*What book are you reading ?
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hunnychild
procrastinatrix
Just finished Vernon God Little (so very good) and am now about 5 very short chapters into the Gormenghast trilogy. It's a monster of a tome so I'm not sure if I'll get through all three books, but it's compelling reading so far.
Mab
Kingston ON Canada
I am re-reading Charles Bukowski's "Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness (1972). A book of short stories.
I enjoy reading it on my bus rides, but it happened again. I cound not contain myself and burst out laughing hysterically and got off the bus to avoid further embarrassment. Although I noticed others were laughing with me.
I best read it at home. It is too funny,
I enjoy reading it on my bus rides, but it happened again. I cound not contain myself and burst out laughing hysterically and got off the bus to avoid further embarrassment. Although I noticed others were laughing with me.
I best read it at home. It is too funny,
onemonkey
winmonkey
bit late but Here's what i read in April:
Damsel in Distress - P G Wodehouse
Another seemingly effortless piece of Wodehouse brilliance. It is reassuring to know that he actually spent ages rewriting drafts, refining his lines and polishing his sparkling wit.
Dreaming War - Gore Vidal
A collection of essays about American Imperialism, blood for oil, other US outrages from WWII onwards.. Including an insiders account of the in junta in Guatemala at the bidding of United Fruit Company.
Time Travelling with Science and the Saints - George Erickson
A short book on how the church has always stood in the way of scientific progress and burnt, broken or banned many great men and their works. Ultimately, it's a little flimsy. Arthur Koestler's Sleepwalkers is better on Bruno, Gallieo, etc.
Context is Everything - Susan Engel
Memory is process not storage. I said more here
Exercises in Rethinking Innateness - Kim Plunkett & Jeffrey Elman
Hands-on companion to Rethinking Innnateness. Any cognitive psychologist who still doubts the central importance of connectionist models to cognitive theory is a fool.
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K Dick
What if Germany & Japan had won WWII? America would have an Eastern West-coast occupied by Japan & a Western East-Coast full of Germans.
The Feeling of What Happens - Antonio Damasio
Finally got round to reading this neurological speculation on the nature of consciousness. Happy with the broad way he was going but found his writing style very flat, unmemorable and uninspiring.
The Blank Slate - Steven Pinker
Finally finished it. The two years it took me to get round to the ending is an indication that this is good not that gripping. The writing is better than Damasio but the book is a broad. Chapters on Art and on Gender were the best.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
There is this boy. He is called Christopher. Apparently he's autistic but he seemed perfectly normal to me.
Damsel in Distress - P G Wodehouse
Another seemingly effortless piece of Wodehouse brilliance. It is reassuring to know that he actually spent ages rewriting drafts, refining his lines and polishing his sparkling wit.
Dreaming War - Gore Vidal
A collection of essays about American Imperialism, blood for oil, other US outrages from WWII onwards.. Including an insiders account of the in junta in Guatemala at the bidding of United Fruit Company.
Time Travelling with Science and the Saints - George Erickson
A short book on how the church has always stood in the way of scientific progress and burnt, broken or banned many great men and their works. Ultimately, it's a little flimsy. Arthur Koestler's Sleepwalkers is better on Bruno, Gallieo, etc.
Context is Everything - Susan Engel
Memory is process not storage. I said more here
Exercises in Rethinking Innateness - Kim Plunkett & Jeffrey Elman
Hands-on companion to Rethinking Innnateness. Any cognitive psychologist who still doubts the central importance of connectionist models to cognitive theory is a fool.
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K Dick
What if Germany & Japan had won WWII? America would have an Eastern West-coast occupied by Japan & a Western East-Coast full of Germans.
The Feeling of What Happens - Antonio Damasio
Finally got round to reading this neurological speculation on the nature of consciousness. Happy with the broad way he was going but found his writing style very flat, unmemorable and uninspiring.
The Blank Slate - Steven Pinker
Finally finished it. The two years it took me to get round to the ending is an indication that this is good not that gripping. The writing is better than Damasio but the book is a broad. Chapters on Art and on Gender were the best.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
There is this boy. He is called Christopher. Apparently he's autistic but he seemed perfectly normal to me.
theBEAST666
it is me, hehe
Mental Health Act Manual by Richard Jones.
Enthralling read.
Enthralling read.
theBEAST666
it is me, hehe
I read Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time too recently. Quite liked it. Didn't think it did justice to autism though. Interesting none the less.
rubbish. you carry on reading it on public transport - brighten up other people's days as well as yours.rapunzell said:I best read it at home. It is too funny,
i'm reading:
Chomsky & Herman: Manufaucturing Consent - it was a set text for the first 2 years of my course & i always found it v. interesting (if a little disturbing). am now plowing through from start to finish. the chapter on vietnam is fascinating, as the history books don't seem to give you the full story - seems the vietnam war was started with even less pretext than iraq.
