are you reading ?

[mrkikiet]

Originally posted by bristle-krs
it's co-written with fellow snapper joao silva.

indeed.

fucking excellent book about outsiders getting drawn into the hostel wars,

in all honesty though, they chose to get drawn in. it was their decision, as shown by the fact some of them did leave when it got too much. they also were prepared to travel round the world photographing conflict

you'll remember the gruesome pics of the time of a fat nazi in too-tight khaki shorts and gunshot wounds half-fallen out of his car. well, these are the guys who took those pictures.

i was a bit young then, but weren't the really significant pictures the ones of them actually being shot that some film camera-man had taken? Marinovich wasn't there at the time of the execution but got some good follow ups as other photographers fled.

that vulture picture is gruesome.

 

[easy g]

In the middle of Hey Nostradamus by Coupland and being blown away again

thing is I'm kind of loathe to read some of his other stuff in case it 'spoils' the 2 books that have touched me so much..

read Magnus Mills - 'The Scheme for Full Employment' last week and thoroughly enjoyed it..quite light hearted, very little England, a book that is sleek and pared to the bone but with ideas there as well, there is something I like a lot about his work.

 

[STFC]

He Kills Coppers by Jake Arnott, loosely based on the story of Harry Roberts. A very good read, better than The Long Firm in my opinion.

Read this bit on the train this morning, it made me smile:

Mick realised that all these people were against so many things. Against the state, the police, the rich. Against animal testing, whaling, nuclear weapons, pollution. Against capitalism, Thatcher, Reagan. Against racism, imperialism, fascism, sexism, heterosexism. But, above all, they were against each other. They were always squabbling among themselves. Always arguing about the best course of action but never getting round to doing anything. Mick knew what he had to do.

 

[soulrebel]

Peter Kropotkin - The Conquest Of Bread. For once i am reading a political theorist i (mostly) agree with...

 

[zora]

Originally posted by onemonkey
finished Breakfast of Champions - fan-fkin-tastic!

Agreed! Thanks for getting me hooked on it on that long journey from Essex to Brixton. Finished it last night.

I'm now reading a proof copy of a book by David Peace called GB84 which is set in, surprise, 1984 and is about the miners' strike. Looking very interesting so far. (I generally quite like my history/politics nicely wrapped in a good novel, even if I'm reading non-fiction more often these days than I used to.)

 

[Elpenor]

Breakfast of Champions is obviously the urbanite book of choice, as I've been reading it myself, and am similarly loving it too.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Originally posted by geordietim
in all honesty though, they chose to get drawn in. it was their decision, as shown by the fact some of them did leave when it got too much. they also were prepared to travel round the world photographing conflict

totally, that's exactly what i was getting at, they always had the option to walk.

Originally posted by geordietim
i was a bit young then, but weren't the really significant pictures the ones of them actually being shot that some film camera-man had taken? Marinovich wasn't there at the time of the execution but got some good follow ups as other photographers fled.

i remember some stills that were in the independent magazine at the time, the kevin carter one of the bearded guy trying to surrender, and some others i think. marinovich was there early enough to snap the corpses.

 

[bluestreak]

i remember those from my youth too - i tore the pages out of the independent magazine and stuck them on the wall in my bedroom.

highly inspirational.

 

[white rabbit]

[edit. on second thoughts ...]

 

[DaveCinzano]

Originally posted by bluestreak
i remember those from my youth too - i tore the pages out of the independent magazine and stuck them on the wall in my bedroom

spooky

me too...

 

[rubbershoes]

The war zone - A jolly tale of incest

 

[Dubversion]

Originally posted by rubbershoes
The war zone - A jolly tale of incest

is that the one tim roth made the movie of? a laff-riot, that one...

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Originally posted by onemonkey
started Death & the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

A Kiev writer and his pet penguin gets tangled up with the ukranian mafia after the obituaries he has been hired to write about prominent local politicians finally start seeing their way into print. very black comedy with a twist of penguin.

I have a Claim To Fame on that one, as a friend of mine used to work in the same Kyiv office as the author's girlfriend. Or something like that.

 

[Iam]

I'm just about to start The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy, who's rapidly becoming a firm favourite of mine.

