Current Reading - Books best thread

[Crusoe]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Just finished Jose Saramago's Death at Intervals, an excellent read. (Brief synopsis: people stop dying in unnamed country; how does society cope; and then it turns suddenly into a much more intimate read about death and her particular frustrations.)

Not easy (lack of paragraphs, capitalised proper names, quote marks or full stops mean you have to slow down and concentrate), but thought-provoking and surprisingly moving in places. I only bought this as I needed a thin book to read on the tube and liked the cover, but it's been a superb buy.

[Guest]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Finishing off The Ignorance of Blood by Robert Wilson. Class stuff following the gruesome murders and Javier Falcón's escapades ...

[RobW]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Nearly finished John Burrow's excellent 'A History of Histories'. Certainly making me wish I paid more attention at university.

[Incandenza]

Current Reading - Books best thread

I'm about 300 pages in to Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song, and nowhere near the end.

[Guest]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Toro:

Been on a sci-fi kick recently - got through Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Solaris, both of which I loved. Again, I haven't really read as much SciFi as I'd like.

I read Do Androids Dream... recently, which was great, although it's one of these sci-fi books when you really wonder how the writer managed to mangle some of his language so badly, when the ideas are so good.

Similar in that regard is Foundation by Isaac Asimov, which I finished this morning. God, and I'll read the sequel I think, but I'm still trying to decided if I really, really liked it or not.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Current Reading - Books best thread

You better get "Hyperion" Toro...

[Lucia Lanigan]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Well, Roxy was awesome, one of the best music books I've read in years. Robbe-Grillet's Jealousy was fantastic; In The Labyrinth good, but not quite so effective for me.

I'm onto Georges Perec's A Void now, which is great fun: an erudite, anarchic detective novel based around the disappearance of the letter E (which it avoids using, completely). It's a great read that doesn't rely on the gimmick at all.

[Sam]

Current Reading - Books best thread

I finally finished J.S. Mill's On Liberty / Thoughts On Representative Government yesterday, and then polished off the remaining 60 pages of Junot Díaz's absolutely fucking magnificent The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao this afternoon.

I am now embarking on some light refreshment in the form of Spanish Lessons by Derek Lambert, an Englishman who bought a house with his wife and son in the Valencia region of Spain, and wrote a book about their first year there. It's very entertaining and the first 55 pages have taken me not very long at all so far.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Current Reading - Books best thread

I didn't have as much reading time on holiday as I hoped to have but managed to get through the 600+ pages of Emma Goldman's "Living My Life". It was a fantastically exciting read, reminded me a bit of Moll Flanders in as much as her life just seemed to be a non-stop rollercoaster of joy, tragedy, travelling and poorly chosen lovers. My only criticism would be that I didn't learn much about anarchism through the book, so I'm probably going to invest in some books by Kropotkin or Bakunin, if anyone could advise me of a good starting reference, I'd be most grateful.

For the foreseeable future I'm going to be trying to wade through the huge pile of magazines which accumulated in my mail box since my holidays.

[San Bernardhinault]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Mostly thanks to OTF, I had some excellent summer holiday reading:

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (Marvellous)
Good to be God by Tibor Fischer (Not great)
Restless by William Boyd (Wonderful)
Moondust by Andrew Smith (Fantastic so far).

[Gangster Octopus]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Just about finished this. But that's probably 'cos I contributed...

[Guest]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Currently reading Don Quixote regarded by many as being the first modern masterpiece. Its a brilliant translation and the language,humour and narrative is awesome. The gradual,subtle and touching relationship that evolves between the mad Don Quixote and his faithful squire Sancho Panza is a joy to behold.These guys are the 16th century equivalent of Laurel and Hardy. I was amazed to discover that this book was first published in 1600 and has recently been voted the grewatest novel of all time. Its a big book- over 1000 pages and im currently in the 800's. Although its big it doesn't feel like it as the book is divided into 2 halves and each chapter is short and entertainingly written. It is definitely way ahead of its time and though i haven't finished reading it yet, i would highly recommend it.As for being voted the greatest novel of all time well thats really a matter of opinion. I would give that honour to either 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' or '1984'.

[Sam]

Current Reading - Books best thread

I really enjoyed Don Quixote, but must say that its being frequently named the greatest novel of all time does seem to be a decision informed rather a lot by the fact that it's widely recognised as the first novel written (or at least the first to have such success that it's still remembered today).

Anyway. I finished Spanish Lessons today and have started Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveller. One chapter in so far and it's... different.