Jane Austen: Emma - pure genius. amazing how fresh and relevant austens work remains today - first i've read of hers, but it won't be the last.
onemonkey
winmonkey
WORDkiller b said:
Although the first time i tried to read Austen, I only managed about four or five pages (that's eight or nine sentences!) The language was just too entangled for my simple scientists brain, so many sub-clauses and conditionals, passives and subjunctives. By the time I'd got to the end of the fourth subclause I'd be so lost that I'd have to go back to the beginning.
But then I realised that I write essays in a similarly extended and entangled fashion so I forgave her, had another go and absolutely loved it. (I think seeing the BBC's Pride & Prejudice helped make her accessible too.)
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
Page 2? Jeez, this thread is slipping!
I am reading James Frey's A Million Little Pieces - so far it is a stunning addition to the addiction memoir canon - I've just got past a horrific description of unanaesthetised dental surgery - it has already made me complain that I have a speck of dust in my eye - this is shaping up to be as good as the kudos that plaster the book lead us to believe it is. More when I finish it.
<Is this the first time this book has been mentioned? I cannae find owt on a forum search>
I am reading James Frey's A Million Little Pieces - so far it is a stunning addition to the addiction memoir canon - I've just got past a horrific description of unanaesthetised dental surgery - it has already made me complain that I have a speck of dust in my eye - this is shaping up to be as good as the kudos that plaster the book lead us to believe it is. More when I finish it.
<Is this the first time this book has been mentioned? I cannae find owt on a forum search>
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Shake Hands With the Devil, by Romeo D'Allaire, the canadian general who commanded the UN force in Rwanda.
After he came back, he proceeded to fall apart over the next few years, becoming an alcoholic, then trying to kill himself. He finally got back together, and wrote this book. The ghost writer assisting him killed herself partway through writing the book.
After he came back, he proceeded to fall apart over the next few years, becoming an alcoholic, then trying to kill himself. He finally got back together, and wrote this book. The ghost writer assisting him killed herself partway through writing the book.
Orang Utan said:
odd, i keep reading really shit reviews of it, so it's interesting to hear a good one. i was tempted when it came out - he sounded like an intriguing bloke - but all the press seems to have him painted as some macho dickhead with a Hemingway complex, like Ted Nugent does rehab or something
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
I can see why they say that - but there's no self-pity, no whining and no self-justification, so you cannot help but admire him - I have to say that I suspect he novelised his story somewhat cos certain conversations are relayed verbatim and I don't think you would recall in such detail, especially if you were strung out on tranks in rehab at the time.
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
Another thing that endeared me to him is that I was reading the new Dave Eggers book and thinking, 'what is this shit?' Frey's book caught my eye and I read the first three pages and ditched the Eggars. I was looking for info on Frey on the net yesterday and found an interview with him in which he said that he wrote the book after reading Eggers and thinking, 'what is this shit?'
Just been given Not Fade Away by Jim Dodge.
The best opening I've read in a while:
"The day didn’t begin well. I woke up at first light with a throbbing brain-core headache, fever and chills, dull pains in all bodily tissues, gagging flashes of nausea, a taste in my mouth like I’d eaten a pound of potato-bugs, aching eye sockets, and a general feeling of basic despair."
Made me laugh out loud on the tube. With relief that I currently didn't feel like that and fear that it wouldn't be long 'til I did.
I like.
The best opening I've read in a while:
"The day didn’t begin well. I woke up at first light with a throbbing brain-core headache, fever and chills, dull pains in all bodily tissues, gagging flashes of nausea, a taste in my mouth like I’d eaten a pound of potato-bugs, aching eye sockets, and a general feeling of basic despair."
Made me laugh out loud on the tube. With relief that I currently didn't feel like that and fear that it wouldn't be long 'til I did.
I like.
Heart Of Darkness.
killer b said:i'm on 'the long goodbye' by ramond chandler, and intend to follow it up with the rest of his marlowe books.
i love raymond - the elegance of his prose is second to none, and raises his novels from simple genre fiction to true art. genius, no two ways about it.
"he was looking sharp and he didn't care who knew it"
marvellous stuff.. apparently, even chandler didn't know what The Long Goodbye was about..
went to Dulwich School, doncha know?
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
finishing george galloway's rather mediocre book "i'm not the only one". then onto a biography of kruschev and then stasiland.
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
Pickman's model said:
I'd be interested in knowing what this is like.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
it's the next bookgroup book, so why not read it and come along? if yr in london, that is...
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
Pickman's model said:
Not in London til next year (fingers crossed), but will do the bookgroup when I am - Status
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