Last Book You Read....

[Monkey Tennis]

35 minutes ago, Raidernation said:

Hmmmmmmmmmm, well I had the same bad experience, made worse because the English teacher ( wid) knew my family was from Aberdeen so wanted me to do a “Mearns accent”

If I can find a copy in the local library once it reopens them mibbies aye

49p on the Kindle.

Don't fight this.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

I was toying with getting this, as I never read it as a youngster. At less than the price of a paper, it'd be rude not to. I'll report back.

49p on the Kindle.
Don't fight this.

[Monkey Tennis]

Just now, WhiteRoseKillie said:

I was toying with getting this, as I never read it as a youngster. At less than the price of a paper, it'd be rude not to. I'll report back.

Don't start with the prologue.  

[charger29]

Finally got through The Ball is Round by David Goldblatt. Quite a long book with a lot of detail on the history of football.
It's as much about the links between culture/politics/economics and football as it is about football on the pitch. Don't expect a book which will break down the history of football tactics or explore the careers of some of the game's greatest players and managers. They are discussed at some points but only when it fits the narrative. The main focus of the book is on Europe, South America and Africa. The other continents tend to focus on a particular time period rather than their entire footballing history.
Definitely a book which I'd go back and read certain parts again and possibly read the books referenced. Particularly with Hungary and Colombia around the 50s, as well as the corruption in Germany and Italy.
Next up is the audiobook of The Age of Football.

[paul-r-cfc]

Munich - Robert Harris

A claustrophobic look at the negotiations that led to the Munic Agreement of 1938. Great depictions of life behind the door of number 10 and a gripping insight into a fascinating period of history.

Harris is excellent at these kinds of historical fiction books. Certainly takes skill to write a page turner when everyone reading it knows how it pans out.

Anyone ever read his Cicero trilogy? Picked up the second one in a charity shop and been meaning to grab the first.

[DiegoDiego]

Yeah, I can understand that. But the literature prof is a good ironic voice to take us on the exploration of America. Top post-modern novel. Maybe worth another try?

It was only three years ago that I read it and I'm pretty sure it's not my cup of tea, I might give one of his others a shot though.

The last book I read was The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe. You can see why he won the Nobel as its very well written but my god does it have one of the most pathetic protagonists in history and some pretty disgusting subject matter. Spoilers follow...

The main character's wife decides to live with his brother, he's completely fine with this and moves into the barn. His brother then admits that he was shagging their disabled sister, got her pregnant and that's why she topped herself by drinking chemicals. His brother then kills himself with a shotgun. His wife asks him to give their marriage another try and to help her raise his nephew that she's pregnant with.

I'm now about 150 pages into Lanark, a refreshing change of pace.

[Dan Steele]

54 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

now about 150 pages into Lanark, a refreshing change of pace.

I think I'll pass on Oe! Lanark I really like.

I'm catching up on old stuff. Just finished French Lieutenant's Woman and nearly finished Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man - I think it is brilliant. I found it slow to start with and in a quite difficult style but fairly gets going. From 1950s it's a great insight into African American politics of the time.

[Stellaboz]

Time of Contempt as part of The Witcher series. A bit of lez action near the end that I hope makes screen if they ever get there.

[Richey Edwards]

On 21/04/2020 at 19:20, Richey Edwards said:

Finished Nightmare in Berlin and started Down and Out. Enjoying it so far!

Finished Down and Out in Paris and London. Really enjoyed it. Great writing.

Swiftly followed that with Dubliners by James Joyce. A collection of short stories set in Dublin.

Now onto Dead Mans Trousers by Irvine Welsh. 

[Granny Danger]

6 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

Finished Down and Out in Paris and London. Really enjoyed it. Great writing.

Swiftly followed that with Dubliners by James Joyce. A collection of short stories set in Dublin.

Now onto Dead Mans Trousers by Irvine Welsh. 

I tried reading Joyce because of the reputation he has as a great author but found it hard to get into.  That was some years ago, I’ll maybe give it another try.

[Richey Edwards]

3 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

I tried reading Joyce because of the reputation he has as a great author but found it hard to get into.  That was some years ago, I’ll maybe give it another try.

Yeah, I tried Ullyses a few years ago because of his reputation and couldn't get into it.

Dubliners is nothing spectacular tbh. I enjoyed Down & Out alot more.

[Savage Henry]

I tried reading Joyce because of the reputation he has as a great author but found it hard to get into.  That was some years ago, I’ll maybe give it another try.

Dubliners is wonderful. The short stories are just beautifully composed. Araby being my particular favourite.

Ulysses is okay for a chapter or two, but becomes gibberish quite quickly.

