Last Book You Read....

[McRuffian]

The Forgotten Legion - Ben Kane

[HEED]

Currently on the second of the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson

[madwullie]

Just fired through Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut today for what must be the 20th time.

My favourite novel of all time by quite a distance. Even over and above the post-modern author talking about the writing process in his book, is he a character, is he the narrator shit, it's just such a fucking great read, feels more like sitting having a conversation with him rather than sitting reading. I wish the c**t wasn't dead so he could write some more.

[Mak]

Adrian Mole: the Prostate Years

Funny and perceptive as ever. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[T_S_A_R]

Trying to read 'All the Pretty Horses' by Cormac McCarthy but finding it incredibly hard going. Are all his books similar in style to this?

'all the pretty horses', along with 'no country for old men', is considered to be his crowd pleaser.

i love the full border trilogy and am a huge mccarthy fan. what is it about it you are having a hard time with?

Just fired through Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut today for what must be the 20th time.

My favourite novel of all time by quite a distance. Even over and above the post-modern author talking about the writing process in his book, is he a character, is he the narrator shit, it's just such a fucking great read, feels more like sitting having a conversation with him rather than sitting reading. I wish the c**t wasn't dead so he could write some more.

a great book and a great writer. i stumbled upon a collection of essays about slaughterhouse five compiled harold bloom on google books. there was quite an interesting one about the influence of the vietnam war on slaughterhouse five and gravity's rainbow. some of it was over reaching but most of it was good stuff.

recently i've read warlock a western by oakley hall written in the 50s. it's far more complex than your average western and every character in it is shown as a real person rather than the heroic and villianous archetypes you expect in this kind of narrative, it's actually a lot clser to deadwood than the westerns of his time. the impression i got from it is that the conflict in the west wasn't between good guys and bad guys but between people who wanted to live by their own rules and those who wanted to civilize the region and profit from it. the book is about how the town - warlock - attempts to introduce law and order into their anarchic society and how it effects the community and law men themselves. everyone in the novel speaks in a strange victorian/western hybrid voice which is bit unrealistic but adds a sense of drama to every conversation. all in all its a really good novel which probably should be better known.

i then read invisible cities by italo calvino. it's an odd wee book which consists of marc polo describing imaginary cities to the kublai khan and them occasionaly debating existence. each description is quite thought provoking and contains an idea about life, death, time, memory and identity and gives you something to think about. it's probably a bit overdone and pretentious but because it's so short i didn't mind.

[chuckles]

Trying to read 'All the Pretty Horses' by Cormac McCarthy but finding it incredibly hard going. Are all his books similar in style to this?

Try "The Road", by this author. It's easy going and you'll enjoy it.

[madwullie]

i then read invisible cities by italo calvino. it's an odd wee book which consists of marc polo describing imaginary cities to the kublai khan and them occasionaly debating existence. each description is quite thought provoking and contains an idea about life, death, time, memory and identity and gives you something to think about. it's probably a bit overdone and pretentious but because it's so short i didn't mind.

Got this out the library about 6 months ago but other stuff meant I never got round to getting through it. Looked pretty good though from what I read, his prose style is verging on poetry at times, which I like - same reason I'm into Garcia Marquez - which I guess says a lot about the translators. Would seriously recommend picking up Calvino's short story collection 'Difficult Loves' if you've not read it

[footiechick]

I recently finished J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun.

for those that don't already know it, this is a semi-autobiographical account of Jim, a young boy growing up in Shanghai in the days and years following the Pearl Harbour attack. It's compelling reading and a moving story. I enjoyed reading Jim's views on what was going on around him - I'm sure it's not possible to like this character. All in all, an excellent book.

I love that book, one of my absolute favourites. i read it again every year or so.

(did you see the film with a young Christian Bale? It's good too)

[McLee]

I've been looking to read some Oscar Wilde for a while now. After a quick search on Amazon recently it seems there are many 'complete works' and was looking for some advice on what is best to buy.

I didnt want to start a new thread for a trivial matter such as this, thought some of the bookworms would perhaps have a look at my post and be able to point me in the right direction.

Edited May 4, 2011 by McLee

[Colin M]

I recently finished J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun.

for those that don't already know it, this is a semi-autobiographical account of Jim, a young boy growing up in Shanghai in the days and years following the Pearl Harbour attack. It's compelling reading and a moving story. I enjoyed reading Jim's views on what was going on around him - I'm sure it's not possible to like this character. All in all, an excellent book.

