ICTChris Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 I re-read Brave New World for the first time since University, it is excellent. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 57 minutes ago, Shandon Par said: Irvine Welsh - Dead Men's Trousers Really enjoyed this. Hard one to discuss without spoilers. Not all of the four main characters make it to the end (this is in the blurb). Ian Rankin - In A House of Lies Always like the Rebus books and tend to get through them in no time. Standard (ie decent) fare though the reveal felt a bit crow-barred in and a couple of the main suspects seemed to just be forgotten about so overall it lacked a wee bit of resolution. Agreed on the Rebus books. I fly through them, and I wonder whether that's because they are really well written bad books, or badly written good books, if that makes any kind of sense. Ian Rankin seems like a good bloke though, and I definitely enjoy his work. I've just finished Rather Be The Devil and it was fine, but not a patch on Exit Music or Standing In Another Man's Grave. Feels, perhaps deliberately, that Rebus has lost a bit of edge. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 6 minutes ago, Savage Henry said: Agreed on the Rebus books. I fly through them, and I wonder whether that's because they are really well written bad books, or badly written good books, if that makes any kind of sense. Ian Rankin seems like a good bloke though, and I definitely enjoy his work. I've just finished Rather Be The Devil and it was fine, but not a patch on Exit Music or Standing In Another Man's Grave. Feels, perhaps deliberately, that Rebus has lost a bit of edge. A bit like coffee, sex or pizza. Even if it's not great, it's still pretty good! His characters are so well observed but that was the only time I've really noticed the plot and pacing being a bit clunky. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pittsburgh phil Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 I'll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara. A true crime story about a prolific serial killer operating in the late 70's/early 80's. Sadly she died before the end of the book so she never lived to see the guy brought to justice (DNA has him bang to rights), a really good read as she was obsessed by her own admission. As an aside, her husband was the comedian/voice over Goldberg's man Patton Oswalt. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Capital Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 I recently finished 'Kitchen' by Banana Yoshimoto and have now moved onto 'Trout Fishing in America' by Richard Brautigan. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanius Mullarkey Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 Currently working my way through A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin. I hope some c**t awards me a history degree at the end of it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 A Disaffection by James Kelman In lieu of one of my regular detailed and insightful reviews, I will share this passage with you: Two or three days, that's all he would have been able to take of Eric. No more. Then they'd be at each other's throat. At least Pat would. Eric would just be slightly taken aback then conciliatory. They were all like that, these middle-class b*****ds, lying fuckers, so absolutely hypocritical it was a way of being, they never even bothered reflecting on it, all these lecturers and students, so smugly satisfied and content to let you say what you wanted to say and do what you wanted to do, just so long as it didnt threaten what they possessed, and what did they possess why fucking everything, the best of health and the best of fucking everything else. It was a joke, just a joke. But it was pointless being bitter. It was pointless being bitter. Being bitter was fucking silly. Patrick had stopped being bitter. What it did was just fucking stopped you from doing things. At uni it stopped him from doing things. If he had stopped being bitter he might have done things. What might he have done? He might have done things. Obviously he canni be expected to say what exactly these things are. But there are things he would definitely have done and that means he would not right at this fucking moment be a fucking damn bloody bastarn schoolteacher, one who does f**k all in the world bar christ almighty nothing at all. It was them wanted him to go to uni and no him, his parents and his fucking big brother. It was all so stupit. Really, so stupid. He had not wanted to go. And even once he was there it was something else he was after. Something else altogether. But how do you explain that to your family. What - explain what? Explain what you had wanted to do. Patrick had wanted to do something. That was fucking definite. But what had it been? What actually had that thing been, the thing he wanted to do. Something massive, that's all, something massive. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BallochSonsFan Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 (edited) Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney Written in an unusual second person style, this classic 80s novel is about a young man who throws himself into New York's drug fuelled nightlife after his missus fucks off. I first read this when I was about fourteen but was too young to really get it. I'm middle aged now and have both literally and metaphorically suffered a few boots in the baws over the years so I got a lot more out of it. It captures the protagonist's plight fairly well but is still witty and hip enough to be entertaining without being too miserable. There was a film adaptation starring Michael J Fox. I saw it years ago but I can't remember much about it. I'll seek it out this weekend. Edited February 22, 2019 by tongue_tied_danny 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 I started Catch 22 the other day. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saigon Raider Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 I started Catch 22 the other day.Good luck, I have started it about 5 times! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saigon Raider Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 The Hopkins Manuscript - R. C. Sheriff. A survivor records the events around a collision between the moon and earth. A decent read if taken straight but in my opinion the book is actually quite sophisticated its character study and overriding themes. 4/5Boys in Zinc - Svetlana Alexievich. Personal accounts of the Soviet-Afghan war from Soviet citizens who were affected by the conflict - soldiers, civilian workers, nurses, wives, mothers etc. Some of the accounts, especially those of mothers who's children were killed, are some of the most powerful and tragic accounts of the consequence of war that I've read. The edition I read also has a further section on a lawsuit that was brought against the author by two of the interviewees who claimed to have been misrepresented. This was also excellent as it deals with the nature of recording contemporary history - is it right to apply literary devices or edit hours of interviews? How reliable is human memory? How do changing attitudes influence memory and the 'truth' of history, what responsibilties does the author have to living parties and where do literature, journalism and history intersect ? etc. 5/5 Starting 'The Heron' by Giorgio Bassani.Started Boys In Zinc the other night, only read a couple of chapters but it is beautifully written. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 21 minutes ago, Saigon Raider said: Good luck, I have started it about 5 times! Same. Does it ever become anything more than a succession of "hilarious" dialogues? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSU Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 On 2/23/2019 at 08:27, TheIntenseHummingOfEvil said: Same. Does it ever become anything more than a succession of "hilarious" dialogues? It's non-chronological, but the chapters are, mostly, connected in one way or another, in a free association type way. I read it in high school and loved it but I don't think I could ever be bothered reading it again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blootoon87 Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Good luck, I have started it about 5 times!I got about a third of the way through it then have up, I just didn't get it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnash Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 2 minutes ago, Blootoon87 said: On 2/23/2019 at 13:04, Saigon Raider said: Good luck, I have started it about 5 times! I got about a third of the way through it then have up, I just didn't get it. Same as me. It's very rare that I give up on a book, but I just couldn't go on wasting my time with Catch 22. Hugely disappointing. The other book I remember ditching was The Silmarillion. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 On 2/23/2019 at 13:04, Saigon Raider said: Good luck, I have started it about 5 times! I only started it once and finished it no times. It was a long time ago but I found after about 70 pages or so that it was the same joke over and over again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saigon Raider Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 With Catch 22, I always wonder that if I battled through the first 70 pages it would suddenly all make sense. I had a similar feeling with Wolf Hall but kept going and it is probably one of my favourite books ever. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 I gave up on Catch 22 after about 100 pages and last night started reading Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre. I've rattled through it and am about three quarters of the way through. I'd never read any of his books before but heard that this was good. I am enjoying it and now will have to read the rest of the Karla trilogy and the rest of Le Carre's books. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 (edited) I love the film version of Catch 22 but I also gave up on the book after a few chapters. Another supposed cult classic that I gave up on pretty quickly was Slaughterhouse 5. It said "so it goes" at the end of every fucking paragraph and that seriously got on my moobs after a few pages... Edited February 26, 2019 by tongue_tied_danny 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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