*What book are you reading ?
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foo
dirtysweet
Originally posted by Rollem
its not so much the writing style, more the fact that its tanslated i think foodont know about it being unable to be printed in china, but wouldn't be surprised. have read a fair few chinese "women" books, and am shocked everytime. and we think we've got problems being women in the west
Nah, don't think it was that which grated, as I've read quite a few books in translation. Chekhov springs to mind - I love his work. I think it was the 'journo style' tbh. I prefer writing with more feeling/depth. Saying this, perhaps the book worked precicely because it was written in this way. Dunno <shrug> lol, I've been doing a lot of shrugging today
I agree with what you say about we Western women thinking we've got problems. Puts our grievances into perspective doesn't it?! I had to put the book down a couple of times in stunned horror, especially when reading the contemporary stories. Somehow this kind of stuff seems easier to deal with when it's 'distant history'.
Miss Potter
hates mice
I've just started reading "Sickened" by Julie Gregory, which is about her childhood being ruined because her mother suffered from Munchausens by Proxy
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
I knew him when he was a little boy....he was always witty, even then......genuinely funny chap. I've heard him compared to Swift after his first book, which was perhaps a tad OTT, but he's funny and he can certainly write well.
Lollybelle
recorderist
Just finished a holiday reading binge, which took in:
Symposium by Muriel Spark - sparkling wit, a top quick read.
Don't tell me the truth about Love by Dan Rhodes - you've gotta love Dan Rhodes, these are kinda macabre love stories apparently vaguely based on the Brothers Grimm - I'd also recommend Anthropology, his book of tiny short stories about crazy girlfriends.
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor - beautiful, poetic rendering of students and their neighbours in a northern town, it reminded me a bit of Pop by Kitty Aldridge.
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer - the blurb is all true, it's a fantastic, witty read that comes across like a new kind of novel - and the guy is only a tiny bit older than me!
and Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre - a top, funny and enjoyable read, I couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting.
Symposium by Muriel Spark - sparkling wit, a top quick read.
Don't tell me the truth about Love by Dan Rhodes - you've gotta love Dan Rhodes, these are kinda macabre love stories apparently vaguely based on the Brothers Grimm - I'd also recommend Anthropology, his book of tiny short stories about crazy girlfriends.
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor - beautiful, poetic rendering of students and their neighbours in a northern town, it reminded me a bit of Pop by Kitty Aldridge.
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer - the blurb is all true, it's a fantastic, witty read that comes across like a new kind of novel - and the guy is only a tiny bit older than me!
and Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre - a top, funny and enjoyable read, I couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting.
chegrimandi
associated with adultery
Originally posted by foo
Nah, don't think it was that which grated, as I've read quite a few books in translation. Chekhov springs to mind - I love his work. I think it was the 'journo style' tbh. I prefer writing with more feeling/depth. Saying this, perhaps the book worked precicely because it was written in this way. Dunno <shrug> lol, I've been doing a lot of shrugging today
I've read the book and heard her interviewed a couple of times and I think the detached (ish) style is just her trying to give full value to the womens stories and not put a spin etc on them....it could have come across as interfering/patronising to write more emotively IMHO, anyhow irrespective of the style the stories needed telling and she's done that so........thats the important thing isn't it?
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
never got a chance to go through my pa's ripperology books, but did pick up martin short's 'inside the brotherhood', which carries on from stephen knight's earlier 'the brotherhood', the groundbreaking expose of freemasons and all that shenanigans.
unfortunately short is a thoroughly inelegant writer, quick to use cliches and hackneyed stock phrases, and not a great explainer either - and more than anything he is a terrible advocate. his arguments are facetious, paradoxical, contradictory, half-formed, over-extrapolated and sometimes downright nonsensical. a real contrast to the passionate fluency of knight.
that said, it still contains a lot of interesting information, and there are some tempting threads i might follow up.
over xmas also read 'dude where's my country?' (better written than s.w.m. but with all the same flaws) and 'the left in history' (pub. pluto books, author willie something-or-other), which was a rather good overview of socialism, social democracy and other leftist traditions. there were mistakes and errors in analysis but it seemed broadly accurate in the areas i was familiar with, so i felt enlightened in the areas i was not - definitely a good starting point to reading into those subjects.
unfortunately short is a thoroughly inelegant writer, quick to use cliches and hackneyed stock phrases, and not a great explainer either - and more than anything he is a terrible advocate. his arguments are facetious, paradoxical, contradictory, half-formed, over-extrapolated and sometimes downright nonsensical. a real contrast to the passionate fluency of knight.
that said, it still contains a lot of interesting information, and there are some tempting threads i might follow up.
over xmas also read 'dude where's my country?' (better written than s.w.m. but with all the same flaws) and 'the left in history' (pub. pluto books, author willie something-or-other), which was a rather good overview of socialism, social democracy and other leftist traditions. there were mistakes and errors in analysis but it seemed broadly accurate in the areas i was familiar with, so i felt enlightened in the areas i was not - definitely a good starting point to reading into those subjects.
Swearing Nonna
Well-Known Member
I read this last year, I've enjoyed every book I've read of her's but found this one harder going.
Pages away from finishing Lanark - Alasdair Gray
We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families by Philip Gourevitch.
