Last Book You Read....

[qpsnapper]

Read this last week. Quite disturbing story of an Aberdonian man conscripted into the army during World War 2 and his treatment as a prisoner of the Japanese.

Just finished that as well, it's incredible what the Japanese did during the war and basically have tried to deny ever since.

Interesting that the author described how he focused on himself and tried to shut out everyone else and their problems whilst in captivity, I've read two or three similar books and in those the authors would pal up with someone for support to try and get them through the ordeal.

Before that I read "A Journey" by Tony Blair. Almost put the book down while trying to wade through the 50 page (!) introduction, but once he gets in to the story it's a reasonable read. No apology for Iraq of course, but confirms that Gordon Brown (in particular Ed Balls) was undermining the government almost from the off. Having also read Peter Mandelson and Alistair Campbell's books recently as well, if half the stories they tell are true it's incredible they allowed GB to take over in 2007.

[mighty meadow]

Really enjoying this touring diary type book by the brilliant James Yorkston. Would have finished it today but alas I seem to have lost it. Hopefully I have left it in work yesterday, if not I'll need to buy another copy just for the last chapter

Managed to find the book

Basically a touring diary by Fife musician James Yorkston. No sex, drugs and rock n roll in here but all the better for it. An honest and sometimes funny account of life on the road of a solo artist. You can almost feel the loneliness at times as Yorkston travels around Northern Europe, guitar in hand and merchandise in bag. This won't win any literary prizes but a nice wee read to pass a few hours.

Now reading ...

Laff by John Boyle. Irish boy growing up in Ferguslie park and his friendship with a boy called Laff. Not long started reading it but seems ok so far.

[jagfox]

Re: read The Railwayman by Eric(?) Lomax. About dude captured and put to work on Siam-Burma railroad. Interesting bits and insights. Strangely didn't feel much empathy for him, but I guess that wasn't the point.

Bit of a history read at moment. Finest Years by Max Hastings about WSChurchill 40-45. Pretty good.

The Greatest Lies in History by Alexander Canduci. Dispels various widely thought ideas.

Good info and you get a lot of info in each chapter, which deals with a different topic.

Almost finished Magician by Raymond E Feist. Very good if you like sword and sorcery type stuff. Part of trilogy. If you get into it you can power through it.

Got Soldier, tailor, sailor spy in to read list. Really enjoyed movie and picked it up in airport. Could be a slow burner.

[Lambert11]

The last book I read was “Intensity” by Dean R. Koontz. The book was really exciting and was a real page turner.

[footiechick]

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Having seen the film a while back, it all came flooding back whilst reading this.

Excellent!

[nessies long lost ghost]

Fascist Italy - John Hite and Chris Hinton - 8 / 10

[StewartyMac]

The last book I read was "Intensity" by Dean R. Koontz. The book was really exciting and was a real page turner.

Loved that. The film's not bad too. The guy from Scrubs is the bad guy.

[banterman86]

I finished How I became a Famous Novelist last week - enjoyed it a lot, great characterisation, well written funny but also thought provoking. The debate between Pete Tarslaw and Preston Brooks near the end might be one of the most infiriating things I've ver read - in a good way

The basic premise was a guy sets out to write an "Oprah Book Club" style best seller without any real empathy - just fires out a by the numbers book which he thinks has all the tools to make him rich and famous. I liked the fact the book didnl;t look down on airport novels, but rather the more pretentious novels and writers who look down at them. Good times

Currently working my way through Jonathen Franzen's Freedom which is a pretentious literary novel, but eh, it;s good so shut it.

[Bobby Skidmarks]

Currently 3/4 of the way through. So far, i think its extremely good.

[ICTChris]

The Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson. The story of a small town sherrif's deputy who is actually a sociopathic killer. It's told first person by Lou, the deputy, and tells the story of how he commits a series of murders and tries to get away with them. The book has a reputation as one of Thompson's most chilling and it's certainly an affecting portrait of someone without a moral compass.

I've seen the film and the book brings out some aspects of the story a lot better - the way that Lou exhibits passive-aggressive tendancies before embarking on his murder spree, most notably by speaking in infuriatingly meaningless cliches all the time, which is only touched on in teh movie.

I'd recommend reading it and am looking forward to reading more Thompson. 8/10

[morrison]

Not long finished Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals. Pokes fun at the thuggish football culture, and generally maintains a level of absurdity throughout that makes this a worthwhile read. Mr Nutt is a great character, and Ridcully and Lord Vetinari work in unusually close quarters. On a football forum, you'd think this book would go down quite well and I know there are a few Pratchett fans here too.

Also read The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Excellent. I've seen a silent film adaption and seen and heard umpteen references to it and at long last got round to reading this. What more can I add other than to say it's reputation is entirely deserved.

Now reading A Clockwork Orange. I've watched and loved the film, and I'm really enjoying the colourful language in the book so far. I'm already certain I'm going to really like this.

