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[MsD]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Yes. We only stopped for lunch there, so I wandered along the beach and the main street, bought a soap dish and some underwear.

If I'd known more, I'd have looked for buildings and anything from the 19th century.

The book won the Man Booker prize. I deliberately avoided reading any reviews or anything about the book before reading it (got it on Kindle, so there wasn't even a back cover) so I had no idea what it was about. Maybe I'd have been less confused about who was who if I'd read a synopsis, but then I'd have lost out on the surprise element. There's a pleasure in not knowing where a story is leading you.

[tee rex]

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Catton has been in the news lately for (shock) criticising the NZ government. Consequently, labelled a greedy traitor who took taxpayers' money, etc, etc.

The Prime Minister said he has read "some of" the book.

[enzee199]

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Another book for my reading list then!

[gyp]

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I keep meaning to tackle The Luminaries, but it's sheer heft puts me off every time - 800+ pages is a massive commitment. I quite enjoyed Catton's earlier book, The Rehearsal, but it clocked in at a much more manageable 300 pages.

[Land Waster]

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via vicaria wrote:

Count me in the 'Conrad-is-unreadable' camp. I read The Buddha of Suburbia years ago - easy enough, especially after Conrad, though it might be a bit dated.

Ended Heart of Darkness. Never again. I just don't get why it's something of a classic.

Did you end up screaming, "The horror! The horror!" at the end?

English was Conrad's 3rd language, iirc, which might explain some of the prose.

[Land Waster]

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I finally got around to reading Eric Hobsbawm's memoirs 'Interesting Times: A 20th century life'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Interesting-Times-Twentieth-Century-Eric-Hobsbawm/dp/034911353X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423981970&sr=1-1&keywords=inte

I'd read the four Hobsbawm 'Age of' books and found them worthy but a bit dull, the sort of books that need to be studied rather than read. His English prose can be somewhat dense and meandering.

However his autobiog is more fluent and engaging, a fascinating perspective on his personal journey through a tumultuous century.

One interesting fact: Hobsbawm's parents needed the official permission of the British Foreign office to get married in Alexandria. His father was a British subject, his mother a subject of Emperor Franz Josef.

So as the two empires were offically at war they needed to get the personal approval of Sir Edward Grey, who personally signed the dispensation.

[Crusoe]

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Has anyone read Lars Iyer's Wittgenstein Jr? I quite liked the trilogy he wrote (Spurious, Dogma, and, er the other one) but the joke got a bit repetitive. The reviews I've read of this are pretty mixed, I've no particularly in-depth knowledge of Wittgenstein's philosophy to get in-jokes, and it's pretty steep for a short book. But is it any good?

[Joparo]

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Going to read this, for the second time...

London by Edward Rutherfurd

1100+ pages in the Kindle format, the first time I read it in hard copy I struggled a little but that was 15 years ago, looking forward to giving it another go now my concentration span has matured!!

[Joparo]

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PS has anyone read Ken Follett's 'Century Triology'?

Do you recommend the 3 tomes?

I've read and quite enjoyed his epics, 'Pillars of the Earth' and 'World Without End'so was thinking about reading the hefty 'Century' 3 book series......

[imp]

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I'm going to adopt a slightly sniffy tone and say, "I don't think Mr. Kenneth Follett Esquire has ever been discussed on here before." I've never read a word he's written besides involuntarily seeing the titles of his books in public. I never will, because there are too many other good books to read before my life is cut short by the laws of mortality. He probably has a team of researchers and editors do all his heavy work because his name alone will guarantee sales. Why on earth would anyone in their right fucking mind want to read factory-generated shite like that? I'll never know, because I'll never read it. But please feel free to report back.

[Joparo]

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imp wrote: I'm going to adopt a slightly sniffy tone....

And that you did....

[imp]

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Well, I did warn you. So well done for spotting that.

[MsD]

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Have one of those cute ecards.

[WOM]

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I read Follett's Night Over Water, which is about a flight on a Pan Am Clipper flying boat. I did so because I really like Pan Am Clipper flying boats. I don't remember anything about the book.