[Brandenburger Toro]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveller. One chapter in so far...

Heh heh heh.

[Pants]

Current Reading - Books best thread

I didn't learn much about anarchism through the book, so I'm probably going to invest in some books by Kropotkin or Bakunin, if anyone could advise me of a good starting reference, I'd be most grateful.

Steveeee, not a book, but the In Our Time on anarchism is a great starting point. You can listen to it here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20061207.shtml

[Moonlight Shadow]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Just finished "The high places", a collection of vignettes by Harry Griffin (a Guardian regular) about the Lake District, illustrated by sketches from Wainwright. Lovely stuff really...

[Sam]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Toro: Count On It wrote:

Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveller. One chapter in so far...

Heh heh heh.

Not a fan, Toro? Or just waiting for me to realise that 'one chapter in' is as far as I'll ever get with this book?

I like it, quite a lot. Found it thoroughly odd at first, and wasn't quite sure what I thought, but I'm enjoying it the more I read of it now.

[dddd]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Workingstiff wrote:

Toro:

Been on a sci-fi kick recently - got through Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Solaris, both of which I loved. Again, I haven't really read as much SciFi as I'd like.

I read Do Androids Dream... recently, which was great, although it's one of these sci-fi books when you really wonder how the writer managed to mangle some of his language so badly, when the ideas are so good.

Similar in that regard is Foundation by Isaac Asimov, which I finished this morning. God, and I'll read the sequel I think, but I'm still trying to decided if I really, really liked it or not.

Dick was on loads of drugs and writing 5-6 novels a year through half of the 1960s, hence the stylistic unevenness. Despite this, most of them have something to offer and his best work is wonderful. 'Androids' makes me cry, it is an achingly beautiful investigation into what it means to be human. Try 'A Scanner Darkly' for a similarly affecting work about drug addiction.

[imp]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Isn't Toro's amusement because every chapter starts back at the same point? Can't recall exactly, I think I gave up on it, if it wasn't before the start of the era where I would struggle manfully through any book I'd started, no matter how painful.

I'm reading Stuart Maconie's 'Cider With Roadies' memoir - don't usually like memoirs much, but this was a present, and it's more than entertaining enough, and certainly much much better than that fucking awful Andrew Collins book I gave up on after 40 pages. Good anecdotes, self-deprecating narrator, and not burdened by relationship/family sufferings.

[Brandenburger Toro]

Current Reading - Books best thread

imp wrote:

Isn't Toro's amusement because every chapter starts back at the same point? Can't recall exactly, I think I gave up on it, if it wasn't before the start of the era where I would struggle manfully through any book I'd started, no matter how painful.

More or less, yeah. It's composed of a series of beginnings of novels. So you can only ever get "one chapter in", in a sense. But I didn't want to give away the conceit.

[Kid A]

Current Reading - Books best thread

La Lanterne Rouge wrote:

Mostly thanks to OTF, I had some excellent summer holiday reading:

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (Marvellous)

I've had this book for several years... I tried reading it at the time and lost patience with it quickly. Maybe I should give it another go.

I've almost finished Of Love And Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I love his work, and am working through a 10 book box set type affair that I bought a while go. This book is v enjoyable apart from the love interest of a middle aged man being a 12 year old girl, which I found a little creepy. Especially as GGM must have been in his 60s when he wrote it.

[Incandenza]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Finished The White Tiger last night, after the recommendations on here and it finally being back in the library after months of me waiting for it. I really enjoyed it, but I wasn't as thrilled with the ending as I thought I would be as I got sucked in at the beginning and wanted to find out more about what happened between him and Ashok. I did like the evolution of Balram's character, though. I thought that most of the characters were a bit simplistic and one-dimensional, but on the other hand, I it's been a long time since I've read a novel as direct as this is, and it grabbed me right from the beginning.

[Anton Gramscescu]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Kid A, maybe you should wait for the prequel of Oryx and Crake to come out this month...Atwood's just published one, I think. Heard her on the radio talking about it.

[Incandenza]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Now moved on to Netherland by Joseph O'Neill. Read the first 30 pages on my lunch break.

[Kid A]

Current Reading - Books best thread

AG, I still have at least 10 unread books at home and that could take months... Also, I think books should be read in the order they are published, as that's the way they were written. Supposing someone hadn't seen any of the Star Wars films - they should start with the 1977 film, surely?

I've started reading Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. A couple of chapters in, amusing so far. Interesting to note that the traffic in central London hasn't improved much since the 30s if the book is accurate.