[banterman86]

the first time i read catcher in the rye i was 15 and thought it was fantastic

the second time i read it i was 32 and just didn't hit the spot anymore

anyone else found this when re-reading books many years later

Yes, i reread "A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" last year, having forst read it around 2004/2005. i was underwhelmed second time round, having procliamed it genius upon first reading.

Anyways, finsihed Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. Awffy good. Very sweeping epic americana stuff, which covers a whole host of bases. Bery "liberal" in the american sense of the word though, some might fand rants from characters about enviromentalism or consumerism a bit hard to stomach. It was alos nice to read a supposed "literary" novel, which wasn't beating you over the head with how clever it was being in terms of structure. Even Franzen's prose isn;t particularly spellbinding - a can't remeber a tsand out statement or phrase form the book, it was just all about the charcaters, who felt very rounded, neither liekable nor unlikable.

I even did a wee google on the book afterwards, looking at different people's interpretations and so forth, I don't think you can pay a book higher praise than that to be honest.

'

[bluetooner]

Readable enough but more Thomas Harris than Thomas Hardy. Not sure I want to read Book 2

The book is part of a trilogy, so unless you really hated it - i'd keep reading. The first part was really just setting the scene for the main part of the story that happens in the other 2 books, and introducing characters.

[mighty meadow]

The author, John Boyle tells the story of his school days growing up in Ferguslie Park, Paisley. At school he is ashamed of where he lives but at home he is thought of as a snob because he wears a school uniform. His loneliness and alienation is tempered when he meets a new friend, Laff who is in exactly the same position. They become the best of friends just as Rock n Roll hits Scotland and the boys become old enough to discover girls, alcohol and .... dancing. Pretty funny in places and sad in others but an easy book to read.

Now reading ...

[Sooky]

the first time i read catcher in the rye i was 15 and thought it was fantastic

the second time i read it i was 32 and just didn't hit the spot anymore

anyone else found this when re-reading books many years later

Well since I am 15 I shall read it again in 17 years and report back to you.

[Mak]

Just finished L'Etranger by Camus. First time I'd read it since Higher French, when I just found it weird to be honest; now that I'm old enough appreciate it a bit better, I enjoyed it. In terms of language used, it's actually also one of the easier French books to read.

[Gordon EF]

The Sand Pebbles - Richard McKenna

8/10

Written in 1962, my dad gave me a shot of it. I was a little apprehensive at first, especially as the first couple of chapter contains a hell of a lot of details about the workings of the engine room on a gun boat. Turned out to be a great read though. Set in China, between the wars, on an American gun boat on the Yangtze river, during the revolution in China. Got some hilarious casual racism in there too.

Anyone got any good recomendations for someone who recently motored through the Song of Ice and Fire books and is feeling like they were so good they ruined other books a bot for me?

[Ross.]

Not sure if the last one I read was "Lights Out in Wonderland" by DBC Pierre, or "Marabou Stork Nightmares" by Irvine Welsh. Both were thoroughly enjoyable, although the ending to the first one i mentioned was a bit of a disappointment compared to the rest of the book.

As for reading a book again and not enjoying it as much the second time, I've had the opposite effect from a few books, 1984 springs to mind straight away, although that's probably as I was 13 or 14 when I first read it and 27 or 28 when I read it again. The second time I read it, it f**king terrified me.

[wunfellaff]

The Sand Pebbles - Richard McKenna

8/10

Written in 1962, my dad gave me a shot of it. I was a little apprehensive at first, especially as the first couple of chapter contains a hell of a lot of details about the workings of the engine room on a gun boat. Turned out to be a great read though. Set in China, between the wars, on an American gun boat on the Yangtze river, during the revolution in China. Got some hilarious casual racism in there too.

Anyone got any good recomendations for someone who recently motored through the Song of Ice and Fire books and is feeling like they were so good they ruined other books a bot for me?

Was a good film too (Steve McQueen?).

Try Otherland by Tad Williams

[T_S_A_R]

a fine balance by rohinton mistry: the story of four parsi indians during the emergency years of the 70s. a good read but more because of the real life events it depicts than the merits of the novel. basically everything that can go wrong for the protaganists does go wrong and eventually their misfortune becomes ridiculous. there are some parts that are nicely understated but too much of it is over the top. it's not a patch on midnight's children, the god of small things or white tiger as novels about india go.

underworld by don delilo: a brilliant book but very difficult to describe. it's set in america and has a backwards narrative from the 1990s back to the early 50s and dips in and out the lifes of a huge cast of characters. the cold war and the nuclear tension between the usa and the ussr is always present and there is a thread running throughout of the baseball struck in the famous 'shot heard around the world'. it's actually impossible to sum this novel up so i'll just leave it there.

edit - i'll add this. this is one of the most well written novels i ever read. the opening sequence takes us through the famous baseball game in 1951 and is 50 pages of the best fiction i've ever read. there are also a series of chapters throughout which depicts lenny bruce the stand up comedian on tour during the cuban missile crisis that are unbelievably good.

Edited December 21, 2011 by T_S_A_R