Last Book You Read....

[Shandon Par]

6 hours ago, DiegoDiego said:

That's John le Carré dead then. Topped the bestseller lists in every decade since the '60s. One of those authors who you feel will continue to grow in stature long past their death.

Only started reading his stuff recently. There’s not an ounce of fat on any of his stories or dialogue. 

[beefybake]

'Made in Scotland' -   Billy Connolly

[ThomCat]

Bruges-la-Morte/Georges Rodenbach – A short symbolist novel in which the main character is a reclusive widow who falls for a doppelganger of his deceased wife. Similar to Vertigo and rather absorbing.

Doctor Glas/Hjalmar Soderberg - The wife of the town minister confides herself to Doctor Glas about her repellent treatment from husband. Glas expresses his dark determination to end the minister’s life using his occupational advantages whilst brooding on his despondent life in diary form. Reads like Notes from the Underground meets Double Indemnity. Decent.

[NotThePars]

Finished Knausgaard's My Struggle volume six last week. The End. By far the most difficult and messy read of his book which given he narrates his writing process throughout the book makes a lot of sense given the last 100-200 pages.

I've already said but it's a messier book than the others which is unsurprising given it comes at around 1150 pages with the book roughly divided into three parts split around the reception of his manuscript from his uncle who threatens to sue, his 450 page treatise on Hitler, the concept of utopia, and rubbishing of Kershaw and finally the breakdown of his then wife, Linda. In between there's a ton of literary and poetry analysis, reflections on the banality of life, much self-reflection on the vanity and worthiness of his project and almost always too much information about those around him. I'm not surprised ultimately that his marriage breaks down although I am surprised that it was him who ended it. 

I'm not done with reading Knausgaard although I've heard mixed reviews about his other books. I probably have more thoughts but I need to read some more of his interviews and immerse myself back in his mode of thinking. 

Currently reading 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson.

[moniton]

Just finished Life & Fate by Grossman, there is a passage where a middle-aged Jewish doctor takes a small boy by the hand and walks into the gas chambers that will haunt me forever. A great read on how the totalitarian state makes everyone paranoid and infiltrates every aspect of life. Highly recommended , has anyone read any more by him?

[Detournement]

54 minutes ago, moniton said:

Just finished Life & Fate by Grossman, there is a passage where a middle-aged Jewish doctor takes a small boy by the hand and walks into the gas chambers that will haunt me forever. A great read on how the totalitarian state makes everyone paranoid and infiltrates every aspect of life. Highly recommended , has anyone read any more by him?

There's a Grossman novel Stalingrad which takes place before the events of Life and Fate which came out last year which apparently adds context to a lot of the disjointed plot lines in L&F.

 

 

[NotThePars]

Tell me if you liked this as I couldn't crack it unlike his other books, gave up at the hot air balloon with polar bears in it

I really like the setting (and I think someone at Naughty Dog has read it given a big portion of Seattle in The Last of Us 2) and the premise but I’m only 50 pages in.

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

22 minutes ago, Detournement said:

There's a Grossman novel Stalingrad which takes place before the events of Life and Fate which came out last year which apparently adds context to a lot of the disjointed plot lines in L&F.

 

 

I read it over lockdown, it's excellent. Need to get stuck into life and fate

[moniton]

1 hour ago, Detournement said:

There's a Grossman novel Stalingrad which takes place before the events of Life and Fate which came out last year which apparently adds context to a lot of the disjointed plot lines in L&F.

 

 

Will definitely read in the new year.

[DiegoDiego]

has anyone read any more by him?

I read "An Armenian Sketchbook" which I guess you could call travel writing. It was written when he was in semi-exile and is pretty much as the title suggests. It's quite short but is excellently written. I read it back around the time of the referendum and a lot of what he says about nationhood resonated.

[Utter Roaster]

Having worked my way through all the Rebus books post lockdown, I've started on John Connolly's Charlie Parker series. Just read the first 4 chapters of The Lovers.