In future though, I'm gonna try and buy books in the right order. My order of reading Ellroy's LA Quartet will be 3rd, 2nd, 1st then 4th

 

[Masseuse]

I am reading Hurricane - The Life and Times of Alex Higgins. He's a nutter.

Next is Ronnie - about Ronnie O'Sullivan.

And then I have two volumes of Steve Davis to get through.

I have decided to investigate the phenomenon and psyche of the snooker player.

 

[BEARBOT]

Iam..u are in for a treat with "the black dahlia" im not a fan of james ellroys hard boiled detective fiction(just not my genre)but TRUE CRIME..now we are talkin turkey! i especially love when he discribes/evokes his misguided teenage years as a "sulphate fuelled serial panty sniffer" ...this is probably THEE greatest true crime book ever...are people almost starting to forget about "in cold blood" since this came out???
ellroy is also up there with ed sanders "garbage people" about manson and that other book about erm "the real black dalhia" erm published by gods own "AMOK press" beleive it or not it IS well written..sure its sordid and sleazy and cheap but that is the reality of this world and we are all runnin around like chickens tryin to distract ourselves and prove otherwise.. erm see ya in "chinatown" kids

 

[rubbershoes]

Originally posted by Dubversion
is that the one tim roth made the movie of? a laff-riot, that one...

Dat’s the one. I haven’t seen the film but will dig it up after I’ve finished the book

 

[Masseuse]

Does Cliff Thorburn have an autobiography out? Or that other canadian snooker player? Bill Werbenick?

 

[milesy]

not currently reading anything, but have just ordered Ben Richards latest novel "The Mermaids and the Drunks" and can't wait for it to arrive as I have loved all his other books, even to the point of re-reading a few of them which is something I very rarely do.

 

[Orang Utan]

Originally posted by BEARBOT
Iam..u are in for a treat with "the black dahlia" im not a fan of james ellroys hard boiled detective fiction(just not my genre)but TRUE CRIME..now we are talkin turkey! i especially love when he discribes/evokes his misguided teenage years as a "sulphate fuelled serial panty sniffer" ...this is probably THEE greatest true crime book ever...are people almost starting to forget about "in cold blood" since this came out???

The Black Dahlia is fiction. It is part of the LA Quartet (The Big Nowhere, White Jazz and LA Confidential are the others). It was based on the unsolved murder of actress Elizabeth Short. It is also a kind of tribute to his mother who was also murdered horribly and the killet nevr caught.
I think the book you read was Ellroy's My Dark Places, in which he describes his mother's murder. It is a brilliant book and one of the most painfully honest memoirs I have ever read - sometimes you are shocked at the things Ellroy is willing to admit to, such as the panty-sniffing! It must have been a cathartic experience for him to write it.

 

[BEARBOT]

yes..you are right..it was "my dark places" that impressed me so much..i got confused about various james ellroy titles cos i hadnt slugged down any coffee..just went straight to the computer upon awaking

ps..im sure it might be hard for many of us to write something so honest about ourseleves..let alone agree to have it published!

 

[Orang Utan]

I dunno - there's a few people on here who would give Ellory a run for their money.......

 

[onemonkey]

Originally posted by Masseuse
And then I have two volumes of Steve Davis to get through.

Two volumes about Steve Interesting Davis?!

Give me a break.

 

[Perillous]

Just opened Praxis by Fay Weldon, but I'd just like to say how much I'm enjoying this thread! I'll never be stuck for something to read ever again - cheers everyone

 

[chegrimandi]

just finished The Face of War by Martha Gellhorn -

she is a brilliant war correspondent, this is an anthology of some of her work and its superb....but sad.....

 

[Rollem]

smoke screen

by robert sabbag

 

[Nina]

The Hours

Michael Cunningham.

Surprisngly bad.
I'm thinking of giving up 50 pages in, which I never do with books

Just too many long sentences I think...which means by the time I get to the end, I can't remember what the beginning of the sentence was about.

 

[mrkikiet]

continuing on my South African tip. Waiting for the Barbarians by Coetzee. superior to Disgrace so far...

 

[(empty)]

i keep with samuel beckett - malone muert (malone is dying)
And Mother from Maximo Gorky.. heheh russian writers forever!

 

[newharper]

I just found ' things can only get better' by Jon o' Farrell in a Charity shop this morning, already about half way through and it's laugh aloud funny as well as being a great diatribe against thatch.