The Chlamydia Kid Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 1984/Orwell - Re-read and enjoyed again. Big Man/McIlvanney - Enjoy reading McIlvanney but not his best. Would probably be better as a novella IMO. The Establishment/Owen Jones - Further proof of what a complete catastrophe the British system really is. Well written and informative. Think I will give 1984 another read myself. Chavs by Owen Jones is good as well although there is a bit of cross over with the establishment so best reading a couple of books in between. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francesc Fabregas Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 On 4/13/2017 at 15:47, Francesc Fabregas said: I've moved on to 1982, Janine by Alasdair Gray. I'm not sure what to make of it so far. It's certainly not as captivating as Lanark, that's for sure. It's a bit like following up the best meal of your life with some runny Vienetta. 1982, Janine isn't all that great. It shares similarities with Lanark in its descriptions of a young man's journey into adulthood but it isn't anywhere near as interesting. The pornographic scenes might be the best moments but even then, it's a bit tedious. I don't think I could really recommend it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 Finally got round to reading the Dirk Gently books from Douglas Adams. Almost finished The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul. Never sure what to make of Douglas Adams. I love his style of writing, though I'm not a sci-fi fan at all. The Hitchhikers books were far funnier, but everything else is still worth reading. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Nooka Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 Finally got round to reading the Dirk Gently books from Douglas Adams. Almost finished The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul. Never sure what to make of Douglas Adams. I love his style of writing, though I'm not a sci-fi fan at all. The Hitchhikers books were far funnier, but everything else is still worth reading. I've read all of the Hitchhiker books but haven't tried Dirk Gently. The new Netflix series is really good but nothing like the books apparently.Will probably give them a bash eventually. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 Just now, Tommy Nooka said: I've read all of the Hitchhiker books but haven't tried Dirk Gently. The new Netflix series is really good but nothing like the books apparently. Will probably give them a bash eventually. I have a couple of series' of Better Call Saul to get through before I start on anything else with Netflix. Gives me something to add to the "Will get round to watching it eventually" list, if only to see what the adaptation is like. I enjoyed the first one and I am enjoying the second one, but they are a wee bit less enjoyable than the other stuff I have read. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stimpy Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 Just finished "Ready Player One", got it from my brother months ago but never found the time till now.Entertaining read and I got all the '80's movie references. I can totally see why it was picked up by a movie studio with its conventional story arc of "yes, no, yes", a love story and an evil corporation. As near future stories go I preferred "Snow Crash" but still well worth reading. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 I read No Country for Old Men and The Road again this week. Incomparable. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francesc Fabregas Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 8 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said: I read No Country for Old Men and The Road again this week. Incomparable. No Country for Old Men is one of the rare instances where the movie is better than the book. The Road, however, is absolutely untouchable and one of the best novels I've ever read. Harrowing and thoroughly upsetting with only the tiniest slivers of light at its conclusion. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 2 hours ago, Francesc Fabregas said: No Country for Old Men is one of the rare instances where the movie is better than the book. The book is considerably better than the film. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francesc Fabregas Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 1 minute ago, Miguel Sanchez said: The book is considerably better than the film. We'll have to agree to disagree! Life's too short to argue about who likes things the most on the internet! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Nooka Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 18 hours ago, stimpy said: Just finished "Ready Player One", got it from my brother months ago but never found the time till now. Entertaining read and I got all the '80's movie references. I can totally see why it was picked up by a movie studio with its conventional story arc of "yes, no, yes", a love story and an evil corporation. As near future stories go I preferred "Snow Crash" but still well worth reading. I haven't read Ready Player One but I picked up the authors next book Armada as they had it at the local library and thought was average at best. Cliched and not particularly well written, I assume he used up all his good ideas in his first book. Coincidentally, I just picked up a second hand copy of another Neal Stephenson (author of Snow Crash) book 'Quicksilver', anyone read that? It's the first in a trilogy of 3 doorstoppers so quite a bit of a commitment especially if it's shite. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomCat Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 The Necessary death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm MacKay - Mixed feelings. It is a well paced thriller and good debut novel however it lacks a sense of location and reads as though its set in a generic criminal underworld anywhere. Its Book 1 of the 'Glasgow trilogy' yet the city is mentioned about twice and there are very rare mentions to Glasgow or even the fact its Scotland tbh. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 22 minutes ago, ThomCat said: The Necessary death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm MacKay - Mixed feelings. It is a well paced thriller and good debut novel however it lacks a sense of location and reads as though its set in a generic criminal underworld anywhere. Its Book 1 of the 'Glasgow trilogy' yet the city is mentioned about twice and there are very rare mentions to Glasgow or even the fact its Scotland tbh. I hadn't really thought of it before but you're right about the lack of the setting being all that important. I think they get better - worth reading the others. The final one, if I remember correctly, has a bit of "action" around a tower block that does conjour up images of foreboding Glasgow high rises. However, a point of the books is that they are showing how dreary life can be for these people - it's not celebrating the environs in the way that a Rebus book, for example, does. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunlop Don Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Probably mentioned already on the thread but I finished 'I am Pilgrim' last night. Highly recommended, best fiction I've read for years. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullerene Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Not so much one book but two. I was reading "Hiroshima Nagasaki" by Paul Ham. No prizes for guessing what that was about. Anyway, the book keeps mentioning "Yoko's Diary" by Yoko Moriwaki. She is a 13 year old girl who on 6th August 1945 was less than 1 kilometre from the hypocentre of the Hiroshima bomb blast. Obviously she did not survive. So I got her book as well. Some compare it to Anne Franks but only as far as young people being exposed to a savage war. The book contains lots of historical notes, by Paul Ham and others, in addition to her diary. (For example it mentions that Hiroshima was very smelly due to night-soil being the main fertilizer used for growing things - similar to North Korea today. FYI: Nightsoil = human waste) It is difficult to know how to feel about it. I guess it adds a human element to a historic event. However cruel the Japanese were in that war (and I know they were) and however inevitable the bombing was - there is a tinge of sadness to this story. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taxman Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Just finished Brookmyre's latest, Want You Gone, featuring that well known anti-hero Jack Parlabane. A damn good read. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DI Bruce Robertson Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 The BibleTerrible fiction, writing is not really "reader friendly"Must admit, I liked the links to the LOTR and the bit about the big boat with animals n shit.Overall, 1 from 10. Will not revisit. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 On 29.4.2017 at 01:12, Miguel Sanchez said: I read No Country for Old Men and The Road again this week. Incomparable. On 29.4.2017 at 10:01, Francesc Fabregas said: No Country for Old Men is one of the rare instances where the movie is better than the book. The Road, however, is absolutely untouchable and one of the best novels I've ever read. Harrowing and thoroughly upsetting with only the tiniest slivers of light at its conclusion. Said it before on here and will say it again. I just cannot take to Cormac McCarthy, despite really trying to. I downloaded a few things I have been meaning to get round to for a while after seeing them mentioned in this thread. Currently reading "Killing Pablo" with a few Owen Jones efforts and a bit of Murakami for afters. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Been reading 'Iron in the Soul' by Jean-Paul Sartre for about 6 weeks now. Very limited reading time at the moment - I hate work! It's been 10 - 15 - 20 pages at a time. Will make concerted effort to finish it at the weekend. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 6 hours ago, DI Bruce Robertson said: The Bible Terrible fiction, writing is not really "reader friendly" Must admit, I liked the links to the LOTR and the bit about the big boat with animals n shit. Overall, 1 from 10. Will not revisit. Another example of the movie being better than the book. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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