Last Book You Read....

[paul-r-cfc]

Definitely in my all time top five. The fact that people who have never read him know and use the term ‘kafkaesque’ speaks to his enduring impact.
The final line in that book has to be among the best final lines ever.

The Boy from Nowhere

Gregor Fishers autobiography. Begins as a standard autobiography as we hear how he goes from humble origins to build a fine career. Interspersed throughout are his efforts to find out his family background, having been adopted at a young age. Some tragic stories in about it.

Strange writing style, with Fisher himself providing only occasional pages but am interesting story and a brutal look at certain aspects of m Scottish society in those days.

[NotThePars]

13 hours ago, Lex said:

 

Definitely in my all time top five. The fact that people who have never read him know and use the term ‘kafkaesque’ speaks to his enduring impact.
The final line in that book has to be among the best final lines ever.

 

Read it six months before I started work in the courts and it's very funny how prescient it is. Maybe it's intentional, I don't know.

[Richey Edwards]

I finished The Book Thief. It is a superb story, and it joins the club of books that made me cry a little.

Unsure of what to read next, I went over to the massive "to read" pile and did the trusty old "close your eyes and grab a book" trick. The book in my hand was The Trick Is To Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway. It is a novel about a young woman with depression, which appears to be set in Ayrshire judging from the reference to Bourtreehill (which I chuckled at - because it is described in a pretty unfavourable way and I know people from there).

On 06/06/2021 at 01:26, NotThePars said:

The Trial is a great book. Top tier stuff.

I really enjoyed The Trial, and Amerika. Two more of his books (Metamorphosis & Other Stories and The Castle) are also somewhere in the aforementioned massive "to read" pile.

I swore a while ago that I would not buy any more books until I have conquered Unread Mountain. I have not been entirely successful in that endeavour, as it has grown somewhat due to a Waterstones gift card inspired shopping trip.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Man in the High Castle.

Interesting concept but someone must have ripped out the last couple of pages because the ending is shit.

[Richey Edwards]

10 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Man in the High Castle.

Interesting concept but someone must have ripped out the last couple of pages because the ending is shit.

I read that a couple of years ago. To be honest, I didn't really like it that much. The ending was pretty bad as well.

[Guest TheJTS98]

26 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Man in the High Castle.

Interesting concept but someone must have ripped out the last couple of pages because the ending is shit.

 

14 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

I read that a couple of years ago. To be honest, I didn't really like it that much. The ending was pretty bad as well.

Perverts for not enjoying one of the best books ever.

There's a tv series version of it on Amazon Prime, which I thought was also excellent. Really well done, and I'd been worried it would be shite.

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

2 hours ago, TheJTS98 said:

 

Perverts for not enjoying one of the best books ever.

There's a tv series version of it on Amazon Prime, which I thought was also excellent. Really well done, and I'd been worried it would be shite.

I really enjoyed the novella, feel like it might need a second go as I was a bit surprised by the ending. Couldn't get into the tv show at all though, managed about 2/3s of the way through the 1st episode twice 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

51 minutes ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

I really enjoyed the novella, feel like it might need a second go as I was a bit surprised by the ending. Couldn't get into the tv show at all though, managed about 2/3s of the way through the 1st episode twice 

Yes I’ll probably read it again just to make sure. I think Dick started writing a follow up but never finished it. The fucker.

[Archie McSquackle]

I finished The Book Thief. It is a superb story, and it joins the club of books that made me cry a little.
Unsure of what to read next, I went over to the massive "to read" pile and did the trusty old "close your eyes and grab a book" trick. The book in my hand was The Trick Is To Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway. It is a novel about a young woman with depression, which appears to be set in Ayrshire judging from the reference to Bourtreehill (which I chuckled at - because it is described in a pretty unfavourable way and I know people from there).
I really enjoyed The Trial, and Amerika. Two more of his books (Metamorphosis & Other Stories and The Castle) are also somewhere in the aforementioned massive "to read" pile.
I swore a while ago that I would not buy any more books until I have conquered Unread Mountain. I have not been entirely successful in that endeavour, as it has grown somewhat due to a Waterstones gift card inspired shopping trip.

I'm half way through The Book Thief and also really enjoying it. I can see where you're coming from regarding the tears- it's already pretty depressing (with some black humour) and I can tell it's not going to get any cheerier.