I've also read quite a bit of early Jeffrey Archer. So....you know....

[WOM]

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While I like the sentiment of MsD's card, the writer in me is grinding his teeth. 'Contains' means 'in it'.

[Incandenza]

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Finished Going Clear, the Scientology book mentioned a few times. Highly disturbing in parts, and incredibly detailed and researched. Not sure if Lawrence Wright has gotten harrassed and is being followed like other writers who covered Scientology have been in the past.

Will be very interesting to see what the HBO documentary does with the material.

[MsD]

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WOM wrote: While I like the sentiment of MsD's card, the writer in me is grinding his teeth. 'Contains' means 'in it'.

Innit

[MsD]

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My favourite non-fiction book (apart from the art books) in the last year has been the Arcades Project by Walter Benjamin, a wonderful book you can dip into at random as if browsing a website. Susan Buck-Morss's book on Benjamin, The Dialectics of Seeing, makes a good companion. I wish I'd found the Arcades years ago.

[via vicaria]

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Land Waster wrote:

Count me in the 'Conrad-is-unreadable' camp. I read The Buddha of Suburbia years ago - easy enough, especially after Conrad, though it might be a bit dated.

Ended Heart of Darkness. Never again. I just don't get why it's something of a classic.

Did you end up screaming, "The horror! The horror!" at the end?

Oh I was screaming that long before the end.

Anyway, have moved on, luckily. The Buddha of Suburbia was a nice read - funny in parts, relatable in some others, but as it went on it detached itself more and more from reality and then, very abruptly, stopped.

Currently reading Tama Janowitz's They Is Us, which so far is trying a bit too hard to be weird and offbeat. Slaves of New York was the book I was after, but I couldn't get a copy at the Waterstone's in Piccadilly, so plumped for this instead. Not bad, but hasn't really got me going yet.

I've got Jan Morris' Hav in reserve if I give up on this one, mind.

[Renart]

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I read a Ken Follett book once. I've forgotten the title, but it was a World War II thriller set mostly in Egypt, I think. Bought it in an airport newsstand for a flight. I like a good pulp thriller now and then (Frederick Forsyth's Day of the Jackal is great fun, as are Thomas Harris's books), but I found Follett a bit too formulaic and corny.

I'm also reading Going Clear and greatly enjoying it, but also feeling pretty sorry for all the people whose lives have been ruined by the Sci-Ti's.

[MsD]

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via vicaria wrote:
Currently reading Tama Janowitz's They Is Us, which so far is trying a bit too hard to be weird and offbeat. Slaves of New York was the book I was after, but I couldn't get a copy at the Waterstone's in Piccadilly, so plumped for this instead. Not bad, but hasn't really got me going yet.

She went out with an ex of mine, and I had a look at the book but can't remember what I thought about it. But I'm sort of glad you think it is trying too hard :-) tee hee

[via vicaria]

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MsD wrote:

Currently reading Tama Janowitz's They Is Us, which so far is trying a bit too hard to be weird and offbeat. Slaves of New York was the book I was after, but I couldn't get a copy at the Waterstone's in Piccadilly, so plumped for this instead. Not bad, but hasn't really got me going yet.

She went out with an ex of mine, and I had a look at the book but can't remember what I thought about it. But I'm sort of glad you think it is trying too hard :-) tee hee

It might please you even more that I've given up on it! It's on the 'mistakes' pile now. Got about half way.

It had one interesting-ish character, I'll give her that.

[MsD]

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Oh, that must be based on me.

[Uosdwis R Dewoh]

Current Reading - Books best thread

Has anyone read Skippy Dies? It's the next book in my book club.

[Felicity, I guess so]

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Probably belongs in the crime fiction thread, but nibberty-moo:

have read several novels by Colin Harrison recently. Despite the English sounding name, he is a New Yorker, editor of Harper's Bazaar and does a nice intelligent thriller: just read Afterburn and still reeling (published in 1999?! can't believe no film made of it) and have pretty impressed memories of Manhattan Nocturne too.