Heartily recommend Ballard's autobiography as well "Miracles of Life", for an actual account (not to dis Empire of the Sun, it's great obviously).

I love a lot of Ballard's work in general but most of it is pretty crazy compared to Empire.

[chuckles]

I've been looking to read some Oscar Wilde for a while now. After a quick search on Amazon recently it seems there are many 'complete works' and was looking for some advice on what is best to buy.

I didnt want to start a new thread for a trivial matter such as this, thought some of the bookworms would perhaps have a look at my post and be able to point me in the right direction.

Start off with "The Picture of Dorian Gray".....it's a good read .

[Mel Hutchwright]

Regarding Cormac McCarthy, his disregard for many of grammars conventions was something that I found a bit of a challenge initially. Once I'd overcome this though, I began to regard him as just about the most rewarding of contemporary novelists. His descriptive prose, particularly when relating to landscape, can be awe inspiringly beautiful and evocative.

On the subject of him, I recently finished his Blood Meridian and thought it was an absolute masterpiece. Some of the passages are absolutely brutal and depraved, which is not generally my kind thing at all, but it's written in such a matter of fact way that I became almost inured to the horror. The character of Judge Holden has become one of my all time favourite literary creations; a sadistic, gnostic, hugely intelligent, almost certainly pederastic, completely bald man of enormous, frequently naked, stature. I had to read the last page or so 3 or 4 times, as it was absolutely exhilarating writing.

On the back of this I immediately started to re-read his The Crossing, which I'd originally read a wee while back, and am finding myself far more appreciative of it second time around.

[T_S_A_R]

On the back of this I immediately started to re-read his The Crossing, which I'd originally read a wee while back, and am finding myself far more appreciative of it second time around.

i love billy parham.

[uberman]

Bez - Freaky Dancin 8/10

Bez tells of his beginnings as a petty criminal and his time spent in prison,travelling and having more drugs than Boots before meeting Shaun Ryder and becoming a freaky dancer.

[McLee]

Start off with "The Picture of Dorian Gray".....it's a good read .

That I shall.

[morrison]

I love that book, one of my absolute favourites. i read it again every year or so.

(did you see the film with a young Christian Bale? It's good too)

Heartily recommend Ballard's autobiography as well "Miracles of Life", for an actual account (not to dis Empire of the Sun, it's great obviously).

I love a lot of Ballard's work in general but most of it is pretty crazy compared to Empire.

I'd nominated it for the (rather informal) book club I'm in as I've heard only good things about Ballard's novels, and as Colin said, this is a bit more tame in comparison. It went down well with 10/12 folk, a pretty good conversion rate, and I thoroughly enjoyed it myself.

We (as a group) made it half-way through the very long film before time got the better of us, but I'll get the rest watched at some stage.

[Savage Henry]

Trying to read 'All the Pretty Horses' by Cormac McCarthy but finding it incredibly hard going. Are all his books similar in style to this?

It's turgid rubbish. Skip All The Pretty Horses because there aren't that many horses and they aren't very pretty.

Currently on the second of the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson

I'm currently on the first one, which I'm getting through at a fair rate of knots, despite the utter lack of style in the writing. It's a slightly deeper Dan Brown really.

I've just finished Stories, a collection of short pieces, vaguely labeled horror edited by the incredibly fashionable Neil Gaiman. It's really excellent at its best, but like all compendiums there are very obvious weak spots.

[Le Tout P'ti FC]

Just finished reading It's Lovely To Be Here: The touring diaries of a Scottish gent by James Yorkston. A very funny insight into the tedium / excitement of being a touring musician.

Also read How I Escaped My Certain Fate by Stewart Lee last week. Effectively the scripts from some of his recent stand-up performances with a very detailed critique as to why he said things in certain ways. The script is interspersed with extremely entertaining footnotes and asides. An excellent book!

These elections have put me in the mind to dig out the Chris Mullins diaries which I bought but never started - so will crack on with them after lunch.

[Mad Cyril]

Just finished Warsaw Anagrams by Richard Zimler - a murder mystery set in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw in WWII. Really good.

Now reading: Beyond Evil about Ian Huntely. A bit tabloidy. That Maxine Carr was/is a right slapper.

[jester]

Currently re-reading The Black Cloud by IDS Thomson.

Subtitled " Scottish Mountaineering Misadventures 1928-1966" it begins with a fascinating history of British weather forecasting, before going on to detail some fatal incidents in the Scottish mountains, how they occurred, and the effect weather played on their outcome. An absolutely riveting book.