[moniton]

It's very different to Blood Meridian. I loved them both but Suttree has more depth to it than Blood Meridian which is just about violence. It's heavy going though in terms of language and length. Everything he has written is worth reading. The Border Trilogy is amazing as well.
I'm currently reading Kieron Smith Boy and usual with Kelman I'm overwhelmed. The great unrecognised Scottish genius. When I finish this it's on to Flaubert's Bouvard and Pecuchet.

Just finished both Suttree and Blood Meridian and can concur with this. Suttree is definitely the more “human” of the two. I love McCarthy but would now put Suttree as my personal favourite.
Now hoping to go onto the 2 books that I regularly go back to- Billy Liar and Treasure Island, unless I actually buy something new.

[Detournement]

22 hours ago, Savage Henry said:

 

Ulysses is okay for a chapter or two, but becomes gibberish quite quickly.

 

You just need to accept some of it will go over your head.

The chapter in the library and the one in the brothel are unbelievably good.

[Miguel Sanchez]

It took me months to read Suttree. There's no plot and as such I don't find any of the things that happen to him interesting.

[AL-FFC]

The Hard Way by Mark "Billy" Billingham, cracking read. now onto Tyson Furys book behind The Mask again another good read

[Ya Bezzer!]

'Goodbye to all That' by Robert Graves 

4 out of 5

It's only when you finish this book that you realise just how sad it is.  The autobiography covers the period between 1895 - 1929 over 280 pages.  Approximately 180 of these are devoted to the authors war service.  The breakdown of his marriage, his second marriage and the birth of four children are covered in a paragraph.  Even his own success as a poet and writer is pretty much brushed over.  The war, his experiences in France, utterly dominates the memory of his own life.  Nothing else comes close, or perhaps even matters that much to him.  In fact it is surely not a coincidence that the autobiography ends at about the time his post traumatic stress finally starts to abate.  He freely admits to seeing the faces of dead friends and colleagues on living strangers, hearing shell fire, imagines flowers giving off poisonous gas and hallucinates corpses until 1928.

The opening chapters, as expected, cover his early life and are mostly concerned with his unhappiness at public school.  These sections are almost unintelligible.  This exclusive world of rich elite school kids with their archaic rules, Edwardian slang and incomprehensible hierarchies is almost unimaginable to the present day reader, even if, like me, you attended an ancient university.  

The book comes alive in death.  Graves joins the army straight from school and we are exposed to the terrible images that haunt his memory.  In one scene Graves men are sent to the front without warm clothes and Graves goes out into no mans land to strip bloated German corpses of their great coats.  The trenches are a world where the best thing that can happen to you is to be so seriously wounded you can't be sent back.  Virtually everyone he knows dies.  Virtually every man under his command dies.  He himself almost dies when shell shrapnel rips a hole through his lungs.  His parents are sent a telegram informing them he is dead.   He writes to them the next day.  The front line is simply a universe of death.  

After the war Graves goes to Oxford, opens a grocers shop and takes a job in Egypt.  All of this is skimmed over quickly in an almost disinterested manner.  The booming of the guns are still audible for Graves, visions of skeletal faces hang before him daily. 

Graves is too distant, too reserved, a product of his time, to reveal his anguish explicitly.  His bitterness, his loneliness, his anger at the world is only hinted at or skimmed over. He never really articulates his feelings, only describes almost impersonal symptoms and that is perhaps the saddest part.  In the end we are left with a writer, a man who writes to escapes his own life and describes the waste paper basket as "his best friend".  

NEXT IN LINE - Therese Raquin by Emile Zola.

Edited May 9, 2020 by Ya Bezzer!

[tongue_tied_danny]

I just finished Cotton Comes To Harlem by Chester Himes. This is a classic cop thriller from the 60s that was an influence on the blaxploitation film genre of the 70s.

It's quite an easy and entertaining read. I'm a huge fan of 60s and 70s US crime fiction so this was right up my street.

I'm going to try to use the lockdown to make a dent on my to read pile. Here it is...

Edited May 8, 2020 by tongue_tied_danny

[mathematics]

2 hours ago, tongue_tied_danny said:

I just finished Cotton Comes To Harlem by Chester Himes. This is a classic cop thriller from the 60s that was an influence on the blaxploitation film genre of the 70s.

It's quite an easy and entertaining read. I'm a huge fan of 60s and 70s US crime fiction so this was right up my street.

I'm going to try to use the lockdown to make a dent on my to read pile. Here it is...

Give Heart of Darkness a miss. Over-hyped shite.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

Give Heart of Darkness a miss. Over-hyped shite.

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