Savage Henry Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/02/james-ellroy-says-film-adaptation-of-la-confidential-was-as-deep-as-a-tortillaAt some point Ellroy turned from acerbic and witty to mean and bitter. It probably happened at the same point his books went from hard boiled thrillers to page after page of racial epithets. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 7 minutes ago, Savage Henry said: At some point Ellroy turned from acerbic and witty to mean and bitter. It probably happened at the same point his books went from hard boiled thrillers to page after page of racial epithets. It would be a bit fake to portray the LAPD without using them in dialogue. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomCat Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 A decent Ride - I found certain scenes hilarious and Juice Terry a fun character but it would suit being a much shorter novel. The Penicuik character and scenes were brutally boring. Zorba the Greek - Grabbed the book with no real expectations. Zorba is an very likeable falstaffian figure. One of the best characters I've ever read. True Grit - I don't think either movies could live up to this novel. Absolutely superb and one of the strongest female leads I've read. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecto Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Don't Blink by James Patterson & Howard Roughan, perfect for reading by the pool on holiday 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted June 19, 2019 Share Posted June 19, 2019 Only about half way through but really enjoying "A History of Seven Killings". Pretty spectacular. So epic in scale. Bob Marley is a huge star and around him is killers, gangsters, CIA operatives, ghetto girls.. The narration hops from character to character. Some alive, some dead and looking on from the spirit world. Can't really begin to describe it. It won the Booker prize in 2015. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted June 19, 2019 Share Posted June 19, 2019 4 minutes ago, MixuFixit said: 10 minutes ago, Shandon Par said: Only about half way through but really enjoying "A History of Seven Killings". Pretty spectacular. So epic in scale. Bob Marley is a huge star and around him is killers, gangsters, CIA operatives, ghetto girls.. The narration hops from character to character. Some alive, some dead and looking on from the spirit world. Can't really begin to describe it. It won the Booker prize in 2015. Is that the one by Marlon James? Yes. Heard him on Adam Buxton recently. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted June 19, 2019 Share Posted June 19, 2019 4 minutes ago, MixuFixit said: That's where the name rang a bell. Might pick it up as well but it's a big read is it not? Colossal! I've started hearing/thinking in a Jamaican accent. They touched on it in the Adam Buxton interview IIRC but the violence really is brutal and senseless. You can feel a real anger from him growing up gay in a culture that was so hostile towards it too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted June 19, 2019 Share Posted June 19, 2019 3 hours ago, Shandon Par said: Only about half way through but really enjoying "A History of Seven Killings". Pretty spectacular. So epic in scale. Bob Marley is a huge star and around him is killers, gangsters, CIA operatives, ghetto girls.. The narration hops from character to character. Some alive, some dead and looking on from the spirit world. Can't really begin to describe it. It won the Booker prize in 2015. I started that a few years ago but I only got about halfway through. I was enjoying it and I really need to get back into it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 (edited) On 19/06/2019 at 12:09, MixuFixit said: If Not Now, When? by Primo Levi. Novel about Jewish partisans in WW2 in Russia trying to make their way west to get to Palestine. The writing made me think of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Alexander Solzhenitsyn and a little bit of Hermann Hesse in that it convincingly captures the feeling of desperation and the way only the most tenacious survive such an ordeal, much like those authors did. There is a great scene where a Polish partisan explains how his group has suffered compared to the Jewish group. The leader of the Jews replies simply "you have been at war for 3 years, we for 3 thousand" which opens a window into Jewish psyche in face of hostility I hadn't appreciated before. Read this a long time ago, 15, maybe 20 years ago. Enjoyed it then. Knocked off another three books since my last visit. 'The Kites' by Gary Romain. A French boy with a gift for memorising falls in love with a Polish girl and is then separated from her over the course of the Second World War. I actually really loved this book. It's beautifully written, it zips along and has a life affirming ending. 5/5 'The Mountains of my Life' by Walter Bonatti. The great maverick and outsider writes about his mountaineering conquests and his own philosophies on climbing and life in general. The force of Bonatti's personality really comes through in his writing and by the end you really have an appreciation of what a great, and misunderstood, figure he was. The 'K2 Controversy' was very interesting and it was great to see him fully vindicated even if only after several decades. His love and descriptions of nature are vivid and feel genuine and there is a beautiful scene as he philosophises on life as the sun goes down on Mont Blanc. There is perhaps one or two too many alpine climbs - they are, it has to be said, quite similar - crevasses, rock falls, storms - but Bonatti is plainly a great man, a fantastic mountaineer and a surprisingly good writer.. 4/5 'The Plague' by Albert Camus. This isn't a bad book but it is a bit of a slog. It's basically existentialist philosophy as a novel but personally I prefer Camus when he's writing his philosophy straight rather than cramming it into a narrative. 3/5 Next up - 'An American Dream' by Norman Mailer Edited June 30, 2019 by Ya Bezzer! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 I've just finished The First World War by AJP Taylor. It's a pretty decent, albeit brief, overview of WW1. He doesn't really go into the human suffering or weapon development but does give plenty of attention to other theatres away from the western front. A decent read for a history buff. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expatowner Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 A dead man in Deptford - Anthony Burgess 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphy1970 Posted July 13, 2019 Share Posted July 13, 2019 Just finished Greeks bearing gifts - part of Phillip Kerr's excellent Bernie Gunther series. As he died just as it was published I thought it was a safe bet it would be the last in the series, and a worthy addition at that but on last trip to Waterstones I saw there's a final one, Metropolis, so that's on the to read list. Also been working my way through Mick Herron spy novels. Cynical, funny and very smart 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Raccoon Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 Glue by Irvine Welsh, must've read this book about 20 times but I still love it, imo his best book. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blootoon87 Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 Glue by Irvine Welsh, must've read this book about 20 times but I still love it, imo his best book.I've not read Glue yet but if it must be some book if it's better than Maribou Stork Nightmares. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Raccoon Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 Just now, Blootoon87 said: 30 minutes ago, Bert Raccoon said: Glue by Irvine Welsh, must've read this book about 20 times but I still love it, imo his best book. I've not read Glue yet but if it must be some book if it's better than Maribou Stork Nightmares. Get it read. I assure you, you will not be disappointed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saigon Raider Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 I've not read Glue yet but if it must be some book if it's better than Maribou Stork Nightmares. It's very good but nothing beats Maribou Stork Nightmares 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Finished A Brief History of Seven Killings (now half way though his first book John Crow's Devil) by Marlon James One of the best things I've ever read. I think Amazon have picked it up to make it a tv show. Won the Booker prize a few years ago and has a few sections in it that are spectacularly good. A scene with a guy being buried alive (told from his perspective) is as harrowing as you'll read. Ultimately it starts to find a narrative and a main character towards the end and becomes a bit more uplifting (barring the odd person being burned alive etc). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellaboz Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 I've been gifted a book called "I, Claudius".Very sceptical that I'll enjoy it but I'll give it a bash. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlion Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 2 hours ago, Stellaboz said: I've been gifted a book called "I, Claudius". Very sceptical that I'll enjoy it but I'll give it a bash. Robert Graves? Loved it - and Claudius the God. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint dave Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 The Looming Tower : Al Qaeda's Road To 9/11 by Lawrence Wright Really interesting book about the rise of radical islamic terrorism and the philosophy behind it which tracks the birth of Al Qaeda from an idea to a well financed and trained outfit. Also tracks the path of the people charged with stopping them , mainly the CIA and the FBI and the rivalry that stopped them sharing information which could have helped them avoid 9/11 . If anyone has seen the TV series of the same name , this is worth a look. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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