One advantage of age: it's been a while since I read them so can't recall most of the plots!

[NotThePars]

13 minutes ago, Sutton Anderson said:

I recently finished reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Incredible book, I'm delighted.

Again?

[mathematics]

57 minutes ago, Sutton Anderson said:

I recently finished reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Incredible book, I'm delighted.

Sorry to hear that. Are you ok?

[Saigon Raider]

Just finished Last Argument of Kings, the final book of the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Holy shit, what a series - better than Game Of Thrones for me. Amazing characters, loved Glotka, Logan, basically all of them. Battle scenes are superbly done and the duel is some of the best writing I can remember.

 

Just started The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton.

 

Was quite pleased to get my little Goodreads celebration last night for reaching my 20 books this year.

 

 

[Brother Blades]

Currently working my way through Mcbride’s, Logan series again (in order this time). Not very high-brow but entertaining nonetheless. DI Steel is a fantastic character as are Mcbrides descriptions of her hair & appearance.

[Granny Danger]

27 minutes ago, Brother Blades said:

Currently working my way through Mcbride’s, Logan series again (in order this time). Not very high-brow but entertaining nonetheless. DI Steel is a fantastic character as are Mcbrides descriptions of her hair & appearance.

Have read a couple but it gets far too repetitive.

[Jack Burton]

Just finished Last Argument of Kings, the final book of the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Holy shit, what a series - better than Game Of Thrones for me. Amazing characters, loved Glotka, Logan, basically all of them. Battle scenes are superbly done and the duel is some of the best writing I can remember.
 
Just started The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton.
 
Was quite pleased to get my little Goodreads celebration last night for reaching my 20 books this year.
 
 

Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he rights a damn good book.

The stand alone books are all excellent too especially Heros. The two books in the new trilogy are decent too. The characters aren't on par with Logan, Glotka etc but still highly enjoyable.

Recently finished The Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. It had plenty of great reviews on Goodread but I just couldn't get into the same way clearly a lot of people have. Some of the prose is great and there was some stuff that I could link back to my own childhood but overall found it a bit boring.

[paul-r-cfc]

We need to talk about Kevin

Took me about 3 months to get through the first 75% of this, but blitzed the last quarter in 24 hours.

Not an easy read in parts, but I guess that's the point. I was absolutely hooked towards the end and genuinely didn't see the twist coming, as I think I had been expecting a totally different twist!

Certainly makes you think. I was initially a bit unsure about the fairly simplistic message that Kevin was always bad, but never really considered the unreliable narrator aspect, where Eva is likely exaggerating certain things to fit her viewpoint.

Overall, well worth a read. Can't imagine there are many books like it. I'll not rush to watch the film though. Need a break from Kevin for a bit.

[Saigon Raider]

Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he rights a damn good book.

The stand alone books are all excellent too especially Heros. The two books in the new trilogy are decent too. The characters aren't on par with Logan, Glotka etc but still highly enjoyable.

Recently finished The Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. It had plenty of great reviews on Goodread but I just couldn't get into the same way clearly a lot of people have. Some of the prose is great and there was some stuff that I could link back to my own childhood but overall found it a bit boring.

Have you read American Gods? It's fantastic, I would recommend Neverwhere as well.

[Gnash]

6 hours ago, paul-r-cfc said:

We need to talk about Kevin

Took me about 3 months to get through the first 75% of this, but blitzed the last quarter in 24 hours.

Not an easy read in parts, but I guess that's the point. I was absolutely hooked towards the end and genuinely didn't see the twist coming, as I think I had been expecting a totally different twist!

Certainly makes you think. I was initially a bit unsure about the fairly simplistic message that Kevin was always bad, but never really considered the unreliable narrator aspect, where Eva is likely exaggerating certain things to fit her viewpoint.

Overall, well worth a read. Can't imagine there are many books like it. I'll not rush to watch the film though. Need a break from Kevin for a bit.

The film is nowhere near as good as the book.