[Richey Edwards]

50 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

5 hours ago, Richey Edwards said:

I finished The Book Thief. It is a superb story, and it joins the club of books that made me cry a little.
Unsure of what to read next, I went over to the massive "to read" pile and did the trusty old "close your eyes and grab a book" trick. The book in my hand was The Trick Is To Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway. It is a novel about a young woman with depression, which appears to be set in Ayrshire judging from the reference to Bourtreehill (which I chuckled at - because it is described in a pretty unfavourable way and I know people from there).
I really enjoyed The Trial, and Amerika. Two more of his books (Metamorphosis & Other Stories and The Castle) are also somewhere in the aforementioned massive "to read" pile.
I swore a while ago that I would not buy any more books until I have conquered Unread Mountain. I have not been entirely successful in that endeavour, as it has grown somewhat due to a Waterstones gift card inspired shopping trip.

I'm half way through The Book Thief and also really enjoying it. I can see where you're coming from regarding the tears- it's already pretty depressing (with some black humour) and I can tell it's not going to get any cheerier.

A book set in Nazi Germany and narrated by Death himself is never going to be cheery to be fair, but I did laugh at some parts because they were quite funny. The "Jesse Owens incident" especially made me laugh.

Edited June 8, 2021 by Richey Edwards

[Richey Edwards]

2 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Yes I’ll probably read it again just to make sure. I think Dick started writing a follow up but never finished it. The fucker.

What a Dick eh.

[NotThePars]

3 hours ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

I really enjoyed the novella, feel like it might need a second go as I was a bit surprised by the ending. Couldn't get into the tv show at all though, managed about 2/3s of the way through the 1st episode twice 

I watched a season and a half and got so pissed off with Julianna Crane's selfishness I stopped watching for maybe 4-5 years. Went back and finished it and thought it was fine. I like alternate history and there were some terrific performances (from Joel de la Fuente and Rufus Sewell especially) which helped a decent enough story tick along to an alright conclusion.

 

Anyway, I'm reading The Twittering Machine by Richard Seymour which is probably the best book on the diseases that social media give your brain. Apparently The Twittering Machine is a painting or something depicting birds perched above a hole containing something deadly and the birds lure you in with their chirping. That sounds like a metaphor. Anyway, this is the best one of these books I think.

 

ETA: having quickly Wiki'd this is the description: Like other artworks by Klee, it blends biology and machinery, depicting a loosely sketched group of birds on a wire or branch connected to a hand-crank. Interpretations of the work vary widely: it has been perceived as a nightmarish lure for the viewer or a depiction of the helplessness of the artist, but also as a triumph of nature over mechanical pursuits. It has been seen as a visual representation of the mechanics of sound

Edited June 8, 2021 by NotThePars

[Guest TheJTS98]

5 hours ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

I really enjoyed the novella, feel like it might need a second go as I was a bit surprised by the ending. Couldn't get into the tv show at all though, managed about 2/3s of the way through the 1st episode twice 

I think I did similar with the tv show. Got distracted from it for whatever reason. But once I actually got watching it, it was tremendous.

I'll watch it all again at some point.

[gmca]

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

One of those books that emotionally drained me by the end. Powerful stuff. 

[NotThePars]

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
One of those books that emotionally drained me by the end. Powerful stuff. 

Wasn’t what I would normally read but really enjoyed it. Quite hard hitting especially as you uncover just what exactly is going on.

[Saigon Raider]

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
One of those books that emotionally drained me by the end. Powerful stuff. 

I heard him on the Adam Buxton podcast hut haven't read any yet. Got Remains Of The Day to read on holiday this summer.

[gmca]

7 hours ago, Saigon Raider said:

13 hours ago, gmca said:

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
One of those books that emotionally drained me by the end. Powerful stuff. 

I heard him on the Adam Buxton podcast hut haven't read any yet. Got Remains Of The Day to read on holiday this summer.

Haven't read Remains of the Day, but the film is absolute quality. I don't know that it will be an easy read, but should be worth it I would think.

[MSU]

Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go are both gorgeous books. Quite similar in a lot of ways. Hundreds of pages of people not saying what they feel has never been so good.

Finally got round to starting The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel. I've had it to read for more than a year but I loved her other books, particularly Station Eleven, so much I was kinda scared I wasn't going to enjoy this one. So far so good.

[Paul Kersey]

I'm off work this week so I'm trying to catch up on my reading.

I'm about half way through Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

It's considered a dystopian classic and is often mentioned alongside 1984 and A Clockwork Orange. I am enjoying it and I like the concept, however I feel Huxley doesn't have the flair of Orwell or Burgess. His writing style isn't as engaging and I'm finding that it just kinda plods along. I'm still glad that I've finally got around to reading it though.

[Craig fae the Vale]

Just finished Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. Not as good as Homegoing but still a very decent read. An interesting look at science, religion, racism and a whole lot more. 

Will warn anyone who's planning on reading it though, you need to pay proper attention, it skips around in time a lot and is pretty easy to lose where you're at with it.