Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

*What book are you reading ?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Charlie Drake said:
I'm not normally one for fiction but I've just finished reading the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Highly recommended if you're a fantasy geek :D You can stick yer Terry Pratchett's up yer arse - this is very good storytelling.
I'm going to read Dark Operations a book about the Real IRA when it comes out in paperback
Click to expand...


I hate the way Terry Pratchett has stamped fantasy with a certain reputation, if you notice fantasy is consistently in the ST best sellers list but it's never taken seriously.

Try Tad Williams' - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy (the trilogy, bane of the genre imo and don't even get me started on The Wheel Of Time) it is one of the best stories I have ever read, bar none.
 
Reading The President of Good and Evil, by Peter Singer. It's an examination of the ethics of Bush, from a moral philosophers point of view. He does a pretty good job of ripping him apart, tho it's a bit like shooting fish in a bucket. Reading it slowly cos it makes me want to shout and throw things.
 
Nearly finished reading "an unexpected light " by Jason Elliot, about his travels in Afganistan pre taliban takeover days.
Written with sympathy and respect for the Afgan people he portrays a beautiful evocative landscape even though the country has been wracked by 20 years of war,and its people are shown to be courageous, hospitable, honourable and kind .They don't share the same value system of the west and are all the better for it.
This book is a gem and I'd recommend it to anyone.
 
Just finished 'the life of pi' by Yann Martel, an excellent book. Also read 'the language instinct' by Steven Pinker which convinced me if I wasn't already convinced that we do have an inate grammar and that the language instinct has evolved through natural selection like the rest of us.
 
Half way through The Bookseller of Kabul. Must admit it's not as stimulating as I'd hoped. Maybe it just lost something in translation.
It's getting more interesting now and a bit sad too :(

Just bought The Wombles from Oxfam. Awwww, For a quid I could not resist :)
 
chegrimandi said:
Hegemony or Survival, Americas Quest for Global Dominance : Noam Chomsky,

only 20 pages in.......seems allright so far.... ;)
Click to expand...


Me too. My brother was in town and just lent it to me. I am on pg.19. I really like page one, regarding the biologist's viewpoint.

I believe many of us have thought the same thing--are we a mistake--biologically. I have thought this for years, though I do not voice it much because people get freaked-out.
 
Sebastian Faulks - Birdsong. Fantastic book: really enjoying it so far. :cool:


edit: I shouldn't comment on books after only reading the first couple of chapters. :rolleyes: Having got 3/4 of the way through it now, I have to say that Birdsong is one of the most remarkable, moving, powerful books I've ever read. It's not a book I'm "enjoying," in the sense of it being an amusing read - it's too sad and gory for that - but it's compulsive reading.
 
Airtight Willie and Me by Iceberg Slim

The best book of his I've read so far, but I'm glad i read the others first.

Heartbreaking and written with insight and compassion missing from his earlier works. When I read the chapter about Black Sue I wondered whether she was the shadow side of his mother, the recepticle for all the sadistic and vengeful fantasies he saved his mother from when he bacame a pimp and started to abuse women.

Only reading a chapter every few days. Tough going.

Also I have an audio tape of heart of Darkness by Conrad. I've been listening to 30 mins or so every other night before sleeping, but I end up thinking about it for at least another half hour so I think I might change strategy.
 
I finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time by Mark Haddon this morning

best thing Ive read in ages
very..clarifying, I suppose is the word
one of those books which leaves you with a profound feeling...a new experience, a different way of seeing things

Im sure it will remain prominent in my thoughts for some time
 
Have read a lot recently, but short books.
Gulliver's travels
For the Good of the Cause
The Wayward Bus
To a God Unknown

And some Discworld! Woohoo, needed something a bit light-hearted so read Soul Music and Small Gods.

At present looking at some of Steinbeck's early work with The Pastures of Heaven and looking to read "In Dubious Battle".
 
At present going between

Loyalists - Peter Taylor
A decent account of the Loyalist
death squads/terrorists/gangsters/stout defenders of the community (take your pick of which one is reality, though I think its a combination). Though it does not go far enough indepth in places.

&

New Baby Care Book - Dr Miriam Stoppard
Very 1980's in places, especially the illustrations, good book for nervous first time parents like me though.
 
Cloud garden
Its about a couple of travelers that try and cross the darein gap and get kidnapped by gorillas, looks good so far.
 
A little while ago, I read 'A Secret History of the IRA' by Ed Moloney. It's a fascinating insight into how Gerry Adams dragged the IRA into the peace process - without the IRA realising what was happening!

I have just finished 'An Equal Music' by Vikram Seth, which is one of the best novels I have ever read. Extremely moving.
 
i'm actually reading a bestseller, which doesn't happen very often. :D
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
of course. ;)
 
Artemis Fowl trilogy - Eoin Colfer

This is so much fun! I love the authors sense of humour.
This book is wonderful, captivating, witty, exciting. Full of amazing inventions and magic and unforgettable characters.

Perfect for us grown-up kids :p
 
baby face said:
Cloud garden
Its about a couple of travelers that try and cross the darein gap and get kidnapped by gorillas, looks good so far.
Click to expand...

gorillas or guerillas? if it's the former, sounds cool!
 
jms said:
Im not reading anything just now

can someone reccomend me something?
Click to expand...

'Civilwarland in Bad Decline' by George Saunders (short stories), you'll love them.

'The Things They Carried' by Tim O'Brien (Vietnam short stories)

'Austerlitz' by WG Sebald (magnificent)

:)
 
Just read Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

It was really good, very funny, poignant and horrific but also a good quality read :)
 
jms said:
Im not reading anything just now

can someone reccomend me something?
Click to expand...

I just read this again yesterday, superior pulp fiction with psychoanalyticaly informed charater development (this 1962 book must have inspired both Fight Club, The Butcher Boy and The Sopranos) and explores how adolescents get involved in crime (of great interest to me), don't want to give away too much, but a seriously good page turner penned by a great author with a tragically short life. I can only imagine what he could have gone on to achieve had he lived to a ripe old age.

Would recommend to all.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...002-0913087-6055230?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

edited to say would recommend to all adults, not a kid's book.
 
The Villa, the Lake, the Meeting: Wannsee and the Final Solution by Mark Roseman. I bought it when I went to Wannsee with the school last year and it's the lead-up to and the minutes of the meeting where Heydrich, Eichmann etc. decided what to do about Jews in Nazi Germany. Quite chilling really.
 
I watched a recent interview with Mary Woronov and I had forgotten she had a major role in "Eating Raoul". I'd like to read this book too. I adore the Velvet Underground. I wish Niko was still alive--that voice!
 
Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre.

Even better on second reading. I had to go back to it because his use of language is stunning. I'm confused as to how he does it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

tommers
What (comics) are you reading right now?
2 3
Replies
62
Views
2K
tommers
tommers
Pickman's model
  • Poll
Dedication's what you need: the 2025 reading challenge thread
2 3 4 5
Replies
137
Views
3K
og ogilby
O
ska invita
Comfortable chairs you can read books in
2
Replies
35
Views
846
Hollis
Hollis
Eivets Rednow
What gives you writing inspiration/energy?
Replies
4
Views
150
Eivets Rednow
Eivets Rednow
frogwoman
Books everyone thinks are great but you hated (and vice versa)
3 4 5 6 7
Replies
206
Views
5K
Yuwipi Woman
Yuwipi Woman
Back
Top Bottom