Everyone with even the slightest interest in Africa, particularly Rwanda/Burundi should have read this. If you haven't beg steal or borrow a copy. It shows all sorts, including the blindness of humanitarian aid agencies, as well as the enormity of the genocide in Rwanda, for which the Belgians can be partly thanked.
Everyone with even the slightest interest in Africa, particularly Rwanda/Burundi should have read this. If you haven't beg steal or borrow a copy. It shows all sorts, including the blindness of humanitarian aid agencies, as well as the enormity of the genocide in Rwanda, for which the Belgians can be partly thanked.
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
I read this too - very depressing reading indeed.
I would also recommend The Shadow Of The Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski - no less edifying but beautifully written.
Elpenor
The World Turned Upside Down
Just finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
Really liked it, but I think I might have heard a bit too much hype on it. Not to say it wasn't fantastic though. Loved all the classics references though!
Now reading House of Cards by Michael Dobbs, good paperback for the bus
Really liked it, but I think I might have heard a bit too much hype on it. Not to say it wasn't fantastic though. Loved all the classics references though!
Now reading House of Cards by Michael Dobbs, good paperback for the bus
just finished "watchman" and"a question of blood" by ian rankin. like rebus, but watchman is better IMO.
interviewed rankin a couple of days ago. thoroughly good bloke with a lot of good things to say about reading, literature and life.
now i'm reading "red rabbit" by tom clancy. never read one of his books before but thought i should just to see what it is ilke.
IMO it is badly written clunky sterotyped america-is-great lame-arsed claptrap.
i'm going to burn it hen i finish it and never read another word of his purile filth.
interviewed rankin a couple of days ago. thoroughly good bloke with a lot of good things to say about reading, literature and life.
now i'm reading "red rabbit" by tom clancy. never read one of his books before but thought i should just to see what it is ilke.
IMO it is badly written clunky sterotyped america-is-great lame-arsed claptrap.
i'm going to burn it hen i finish it and never read another word of his purile filth.
I can only read biography, Barefoot Doctor and peoples published diaries.
I cannot cope with other peoples fantasy worlds.
My inner dialogue evaporates on any attempt to read fiction.
I can however listen to a book at bedtime on Radio 4.
A much better way to read IMO.
Its "Far from the madding crowd" at the mo which Im having read at me.
I cannot cope with other peoples fantasy worlds.
My inner dialogue evaporates on any attempt to read fiction.
I can however listen to a book at bedtime on Radio 4.
A much better way to read IMO.
Its "Far from the madding crowd" at the mo which Im having read at me.
biography
skin - try reading From The Land Of Green Ghosts by Pascal Khoo Twee it's his autobiography.
starts with life in the hills of burma - he's from the paduang longneck tribe - then to uni in mandaly and the uprising in 1988 where he flees to the border and ends up studying english at cambridge uni.
it's a most compelling read. i interviewed him last year, he's a top bloke and now lives in london where he works as a human rights activist for burma.
Red Dust by ma jian is great too.
skin - try reading From The Land Of Green Ghosts by Pascal Khoo Twee it's his autobiography.
starts with life in the hills of burma - he's from the paduang longneck tribe - then to uni in mandaly and the uprising in 1988 where he flees to the border and ends up studying english at cambridge uni.
it's a most compelling read. i interviewed him last year, he's a top bloke and now lives in london where he works as a human rights activist for burma.
Red Dust by ma jian is great too.
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
The Blank Slate - Stephen Pinker - a new contribution to the ongoing nurture/nature debate. Certainly a lot of food for thought in here. Pinker tries to see through the politically loaded arguments and reclaim the argument for human nature from the extremists. Just started it though.
GushingRussian
New Member
High society by Ben Elton
It's the first B.E. book I've picked up and surprisingly good.
It's the first B.E. book I've picked up and surprisingly good.
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
You gotta be joking - haven;t read that one but the others I have read are shocking
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
Claire Tomalin's book on Samuel Pepys sounds ideal for you. A biography of a diarist. Great book
still ploughing through Stephen Miller's excellent Johnny Cash biograph, but also dipping into the McSweeney's music special, reading the odd - very odd - short from Tibor Fischer's Don't Read This Book If You're Stupid, and too many music magazines
The greek sophists by someone I can't remember, which is both interesting and boring at the same time. It's good to know about the other side from socrates etc, and I'm glad I've read chapters once I have done. But it's hardly what I'd call enjoyable reading.
1984 - Orwell, I've never read this before yesterday when I found it in MVC for like three quid, fucking excellent book. Massacred it in about 24hrs, the endings brilliant.
1984 - Orwell, I've never read this before yesterday when I found it in MVC for like three quid, fucking excellent book. Massacred it in about 24hrs, the endings brilliant.
foo
dirtysweet
Unix Tottie said:
Yeh, I couldn't be bothered to finish Alias Grace which is a shame because like you Unix, I usually enjoy Atwood's books.
I've just finished A Word Child (crap misleading title imo) Iris Murdoch. Such a complicated story in terms of the psychology of the characters. She writes extremely well about the complexity of emotions and motives. Every page is packed - and I felt exhausted a couple of times!
Next up. Five Boys* - Mick Jackson. I tried this before but got bored three pages in. As I can't find anything else to read I'll give it another go.
* I think this belongs to you Unix?
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